Category Archives: Monterey Herald

Snick Farkas’ Colossus Of Gold

Posted on by

Snick Farkas couldn’t take the kind of heat he throws around Pacific Grove.
For 12 years, the hardware store employee has lampooned the politics of Butterflyland in his comic strip, “Colossus of Gold.” In his black and white drawings, he chronicles the happenings of a small seaside town called Specific Groove. Here, a faux-gold statue of John Steinbeck, our colossus, has been struck by lightning and expanded to massive size — and is raising a ruckus.

The havoc in Specific Groove is familiar to anyone following Pacific Grove: rampant raccoons, budget problems and former mayors trying to play free golf.

Familiar, too, are the faces of Specific Groove’s movers and shakers, who are much like the City Council members, mayors, department heads and shopkeepers of Pacific Grove.

The Colossus Of Gold comic strip can be seen at http://www.93950.com/cog and the biweekly live renditions are often posted on Youtube.

Snick Finds Pen

Snick Farkas ‘ Colossus of Gold

DNA Points To Suspect In Olinger Murder

Posted on by

DNA of one of two brothers charged with the 1997 murder of Kristopher Olinger was found on the steering wheel of Olinger’s car, according to testimony in a grand jury transcript released Tuesday afternoon.

Department of Justice criminalists matched DNA found in the horn area of the steering wheel to Angel Ruelas, 26, of Soledad. The car was stolen from Olinger, 17, when he was stabbed to death along the Pacific Grove Recreation Trail. It was later found abandoned in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose.

DNA Points To Suspect In Olinger Murder

Phil Bowhay Flashback – P.G. Fire Horn

Posted on by

Our punctuation in P.G. was the fire horn. Mounted on top of City Hall, which was also the fire station in those days, it was part of our identity, our signature of sound, unlike anything else in Western civilization. It was harsh, raucous, insistent and serious in intent.

In Pacific Grove, the horn was part of the fine volunteer tradition. We all had posted in our homes the code telling the approximate location of the fire. “One, One, Three” meant Forest and Lighthouse, etc., and there was a chalkboard in front of the station with the address of the blaze.

Living on Grand Avenue, the horn was the lunchtime alarm. I’d champion to keep it, but I’m sure some of the Come Heres would object.

Phil Bowhay Flashback – P.G. Fire Horn

Pilchards On The Beach

Posted on by

Several hundred small fish washed up dead on the beach between Lovers Point and Esplanade Park on Monday morning, state Department of Fish and Game officials confirmed.

The officials said it was unclear how the fish, likely sardines, ended up on shore, but it was possible that they were thrown from a fishing boat. Throwing dead fish off a boat would be violation of state law, according to associated marine biologist Travis Tanaka.

Hear that? Is casting bait considered throwing dead fish?

Pilchards On The Beach

Ice Plant Killed For Native Weeds

Posted on by

Dead Ice Plant

Five years ago, a wallflower that grows only on the sand of local dunes nearly disappeared.

Only five Menzies wallflowers held out, the rest snuffed out by decades-old patches of ice plant in the ground at the Point Pinos Lighthouse in Pacific Grove.

But today, more than 130 of the flowers are growing at the city’s golf course. Another 250 will be in the ground soon.

Ahh! Food for deer, attracting more mountain lions.

Ice Plant Killed For Native Weeds

Pacific Grove City Council Approves One Time Cuts

Posted on by

But there was time and money to kill the ice plant that prevented erosion.

Facing a projected half-million-dollar shortfall by June, the Pacific Grove City Council approved one-time cuts to nearly all of the city’s departments on Wednesday to balance the budget while avoiding layoffs.

Vacancies in the police department, $320,000.
Delay in the completion of storm drainage work, $75,000
Eliminating a winter youth basketball game, $1,500
Spring adult sports, $1,200
Part-time shelver at the library, $8,000
Maintenance of ocean-front turnouts, $6,000

Turnout Erosion

Turnout Pot Holes

Items on the list include maintenance of trees, recreation trails, sidewalks and streets; competitive pay for police officers and firefighters; and restoring Sunday and night hours twice a week at the library.

Pacific Grove City Council Approves One Time Cuts

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

Posted on by

The Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce has launched three fundraising campaigns for various projects throughout the city:

• Furnish the teacher’s lounge at Pacific Grove Middle School.

• Funds for the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary for more trees in the center of the sanctuary and a new drip irrigation system<

• Funds to assess the antiquated streetlights on Candy Cane Lane that require special and expensive maintenance.

All noble causes. But shouldn’t the COC be working to bring some commerce to town? They are out begging for $$ while storefronts remain empty.

PG Chamber Of Commerce – What’s Your Job?

Monterey Fireworks Barge Beached

Posted on by

A large ocean swell wreaked havoc in Monterey Harbor on Wednesday night, dislodging Monterey’s fireworks barge and four boats from their moorings.

The barge, known as Sparky, had been anchored in the water just off Del Monte Beach, on the east side of Monterey Municipal Wharf No. 2. It broke free despite being secured by a “double-anchor, fail-safe system,” said Scheiblauer.

Mother nature knows nothing is failsafe.
Beached Barge 1

Beached Barge 2

UPDATE – Barge pushed & pulled back out to sea.

The city used an 85-foot commercial fishing boat owned by the Pennisi family combined with contractor Steve Wendt’s bulldozer to refloat the 60-ton beached barge.

Scheiblauer did not have the total cost tallied on Tuesday, but he estimated the bill to be up to $7,000.

Barge Afloat

Monterey Fireworks Barge Beached

Lawyer Falls To His Death In Seaside

Posted on by

In what police describe as a “probable” suicide leap, a prominent Monterey Bay Area attorney fell at least nine floors to his death at the Embassy Suites Hotel Monterey Bay in Seaside the morning before Christmas.

Shortly before 9:30 a.m. Sunday, officers found the body of Aptos attorney Paul Sanford in the west end of the hotel lobby, where he had landed on a large ventilation grate.

Police Capt. Steve Cercone said horrified guests were eating breakfast in the atrium at the time, and a number of witnesses saw Sanford fall from somewhere between the 9th and 12th floors.

Lawyer Falls To His Death In Seaside