Category Archives: Carmel Pine Cone

DEI Group Busy With Inclusional Delusional Holidays

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At the March 10 meeting of the city’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force, members OK’d the list, which includes mainstream events like Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Christmas and Yom Kippur, but also lists lesser-known observances such as International Pronouns Day and World Hijab Day.

The new version contains the Christian and Muslim events. While the calendar lists Mexican Independence Day, it does not include the United States’ Independence Day.

Can’t make stuff up any funnier than the truth. LighthouseAvenue.com tried last year

January
National Big Forehead Day
My Way Day (A favorite of DEI members)
Extraterrestrial Culture Day
National I LOVE My feet Day
February
National Bad Poetry Day
Measure Your Feet Day
National Cheese Sacrifice Purchase Day
Talk Like William Shakespeare Day
March
National Griper’s Day
Alien Abduction Day
Send an Electronic Greeting Card Day
National Lumpy Rug Day
April
Create a Great Funeral Day
National Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day
National Rubber Eraser Day
No Socks Day
May
Cow Milked While Flying in an Airplane Day
Stay Away From Fresno Day
National Emo Day
Invite an Alien to Live with You Day
June
Take it in the Ear Day
Hurray for Buttons Day
Call of the Horizon Day
A’Phabet Day or No “L” Day
National Ugly Truck Contest Day
July
Do a Grouch a Favor Day
False Confession Day
Dumbstruck Day
Festival for the Souls of Dead Whales
August
Clashing Clothes Day
National Name Your Car Day
Curmudgeons Day
Hawaiian Shirt Day
September
Quirky Country Music Song Titles Day
Barbie-in-a-Blender Day
National Reach As High As You Can Day
Gorilla Suit Day
October
Haunted Refrigerator Night
Keep Off the Grass Day
Fill Our Staplers Day
Jump Over Things Day
November
Sock Monkey Day
Kyrgyzstan National Hat Day
Blah Blah Blah Day
Quitters Day
National Paranormal Day
December
Hobbit Day
Look for Circles Day
Thumb Appreciation Day
National Handcuff Day
Everything You Think Is Wrong Day (DEI founded on this day)
Middle Name Pride Day

DEI Group Busy With Inclusional Delusional Holidays

Teachers Laid Off

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About declining enrollment. And Therapists? Didn’t we used to call them counselors or is this some other made up non-teaching job?

school board last week voted to lay off several teachers
and therapists to help close a nearly $3 million deficit.
Pacific Grove Unified School District chief human resources officer Buck Roggeman told the board that the layoffs are due to decreases in student enrollment in kindergarten through fifth grade. Pacific Grove’s two elementary schools are Forest Grove on Congress and Robert Down on Pine.

Teachers Laid Off

Lighthouse Avenue – Another Home Fire

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House was empty.

The Feb. 23 structure fire began at about 2:10 p.m. at 133 Lighthouse Ave, near Eardley Avenue. Monterey Fire crews responded two-and-a-half minutes after dispatch notified the department and saw thick, gray smoke pouring from the roof vents and eaves of the single-story home. It took fire crews about 30 minutes to extinguish it.

The damage to the structure is estimated to be about $200,000, and another $40,000 in property loss, Monterey Fire Division Chief Justin Cooper told The Pine Cone. The cause is believed to be electrical in nature.

Lighthouse Avenue – Another Home Fire

ATM Thieves Do A Repeat, Get Caught

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Flock camera led police to the van used in the thefts.

A woman from Pebble Beach and a Seaside man were arrested by Monterey Police after two ATMs were stolen last week, including from a business the same man burglarized four years ago, police said. On Feb. 21, at 3:47 a.m., offcers were called to investigate a burglary at Randazzo’s Wash and Dry on the 2200 block of North Fremont Street. Surveillance video depicts a person driving a van up to the business and throwing a “heavy object” through a glass window, entering the laundromat, and dragging an ATM out. Police said it was loaded into the suspect’s vehicle.
The thief fled the scene before officers arrived. The next morning, though, a passerby walking near Asilomar Beach discovered the stolen ATM, which had been cut and
forced open and the cash removed. On Feb. 24, at 4:13 a.m., Pacific Grove Police were called to a burglary at The Grove Laundry, a laundromat on Forest Avenue. A suspect driving a van that appeared to be the same one in the Monterey burglary pulled up to the back of the business and threw an object through a glass door before entering.

On Feb. 26, Monterey Police, with help from Pacific Grove and Seaside police, issued a search warrant on the 1800 block of Luzern Street in Seaside and detained Sage Keller, 23, of Seaside, and Pebble Beach resident Julia Spears, 26. Keller — who was convicted in 2021 of burglarizing the same PG. laundromat — was arrested on suspicion of burglary, possession of burglary tools, being a felon in
possession of a firearm, drugs, an assault rifle, ammunition and a large capacity rifle magazine.

