Times-Press-Recorder from Arroyo Grande, California • 20

20 Dec. 14, 1979-Five Cities Times-Press-Recorder, Arroyo Grande, Calif. Felt Tip Markers Probe Nipomo Ills NIPOMO With felt tip markers and a pad of newsprint, the Planning Department began a search Thursday night for the housing ills of Nipomo and ways to get rid of them. Bernie Melvin and Mike Draze from the Planning Department conducted an audience participation discussion to get input from Nipomo residents on what the county's housing problems are, what causes them and how they can be solved. According to the two, that input will be used to come up with a housing element for the county's general plan.

The group of about 30 people who assembled at the Community Center were divided into four groups. Each group was given a felt tip marker and several sheets of newsprint. The groups were told to use brainstorming sessions to come up with ideas relating to housing problems. No sooner had Melvin given the signal to begin, than the group's own distinct personalities began to emerge. Group A pinned down environmental impact reports and zoning restrictions as some of the major housing problems.

Some of their thoughts were shared by Group which picked a restrictive land use element and too many moratoriums as big housing problems. Groub labeled 1 landlords and shabby housing conditions among the problems. Group said there were not enough low income houses. Most of Group C's other comments kept coming back to that theme. "Housing conditions are terrible and expensive," said one woman in Group C.

Others at that table said even if the conditions are bad there are few places to move to, and those are usually not much better. The cost of moving is too expensive to make a move worthwhile, one woman said. All the groups agreed that affor dable housing is a major need. The reasons for the high cost of housing got various responses. By Laura Christman Staff Writer Obituaries Roy Esco Agee GROVER CITY A funeral service will be held tomorrow (Saturday) at 2 p.m.

at the Sunset Funeral Chapel in Grover City for Roy Esco Agee, 79. Officiating at the service will be Rev. Clifford Musgrove of Hemet, Calif. A graveside funeral service will be held Monday at 2 p.m. at the Montecito Memorial Park in San Bernardino.

Mr. Agee was born in Pickwick, Texas on Jan. 11, 1900. At the age of 16 he worked on Texas cattle ranches and also as an undercover agent for a U.S. Marshall, the Texas Rangers and the Texas Cattlemen's Association.

He then came to northern San LuisObispo county to join his parents, Ambrose and Florence Agee in 1920. Working on various ranches he drove team on the first motor driven harvester combine owned by Redge Freeman and performed in rodeos between this county and Pendleton, Ore. It was at a rodeo in Parkfield that he met Margaret Wells whom he married in 1927. They then bought a sheep ranch on San Nicoles Island, in 1929, 75 miles off of the coast of Long Beach, where they ranched until a permanent military base was established there in 1943. They then ranched in various locations throughout the state.

He and his wife purchased the Andrews Lodge at Big Bear Lake in 1953 which they operated until retiring to Yucaipa in 1964. After his wife passed away in 1966 he returned to raising cattle with his daughter Frances Stewart in Idaho until ill health forced his retirmeent in 1975. He came to Grover City to live with a sister, Flora Siler, and died on Wednesday morning, Dec. 12, at an Arroyo Grande hospital. Mr.

Agee is survived by one son, Roy E. Agee, Jr. of Woodland Hills; one daughter, Frances Stewart of Meridian, Idaho; four sisters, Lorine Sonne of Creston, Flora Siler of Grover City, Myrtle Goodwin of Santa Rosa and Dora VanDam of Concord; four brothers, Ralph Agee of Lebanon, Ore. Rufus Agee of Vina, Frank Agee of Salinas and Jim Agee of Piedmont; nine grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. A visitation period will be held this evening (Friday) from 6 until 8 at the Sunset Funeral Chapel in Grover City.

Suzuki (Continued from Page 1) Group A said there was overregulation and inflation, as well as too much response to state and federal mandates. The group said the free enterprise system was not being allowed to work. One member said all the permits and hold-ups by government agencies contribute to large cost increases in building. Group said one of the problems was that there are still people with enough money to buy expensive houses. The group also attributed part of the affordable housing problem to greedy landlords and inadequate planning.

