SLO LIFE Oct/Nov 2020

News & Updates
SEPTEMBER 2020
9/2
Community leaders submit an application officially
making the case for why Vandenburg Air Force Base
should be home to the US Space Command. Provisionally
headquartered at Colorado Springs, the command in charge
of space warfare is looking for a new home that will house
1,500 military personnel, including a four-star general and
international liaisons. Vandenburg’s nomination is one of
several from more than two dozen states looking to house
the new headquarters. The Air Force plans to announce its
preferred location in January 2021.
9/17
Tianna Arata’s attorney announces to the San Luis Obispo Superior Court
his intention to file a demurrer for her case—a plea entry that does not
dispute the facts of the prosecution’s claims, but argues that the facts do
not justify legal action. Arata, a local activist and former Cuesta College
student, was charged with five felonies and three misdemeanors for events
that occurred at a Black Lives Matter protest she helped organize in San
Luis Obispo in July. Eventually the charges were lowered to thirteen
misdemeanors, and the court is scheduled to hear her plea on October 22.
9/3
The History Center of San Luis Obispo County announces
the creation of the Dallidet Adobe Endowment Fund to
support the Dallidet Adobe and Gardens. An initial $50,000
pledge has been made to maintain the adobe and its gardens
in perpetuity in memory of Peter R. and Carol F. Andre
by Jim Andre (their son) and Paul Kellogg. Attorney Peter
Andre was instrumental in the preservation of the Dallidet
Adobe, in which the Dallidet family lived from the 1850s
through the 1950s, and in the creation of the History Center
in 1953. Due to current restrictions, guests may only visit the
gardens at 1185 Pacific Street on Sundays, and virtual tours
of the adobe are conducted on Thursdays.
9/16
The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office
drops all charges against Francisco Orozco, a twenty-yearold
Oakland man accused of a mass shooting during a
concert in May 2019 at the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular
Recreation Area that sent six people to the hospital.
Orozco, who could have been sentenced to prison for life
if convicted on all charges and enhancements, spent four
months in jail before being released on bail in August 2019.
The District Attorney’s Office said the dismissal was the
result of additional investigation, forensic testing, and an
uncooperative witness.
9/18
Correctional Officer Ricardo Ancheta, a California Men’s Colony employee,
is among ninety-eight people honored during the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation’s thirty-fifth annual Medal of Valor ceremony.
For coming to the aid of a crash victim whose SUV was wedged under a
semitrailer truck, Ancheta received a Silver Star Medal, which honors “acts
of bravery under extraordinary or unusual circumstances.” In a pre-recorded
ceremony, CDCR Secretary Ralph Diaz said Ancheta and the other honorees
“show that the bravery and professionalism of our staff extends beyond
institution walls and into the community.”
9/19
Hundreds of mourners gather in front of the SLO County Courthouse
to hold a vigil for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died
September 18 at the age of eighty-seven from complications of metastatic
pancreatic cancer. Local speakers from Women’s March SLO and Planned
Parenthood Central Coast encouraged attendees to vote in the November
election to honor Justice Ginsburg’s legacy. SLO LIFE
OCT/NOV 2020 | SLO LIFE MAGAZINE | 23