Santa Maria Times du lieu suivant : Santa Maria, California • A3

Tuesday, April 15, 2008 TIMES A3 Central Coast Cemetery board MANAGING EDITOR: DAVE BEMIS e-mail dbemissantamariatimes.com Defendant held to The place to be in Gaviota answer allegations Francisco Diaz Gutierrez accused of molesting two young sisters ay grow 1 By Samantha Yale STAFF WRITER A Los Alamos man charged with molesting two girls, one of whom is disabled, was ordered Monday to stand trial on all six counts filed against him. Francisco Diaz Gutierrez, 51, was held to answer sexual-assault charges at the conclusion of his preliminary hearing before Judge Zel Canter in Santa Barbara County Superior Court in Santa Maria. Police detectives testified during the preliminary hearing that two sis Gutierrez By Sam womack STAFF WRITER The Santa Maria Cemetery District Board of Trustees unanimously agreed Monday to petition the county for an increase from three to five members, in the hope of escaping a takeover by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. If the county received the request by the end of the day Monday, then the supervisors could vote today to set a hearing for May 6 to consider the increase in membership, according to the Board of Supervisors' agenda. The supervisors' agenda also states that the county would hold a public hearing May 6, consider a vote to adopt a resolution increasing the membership, and then appoint two new members for four-year terms.

The cemetery board's motion was passed Monday without discussion, but after the vote, a person in the audience asked why it passed now, instead of previously, when the item could not get support from the cemetery board Board President Lavonne McBroom replied, "We decided it was time, because this issue has been very hurtful to a lot of people. This is a small community and no one deserves that kind of hurt." At the last county board meeting, Supervisor Joe Centeno of Santa Maria cited numerous complaints against the cemetery board members over the last year and a half, and made the motion to take over the cemetery district's board of trustees. The California Health and Safety Code states that the board of supervisors can appoint themselves as the board of trustees for the district and appoint new members. The code also states that the cemetery district can petition the board of supervisors to increase the number of its members to five, which was the hope of the supervisors to avoid the potentially awkward takeover. District Trustee Phyllis Tiegs said the problem is not three members or five members, but one member.

"I mink we've run a good operation here for many years," she said "Ever since Lori (Macagni) came on we've had nothing but trouble." Macagni, however, the most recently appointed member of the board, said she's very excited about what she called a "move into the 21st century." "I hope Supervisor Centeno appoints two people that are as interested as I am in improving the cemetery," Macagni said. See CEMETERY A4 ters, who are now 9 and 15 years old, communicated to them that Gutierrez kissed them using his tongue, and touched them sexually. The older sister, referred to in court as Jane Doe 1, suffers from cerebral palsy, said Santa See GUTIERREZ A4 Dalidio appeals reversal of development Ranch owner continues fight with San Luis Obispo County Staff file Lilies growing in the blue hot spring water at Gaviota Hot Springs. The water is about the same temperature as a warm bath. 'Warm' springs once a hot spot Of 1 ATTRACTIONS Sally Cappon Gaviota Hot Springs is misnamed.

Call if Gaviota warm springs. A thermometer inserted in the upper of two pools registered 95 degrees, the lower pool a bit less. The spring is one of several along the Santa Ynez Mountains associated with faults. A main branch of the Santa Ynez Fault goes through Gaviota near the spring. The plumbing is simple water seeps down, is heated and rises to the surface.

Water bubbles up through a crack in the bottom of the larger, upper pool in a hillside grotto. Palms and willows overhang the 10-foot-wide, jade-colored pool. But beware, this is a sulfur spring, which means if smells like rotten structure to form pools was built by the WPA during the Depression. In hippie days it became known as a party place. To reach Gaviota Hot Springs, take the Highway 1 exit from northbound Highway 101.

At the stop sign, instead of turning left to Lompoc, turn right and make a 180 back on the old highway to a parking lot in a sycamore grove (parking fee, $2). The pools are reached via a moderate three-quarter mile climb. Warning: You might encounter a mountain lion or rattlesnake and don't forget about the sulfur smell. Otherwise, it's idyllic. Roadside Attractions is a weekly chronicle of sights along the Central Coast's main commuter routes.

