The Tribune from San Luis Obispo, California • 17

wwnMwiwnii 1 Saturday June 29 1996 B-l San Luis Obispo County Telegram-Titune SLO bank robbed at gunpoint B-3 iy- '7 I State water crane cuts power line B-3 TIMES PAST Ci fy to tern nurw' ATASCADERO foe 3-month-old Skate Park behind foe Masonic Temple on Olmeda and Lewis avenues But skating advocates think the law goes too far and are working on a compromise just too drastic of a measure" said Erica Brewster owner of foe skate shop Sports Crazy in Atascadero Also a member of the Skate Park Committee Brewster said her group will work to come up with skateboarding and skating all highways sidewalks and roadways adjacent to or in close proximity to a public building or buriness It would also include parks and schools unless specifically permitted At least two members of the City Council think the ordinance is a good idea while a member of the new Skate Park Committee says its too extreme Mayor George Highland said the police need the law to stop problems generated by young skate boarders and skaters hanging out at fest food restaurants the Wells Fargo Bank at East Mall and El Camino Real and a couple other hot spots He acknowledged that only a small percentage of these kids caused problems but said it will give police the to give them a warning and foe next time a citation" When a skater is cited foe ordinance also allows police to seize skates or skateboards as evidence and comes with a fine of $100 to $500 for an infraction or $1000 and up to six months in County Jail for a misdemeanor charge got a skateboard said Councilman David Bewley see any reason for these kids to hang out in front of Taco Bell ride the walls and harass the citizens We've had some complaints at Wells Fargo They pick on people flexing their muscles and we need that" Bewley said kids will have to just walk through town holding their skateboards on their way to Please see SKATE B-2 STARE DanKrieger California Climate was ripe for wine i Grapes!" in expression is old as Hesiod and Aesop in Ancient Greece Aesop used the aphorism te depict an That's the day we usually use the expression today But in Spanish and Mexican California the vino de los Californios was just too harsh is wanting but intelligent persons to make wine ofa superior quality "wrote British merchant Alexander Forbes Forbes' 1839 "California: A History of Upper and Lower was the first book in foe English language devoted solely to the subject of California if Forbes was living in Tepic Mexico when he wrote it He had pdy visited Baja California But he recognized the potential of the Mediterranean-like climate And he doubtless missed the mellow tiarets so fevered by My wife Liz and I moved to San Luis Obispo 25 years ago We had beat living on the edge of the Napa Valley That region was the Center of California's wine Industry We knew that Ignace Paderewski the Polish pianist had raised Zlnfandel wine grapes pear Paso Robles in the early years of this century But we were struck by the relative absence of vineyards along the Central Coast in 1971 Within five years all that (hanged The handful of wineries west of Templeton was joined by downs of viticultural enterprises In the Paso Robles region the Edna Valley and the Los Berros district "While I no longer drink wine I continue to eqjoy studying the history of the beverage My long standing involvement with the San Luis Obispo County Historical Society has brought foe into close contact with the adobe residence and winery site of Pierre Hypolite Dallidet Dallidet was among the first successful commercial vintners ih California Wine production in California had to await the coming of the Franciscan missionaries Fructose or sugar from fruits was difficult to obtain in pre- Hispanic California The Chumash native Americans tho resided along the coast from foe Malibu to Estero Bay ate fruits such as toyon elderberry prickly pear cactus and seasonally fresh manzanita Xhey soaked some of these in water to form beverages We know that they had a eraving for sweet things They sometimes made sugar from the sweet deposit left by land other scale insects on stems of the broad-bladed i grass There were no 1 honey bees in California until foe mid-19th century Fermented beverages were rarely used by Native Californians They were more Hkely to become intoxicated by thinking an inftision of jimson DOWN Telegram-Tribune Caltrans will also put up signs alerting motorists in advance about vista point locations where foe seals can safely be viewed To keep foe sods off the highway which has been a problem foe agency plans to put up hogwire and install gates that people can get through but seals Caltrans has already put up a temporary concrete barrier near Piedras Blancas to keep the seals off of the highway Please see SEALS B-2 of the By Jeff Ballinger Telegram-Tribune Skateboarders and skaters already considered outlaws by some Atascadero residents may soon become true law breakers by just wheeling through downtown The City Council will soon consider an ordinance to ban the activities from foe downtown business district The ordinance would prohibit RICK MARTEL: KCOY news anchor's last show aired Thursday Martel off the air again SANTA MARIA By Dave Wilcox Telegram-Tribune Television news anchor Rick Martel was fired Friday by new owners a year-and-a-half after his controversial departure from its chief competitor Martel's last newscast aired Thursday His one-year contract was renewed in April -by the station owners Martel said Friday afternoon 1 Martel 64 said he was simply told that the station was headed a new "Here again their prerogative I News director John Pilios said he wouldn't characterize the decision as a firing saying Martel did took this nothing wrong very calmly "The com- tjgrQUSe pany exer- 1 cised an op- knewitWOS tion that it hadinhiscon- COmiTlg tract" said Pi- sooneror A memo Pi-lios sent Friday to KCOVs Rick Martel staff informed out a them of Mar- departure news expansion has necessitated a