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California Valley board member lost and found

March 4, 2009

By KAREN VELIE

A director of the California Valley Community Service District (CVCSD) Director who has been absent for five months was officially listed as a missing person Sunday by the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department. Sal Guide surfaced 48 hours later.

Locals claimed the woman had not been seen in the area nor reported for board meetings since October. The case was closed yesterday following a call from the elusive board member.

“In response to our efforts to locate, Ms. Guide called our Templeton office this morning and verified she is alive and traveling with family members out of state,” said San Luis Obispo County Under Sheriff Steve Bolts. “The missing person’s entry has been deleted from the system and the report has been exceptionally cleared.”

CVCSD General Manager Sharee Washer told a CalCoastNews reporter that Guide had failed to inform the district of a planned absence.

“She didn’t say she was leaving,” Washer said. “She said she had a sister she was going to visit, or [that there were] health issues. She didn’t say she would be gone forever.”

When CVCSD meeting attendees voiced concerns that the CVCSD had failed to locate the missing director, Washer said that not even the district attorney had been able find Guide. Washer confirmed that a district attorney’s investigator had questioned her in December regarding Guide’s whereabouts, and other issues.

San Luis Obispo County District Attorney media spokesperson Jerrat Gran did not return requests for comment.

CVCSD attorney Michael Seitz said the board has taken action to remove Guide from her elected office and is currently accepting replacement applications. In April, they plan to pick a new board member.

“The district obviously has some concerns,” Seitz added. “We don’t know where she is. They do need a five member board. Politics in the valley are contentious.”


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Member Opinions:

By: Vagabond on 3/8/09

Truthiness, Thanks, Here is something you north county folks could use:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm

By: Truthbeknown on 3/6/09

Vagabond on 3/5/09 said: East county? Where the heck is that?


Right here: http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=California+Vall…


You'll notice that California Valley is directly east of SLO City. Perhaps a better name for CV is Eastern San Luis Obispo?

By: RatPatrol1967 on 3/6/09

"Just asking, because if this is true it would very shocking as I always dreamed of living there." That made me laugh really hard. I love the quiet days, the beautiful skies, the clear nights, the lack of suburban noises you can't tune out….ever. The Board gets paid for every scheduled meeting. The are 2 meetings (the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays) scheduled a month, but in the past they would just cancel the 2nd meeting. For 27 years, those meetings were held at 7 pm so working folks, students, and other could attend them. Last year, the directors changed the time and before the vote, one of them actually pointed at me and said "we are doing this because of you. You work. Now you can't show up and make any public comments. We won't be bothered by you anymore". That was even recorded and the D.A. was given a copy. When we first moved out to Cal Valley, we brought up the issue of directors getting paid, $100 per meeting (plus expenses if they attend meetings in SLO for LAFCo, or better yet, an ethics class!)even if they were absent. An absent director's vote is an automatic 'yes' on any issue that goes to a board vote. I know $100 is no big deal, but this is an extremely small community, and every penny does count. Getting paid for not performing your duty as an elected official is wrong. Tom Ortega openly mocked me and laughed at the notion of changing that law at the time. For some reason, now that Sal Guide has been questioning all the recent financial decisions coming from the General Manager (including a raise for the G.M.) the board is pushing for her replacement. Only until Sal's disappearance for nearly 6 months WITH PAY, did the community members really get upset over the boards pay for meetings, attended or not. During the past 6 months, there were about 14 meetings; 8 scheduled, 5 special, and 1 emergency. The special meetings were with lawyers about lawsuits. Very expensive. The 'emergency' meeting was to buy a new garbage truck. Our G.M. told everyone we have financing in place to get one. Once she ordered it built(yep, you read that right- it was a custom job!) the funding suddenly disappeared, and our district was on the hook for the entire total of the new garbage truck. The Board had an 'emergency' meeting 1 day after the regularly scheduled meeting to discuss this? Why did it not come up the day before, during the monthly meeting? Because the community was at the regular meeting. No one knew about the emergency meeting until it was over. And the board members made another $100 each for a 8-minute meeting!!! A little here; a little there……and every person on the board has a nice new vehicle, while standing in line for the food bank boxes.


