Robin's Restaurant

Tofu Pad Thai With Prawns

100% Natural Angus Beef Burger

Living Room Dining

Heated Outdoor Patio & Garden

Heated Indoor Patio

Chef Michael Wood, Owner Shanny Covey

Crispy Vietnamese Spring Roll

At a magical intersection of the Pacific and the piney hills and dells just south of Hearst Castle, deep in the timeless, rustic heart of Cambria, thrives one of the finest international restaurants on the coast.

At first glance, one might think Robin’s was a lovely, vine-laced old home in Cambria’s historic East Village, and it once was – and still is. Robin’s continues to radiate that warm feeling because it was a home a long time before it became a restaurant, and owner Shanny Covey has cultivated that ambiance while also offering airy, contemporary, heated indoor and outdoor patio and garden dining.

But what truly sets Robin’s apart is the inspiring menu graced with intricate dishes that bring the world to little hidden Cambia. To trace the global influences and diverse flavors that illuminate Robin’s menu, one has to first understand that Robin’s is the sparkling reflection of the sophistication of its longtime owner and co-founder.

Raised in Singapore, one of the great food hubs of the world, Shanny moved to the US when she was 17. While studying at LSU she took the Greyhound west to meet a friend who was living and working in Cambria for the summer. Captivated by the beach and beauty of the area, she moved out to Cambria in the mid ’70s and met her former husband, Robin.

“He’s the reason we started Robin’s. The restaurant was named after him,” Shanny says. “He loved to cook and he loved to cook international food. He would learn how to make curries and different things like that.”

That international sensibility permeates all their dishes in one way or another. Curries are still a vital part of the menu. In fact, Robin’s menu hasn’t changed much over the years because people return for their favorites, and the menu is basically a collection of favorites.

“There’s a few things on the menu that have been there from day one, like a couple of the curries, the lamb curry, the curried chicken, the chows, and at lunch time the Mexican chopped chicken tacos – they’ve been on there for a long, long time. They’re very popular.

“We always have to have some staples on there that people come back time and time again for, like our salmon bisque. And then we have room to be creative and change other things out also. So it’s a nice balance.”

That’s why specialties like the salmon bisque (8 oz. $5/16 oz. $8), Crispy Vietnamese Spring Rolls vegetarian-style with tofu, kim-chee salad, chili oil and sweet chili sauce ($8) and Singapore Chicken Sate with pickled cucumber salad and spicy peanut sauce ($10) are carved in stone on the menu. At the same time you can also find an outrageously flavorful 100% natural angus-beef burger with tomato, grilled sweet onion, white cheddar, house sweet pickles and aioli, served with herb garlic fries ($13).

The dinner menu dazzles with an Ahi Tuna Poke with pineapple, chiles, coconut, sesame seaweed and siracha ($13), an All Natural Flat Iron Steak with garlic smashed potatoes, organic asparagus, crispy onions, cabernet peppercorn butter ($26); Slipper-Tail Lobster Enchiladas with lime crèma, avocado, white cheddar, tomatillo salsa verde, cumin black beans and brown basmati rice and cilantro-mint chutney ($21), Tofu Pad Thai Noodles & Prawns with cabbage, bok choy, green onions, cilantro, egg, bean sprouts, crushed peanuts, spicy tamarind soy sauce ($20), and four different curries: Roghan Josh, Indian lamb curry ($21); Tempeh Korma, Indian coconut curry with vegetables ($18); Thai Green Chicken in mild coconut curry ($19); and Malaysian Chicken in spicy coconut curry ($19).

A quick survey of some of the wealth of robust ingredients that go into their designer dishes, side dishes, salads , sauces, dressings, preserves, chutneys, butters and aiolis – all made from scratch – hints at the excellence of Robin’s. For example: the piquillo almond tapenade (with the Meze Plate); kim-chee (with the Spring Rolls); sambal aioli (with the Crusted Calimari); louie sauce (with the Crispy Crab Cake); ricotta salata (with the Grilled Tuna Asparagus Salad); house sweet pickles (with the Angus Burger); mango salsa (with the Halibut Tacos); candied pecans (with the Bloomsdale Spinach Salad); citrus pepita basmati rice (with the Grilled Sea Bass); saffron & dried fruit couscous with the Morrocan Duck Breast); sweet corn polenta (with the All Natural Pork Chop); and lemon thyme jus (with the Roasted Chicken).

Once the depth and richness of all the tastes and flavors blended into their “homecrafted global cuisine” are absorbed, the brilliance of Robin’s really hits home.

Shanny has set a high standard in both substance and style that has been refined over time and invigorated under Chef Michael Wood. But even in the beginning, before opening Robin’s, Shanny and Robin had established the direction they were headed in food quality.

“Before we opened the restaurant we owned a health food store, so eating fresh, healthy foods was always a priority for my husband, and it continues to be a priority, not just for myself but also for my guests,” she says. “I want to feel good about what I’m serving my guests.”

The health food store was located on Main Street, where Indigo Moon is today.

“We had a little café. People could take food out in the garden or to go. Then at one point we held once-a-month sit-down dinners, community, family-style in one of the rooms there. That was probably the birth of the restaurant per se. We developed a following of people who would sign up ahead of time and come to dinner. It was a really great experience.”

When they first opened the restaurant in 1985 it was on Bridge Street. Then they moved to Burton Drive to an adobe home built in the ’30s by a former concrete construction foreman who worked for W. R. Hearst. The original living room, foyer and fireplace are still there.

So from health food store to café, from Bridge Street to Burton Drive, Robin’s has always been committed to home and healthy food, and now with “farm to table” more popular than ever, the restaurant is riding the new wave.

“It’s definitely become more and more popular over the last five to 10 years, and as far as we’re concerned at Robin’s, we’ve always been farm to table. We’ve always gone to market from the health-food-store days and from when we started the restaurant,” Shanny says.

Robin’s has always been ahead of its time, and now almost 30 years later the world is catching up with them. Now, more and more people want to eat as organic or natural and fresh as they can get.

“We’ve always tried to source local as much as possible, especially with our produce, going to the markets. And when we go to the markets we always search out unsprayed and organic first.”

Robin’s goal is to create an enjoyable living room/patio dining experience and service for their special guests that match the quality of the food.

“We’re very dedicated to providing hospitality to our guests from the heart. Our purpose is to deliver warm hospitality and delicious global cuisine,” Shanny says. “I get excited, my staff gets excited, when we can make people get excited and enthused about the things that they taste here, the international flavors, and we want to make them feel warm and welcome.”

Shanny and her staff have made the restaurant a home away from home. “The ambiance fits what we do here because we want people to feel at home, the home that they come to when they join us for a meal.”

And it will be a meal with global roots, made with a world of goodness in the ingredients, prepared with an elegance, flair and attention to detail found in the finest restaurants in America.

“I feel that’s what makes us unique,” Shanny says. “We’ve gone from our tag line of ‘home cooking from around the world’ to ‘international fare,’ ‘farmer’s market fresh’ – it’s all about providing an eclectic experience to our guests. We can have a group of four people come in and they can all have some different dish from around the world, and I’ll be excited about it.”

Every Sunday in the summer Robin’s presents live music as part of their “Summer Nights in the Garden” series. They prepare a tapas menu, feature a local winery, and alternately offer mellow vocals, jazz, violin, and the flamenco-style guitar of LA-based Robert Longley.

“They’re magical evenings in the beauty of the garden,” she says. The luxurious gardens have also attracted local artists, and now Robin’s hosts Wednesday morning art sessions for those with paint, brush, canvas and easel.

The drive is a big part of the fun, one of the most scenic in the country, and well worth it from any point in the county. And it’s fun when you get there. Evergreen Cambria is an important, star-crossed California coastal town because of its central location – halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco on spellbinding Highway 1 between Morro Rock in Morro Bay, miles of ocean and beaches, and Hearst Castle, just south of Big Sur. It’s also important because of its unique land and ocean resources. Moonstone Beach in Cambria is a great place to view migrating whales, sea otters, elephant seals, and glorious California sunsets.

Entering Cambria Village for the first time is like stumbling into a western town from a bygone era – it’s even got a Main Street, a general store, antique shopping and local shops, but there’s much more to it. Take a look around and you will discover that Cambria is a contemporary oasis for excellent, high-quality restaurants, paced by Robin’s, a rich California-Asian garden of fusion delights in full bloom where the wide ocean meets the tall pines.

Robin’s Restaurant, 4095 Burton Drive, Cambria, California 93428. Hours: Open daily. Lunch Monday-Saturday 11:00 a.m. – 3:50 p.m.; Early Dinner 4:00 p.m. – 4:50 p.m.; Dinner Nightly 5:00 p.m. – 9ish p.m.; Sunday Brunch 11:00 a.m . – 3:20 p.m. Telephone: (805) 927-5007. Web: http://www.robinsrestaurant.com, www.facebook.com/RobinsRestaurant, https://twitter.com/RobinsCambria

CalCoastNews published a new article on Friday, April 19 titled, “San Luis Obispo’s homeless barred from services.” The article reignites the claim that some of the homeless are prohibited from utilizing Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo (CAPSLO)’s services. Like the article they published nearly a year ago, which included similar accusations that were made by a non-credible source, CalCoastNews published a misleading article. Here are the claims CCN has made (in bold) with our corrections.

The homeless are required to follow a set of rules imposed under the tenure of Dee Torres, homeless services coordinator. If the homeless don’t follow the rules, they are suspended or barred from receiving help.

Torres is not solely responsible for managing and enforcing rules. The Prado Day Center is managed by Shawn Ison and the Maxine Lewis Memorial Shelter is managed by Della Wagner. Torres works with Ison and Wagner and collaborate on decisions regarding clients of CAPSLO’s homeless services.

Peggy Fowler, a former 20-year employee CAPSO’s homeless services, says the refusal to provide food to homeless barred from services is not only cruel, but also increases the likelihood someone will resort to stealing in order to eat. “Suspensions from homeless services are for violation of the rules which include throwing a cigarette butt on the ground or arriving five minutes early,” Fowler said. “I felt that making someone sleep in the dirt for failing to do a chore is wrong.”

The ROCK cannot independently verify Fowler’s subjective statements. As we reported previously, we looked into the nature of these allegations. “Throwing a cigarette butt on the ground” or “arriving five minutes early” are not grounds for suspension or banishment from homeless services, according to CAPSLO policies. Disciplinary action such as suspension and banishment require repeated and severe offenses, which we address below.

Taking food to homeless outside the Prado Day Center is prohibited because that circumvents the incentive for the homeless to enter case management. CalCoastNews didn’t cite the primary motivation behind these rules, which directly coincide with case management. Their goal is not, as CCN says, to “keep people homeless.” It’s the opposite. The goal is to encourage service recipients to be independent and not rely on services for an indeterminable amount of time. CAPSLO’s policies, which strongly push for client responsibility and independence, are commonplace among homeless shelters across the country.

The rules include a ban on giving food to homeless persons who have been suspended from the program, entering the Prado Day Center through the driveway on foot and failing to control the physical tics and other behaviors resulting from medical conditions or mental illnesses.

CalCoastNews omitted substance abuse as a reason clients are barred from homeless services. According to officials, Prado Day Center has a limited number of volunteers that assist in the shelter’s day-to-day operations, and they’re not trained to handle people with severe mental illness — those who exhibit a strong tendency to behave violently, thus posing a threat to other clients — and substance abusers. According to CAPSLO’s policies, clients who want to take advantage of CAPSLO’s homeless services must enroll in case management; clients going through case management must also be alcohol and drug-free. “Physical tics and other behaviors” do not accurately describe how one is disqualified from partaking in homeless services.

On 920 KVEC’s “Hometown Radio” with Dave Congalton, CalCoastNews’ writers have complained about how much funding CAPSLO receives compared to other homeless shelters and services. However, officials have repeatedly gone on the record to push for detox and mental health services, services that could help rehabilitate those who suffer from problematic mental and substance issues. These vital services require funding. Yet CalCoastNews has explicitly communicated their intent to deprive CAPSLO of funding — some of that would go toward helping those who would otherwise be barred from services.

If a homeless person fails to follow Torres’ rules, she bars them from receiving meals and a place to sleep and shower, according to the program’s rules and dozens of citations CCN staff have viewed. Many of those barred are refused services for months or years because they are unable to make it through a laborious readmission process Torres has put into place, Fowler said.

To date, CalCoastNews has not shown any of the “dozens” of citations from people barred from CAPSLO services. CalCoastNews doesn’t explain the “laborious readmission process” to readers, but states that Torres is the primary enforcer, which is inaccurate. The readmission process involves a drug test to show that the person seeking readmission is sober. Medical records and documentation must show that the person seeking readmission is no longer a danger to anyone else. Without evidence to substantiate her claims, Fowler’s statements are purely subjective and incendiary.

CalCoastNews have spoken to several ex-employees who The ROCK has verified were terminated from their positions at CAPSLO. CAPSLO policy prohibits disclosure of employment records, so the specific causes for their termination is not public knowledge. CalCoastNews has repeatedly declined to disclose their sources’ termination, which would provide objectivity and allow readers to question their sources. Similarly, CalCoastNews originally did not disclose that one of their sources, Ralph Almirol, physically abused Torres and had a criminal record that spanned nearly 20 years. The website has a long history with lack of transparency, non-disclosure and willful deprivation of context.

One rule strictly enforced by CAPSLO prohibits the homeless from coming within an eighth of a mile, or 660 feet, of the Prado Day Center between 4 p.m. and 8:30 a.m. and within an eighth of a mile of the Maxine Lewis Memorial Shelter between 7:00 a.m. and 5 p.m. Torres enforces the policy because her employees are afraid of the homeless, so she wants the homeless out of the area when employees are coming and going, [former employee Estella Bonds] said.

