Monthly Archives: March 2007

P.G. Manhunt Locks Down Schools

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At least eight law enforcement officials from the Salinas, Monterey and Carmel police departments, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office, the California Highway Patrol, and California State Parks established a perimeter as Pacific Grove police searched for Gastelum, police said.

At 1 p.m., police took Gastelum into custody near Cedar and Maple streets. He was charged with suspicion of vehicle theft and suspicion of residential burglary. He is being held at the Monterey County Jail on $50,0000 and is on a no-bail probation hold, police said.

KSBW reports that the suspect got away, and brings up the pay issue.

More than a dozen officers went door to door looking for a man who they said stole a sport utility vehicle and then crashed it, officials said..

Schools in the area were locked down and additional officers were called in from other cities.

Police said they did not catch the man, but the incident is raising bigger questions about budget cuts and the staffing at local police departments.

Pacific Grove police said they had to call for backup because they only had three officers on duty at the time of the crime.

How many patrol cops does PG really need?

P.G. Manhunt Locks Down Schools

P.G.’s Mountain Lion Lunches At Bleachers

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Lion Bleachers

Mountain lion warnings have been posted at Pacific Grove High School and nearby Forest Grove Elementary School after the carcass of a deer apparently killed by a big cat was discovered on campus last week.

The slain deer was found under the visitors’ bleachers at Breaker Stadium at 4 p.m. Thursday, said high school principal Stan Dodd.

No lion was seen, he said, but an animal control officer and state Department of Fish and Game warden confirmed that the carcass was likely a mountain lion kill.

“We’ve alerted everyone,” he said. “We’ve informed everyone to take precautions at the school at night and before dawn. Luckily, the time they’re active is when the kids aren’t here.”

The deer was removed by the Department of Fish and Game to prevent the lion from returning to finish its meal, said Police Chief Darius Engles.

OK, so let’s tick off the lion and steal it’s food. Will it leave or just look for something else to eat?

P.G.’s Mountain Lion Lunches At Bleachers

Turn That @#$% Down, Part 2

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Police said a car occupied by Hector Cervantes, 26, and David Gonzales, 22, was stopped at Madrid and North Main streets at 6:15 p.m. because of loud music coming from their vehicle and for having illegally tinted windows.

Gonzales, police said, is on probation and a probation search of the car yielded a loaded .22 caliber semiautomatic pistol concealed in the center console.

Turn That @#$% Down, Part 2

P.G. Public Works Commits Herbicide

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Dead Ice Plant

Dead brown dirt surrounds Washington Park’s picnic benches and tables in Pacific Grove. Weeks earlier, groundskeepers doused sprouting weeds with such a wash of Roundup that passerby Ximena Waissbluth thought they were watering the ground.

“It’s never really occurred to me why there is no grass there, until I saw the enormous quantity of chemical they use,” she said.

Ximena makes it sound like they are pouring straight DDT on the ground. Roundup is diluted with water.

Would you rather have tall brown weeds amongst the picnic areas that could easily catch fire?

Roundup Vs Ice Plant

P.G. Public Works Commits Herbicide

P.G. Going Solar? Mayor Dan Cort Says Yes

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Mayor Dan Cort wants to install solar panels on the city’s buildings and schools, which he said would reduce energy use by as much as 80 percent and set an example for other small California cities. I want Pacific Grove to be a totally energy sustainable, green city, Cort said. Representatives from Honeywell, a multinational corporation that specializes in energy efficient systems, were in town last week and visited several buildings to determine what’s necessary to retrofit them for solar energy.

Once known as the foggiest city in the USA. Has the climate changed to Arizona conditions over the last 100 years?

P.G. Going Solar? Mayor Dan Cort Says Yes

Fire Breaks Out In New Monterey Business

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Flames were spotted in Om Oasis yoga studio, on the first floor of the Perez Building on the 400 block of Lighthouse Avenue, shortly after 2:30 p.m. from across the street by passerby Goksal Dilsiz.

Firetrucks arrived within five minutes, and the fire was out five minutes later, said Paul Goodwin, operation division chief for the Monterey Fire Department.

Unlike the recent fire that destroyed a building on Alvrado street, the Perez building had sprinklers.

Fire Breaks Out In New Monterey Business

Council Warming Up To John Denver Memorial

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John Denver Plane

A permanent tribute to musician John Denver may soon be built on the shoreline near where his plane plummeted into Monterey Bay nearly 10 years ago.

The Pacific Grove City Council has been asked by the California Friends of John Denver and Denver’s family to place a memorial rock between Acropolis Street and Asilomar Avenue near Point Pinos.

Moe Ammar, executive director of the Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce, said at least two people a week call or come by his office searching for the site of the crash. Some want to say prayers.

John Denver Memorial Map

Council Warming Up To John Denver Memorial

Lighthouse Cinema Owner Looking To Open OBH

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Robert Enea, a Danville developer who owns the old Lighthouse Cinema in Pacific Grove, has proposed to lease the property for 30 years at $60,000 annually, remodel it and bring in a new restaurant.

One option would be to have a restaurant that specializes in one style of food requiring a smaller kitchen, creating more table space. He’s also evaluating whether he could add a deck to the building.

He said his company, Enea Properties Company LLC, is considering specialty restaurants, like a sushi bar or an upscale restaurant that does take-out. He didn’t exclude bringing in a chain restaurant, but said there weren’t many that would consider such a small location.

Hmm – specialty food, chain . . .Old Bath House Krispy Kreme

More upscale than a McD
Old Bath House Arbys

Should attract the families
Old Bath House Hooters

My fave – chili dogs
Old Bath House Wienerschnitzel

Lighthouse Cinema Owner Looking To Open OBH