I did see that no awards for given for local news or investigative reporting. And that makes sense at least. As we all know, there is more investigative reporting going on at the terrificUncoveredSLO.com than in their paper. And without this, a paper is just something to scan quickly for any sales, or to see who died, before lining your bird cage with it.  Before I canceled the paper (now I read it for free on SLOnews.com), I used to read (well, scan for anything meaningful) the entire thing between the time I picked it up at the end of my driveway and the time I got to the breakfast table.

There is one award that they should have won. That is in the category of “The Highest Number of Incoherent Idiots on a Letters to the Editor Page.” In the name of “fairness,” all morons are allowed equal time. And that just wastes all of our time.

Oh, and by the way, hey could not even get their own self-congratulatory story right.  They say they won seven first place awards, but they only list five first place awards! So, the reader is left wondering which is right, the headline and first paragraph, or the list of awards.  What an award winning article. Not.

First-place winners are:

• Senior Staff Writer Bob Cuddy, for column writing

• The sports staff, for sports coverage

• The news design team, for page layout and design

• Senior Staff Photographer Joe Johnston, for breaking news photo and sports photo.

• Staff Photographer Jayson Mellom, for general news photo and features photo.

The second-place winners are:

• Opinion Page Editor Stephanie Finucane, for her editorial, “Verdict over quake deaths should be heard across the state.”

• Rochelle Reed, former features editor, for her piece on her son being in the Iraq war, “He’s far from home but close to her heart.”

•The features staff, for arts and entertainment coverage.

• Senior Sports Writer Brian Milne, for his story, “For surfing daredevils, it’s an ‘Endless Winter.’ ”

How much is too much for a city to pay, at a time when money is tight, to replace a public restroom with another that’s essentially the same? Is $100,000 too much? Is $200,000 too much?

Brett Cross has an answer. He says plans by the City of San Luis Obispo to replace two well-worn restroom buildings in Laguna Lake Park for a combined price of about $500,000, are akin to, well, flushing the money down the drain.

“This is insane,” said Cross, a Laguna Lake resident. He said he’s been seeking improvements to the park for years, but fears this sort of spending will eat up whatever else might have been otherwise available.

“How in the world can a bathroom cost $250,000 to build?” he wondered.

Insane? Yes it is.  And, I’m surprised that the New Times actually explains in the article just why it is so expensive.  You see, government projects must pay “prevailing wage,” or union scale wages.  It’s not like when an individual sends a project out to bid and selects one of the lower costs bidders. No, our government must only entertain bids from companies with union workers. The difference in cost can be astounding.

The city is also going to be replacing a restroom in Santa Rosa Park, at a cost of $300,000.

Why not just leave the restrooms as they are?  Blame the American Disabilities Act (ADA), enacted by that closet liberal George H. W. Bush.  You know the ADA, that same law that serial suer Jarek Molski used to attack hundreds of restaurants, including a string in our own county. Well, the ADA says we have to replace them.

All this in an environment where the city of San Luis Obispo is going to have to pay millions of dollars out to police employees, resulting from an arbitration decision.  Oh, I sense a common theme here, another union.

So, let’s see–we’ve got restrooms mandated by an ADA law gone wild, we have to pay over-the-market wages (in a buyer’s market, by the way) because of a government law designed to help union workers, and the city is strapped for cash because union-backed, government employees (police) have extracted more money from us.

If you are a democrat, you cannot complain about runaway costs like these. It’s your support for unions, “fair wages,” and too large of safety nets that is a direct cause of these runaway expenses.

So, angered, my daughter makes an appointment at the court to contest it. I went with her to watch the proceedings. We arrived there for our “appointment” and see that there are about 80 others lining the hallways with the same appointment. At 9:00 a.m., an officer came out of the court and said it is so full that no companions are allowed in. That’s fine since I was not going to interfere and let her present her case, but I was interested in seeing “justice at work.”

A couple hours later she called me to report that the judge was rude, not in interested in really looking at the law and simply reduced the fee to $25, still above a first offense fee, if she had in fact been driving a car in the first place. She told me the deadline to pay was that day and asked if she should pay it. In the interest, of time and our sanity, there was not really any rational choice other than to pay it, so she did.

Look, before you get all over me about how it’s stupid to talk on the phone while riding a bike, I agree, and I’ve told her. But, it’s not like she committed a real crime. The higher offense was the overreaching police officer out for blood. And I was happy she wanted to fight it.

Don’t get me started about this stupid law. I predict more people will get in accidents trying to get those damn bluetooth devices to work each and every time. They are a pain in the ass. I can certainly drive just fine holding the phone in one hand and voice dialing. It’s safer than fumbling around the car trying to make the not-ready-for-primetime gadgets work, or trying to sneak in a speaker phone call when the bluetooth battery is dead. Another “good intention” from Big Brother that will have the reverse effect.

