In Brief: Bahringer, Farmer file for CCSD seat; Annual sea, land, fun fest coming Saturday; Vacation-rental rule tweaks considered; CU grad Mislang earns high honors

Bahringer, Farmer filed for CCSD seat

T wo candidates for seats on the Cambria Community Services District had signed up by 4 p.m. Tuesday, July 13, and the filing period only began the day before.

Businessman James “Jim” Bahringer and environmentalist Harry Farmer were the only two candidates in local elections with their hats officially in the ring.

According to the county’s Elections Division, no one had signed up yet to run for two seats that will be open on the San Simeon Community Services District board, two on the Coast Unified School District board and three on the Cambria Community Healthcare District.

Two Cambria Community Services District board posts are open: one held by board President Greg Sanders and the other by retiring Director Peter Chaldecott, who said earlier this year he won’t run again. Sanders hasn’t yet announced his intentions.

Candidates run for the board, rather than for a specific seat. But Bahringer told The Cambrian July 12 that he’s running to replace Chaldecott, not to unseat Sanders.

“I’m trying to get the old hometown feeling back” at the district,

Bahringer said, to “make it more of a ‘pick up the phone, stop in the office and say hello’ way of doing business.”

When asked about his views on a planned desalination project to provide more water to Cambrians, Bahringer said, “I’m open to talk about anything, but I think we should move forward on investigating desal.”

He and wife Jan bought the Fog’s End property in 1999. Bahringer serves on the North Coast Advisory Council.

Farmer has been in Cambria since 1986 and is known as an environmentalist who used to have a show on K-OTR Radio. He said he’s running to bring a different, more environmentally friendly way of approaching Cambria’s water shortage. He said he feels the current board “has not really been open to alternatives other than desal.”

However, “I’m not running against anything,” he said. Instead, “I’m pro alternatives that are more in harmony with nature.”

At previous district meetings, some board members have praised Farmer’s calm approach to disagreeing with their position on the project.

Prospective candidates have until Aug. 6 to file. If an incumbent officeholder does not file by 5 p.m. Aug. 6, then the filing deadline is extended to Aug. 11.

—Kathe Tanner

Annual sea, land, fun fest coming Saturday

Turtles, underwater robots and the completion of a marine mural are all to be part of the fun at the free Coastal Discovery Fair from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 17, at William Randolph Hearst Memorial Beach in Old San Simeon Village.

The annual festivity, which highlights the connection of land and sea, features family fun and kid-friendly educational activities from Zoo to You and Too Slo Turtles. Sammy the Steelhead is to be there, and young participants will be able to make and test underwater robot vehicles.

Exhibitors are to offer environmentally oriented games, displays, information and activities. The Coastal Discovery Center at San Simeon Bay, an environmental visitor information center cooperatively managed by Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and State Parks’ San Luis Obispo Coast District, hosts the fair in the park, about 8 miles north of Cambria and across Highway 1 from the entrance to Hearst Castle.

During the daylong event, artist Cleo Vilett of Oakland is to finish her marine mural on the face of the Coastal Discovery Center building, which used to be a bait-and-fishing store. The artwork features otters, a pelican and other birds, kelp and sea swells.

Vilett, a full-time artist, freelance illustrator and muralist with a bachelor’s degree in marine biology, hopes to bring attention to marine subjects as art and promote respect and conservation of the world's oceans. Go to cleovilett.com

to view her works.

Boni’s Tacos truck will offer food for sale.

The Coastal Discovery Center opened in July 2006 and has become a magnet for children and adults who want to learn more about the area’s natural and cultural resources, watersheds, deep-sea voyages, elephant seals, tidepools, wildlife viewing, history of San Simeon Bay and more. Occasional area tours are offered. The center is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For details, call the center at 927-6575 or go to http://montereybay. noaa. gov,

—Kathe Tanner

Vacation-rental rule tweaks considered

Some proposed changes are in the works for the way some North Coast homes are rented short-term to vacationers.

At the North Coast Advisory Council’s meeting Wednesday, July 21, county planner John Busselle is to explain those suggested modifications for the 6-year-old ordinance and how those changes could affect the approximately 630 vacation-rental homes in Cambria and Cayucos.

Details of the changes were not available at press deadline. Busselle said Friday, July 9, that his department plans to publish the proposed changes by Friday, July 16, after working out some final language.

Last March, county supervisors told planners to tighten up the ordinance to give year-round residents greater protection against unruly visitors who come for a brief stay and behave badly.

Neighbors continue to complain about overcrowding, noise and parking congestion at the vacation rentals. Those issues are among some expected to be addressed by the changes.

The NCAC meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at Rabobank, 1070 Main St.

County planning commissioners are expected to discuss the proposed revisions at their Sept. 9 meeting in San Luis Obispo.

The website for the county Planning Department is

www.sloplanning.org; for NCAC, it’s www.northcoastadvisorycouncil.org.

—Kathe Tanner

CU grad Mislang earns high honors

C oast Union High School alumna Jhermaine Mislang graduated magna cum laude from the Univeristy of the Pacific Eberhardt School of Business in May. She earned a bachelor of science degree in international business.

Her honors also included: Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, elected by University of the Pacific; Certificate of Commitment in Honor of Outstanding Dedication to Diversity and Inclusion at University of the Pacific; and Outstanding Student Award in International Business from the Eberhardt

School of Business (University of the Pacific).

Mislang was also a member of several honor societies, including: Alpha Lambda Delta, Phi Kappa Phi and Beta Gamma Sigma; and was a member of the international community service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega and is a brother of the national professional business fraternity, Delta Sigma Pi.

She minored in Japanese and is currently working as international student orientation co-coordinator at the University of the Pacific.

Mislang studied abroad in Japan in 2009 and, while abroad , won the school-wide writing contest, “Best of Japan,” at Kwansei Gakuen University for her composition about Shiba Inus.

She graduated from Coast Union in 2006. She is the daughter of Joan Leigh Mislang and Daniel Tanner, sister of Jhoanne Mislang and grand-daughter of Ligaya “Joy” Mislang of Cambria.

Jhermaine Mislang expressed her appreciation and gratitude to the Lions Club of Cambria and the San Luis Obispo County Community Foundation Orfalea Scholarship program for their generosity in providing scholarships for her studies at UOP. — Staff