Local
SLO County, 2017: The Year in Photos.
JANUARY: Members of the Monterey County Search and Rescue team work on Jan. 5, 2017, to recover a car that went over the edge of Highway 1 near Ragged Point. Brian Fernandez, 21, and his girlfriend, Olivia Hannah Gonzalez, 20, were last seen Dec. 23 while on a Christmas week trip to Big Sur. On Jan. 4, officials found Gonzalez’s body and the body of a dog near a wrecked tan sedan at the bottom of a steep coastal cliff, hundreds of feet below Highway 1. The body of a second dog was found later. The last search for Fernandez was conducted Jan. 17, 2017. San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Tony Cipolla said that if authorities find any new evidence, such as clothes that wash ashore, they will continue searching.
David Middlecamp
dmiddlecamp@thetribunenews.com
Tribune photographer Joe Johnston won an award for best sports feature photo for this image of Nipomo High School senior wrestler Alexis Garcia, one of the top heavyweights in the state in 2017.
Joe Johnston
jjohnston@thetribunenews.com
FEBRUARY: The Monterey County Water Resources Agency was releasing water from Lake Nacimiento’s main spillway in February as part of its effort to maintain flood control for the reservoir during heavy winter rains.
Joe Johnston
jjohnston@thetribunenews.com
FEBRUARY: After a night of strong wind and rain, a fallen tree surrounds a car across the street from Shell Beach Elementary School in February. The vehicle belongs to a teacher at the school.
Joe Johnston
jjohnston@thetribunenews.com
FEBRUARY: About 100 Paso Robles High School students held a demonstration at the edge of campus during their lunch break in Paso Robles on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017, as part of a national “Day Without Immigrants.”
Joe Johnston
jjohnston@thetribunenews.com
MARCH: San Luis Obispo’s “Day Without a Woman” event was held at Mission Plaza on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2017.
David Middlecamp
dmiddlecamp@thetribunenews.com
Tribune photographer David Middlecamp won an award for best artistic photo for this image of a sunset at Pismo Beach on March 10, 2017.
David Middlecamp
dmiddlecamp@thetribunenews.com
MARCH: Wildflowers seem to go on forever along Highway 58 from Shell Creek Road to California Valley.
David Middlecamp
dmiddlecamp@thetribunenews.com
MAY: Singer-songwriter Jade Jackson’s debut album “Gilded” was included on Rolling Stone’s list of 40 Best Country and Americana Albums of 2017.
Joe Johnston
jjohnston@thetribunenews.com
JUNE: Morgan Grace, a graphic communications major at Cal Poly, joyously speaks to her family before the start of the university’s graduation ceremony on June 17, 2017.
Laura Dickinson
ldickinson@thetribunenews.com
JUNE: Wyatt Parker, 6, enjoys the water play structure at Heilmann Regional Park in Atascadero on June 15, 2017.
David Middlecamp
dmiddlecamp@thetribunenews.com
JUNE: Forrest Scott looks out at the burning Hill Fire from his home near Santa Margarita. The property where he lives was surrounded by the flames, but his home and all but one small outbuilding were saved by Cal Fire crews.
Joe Johnston
jjohnston@thetribunenews.com
JUNE: San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge John Trice retired in 2017 after a long and storied career as a judge and prosecutor.
Joe Johnston
jjohnston@thetribunenews.com
JULY: Carty and Sharon Holland, parents of deceased jail inmate Andrew Holland, hold a press conference in Atascadero about their son and the legal settlement in the aftermath of his death at San Luis Obispo County Jail. Holland died in January from an intrapulmonary embolism about 20 minutes after he was released from a plastic restraint chair where he had been held for nearly two days, according to a county coroner’s report.
David Middlecamp
dmiddlecamp@thetribunenews.com
JULY: The California Mid-State Fair sheepdog trials were held, Saturday, July 22, 2017, at the Hearst Pavilion in Paso Robles. From a distance, the handlers must direct the dogs, usually using whistles or commands, to direct sheep around a course in the pavilion. Robin Elliot (not pictured), of Camarillo, handles her dog ‘Ace,’ who is staring down the sheep.
Laura Dickinson
ldickinson@thetribunenews.com
JULY: A sold-out crowd goes wild for country music superstar Garth Brooks at the California Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles during the first of a two-show set that lasted deep into the night.