As we reported on February 18, CalCoastNews does not mention hours of operation for Prado Day Center, which would easily explain why CAPSLO prohibits homeless from entering the facility or loitering in the area. Prado Day Center is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. After the center closes, clients who need overnight shelter are sent by bus to the Maxine Lewis Memorial Shelter. The Maxine Lewis Memorial Shelter operates exclusively during the evening hours and clients must vacate the premises by 7:30 a.m. The hours are readily available on the Friends of Prado Day Center and Maxine Lewis Memorial Shelter websites. The claim made by Bonds is contrary to common sense.

The ROCK can confirm that corrections were e-mailed to CalCoastNews writers when they published these details previously, but they continue to publish misinformation.

In 2008, Torres’ boyfriend San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Adam Hill became the founding chair of the Homeless Services Oversight Council, a group with a plan to end homelessness in 10 years by promoting a 200-bed shelter to be managed by Torres. Those staying at the shelter are to be required to give 50 to 70 percent of their income to case management allegedly to be used to get them into housing.

The comment is wildly misleading. Sources familiar with Homeless Services Oversight Council activities reported that Hill, who started dating Torres in mid-2011 (not 2008, as CCN suggested), has recused himself from CAPSLO-related agenda items. This is confirmed in board minutes, which are public record and readily available by request. The website claimed that Hill voted to “provide government funding to CAPSLO,” but public records show otherwise.

The proposed homeless shelter, which was originally slated to be built on South Higuera St., has hit a series of community and bureaucratic roadblocks. At this stage, there has been little discussion on who would be managing the shelter, assuming the shelter will be constructed. There is no documentation indicating that Torres would be managing the shelter.

Several law enforcement agencies are looking into allegations that those managing the required savings accounts have been misappropriating the funds.

Law enforcement officials deny that they are looking into allegations of misappropriation — allegations which originated from CalCoastNews, not the site’s sources. In mid-February, CalCoastNews co-founder Dan Blackburn called into Congalton’s show and announced that he notified the Office of the Attorney General of the allegations and would be receiving a statement from them in a matter of days. No statement by their office was made. The ROCK contacted the Office of the Attorney General for comment. Were were told by staffers that they received no communication from Blackburn or any other writers working for CalCoastNews.

Officials told The ROCK that CalCoastNews has not come forward with evidence to substantiate the misappropriation allegations, even though the site recently started to solicit donations under the guise that the allegations were already proven to be true.

Clams, mussels and oysters

Albacore wrap in a tomato tortilla

Clams Casino

Mark and Bonnie Tognazzini

Exterior, Dockside 3

Tourists traveling Morro Bay’s Embarcadero north of Beach Street toward Morro Rock are often surprised to see a large white fishing boat in the parking lot with its raised bow pointing south, going nowhere.

Now the surprise inside of a surprise for tourists and locals alike is what’s become of the historical boat-shaped building, and how it’s been reconnected it with its origins while setting a fresh course in Morro Bay fish dining.

Originally a fish market in the ’70s, then a series of fish shacks, and most recently home of Thai Bounty, the landlocked two-story with a colorful history on the waterfront is now sailing under a new flag. It’s been remodeled and rechristened Dockside 3, joining the mini fleet of Dockside seafood restaurants owned by the seafaring Tognazzini clan – Mark, Bonnie, Leah and Marc.

What is this phenomenon, though, three Dockside restaurants within earshot of each other? There’s the original Tognazzini’s Dockside, one of the premier high-end seafood restaurants on the Embarcadero since 2004; Dockside Too, the scaled-down, outdoor fish-market hang-out with live music, since 2006; and now Dockside 3 since January — almost next door to each other. What does Dockside 3 offer that other Docksides don’t?

That’s the next surprise. Dockside 3 is a combination smokehouse, pub and oyster bar, and the eye-opening menu is welcome news to all diners and drinkers seeking exciting new fusions on the changing, contemporary Embarcadero.

“Our mainstay is our smoked product,” says Mark Tognazzini, who was born and raised in Morro Bay and has been an active commercial fisherman for 43 years. “We’re smokin’ five or six different fish — salmon, swordfish, albacore, scallops and shrimp. We’re also smokin’ tri-tip and chicken now, and they’re all ingredients in our tacos and wraps.

“So if you have a shrimp taco here it’s going to be a smoked shrimp taco. If you have an albacore taco it’s going to be a smoked albacore smoked taco, and if you have scallop ceviche it’s going to be smoked scallops. We’re also doing fresh clams, mussels and oysters.”

Captain Mark and Dockside 3’s head chef Edgar studied the art and craft of smoking with “Smoker Jim” Ruddell, the owner of Ruddell’s Smokehouse in Cayucos, and widely recognized as the rock star of smoking fish on the Central Coast.

“Jim Ruddell was absolutely instrumental in helping us get up to speed quickly on smoking,” says Mark. “He said, ‘here’s the machine to buy, here’s what to do, come on up to my place.’ Edgar and I went up there on three different occasions and spent hours with him, and he said, ‘The only thing you can’t have is my shrimp recipe.’”

They can’t give Jim enough credit for their smoking and what he’s done for them, although they do things a little differently, of course.

“Jim was an inspiration, a wealth of knowledge, and just so generous in sharing with us so we didn’t have to make some of the mistakes we could have made,” says Mark.

Friendship easily trumps competition with Mark and Jim. They both remember a time when “every port used to have a smokehouse,” says Mark, and they’d both like to see that time come back. “He was excited for us.”

Though there are some menu items in common with the other Docksides, Mark says “75% of what we do here is new menu, 25% old menu – we do our chowder here at Dockside 3. There’s certain things we do over here that emulate what we do over there.”

But where Dockside 3 undocks from its parental moorings is where it really takes off. Dockside 3 offers items that seafood gourmets won’t find anywhere else on the waterfront, rarely found treasures that are suddenly easily accessible, which means not having to go to a fancy restaurant to enjoy them, just drive up and walk in to people-friendly Dockside 3.

“We do clams casino here,” says Mark. “I don’t think anybody else on the waterfront does it, and it’s a home run. We’re doing some oysters with the mignonette sauce, which is a vinegar, peppery sauce, and different things you just don’t see very much.

“We have a pretty full menu at our other two facilities, but we always wanted to do something different.”

In Morro Bay, different is good. At Dockside 3, different is steamed clams in wine sauce ($11.95), oysters Rockefeller ($6.95 for three/$12.95 for six); clams casino ($6.95 for three/$12.95 for six); steamed mussels ($11.95); shrimp ($8.95) or scallop ceviche tostadas ($9.95); smoked tri-tip wrap ($9.95); and swordfish kabob ($5.95), to name just a few dishes of distinction.

Dockside 3’s most popular item is the tacos ($2.95 – $3.95 each) – smoked scallops, smoked shrimp, smoked swordfish, smoked albacore, smoked salmon, as well as smoked tri-tip and smoked chicken. Choices of sauces include chipotle, shrimp aoli, fish aoli and spicy hot. The sauces also dress the wraps ($8.95 – $12.95), which come in a choice of tomato, spinach or white tortilla.

Oysters on the half shell prepared different ways with different sauces – traditional cocktail-horseradish sauce, maisonette, ginger and champagne – are also popular. Along with the array of fresh smoked fish, the raw oysters and cherrystone clams (each $5.95 for three/$10.95 for six) are the corner shells of Dockside 3’s versatile menu.

“With our oysters you can have them raw, barbecued, smoked, Rockefeller or casino,” Mark says. “With our clams you can have them raw, barbecue, Rockefeller or casino.”

It’s this wide selection of tasty combinations that sets Dockside 3 apart from its established elders and everybody else on the waterfront – or off. That and the unexpected rewards of the smoked tri-tip, scallops and swordfish, and after seeing how good the smoked tri-tip turned out they’re now trying out smoked turkey for sandwiches served in the main Dockside.

“It has its own little personality,” says Bonnie Tognazzini about the cozy quarters of Dockside 3. “We’re just about three months old, and so it’s still developing, which is why the menu is not set in stone yet. We’re finding the things that are working. We’re still playing with it and having fun with it.”

The Tognazzinis have renovated the inside of the restaurant, always a tiny space, and brought it up to date while retaining its original character. Six classic black bar stools pull up to a sparkling new oak-veneer bar top where diners can watch their dishes prepared in an open kitchen in a rather novel environment.

“I like really like to sit here and watch the guys cook,” says Bonnie. There’s something about watching them cooking your meal that I find quite entertaining, like watching a cooking show.”

The kitchen is miniaturized and efficient, and they’ve definitely made the most of limited space; it required specialty equipment that had to fit or was made to fit. Packed into a very small area are a smoker and standard grill. The smoker, custom built out of Wisconsin, is identical to Smoker Jim’s but about two-thirds the size because a full-size unit wouldn’t fit.

With the intimacy and activity of an American sushi bar, Dockside 3’s fish-market-to-your-plate experience is magnified by the cheerful pub atmosphere. There’s the bar stools and bar top. There’s a TV for that sports-bar effect for those following the big game. Their huge selection of draft beers on tap ($2.50 a glass, domestic) has helped make Dockside an irresistible destination for seafood specialties and endless brew.

“We’re not pretentious here,” Mark says. “We’re a pub, and our most expensive beer is $3.95. We have 16 on draft and another 35 in the bottle – 50 beers in all.”

Marc Tognazzini, Captain Mark’s son and partner, helped upgrade the interior woodwork and created valuable outside dining space by building several tables and chairs. At night they light the outdoor fire pit to chase away the chill.

Dockside 3, 1245 Embarcadero, Morro Bay, California 93442. Telephone: (805) 772-8130. Hours: Open daily 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. or earlier depending on season and reason.

Sunshine/Shine owner Greg Barnard

Shine Cafe

El Nino (Kids Menu)

Black Bean Taco

Spring Roll

TLT Special (Tempeh, Lettuce and Tomato)

Inside Shine Cafe

Wide Selection of Tasty Treats

Sunshine Health Food's Produce

Texas-native Greg Barnard, 35, was a negative five years old when Sunshine Health Foods opened 40 years ago on Morro Bay Blvd. in Morro Bay. Mr. Barnard is the third owner. He bought it from the second owner for whom he worked about three years. He bought the store in 2006, and in six years he’s taken it to the next level – becoming the best health food store and restaurant on the coast.

Now, not only is Sunshine the top destination on the coastline for fresh, organic produce, it is also boasts a new jewel, the best – and healthiest — restaurant on the street, the Shine Café, which opened last July.

Barnard had been no stranger to the industry before buying Sunshine. His previous jobs in college had been working in health food stores. He noticed when he moved to the area in 2000 that Sunshine was for sale and he filed it away.

“I had come out to help some friends from Colorado open a business,” says Barnard. “I’d worked at two other health food stores before, but I didn’t necessarily have the intention to stay in the industry. I liked it but I had actually a better opportunity, and that’s what brought me out to the coast.”

He attended Texas State University for business, but he also participated in recreational activities there, and worked at the school’s recreation center running outdoor educational programs such as kayaking, rafting and mountain-biking trips. His friends on the coast were opening a European-style youth hostel and needed someone to run their outdoor activities. They called him up about a year and a half after he’d finished his degree and told him to move out.

“I didn’t have a whole lot going on,” he says. “I was working at a health food store in Austin, and it sounded great. So I came out here and I was helping those guys, and living with them, and I realized the project that they were starting to work on was going to take a lot longer than anticipated, so I started working at New Frontiers because that was the kind of the experience I had.” He worked for New Frontiers on and off for close to three years.

“I’d been trying to work here because I like the small model, but they didn’t have the money to hire anyone and they were kind of doing it themselves,” he says. “So then I went to South America and came back, and at that point they’d grown enough take me on nine hours a week. They gave me three shifts three hours apiece, and then it just started snowballing from there and I started working a lot more.

“I knew in the back of my head that at one point they’d tried to sell, and you know if they tried to sell at one point, that’s always probably going to be an option later on down the road. So I kind of took that job knowing that they had tried to sell in the past, and that might be, at least around here, the only way it could happen (for me). The only option was for someone willing to sell to me. And I didn’t have a ton of money.”

For some, relationships are just as important, or even more important, than money, and that human connection paid off for Barnard. “Because I had developed a great relationship with Bill (Nicholson) who’s the old owner here — he’s kind of like a dad to me out here — he took the little tiny bit of money that I had down and he carried the note over five years. Otherwise I would have never been able to make a move like that. So that was great. I just paid him off last January.”

The Rise of Shine

Last July, after investing a lot of work and considerable expense, the Shine Café opened next door to their shipping and receiving office and store. They originally had the café in the back of the store. The room that became the new café was essentially behind the old café.

”When I bought this store, we would just sublease the café,” he explains. “It wasn’t part of what I purchased. It was operating independently in the back, and, to be honest, I feel like that’s what makes it so unique, and (what) makes it have so much character now is that it’s the culmination of (many years of store history).

“I can remember as far back as eight different owners of the café. I mean, it was just a little juice bar kind of place that made crackers for the longest time. And so it took all of those people. Everyone made a little contribution and had a couple good recipes and then the best of the best stuck and it just kind of kept rumbling. The recipes are kind of the greatest hits of all the people that came along.”

Shine also runs weekly specials. “Someone will have an idea for a special,” he says, “and if it’s just great then we’ll try to keep it around. We would have a lot more, but space has always been our issue, even over in the new place. That’s why we’ll rotate the specials and try to bring the popular ones back, but we don’t really have the space or capacity to add all of our favorite things on to the menu.”

Barnard didn’t own the café for a long time and didn’t intend to be in the restaurant business, but, he says, “I was tired of subleasing this little tiny spot that was in the back of our business that no one really understood that it was a different dynamic. No one understood that it was a separate owner. For all anyone cared it was just under one roof.

“So when that last gal hit the wall and was ready to sell, then we just bought it from her in essence to simplify things, and we were all of a sudden in the food service industry, and never really had a huge desire to be. But I felt like it was such an important part of what I was trying to do. The food service goes so hand in hand with what we’re trying to do in fresh food.”

