Category Archives: Monterey Herald

Nader Agha Back With Another Hotel Plan

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But won’t his name cast a negative impression?

Agha said he intends to meet next week with city officials about the plan, which he said would retain the Holman Building in its design.

The Pacific Grove City Council on Thursday created a Holman Hotel Subcommittee with Mayor Bill Kampe and Councilman Alan Cohen to serve as a liaison between project proponents and the council.

“He has some conceptual drawings,” Kampe said of Agha’s new proposal. “We want to make sure we follow due process and not make a decision based on a pretty picture.”

Agha’s last pretty picture:
Durell Hotel

Nader Agha Back With Another Hotel Plan

If Anyone Should Know About Gulls, The US Navy Does

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But do the New York company’s solutions used by the Navy School work on Western Gulls?

The Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey seems to have found a way to keep ever-present, garbage-munching gulls from landing and nesting on its rooftops.

And neighboring Pacific Grove is taking notice.

The type of system NPS uses was one of the topics of discussion last week at a gull summit in Pacific Grove, as plans move forward for cleaning up the mess left by large Western gulls and trying to find solutions to reduce the numbers of roosting birds — especially on the flat roofs they love.

Seagull Control Systems LLC, a New York company, specializes in rooftop grid systems with wire or monofilament line — like fishing line — that owner Barry Fast says is foolproof in preventing gulls from landing.

By the way – Pacific Grove Juice N’ Java has returned to it’s old ways – picture taken August 10:

Dumpster Juice Java 130810

If Anyone Should Know About Gulls, The US Navy Does

Seagull Summit Declares Problem Is Solved

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The gulls that are mucking up downtown are not Sea Gulls, but Western Gulls. Y’all aint got a SEAgull problem, pardner.

Woohoo Gull

The hot topic forced the meeting to move from a small, Jewell Park meeting room, across the street to the museum. That’s where museum executive director Lori Mannel set the record straight. There is no such thing as a sea gull, she said, explaining that the circling, squawking hordes over Pacific Gull are Western Gulls — never found far from the ocean.

Anyway, readers of LighthouseAvenue.com no doubt can recall back in 2009 when the Dumpsters Of Commerce story was posted to illustrate my opinion that downtown’s bistro owners showed little respect for the town and it’s citizens. The constant violators from back then were checked recently and (surprise!), no wide open trash receptacles.

Seabreeze Motel
Dumpster Sea Breeze Motel 130803

Mandos
Dumpster Mandos 130803
Lighthouse Cinema
Dumpster Lh Cinema 130803

Fandango
Dumpster Fandango 130803

PG Plaza – a little loose
Dumpster PG Plaza 130803 Trash

Peppers
Dumpster Peppers 130803

17th Street Grillee
Dumpster 17th Street Grill

P.G Juice N Java – kind of sloppy
Dumpster Juice Java 130803

Not all is rosy –
Some crows were picking up berries from the ground behind Peppers
Peppers Crows 4

Favaloros leaves garbage uncovered in the alley
Dumpster Favaloros 130803

City trash can with no cover
Trash Uncovered 4 130803

Grapes Of Wraith Catering – this is shared (obviously) with a medical office in the Central Medical Clinic. The lid was up, there were medical records laying there. HIPAA issues possibly, but no food scraps.
Dumpster Grapes O Wrath 130803

Check back in a week – see if there is no longer a gull problem.

Seagull Summit Declares Problem Is Solved

Weird Turn Of Events – Attempted Robber Gets Stabbed By Victim

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The Hear-Old later released the name of the stabbed burglar as 57-year-old Pebble Beach resident Raymond Gutkosky.

A man who owns a house along a golf course on 17 Mile Drive in Pacific Grove told police that at 11:30 a.m. he returned home and found a man inside his house.

“The owner armed himself with a kitchen knife and a physical altercation occurred,” Pacific Grove police Cmdr. John Miller said.

The burglar was stabbed in the chest by the 54-year-old homeowner. He fled by jumping into a dark blue Buick parked outside and a 30-year-old blonde woman was waiting at the wheel, dispatchers said, and the two sped away.

The stolen Buick had a rear bumper sticker reading “Support the Sheriff,” dispatchers said.

Investigators suspect the burglar was a 50-year-old Monterey man. Four hours later, the Monterey man called firefighters to his home and told them that he had been stabbed in the chest and side.

A CalStar helicopter flew him to a Bay Area trauma center to be treated for serious injuries. The hospital listed him in stable condition Friday.

Weird Turn Of Events – Attempted Robber Gets Stabbed By Victim

New Monterey Record Store Moves To P.G.

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Will be at 309 Forest Ave, the location of a long string of failed boring art galleries.

Gallery Christine

Add to the list of stupid things Moe says: “Vinyl Revolution will shake up Pacific Grove.”