Group said big business and real estate people are making profits on expensive homes and that contributes to a loss of affordable homes. The group also said there was too much red tape and local government was not responsive. Group blamed many of the housing problems on the Planning Department. Members of the group said excessive government regulation and economical conditions contribute to the problems of expensive housing. When it came to solving housing problems, Groups A and said government processes should be simplified and private enterprise should be allowed to work things out.

Groups and said more federal programs should be used to rehabilitate existing housing and to provide projects like People's Self Help Housing. One suggestion proposed providing incentives for developers to build low cost housing. Some of those incentives would be allowing less strict density requirements or simply approving large housing projects only if portions of the developments were set aside for low income housing. Even though many of the results reflected opposite ends of the spectrum, Draze said he expected that. "We're not going to come up with a plan that everyone likes.

Not all of the ideas are going to be in there," he said. He said it was important to find out how the people of a community feel and not rely solely on textbooks and charts in solving housing problems. The housing element is part of a state mandated general plan. The planners said there will be more community discussions in Templeton and Baywood so the Planning Department can get further input. The housing element will be program -oriented, Draze said.

It will set goals and courses of actions as well as deadlines for goals. He said the emphasis will not be on anyone's property but more on ways to get more low income housing. "It will affect people who have problems with housing by hopefully solving those problems," he said. "'It will also affect people who produce housing, but we hope it won't affect them in a negative He said the element won't solve all the problems in the county, but will attempt to solve the worst problems. The purpose of dividing everyone into groups was to give everyone a chance to comment, he said.

"If it's an open meeting where we yell at you and you yell back at us we get some input, but there are some people who don't yell," he said. "It all boils down to what can be done to make housing less expensive," Draze said. "We're not going to reduce the cost of housing at a cost to everything else. We have to consider things such as the quality of the air. There will have to be compromises made." The housing element is scheduled to be completed by April.

Draze said there will be more community hearings and final hearings by the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors before the plan is adopted or rejected by the board. Bad Checks Land Woman In Jail Cell ARROYO GRANDE A Grover City woman was booked into San Luis Obispo County Jail on Thursday on charges that she wrote checks for $1,000 with insufficient funds to cover them. Arroyo Grande police arrested Sandra Wagner, 33, of Grover City after an investigation revealed she opened a local checking account with account closed checks from New York, the spokesman said. All checks for a total of about $1,000 were written to county merchants, the spokesman said. Bail for Wagner was set at $2,000.

BATTLEGROUND Emery Welker stands in front of owner Clifford Clark for the building, while Clark says the Senior Citizens Center at 237 North 10th Street. that lease is invalid and the legally binding document The seniors maintain they have a 20-year lease from is a month-to-month rental agreement. Lease Battle in Grover (Continued from Page 1) the club had turned down the lease. When Davis wouldn't call the meeting the vice president of the board called his own meeting and signed the 20-year lease. Then he and Welker took it to Clark's office, according to Welker.

The month-to-month lease came about during the time the board was having problems with the club's president, Welker said. He said before the 20-year lease was signed he needed a building to move into. On an understanding that it was a temporary agreement, according to Welker, he and Clark signed a lease for month-to-month rental until the controversy with the 20-year lease could be worked out. Eighty-five-year-old Phil Simons who said he is almost totally blind now was the one who signed the lease in place of the club's president. "I had no trouble seeing the contract at that time," he said.

He said he and Welker handed the signed lease to an employee in Clark's office, but Clark said he doesn't remember seeing it. Clark assumed the lease was month-to-month until he was told recently that the seniors had a copy of a 20-year lease. He said the only reason he wants the 20-year lease canceled is because he feels the senior citizens are trying to get something by him. He told the seniors he wants them to stay in the building. He said he has not raised the rent, even though he was renting on a month-to-month basis.

"This building would probably rent for $400," he said. Clark said the fact that he hasn't accepted the senior citizens rent checks for three months doesn't mean he wants to kick them out. He said he doesn't want to accept the money until the lease conflict is resolved. "I don't want to make any promises," Clark said referring to the future of the property. "There are many possibilities to do something else.

But, I don't want to do anything that's going to get that many people (all the members of the club) mad at me." Mary Pebworth wasn't so sure about those promises. She said Clark came over to the center several weeks ago and told people that he could kick them out any time he wanted to. That was enough to make Pebworth move out of her apartment at the center. She had been living there to keep an eye on things, but said she decided to move because of the lease controversy. "I can't wait until the last minute and be told I have to move," she said.