Gourmet Café

As busy as it is, the café is not a big money-maker, says Barnard, “because we’re not willing to compromise our ingredients. There are a couple of things we’re not willing to do in order to make profit because we feel like the service that we’re providing is far more important…”

The Sunshine commitment begins with the ingredients, he says.

“We source as much of our organic ingredients as possible. Even the spices that we use are organic, all of our cooking oils, 90% of our produce. We could get a lot of this produce for half the price that we’re buying it for, if we were willing to go straight conventional. We weren’t willing to do that, and we weren’t willing to raise our prices to the point at which we were making what a normal restaurant margin would be because then all of a sudden we’re chasing off half of our clientele.

“We wanted it to be a place where you just don’t come on your birthday because our dinners are $22, or you come when you have a friend in town. We want it to be a place where the people who live here can come to eat every day and not break the bank. We want it to be comparable to anywhere else you can eat besides really, really expensive fast food. We want to be able to feed people for $9, $10, $11.”

Not willing to compromise on quality and price points “put us into a little bit of a quandary when it comes to profit,” he adds, “because the simple thing would be to just raise the prices.”

But there is a synergy between the café and the store, and, he says, “I make my living in the store. That’s why I’m always willing to just write off a potential loss over there because it’s just one number, just part of a larger, more important number.”

The trend toward eating fresh, organic foods delivered from the farms where they were grown to the dinner table has skyrocketed over the past several years, soaring in popularity across the demographic board.

Former owner Bill Nicholson taught Barnard “about the different varieties that could be grown when you’re not growing for shelf life or distribution life – it’s a whole different animal. And the vitality of the nutrients intact, the enzymes intact, and all these things that are still intact when it’s consumed a day, two or even three days after it’s been picked, just that freshness is amazing, and the taste, and you get the nutritional benefit.

“The reason why people are saying our food (at Shine) is good is because of the core ingredients that we start with; that’s 80% of the battle. Yes, there’s some creativity but the fact that we start with really high quality, really fresh ingredients makes it a lot easier to make it taste good.”

Sunshine is deeply into organic practices and buys produce from three farmer’s markets a week: the Monday afternoon market in Baywood, which is the favorite; Thursday in North Morro Bay; and Saturday morning in San Luis. The store enjoys great relationships with local farmers. Sunshine also receives deliveries twice a week from an organic distributor, Veritable Vegetable, out of San Francisco.

“They don’t carry a single item that’s not certified organic and, to me, you’re not trusting the word of somebody, you’re just getting what you know that it was a certified organic farm and you know exactly what went into that,” says Barnard.

“They felt as strongly as we do about it, for them to go through that process, and it’s been difficult to bridge that gap because we do still feel that it’s just as important to get it fresh and local, maybe even more important than it being certified organic, but it puts us in a quandary where we have to use our best judgment in order to get the highest quality food.”

The high quality of the produce in the store becomes palpable when dining at the café and tasting those same quality ingredients in the cooking. Everything is made from scratch and crackles with vitality. While the fresh quality permeates the café’s entire menu, the flair with which the visually stunning dishes are presented lies closer to the presentation you might find in a fine sushi restaurant than a typical health food café. The taste and quality leave no doubt that you are eating gourmet health food at its life-affirming best, a charge of instant health.

The café’s menu categories are Breakfast (weekends only), Smoothies, Soup & Salad and Entrees. Highlights include Buckwheat Pancakes with any two toppings from bananas, blueberries, walnuts, carob chips or strawberries ($8.50/two pancakes, $4.25/one); Mudslide Smoothie made with bananas, peanut butter, carob, dates and almond milk ($6); Hearty Vegetable or Sweet Potato Tortilla Soup when available ($3 cup/$5 bowl); Tempeh Salad with seasoned tempeh, fresh vegetables, avocado and choice of dressing ($8.50 small/$10.50 large); Black Bean Tostada with seasoned black beans, brown rice, spring mix, fresh veggies, avocado, sesame seeds, on a crispy tortilla, served with salsa and spicy chipotle dressing ($9.50); Tempeh Reuben of seared strips of seasoned tempeh served on sprouted grain bread with cilantro dressing and stoneground mustard – topped with sauerkraut, tomato, lettuce and avocado and served with a side salad ($10); and Vegetable Spring Roll, a rice-paper roll filled with fresh veggies, avocado and seasoned tempeh served with sesame ginger dressing ($4). Customers can try the weekly special, or create their own special dish (starting at $8).

“The most popular items in the café are definitely the spring rolls and the tostada,” he says, “and with the tostada it’s the sauce in combination with the crunchy shell that people like. They still get that kind of feel-good comfort food, but accompanied by that salad. The soups do pretty well, too. Everything does pretty well since we can’t afford to keep it on there if it doesn’t do well.

The 1500-square-foot store offers the same high quality organic produce that energizes the smaller café — as well as an array of nutritional supplements and natural body care products, and a wealth of specialty bulk items like yogurt and carob-covered sweet treats, dried fruit, dates, grains, organic spices, and many hard-to-find healthy alternatives, boxed, bottled and refrigerated, for everyday recipes and dishes.

“In the store, our fresh produce is probably does the highest volume,” he says. “We do a lot of bulk, the bulk food in the back. We have a nice balance because of the fact that we weren’t here in ’73 and there was just a vitamin shop for a lot of years. That’s how it started. It didn’t start transitioning into more of a grocery store until Bill took it over. He had it for about 11 years, and I bought it six years ago, and about 18-19 years ago started bringing more of the food element in. So from the early ‘70s on through the ‘80s it was more of just a vitamin shop, and he was able to establish a pretty good core vitamin-supplement business. We’ve been able to maintain that, and we do sell a fair amount of that.”

A Bright Future

“It’s taken six years to get to this point,” Barnard says. “Finally I feel like our head’s above water and we’ve got the café set. We’re about a freezer or a refrigerator, some new flooring and a couple of light fixtures away from being completely done with the original vision of the whole thing.”

Within the next year Barnard hopes to further integrate new systems “that are allowing us to do more volume and spend more time with customer service, allowing us to spend more time doing the things that we haven’t had the time to do up until now.” Sunshine now has close to 20 “committed” employees.

Barnard had a son a year and a half ago, and hopes those systems will make life easier at the store and allow him to spend more time at home.

“No industry garners this kind of growth without garnering the same attention from competition,” he says. “We’ve been so fortunate to get to the growth that we have in this town, being the size that it is. We don’t yet have a Trader Joe’s, we don’t yet have a Whole Foods. We have that in San Luis and they’re slugging it out there, but we’re the only thing here.

“There’s nothing in Los Osos, there’s nothing in Cambria, so we’ve pulled this whole coastal region. We’re pulling people from Ragged Point because there’s nothing there. So I feel like we’ve got this little niche that we’ve been really fortunate to carve out, and we’ve been able to kind of go under the radar without this competition. That may change in the future…”

Regardless of any future competition, Sunshine won’t be changing its no-compromise formula for success. More and more people are realizing that what you eat has a direct impact on one’s physical and mental state. Basically, everything that we do is dictated by what we eat, and Sunshine is finely tuned into that knowledge.

“I think a lot of people wonder why we went with the vegan café. You have tourists in town that will come in and want to give our food a try because they’re looking for a turkey sandwich or a tuna fish sandwich, and there’s not a whole lot of really strict vegans that work here or live in Morro Bay.”

So why vegan then? Is Sunshine harboring secret hate against meat?

“Meat is not necessarily the evil,” says Barnard, “but we feel like you should eat more vegetables, so if we provide a restaurant with only vegetables then people are going to inadvertently have to eat more vegetables if they eat here. If we get people to get off of their meat and potato diet once a week, twice a week, then we feel like we’ve accomplished that.

“We’re not claiming that everything in here is perfectly great for you, but compared to the option, compared to the standard American diet, compared to the standard American grocery system, we’re just trying to provide a viable alternative to that system, and I feel like we’re accomplishing that. We’re giving people a chance to make better decisions.”

Sunshine Health Foods, 415 Morro Bay Blvd., Morro Bay 93442. Hours: Monday-Sunday, 9 a.m. – 7 p.m., Sunday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Telephone: (805) 772-7873. Shine Café, 427 Morro Bay Blvd. Hours: Breakfast, Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon, Sunday, 10 a.m. to noon; Lunch, Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m., Sunday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Telephone: (805) 771-8344. Website: http://www.sunshinehealthfoods-shinecafe.com. Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/shinecafe.

Torres’ suit claims that in March Brennler “stated in a telephone conversation with [Torres' former husband] Charles Barber that Plaintiff (Torres) has been stealing money from homeless clients at the homeless shelter and that the Plaintiff has stolen money from a homeless man named Cliff Anderson. These statements are and were false.”

The suit, filed by Torres’ attorney, Roy Ogden of San Luis Obispo, seeks damages exceeding $50,000 as well as punitive damages.

In addition to naming Brennler, a former mayor of Atascadero, the filing leaves open the later inclusion of additional still-unidentified defendants referred to as “Does 1 through 100.” Included in the “Does,” according to the complaint, are “radio broadcasting stations and individuals associated with those stations” as well as “an online news agencies and the individuals associated with those agencies” located in SLO County. Sources confirm that these unnamed radio station and online entities include KVEC and KVEC talk-radio host Dave Congalton, CalCoastNews and its primary owners Karen Velie and Dan Blackburn.

In seeking damages, the suit claims Torres “has been injured in her business (and) suffered injury to her reputation,” and that the defamation was “published by Defendants with malice, oppression and fraud.”

Defendants have 30 days from March 21 to respond to the complaint.

Judge Charles Crandall has ordered the first Case Management Conference for July 24 in SLO County Court.

The ROCK has learned that Brennler, who — we can confirm — was retained by CalCoastNews for his services. In their “Keeping Them Homeless” article series, CalCoastNews declined to mention the former mayor of Atascadero’s involvement with their publication. Private investigators are licensed by the state and registered in the California Department of Consumer Affairs database. Brennler is licensed (#23904) in the state database with the status “CLEAR,” meaning his license is valid. Though he has a valid license, sources close to Brennler were concerned with the ethics surrounding a private investigator being hired by a news site — especially involving a private investigator with a checkered past.

Mike Brennler

Brennler, a former San Luis Obispo police officer, also has a contentious past with law enforcement. Sources in local law enforcement mentioned that he was given the nickname “5150,” which is a reference to Section 5150 of the California Welfare and Institutions Code. The section allows an officer or clinician to involuntarily confine a person that is legally deemed to suffer from a mental disorder that makes them a danger to him or herself. The sources explained that Brennler, who exhibited an explosive temper in the office and often verbally assaulted department heads, was disciplined repeatedly by officials after they received several citizen complaints. The specifics of these complaints are sealed.

In a separate legal action, on March 27 Fresno-based attorney Gary Bethel of Littler Mendelson served a letter to several “former employees and possibly others making untrue and defamatory statements about CAPSLO and its employees” demanding retraction or revision of their previous statements. “What happens next,” the letter explains to recipients, “is to some extent up to those who are making these defamatory statements. If the persons making these statements seek to correct their previous erroneous statements, CAPSLO may choose not to seek to enforce its legal rights against them. If this unlawful crusade of defamatory statements and publications continues those involved will be held legally responsible to the full extent of the law.”

CalCoastNews subsequently posted the letter on their website. Velie stated on Congalton’s April 1 show that all the recipients are standing by the statements they made to the publication and told Congalton on April 1 that more people have come forward because of the letter by Bethel.

CalCoastNews Editor/Cal Poly Journalism professor Bill Loving and Publisher Velie appeared on KVEC’s Dave Congalton Show to discuss the lawsuit filed by Torres and the threats of legal action by CAPSLO’s legal representative. Loving defended CalCoastNews only by saying his “curiosity was satisfied” regarding the alleged multiple sources that Velie has accumulated throughout her investigation into homeless services. Loving — who Congalton referred to as an attorney — appeared fixated on the lawsuit’s discovery process. He reminded Congalton that discovery is a pre-trial phase which allows both parties to obtain evidence that is held by the opposing party.

Despite his claim that he graduated with a law degree from Texas, Loving is neither listed in the State Bar of Texas nor the State Bar of California databases. According to his bio on CalCoastNews, Loving graduated with a law degree at Southern Methodist University in 1991. It is illegal to impersonate an attorney if the impersonator does not carry a state bar license.

At one point, Loving told the former contributing editor to CalCoastNews that Torres’ children can be subpoenaed to testify since there were accusations that they used gift cards donated to CAPSLO. Loving also suggested filing a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) lawsuit against CAPSLO and Torres. Loving was referring to a specific part of the RICO laws that help curb alleged abuses of the legal system by parties who utilize the courts as a weapon to retaliate against whistleblowers and victims. Loving did not mention that the parties involved in silencing the opinions of others must be tried and convicted for racketeering (18 U.S.C. § 1961). CalCoastNews has stated unequivocally that CAPSLO has misappropriated funds and Torres stole gift cards, but they have not publicly offered physical evidence other than hearsay and scans of documents from the Social Security Administration explaining the state of homeless man Cliff Anderson‘s account, which did not indicate misappropriation or theft by Torres or CAPSLO.

Velie revealed that there were e-mails, text messages made by people using the same Internet Protocol (IP) address but different names, aggressively communicating to CalCoastNews advertisers that their services and products would no longer be supported if they continued to support the website and their reporting on homeless services. Velie announced that CalCoastNews was going to file a lawsuit to obtain the IP addresses of those who complained to their advertisers. Previously, Velie – who The ROCK investigated for exaggerating and fabricating several articles on CalCoastNews – has claimed that District 3 Supervisor Adam Hill has bullied and threatened advertisers. The ROCK received e-mails from site advertisers, which showed Hill expressing his displeasure with CalCoastNews coverage, but there were no signs of threats and intimidation.

Smoked Shrimp Taco

If you are fortunate to be motoring one of the most breathtaking stretches of scenic Highway 1 on the Central Coast, you must exit in Cayucos and drive through this quaint old beach town to the edge of the Pacific.