complete reexamination of our entire news operation" Pilios wrote a result KCOY has ended its Relationship with Martel effective immediate- ly i sincerely thank Rick for his contributions over foe past 14 months and wish him all foe best" Martel anchored newscast for nearly 15 years becoming a local television institution His perfectly coiffed silver mane and baritone delivery' became Martel trademarks His departure from KSBY in March 1995 stirred an outcry among devoted fens who blamed Elisabeth Murdoch the former coowner for forcing him out Murdoch and Martel said foe decision for him to leave was mutual Santa Maria-based KCOY saw departure as an opportunity to boost its newscast ratings and snapped him up within weeks Pilios however said foe decision to dump Martel is among several changes being made by die new station owners Benedek expanding our news effort under our owners he said adding that plans call for hiring additional staff changing the image and approach of our news product to be a more upbeat fester-paced news Please see MARTEL 12 NOT QUITE SEEING EYE TO EYE: Chad Arroyo Grande exchanges glances with one Clydesdale horses visiting the Soto Sports Complex in Arroyo Grandejpn Friday Spectators lined clomping horses was groomed prepared and paraded -r 4 David MiddlKimpTeiegram-Tribuna the Anheuser Busch Budweiser streets to watch as the team of Plans proposed to manage seals Berries backed at Capitol CAMBRIA By Coleen Bondy Telegram-Tribune CAMBRIA At least a half-dozen public and private agencies are working on plans to manage foe growing northern elephant seal population that has taken up residence along the beaches south of San Simeon point On Ftiday the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council met at the Cambria Pines Lodge It heard updates on three different plans being prepared to address the seal More Salmon fisherman fight sea lions E-6 problem has if anything increased in said Chairwoman Karin Strasser Kauffinan Cars are stopping at unsafe points along Highway 1 south of San Simeon so people can gawk at the seals People have reportedly harassed the seals and seals have bitten people Caltrans has come up with a draft plan to keep the seals off the WAKING UP: Agencies are working on proposals to protect the growing number of seals sunning themselves near Highway 1 highway and to keep people from stopping unsafely to look at them The draft plan is a condition of approval of a Caltrans project to straighten out 17 curvy nriles of Highway 1 starting about" 12 miles northed Cambria Caltrans plans to put up educa- fencing install large boulders be-tional signs informing foe public' tween the highway and foe beach WASHINGTON (AP) -Rep Andrea Seastrand munched on strawberries on the Capitol Hill lawn Friday and urged the Food and Drug Administration to make clear that there is no link between strawberries and a harmful parasite In a bipartisan snack the Shell Beach Republican was joined by a California colleague Rep Sam Farr issue of strawberries is said Farr (D-Car-mel) pointing to a Texas Department of Health announcement Friday that it was lifting a June 8 advisory cautioning people in Houston against eating fresh strawberries Farr and Seastrand who represent coastal California districts that are at foe heart of the state's- $600 million strawberry Industry asked the FDA to tell the American public that there is no evidence strawberries have been contaminated with cy-dospora That parasite has sickened at least 300 people in a dozen states and Canada over the past month the Centers fin Disease Control and Prevention says The CDC said Thursday it is now looking at raspberries as a possible source for a parasite that causes diarrhea stomach cramps nausea and vomiting But FDA deputy sioner Mary Pendergast stressed that the outbreak may have originated from various kinds of berries or Please see IERRES B-l about elephant seals and foe laws that protect them said Gary Rug-gerone a senior environmental planner with Caltrans The agency also plans to put up signs along foe highway in foe area where the seals come up on the beach Developer cleared of theft charges The padresplanted the first grapevine The Vina Madre or Mother was raised from a Cutting brought to Mission San Gabriel during foe mid-1770s By (798 10 of the missions were ndsing grapes During the 1820s father Jose Sanchez was producing 400 barrels of wine a year at Mission San Gabriel During foe same time Father Antonio Martinez was making more than 100 barrels a year Gum the well-tended vineyards to foe east of foe mission church ifl San Luis Obispa These stone-Mced vineyards are clearly forked on early maps of our county seat Zlhe mission-era pressings yielded sweet grape juice The padree fermented it for focnmental purposes This juice wis extremely low in tannic drid As a result the wine foully soured before It could a sufficiently Proper aging also limited by foe lack of bper white oak barrels The resulting wine had a harsh to 1L This was probably the free of Alexander Please see MST0RY 1-2 MSO ROBLES By Jeff Ballinger Telegram-Tribune its deliberations Back in Paso Robles on Friday Munari said the jury returned with its unanimous verdict after 90 minutes He felt the case never should have gone to trial charged me with stealing my own said an exasperated Munari The farm equipment was on land just north of the San Luis Obispo-Monterey County line Munari and Thomas developed the farm into a horse ranch but the partnership work out Murani held foe title and the ownership was eventually going to be A Salinas jury found Paso Robles developer Jack Munari not guilty of seven felony counts Thursday in Monterey County Superior Court Munari was originally charged with 10 felony counts of grand theft and possession of stolen property in connection with about $50000 worth of farm equipment 'which Monterey County rancher Bill Thomas claimed belonged to him The judge threw out three of the charges before the jury began Please see MUNARI B-2.