2017 February PASO Magazine

ROUND TOWN
CAROL KENT WILL BE KEYNOTE SPEAKER
35 TH ANNUAL LADIES’ CONFERENCE
CONTINUES TO INSPIRE LOCAL WOMEN
This year’s Ladies’ Conference
in Atascadero will be held on the
second weekend in March, 10 and
11, a change from past years. Carol
Kent is an award-winning author
and speaker.
“I’ve learned that God is close
to the brokenhearted and he never
wastes our sorrow,” Kent said. “I’m
continuing to experience a new
kind of normal where I can make
hope-filled choices based on His
eternal truth. Every day I try to find
one thing to be thankful for and it’s
my goal to look around and do one
tangible act of loving compassion
for someone else who is walking a
difficult path. I’m also learning that
God gives us splashes of joy – and
even laughter – in the middle of a
difficult journey.”
The conference, now in the 35th
year, was started by Atascadero
resident Marline Lutz. She said
she wanted to bring the inspiring
speakers and musicians she’d hear
COUNTY PERSPECTIVE
By Bruce
Curtis
Weather or not: If you want to
see how goofy pop culture is trending,
just watch a network – any – on
New Year’s Eve.
Before you could say mute button,
the latest Auto-Tuned boy
band’s focus-group-generated riffs
broke the mood. Heavily wrapped
revelers shivered in the brisk 44
degree night as pretty, near-anorexic
commentators shivered in
street clothes, all waiting for the
great LED-bejeweled ball to drop
to the potholed pavement of Times
Square so they could go home and
get some hot chocolate. Happy
New Year!
In front of my TV I’m smug in
coastal California, basking in a
balmy 39 degrees. What?!
That’s right, as the first day of
January clicked into place, Paso
Robles was colder than New York
City – snow had even closed I-5
at the Grapevine. The forecast for
the first week of January promised
snow along the Santa Lucias down
to the 1200 foot level.
Years of warmer than normal winters
and drought had conditioned
us to think global warming was the
new normal, and we might as well
get used to it. But lately the climate
seems to have gotten nostalgic. Energetic
storm systems that rocked
the Central Coast from December
into January were broken up only
by what felt like a walk-in meat
locker. In less than 30 days, the rain
gauge above Lake Nacimiento at
Rocky Butte had hit 16.5 inches,
half a normal season’s rainfall.
What’s up with this? Is the return
of winter after a decade’s absence a
sign we’re well and truly done with
the drought?
Not exactly. Actually, California
looks more like a svelte model,
bundled up above, dressed for Malibu,
below: the northern part of the
state has exceeded its normal seasonal
precipitation numbers, warm
conditions earlier have thinned the
at conferences out of the area to
local women at a more affordable
cost. She wanted them to spend
part of a weekend being inspired
and pampered.
The conference begins on Friday,
March 10 with an opening session
and dessert from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
The next day, the conference will continue
from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and
includes lunch. The musicians once
again will be the Lisa Reiff Band.
Lisa Reiff has been a vocal coach
“The uproar hit when Justin Vineyards shaved clean a couple
of ridges and a ravine near Templeton, driving an emergency
ordinance that makes it illegal to cut down native trees,
including oaks, bay laurels, grey pines and sycamores.”
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snowpack, while to our south, water
supplies and snowpack remain critically
short.
The California Weather blog lays
out the nuts and bolts, blaming a
stationary blocking-front in the high
arctic. This stationary atmospheric
obstacle has channeled the Jet
stream’s cold air and storms down
our way, and the ridge looks to remain
in place through mid January.
So, by the time you read this, our
lakes, ponds and rain gauges may
all be full. Or not. That’s weather.
Diablo Dollars: As Pacific Gas
and Electric prepares to wind down
its nuclear power business, the
and studio vocalist for more than
30 years. Having battled depression
and a life-threatening illness that
nearly took her life, she shares her
struggle as a Christian woman.
The conference will be held at the
Colony Park Community Center,
5599 Traffic Way in Atascadero.
The cost is $60 and scholarships
are available. To register or to ask
questions, go to www.ladiesconference.com
or call Jan at 466-0992 or
Marline at 466-9203.
number one employer and tax generator
in San Luis Obispo County
will have left local governments
short, to the tune of hundreds of
millions in lost tax revenue.
The biggest impact will be shouldered
by county schools, but there
is good news; the utility has promised
an $85 million soft landing for
local education.
Paso Robles is one of six school
districts that formed a bargaining
coalition to secure as much funding
as possible, but the coalition has
had to wait until San Luis Coastal
Unified Schools put their stamp of
approval on the deal. That happened
in early December, putting
Paso Robles and five other cities
at the front of the line for PG&E’s
bank window. But before those discussions
happen, each city council
has to agree to the proposed settlement
and even then, it isn’t a
done deal until the California Public
Utilities Commission weighs in.
At least PG&E has favor with the
PUC, if critics are right.
Please see PERSPECTIVE page 36
34 PASO Magazine, February 2017