If you happen to drive by the exit, distracted by the panoramic ocean view, you’ll have to turn around. If you don’t, you’ll regret it until you come this way again.

Because right there, at the corner of D Street and Ocean Front in seaside, sun-drenched Cayucos, you will find one of the smallest but most sought-after food  lover’s destinations in all California, Ruddell’s Smokehouse.

Have you ever tasted fine smoked food? If you have then you know it’s the King of BBQ. The aroma alone is enough to awaken you from a long spell of bland dining. What hot smoking does to tenderize and enhance fresh, quality fish, meat and cheese elevates them to a new dimension of taste that gives every bite a rich, burnished flavor not easily forgotten.

In recent years, the smoked fish and meat tacos and sandwiches that pour out of “Smoker Jim” Ruddell’s 250-square-foot euphoria factory have become as magnetic an attraction in Cayucos as the beach, surf and sunsets. They are that good – and Jim knows it, and he’s just grateful that things worked out that way.

You see, Jim feels he’s the caretaker of a recipe for happiness he’s glad to share, a recipe that has changed his life and brought the awesomeness of Cajun-smoked shrimp, albacore, salmon, chicken and pork loin – as well as smoked oysters and cheddar cheese on the side – to pilgrims of the palate from near and far.

Jim sells his signature albacore and other smoked specialties by the pound, but it’s his tacos that sell by the ton – the shrimp taco ($6), smoked albacore taco ($5.50), smoked salmon taco ($5.50), smoked chicken taco ($4.50) and smoked pork loin taco ($4.50) are what people wend their way to Ruddell’s for – that and the lure of beach and roar of the waves.

Smoked Salmon Taco

Each taco begins with a full salad of greens, chopped red leaf, sliced tomatoes, shredded carrots, chopped celery and apples inside a hot flour tortilla. When your fish, chicken or pork hits the salad and tortilla – after being smoked southern-style in Jim’s savory blend of gourmet herbs, sugars and spices over alder wood or apple wood – it’s transformed into something boldly unique, a bursting California Cajun taco that doesn’t just stand out in a crowd, it creates a crowd.

Ruddell’s large, robust sandwiches – smoked pork loin ($10), smoked chicken ($10), smoked salmon ($11.50) and “The Ultimate Tuna” with smoked, glazed albacore ($11.50) – are all served on a fresh baked roll with spicy mustard, mayonnaise, sliced tomatoes and fresh salad greens.

Salads and vegan are also in the mix – with smoked albacore or salmon ($12.50), smoked chicken ($11) or a tossed green ($7.50); or veggie taco ($3.50) or veggie sandwich ($7.50). The fish menu is seasonal and based on availability, and sometimes also features ahi and ono.

Wrapped and ready for take-home in the deli case are slabs of smoked salmon ($19.99 lb.), smoked albacore ($18.99 lb.), a whole smoked chicken ($8.50 each), smoked pork loin ($10 lb.), smoked oysters ($2 each/$24 dozen), and smoked cheddar, mild and sharp ($11.50 lb.). You might want to call ahead and place an order.

Ruddell’s is take-out only and offers a few patio tables and chairs for local consumption. However, the beach and ocean are only steps from Jim’s front door, and they’re free. To those who know the true value of things, it’s a rare California experience to be missed at your peril because this one’s got a boomerang attached to it, and you’ll be back. Bottled water and Calypso Natural Lemonade are the regular beverages. Note: If you find a table, sit on your napkins or put them in your pocket or the wind will blow them away and you’ll be running down D Street after them.

Ruddell’s Smokehouse, 101 D St., Cayucos, Calif. 93430. Hours: 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. every day. Telephone: (805) 995-5028. Website: http://www.smokerjim.com.

“Smoker Jim” Ruddell and the Sweet Smell of Success

As Jim Ruddell sees it, he has one of the best jobs in the world, and what Jim sees up close every day is a sight for sore eyes for everybody else in the world. How many people’s front door opens to the beach and Pacific Ocean, the coastline, open sky and a face full of sun? And because he’s so good at what he does, he knows that this is the way it’s going to be for him as long as he wants, and that’s why he’s one of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet on the street in Cayucos.

Jim couldn’t imagine in his wildest dreams that he would be as successful as he is at something he loves doing. His life has been a journey to salvation, searching for a better life for his family, struggling to stay afloat, and finally hitting the bright side of the moon. You read about such success stories; you dream, work hard and pray, but don’t think it will happen to you. So Jim Ruddell lives in a constant state of disbelief, stunned and humbled at the same time. Because it’s happened to him.

“When I started here on a day like today, you could have rolled a tumbleweed down that road and not hit anything.”

That’s what Cayucos was like when Jim opened for business in December 2001.

“For those first several years there wasn’t a whole lot of business here. Since then Cayucos has very much become a destination, and there’s so little of the Cayucos kind of experience left to be found that people are really digging it, they’re really gravitating towards it,” he says.

“Up till about three years ago – I meet a lot of people here,” he pauses to add a little weight to his words, “people would come in here and I started hearing, ‘Wow, this is such a cool town. We know real estate’s going up and it’s getting kind of pricey but that’s OK. We really like it here. This a great place. We’d love to come and live here.’

“About three years ago it did this 180 degrees and turned into, ‘This is such a great town, it’s got so much potential.’”

Jim, who has surfed all his life, looks out at the ocean.

“It’s the last beach town on the coast,” he says, explaining the attraction that brings more and more people to the cozy oceanfront community. “When I grew up in Southern California, all the beach towns were like this, every one of them, and a good portion of them had a smokehouse right by the pier, and they would service the fishermen and the hunters. They’ve all been exploited now, and those who recognize that are the people that are saying Cayucos has so much potential.”

New Road Ahead

Jim’s journey up the coast began with major changes in his life and career.

“My wife and I are refugees from Los Angeles,” he says. “My daughter was born on April 27, 1992, and the Rodney King riots started on the 29th.” That was the beginning of the end of the Ruddell family’s life in LA. Jim was running the service department at Sheridan Toyota in Santa Monica at the time. “Because of the curfew I was the only car on the Santa Monica Freeway at 6:30 p.m. going home. I had a two-day-old baby in the hospital, and I went, ‘We’re done, finished.’ It took us a year…”

It helped that he had some idea where his next stop would be. But he also knew it wasn’t going to be easy starting over after years in LA and making it work in a very different economic environment.

“My brother has lived here since the ’70s, and we looked at this area for many years, but you have to have something to do when you come here; you don’t just move here.”

So Jim took the big leap, transitioning for awhile by working for the Toyota dealership in San Luis Obispo. He was involved in building the new Toyota dealership on Los Osos Valley Rd. But the move had its scary realities. The serious downshift in pay from LA to SLO wasn’t working. He had been in the car business a long time, and he was burned out on it before he moved up to the Coast. He knew he had to get out and that it would be risky. And he knew he had a future; it just wasn’t in the car business.

He didn’t have to look far for inspiration.

“My whole family on my father’s side is from the south, Louisiana, we’re Cajun people, so I’ve been around the fire all my life, I’ve been around smoke,” he says. “So when I came up here I looked around. I’d heard about the Santa Maria barbecue. It’s rural, agricultural, and I thought there’s a bunch of people that are barbecuing and smoking up here, doing some really cool stuff. So I started looking around, and by and large it’s very ordinary. There’s absolutely nothing here that’s particularly good.

“I built a smoker in my backyard after work, and I made a deal with a guy up on a ranch up here on 41. He gave me an old barn and I built myself a smokehouse. At that time there were a lot of fish coming into the harbor and it was very affordable, so I started smokin’ fish and selling it out of the back of my truck by the side of the road. I’d pull up and put my signs out — when I wasn’t getting run out by the cops and busted by the health department…”

Stepping into Greatness

Driven by his need to get out of the car grind and build his own business, and guided by his ability to make things happen when he sets his mind to it, Jim took the plunge.

“I started my business in 1996, and I quit working several times because I ran out of money,” he says. “One day I was working at GMC up in Paso, and Kathy called me and said, ‘Honey, how would you like to wake up in Morro Bay every day and drive all the way to Cayucos to sell your smoked fish every day of your life?’

“I said, ‘Yeah, right.’ She said, ‘No, no, when you come home tonight. Let’s go for a ride, I want to show you something.” Kathy took him to the corner of D Street and Ocean Front in Cayucos and showed him the location. “This used to be the Taco Temple. This is where they started.’”

Taco Temple needed a dining room. They had outgrown the tiny 250-square-foot space, and so they opened their business a few miles down the highway in North Morro Bay by Spencer’s market and kept the lease on the Cayucos property. Says Jim,”I looked at this and thought, ‘I can do this, I can make that happen.’

“I had no idea what the configuration of it was going to be, only that I was going to sell more fish.”

That 250 square feet, by the way, includes bathroom and storage, and a smoker about the size of an old refrigerator.

“I have a 3,000 square foot business in 250 square feet, and it works,” he says. “And it continues to grow and we continue to accommodate that. What’s really cool about it is we’re below the radar, kind of, we’re off the grid in a way. Like I don’t get visits from famous chefs going, ‘How do you do that out of that little hole in the wall?’ If they knew the kind of groceries I was putting out here… I do a lot of business out of 250 square feet. So I made a deal with Adam and Dawnelle, the people who own the Taco Temple… and voila, here we are.

“I have never put the key in that lock and not wanted to be here,” says Jim about his job. “Is that just wonderful? It’s impossible to put words to it. It’s surreal. And it’s just continues to grow. It has its own energy. There’s these bywords like synergy, but it’s true.”

Word Spreads

In 2005 the Food Network’s “BBQ with Bobby Flay” show sent a crew to Ruddell’s and taped an episode. “That thing still has legs,” he says, amazed. “They did this episode and it came out on a Friday before President’s Day weekend of 2005. I was totally unprepared. We were impacted to the point where we could not get the food out the door. The next morning we were just inundated. They ran that show once a month for three years and then they said they would continue to run it once a month for four years, which they did, and when that ran out a new food kitchen channel came along and they co-opted it, and they started showing it.”

That set off a pure-gold chain reaction. Sunset magazine, Coastal Living magazine, even The New York Times, have, with a boost from the internet, sent smoke signals nationwide and worldwide. Ruddell’s is the most looked-at feature in the history of The New York Times Travel Magazine, says Jim. “They did a taco tour of the California Coast, and when they told me The New York Times, I said, ‘New York Times? Who reads The New York Times?’ Boy, do I know about The New York Times now! When people are planning their itineraries they go to The New York Times. It’s a pretty cool deal.”

Now social media has discovered Ruddell’s, and it’s eating up his tacos like the smoked candy they are.

“I wouldn’t know a tweet if it was swimming in my soup,” he says, simply incredulous over it all, his Smoker Jim’s cap pulled down almost over his eyes. “There’s still so much I don’t get.”

Becoming Smoker Jim

What Jim does get very well now is that no matter what happens, no matter what tomorrow brings, he has something that people want. “That’s what makes this thing happen, and the ambiance, the whole thing, I have found that my base time here at the store is highly productive – because I’m Smoker Jim,” he laughs. “This persona kind of happened, this Smoker Jim thing.”

Now he’s recognized in a bookstore at the San Francisco Airport, and walking around Sacramento he’s approached by a guy who goes, ‘Dude! You are the dude, you are the taco dude! My father-in-law loves you!” It happens all the time, says Jim.

“So I’m just riding this thing along, having a ball, and just fascinated by it.”

With the kind of success he’s had it’s natural to think about how far he could parlay the business. But Jim has resisted the temptation to multiply his success by opening up more smokehouses. He knows it could be a real money-maker, “but,” he quickly adds, “that is not what this is for…

“I don’t take credit for any of this,” he says, acknowledging the Man Upstairs. “I’m just participating and I’m kind of a custodian in a way. I don’t own it… He’s the boss, I just run the thing. It’s a gift. I’ve got five complete business plans all ready to go. But when I realized what it is I put all those plans in a drawer.

“I have been effectively saved. My life has been incredible. You know, you read interesting stories. Well, this is mine and it’s real. It’s real and it works every day.”

For all his success, Jim remains modest, down to earth and appreciative. “If I started taking myself too seriously I would have nowhere near as much fun, and probably it wouldn’t work. The whole idea is when people walk in that door they know this thing is what it is – it is what it is, and there isn’t another one of these anywhere and there’s not going to be.”

Right now, business “stays at a level where it’s manageable and I don’t have a bull’s-eye on me.” He has three employees and says, “I’m going to bring a fourth guy on because there’s not enough of me to do what I gotta do…”

To be exact, there’s only one of Jim, and he’s got a routine that would fry any man. “By the time I get here it’s about 20 minutes to 3 [in the a.m.] and I work until about 10, and when I get done smoking and doing some of the stuff I have to do, I prep a little bit for the guys, and they come in at 10 and prep to open at 11 o’clock. So theoretically I am done at about 11 o’clock, but it doesn’t quite work out that way. It’s almost a constant adaption because the business just keeps getting bigger…”

Ruddell’s Smokehouse

Smokehouse Secrets

And the reason it keeps getting bigger is staggeringly simple: People talk. Word of mouth. They don’t stop talking about the food.

“It’s incredible smoked food,” says Jim sincerely. “It’s really, really good! I mean, you bite into one of them tacos…”

Some say the secret is in the sweet, pungent smoke of the fruity woods that fuel his electric smoker. “I use primarily alder for the albacore and the salmon. I use the apple wood on my jerky and my shrimp. It’s lighter. It has a little more punch than the alder does to give it a bit more body. We don’t have a lot of it around here. There is some. It’s from the northwest. There are a lot of alder trees up there. Some of the Indians have been using alder to smoke their salmon for probably thousands of years.”

Some say it’s the apples. “The apples are my wife’s deal,” he says. “They’re See Canyon Fujis. I buy a bunch of them and I put them away. That, and what really makes that thing happen is we have a flour tortilla, we put some olive oil on it and put it on the grill. Then we flip it over and put some cumin on it, and then the sauce, which is whole mayonnaise and a little Gulden’s Spicy Mustard. When it all hits that hot oil, the cumin, that’ll send you off in to spasms! It really works.”