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By: Vagabond on 3/5/09

East county? Where the heck is that?

North county needs to pay more attention to you fellers, you got smart politicians!

By: Truthbeknown on 3/5/09

Booty, et al, I think you need a jografy lesson. CV is in the East County.


Let us know if you come up to North County – we'll give ya a special welcome!

By: Vagabond on 3/5/09

Booty, you forgot:

(With apologies to F.B.)

grit eatin',

scum suckin',

boot lickin',

drop kickin',

gut grindin',

nail bitin',

glue sniffin',

scab pickin',

butt scratchin',

egg hatchin',

sleazy,

smelly,

pepper bellied,

dirty, lousy, rotten, stinkin', freaks.

Nothing but a pencil neck geek.

The North County Anthem?

By: Booty_Juice on 3/5/09

Vagabond makes a valid point. North County is beyond all help. It is corrupt, tribal, violent, immoral, drug addicted, decaying, AIDS ridden and lazy. The population is generally a collection of thick, unemployable, psychotic, ignorant, moon bat, nut job, odd lotters.


Why would you expect the local war lords and elected officials to be any different? While property values were skyrocketing due to a tsunami of funny money, north county morlocks were too stupid to know that they were being robbed of their life savings and simply didn’t care that their elected officials were scarfing down on tax dollars like uncle daddy Cletus at a fish fry.


Now that the party train booze cruise has come to a grinding halt and stranded them all in holy hell with hangovers and the familiar stench of familial DNA on their persons, the populace has taken to the streets in search vengeance and someone else to blame and they are finding ripe and deserving targets in City Hall.


It is in fact debatably true that the kindest, most beneficial and benevolent act a north county public official could perform would be to simply leave and never come back.


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By: Vagabond on 3/5/09

Sal should be elected "public official of the year" for causing the least amount of damage to a political infrastructure!

More officials in north county should take a lesson in her actions.

By: Booty_Juice on 3/5/09

Yet another north county, hifalutin morlock engaged in financial hijinx who temporarily disappears only to be found in some other rathole, clinging to her civic awards and drooling with a load in her pants?


Just asking, because if this is true it would very shocking as I always dreamed of living there.

By: RatPatrol1967 on 3/5/09

Most folks in this county recognize that California Valley is a low priority to many. Nonetheless, where there is smoke, there is usually fire. And it is telling that the D.A. drags his feet at every opportunity to make his county a better place. By allowing small fish to go unnoticed and unabated just allows others to follow suit, only to a greater degree of graft and fraud. And even the small taxpayer pays for those mistakes. Out in California Valley, where laws and rules don't really matter, and the Sheriff, courts, and elected officials don't enforce them, all we have is Karne, Dan, and CalCoastNews. The newspapers and T.V. stations told us that our 'new stories don't sell. People don't like bad news, especially when nothing can done about it, except go to court." So out in Cal Valley, you have to go to court to stop them. There is a very good reason the D.A. is looking for Sal Guide.

By: Bluebird on 3/4/09

Interesting how if Karen looks into an issue something happens. When the DA does it sits in their files. Karen made a few calls, the lost was found and she doesn't get paid the big bucks like the DA and law enforcement.

Do the board members really get paid and how much and do they really get paid when absent?

By: Fedup on 3/4/09

It is heart warming to see that the SLO DA's office can find the time to look into a missing persons case who isn't really missing. But they can't (or won't) look into dirt bag crooks like Kelly Gearhart and Jay Miller who have stolen millions from local seniors. I guess it's nice to have priorities. This will be remembered come election time.

By: RatPatrol1967 on 3/4/09

It is newsworthy because the woman was an elected official, an ex-state employee, and a member of our community who simply disappeared. Yet she was still being paid as a member of the board, despite being absent every meeting. And…..WHY was the D.A. looking for her? Thankfully, due to this story, now the D.A. can simply call Under Sheriff Steve Bolts and get the contact number. You would think it would be that simple, right?

By: Newsome on 3/4/09

And this is newsworthy because … … …

By: outsider on 3/4/09

The word is that Mike Brennler has asked the FBI to look into this matter..


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