Tim Haley’s name is a familiar one in SLO County, and now his contributions as a military veteran have won statewide recognition. The Atascadero resident, former Marine and recipient of a Purple Heart Medal, led the campaign to create the recently dedicated SLO County Purple Heart Trail. Tim has been named 2010 Veteran of the Year for our 33rd Assembly District, an area that reaches from Lompoc to the Monterey County line, and includes 35,000 vets. Our warmest congratulations – and thanks – to Tim and other veterans and service members for what they do. If you’d like to acknowledge Tim, consider a contribution in his honor to support the Trail at www.purpleheartca101.org … SLO Seed Ventures, a great new program of the SLO County EVC, helps startup companies with that one all-important piece: finding capital. In addition, SLO Seed Ventures helps mentor and educate entrepreneurs. Kudos to organizers EVC exec Mike Manchak, venture capitalist Jo Anne Miller and program sponsor Gerry Frigon of Taylor Frigon Capital Management … We ran into John Shoals when he was wearing his Mayor-of-Grover-Beach hat, and he shared a boatload of great news: the city’s lodge and conference center proposal is making progress; the City is working to create a landing station for the Trans-Pacific Fiber Optic cable that goes through Grover Beach’s municipal network, and Grover Beach has moved up the ladder for Federal stimulus funding that, if secured, will help the city tie in to Digital West’s enhanced new Internet backbone. All that and Grand Avenue improvements. Go Grover … Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business offers a popular MBA program for fulltime students, and now the college is extending its program to working professionals in the Santa Barbara area. A new part-time MBA program launches this fall, with classes held at the popular Canary Hotel in downtown Santa Barbara.