Rise of the Taco

“When I opened up,” says Jim, “I thought I’m not going to sell enough fish to pay the bills and make some money so I’ll make some tacos, maybe make some sandwiches. I figured maybe 30% of my business would be out of the kitchen, 70% would be out of the deli case. It’s exactly opposite, 180 degrees off. I sell a lot of fish out of the case but I sell a lot of tacos.”

How many tacos is a lot? “On the 4th of July I sell 1,000 tacos in one day,” he says. “I put up a little tent out here, and we close it off. Nobody can go in. Because there’s 50,000 people in town on the 4th of July. It’s a hoot. It’s Americana at its absolute best.”

Preparations begin early that morning. “The crew comes in a 7 to start making tacos so by 11 o’clock we’ve prepped and we have 400 tacos ready and we just phase them. These things have really good legs. Cal Poly kids during finals will buy a dozen of them, stick them in the refrigerator and eat them for several days. So they hold up.”

Jim has also developed a business providing tacos for local marriages, which, because of its idyllic location, Cayucos is known for.

“A lot of people get married here at the Vet’s Hall and various venues. They call me up and they want 200 tacos for their party, so I make them before work, before we start our day, and everyone of those people have called me back and said ‘you made our wedding.’ Most of them said, ‘I didn’t even get one, I couldn’t even get to them.’ I took 250 tacos a day down to the Sea Glass Festival two weekends ago and at 4 o’clock in the afternoon that taco was as good as at 10 o’clock in the morning.”

Now, the only questions left to debate among smoked fish aficionados involve splitting the hairs of superlatives: Are Jim’s tacos the best in the west? Based on the sheer flavor explosion to the senses, many people believe it’s a fact. And so they keep coming. Every day. Like the waves rolling up on the beach almost up to Jim’s doorstep.

Today, Ruddell’s Smokehouse enjoys one of the highest ratings ever on Yelp, and is featured on TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet. And one night you’ll be up late channel-cruising and run into that episode of “BBQ with Bobby Flay” from 2005, and you’ll recognize the Smokehouse and recall that taste, of tender, tangy smoked fish, alder wood and apples, and the next day you’ll drive the magnificent Highway 1 to Cayucos, one of the most beautiful highways in the world, and you’ll walk into Jim Ruddell’s smokin’ knothole by the ocean, step up to the counter and say: “One smoked albacore taco for here – and one to go!”

View From the Front Door

Lois Capps

Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-24th District) emphatically restated her support for a PG&E offshore high-energy seismic survey in Estero Bay, near the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in Avila Beach, during a January 28 hearing in Washington of the Subcommittee on Energy and Power.

Last November, the California Coastal Commission unanimously denied PG&E a permit to conduct a high-energy seismic survey off the Central Coast. Capps now appears to be attempting to supersede the state Commission’s ruling by taking her case directly to Washington regulators.

Leading up to Election Day 2012, which took place a week before the Coastal Commission rejected PG&E’s proposal, Capps seemed to temper her pursuit of a high-energy seismic survey.

“On a more local issue, PG&E’s application to do controversial seismic testing off the coast, Maldonado says the testing needs to be done now, so that we can move on,” wrote the Tribune in their Oct. 14 editorial endorsement of Capps.”Why the hurry? Why not try to develop a seismic testing program that will minimize the impacts on sea life and the fishing industry? That’s Capps’ position, and we believe it makes sense.”

A month later, the Coastal Commission determined that there is no such thing as a high-energy seismic test that minimizes the impacts on sea life and the fishing industry, and that no testing makes more sense in marine-protected, mammal-rich Central Coast waters.

Having prevailed by double digits in what was forecast to be a close vote over Republican Abel Maldonado, Capps has again turned up the volume on seismic testing. She still wants the tests conducted and, according to a recent press release from her office, “in a manner that protects marine life and the environment.”

During the Subcommittee hearing in Washington, Capps aggressively questioned Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Allison Macfarlane, reading from a prepared statement about the need for additional studies prior to relicensing Diablo Canyon.

“Now, we’ve known for a long time that this nuclear plant sits on the Hosgri fault, earthquake fault,” Congresswoman Capps said to Macfarlane. “But in 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey discovered a new fault called the Shoreline Fault. The Energy Commission recommended – and our state PUC directed – that the utility conduct independent, peer-reviewed, advanced seismic studies prior to applying for relicensing. As you know, PG&E asked to have their relicensing request paused, pending completion of these studies, and the NRC granted their request and I supported that action.

“PG&E came up with a plan for the studies,” said Capps, “but the Coastal Commission, California’s Coastal Commission, rejected it last year due to environmental concerns. I was similarly concerned about these impacts on marine life, which is why I supported making it a limited pilot program.

“But the health and safety of my constituents is my top priority, and I strongly believe that additional study of the fault is needed before the relicensing process can move forward. While I understand this effort has been driven by the state, I would hope the NRC would also want to have the best, most up-to-date information about this fault.

“Chairman Macfarlane, do you also agree that having additional, independent data on the Shoreline fault would be helpful? I’d appreciate just a yes or no.”

Hardebeck’s Views

Macfarlane didn’t respond with a yes or no to Capp’s somewhat contentious request. But after getting Macfarlane to agree in general that “more information is a good thing,” Capps continued: “Last October, the NRC published a Research Information Letter claiming that Diablo Canyon is seismically safe. Yet there are other scientific studies that seem to conflict with the NRC’s report and I’m holding up one.

“USGS seismologist, Dr. Jeanne Hardebeck, who discovered the Shoreline Fault, just published an article in the peer-reviewed Bulletin of the Seismology Society of America, and this is a quote, ‘Much is unknown about the Shoreline Fault.’

“This raises concerns for me and my constituents that there are still unanswered questions about the seismic situation. So Chairman Macfarlane, how can we ensure that these questions and concerns are properly addressed?”

Responded Macfarlane: “Fortunately right now there’s an ongoing process. There’s a committee called the Senior Seismic Hazard Assessment Committee (SSHAC) actively evaluating the seismic situation at Diablo Canyon and they’re in the middle of the process. We’re observing this process and are looking to see what the outcome is.”

Capps persisted. “The fact remains that another federal scientist – in a peer-reviewed study – says more information is needed. So we clearly need to figure this out. I think we can all agree that every angle must be thoroughly examined. The NRC analysis needs to incorporate independent, concrete data that can be tested against those of seismic experts, like Dr. Hardebeck.

“I think it makes sense to have the best eyes and minds in our country working together, looking at these seismic issues. Because actually this is first and foremost about safety. The NRC has a responsibility to make sure Diablo Canyon is as safe as it can be today, but also into the future.”

Concluded Capps: “I want the record to note: Diablo Canyon and the NRC have more than a decade to make these decisions because these licenses don’t expire until a decade from now so there’s no rush. We must work together to find a responsible way to gather and consider the additional data before relicensing moves forward. … I hope you share this commitment, and I look forward to working with the NRC to ensure this process is done right.”

Congresswoman Capps held up respected USGS seismologist Dr. Jeanne Hardebeck’s recent study, “Geometry and Earthquake Potential of the Shoreline Fault, Central California,” before the Subcommittee as documentation that high-energy seismic surveys absolutely needed to be done for relicensing Diablo; yet, even if few committee members had read Dr. Hardebeck’s study, even fewer, if any, knew what her actual views are regarding the earthquake faults and high-energy seismic testing.

Last August Dr. Hardebeck told The ROCK: “We do have a pretty good idea where the faults are from ‘low energy’ seismic imaging, locations of small earthquakes, and gravity and magnetic studies. The new studies, if successful, could add some new information that could refine our models of where the faults are and how they connect, but we’re not expecting anything strikingly new.”

“My views haven’t changed,” Dr. Hardebeck emailed The ROCK on March 21. “Nowhere in the [Seismology Society] paper do I suggest that high-energy seismic surveys are needed to solve the important outstanding issues regarding the Shoreline Fault.

“My conclusion in the paper is that the Shoreline and Hosgri Faults can be ‘imaged’ from the locations of small earthquakes, and that this ‘imaging’ is good enough to demonstrate that the two faults are linked and that the Shoreline Fault is not broken into segments.

“I also conclude that the most important unknown about the Shoreline Fault is the rate at which it moves, or equivalently the rate at which it might produce large earthquakes. This is a question that cannot be addressed through high-energy seismic surveys.”

Singling out Dr. Hardebeck as the supporting science behind her demands for seismic testing, contrary to Hardebeck’s actual views, demonstrates just how hard Capps is pushing a PG&E seismic test in the halls of Washington, far from the California Coastal Commission’s unanimous rejection of the environmentally destructive high-decibel test, far from the world-famous whale-watching waters of California’s majestic Central Coast.

END

Editor’s Note: On Oct.12 the NRC wrote a letter to PG&E declaring the Shoreline Fault within acceptable safety limits to operate Diablo Canyon. “Based on our review,” NRC senior project manager Joseph Sebrosky wrote to PG&E, “the NRC has confirmed our preliminary conclusion that DCPP’s ground motions from the Shoreline fault are at or below those for which the plant was evaluated previously and demonstrated to have reasonable assurance of safety.”

The NRC stated that it did not require the proposed 3D high-energy test, though it remained receptive to any fresh data the test might uncover. At the same time, seismic exploration of the lengthy Hosgri Fault had been limited to Box 4, Estero Bay. With NRC’s renewed confidence in the stability of the Shoreline, the dynamics of the test had shifted, questioning the urgency for the project, if not the necessity. 

CPUC Won’t Pursue PG&E High-Energy Testing for “at Least a Year”; Navy’s Proposed Tests Off So. Cal Torpedoed by Coastal Commission

The 3D seismic-test bull’s-eye has been removed from Estero Bay for one to two years, according to the Independent Peer Review Panel (IPRP) advising the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on seismic risks to PG&E’s Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant and SCE’s San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). The CPUC regulates the state’s two nuclear plants.

Said Chris Wills, of the California Geological Survey, on behalf of the peer review panel at their February 25 public hearing in San Francisco: “We heard pretty clearly from the Coastal Commission that they don’t want to hear back about high-energy seismic surveys unless it’s the last thing in the tool kit and we know exactly what seismic hazards data will come from it, and that it is critical for a safety evaluation of the plant.

“So, because there’s all these other types of studies that can be done to constrain seismic hazards at the plant, we’re not going to be able to answer that question for at least a year, maybe more, and it’s likely that we won’t be discussing high-energy seismic surveys again probably that amount of time,” Wills said. “If we find out the information we could get from those is critical then we may come back and have PG&E and their consultants look into how to evaluate the impacts and whether this can be done safety; and, of course, the whole permitting process is not us, it’s State Lands and Coastal Commission. We have not said we’d never consider it but we think there’s no point in considering it for at least a year.”

Wills’ statement comports with the California Coastal Commission ‘s unanimous decision last November to deny PG&E a permit to conduct high-energy seismic tests in Estero Bay off the Central Coast. If the CPUC were to send PG&E back to the Coastal Commission for a permit to conduct high-energy surveys, the Commission has already told PG&E not to come back with the same proposal expecting different results.

Edward Randolph, Energy Division Director for the CPUC, said: “We will be first and foremost seeking the advice and counsel of the peer review panel before we go forward. No decision has been made one way or the another from what the PUC would be asking PG&E to be doing going forward. First we’re going to seek the advice of the panel.”

High-energy testing is not out of the question yet in Southern California water, however. The Coastal Commission says that Southern California Edison is interested in pursuing high-energy seismic surveys (HESS) in 2014 to evaluate the seismic risks to nuclear reactors at its idle San Onofre power plant.

While HESS may be out of San Luis Obispo County waters for 2013 and perhaps 2014, so-called low-energy surveys (LESS) are still permitted off the Central Coast through most of 2103. The State Lands Commission has been charged with rewriting and updating the antiquated 1984  permit that has allowed LESS to continue for the past five years, although HESS and LESS share dangerously high decibel levels and overlapping thresholds for mortality to marine mammals. State Lands permitted the PG&E high-energy survey and will hear the request to permit SCE’s high-energy survey. The Coastal Commission has essentially banned HESS from coastal waters and is presently looking into LESS impacts on fish, fishing and marine mammals.

Meanwhile, those attending the Coastal Commission hearing two weeks later in San Diego were able to experience a bit of leftover déjà vu from last November’s momentous hearing in Santa Monica. This time, playing the role of PG&E was the U.S. Navy.

The March 8 hearing in San Diego weighed a consistency determination by the U.S. Navy to conduct the Southern California portion of its Hawaii-Southern California Training and Testing Program (HSTT) in the offshore waters of the Southern California Range Complex.

As with PG&E’s proposal, and for similar reasons, the Coastal Commission voted unanimously and unconditionally to deny the Navy a permit to test sonar and munitions for five years starting in January 2014.

Michael Jasny, Director of NRDC’s marine mammal protection project, summed up the Navy’s numbers and the implications. “130 mortalities, 1600 cases of permanent hearing loss, more than 8.8 million instances of temporary hearing loss and biologically significant disruption. These numbers are 13 times larger than anything the Navy has proposed before,” he said.

“Sound is the primary sense in whales and many other ocean animals. This is really an enormous amount of activity. I heard biologists who have worked out in the Navy’s range describe with strong concern the number of potentially dangerous activities that might be taking place at any given time.

“The Navy’s activities would kill marine mammals,” Jasny stated for the record. “The Navy attributes most of these deaths to its underwater detonations, which range from less than a pound to more than 500 lbs. of net explosive weight. The Navy tries to mitigate this by using visual observers to spot marine mammals before they enter the blast radius, but many of the Navy’s explosives use timer delays that cannot be disarmed before marine mammals are spotted and… that’s the reason why several dolphins died in the exercise off San Diego in 2011. Marine mammals were indeed detected but the Navy couldn’t halt the detonation. It’s important to point out that these injuries occur at sea and can happen without any animals coming to the beach.”

