Monthly Archives: July 2011

Bookstores Going The Way Of The Dodo

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Poor variety of reading materials on dead trees limited to the shop’s selection plus high cost make bookstores going the way of record store.

Borders is leaving and there aren’t many bookstores selling new titles on the Monterey Peninsula, but the survivors aren’t leaving.

Among the surviving purveyors of books is The Works on Lighthouse Avenue in Pacific Grove. “We’re still here,” said Robert Marcum, who owns and operates the store with his wife, Leela.

Marcum said business isn’t as good as it was when he opened six years ago. He attributes that decline mostly to the recession. He won’t say business is great.

“It’s still OK,” he said.

The Marcums bought the 2,400 square-foot store, then called Bookworks, reduced the space for books to about 1,200 square feet and expanded the tea-coffeehouse portion. It’s also part gallery.

Marcum also took the very word “Book” out of the shops name. New titles can be found at Costco with a less biased selection.

Bookstores Going The Way Of The Dodo

Fire Up The Feast Week, Pt 3

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The 2011 edition of the 54-year-old city festival concluded Saturday at Lovers Point, where sugar-buzzed kids sampled each of the aforementioned attractions all day. Then they snuggled with their parents in the evening to celebrate the crowning of Queen Topaz and marvel at lantern-adorned vessels on Monterey Bay and fireworks exploding over the water.

“This was always a big thing to do when I was little, even though they didn’t have bounce houses and bubble machines in those days,” said Rick Martin, a former Monterey Peninsula resident who drove from Santa Clara to enjoy the event. “My family came every year to see the boats all lit up and the fireworks over the water. Those are great memories for me, even now, which is why I try to come back every couple of years.”

Rick has it about right. The Feast is a good time to reconnect if you have been away.

Last year’s excuse for a Feast was not what makes memories.

The entire day at the beach
Feast Of Lanterns Beach

Free live entertainment
Bryan Diamond FOL 2003

No fire of this kind. Though the free entertainment mentions other smokes

Feast Of Lanterns Smoke Smoke
Return of this kind of fire is welcome, even in the fog.
Feast Of Lanterns Fireworks 2000

Fire Up The Feast Week, Pt 3

D.A.: No Death Penalty for Jacobo Ruelas

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Now he is referred to as “A Soledad Father?” The sooner he becomes a “Soledad Prisoner” the better..

Prosecutors announced this morning they are no longer seeking the death penalty for Jacobo Ruelas, a Soledad father charged with the 1997 murder of Pacific Grove teenager Kristopher Olinger.

The brothers are charged with stabbing Olinger to death during a carjacking and robbery. The Monterey High School student’s body was found by a jogger near the Pacific Grove Recreation Trail the morning of Sept.. 19, 199

D.A.: No Death Penalty for Jacobo Ruelas

Smart Meter’s True Goal

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Charge your more $$ when you use energy the most.

The first goal of the smart meter program is to reduce overall energy usage. “Tiered pricing,” currently in effect, means you are charged more per unit of electricity or gas if your household uses more than its monthly allotment. Under current rules, there’s no financial benefit for using power in the middle of the night instead of the middle of the day.

But before too long, you’ll be charged a much higher price for a kilowatt hour at noon than one at midnight. And that means you’ll want to lop off the tops of the bars on your energy usage charts at peak times of day, and move them to the evening — by doing laundry or washing dishes after 8 p.m., for example, or on the weekend.

“If peak demand could be reduced a mere 5 percent, the national savings on power plant construction, energy and transmission costs would amount to $3 billion per year,” Marshall said.

Smart Meter’s True Goal

Bicyclist Hits Child On Trail, Ditches

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Carmel Pine Cone Police Blog

Instead of hollering “bike in the rear”, put the brakes on.