ATM Thieves Do A Repeat, Get Caught

Pacific Grove Cares Free Offer Ignored

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But councilwoman Cynthia Garfield appears to be a fussbudget over “Weed Barriers” about the whole thing. And Chaps Poduri can’t figure out how much city staff time it will take for non-city staff.

The group’s proposal has the blessing of PG. Public Works director Daniel Gho and city manager Matt Mogensen, and it received unanimous approval from the city’s beautification and natural resources commission in January. Gibbs said Gho and  Mogensen have offered “encouragement, support and guidance” for the idea.
At the Feb. 19 council meeting, though, councilwoman Cynthia Garfield requested the item be pulled from the consent agenda for discussion. While Garfield said she was in favor of the idea, she wanted more detail on how much staff time might be spent on the projects.

“We’ve not had a full report on all the things that staff will be doing,” Garfield said
The councilwoman also pointed to unresolved “procedural things,” challenged the type of weed barrier proposed and questioned other aspects of the proposal In response, Gibbs said her group is not taking any city funds nor having city employees do any hands-on landscape work.

Pacific Grove Cares Free Offer Ignored

Suicide At P.G. Park

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An elderly woman from Monterey shot herself to death Tuesday in a Pacific Grove park, according to authorities.
Pacific Grove Police said that a passerby found the body of the 77-year-old woman, whose name has not been released, in Higgins Park at Forest and David avenues at
about 7:40 a.m. Police responded after getting a report of an “unconscious subject lying on the ground.” “When officers and firefighters arrived, they found a female subject suffering from a gunshot wound and unresponsive,” police said. “Paramedics declared the female subject deceased at the scene, and officers held the scene until the coroner arrived.”

Suicide At P.G. Park

Pickleball Racket Is Not What You Buy At Big-5

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It’s what neighbors get their ears filled with.

But the city is hopeful that a newly installed device will not only minimize the sound, but also the number of complaints.
It recently installed “sound fencing” on a portion of the courts’ chain link fence. The material is purported to attenuate the loud “whack” when players’ paddles strike
the hard plastic ball. Many say the activity’s repetitive sound is more noticeable — and more irritating — than tennis.

The sound fencing, manufactured by company Acoustiblok, and other work to the courts were estimated at $47,000

Pickleball Racket Is Not What You Buy At Big-5

Meetings Don’t Solve Fire Hazards

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Washington Park is a tinderbox of dead weeds and trees. But Dominick Sinicropi says leave it be. City spends $100,000 to have the effects of global warming on wildfire.

GW Park Fuel 3

The meeting will discuss “near future efforts to lessen the threats from wildfires in our wildland interface areas,” The meeting comes after concerns from residents about the amount of dead brush, trees and other fuel they say could help a wildfire move quickly through the roughly 20-acre George Washington Park and spread to nearby homes. At the Jan. 16 P.G. City Council meeting, resident Kevin Hanley told the council that fuel at the park should be thinned to prevent a “catastrophic fire.”

However, not everyone agrees, including monarch butterfly buff Dominick Sinicropi, who told The Pine Cone last month that “instead of blaming natural areas for devastating fires,” including the recent fires in Southern California that destroyed thousands of structures, P.G. should be prioritizing measures to reduce causes from people, including from “outdoor barbecues” and “overhead power
lines.”

Meetings Don’t Solve Fire Hazards

Layoffs At P.G. Schools

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Is it odd that no administration jobs are listed as potential cuts?

The jobs at the city’s two elementary schools that could be on the chopping block include four classroom teachers, which would save $511,904, a Spanish teacher for a $139,907 savings, and a mental health therapist, which would save the district $178,626. Other possible cuts include the loss of two mental health therapists at the middle and high schools for a combined savings of S363,443, and a technology support position for a savings of$148,305.

The district, which is experiencing declining enrollment, is also recommending is a 3 percent reduction of all materials and supplies, professional consulting services, and other cuts for a $131,847 savings.

Layoffs At P.G. Schools

Daniel Howland Hall Sentenced To Prison

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For another P.G. domestic attack.

Judge Pamela Butler sentenced Daniel Howland Hall, 25, to four years and four months  behind bars after he pleaded no contest, which amounts to a guilty plea, to false imprisonment by violence when hephysically abused his girlfriend July 30, 2024, at the unidentified woman ‘s home in Pacific Grove.

“When Jane Doe separated herself from Hall, he went into her bedroom, took her phone away, and proceeded to hold her down and strangle her for approximately one minute,” the district attorney’s office explained this week.

At the time of last year’s crime against his girlfriend, Hall was on felony probation for kidnapping an ex-girlfriend, identified by prosecutors as Jane Doe 2, on June 30, 2023.

Daniel Howland Hall Sentenced To Prison