Continued Jasny, “The Navy estimates that there will be 130 mortalities over all five years. We think for several reasons beginning with the sheer number of detonations that they propose that this is an underestimate but the Navy’s numbers are high enough… The Navy estimates that more than 1600 marine mammals would suffer permanent hearing loss over at least part of their auditory range…

“In all, the Navy estimates that its activities will significantly disrupt vital behaviors in marine mammals more than 8.8 million times over five years, and as incredible as it may sound, we think these are underestimates, as the standards that the Navy uses are comparatively far less conservative than those used in the Diablo Canyon EIR. They don’t reflect the threshold of impacts seen in, for example, the blue whale study and other studies as well.”

This is the third time the Coastal Commission has turned down the Navy for such an exercise in some of the most mammal-rich ocean in the world, and this ruling doesn’t mean a lawsuit by the Navy won’t eventually allow it to conduct training and testing to maintain readiness in the interest of national security, which it has previously done, but the Coastal Commission has still sent a clear, consistent message, regardless of the serious considerations involved, that it is doing its job.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D8wCxGldzA&w=400&h=225]

Dave Congalton

UPDATE (2/24): Congalton has denied any confrontation with Sandra Deurr. He provided a correction regarding the year he joined The Tribune (see below the article).

Local radio host Dave Congalton has helped shine a light on CalCoastNews’ recent investigation of the Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo (CAPSLO) and Family Ties, a local 501(c)(4) that provides financial services to the mentally ill and homeless. On February 19, Congalton unleashed a lengthy, rambling tirade against the “establishment” for criticizing CalCoastNews and him. Between expressing fears that the “establishment” was out to get him and comparing District 3 Supervisor Adam Hill to Al Capone, the 920 KVEC radio host dedicated more than an hour to insulting people who previously supported him and worked closely with him. His explosive rant came as no surprise to those who know him best.

Congalton has hosted his show on 920 KVEC, which he calls “Hometown Radio,” since January 1992. Previously, he was a college professor. Congalton was an instructor at the University of Tulsa before moving to the Central Coast to teach in Cal Poly’s Speech Department for a year. After leaving his position at Cal Poly, Congalton worked part-time at The Tribune starting in the fall of 1989. Congalton left The Tribune in 1998 because, in his words, “newspaper work was boring,” though there was more to that story.

Like CalCoastNews reporter Karen Velie, Congalton had trouble with his former employer.

With co-author and wife Charlotte Alexander‘s help, Congalton published his book, “Three Cats, Two Dogs: One Journey Through Multiple Pet Loss,” on April 13, 2000. The book described tragic circumstances that unfolded in December 14, 1997. Congalton and his wife returned from a holiday party to find their five animals — Topper, Triptych, Tripper, Trio and Tess — dead from carbon monoxide poisoning after their home caught on fire. Congalton, who wrote columns in the Tribune for eight years about his pets, was devastated and overcome with grief. Desperately seeking support, Congalton turned to The Tribune, hoping he could work through his grief by penning columns about his loss. Tribune staff told Congalton to “move on,” a sentiment he found callous and insulting to someone who had an unquestionably deep bond with his pets. He subsequently lashed out at his elderly parents, who offered the same advice.

“Enough is enough, Dave,” former Tribune publisher John Moore reportedly told Congalton sometime after the fire.

Congalton was disappointed in former Tribune publisher Julia Aguilar for not calling him and sending him a note. In his book, Congalton scoffed at Aguilar: “Our loss, for whatever reason, simply wasn’t an important issue to her.”

Congalton was befuddled. He couldn’t understand why Tribune staffers couldn’t relate to his grief. At the time, Tribune staff deeply sympathized with Congalton but expressed concern that he was emotionally unstable. When he taught at Cal Poly, Congalton developed a reputation for being confrontational and acidic. The tragic loss of his pets, which were mentioned in his columns over the years, transformed a typically tolerable media personality into a vindictive force of nature. Sources working closely with The Tribune were irritated with Congalton’s portrayal of the newspaper in his book, saying the newsroom supported Congalton throughout the ordeal even though he yelled and threatened staff, including Moore and Aguilar, for not being supportive enough.

By July 1998, Tribune staffers wanted him out. It wasn’t personal, they said, but they wanted to work without Congalton’s hostile behavior. After The Tribune was purchased by Knight Ridder, the company hired Sandra Duerr, who replaced Moore. Congalton hoped that Duerr would understand his plight; that he could write a column about his feelings without editorial censorship. He was still grieving over the loss of his five pets. Unfortunately for Congalton, Duerr wanted Congalton to “move on” and stop writing columns about animals, including his own. Similarly, Congalton wanted to “move on” from doing beat reporting.

“I couldn’t understand why a new editor who hadn’t even bothered to try and get to know me, was detailing everything that was wrong with my writing. Arguing would be pointless. The meeting couldn’t have ended soon enough. She received my letter of resignation the next morning,” wrote Congalton in his book. It was implied in the book that the meeting between him and Duerr was tense, but there was more.

Described by staffers as a “maniac” and “violent,” Congalton slammed his fist down on Duerr’s desk and yelled at the new editor. The newsroom was horrified by Congalton and wanted nothing more than the columnist to make a speedy exit, and hoped that he wouldn’t return. When they heard of Congalton’s resignation, Tribune staffers had a collective sigh of relief.

Cross-promoting agendas

Though Congalton was tired of working in the newspaper business, he saw something different in CalCoastNews. Over the years, he penned several blogs and columns on other sites that ridiculed the dysfunction of local media like The Tribune and New Times. He held a grudge against The Tribune because of his personal issues with the publication and New Times for supposedly moving away from investigative journalism and firing his friend, Karen Velie. When Velie informed him of CalCoastNews, which brandished the hard-hitting, investigative journalism that appealed to Congalton, he was ecstatic. He became Contributing Editor in early 2010, wrote news briefs and contributed columns that were exclusive to the site. He resigned from his role in November 2011, citing “drama” as the reason — as some of his comments and columns on CalCoastNews instigated feuds. Nevertheless, Congalton has regularly contributed to the site by providing CalCoastNews writers guest appearances on his show.

Once CalCoastNews publishes an exclusive article, Congalton schedules the author to discuss the latest on his show, which runs weekday afternoons from three to seven in the afternoon. Velie is one of his most frequent guests since January 14, 2008. Since he became CalCoastNews Contributing Editor, Congalton has allowed Velie to promote the site for nearly twice as long as radio guests not affiliated with the site. This is according to the averages calculated from his 2012-13 shows featuring Velie. In return, CalCoastNews operated as a promotional vehicle to promote his movie script (“Congalton sells movie script to Hollywood,” August 30, 2012) and his eBook, “The Talk Radio Guest Book: How to be the Perfect Radio Guest” (“New ebook serves as Talk Radio 101,” September 5, 2011). CalCoastNews also interviewed Congalton when he celebrated his 18th anniversary on KVEC (“The CCN Interview: Dave Congalton,” January 3, 2010). When he became Contributing Editor, Congalton rarely disclosed his connection to CalCoastNews on his show; instead he regularly refers to himself as a “disinterested party.”

Congalton was indebted to Velie for the platform that CalCoastNews gave him and the ratings he garnered as a result of her guest appearances. He had every reason to be appreciative. According to Arbitron data from 2009 through late 2012, 920 KVEC struggled with their ratings even though El Dorado Broadcasting, who bought the station in 2007, added syndicated conservative radio shows to the lineup. Since Velie and CalCoastNews co-founder Dan Blackburn started appearing on his show, Congalton’s ratings climbed. Feeling pressure from El Dorado Broadcasting’s growing lineup of charismatic programming to match the flamboyance of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, Congalton sought the controversy of CalCoastNews to liven up a show that critics said was “sleep-inducing.” Congalton has jokingly admitted to the tedium of his broadcasts. Ratings indicate that CalCoastNews helped bring life to a show that was struggling to remain relevant in an increasingly loud, conservative local market.

Congalton rewarded CalCoastNews with unrestricted access. Unless he specifically extended an invitation for someone with a contrasting viewpoint to appear on his show, Congalton has frequently refused to air opposing viewpoints to challenge the guests. The ROCK spoke to people who attempted to express disagreement with Velie’s opinions, accusations and conclusions. They all asserted that Congalton discriminated against them. Screening calls, the producer at 920 KVEC would ask potential callers for their name and occasionally what “side” they’re on. The ROCK was told that if Congalton does not like or disagrees with the caller, the caller is disconnected; if a caller specifies that they disagree with CalCoastNews, the caller is disconnected. Congalton has supposedly engaged in this practice while promoting “Hometown Radio” as an opportunity for contrasting viewpoints to be broadcasted equally. Our sources have e-mailed Congalton to have their viewpoints aired, but he either ignored their requests or denied them outright.

According to Congalton’s abbreviated biography on KVEC’s website, “[Hometown Radio] encourages all points of view.”

Recently, Congalton has told his critics to “start their own radio show” if they want to air their disagreements with him.

Sometimes, Congalton didn’t need CalCoastNews to stir controversy.

Annie

In mid-2010, Annie the Dog dominated local headlines. The seven-year-old Australian Shepard was involved in a bitter custody battle between Chuck Hoage, the original owner who lost Annie, and the family from Arroyo Grande who adopted the dog. Annie, who was not legally licensed by Hoage, ran away from Hoage’s ranch in June 2010 after hearing a loud gunshot. Hoage, who didn’t own a computer at the time, contacted Animal Services frequently in hopes that the dog would be found there. Three weeks later after losing Annie, Hoage received a call from Animal Services. The dog was found and ready to be picked up. By the time Hoage arrived at the shelter where Annie was being kept, he discovered that the dog was adopted a day prior to his visit. Annie’s adoptive family initially refused to return Annie. This drew the ire of Congalton, a known and respected animal rescue advocate, who dedicated several lengthy segments on his show to Hoage. Congalton lashed out repeatedly at Annie’s new owners and initiated a letter-writing campaign. He also set up a Facebook page called “Friends of Annie,” which quickly rose to more than 4,000 members within days.

The Tribune reported on August 25, 2010 that the San Luis Obispo County Counsel’s office inadvertently leaked personal information about Annie’s adoptive owners to Kitty Crockett of Atascadero. Crockett forwarded the leaked information to Congalton and Hoage. She promised County Counsel Warren Jensen that she would “hold [her] powder” and not forward the sensitive information to anyone else. The accidental leak from Counsel forced officials to scramble for a resolution between Hoage and Annie’s new owners. District 3 Supervisor Adam Hill and County Animal Services quietly worked with Annie’s new owners to form an amicable resolution. However, on the day before The Tribune posted about the leaked information, Congalton called the owners and left the following voicemail: “I’m calling mainly to let you know that if I know, a lot of other people are about to know, and I’m hoping there’s some way we can resolve this [...] we need to talk sooner rather than later.”

The owners informed the Arroyo Grande Police Department. While the department didn’t believe Congalton’s voicemail was particularly threatening, they were concerned with Congalton’s line, “A lot of other people are about to know,” even though he publicly expressed concern about the family’s personal information being leaked to the public. Officials in charge of the investigation at the time were puzzled. If Crockett only provided the information to Hoage and Congalton, what does Congalton mean by “a lot of other people”? The family told investigators that they received several anonymous calls and had people park their vehicles in front of their house, surveying the property and occasionally walking around. Fearing retaliation, the daughter of Annie’s new owners stayed in their neighbor’s home. The family was certain that Congalton leaked their address and phone number to “Friends of Annie.” On August 30, one of the family members anonymously penned a letter to The Tribune, adding that Supervisor Hill “stalked our house, left phone messages and got my personal e-mail,” but officials reported at the time that Hill had been negotiating with the family.

Hoage eventually reunited with Annie, but sources close to the investigation told The ROCK that Congalton prolonged the reunion with his voicemail and incendiary calls for actions on his radio show.

The Tribune’s Bob Cuddy fired back at Congalton and the media for sensationalizing the conflict — and he took himself to task for jumping on the bandwagon. In his August 30, 2010 column, Cuddy wrote, “Annie is going back because its new owners have been terrorized into giving up the dog. Terrorism works. That’s the lesson here. And all of us who were involved in this, starting with yours truly, should re-examine our behavior.”

Cuddy revealed more about Congalton’s involvement. Cuddy referred to an e-mail sent to Supervisor Hill by Congalton. Congalton wrote, “County fucked up on the redacting part of the adoption papers [...] They didn’t black out everything. I’m not going to give out the information, but Chuck [Hoage] has it. So do his friends.” This was in sharp contrast to earlier comments by Congalton, who expressed concern to The Tribune about the leaked information going public.

“I’’ve been trying to tone things down,”” Congalton told The Tribune on August 25. ““Animal people can be very passionate.””

Cuddy’s column angered Congalton. On his blog, Congalton wrote on August 31 that Cuddy “considered [him] to be a terrorist and the head of a terrorist organization. Really. I’m not making this up.” Cuddy never made the claim — only to say that the family was terrorized into handing over Annie. The police investigation lined up with Cuddy’s claims. Congalton added, “Contrary to accusations from Mr. Cuddy, there were no incidents in Arroyo Grande where the new dog was staying. The accusations flying about have never been proven.”

Ready For War

Congalton has feuded publicly and privately with several public officials and journalists; his feuds often spilled over to coverage in CalCoastNews, which he sometimes penned anonymously. In May 17, 2010, Congalton accused New Times of “sexism that pervades [their] male-dominated newsroom.” Just a week earlier, Congalton quietly removed incendiary and threatening comments he made toward New Times staffers on CalCoastNews, including Executive Editor Ryan Miller and Staff Writer Matt Fountain. Congalton also accused New Times of firing Karen Velie because she is a woman. Calling his attack on New Times “babbling” and “obsessed,” critics eviscerated CalCoastNews for Congalton’s article.