Pacific Grove: Subject reported he was riding his bicycle eastbound on the bike trail. Announced “Bike to the rear,” as he approached a group standing in his lane of travel. As he attempted to ride around the group, an 11-year-old girl ran into his path. He struck victim’s arm with his bike, and he fell off of the left side of the bike. He received scrapes along the left side of his body and forehead. The pedestrian was not injured, and she gave the same account of the incident as the cyclist. She said she became confused. Her mother was also present. The subject was treated by fire personnel on scene and elected not to go to the hospital via ambulance.

Bicyclist Hits Child On Trail, Ditches

No Marijuana Selling In Monterey

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No Pot Club

Monterey medical marijuana patients’ dreams of a dispensary in their town went up in smoke Wednesday night, as City Council voted 3-2 to permanently ban dispensaries in all zones within city limits.

“I’m disappointed, but not surprised,” says Richard Rosen, the Salinas-based lawyer for MyCaregiver Cooperative, Inc., the now-defunct medical marijuana cooperative that was raided by city inspectors in February after allegedly violating a court order to stop dispensing pot. That case is still being tried in Monterey Superior Court.

No Marijuana Selling In Monterey

Fire Up The Feast Week, Pt 2

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Blaze Damages House

A predawn fire damaged a Pacific Grove Edwardian house Wednesday.

The fire at 305 Cypress Ave. was reported at 3:30 a.m., said Monterey Fire Division Chief David Brown.

Nine engines, two ladder trucks and a respirator support unit responded, he said. Firefighters arrived to find flames coming from the second story.

The house was unoccupied, Brown said, and no one was injured fighting the blaze.

The fire appeared to originate in the basement and worked its way up through walls to the attic, gutting the rear portion of the house and causing smoke damage.


Fire Up The Feast Week, Pt 2

Fire Up The Feast Week, Pt 1

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Bazooka Rocket Propelled Grenade Found

The Bomb Squad said an estate sale cleaning service found a 1940’s era Bazooka Rocket Propelled Grenade (M6A1) in a garage cabinet.

The Pacific Grove Police Department quickly blocked a two block stretch of 17 Mile Drive that was affected, to prevent any pedestrian or vehicle traffic. Evacuations of surrounding homes were also made.

This type of grenade contains approximately 3.5 pounds of high explosive.

This must be what I saw in a convoy of police/sheriff/CHP cars and the Sheriffs Bomb Squad truck entering the dump north of Marina.

Item was reported to be a M6 grenade.

Picture from Relics Of WarMM-0512-1
Fire Up The Feast Week, Pt 1

Recreation Trail Robbers Arrested

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The recreation trail is always a dangerous place to be, can get robbed, assaulted or hit by a surrey.
Rec Trail Arrest

The man was walking about 10:45 p.m. near the northbound Lighthouse Avenue curve when he was attacked and robbed, police said.

The man suffered facial injuries, but declined medical aid. No suspects were found in the area.

About an hour later, a Monterey patrol officer made a traffic stop on a car in the 800 block of Del Monte Avenue. That led to the arrest of five people and discovery of stolen property from the robbery, police said.

Three of the five people were booked on charges of robbery, conspiracy and possession of stolen property, police said.

The suspects were identified as Jamarius Ballio and Chico Glover, both 18 from Seaside, and Sean Underwood, 18, of Marina.

Anjelika Ierome, 18, of Marina was booked on charges of violating probation and giving false information to police.

 

Recreation Trail Robbers Arrested

Smaller Motel Rooms For The Same High Price

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You think some of the ancient motels would work to improve the quality instead of the quantity.

Sea Breeze Motel
Dumpster Sea Breeze Motel 071216

Last week, the City Council voted unanimously to place an amendment of Measure C on the Nov. 8 ballot. It would decrease required building setbacks, allow the addition of rooms through remodels that don’t increase the “footprint” of the existing building by reducing the the ratio of rooms to square footage to one per 1,000 square feet rather than the current one per 2,500 square feet.

Smaller Motel Rooms For The Same High Price