Free Republic

To the racists who displayed an “Embrace white pride” banner on a Templeton overpass: You may bristle at the term “racists” — and declare you do not deserve to be slapped with that label — but that’s what the “white pride” movement is. Did you not know that? Did you think your “white pride” statement was the equivalent of “Black pride” or “gay pride” or “trans pride”? It was not. White pride is a euphemism for white supremacy. It is a dog whistle for hate and intolerance, a rallying cry for white people who feel put upon; who harp about...

For generations, the arch on the right side of Spooner’s Cove in Montaña de Oro State Park has been a source of second glances from passersby and inspiration for landscape photographers, family photos and no doubt even a few seaside marriage proposals. It also was written into area history for centuries. But, as Kerry Keltz of El Moro wrote on NextDoor, “Nature giveth, nature taketh away!” On Christmas Eve, locals started reporting that the arch, which added an artistic flair to an already stunning landscape, had collapsed. “What?!,” wrote Sophie Fauchier of Ferrell on NextDoor, “I have been admiring that...

SLO County sheriff responds to report of active shooter in Nipomo.The Highway 101 Tefft Street off-ramp and Tefft Street at Oakglen Avenue have been closed, according to scanner traffic.The FBI is on the scene, helping secure the area, according to scanner traffic.

My candidacy for Mayor is inspired by the collective need to reinforce San Luis Obispo’s foundation—building upon our core values of solvency, safety, civility, transparency, and accountability in our city government for the community we serve. It is time to build community. In times of crisis, I offer creative problem solving in lieu of politics. We are faced with a timely opportunity for mature, resolute leadership. As a successful land use consultant, and a small business owner and interior designer for more than 20 years, I have had the opportunity to productively build consensus through collaboration on complex and diverse...

Takedown of shooter “not a win,” says sheriff. Last Wednesday, Mason James Lira, 26, attacked police in Paso Robles, California, murdered a homeless man, and shot San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s deputy Nicholas Dreyfus in the face. “This was a planned ambush,” Sheriff Ian Parkinson told reporters. In the ensuing manhunt, Lira moved from place to place, using “military-style tactics.” He waited for officers to arrive, and “he shot them just like he shot my deputy.” Lira shot three more officers before police shot and killed him on Thursday afternoon. For Sheriff Parkinson, “this was not a win,” hardly the...

A California man who is suspected to have shot a San Luis Obispo County deputy during an "ambush attack" on the local police department on Wednesday was shot and killed after a standoff with officers late Thursday afternoon. The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office said that officers confronted Mason Lira, 26, in Paso Robles after receiving reports of a shot officer just after 2 p.m. "Law enforcement officers were stationed in this area as part of a containment team assigned to keep the suspect, Mason Lira, from evading officers who were beginning a search of the riverbed," the sheriff's...

The family of Kristin Smart, the California college student who vanished 23 years ago after attending a party near her school, was reportedly told by federal agents to be prepared for news and to secure a family spokesperson. Denise Smart, the woman's mother, told the Stockton Record that she was contacted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was told to "be ready." "This is really going to be something you don't expect. We want to give you the support you need," she said she was told. The report said the FBI was not clear on what the development was,...

The family of Kristin Smart said there’s no imminent news expected in the case of the missing California college student, who vanished in 1996.

Contrary to recent reports, federal agents told The Chronicle on Wednesday that they did not tell the family of missing Cal Poly freshman Kristin Smart that a big break in the 23-year cold case was imminent. A spokesman for the family confirmed Wednesday that the person who advised Smart’s mother, Denise, was not an active FBI agent.

Her disappearance sparked a massive manhunt, with searchers using helicopters, horses and an army of volunteers, and even ground-penetrating radar. She was never found and was presumed dead. The cold case took a new twist Tuesday when the FBI and the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department announced they were excavating at three sites on a hillside near the dormitories. The search is centered on the giant “P” in a hillside sign that stands for Cal Poly. Officials said they picked the locations based on the activities of human decomposition dogs. ... Sheriff’s investigators along with a specialized FBI team...