"I'm going to be 70 years old. I loved it here, but I didn't want to stay around if that's the way it was." Phil Simons said he couldn't understand why Clark was SO against a lease he had originally supported. "If he does intend to leave us here then the 20-year lease won't hurt him. If it does hurt him then he has other plans for this property that he's not telling us about. That's all perfectly legitimate and legal," Simons said.

Clark said he wanted to make sure he had some control in the matter. He said he wants to make sure the group is legitimate. He said he is also worried that some of the leaders could die and persons that take over could change the character of the club. Welker said a month-to-month lease would seriously hurt the club's chances of getting grants from the federal government. He said a four-year lease is required for many repair and renovation grants and a 20-year lease is required for most major grants.

Over the five years the seniors have occupied the building they have put in about $5,000 of work, most of that coming from grants. Clark said he would be willing to work on coming up with a new lease that would help the seniors in getting grants. He said that did not necessarily mean he would approve a 20-year lease agreement. Jeannie Bennett, an attorney from California Rural Legal Assistance, advised the group to not be uncompromising about the situation and to approach it from a rational standpoint. "There's nothing wrong with not wanting to give up the security you have with a 20-year lease just for some promises unless you get those promises in writing," she said.

Welker said he was upset about the whole matter. He said the club should be prepared to move to a new location or try to get regular use in the South County Regional Center in Arroyo Grande if Clark is able to convince a judge that the month-to-month lease is the valid one. "When he first rented us this property he promised us everything and the moon," Welker said. "'Now he's trying to reel in the moon." Pismo Man In Pot Case SAN LUIS OBISPO Cary Geihs, 20, of Pismo Beach, was ordered to answer a charge of selling marijuana in San Luis Obispo Superior Court after a preliminary hearing Thursday in Municipal Court. Arraignment is Dec.

26. Geihs and Stephen McCabe, 25, of Grover City, were arrested last January in the alleged sale of Thai marijuana sticks to San Luis Obispo police detective Dean Treanor, working as an undercover agent. Geihs was arrested at his residence after an alleged undercover buy of 10 pounds of the weed valued at $2,500. Authorities aid 27 pounds were seized at McCabe's residence. Zone Change In Nipomo SAN LUIS OBISPO San Luis Obispo County planning commissioners Thursday approved a change in the general plan's designation from suburban residential to service commercial of five lots north of the swap meet grounds in Nipomo.

Applicant Gerald Bailey's request was supported by Robert Folkerts, operator of the swap meet, and Jim Miller. The action Drinking Driver Last Week Total Arrests 114 Deaths 1 1 Injuries 6 8 Totals above are arrests and injuries tallied by the eight law enforcement agencies in San Luis Obispo County during a holiday traffic safety project Nov. 21-Jan. 2. They are published as a reminder to motorists to be extra careful during the holiday season to avoid mixing alcohol and gasoline: If you drink, don't drive! AVOID THE EIGHT! Brisco Isle (Continued from Page 1) area, precluding any new construction.

Mrs. Carlson said that the Filer proposal would help ease the housing shortage while potentially adding only 16 school-age children, probably to the nearby Ocean View school, and 134 cars per day from the 67 families. Also on the agenda is a recommendation to accept appeal of Grover City and set Jan. 16 for re-hearing on its Sept. 6 approval of dissolution of the Shell Beach County Water District on condition that Pismo Beach and Grover City agree on the terms.

Grover's appeal contended such a condition was invalid and said denial of reconsideration would result in a court challenge with a request for attorney's fees. Supers Agenda SAN LUIS OBISPO The proposed new $5 million courts building, Nacimiento Lake water supply project, Chalk Mountain Golf Course clubhouse, and the Los Osos library construction and site are on the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors' Christmas shopping list Monday. The board will be asked to hire Bookman-Edmonston Engineering Inc. to engineer the Nacimiento proposal to go on next November's ballot for a revenue bond issue of perhaps $40 million. Jail Escapee Eludes Police SAN LUIS OBISPO Sheriff's deputies are continuing a search for an escapee who fled from the county jail's honor farm late Wednesday night, according to Sgt.