Congalton’s fixation on New Times continued through September when he anonymously penned an article that speculated about changes in their newsroom. Citing “inside sources” and “curious minds,” Congalton wrote about the sudden disappearance of former editor Ed Connolly, who was replaced by Ashley Schwallenbach. Congalton speculated on the circumstances surrounding the change of staff. New Times declined to comment on Congalton’s article at the time.

Other times he will play mediator who often defends CalCoastNews’ reporting with condescending snark. Speaking to officials, Congalton has expressed occasional disagreement with Velie and her reporting. Over the years, the two would have an on-again, off-again professional relationship, though he’s defended CalCoastNews rigorously when Velie’s reporting was attacked. Some of the people Congalton has feuded with have had complex relationships with Congalton, and they tread carefully with their responses to him — hoping that they wouldn’t set him off. Sources who know Congalton told The ROCK that he would retaliate against them if they were critical of him by cutting access to his show and subsequently berating them on air. Congalton has actively discouraged and threatened others who are associated with his critics. E-mails provided to The ROCK show Congalton being dismissive of local officials and activists. He often focuses on ridiculing trivial matters and semantics.

Since December 2011, Congalton has worked as a Media Strategist for SansTree, a company that helps fiction and non-fiction writers with brand marketing and e-publishing.

Congalton has struggled with containing his emotions. CalCoastNews massaged his ego and gave him a platform. In return, Congalton awarded the site with untethered access to the airwaves, despite growing concerns about their overall credibility. In defense of CalCoastNews, Congalton isolated himself from several local connections — leaving no room for reconciliation.

There is evidence to show that the more success he’s had with “Hometown Radio,” the more distraught he’s become. The good-old-boy radio personality — beloved by animal lovers, small business owners and charity organizers — had descended into a state of disarray as a result of personal tragedy and turmoil over the media he believes slighted him. On February 19, San Luis Obispo County heard the Congalton that CalCoastNews has helped shape, and he sounded like a man in need of his own emotional rescue.

CORRECTION: A typo was fixed. Congalton started working at The Tribune in 1989, not 1991.

Karen Velie

Karen Velie is more than a reporter at CalCoastNews, the controversial local news site with a heavy emphasis on investigative reporting. She is the one who, in late 2007, took Senior Correspondent Dan Blackburn’s Uncovered SLO and turned it into a shining beacon of scandal. She’s uncovered exclusive after exclusive, which crowds the already packed site and generates a strong buzz of activity among those who feel disenfranchised by the “nanny state” government and public officials. Velie often positions herself as the boisterous, hard-nosed watchdog, unmoved by the frustrations of her adversaries.

On CalCoastNews, Velie describes herself in her bio as a “a professional journalist who has interviewed national figures such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett,” though ProQuest and Newsbank database search results indicate she’s never interviewed them. When she’s not writing stories on CalCoastNews, Velie operates and manages Ballot Press, an eBook publisher and distributor. Little is known about Velie’s professional background other than she was once a staff writer for New Times. During her tenure at New Times, Velie wrote traditional news articles, but clearly demonstrated a penchant for pomp and suspense. She wrote articles about local businesses for their “Strokes & Plugs,” specifically under the “Fast Facts” subhead.

But it was Velie’s articles on government corruption, incompetence and dystrophy that allowed readers to thoroughly empathize with the plight of affected individuals and groups. Her most ambitious article, “Atascadero Leaders Have Something to Hide,” from July 13, 2006, focused on allegations that Atascadero city officials forced residents Pat and Sue Gaughan to sell their property on El Camino Real — which was across the street from the Carlton Hotel — at a below-market price. This was the first time Velie wrote about North County developer Kelly Gearhart, who later became the subject of a four-part series on CalCoastNews in late 2010.

Readers submitted letters to the editor, complaining about Velie’s inaccuracies. San Luis Obispo resident Geraldine Jones wrote in her September 28, 2006 letter to New Times criticizing their “irresponsible journalistic disgrace” for publishing Velie’s September 21 cover story about Measure J. Jones was an opponent of Measure J. She accused Velie of “distorting, ignoring, concealing or dismissing concerns of Measure J opponents.” Jones speculated over Velie’s intentions, saying that Velie may “need to be enlightened because all she wanted to do was abuse her public trust as a ‘news’ reporter to transmit her own bias to the public as fact.” This pointed criticism would later haunt her tenure at CalCoastNews.

Later that year, Andrew Christie of the Sierra Club Santa Lucia Chapter criticized Velie. In his November 2, 2006 letter to the editor in New Times, Christie ostracized Velie for alleging that Measure J opponents used “shifty” tactics and “shenanigans” of “dirty campaigns” that are “designed to misrepresent and misguide voters.” He told Velie, “It might be helpful if at some point in the story you mention what the alleged tactic actually was. This is a journalistic device that allows readers to judge for themselves.” At CalCoastNews, Velie’s articles often hinge on all shades of allegations. The evidence to substantiate the allegations is withheld, which deprives readers of additional context and specificity.

Eventually, there was acrimony between Velie and her employer.

It was December 2006. Velie sent a draft to Executive Editor Ryan Miller, which dug deeper into the miscellaneous scandals surrounding the Atascadero City Council. Sources close to Velie claimed Miller refused to let the article go to print because there were “numerous factual inaccuracies.” Miller opted to run a Christmas story instead (“Jesus: Then and Now,” December 21, 2006). Velie quit New Times shortly after Miller’s story was printed. She subsequently complained to close friend Dave Congalton about New Times’ gradual shift away from investigative journalism. Appearing unfazed, Miller later wrote on Congalton’s blog, “New Times is doing what it’s always done: covering stories that go uncovered in the mainstream media, and, yes, doing hard-hitting investigative and enterprise reporting.”

Recognizing that Velie was an unarguably galvanizing figure at New Times, Publisher Bob Rucker spoke to Velie and convinced her to stay. But when he found that Velie aired her grievances to Congalton — who, in turn, wrote a blog complaining about New Times — Rucker fired her. Since her departure from New Times, Velie has appeared regularly on “The Dave Congalton Show” on 92.0 KVEC since January 14, 2008.

After Velie left New Times to join Dan Blackburn, also a former NT staffer, at CalCoastNews, NT Shredder  openly expressed concern about her in a May 13, 2009 op-ed about allegations swirling around the relationship between former SLO County Administrative Officer David Edge and Assistant County Administrator Gail Wilcox. Calling Velie a “no-holds-barred, no-corrections-issued” reporter, Shredder was skeptical over CalCoastNews’ “publish-first, brag-later approach,” warning that such an approach “could get [them] sued, but that’s [Velie's] risk to take.”

One year later, former Cal Poly dean of the College of Engineering Mohammad Noori attempted to sue Velie for defamation after she wrote an article about his dismissal from Cal Poly. She reported that Noori was “increasingly unpopular” on campus with a history of incompetence, which stemmed from his employment at North Carolina State University from 1999 to 2004. On December 20, then CalCoast Contributing Editor Dave Congalton hastily published a plea for donations to support her. He wrote, “A process server is on a countywide hunt for Karen [Velie] to serve her with the official papers.” He asked for people to contribute to what he called the “Karen Velie Legal Defense Fund.” Instead of finances being diverted to Velie directly, all donations were sent to CalCoastNews’ PayPal account. It was revealed later, in a May 21, 2011 article by Lisa Rizzo, that Velie was not served with the lawsuit “although she has received letters from Noori’s San Marino based legal team.” CCN didn’t mention any reimbursement for their donations.

The relationship between Velie and the seemingly prophetic New Times took a nosedive in May 2010 when Congalton published a fiery op-ed, which ostracized Velie’s former employer for retaliating against her. New Times co-publisher Alex Zuniga reportedly sent an e-mail to CalCoastNews, requesting that they remove a copyrighted photo of Arroyo Grande High School, which was taken by a New Times photographer. CalCoastNews eventually removed the photo after trying to justify their use of the photo as being legal. Congalton shot back at New Times after the incident in his op-ed, claiming that “there has been a flurry of nasty emails coming our way from certain writers and editors at New Times” and Velie was fired from her previous publication because she is a woman. Congalton’s accusations against New Times were never documented.

Aside from the occasional spats with other media sources, Velie was riding on the success of her extensive coverage of Kelly Gearhart’s exploits, which ultimately became her first major exclusive for CalCoastNews. The articles mirrored Velie’s writing style from New Times, but the details were more specific. Still, there was scant evidence to back up claims made by Gearhart’s common-law stepmother Marion Warner, whose personal account of the legally beleaguered developer was prevalent in the first part of Velie’s investigation. The series of articles portrayed Gearhart as a long-time criminal who took money from investors who invested in local real estate projects, and personally enriched himself.

The second part mostly abandoned citing any references to Velie’s allegations. The third article pieced together a timeline of Gearhart’s involvement with the Salinan Indian Tribal Council, but no documents were made available by Velie for readers to track Gearhart. The fourth and final part focused heavily on the Gearhart family, their personal tragedies and shortcomings, and how Kelly Gearhart’s past misfortune influenced him in the present.

Since the story broke, many of Gearhart’s victims emerged to praise Velie for her story — and federal officials took notice. On August 13, 2012, Gearhart pleaded not guilty to 16 charges of mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. Gearhart and the former president of Hurst Financial James Miller are accused of defrauding more than 1,200 investors of more than $100 million as part of an alleged ponzi scheme. Gearhart has denied all of Velie’s allegations, but court records show that the federal investigation on Gearhart includes content first uncovered by Velie. But court records show that sources, who contributed to Velie’s feature on Gearhart, had more of an effect on the federal investigation than her actual reporting.

When her reporting is questioned, Velie repeatedly touts her success with the Gearhart coverage as a way to further establish her personal credibility.

Since the Gearhart stories were published, Velie’s journalism methodology changed. Instead of referring and linking to source documentation, Velie started relying heavily on hearsay and allegations made by anonymous sources. The more she relied on anonymous sources and tips, the more salacious the accusations became. Velie often pursued her targets with leading questions that assumed accusations made about them were factual. Because the questions included a preconstructed narrative, people who were e-mailed often declined to comment — but their decline to comment was perceived by Velie as a sign of guilt or willful ignorance.

Appearing sometimes robotic and unusually vitriolic when defending herself, Velie has harassed and berated people she has targeted in her articles. A Pismo Beach resident wrote to Velie in mid-2012 pleading with her to stop levying accusations about her on local blogs and Facebook. According to the resident, Velie’s accusations resulted in her family being stalked and her name being broadcasted around the local blogs. Velie dismissed the resident’s e-mails as “paranoia” and denied making any accusations about the resident.

She’s made calls to her targets — namely public officials — and threatened them with a “good article” if they did not answer her questions.

Bias was not as evident when Velie looked into District Administrator and engineer of the South San Luis Obispo County Sanitation District John Wallace’s potential conflict of interest.

Velie has been mired with criticism of her braggadocio, which has become one of her trademarks. Since joining CalCoastNews, Velie became more defiant as she published articles with more anonymous sources. On Congalton’s radio show, Velie often refers to speaking to “many” or “numerous” people who support her accusations and “facts,” but often never says who those people are. On Congalton, Velie abandons journalistic safeguards such as the words “allegedly,” “supposedly” and “reportedly” to describe the accusations, which suddenly transform into unquestionable matters of fact. Velie often has trouble distinguishing between objective journalism and subjective persecution. She demonstrates this when she appears on Congalton’s show.

Investing in corruption, especially sex scandals involving public officials, has netted sharp increases in donations, say sources close to Velie. Though she focuses on credible information that objectively draws pause from readers, Velie has exaggerated or fabricated critical details to squeeze more outrage from her most ardent supporters and potential donors.

Velie accused South County Sanitation Distrist administrator and engineer John Wallace of conflict of interest. She claims that her coverage was validated by a 46-page San Luis Obispo County Grand Jury report that confirmed Wallace was in conflict of interest. The June 2, 2011 report stated, “The Grand Jury finds the district in a state of denial regarding the conflict of interest and, as a result, the district has taken no effective steps to mitigate the conflict [...] The Grand Jury concludes that, as a result, the board and the district are exposed to a number of financial, legal and public trust issues.” District attorney Michael Seitz dismissed the report, saying that the Grand Jury didn’t understand how the district did their business.

The report was challenged by district board members, including Arroyo Grande mayor Tony Ferrara, who Velie has repeatedly called one of Wallace’s “staunch supporters.” Velie appeared on Congalton several times to accuse Ferrara of benefiting financially from Wallace’s alleged misdeeds. Velie has offered no documentation to substantiate her claims. Ferrera is not part of any current investigation. Later, County Auditor-Controller Gere Sibbach wrote in his October 21, 2011 that there were “reasonable controls” in place to prevent conflict of interest. Sibbach offered suggestions for improvement.

Shortly after Sibbach’s report was released, Velie moved onto another big story. “Sex and the Los Osos Sewer” focused on the relationship between Public Works Director Paavo Ogren and former Los Osos Community Services District board member Maria Kelly. Velie used the car accident involving Ogren and Kelly’s children as a trigger to investigate “allegations of a possible conflict of interest.” The source of the allegations was not disclosed. At this point, Velie started relying heavily on anonymous sources. One of those anonymous sources was Shaun Kelly, Maria Kelly’s ex-husband who contacted The ROCK only a few months before. Velie did not disclose that the couple were, at the time, engaged in a bitter divorce. Velie did not reach out to Kelly for the story. Once Maria Kelly divulged that information on a local blog one day later, Velie started to publicly berate and harass her.

Velie made several critical errors. Contrary to her claims, Maria Kelly was actively residing in the home she was attempting to sell in Los Osos. Since 2005, Kelly’s children were enrolled in San Luis Obispo schools as part of a duel immersion program, which is part of the San Luis Coastal Unified School District (SLCUSD). Velie gratuitously mentioned that Kelly and Ogren’s children “allegedly” smoke and drank at the County Public Works Director’s “party house.” The allegations, which originated from Kelly’s ex-husband, were never proven or vetted.

