Chamberlin, 72, was killed late Thursday while taking the familiar path home. Chamberlin was walking home after attending the Mission Trail Athletic League wrestling championships at Pacific Grove, an event he had coordinated, when he was hit by a car.
Though he had retired as a teacher 12 years ago, Chamberlin was still wearing a path between his home and the high school, still coaching and directing other athletic events.
Officers said Roger Holiday, the 74-year-old driver of the car that hit Chamberlin, apparently did not see Chamberlin in the crosswalk. Holiday was headed west on Sunset Drive, which is a part of Holman Highway.
A driver behind Holiday said he saw someone in the crosswalk. But it was too late to stop.
Category Archives: Pacific Grove
Pacific Grove Pharmacy Robbed
A man stole two bottles of prescription medication Thursday from a Pacific Grove pharmacy at Central Avenue and 15th Street.
The man had been lingering in Central Avenue Pharmacy for about 45 minutes when at noon, he walked up to the pharmacist and demanded the medication, police said. The robber at some point threatened the pharmacist saying, “You don’t want me to take out this gun,”.
Druggies. Sheesh.
Drunk Driver Wipes Out 5 Cars On Lighthouse Ave
A man apparently under the influence of prescription drugs and alcohol smashed into five parked vehicles along Lighthouse Avenue in Pacific Grove Saturday afternoon.
Arrested was Steven Nacchitello, 49, of Fremont, who was given a Breathalyzer test which showed he been drinking.
DUI Laws as they should be:
First offense – Drivers’ license suspended for life. Vehicle impounded. Can never own a car or get insurance for life. Fine equal to 2 years wages.
Second offense – enabler that gave drunk a car loses the car. Another fine – same rate PLUS add the same fine to the enabler.
Third offense – 10 years in jail.
Tree Trimmers Overcharging Elderly Customers
Alatini Saulala, 37, is charged with with three counts of financial elder abuse and two counts of grand theft, all felonies.
“He goes door to door saying, ‘I see your trees are overgrown, do you need them trimmed?’” said Monterey County Deputy District Attorney Lisa Poll. “He was not a licensed contractor at the time.”
Saulala, who faces up to four years in prison if convicted, is accused of fleecing four residents, ranging in age from 77 to 94, who have dementia, Alzheimer’s and failing memory.
The most serious allegation involves a 77-year-old woman from Carmel Valley who paid Saulala $50,000 during a six-month period for tree work that Poll said should have cost about $5,000.
Hometown Events Safe, Council Says
After what Susan Goldbeckc alled a “tempest in a teapot,” Pacific Grove’s City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to exempt 10 downtown events from paying thousands of dollars in overtime and other costs to the city.
“You automatically pushed our protecting button,” former Feast of Lanterns president Sue Renz told the council.
‘Hometown spirit’ events in P.G. Events exempted from city fees: Good Old Days Fourth of July Celebration Feast of Lanterns Concourse Auto Rally & Barbecue Butterfly Parade Pacific Grove High School Homecoming Parade High School Marching Band Competition Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony Stillwell’s Snow in the Park Holiday Parade of Lights
City Fees Might End P.G. Events
Opinion piece by Steve Gorman
But if you love traditions, you can help save them, if you speak up before it’s too late.
At a recent Pacific Grove City Council meeting, council members Susan Goldbeck, Scott Miller and Susan Nilmeier decided to disregard the recommendations of city staff and various city committees by voting to consider charging fees to the nonprofit groups who sponsor these traditional events. Mayor Jim Costello, Dan Cort and Ron Schenk wisely opposed charging fees. Lisa Bennett was away.
Bruce Obbink Quits
Complaining of “petty politics,” Pacific Grove Planning Commissioner Bruce Obbink resigned Monday.
In a letter addressed to Mayor Jim Costello, Obbink expressed concern that the mayor had not offered up Obbink’s name for reappointment before his commission term expires in February.
Obbink, who served on the Planning Commission for three years, said the city may be facing a crisis in coming months over its boards and commissions.
Obbink lost elections in 2002 and 2004 for city council in PG.
His letter:
January 23, 2006
Mr. Jim Costello, Mayor
City of Pacific Grove
300 Forest Ave
Pacific Grove, CA. 93950Dear Mayor Costello:
Thank you for taking the time a week or so ago on the telephone to discuss my application for reappointment to the Pacific Grove Planning Commission. I must say I am somewhat perplexed over the fact you have not yet been advised as to who applicants are, how many there are, how you are going to handle the appointments and whether or not you are going to have public interviews. I have frequently gone to the City Managers office and the staff is forthright in telling me the names of individuals that have applied for a position on the Committees in which I have an interest.
What is bothering me most is your capitulation to petty politics that, according to you, is what is driving your decision not to offer my name up for reappointment. What happened to the evaluation of qualifications of an individual for the position? So members of the Council have “targeted” me. So what! So you have other political compromises to make and don’t want to waste a future compromise on this issue. So what! How about service to the residents of Pacific Grove by appointing qualified people? It is hard to understand that an individual of your standing in the community would ever let the cheapness of petty politics get in the way of good decisions.
he fact that a member of the Council did not like my report on the activities of the Special Subcommittee on Golf Fees seems to be a silly reason to not make an appointment decision especially since you have only three applicants for the two positions and the third applicant fails another one of your tests. That leaves only two applicants for two positions! The report in question was a joint report by the Chairman and me. The reason I gave the report is the Chairman could not be there. I recall distinctly asking you and the Council if you wanted to hear it and that it was going to take longer than 3 minutes. The Council said “yes”! Just because you are getting chewed on by some Council members for allowing the report should not make the report the subject of displeasure. It was a report from a Council appointed subcommittee. It was accurate in every sense of the word.