Check it out at SLOnews.com

Valerie Ferrario: She says more has to be done by President Bush to stop the killing in Darfur. She needs to direct her attention to the United Nations, which is blocking any attempts for troops to step in in any force. Why? Because the U.N., in addition to being run by criminals and Marxists, is led by the nose by the Islamic nations, which have no interest in slowing the growth of Islam, even by force.

Brian Miller: Brian hopes to get military recruiters of our campuses by using his charge that they don’t comply with the anti-violence dress codes. He says the uniforms of military personnel “advocates violence (war) and weapons (much more lethal than a handgun).” Oh, he says he admires and respects the armed services. Sorry, Brian, violence and lethal weapons are a good thing when it comes to protecting our country. And we better get our children to understand this. Or, we can out you on the front lines of the next war to talk it out with the Hitler of Iran. You and Obama.

Tom Hulbert: He blames the Bush administration for the price of gas. Now the answer to this could go on for pages. But, obviously Brian, you need things explained very simply. So here are the highlights: 1) The U.S. controls only about 7% of the world’s oil supplies. The profit margin of U.S. oil companies is around 8.5%, roughly in line with general manufacturing companies. 2) The president cannot do anything to change the price of oil. It’s a worldwide free-market supply and demand dynamic. And why is it just Bush’s fault? The entire world is spending more for gas; why aren’t you blaming the presidents of European countries, and especially China and India who are increasing the use of oil at an incredible pace. And after all, when your girl Nancy Pelosi took charge in 2006 she promised a “common sense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices” (then $2.25). Is she to blame? 4) And very importantly, the root cause of the high price of gas in this country goes back to the 70’s when the environmentalists effectively shut down any new refiners, new drilling, and new nuclear power planes (did you know France is 80% nuclear?). No new supply + increased demand = higher prices.

And what’s your man’s Obama’s fix: higher taxes on U.S. oil companies. That just raises prices for consumers even more, and reduces their incentive for exploration.

I drove into Edna Valley yesterday, going to pick up some wine at one of our great wineries. Those roads, particularly Orcutt Road, get a lot of cyclists. And I can see why, it’s absolutely gorgeous and the roads are not particularly crowded. However, they are very narrow, two-lane roads with no real bike lane to speak of. There is plenty of room, though, for a single rider or a group of riders if they ride single file, and one car. If two cars traveling in different directions met where a cyclist is, there is barely enough room and one of the cars almost always kindly waits until the other passes.

Most often there are at least two of them riding together. They are almost always riding two up, alongside each other, which I understand when no cars are near. As I approach, the smart ones adjust to single file so I can safely pass. But then there are the assholes, the cocky ones that think they are Lance Armstrong. I know they can hear cars and see them in their little rear view mirrors on their helmets (I know, because I, too, used to ride). They won’t budge. So I drive over into the oncoming traffic lane to give them some clearance. And, if another car comes from the other direction and I can’t do that, I wait behind them until I can pass. I roll down my window and and yell “single file!” as I pass, and of course, they yell back pompously telling me to “share the road.”

The speed on Orcutt Road is 55 mph. There are drivers on the road who have been wine tasting, sometimes a lot. And you’ve got tractors and farm trucks causing lots of passing and frustration. This is not a good mix for self-centered idiots on bikes feeling greenly superior. Someone is going to make a mistake, or someone is going to get mad and do something crazy one of these times.

Bikes need to share the road with cars.

On Friday Kieth Byrd blogged on his Keith Byrd Team’s SLO Real Estate Blog that magazine sales scam artists are making rounds in San Luis Obispo:

There’s a door-to-door magazine sales firm in the area called Urban Nation. They are based in Texas. If you Google them, you’ll see that they’ve had complaints for not delivering magazines purchased and the phone number they give is just an answering machine. They came to my door today and didn’t even have the required permit from the city. BEWARE!

The today, I just saw this story in the Times Press Recorder today:

Magazine salesman arrested for alleged attempted rape and burglary in Nipomo

A 22-year-old man who was selling magazines on Spruce Lane in Nipomo this afternoon was arrested on suspicion of attempting to rape a woman he tried to get to buy magazines.

Rafael Deshawn Joseph was booked into County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail after sheriff’s deputies caught him shortly after 1 p.m. fleeing the Spruce Lane area, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

Joseph allegedly went to the unidentified woman’s home, knocked on the door, attempted to sell her magazines and then asked to use her bathroom, said Rob Bryn, Sheriff’s Department spokesman.

The woman, who was home alone with her young children, let Jospeh into her home and was showing him where the bathroom was located, when he allegedly pulled out a gun and demanded sex from her, Bryn said.

A struggle between the two ensued, with Joseph dropping the gun and fleeing the woman’s house. Deputies recovered the replica handgun inside the woman’s home, Bryn said.

Joseph, who was also booked on charges of burglary, is employed by Urban Nation Enterprises.

Bryn cautioned people to not let unknown persons into their homes, as various criminals use ruses such as needing to use the bathroom to gain access to and commit a violent crime.

I searched for information on Urban Nation Enterprises and found nothing. That would make me believe that the organization is bogus.