By July 2011, Velie doubled down on the drug accusations by unveiling divorce records, which showed only Mr. Kelly’s accusations. Velie did not publish any drug or alcohol test results and did not investigate any further to verify the accusations made by Kelly’s ex-husband. After the County Administrator investigated and cleared Ogren of conflict of interest in October 4, 2011, Velie abruptly abandoned any follow-up of Mr. Kelly’s allegations and focused instead on Mrs. Kelly’s voting record when she served on the CSD. Velie looked at votes Mrs. Kelly made which, she claimed, benefited Mr. Ogren while they were in a relationship. Shortly after Velie published her musings, the LOCSD declined to conduct an investigation into Mrs. Kelly’s alleged conflict of interest, stating that the allegations had no merit.

Velie reopened her “extensive investigation” on March 19, 2012 when she reported on a lawsuit filed by an attorney representing a minor who was injured in the June 16, 2011 car accident. According to Velie, the lawsuit against Mr. Ogren claimed that the Public Works Director “lent his teenage son his SUV to chauffeur underage friends, knowing his son regularly drank alcohol and did drugs.” Again, Velie did not look into the validity of the allegations made and simply ran the claims, which remain untested to this day. As of February, The ROCK could not find any active lawsuit filed against Mr. Ogren.

CalCoastNews later, on January 12, revealed that Mr. Kelly was the source of the allegations when they published news of his May 27, 2012 arrest for indecent exposure at the Cal Poly campus library. A relative of Kelly’s, who posted a comment under CalCoastNews’ article, strongly implied that Mr. Kelly suffers from mental illness. Sources close to Kelly told The ROCK that Ogren and Kelly’s children have suffered “severe emotional distress” as a result of the unfounded allegations, which Velie never retracted — given that the allegations were made by someone with a clear motive to disparage Mrs. Kelly and with possible mental capacity issues.

Former Paso Robles police chief Lisa Solomon was the subject of Velie’s next scandal. “Police chief accused of sexually assaulting her officers” was published January 26, 2012. The article published a series of allegations reportedly by police department personnel who feared retaliation. The article went viral and received coverage on KSBY the same day the article was published. The article helped resurrect Velie’s credibility, which was tattered by her coverage of the Ogren-Kelly scandal. Multiple police officers came forward with allegations that rocked the city of Paso Robles. Pressure from city officials and the public forced Solomon to resign on March 20, 2012. Solomon settled with the city for $250,000. Paso Robles city officials spent at least $330,000 for their investigation into Solomon’s alleged misconduct. Formed by citizens that were angered by the Solomon scandal and growing taxpayer costs, the grassroots organization Change Paso Robles Now was formed.

Like the Gearhart scandal, Velie was contacted by several sources who were credible and were able to provide documentation when she didn’t; she opted instead to construct a narrative woven together by unverified anecdotes.

It was clear that her North County coverage was stronger than her coverage in other areas. Sources close to Velie say that CalCoastNews has a “large support network” that assists Velie in her North Count reporting.

Over the past two years, Velie has covered homelessness in San Luis Obispo County, a hotly debated issue locally. Velie has aggressively targeted the City of San Luis Obispo and Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo (CAPSLO) for policies she personally feels are adversely impacting the homeless community. Velie took on the cause after recruiting Lisa Rizzo to CalCoastNews staff. Rizzo is the wife of attorney Saro Rizzo, one of two attorneys representing homeless plaintiffs in a discrimination lawsuit filed against the city. Velie has not disclosed her reporter’s relationship with one of the lead attorneys in the case.

Velie struck a chord with homeless advocates with her coverage, but that came to a screeching halt on June 12, 2012 when she published an article about a homeless man named Randall Reed who claimed that he was “barred” from taking part of homeless services at Prado Day Center after a 4 pm “curfew.” Velie did not mention that Prado Day Center operates during day hours from 8:30 am-4:30 pm for all the homeless who reside there. Those receiving services are then sent to Maxine Lewis Memorial Shelter, which operates exclusively in the evenings. According to CAPSLO officials, homeless who are fully “barred” from services are those who are not sober or have violent tendencies. Sources with ties to CAPSLO’s  claimed that Reed was a substance abuser. Velie did not disclose that information. Velie did not mention that a curfew only exists to encourage homeless to visit Maxine Lewis, which offers 50 beds, free meals, showers, phone and message services, and access to case management. Velie continues to discuss and write about the curfew without disclosing Prado Day Center’s hours. CAPSLO adamantly denies barring any qualified individuals from partaking in services for political or personal reasons.

The misinformation was presented by Reed, who claimed in the article that he had he joined the Navy Seals in 1980 for eight years and earned several medals, such as the Navy Cross and Purple Heart. Velie “paraphrased” his claims as fact — and later discussed it on Congalton’s radio show — without thoroughly vetting his supposed military background. The ROCK learned that several veterans and concerned readers contacted Velie, stating that Reed falsified his records. At the time, we checked with several veteran databases and centers and independently confirmed that Reed never served in the military. Knowing that she was presenting false information, Velie left the story untouched for a week before issuing a rare correction about Reed. Every mention of Reed’s medals was scrubbed from the article on June 19.

District 3 Supervisor Adam Hill, who served as the founding chair of the Homeless Services Oversight Council and the chair of the capital campaign for the new homeless services center on Higuera Street, took exception to Velie’s article on Reed. According to CalCoastNews’ article on July 16, 2012, the news site claimed Hill “has been using his elected position to bully advertisers and supporters in a campaign to cripple the website.” Without unveiling any of the e-mails that were allegedly sent by Hill, CalCoastNews accused Hill of threatening “persons who are affiliated with the news site, warning them that if they continued to promote or contribute content to the site, they would lose jobs and reputations.” Velie claimed as recently as February 7 on Congalton’s show that Hill personally threatened “to go after” her if she didn’t stop writing about homeless issues. Hill has vehemently denied the accusations.

The ROCK contacted several of CalCoastNews’ former and current advertisers who told us that they were never personally bullied or threatened by the supervisor. With respect to their business, we decided to not identify them. Some of them were even surprised that Velie would publish the article on Hill, given that they terminated their agreements with the news site over their tendency to exaggerate and sometimes falsify information — and that was before Hill contacted them. Some rejected the notion that they were bullied or threatened by Hill. E-mail exchanges between Hill and advertisers included strongly worded condemnations of CalCoastNews’ reporting, but were not intimidating or threatening, as Velie has repeatedly claimed.

Since the article on Hill was published in July 2012, Velie has written several articles on Hill, which are layered with accusations that could not be independently verified. In an article written on January 4, CalCoastNews accused Hill of “spreading claims on Topix, vocally and through reports to agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), that CalCoastNews reporters were fabricating stories while asking over the radio airways for money to write false stories.” The ROCK analyzed comments made by anonymous posters on Topix, but none of the commenters identified themselves as Adam Hill. Another article, which was published on January 16, speculated incorrectly that Hill referred to the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business (COLAB) as the “local fringe.” CalCoastNews referred to when Hill and COLAB were publicly feuding in 2011. Hill apologized for his 2011 comments. Both articles were speculative and contained no objective reporting.

Velie’s articles are reminiscent of Stephen Glass, a former journalist at The New Republic, who fabricated several articles for the publication in 1998. From 1995 to 1998, Glass repeatedly fabricated quotations, sources and events under the guise of news. Like Velie, Glass was the subject of scathing rebuttals from his subjects for publishing falsehoods and inaccuracies. Like Velie, Glass wrote material that was considered generally accurate, but there was no way of verifying information because he cited anonymous sources. CalCoastNews operates primarily on an anonymous tip-based system, which Velie often uses as a way to invoke reporters’ privilege. Reporters’ privilege is “protection under constitutional or statutory law, from being compelled to testify about confidential information or sources” (Black Law’s Dictionary, Ninth Ed. 2004). This has been Velie’s well-worn escape hatch from accountability.

In their Code of Ethics, the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) states several relevant guidelines: (1) “Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible; (2) Diligently seek out subjects of news stories to give them the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing; (3) Identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources’ reliability; (4) Always question sources’ motives before promising anonymity. Clarify conditions attached to any promise made in exchange for information. Keep promises.” These are standards that professional journalists strive to achieve, but there is ample evidence to show that Velie falls well below those standards. Uncovering corruption cannot be achieved by corrupting journalism in the name of truth. 

CalCoastNews and The ROCK: A Brief History

We’ve examined CalCoastNews closely over the years before we were subjected to their scrutiny. And after. This is not our first encounter with CalCoast and not our first articles about them.

On October 15, 2010, Dave Congalton, host of an AM radio show on KVEC and then a CalCoast Contributing Editor, anonymously published an article about The ROCK’s Managing Editor Aaron Ochs titled, “County demands blogger remove personal information.” At the time, Ochs disclosed three addresses of top-level County officials who he identified as failing to be transparent with providing information and records to Los Osos residents regarding the County-led wastewater project. The disclosure was part of an article published on Razor Online on October 13.

CalCoastNews has expressed contempt for government officials who have failed to be transparent and adhere to the California Public Records Act. Ochs related to the frustration, but added an extra layer of urgency, given that residents were looking at paying for a sewer that cost $200 million and they were entitled to having any reasonable requests fulfilled by District 2 Supervisor Bruce Gibson and Public Works staff. To make his point, Ochs encouraged concerned residents to civilly “go ahead, ring their doorbells. Knock on their doors. Give them a call. Let them know you want a conversation. Let them know you want your questions answered,” since some County officials made it virtually impossible for residents to have an open dialogue by phone and e-mail.

Ochs clearly recognized the controversy of his decision and was ready to remove the personal information as soon as the County perceived it to be an issue for them. County Counsel Warren Jensen issued a notice to Ochs to have the personal information removed as soon as possible pursuant to California Government Code 6254.21(c)(3). Under the law, public officials have the right to ask to have their personal information removed from a specified source. Ochs received the notice on the date the article was published and subsequently removed all sensitive information.

However, Jensen sent the notice to Congalton with the vague hope that the radio host — who happened to be in communication with Ochs at that time on another matter — would forward it along. The e-mail exchange took place the day before the article was published. Congalton declined to forward the e-mail to Ochs from Counsel Jensen and withheld the notice with the intent to publish it. He wrote to Jensen, “I don’t know this guy. I don’t wish to know this guy.” On the same day, Ochs wrote to Congalton after he received an e-mail from someone who discussed the “Ring Paavo’s Doorbell” article. Congalton threatened “calling [Ochs] on it” prior to hosting a discussion on his radio show with Los Osos activist Piper Reilly. The article was not discussed once on the show.

Congalton violated County Counsel’s confidentiality clause by publishing the notice in advance of Ochs receiving a copy. The article on CalCoastNews was published around one in the morning on Friday, October 15, several hours before Ochs received the notice from Jensen. Neither Congalton nor CalCoastNews asked Ochs for comment.

Ochs e-mailed and called Karen Velie to have the article removed. She declined, insisting the article was accurate.

So we’ve experienced CalCoastNews’ attack journalism before.

Despite the animosity between The ROCK and CalCoastNews, we expressed interest in potentially joining the news site as part of an aggregate site. The proposal, which was hatched by Dan Blackburn in mid-2011, included several sites joining the aggregate including The ROCK, Calhoun’s Cannon, SLO Coast Journal and Rogue Voice. The site was tentatively titled “The News Buoy,” copyrighted by Blackburn. ROCK editor Ed Ochs and Managing Editor Aaron Ochs met with Blackburn, Velie and other interested parties to discuss the details. Despite being ambushed by Congalton and Velie, we were interested in the aggregate, which would focus primarily on investigative journalism — something we all agreed was an endangered entity in San Luis Obispo County.

During negotiations, CalCoastNews unveiled a new exposé into the Los Osos sewer. “Sex and the Los Osos Sewer” was published on June 17, 2011. The article focused on a potential conflict of interest between Public Works Director Paavo Ogren — who was the subject of Ochs’ “Ring Paavo’s Doorbell” — and then Los Osos Community Services Director Maria Kelly. The article used the car accident involving Ogren and Kelly’s children as a way to solidify suspicions in Los Osos that the two were in a relationship. The series of articles about Kelly and Ogren’s relationship turned into unsubstantiated allegations about their children’s alcohol and drug use. Ogren and Kelly were eventually cleared of any conflict of interest and CCN declined to follow up on their investigation into their allegations about the children’s drug use.

The ROCK strongly opposed the contents of the article since it contained wild and harmful speculation about the couple’s personal lives and their children. Ironically, in light of his castigation of Aaron Ochs for “Ring Paavo’s Doorbell,” Congalton offered to broadcast his show from her supposedly vacant Los Osos home and subsequently posted her home address, which was quietly removed by moderators a short time later. We politely withdrew from the aggregate partnership because we had concerns about Velie’s journalism and the liabilities that come with it. Blackburn tried persuading us to rejoin the partnership after we declined several times, and it came to a permanent and discordant conclusion. To further illustrate our discontent, Aaron Ochs published an article on The ROCK’s opinion blog Razor Online. “CalCoastNews’ Teenage Hostages” was published June 20, just three days after Velie’s “Sex and the Los Osos Sewer” was published. Ochs took aim at CalCoast, writing, “It is beneath ourselves — as human beings — to condone an article that holds two teenagers hostage for the political sins, transgressions and shortcomings of their parents.”

Blackburn responded angrily to the article and announced to other potential partners that The ROCK withdrew from the aggregate partnership.

A previous history between The ROCK, Congalton and CalCoastNews exists, and we felt it was best to fully disclose it here now. Our interest in writing about CalCoast is to document how important it is to get the facts right and  get the whole story, and not create the story to fit a narrative held together by accusations. We believe it’s important to illustrate what happens when things go haywire and the shield of journalism is hijacked by rogue operators to libel, harass and intimidate those who resist, and, ultimately, to make a buck. That said, we’ve had long-standing concerns with CalCoastNews and how their stories are conceived, assembled and presented — and why.

– The Editors