Joe Johnston
jjohnston@thetribunenews.com
AUGUST: Liam Taylor, 19, of Cambria died while surfing Aug. 18, 2017, near Moonstone Drive in Cambria. One of Liam Taylor’s friend’s, Braiden Beauchene, is hugged by his mother, Lela Beauchene. Both are from Cambria.
Laura Dickinson
ldickinson@thetribunenews.com
AUGUST: This composite photograph shows a sequence of the partial solar eclipse taken during the last hour and a half of the eclipse on Aug. 21, 2017, at the Atascadero Library.
Joe Johnston
jjohnston@thetribunenews.com
AUGUST: The San Luis Obispo Buddhist Church held its 2017 Obon Festival, on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2017, at St. Patrick’s Catholic School in Arroyo Grande. The festival features Taiko drummers, hula dancing, martial art demonstrations and more. Jody Dowell (on floor) and Isreal Rivera, of Central Coast Judo of Pismo Beach, demonstrate judo moves for the crowd.
Laura Dickinson
ldickinson@thetribunenews.com
SEPTEMBER: The Baywood Art Show and Lighted Boat Parade took place in Baywood Park on Sept. 30, 2017.
Laura Dickinson
ldickinson@thetribunenews.com
SEPTEMBER: The annual San Miguel Mission Fiesta was held Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017. It featured live music, games for kids, raffles, a silent auction and lots of Mexican-American food. A little musician named Eric Flores, 3, “plays” his accordion with the band El Gallo y Los Cuarto del Sure, based in Paso Robles.
Laura Dickinson
ldickinson@thetribunenews.com
SEPTEMBER: Parks4Pups held its popular annual Dog Splash Days at Templeton Community Pool in Templeton Park.
Laura Dickinson
ldickinson@thetribunenews.com
SEPTEMBER: The massive Mud Creek Slide wiped out Highway 1 in California’s Big Sur on May 20, 2017. John Madonna Construction is working with Caltrans to rebuild the road.
Joe Johnston
jjohnston@thetribunenews.com
SEPTEMBER: A firefighters pauses for a moment during the Poly Fire, which burned in September behind the Cal Poly dorms.
Joe Johnston
jjohnston@thetribunenews.com
OCTOBER: One man died and a San Luis Obispo home was destroyed by fire on a day that temperatures soared well above 100 degrees on Oct. 24, 2017. David Middlecamp 10-24-2017
David Middlecamp
dmiddlecamp@thetribunenews.com
OCTOBER: The second annual Haoleween Surf Competition, hosted by Libertine Brewing Co., was held at Morro Rock in Morro Bay. Surfers dressed in costumes during their heats. Willie Gonzalez of Morro Bay caught several waves during the heat.
Laura Dickinson
ldickinson@thetribunenews.com
Jim and Donna Howard of Los Osos walk down a trail at Sweet Springs Nature Preserve in Los Osos, toward the viewing deck next to the Morro Bay National Estuary.
Laura Dickinson
ldickinson@thetribunenews.com
NOVEMBER: The 27th annual Mid-State Classic rodeo was held at the Paso Robles Event Center on Nov. 18 and 19, 2017. The invitation rodeo, sponsored by the California High School Rodeo Association District 7, had hundreds of contestants from all over California. Local students from Paso Robles, Arroyo Grande, Atascadero and Templeton junior and high schools competed. Here, Morro Bay High School student Alia Lautrup competes in the pole-bending competition.
Laura Dickinson
ldickinson@thetribunenews.com
NOVEMBER: Surfers from all over the world competed in the World Surf League’s Pismo Beach Open in mid-November. London Almida celebrates a buzzer-beating finish to his first heat, advancing to the next round by one-tenth of a point as time ran out. Javier Huarcaya congratulates him.
David Middlecamp
dmiddlecamp@thetribunenews.com
Tribune photographer Laura Dickinson won an award for best feature photo for this image of baby Hayes Rees, of Atascadero, who visited Santa Claus at the Mission Plaza in downtown San Luis Obispo in December 2017.
Laura Dickinson
ldickinson@thetribunenews.com
DECEMBER: Smoke from the Thomas Fire burning in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties reached San Luis Obispo County skies on Dec. 10, 2017. This photo was taken at Morro Rock.
Laura Dickinson
ldickinson@thetribunenews.com
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