<p>Kristin Smart, 19, of Stockton, disappeared May 25, 1996.</p> <p>San Luis Obispo detectives are looking at Scott Peterson in connection with the disappearance of a college student nearly seven years ago.</p> <p>Peterson, husband of Laci Peterson, went to Cal Poly at the same time as Kristin Smart, who disappeared May 25, 1996.</p>

When Atascadero resident Fay Johnson’s neighbor called the county to file a complaint about her eight family members gathering for Easter dinner, she said the shelter-at-home order had gone too far. “If that sheriff had come down my driveway and told me to disperse my party, they would have had to arrest me because I was not going to do that. I did everything I could to keep everybody safe,” Johnson said. “It’s just gone too far.” On Sunday morning, she joined the 10 to 15 adults and children who gathered in downtown San Luis Obispo to protest the shelter-at-home...

Police Chief Deanna Cantrell had left her personal handgun in a restaurant bathroom July 10. She was disciplined but kept her job. Cantrell left her Glock .380 in an El Pollo Loco but quickly announced it was missing via a YouTube video. Mangan’s brother-in-law saw social media postings and told authorities he believed Mangan had the weapon. Mangan could have been charged with a misdemeanor...

Surveillance photos have been released of a man suspected of stealing the San Luis Obispo police chief’s gun after she forgot it in a restaurant bathroom Wednesday. A man (left) suspected of stealing a gun belonging to San Luis Obispo Police Chief Deanna Cantrell (right) after she forgot it in a restaurant bathroom on July 10, 2019. (San Luis Obispo Police Department) “Even though my gun was in a holster, it didn’t stay clipped to my pants, so I removed it, and I placed it next to me,” Cantrell said. She exited the bathroom without the gun, and by the...

PASO ROBLES, Calif. (AP) — A pregnant California woman has filed a claim saying she found a bloody fingertip in a salad at an Applebee's restaurant in Paso Robles. Cathleen Martin of Atascadero tells The Tribune (http://bit.ly/1S8TXpx) in San Luis Obispo that she was with her husband and child at the restaurant in December and everyone ate from her Chinese chicken salad. Attorney Eric Traut of Santa Ana says the manager confirmed the fingertip belonged to a cook.

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – After 43 years in prison, parole officials again say it is safe to free Charles Manson follower Bruce Davis. Parole commissioners recommended Thursday that Davis be paroled in the 1969 slayings of musician Gary Hinman and stuntman Donald "Shorty" Shea. It's the fourth time for such a recommendation, but the 72-year-old Davis remains imprisoned at California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo.

Sen. Ted Cruz’s wife grew from baking bread in SLO to breaking bread with the Washington elite Presidential politics first captured Heidi Nelson Cruz’s attention in the 1980s, when the 12-year-old read a Time magazine piece about the Ronald Reagan-Walter Mondale race while working at her San Luis Obispo bread stand. She would later become a Capitol Hill intern, a policy aide on the George W. Bush campaign and economic director for the Western Hemisphere with the National Security Council. But while government and politics might have been her calling at one time, nothing in her background could have prepared...

Presidential politics first captured Heidi Nelson Cruz’s attention in the 1980s, when the 12-year-old read a Time magazine piece about the Ronald Reagan-Walter Mondale race while working at her San Luis Obispo bread stand. She would later become a Capitol Hill intern, a policy aide on the George W. Bush campaign and economic director for the Western Hemisphere with the National Security Council. But while government and politics might have been her calling at one time, nothing in her background could have prepared her for the summer of 2013, when her husband, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, helped force a shutdown...

The plant is expected to go online early this month after being finished in just six months, unusually fast in California. Projects of this sort typically take years, and often decades, of environmental reviews, public hearings and lawsuits. Dozens of other cities and towns over the years have considered desalination plants as the way out of water shortages. Critics, however, say the technology is expensive, energy intensive and produces huge amounts of brine waste that damages the environment. California has 11 other desalination plants, and another 16 proposed. Citing Brown's drought declaration, San Luis Obispo County and local Cambria officials...

I am a lifetime law-abiding gun owner and avid shooter. In my life I have had many occasions to buy firearms for sporting purposes. I have not had a need to own an AK-47 nor an opportunity to try one. I am told it is the finest assault rifle ever made. If I am in a situation wherein the AK-47 is the best choice, then I need to get one and I believe that I have that right guaranteed by the Second Amendment. Assuming that situation is in defense of my home or country, if an AK-47 makes the difference...