This feature was originally published on Sept. 12, 2006. Sally Cappon can be reached at sjcapponaol.com. By April Chariton SENIOR STAFF WRITER Ernie Dalidio isn't giving up the fight to develop his 131-acre ranch just south of San Luis Obispo under the controversial Measure which was approved by county voters in 2006 and overturned by a judge earlier this year. On March 28, Dalidio's attorney, Michael Morris, filed an appeal of Judge Roger Pic-quet's January ruling that invalidated Measure also known as the Dalidio Ranch Initiative.

"We disagree with the judge's conclusion and think it's incorrect," Morris said about why Dalidio chose to appeal Picquet's ruling that hampered his development plans. "We want to get (the ruling) overruled." The initiative passed with 65 percent of the vote and effectively amended the San Luis Obispo Area Plan by creating a new Dalidio Ranch land-use category and assigning allowable uses and development standards for the ranch See DALIDIO A4 Planners advise approval for oi drilling Environmental groups' pact with PXP no basis for ruling, staff says BY BO POERTNER ASSOCIATE EDITOR A landmark compromise between environmental groups and an oil company isn't by itself enough reason for Santa Barbara County to approve an application by Plains Exploration and Production Company to extend the life of its Platform has long been considered to have therapeutic qualities. "The Indians used it," back-country expert Jim Blakley said a few years ago. "They came here." The spring was mentioned in an 1880 book, "Mineral Springs and Health Resorts of CaMornia," which said it was "much used locally for skin diseases." When Las Graces was still a community, before highway construction obliterated it, locals used the spring for Saturday night baths. A rock and concrete infra While the spring is in Gaviota State Park, it is little advertised.

Word of its existence is spread largely by word of mouth, but it State settles lawsuit over dunes race in Oceano Future permits will require environmental assessments -3 WBmIF ma: JHT Irene off Lompoc, according to a county staff report released Monday. In the report, a revised plan for drilling at Tran-quillon Ridge was recommended by the planning department staff for conditional approval. However, the staff noted that a public announcement last week of an agreement between PXP and an environmental coalition is an insufficient legal basis for issuing any permit to the oil company. Plains, also known as PXP, wants permission to use Platform Irene, in federal waters near Point See OIL IAS INFO ft The environmental impact report for the Tranquillon Ridge oil-drilling proposal can be viewed at www.countyofsb.org energyprojectsPlains Pedernaies.asp, The county banning it-ji'S recommendations can be viewed by going to www.county ofsb.orgindex.asp and dicking on "boards and commissions." The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission will consider the proposal at 9 a.m. AprM 21 at the Betteravia Government Center, 511 E.

Lakeside Parkway in Santa Maria. BY MIKE HODGSON ASSOCIATE EDITOR An environmental group's lawsuit against the state over an off-road motorcycle race in the Oceano Dunes has been settled, with the state agreeing to revoke the event's multiyear permit and conduct an environmental review before any permits are issued for such activities. The lawsuit, filed in October by the Center for Biological Diversity in Montana, was signed off by the California Department of Parks and Recreation last week, said Andrew Orahoske, conservation advocate for the center. "This certainly is a win for endangered species and the people who love (Oceano Dunes) and want to protect it," Orahoske said Monday after announcing the State Parks officials who could comment on the lawsuit did not return calls Monday. Under the settlement, the Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division of State Parks will invalidate the notice of exemption for the Oceano Dunes Beach Race and Festival, sponsored by the Central Coast Motorcycle Association.

It's uncertain just how that will affect the event already scheduled for this November, as a spokesman for the association could not be reached for comment. However, terms of the settlement would require State Parks to void the notice of exemption filed for the 2007 race, and complete an analysis of the environmental impacts of such events proposed from 2008 to 2011 before permits could be issued. State Parks would have to do the Staff file Oceano Dunes seen here from above with an estimate of 50,000 people attending the Oceano Dunes Beach Race Festival October 21, 2006, in Oceano. effect on the environment that needs to be analyzed," Orahoske said. "At Oceano Dunes, the impact is so great and the harm is so great.

Endangered species are just not compatible with the off-road area," See DUNES A4 same for the World Tour Watercraft Freeride Competition that was held in conjunction with the World Off-Road Racing Championship Series event last year. "This settlement certainly sends the (Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation) division a message that off-road vehicles have a significant.