Category Archives: Monterey Herald

P.G. Woman Accused Of Slaying Spouse

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Nicole Feurer Joseph Cupita

Pacific Grove police arrested a longtime Seaside High School teacher Tuesday in connection with the city’s first homicide since 2002.

Lynne Nicole Feurer, 65, known to friends and neighbors as Nicole, was arrested on homicide charges about 10:30 a.m. after officers found 81-year-old Joseph Francis Cupita dead in a duplex shared by the two in the 300 block of Eighth Street.

Feurer was first picked up by Monterey police at the London Bridge Pub near Wharf No. 2, after she reportedly told a visiting newlywed she killed her husband, said bartender Jason Wallace, who was on duty that night.

P.G. Woman Accused Of Slaying Spouse

El Estero Car Wash Gives Away Customer’s Car

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On May 6, a sunny Sunday afternoon, the Pacific Grove woman took her beloved blue BMW to El Estero Hand Car Wash for a spring cleaning. Watching the process from the video screen in the lobby, she saw the attendant put a final shine to her rearview mirror and started walking outside to drive it away.

And then someone beat her to it. An unknown man with a receding hairline and a big grin on his pale face jumped into the car like he owned it and floored it out the driveway.

“The guy just, bam, beelined, gave it gas and he was out of there,” said a still-incredulous Harmell.

It really is too easy. The attendants don’t check receipts, they hold the door open and let you in any car.

El Estero Car Wash Gives Away Customer’s Car

Power Grid Shuts Down for a RACCOON?

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Raccoon Pwns PGe

When PG&E workers realized the animal was sitting on the line, they shut off the power, said company spokesman Jeff Smith.

Here, however, the company — and thousands of customers who needed electricity — were unlucky: The raccoon was licking its paws on the piece of equipment that shuts down electric flow.

“That meant we had to go to a bigger one down the line,” Smith said.

Instead of 200 or 300 customers, about 6,600 houses and shops in Pebble Beach, Pacific Grove and Monterey’s Cannery Row were in the dark, he said.

 

Power Grid Shuts Down for a RACCOON?

P.G. Explores Contracting Golf Jobs

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Administrators want the golf course to seek maintenance proposals from private companies, an action that could put 10 employees out of their jobs.

Eight of the employees are union members who must be offered other city jobs.

City Manager Jim Colangelo said he believes it’s unlikely a private company could provide the same quality of services at the course for less money, but he wants to provide residents — who may be asked to vote for a tax increase in November to bail the city out of financial difficulties — with a clear analysis.

Would they take a pay cut or decert? Nahhh.

P.G. Explores Contracting Golf Jobs

Peace Kooks Caught With Stolen Property

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Marina City Councilman Dave McCall was mighty surprised when he learned a long-missing campaign sign from his November 2006 re-election race was spotted last weekend on a street corner in Monterey.

He was concerned enough about the company being kept by the 2-by-4-foot red, white and blue placard to interrupt a pleasant Sunday afternoon and zoom down to Window on the Bay Park.

McCall bolted from his car, grabbed his sign, checked for any other campaign signs and started to leave. One male protester grabbed him for a moment.

McCall, who has his sights set on a run for Marina mayor next year, thought the last thing he needed was a confrontation in the middle of this scene. He whipped out his ID and the protester relented. McCall went home and called police to report the incident, just to keep his bases covered.

“It’s irritating, why someone would take my sign … or try to ruin my credibility using my sign in that situation,” McCall said later. “I just wanted to handle it calmly.”

Cowards Protest

Peace Kooks Caught With Stolen Property

P.G. Fees To Rise

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Plan to spend more money to play golf, remove a tree or park at Lovers Point in Pacific Grove this coming year.

Along with increasing fees, the city will not fill open vacancies in the police and recreation departments in an effort to help balance the 2007-08 budget.

Cost reductions|
· Eliminate a fire chief position and contract with Monterey for incident command services instead.

· Keep the museum director position open for half of the year and hire a part-time employee at a quarter of the director’s annual salary. The current director, Paul Finnegan, has said he will retire in December.

· Keep vacant two police officer and one recreation department office assistant positions.

· Eliminate a $10,000 contract to check remodeling/building permits.

New revenue|

· Contract to provide additional fire management services for Carmel.

· Implement a new $200 tree removal/trimming permit application fee.

· Increase golf course fees.

· Modify the golf clubhouse use permit to allow for private parties and meetings.

· Increase rents from recreation facilities and parks.

· Raise $60,000 through the museum, potentially by charging admission.

· Install parking meters at Lovers Point and Central and Eardley avenues.

P.G. Fees To Rise

Marine Mammals, Birds Affected by Algae Bloom

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Large blooms of algae in Monterey Bay are releasing a toxin that has apparently been poisoning large numbers of marine mammals and birds.

Blooms of the algae produce a neurotoxin called domoic acid, said Tim Stephens of the University of California-Santa Cruz, whose scientists report that the blooms which first appeared in Southern California earlier this spring are now occurring along the Central Coast.

Researchers have detected high levels of the toxin in the bay, he said, and large numbers of dead seabirds, as well as sea lions with symptoms of domoic acid poisoning, have been turning up on Monterey Bay beaches.

“The impact on marine life depends on how much of the toxin gets into the food web,” said Raphael Kudela, associate professor of ocean sciences at UC-Santa Cruz. “But in terms of toxin production and the size of the bloom, this event is similar to the large blooms we saw in Monterey Bay in 2000 and 2002.”

Serious – nature does things that appear cruel.
Silly – maybe Round-Up herbicide in the ocean would kill the algae.

Marine Mammals, Birds Affected by Algae Bloom

P.G. Chamber Of Commerce, What’s Your Job?

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By 7:30 a.m., however, Moe Ammar, president of the Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce, was already fielding phone calls from Measure A supporters wondering why news reports said the rally would take place at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History.

Pacific Grove forbids political events in city facilities, let alone campaign signs on city property. City Manager Jim Colangelo said group events at the museum are supposed to benefit the facility.

Ammar, a 20-year resident of Pacific Grove, knows well the local rules. He said a news release announcing Thursday’s event apparently was misinterpreted. The rally was planned for the sidewalk in front of the museum — a public location perfectly acceptable for the event.

Measure A or no measure A, PG is not going to be growing much, given the degree of build out. But really, this should not be the PG Chamber’s focus.

Anyway, that unaccredited announcement was in the same paper reporting this story. It looks very much like the protest was going to be at the Mvsevm.

Campaigning At The Mvsevm

P.G. Chamber Of Commerce, What’s Your Job?

Art Galleries Go Dry

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Wino Drunk Joseph Minton

A ban on serving wine during a regular showcase of Pacific Grove art galleries has uncorked spirited protests in the once-dry town.

Back at his art gallery, Robert Lewis said the wine caper is just a symptom of a greater problem: The city doesn’t have a clear vision for itself.

Hah! Chug some wine and wander in the fog – no one has a clear vision.

Art Galleries Go Dry

High Gas Costs Won’t Detour Tourists

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“Naturally people are always concerned, but Californians continue to travel despite an increase in fuel prices,” said John McMahon, president of the Monterey County Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We’re keeping an eye on it, but we’re not alarmed by it.”

“The last time we saw a price increase, we were nervous about it, but we didn’t see an impact like we feared,” McMahon said. “Being that most visitors live within 150 miles, it’s not going to be a dramatic effect.”

Darn.

Lighthouse Av strip

High Gas Costs Won’t Detour Tourists