Category Archives: Carmel Pine Cone

Sunny Nguyen Out Of Hospital, In Jail

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Sunny Nguyen

Pacific Grove police took Sunny Nguyen, the 26-year-old Seaside resident accused of stabbing his ex-girlfriend’s mother to death in her 17 Mile Drive home late the night of Nov. 21, to Monterey County Jail Wednesday night after he was released from the San Jose trauma center where he underwent surgery for stab wounds of his own.

PGPD Chief Darius Engles said forensics experts will determine whether Nguyen’s injuries — including a deep laceration to his neck — were self-inflicted or resulted from a fight with the victim, 46-year-old Judith Salazar.

Sunny Nguyen Out Of Hospital, In Jail

Coastal Commission Working Hard To Save Us From The Dreaded Mini Golf Course

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That home on 17 Mile drive with the nice lawns in the form of a golf course is once again under fire. Property rights? Ehhhh what rights?

“At all times since the finality of the order, the Feduniaks have continued to maintain the unpermitted golf course on the property, including watering and mowing the grass in violation of the orders,” the lawsuit says. And their noncompliance has been “knowing and intentional,” it alleges.

Failure to remove the tiny golf course harms the public because it “damages natural resources … interferes with the coastal commission’s attempts to uniformly and fairly enforce and administer the Coastal Act” and encourages other people to flout the coastal commission’s rules, the lawsuit says.


Coastal Commission Working Hard To Save Us From The Dreaded Mini Golf Course

Pebble Beach Art Theft Lawsuit – Toss It

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No chance?

Shapiro filed a motion in Monterey Superior Court Nov. 1 asking a judge to dismiss the lawsuit under California’s anti-SLAPP statute, which provides for early dismissal of lawsuits arising from an “act in furtherance of a person’s right of petition or free speech” unless a court determines there is a probability the plaintiff will prevail on the suit.

To help show that Amadio and Kennaugh probably won’t win their defamation suit, Shapiro argued that Kanalakis and Richards “were acting within the scope of their employment when they issued press releases or held press conferences … and therefore both are immune from any claim arising from that conduct.”

In regards to Monterey County’s liability in the lawsuit filed by Kennaugh and Amadio, Shapiro said a public entity is not liable for conduct by an employee who is immune.

Therefore, Shapiro said Kennaugh and Amadio “cannot establish a possibility, much less a probability, of prevailing on either of their claims.”

Pebble Beach Art Theft Lawsuit – Toss It

Cops Sue City

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PG Cops On Break

In a lawsuit filed Nov. 3, the Pacific Grove Police Officers’ Association targets the ordinance, which caps the city’s contribution to an employee’s pension plan at 10 percent of workers’ salaries.

The city currently contributes 9 percent for general employees and 19 percent for police officers.

The PGPOA’s 26-page lawsuit, which names P.G. city manager Tom Frutchey and every city council member, alleges unfair labor practices and asks a judge to find that the council’s ordinance is unconstitutional.

Cops Sue City

Maybe The Painter Should Lay Off The Coffee

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The Pine Cone’s police log has gotten much more interesting with the addition of P.G. to the report.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13

Pacific Grove: Monarch Lane resident reported his painter called him twice in the early morning hours. The painter wanted to speak about an upcoming job. The resident spoke to him and advised him not to contact him at 0200 hours. He was concerned the painter would continue to call in the future and asked for police to speak with him. An attempt to contact the painter failed, and a message was left on his voicemail.

Maybe The Painter Should Lay Off The Coffee

Pollacci Accused Of Additional Rapes While Under Investigation

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Pollacci Parking For Jury

The latest alleged victim, Jane Doe 2, was raped in October and November 2008, her lawsuit says. Last spring, Pollacci was convicted of raping Jane Doe 1 in April 2008 and sentenced to eight years in prison. Both rapes happened in the liquor store, according to court documents.

Pollacci has already been charged with assaulting Jane Doe 2 and faces a preliminary hearing next week. But details of the latest rape have not been revealed until now.

“In or around October 2008, plaintiff entered Ron’s Liquors as a patron and encountered Thomas Pollacci, who was working in the store at the time,” the lawsuit says. “As plaintiff shopped, Pollacci approached her and persuaded, convinced and otherwise manipulated her into a lunch meeting. During the lunch, Pollacci drove plaintiff to an unfamiliar, deserted area near the beach where he sexually assaulted her” including “forcible intercourse.”

Pollacci Accused Of Additional Rapes While Under Investigation

Diver Sues Over Earache

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After diving at Lovers Point

Lovers Point Sewer Pipe.

In a lawsuit filed Oct. 21, Theresa Raglen, who claims she became seriously ill after diving off Lovers Point on Sept. 20, 2009, contends the county tested and found elevated levels of human and animal waste six days earlier, on Sept. 14, 2009, but failed to post signs to warn the public of the potential danger.

“No effort was made to warn members of the public of the potential risks of entering the water at Lovers Point Beach,” the lawsuit said. “The lack of sufficient warnings was a substantial factor in causing” Raglen to become sick. The county often posts signs warning the public of high levels of pollutants in the ocean off Lovers Point — warnings that are often ignored by swimmers, surfers and divers.


Diver Sues Over Earache

No Tagging Of Monarchs

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Monarch Molesting No Touch

The Pacific Grove City Council decided Oct. 20 to hold off on an eight-year program of tagging monarch butterflies for fear handling the insects could disrupt the population of the butterflies, which was drastically lower in the city last year than in previous years.

Tagging “requires physically touching the butterflies,” Jim Becklenberg, the city’s budget director told the council. “This year, given we have the low numbers … I think we need more information before making that decision for tagging.”

No Tagging Of Monarchs

Seaside Street Gangs Prowling In P.G.

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While everyone watches coyotes or mountain lions, stupid gang members are stealing property from our cars…

Three suspected car burglars ditched their Chevy Blazer in the middle of a Pacific Grove street and ran from the officer who had been chasing them early Sunday morning, police found one of them hiding between two parked cars in Pacific Grove, the second walking on the recreation trail, and the third in his Seaside apartment, PGPD Cmdr. John Nyunt said Wednesday.

Nyunt said the suspects appear to be affiliated with the Norteno gang, due to a T-shirt one was wearing and a five-point star tattooed on another. The shirt, which Rodriguez was wearing inside out, bore the word, “Norteno,” and listed all the area codes in which the gang has a presence.

Seaside Street Gangs Prowling In P.G.

Texan’s Kinkade Galleries Closed

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Not even a mass market art gallery can sustain.

The former Consuelo’s turned into a gallery.

Building Of Light

when Larson took over, that all changed, according to Dow. He fired the gallery’s employees and “hasn’t answered a phone call, nor has he returned one since the day this deal went through. You CAN quote me on that!” she said.

In addition to the Ocean Avenue shop, the small space next to the Tuck Box on Dolores Street and the “national archive” on Lighthouse Avenue in Monterey were also shuttered, though Dow said Kinkade’s headquarters recently called and expressed interest in reopening the Ocean Avenue location.


Texan’s Kinkade Galleries Closed