Don Mansfield. Ronald James Dire, 38, Trona, was reported missing on Thursday morning. Mansfield said Dire was arrested last September for possession of a stolen vehicle. He is described as a white male adult, 38 years of age, six foot three inches tall, and weighing about 160 pounds. He has blonde hair and blue eyes and was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, blue levis and black boots with a tan and blue letterman's jacket, Mansfield said.

having any more meetings on private bills in this session of Congress," she said, indicating that position had been explained to Lagomarsino. The congressman reported early this week in a telephoned news conference that the Iranian crisis, plus a number of other items of unfinished business, will keep Congress in this session as late as after Christmas. "I frankly can't imagine the Congress of the United States adjourning while the Iranian situation goes on the way it is," Lagomarsino said, indicating the crisis had all the earmarks of a Soviet "show trial" to make the U.S. look bad in the eyes of foreign countries. One of those countries is Japan, from whom Suzuki entered the U.S.

on a student visa. Through a complexity of difficulties, Suzuki overstayed his visa but in the meantime had opened his own hamburger stand on Grand Avenue. In the midst of a growing following for his American fare, the Immigration and Naturalization Service served notice of his deportation. Despite a huge outpouring of sentiment in favor of Suzuki in the form of letters and petitions asking he be allowed to stay, Suzuki was told to sell his business and pack his bags. His store has been for sale for months for $28,000, but, so far, no buyers.

He said he doesn't know what he'll do if he must leave without selling the store. "Maybe somebody have to take care of it for sale," the hamburger man said in his broken English. Lagomarsino's staff aide assigned to Suzuki's case in Washington, Joe Owens, said the office has been to get an answer from immigration officials, who apparently have the power to extend Suzuki's deadline until the subcommittee can meet. "The (sub)committee has not been encouraging," Owens confirmed. He said his office had contacted immigration by letter and would be following up by telephone.

Asked if immigration might be willing to extend Suzuki's date, Owens replied, "The indication that I've gotten from immigration is no." Immigration officials refused to comment, saying they don't discuss individual cases with the press. Asked if the Iranian situation was holding up subcommittee action on Lagomarsino's bill, analyst Christy paused for a long moment, then replied, "Everybody's concerned with the Iranian situation." She said the subcommittee was not considering any legislation at the moment. Of about 130 private laws introduced last year, she said, 10 passed. She said Suzuki didn't obtain preference status, apparently because he had no relatives in the U.S., and he didn't have a job skill considered vital to the U.S. government.

"Hundreds of thousands of students come voluntarily to the U.S., she said. "All provisions of general immigration laws apply. It isn't a matter of how many people think he should stay." "He's an overstay student who doesn't have permission to be here," she continued, adding, "he's apparently a nice guy." The 'nice guy' said he's still hopeful he'll get an 11th hour pardon from somebody. "I'm expecting any time to get an answer from immigration in Washington," Suzuki said. "I should get the end of this month the answer." The subcommittee is chaired by Rep.

Elizabeth Holtzman (D-New York) and includes Reps. George E. Danielson Sam B. Hall Jr. (D-Texas), Herbert Harris II (D-Virginia), Michael D.

Barnes (D-Maryland), Richard C. Shelby (R-Alabama), Hamilton Fish (R- New York), M. Caldwell Butler (R- Virginia) and Dan Lungren (R- Final say in the immigration and Naturalization Service is David Crosland, acting commissioner. The subcommittee's parent agency, the House Judiciary Committee is chaired by Peter Rodino (D-New Jersey). now goes to the Board of Supervisors.

The commission also approved variances to allow two-story residences on additional lots in two tracts on both sides of Lakeview Drive west of Lake Nacimiento Drive in Heritage Ranch. It added 14 lots to the 76 recommended by the staff but denied 16 lots, leaving a net of 74. Election (Continued from Page 1) work days between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. no later than Jan.

31. If any of the incumbents fails to file an intention to run by Jan. 31, filing date for all candidates except incumbents will extend until 5 p.m. Feb. 5.

The voting for the April 8, 1980 election will be by Datavote Punchcard system. Registration deadline for voters is March 10, with swearing in of new council members April 15. abs.