Mission Community Bank, headquartered out of San Luis Obispo, recently acquired Atascadero's Santa Lucia Bank in a definitive merger agreement. 

According to the terms of the agreement, Carpenter Fund Manager GP, LLC, as General Partner of the Carpenter Community BancFund, L.P. and Carpenter Community BancFund-A, L.P. (the “Funds”) will retire Santa Lucia Bancorp’s preferred stock and associated warrants issued to the United States Department of the Treasury under the Treasury’s Capital Purchase Program, and pay the holders of Santa Lucia Bancorp’s common stock $0.35 cents per share.

The agreement also provides for the Funds to acquire the Santa Lucia Bancorp entity as a vehicle to receive and hold certain non-performing assets of Santa Lucia Bank.  

The San Luis Obispo Museum of Art will host a special exhibit called, "Dimensions: A Juried Exhibition of Fine Craft" from Oct. 15 to Dec. 4, and the museum is calling all local artists to enter.

The exhibit is open to all residents of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Kern, Ventura, Fresno, Tulare, Kings, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. A minimum of $1,000 in cash will be awarded. All work must be original and executed by the hand of the artist in any of the following media: clay, fiber/paper, glass, metal/jewelry, wood, mixed media and sculptural objects. 

Sweet Earth Organic Chocolates recently held the Grand Opening of its second retail shop on July 2 in downtown San Luis Obispo, 950 Chorro St., next to Trio Boutique.

The shop carries an assortment of Sweet Earth Organic Chocolates' award-winning organic, fair-trade chocolates as well as chocolate memorabilia, art and cocoa-butter-based body-care products. The original shop, four doors down from Splash Café Artisan Bakery, will continue to serve the full array of Sweet Earth’s offerings, hot and cold chocolate drinks, and frozen treats. Visit the original location at at 1445 Monterey St.

Chocophiles of every taste will find something to love in Sweet Earth’s broad range of delicacies — from the deepest of rich, aromatic dark chocolates paired with complex and exotic flavors (try the cinnamon ancho Aztec Caramel Nugget or the Chili Orange Walnut bark), to a playful array of chocolates on sticks. New items also include a line of vegan caramel nuggets, the perfect treat to nibble on while watching a movie at the Palm Theatre.

Residents at the Danish Care Center in Atascadero, owned by Compass Health, will have enhanced security in an already safe environment with the implementation of the Senior Crimestoppers Program funded by American Perspective Bank (APB).

The bank’s investment loan of $1.3 million, through a portion of the interest earned, will provide $13,000 annually for seven years which will be funded through the Senior Housing Crime Prevention Foundation, Inc. (SHCPF), an organization devoted to reducing crime in the nation’s senior housing facilities.

Since its establishment in 1995, the SHCPF has cut crime such as abuse, neglect, fraud, theft and vandalism by more than 92.5 percent at sponsored senior housing facilities across the country.

It's common practice to say thank you. But a local San Luis Obispo chiropractor took those words to a whole new level. On June 7, Dr. Scott Dubrul of Powersource Chiropractic threw an appreciation party for his patients as a means of saying, "Thank you."

“It’s always been a high standard in our practice to love like family. Not only are we focused on our patient’s health, we are also concerned about our patients overall well-being.” Dubrul said. “Most of these folks have been with me for over 10 years and have become like an extended family and I wanted to show them how much I truly appreciate them.”

The party was a success in attendance and the staff was astonished by the turn out.

Obispo Wealth Management, a growing independent financial services firm located in the heart of San Luis Obispo, recently named Christina Coyle as its new operations/office manager.

Coyle was the complex senior service manager at the San Luis Obispo office of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, which included the San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria and Paso Robles branches where her management skills and extensive knowledge of the financial industry promoted her from Client Service Associate to Complex Senior Service Manager.

Through this rough and tumble economy, Coyle has joined Dave Nilsen’s team to aid in these troubling times,  increase client success through her detailed attention to each client’s personal needs and increase financial awareness by utilizing popular public media, seminars and other various educational sources.

Cloud Star Corporation, a San Luis Obispo-based pet products manufacturer, recently donated $1,000 to Hospice of San Luis Obispo County’s Pet Peace of Mind program.

The Pet Peace of Mind program, launched June 2011, is designed to keep pets and families together during hospice care, by helping patients with their pet care needs. From daily walks, veterinary care and adoption of pets that become homeless upon the death of the patient, the program ensures that a pet’s current or future needs are met.

“For many, pets are as close as children and often the first to be overlooked when their master is facing end-of-life issues,” explained Holly Todd of Hospice of SLO County (Hospice SLO). “Keeping this bond intact is our mission with this program. Cloud Star recognized this, and we are indeed thankful for their impressive commitment to the community.”  

Three winners were announced at the Paul Wolff Accessibility Advocacy Awards (PWAAA) Ceremony presented by the San Luis Obispo County Community Foundation and Access for All, held on April 30.

Now in its 10th year, this gala evening honored an individual, a business, and a community organization for their outstanding efforts to create a more accessible San Luis Obispo County.

After graduating magna cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles and receiving her medical degree with honors in research from Cornell University Medical College, Kaiura completed a fellowship in cornea, external disease and refractive surgery at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary.

Following her fellowship training, she joined the academic faculty as an assistant professor training residents, teaching, and lecturing. She is a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.