Daniel Blackburn
Daniel Blackburn is editor of KCCN.tv
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Sniper facing criminal charge in Creston dog shooting
By DANIEL BLACKBURN A Creston ranch owner who shot and killed a neighbor’s prize Rhodesian Ridgeback from atop a sniper’s tower has been charged with one misdemeanor count of cruelty to an animal, according to a district attorney’s criminal complaint filed late Friday afternoon. [Cal Coast Times] Stephen William Almond, 65, admitted to sheriff’s deputies […]... (Continue Reading)
A failed try to kill CalCoastNews
OPINION by DANIEL BLACKBURN Six years ago today, an article was published on CalCoastNews that would forever reshape the lives of its authors and their families — and ultimately those of the article’s subjects. The article discussed questionable practices by the county’s garbage agency, the Integrated Waste Management Authority (IWMA), its 20-year manager William Worrell, […]... (Continue Reading)
Creston man facing prosecution after killing dog
By DANIEL BLACKBURN A criminal prosecution will proceed against a Creston man who admitted to shooting and killing a prize Rhodesian Ridgeback owned by a neighbor. District Attorney Dan Dow has passed the case along to a deputy, according to the dog’s owner, David Murray. It remains uncertain if the case will be prosecuted as […]... (Continue Reading)
Seeking truth in McClatchy reporting
An open letter to Craig Forman, McClatchy News president and CEO OPINION by DANIEL BLACKBURN Hello, Mr. Forman: We haven’t yet chatted, but I thought you should know that you have been buffaloed… misled… fooled… or just plain lied to by your subordinates. Allow me to elaborate. Your commentary, reprinted in Sunday’s The Tribune, was […]... (Continue Reading)
Prized dog gunned down, prosecutor ponders charges
By DANIEL BLACKBURN The morning’s first sunlight was barely peeking through the oaks as Snoop Dogg, a 2-year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback, nosed open a sliding glass door and began his usual morning duties, consisting primarily of patrolling the perimeter of the Murray family’s 45-acre Creston ranch. Along the way, he probably would pause to sniff here […]... (Continue Reading)
Sheriff Ian Parkinson’s Amerika
OPINION by DANIEL BLACKBURN In a jam-packed San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday that was testy from the start, an incident occurred that occupied the frenzied crowd’s attention for just moments, but was in its own way momentous: A sheriff’s deputy ejected a man from the meeting. The ejection was clearly illegal. […]... (Continue Reading)
Adam Hill predisposed to not being deposed
By DANIEL BLACKBURN and KAREN VELIE San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Adam Hill was scheduled to be deposed Friday in a case involving CCN, but the deposition is on hold while Hill mounts a legal battle to stop his requirement to testify under oath. Charles Tenborg filed a lawsuit against CalCoastNews in 2013, claiming libel. […]... (Continue Reading)
California Valley sprouting pot farms
By DANIEL BLACKBURN Isolated and sparsely populated California Valley, on the eastern edge of San Luis Obispo County, is parched, flat terrain, part of the largest remaining native grassland in California. And now it’s becoming known for the widespread — and wide open — introduction of a not-so-native grass, as in high-grade marijuana. Sheriff’s […]... (Continue Reading)
Former police chief’s son suspected of counterfeiting, burglary
By DANIEL BLACKBURN and KAREN VELIE Paso Robles police caught a break in a counterfeiting case when officers recognized a man videotaped passing a counterfeit bill at a CVS Pharmacy as the son of former chief of police Lisa Solomon and a San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s deputy who worked the DARE program. On Tuesday, […]... (Continue Reading)
Lawsuit accuses PB Companies principals of fraud and deception
Editor’s Note: The lawsuit by Jonathan and Crystal Westbay against PB Companies, Alder Partners, Ryan Petetit and Russ Sheppell is at the bottom of this article. By KAREN VELIE and DANIEL BLACKBURN PB Companies principals engaged in fraud and deception in order to lure a Nipomo man to invest in their companies and provide access […]... (Continue Reading)
