GOOD NEWS REAL NEWS HOMETOWN NEWS
SINCE 1889 Making Communities Better Through Print.™ VOL. CXXXIII, NO. XIX
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2022
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KRISTIN SMART TRIAL
Paul Flores Found Guilty of First-Degree Murder of Kristin Smart
San Luis Obispo District Attorney Dan Dow (middle), San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson (left of Dow), San Luis Obispo County Assistant DA and lead prosecutor Chris Peuvrelle (second from left) and San Luis Obispo Detective J.T. Camp hold a press conference at the Monterey County Courthouse following the guilty verdict came in for Paul Flores in the murder of Kristin Smart. Contributed Photos
Paul (left) and Ruben Flores pictured in the Monterey County Courthouse during trial. Media Pool Image
Ruben Flores found not guilty of accessory after the fact
time, they had different juries. A previous ruling by presiding Judge Jennifer O’Keefe said that both verdicts had to be read back-to-back. Several of Kristin’s family members were present in court throughout the deliberations —
of investigation, Paul Flores has been found guilty of the first-degree murder of Kristin Smart. The verdict came on By CAMILLE DEVAUL AND Tuesday, Oct. 18, right before CHRISTIANNA MARKS noon when Paul’s jury reached a SAN LUIS OBISPO decision after just over 20 hours COUNTY — After 26 years of deliberation.
His father, Ruben Flores, 81, was found not guilty of accessory after the fact. Ruben was accused of helping his son hide Kristin’s remains. Paul Flores had been charged with the 1996 murder and disappearance of 19-year-old
Cal Poly student Kristin Smart. The father and son were both arrested in April 2021. Ruben Flores’ jury reached their verdict on Monday, Oct. 17, after just six hours of deliberation. While Paul and Ruben were being tried at the same
THEATER
City Approves Three Commercial Cannabis Delivery Permits The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Nov. 1 By CAMILLE DEVAUL camille@pasoroblespress.com
The opera company performed two triumphant shows last weekend to packed audiences By CHRISTIANNA MARKS christianna@pasoroblespress.com
Anna Dreslinski-Cooke as Louise (left) and Lester Gonzalez as The Dream Barker (right) perform “Carousel’s” dreamy ballet number. Photo by Michelle Evans
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY — At 2 p.m. on both Saturday, Oct. 15, and Sunday, Oct. 16, Opera San Luis Obispo (OperaSLO) performed Rogers & Hammerstein’s “Carousel” for packed houses at the Harold Miossi Hall Performing Arts Center on the Cal Poly campus. The company was originally supposed to perform the famous musical this year on
Mother’s Day Weekend, but after a COVID-19 outbreak in the cast, that version of the show never came to fruition in front of an audience. “It was really sad for us all, and we weren’t quite sure right away if it was going to get remounted, but then we got, I mean, we each got phone calls from our director Zach [ Johnson] and got word that it was going to happen,” said Amy
EDUCATION
COMMUNITY
NEWS
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GOVERNMENT
‘Carousel’: Opera San Luis Obispo’s Comeback Story
Goymerac, who played Carousel’s leading lady, Julie Jordan. “It’s the perfect redemption story, or the best way to have closure really on all of that was to do the show again.” While many things stayed the same between productions, a large majority of the cast changed over the year because of actors landing other roles and other conflicts. The new cast began rehearsals on
Paul’s mother, Susan Flores, was not present. While the verdicts were read, neither Paul nor his father showed emotion in the court. But for the Smart family there was a clear sign of relief
Oct. 2, just 13 days before the show went live. “What we ended up creating was a different show. It was a different show because it was different people. Different energy, different perspectives on the characters, and live art is never the same twice,” added Goymerac. Normally, OperaSLO would have performed an opera in CONTINUED ON PAGE A16
EVENTS
PASO ROBLES — Originally set to be approved on the consent agenda, the Paso Robles City Council discussed and eventually approved two new resolutions regarding commercial cannabis delivery services within the city limits at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 18. Councilmembers Chris Bausch and John Hamon requested consent agenda items 16 and 17 to be removed for separate consideration. “I asked this be pulled because there were a lot of folks that reached out,” Bausch went on to explain, “The consensus that I have come across in previous meetings is that there
is support for the existing medical marijuana delivery services and would like to see it stop there, and I am in agreement with that.” Item 16 — Second Reading and Adoption of Ordinance 1126, Amendment to the Zoning Code to Allow Commercial Cannabis Delivery Services — was originally presented in a public hearing on Oct. 4. Per the staff report, the “ordinance temporarily allows existing permitted medicinal cannabis delivery services to make commercial cannabis deliveries and establishes standards required of new businesses that would seek a Conditional Use Permit to operate commercial cannabis delivery services in the City, among other clarifying amendments.” Before voting on the ordinance, Hamon explained why he would be voting no. CONTINUED ON PAGE A16
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