Monthly Archives: February 2026

P.G.H.S. Coach Marquis Brion Pickrom Charged With Felony

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P.G.U.S.D. Not hiring the best.

Marquis Pickrom

Marquis Pickrom

“A felony was committed by Marquis Brion Pickrom, in that he committed an act of sexual penetration against Jane Doe, who was under the age of 18 years,” says the complaint filed by deputy district attorney Danielle VanDamme.
Pacific Grove Police say that between August 2023 and October 2025 — after Pickrom became the girls basketball coach — he groomed the girl. The student told investigators that Pickrom gave her special attention, made personal and romantic comments about her, and sent her messages through Instagram, She was 16 to 18 years old at the time. She also told police that Pickrom kissed her and touched her in a sexual manner. School officials learned of the alleged impropriety after she told friends about her relationship with the coach.

P.G.H.S. Coach Marquis Brion Pickrom Charged With Felony

Suspicious Stranger Sought For Offering Rides To School

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Has the faculty been ruled out?

The student told police she was followed and saw the man and the vehicle two or three more times during her walk to school. The incident was immediately reported to school officials, who notified police.

The suspect was described as an Asian man in his 40s. The vehicle was initially described as a white sedan, but police said interviews indicate it was more likely a smaller white SUV or crossover.

“Officers are actively investigating and are working directly with the student and her family. Officers have completed a thorough check of the area and surrounding area and are conducting interviews and checking available surveillance video sources in the surrounding area,” police said in a social media post.

Suspicious Stranger Sought For Offering Rides To School

P.G. Loves More Recycled Water For Growth

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Enoy that refreshing toilet to the tap water, come heres and tourists

toilet to tap

Council members on Wednesday night directed city manager Matt Mogensen to ask the State Water Resources Control Board to modify a long-standing order that has prevented the installation of new water meters on undeveloped lots and increases in water use at existing addresses where California American Water provides service.

The Monterey Peninsula Water Management District contends — and Pacific Grove agrees — that the prohibition should end because the wastewater recycling project Pure Water Monterey, which went online in 2021 and was recently expanded, will provide plenty of water for the Peninsula for the next several decades.

P.G. Loves More Recycled Water For Growth

The Vote For City Council Pay Is Happening

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And of course the city council puts the ballot on the June elections, when voter turnout is especially low.

Politics

voters will have a chance in June to decide whether to give members of the city council a pay raise, the council decided Wednesday. The council voted unanimously to hold a special election June 2 to allow residents to decide whether to increase the monthly stipend from $420 to $987 for council members and from $700 to $1,645 for the mayor. If it passes, the change will cost taxpayers more than $59,312 annually. At the meeting, resident Inge Lorentzen Daumer questioned how the council could be “fiscally responsible” when a special election is “going to cost way more” than putting the raise before voters on the Nov. 3 general election ballot. “I think it’s about time you actually show this for what it is — immediate greed,” she said. “Our city is struggling.”

 

The Vote For City Council Pay Is Happening

The Deer Are Fawning

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Signs in yards are OK, but please don’t nail or attach them to PG&E owned utility poles. Hazardous to workers that need to climb them.

Deer Xing

“I ‘ve had a report from a supporter who said they have several does in their yard that are very pregnant,” Garcia said. “A photo they sent me shows three does that look like they will have twins soon.”

Garcia, a former mayor of Pacific Grove, said numerous fawns have been killed in the city, mostly by vehicles, Last year, members of the group placed signs in residents’ yards warning drivers to slow down during the baby season.

The Deer Are Fawning

Having Ben Harvey On Staff Is Expensive!

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So who/what could be the root cause of all the litigation?

Harvey honk

The city attorney’s office currently operates with an annual budget of $688,800 — of which it has expended $403,000 through Jan. 13 of this year. In fiscal year 2023-24, the city attorney’s budget was $398,180. In 2024-25, it was raised to $625,000 and again increased in April of that year by an additional $520,000.

Ojai City Manager Benjamin Harvey clarified at a Jan. 29 meeting of the city’s Finance & Budget Committee that rising legal costs were largely related to a number of pending litigation proceedings and that the city was presently working with as many as six law firms on a litany of unspecified issues.

Having Ben Harvey On Staff Is Expensive!

  • Ojai Valley News

Country Club Gate Tobacco Shop Heist

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Country Club Gate is always a hot spot for crime. Merchants that have a lot of valuables need to install cages over the windows and doors just like Seaside. Too bad P.G. can’t keep enough police on the beats. Applicants? What prospective P.G. cop wants to be judged by the bumper stickers on their truck and not their merit?

Due to staffing constraints, police explained they cannot maintain constant contact with victims of property crimes.

They canvassed the area for surveillance footage, including from nearby Lucky’s and local flock cameras, but were unable to identify any suspect vehicles.

The store owner is reconsidering future business investments in Pacific Grove, stating, “But after this, that’s kind of demotivated me. You know why I’m going to bring my investment here and add more to the city where my assets are not safe. A lot of my business is not safe at all.”

Other nearby businesses are also concerned about the safety of Pacific Grove, with one local business owner, George Daoud, saying, “Mean, this is P.G., couldn’t be any safer than that. That’s I mean, we pay prime price for safety here. We do pay for that. So we’re not seeing it, and we’re not feeling safe around here.”

Country Club Gate Tobacco Shop Heist

Landwatch Claims P.G. Wasted Money On Climate Change Study

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Hired the lid flippers from Blue Strike Environmental. Landwatch wants to ban your outdoor BBQ grill, too.

(Landwatch) slammed a proposed climate action plan that cost Pacific Grove taxpayers nearly $100,000, saying it’s riddled with factual errors and unsupported claims, lacks critical analyses and doesn’t fulfill the terms of the author’s agreement with the city.
In January 2025, the Pacific Grove City Council approved paying $99,515 to Monterey-based Blue Strike Environmental to develop a so-called climate action and adaptation plan, which sought to “equip the city of Pacific Grove with actionable strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience to climate challenges.”

Landwatch Claims P.G. Wasted Money On Climate Change Study

La Nina Is fading As El Nino appears

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Climate changes with the golf season.
El Nino

Looking ahead, the latest data shows most of California, especially the southern part, trending toward drier and warmer weather than normal through April. After a very dry January, this week did welcome some rain, however.

Once La Nina fades out, it’s probably only a matter of time before the opposite weather phenomenon of El Nino develops. Already, there’s an up to 60% chance that El Nino will form later this summer, according to the Climate Prediction Center’s latest forecast. Although this general guideline may be outdated, El Nino tends to bring wetter winter conditions to California.

La Nina Is fading As El Nino appears