GOOD NEWS REAL NEWS HOMETOWN NEWS
SINCE 1916 Making Communities Better Through Print.™ VOL. CVIII, NO. XXII
THURSDAY, JUNE 8, 2023
atascaderonews.com • $1.00 • WEEKLY
FUNDRAISER
EDUCATION
Ninth Annual LIGHTHOUSE 5K Fun Run Brings in Over $41,000 for organization
Parents address school board with concerns of bullying at Atascadero Middle School
More than 200 local residents participated to raise funds for drug prevention and education nonprofit
By CHRISTIANNA MARKS christianna@atascaderonews.com
ATASCADERO — On the morning of Saturday, June 3, local residents headed out to Santa Margarita Ranch Education Center to participate in the 9th Annual LIGHTHOUSE 5k Fun Run from 8 to 11 a.m. The yearly 5K supports LIGHTHOUSE in its mission to help prevent the youth in the community from using drugs or get them help once they’ve started using. “People understand that they’re there because they’re going to benefit the adolescent population and keep them off drugs whenever we can and help them end their problems when they get on drugs,” stated Donn Clickard, the executive director of the Atascadero Greyhound Foundation. “I think people really do understand that, and we make a real point of sharing the rest of our programs with them. We have people at tables talking about all the different programs that LIGHTHOUSE does, The
Trustee Board approves new course offerings at AHS By CHRISTIANNA MARKS christianna@atascaderonews.com
Participants and volunteers are all smiles at the 9th Annual LIGHTHOUSE Fun Run. Photo by Rick Evans/ATN
Greyhound Foundation does. There was a lot of happiness.” Two hundred and twenty-eight participants registered and ran or walked the annual 5K, which was one of the race’s largest turnouts. Nathan Cooks won the Men’s 5K with a time of 18.38, with William Wallace following in a second with a time of 19.44. Taylor Sutton took first in the Women’s 5K with a time of 23.50, and Jamie Neutill took second with 25.29.
GOVERNMENT
County supervisors argue over resolution condemning racism County to observe Native American Day in place of Columbus Day By CAMILLE DEVAUL camille@atascaderonews.com
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY — During the Tuesday, June 6, San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors meeting, a decision was made changing the observation of an over-50year-old federally recognized holiday. County staff will now be observing Native American Day rather than Columbus Day in October as a paid holiday. Until 2022, Columbus Day was observed as one of the county’s paid holidays recognized on the second Monday in October. However, in 2022 the California Superior Courts remained open on Columbus Day, requiring the District Attorney’s Office and other
COMMUNITY
county staff to remain open and working as well. The county met with all represented employee associations and reached an agreement to exchange Columbus Day with Native American Day, recognized on the fourth Friday in September and in line with the courts calendar. According to staff ’s report, “As it is best practice for the County to have a uniform holiday schedule for all County employees, this change will also apply to all Unrepresented staff.” This resolution eliminates Columbus Day as a paid holiday for all county employees and adds Native American Day as a paid county holiday. There was no presentation on the item as it was on the consent agenda, and there were no comments from supervisors on the change, passing it unanimously. Believed to be brought forward following an incident CONTINUED ON PAGE A7
NEWS
On top of the main 5K, a ton of kids also showed up to run in the races that are put on specifically for them. “You have the littles doing the Kid’s Dash, and they’re just like the cutest things you’ve ever seen,” added LIGHTHOUSE Chairperson and Fun Run Co-Race Director Lori Bagby. “These kids are making a lifetime of memories.” Brooke Smith, the 2022 California Mid-State Fair Queen,
was also there and handed out medals to the winners of the Kid’s Races. The Kid’s 1/2 Mile Race winners were Brayden Finegan in first and Cade Corcoran in second. Evelyn Maxted landed first place in the Girl’s 1/2 Mile, and Jossilyn Marroquin took second. The 5K and all the day’s fun also brought in a recording-breaking amount of money that eclipsed the $36,000 raised at last year’s 5K.
“We’ll definitely have raised over $41,000. But I’m not sure of exact totals yet, but definitely over $41,000,” stated Bagby. There were representatives from plenty of other nonprofit organizations throughout the county, and the LIGHTHOUSE Coffee Company was there, manned by students from Paloma Creek. Kiwanis was also back to provide the participants with a lovely pancake breakfast. CONTINUED ON PAGE A7
ATASCADERO — The Atascadero Unified School District (AUSD) met for its regularly scheduled school board meeting on Tuesday, May 16, at 7 p.m. The meeting took place in person at the Kenneth Beck Building. Since August 2022, the district has remained with in-person meetings only, without a live streaming option. Trustee Terri Switzer was absent from the meeting. During Oral Communications from the Public, teachers Trish Cooley and Janine Wagner, as well as parent Stephanie Lechuga, all expressed the need for smaller kindergarten classes and the need for teacher’s CONTINUED ON PAGE A7
SPORTS ANNOUNCER
Radio announcer for Atascadero High football games fired; sponsor complaints cited
Jerry Tanimoto has been a well-loved personality in the North County for the last 35 years
By CHRISTIANNA MARKS christianna@atascaderonews.com
ATASCADERO — News dropped on Tuesday, May 29, via social media that muchloved Atascadero High School football announcer Jerry Tanimoto had been fired from his sports announcer position by American General Media. Tanimoto has been covering AHS football games on the radio for the last 35 years and is a voice many of us have listened to on Friday nights, most recently on the country music station KJUG. So it surprised the community to hear he would no longer be announcing alongside Roger Bland. “A week ago, I was called on the phone — I don’t want to give any names — but the person who hired me said,
NORTH COUNTY LIFE
Roger Bland (left) and Jerry Tanimoto (right) are shown at a CIF football playoff game in Colusa. Contributed Photo
‘We got some complaints from the sponsors that you talk over the lead guy [Roger Bland] who was doing the play-by-play,” Tanimoto said. “[They] said I talked over him, or they’d hear me in the background too loud over his announcing the game. And honestly that somebody complained that if [I want to be] a coach, be on a sideline. Where is this coming from? I mean, it’s never been a problem. I mean, there’s a lot of
listeners who know that didn’t happen.” Last week, Tanimoto posted a video on the Everything Atascadero FaceBook page, commenting on the same things he expressed in this interview. “When something like that happens to you, you tell your friends, you tell anyone who’s been a Greyhound listener, and they are shocked,” added Tanimoto. “I tell them there’s not a whole lot I can do about
SECTION
WEATHER
it. I don’t control that.” Once people started to find out about Tanimoto being fired from announcing Greyhound games, they started calling and texting into the radio station and calling for boycotts against the station as well as the sponsors. Many of the sponsors know Tanimoto personally from his years on the radio, and he has been told by some of them that they were not the ones who asked for him to be fired. “ What ’s been happening is people said to boycott these businesses. I never said anything about boycotting anything. That was brought up by somebody else,” he said. “But one of the sponsors says, ‘It’s hurting our business.’ It’s not the sponsors, don’t punish them. It wasn’t their fault. It was not their decision. They don’t control that. Somebody else is controlling this. That’s what happened.” On top of being a sports CONTINUED ON PAGE A7
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HABITAT FOR HUMANITY Breaks Ground | A3
POLICE ARREST Second Suspect in Robbery | A4
ATASCADERO ELKS Celebrate National Youth Week | B1
EVENTS Capturing the May Events | B8
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