Gamber will close his Lighthouse Avenue store July 22. He said he had to move because it was difficult for his new landlord, developer Carl Outzen, to get insurance for the dilapidated building.

Gamber acknowledged he will miss out on foot traffic from the Cannery Row area, but hopes to tap into a different dynamic in Pacific Grove.

“Since there’s no record store there,” he said, “I think the people in that area will appreciate it.”

He said he is aiming for another 20 years in Pacific Grove.

New Monterey Record Store Moves To P.G.

Kris Olinger Killer Angel Ruelas Gets Life In Prison

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It has taken way too long to come to this. Angel pleaded guilty, brother Jacob pleaded not guilty and proceedings are pending.
Olinger Bench

After canceling a meeting with his victim’s brother, the Soledad man who admitted stabbing 17-year-old Kristopher Olinger to death in 1997 was unexpectedly sentenced to life without possibility of parole late Tuesday.

Sentencing for Angel Ruelas, 33, had been put on hold since his surprise guilty plea in April 2012. Ruelas said he wanted to meet Olinger’s brother, Travis Phillips, before his punishment was handed down and Prosecutor Jeannine Pacioni said she first wanted to take Ruelas’ older brother, Jacobo, to trial for his alleged role in the brutal trailside murder.

Kris Olinger Killer Angel Ruelas Gets Life In Prison

June Diver Down Roundup

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Be safe, dive with a buddy.

Frank Sunset

June 16 – Diver reported missing at San Carlos Beach

According to the Monterey Fire Department, the diver reportedly went missing into the bay around 11 Sunday morning. Authorities say the diver’s truck is parked at the San Carlos Beach parking lot. Officials say they found a flashlight in the water, but it’s unknown if it belongs to the missing man

June 21 – Body of diver recovered from beach

The Monterey County Coroner’s Office has been called to San Carlos Beach to retrieve a drowning victim who may be the diver reported missing Sunday night.

“To be honest, I don’t know how anybody would be able to make an ID that quickly. I don’t know the condition of the body,” said Sonne, who had just spoken with a sergeant at the scene who reported the coroner had just arrived.

The drowning victim was discovered by other divers floating in a kelp bed about 30 yards off shore Friday morning. Sonne said he was in diving gear, minus his tanks.

The family of a Marin County man reported him missing Sunday night. Police found his car parked at San Carlos Beach and his flashlight underwater, but could not locate him and called off the search Monday.

June 24 – Lone diver dies at Breakwater Cove

Albert Reed MacKay, 43, of Yuba City, Calif., was diving about 25 feet underwater when something went wrong.

Nearby divers found MacKay, pulled him up to the surface, dragged him out of the ocean, and started CPR at 3:30 p.m. He was pronounced dead at the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula.

P.G. Man Robs Nob Hill

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Internet searching indicates a Ryan Curry is a Pacific Grove painting contractor.

Ryan Curry, 34, was taken into custody about 9 p.m. outside Nob Hill Foods, 900 Lighthouse Ave., said police Sgt. Aaron Delgado.

Police responded to a report of a man with a gun, but the suspect didn’t have a weapon, Delgado said. While in the store, the man evidently said he had a weapon or indicated he had one under his clothing, Delgado said.

People scurried from the store during the incident, Delgado said.

All police found on the man was a bottle of alcohol and food, he said. Curry was arrested on a shoplifting charge


P.G. Man Robs Nob Hill

Alcohol Bans And Curfews At DLI

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The Army told its students at the school Monday they now have a 9 p.m. curfew and are forbidden from drinking alcohol, Presidio of Monterey spokesman Dan Carpenter said.

The curfew will be for students on and off campus and enforced, in part, through random in-person checks.

“It’s the Army getting serious about changing behavior,” Carpenter said.

The program was implemented as part of the Army’s effort to crackdown on sexual assaults, he said.

Carpenter said he did not have the number of sexual assaults that have taken place at the school.

“It’s not a high number,” he said.

But over on the rec trail in 2001 a couple of Marines nearly killed a woman.

Alcohol Bans And Curfews At DLI

Old Beach House Opening Soon

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“Small Plates” = Leave broke and still hungry.

I can’t give you an exact opening date, but I can give you the first look at the menu, an eclectic take on casual California cuisine. It focuses nicely on small plates, with a signature dish called Feast of Lanterns Firecracker Shrimp, cooked crispy and paired with a spicy, cream sauce. You also will find a regionally inspired smoked wild salmon galette with a lemon-dill crme fra”che, but then the menu takes a sharp turn toward classic French with garlicky escargot. Oysters are well-represented (cooked and raw), and small-plate prices vary from $8 to $18.

Could have been better..

Old Bath House Wienerschnitzel

Old Beach House Opening Soon