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Business Briefs

ConocoPhillips facility wins safety award

The ConocoPhillips Santa Maria Facility was one of only two of the oil company’s refineries worldwide to be honored recently with the 2008 ConocoPhillips Spirit of Performance Award for exemplary safety.

The Santa Maria Facility, located on the Nipomo Mesa, was recognized with the award for sustaining nearly five years — more than 1.2 million work hours — without a reported employee injury, according to a company spokesman.

Members of the facility’s Joint Health and Safety Committee traveled to Houston early this month to accept the award.

ConocoPhillips safety specialists attend classes and participate in frequent training sessions.

They also provide training facilities at the Santa Maria Facility for community emergency response providers.

McDonald’s customers raise $20,162

McDonald’s restaurant customers throughout the Central Coast helped raise $20,162 in 2007 to support Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern California, said a spokesman for the Central Coast McDonald’s Co-Op.

The funds were raised through donations deposited in canisters at McDonald’s restaurants and will go directly to support the charities’ mission to improve the health and well-being of local families and children.

In 2007 alone, the charities served 62 families from the Central Coast region, the spokesman said.

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern California is made up of Ronald McDonald Houses in Loma Linda, Los Angeles, Orange and Pasadena and another under development in Long Beach.

The houses provide temporary homes-away-from-home for families whose children are being treated for serious illnesses or injuries at nearby medical facilities.

Wonnell completes auctioneering course

Scott Wonnell of Nipomo recently completed the intensive auctioneering course at the World Champion College of Auctioneering in Bakersfield.

His training included bid calling, public speaking, sales method and practice, salesmanship, business ethics and personal development, said a spokesman for the college.

Completion of the course “puts him on the road to be a successful bid caller,” the spokesman said.

The college is instructed by world and international champions Jim Pennington, Max Olvera, Ralph Wade and JillMarie Wiles.

Stylists complete four-part course

Central Coast Fantastic Sams stylists recently completed a four-part cutting series on the “pivot point.”

Special techniques with shears to achieve popular celebrity looks, classic bobs and A-lines were covered in the series taught by the Los Angeles regional Fantastic Sams educator, said a company spokeswoman.

Local stylists who completed certification included Maria Guerrero of Nipomo, Miranda Hofer and Brianna Perry of Grover Beach, Adrianna Ayala and Zoila Herrera of Santa Maria, Martina Mendoza of Orcutt, Cassie Burns of Lompoc, Juliana Dixon of Buellton and Nicole Etheridge and Nicole Bang of San Luis Obispo.

Yoga studio now offers cranial sacral therapy

Lisa Jansen, owner of Central Coast Yoga in Arroyo Grande, has joined the membership ranks of Upledger’s International Association of Healthcare Practitioners, an organization of professionals dedicated to the use and study of innovative healthcare therapies.

She has studied with world-renowned Dr. John Upledger and completed both of his cranial sacral therapy courses, leading to her membership in the International Association of Healthcare Practitioners.

Jansen said through cranial sacral therapy, she can help release restrictions in the cranio sacral system, which surrounds the brain and spinal cord.

The light-touch therapy improves the central nervous system, allowing it to better relieve stress, and strengthens resistance to disease, she said.

Central Coast Yoga studio at 900 E. Grand Ave., offers a variety of mind and body healing practices, including yoga, tai chi, pilates, massage and reiki as well as cranial sacral therapy.

For information, including a full class schedule and list of alternative therapies, call 474-8876 or visit www.centralcoastyoga.com.

Mike Hodgson 12/28/07 Macagni now Tastefully Simple consultant

A Nipomo resident has become an independent consultant with Tastefully Simple Inc., a national direct-sales company featuring easy-to-prepare gourmet products.

Kim Macagni of Nipomo a new consultant who offers the company’s gourmet foods and beverages at home taste-testing parties, where guests receive samples, easy meal ideas, recipes and serving suggestions.

Macagni can be reached at 448-0772.

For more information, visit www.tastefullysimple.com.

Mike Hodgson 2/29/08 CET offers business course at night

For the first time in the history of the school, the Center for Employment Training is offering its business office technology course at night, said a CET spokesman.

The course will include an introduction to business, business office procedures and technology, computer technology, business math, business English, word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, Internet fundamentals and integrated business projects.

Classes are “open entry, open exit,” meaning students can start at any time. Classes are offered from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Training is available to anyone over the age of 18. CET places no prerequisites for acceptance and seeks to place qualified applicants into training immediately, the spokesman said.

CET also offers truck driver (Class A), medical assistant, building maintenance and repair and business office technology training.

For more information, contact Blanca Aguilera of Roger Rodriguez at 928-1737 or visit the center at 509 W. Morrison Ave. in Santa Maria.

WITH PHOTO OF GARY GRACIA IN BIZ PHOTOS:

Mike Hodgson 3/3/08 “Gracia” is CQGracia named education chair for WCR

Gary Gracia of South County Realty has been appointed the 2008 programs and education chair of the Central Coast Chapter of the Women’s Council of Realtors.

The Central Coast Chapter is a professional real estate group serving both San Luis Obispo and Northern Santa Barbara counties, Gracia said.