During my three year service to the community on the Planning Commission I served on the committee that successfully crafted the Secondary and Illegal Housing Ordinance, attended the Indian Nations conference on the implementation of the now operative state law governing archeological finds, completed the Dan Curtin seminar on land law and currently serve as the chair of the subcommittee on story poles and noticing. I am also a member of the archeological sub committee. It seems to me this record of involvement is a significant benefit to the City of Pacific Grove out weighing some petty political agenda of a Council person.
I have never found yielding to pettiness an effective way to deal with issues of importance.After considering carefully our telephone conversation I see no reason to leave my application on file, nor do I see any reason to continue to serve. Please accept this letter as my resignation from the Pacific Grove Planning Commission. Your suggestion that individuals could continue to serve until a replacement is found is inappropriate.
As I leave however, I think it is my duty as a citizen of Pacific Grove to outline a serious matter the city will be facing in the next few months besides your financial dilemma.
You mentioned to me that the political season is beginning to come about and you are finding it difficult to figure out all the agendas that are being contemplated.
Don’t worry about those political agendas and start paying attention to the volunteer groups that serve the community. The city needs 100 citizen volunteers to man the committee structure of this city unless you double up. To continue to treat volunteers with indifference and disrespect will dry up your pool of willing and competent people. You may get some volunteers to fill the holes, but if you are looking for dedication and competency at the same time, you may well be disappointed in the result if you continue to allow abrupt treatment of fellow citizens.
The Planning Commission is a good example. If you noticed in this weeks issue of the Home Town Bulletin there is a story outlining a major rift beginning to fester between the ARB and Planning Commission. These two committees are the ones in direct contact with resident home owners. Your appointees seem to be the ones that are causing the rift. You cannot afford to load either committee with political agenda people that tilt one way or another. All committees derserve sound open debate with answers coming out in the middle of the road. If tilted either way you will not be serving the citizens well.
I have left my golf committee appointment. I was there for 6 years and it is time for someone else to take over. Unfortunately all three public members have resigned, so the committee, while still operating with a quorum, is in the need of public members. The club house is just about finished and will be a beautiful addition to Pacific Grove. The Pacific Grove Municipal Golf Links is an important asset. I am immensely proud having served as Chairman of the Golf Course Advisory Committee during early ideas through to reality of a new club house. As time goes on even those who were adamently opposed to its building will come to love and respect a wonderfully designed facility and the pleasure it brings to the citizens of Pacific Grove and those who use it.
Sincerely,
Bruce J. Obbink
Cc: Various
Susan Goldbeck Pushes For Holman’s Hotel
Susan Goldbeck writes in the Hear-Old:
In the long term, the key to this new direction for our town is the building of a Victorian hotel on the site of the old El Carmelo Hotel, where the Holman Building now sits. This venue, which has always been a focal point of our community, would include meeting rooms, retail stores and parking. It would attract small meetings of business people from the San Francisco Bay Area and San Joaquin Valley, where 80 percent of our visitors come from.
There’s a reason the El Carmlelo Hotel is no longer – it was a major flop. Got disassembled and moved to Pebble Beach.
The model of Nader Agha’s 600 room hotel looks hideous, IMHO. And we don’t really look forward to fighting hundreds of rental cars clogging 68 or Lighthouse. Earthquakes and 9/11 should have taught you that banking on tourism is not something to always count on.
Not to mention 600 more shower heads gushing our limited water and 600 more toilets flushing into our famous sewers.
Safeway Parking Lot Robbers Were Targets of Gang Hits
A man arrested in connection with the armed robbery of a Pacific Grove grocery shopper Friday is a former Nuestra Familia gang member who has been a target of slaying attempts by the gang since 1997.
At 7 p.m. Friday, a 37-year-old woman was loading groceries into her car in the parking lot of the Safeway store on Forest Avenue in Pacific Grove. The woman felt someone tugging at her purse from behind, officers said, and she turned to face a man in a black ski mask pointing a revolver at her.
The man took the woman’s purse and jumped into a car driven by a woman, police said. The car sped off on the Holman Highway before officers arrived. But a witness described the car and a partial license number to police, said Cmdr. Darius Engles.
Gang Members Rob Woman In Safeway Parking Lot
Pablo Castaneda, 39, of Salinas, and Darlene Marie Garibal, 23, of Gonzales, were arrested in connection with the armed robbery of a 37-year-old Pacific Grove woman in the parking lot of a Safeway store on Friday night.
Police simultaneously arrested Frank Anthony Olvera Jr., 41, of Salinas, and Tom Ralph Mejia, 20, a transient, on suspicion of associating with people on parole and with other gang members.
The arrests came after police, going on a partial license plate number, traced the suspects to a home in the 600 block of Hawthorne Street in Monterey around 11 a.m. Sunday.