It is affiliated with the national Women’s Council of Realtors, a professional development organization with 19,000 members.

He will serve a one-year term as chairman and will be responsible for arranging educational programs for the chapter’s business development luncheons and identifying outside education opportunities that may benefit members.

Gracia has been active in the Central Coast Chapter for two years and has been a local real estate agent for 20 years.

Mike Hodgson 3/4/08 Network Plus meeting in new location

Five Cities Network Plus, a business referral connection for the Central Coast, is now meeting in a new location and looking to expand its membership.

Network Plus meets for lunch at noon Wednesdays in the banquet room at Round Table Pizza, 1412 E. Grand Ave. in Arroyo Grande.

For information on membership and a look at upcoming guest speakers, visit www.network-plus.org.

Mike Hodgson 3/21/08 SLOCO Data in new Grover Beach location

After 21 years in the same location, SLOCO Data Inc. has moved to new offices at 1635 W. Grand Ave., Suite A, near the corner of West Grand and 16th Street in Grover Beach.

Founded in 1987 by chief executive officer Julie Tizzano, SLOCO Data specializes in direct mail advertising. Over the past two decades, the business has grown to also offer graphic design, printing and database services and provides real estate information.

SLOCO Data recently purchased Discovery Dining, the “2 for 1 Dine Out and Entertainment Guide,” started in 1980. The guide provides more than 500 coupons valid at Central Coast restaurants and entertainment businesses.

For more information on Discovery Dining, call Elvira at 943-3463. For more information on SLOCO Data, visit www.slocodata.com.

Mike Hodgson 5/29/08 Ag Alliance planting blueberries with grapes

The Alliance for Alternative Agriculture is interplanting blueberries and grapevines on the Central Coast to increase high-cash crop yield using the same amount of land.

The project also is designed to highlight companion planting and reduce irrigation costs and water use, and an alliance spokesman said it could even lead to blueberry flavors being added to wine.

Frank Sances, president and owner of Pacific Ag Research, the research and development arm of the Ag Alliance, decided to try interplanting four years ago at the research farm at Broad Street and Biddle Ranch Road in San Luis Obispo.

Sances said the project is showing many benefits beyond the “two crops per acre” concept.

Mike Hodgson 6/26/08 Verizon expands wireless broadband

Verizon Wireless has widened its 3G high-speed wireless broadband network to the Central Coast, allowing customers to surf the Internet, e-mail large files and download songs or videos over the air using 3G-capable phones and PC Cards.

The expansion covers Nipomo, Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach, Pismo Beach, Shell Beach, Oceano, Guadalupe, Santa Maria, Orcutt, San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly, Lompoc, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Buellton, Solvang and Santa Ynez.

Also covered are Paso Robles, San Miguel, Lake Nacimiento, Atascadero, Morro Bay, Los Osos, Santa Barbara, Isla Vista, UCSB, Goleta, Montecito and Carpinteria.

BroadbandAccess offers a high-speed wireless mobile broadband network operating at average upload speeds between 500 and 800 kbps and download speeds between 600 kbps and 1.4 mbps over Verizon Wireless’ BroadbandAccess with EV-DO Revision A network.

WITH PHOTO OF STEVE KNUDSEN IN MUGS MASTER FOLDER ON SMT EDIT:

Mike Hodgson 7/24/08 Knudsen leaves Farm Bureau for Agri-Center

Steven Knudsen, the former outreach coordinator for the San Luis Obispo County Farm Bureau, has taken a new job as the communications director for the International Agri-Center in Tulare.

In his new position, Knudsen will manage the communications of the World Ag Expo, California Antique Farm Show and the Heritage Complex as well as communicate the importance of agriculture to consumers worldwide, said an Agri-Center spokesman.

Knudsen graduated from Cal Poly in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in food science and in 2006 with a master of science degree in agriculture marketing and communications.

While employed by the Farm Bureau, Knudsen wrote a monthly “On the Farm” column for the Santa Maria Times.

He also was a member of the board of directors for the nonprofit Central Coast Grown, a free marketing tool for farmers who sell their foods locally, and served on the San Luis Obispo High School Agriculture Advisory Committee and San Luis Obispo County Fire Safe Council.

He was the advisor to the San Luis Obispo County Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee when it was awarded Outstanding Committee of the Year honors from the California Farm Bureau Federation in 2007.

For more information on the Agri-Center, visit www.agnewscenter.com.

Mike Hodgson 7/24/08 Cal Coastal earns Farm Service Agency award

The Santa Maria office of California Coastal Rural Development Corp. was recently awarded the 2007 Number One Farm Loan Guaranteed Lender Award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture — Farm Service Agency in California.

Herb Aarons, president, received the award in a ceremony held at the headquarters office in Salinas.

FSA State Director John Smythe said Cal Coastal was given the award for its “continued excellence in customer service as well as volume.”

While celebrating its 25th anniversary last year, Cal Coastal led the state by securing the most USDA-guaranteed operating and ownership loans for farm and ranch operations in Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito, Santa Clara, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

The organization is certified by the U.S. Department of the Treasury as a Community Development Financial Institution.

For more information, contact Santa Maria branch manager Bob Musick at 349-0798.