Volunteers Restore Chase Park

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City must be too busy with roundabouts or Gaza protests to preserve its natural beauty.

On July 22, with supporters in attendance, nonprofit Pacific Grove Cares unveiled the transformed Chase Park West, which for many years was overgrown with weeds and had generally been ignored. While the park is under the City of Pacific Grove’s purview, and maintenance would otherwise be paid for by taxpayers’ dollars, the group funded the redo through donations.
P.G. Cares founder Peggy Gibbs credited the donors, the most generous of whom were realtor Debby Beck and restaurateur Kevin Phillips. Carmel Cares, a group headed by Dale Byrne, that city’s mayor who was at the ribbon cutting at the park last week, also contributed to the project.

Volunteers Restore Chase Park

Plane Crash Victims Remembered

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Sunset Waves 2

The three men who died in a plane crash in Pacific Grove Saturday night while returning from a scuba diving trip off the coast of Cuba are being remembered this week as adventurous and kind souls who were the heart of the Monterey Peninsula diving community Steve Clatterbuck, 60, Jamie Tabscott, 44, and pilot James Vincent Jn, 36, died when the twin-engine Beechcraft Baron carrying them home from the San Francisco Bay area crashed into the ocean near Asilomar State Beach at about 10:30 p.m. July 26, The friends and coworkers were on their way back from a seven-day dive trip to Jardines dela Reina, an archipelago located about 60 miles off the southeastern coast of Cuba.

Plane Crash Victims Remembered

Ben Harvey Keeps On Racking Up Complaints At New Job

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Charming, just charming. Sorry not sorry Ojai.

Harvey honk

Ben Harvey resigned from his Pacific Grove post in July 2023 after the city council voted 6-0 to 0K a separation agreement with him. Harvey later took on the same
role with the City of Ojai. However, in the past month or so, three former Ojai workers filed complaints against the Ventura County city.In a July 15 government claim, former
finance director Pamela Greer said that in early 2024, about a month after Harvey began working for the city, he requested to be reimbursed for unspecified expenses.
When Greer asked to see his employment agreement to confirm the expenses were authorized, she claims Harvey said, “Why can’t you just process the reimbursement?”
Greer, who is seeking at least $ I million in damages, accuses Harvey of disrespecting “basic financial procedures from the start,” and says he and others engaged in illegal activity, including paying vendors based on estimates rather than invoices, carrying over unspent funds from one fiscal year to the next, misusing grant funds, and requesting that she advise Harvey on his personal taxes.
Greer claims Harvey and other city offcials fired her in March for reporting the alleged wrongdoing. She said Harvey also informed the city council that he found $8 million missing in the city’s budget, “casting aspersions of financial fraud and lack of transparency on Greer and the previous city administration.”

Ben Harvey Keeps On Racking Up Complaints At New Job

Dead Seal Mutilation Reported

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Flip flops, hoodie and shorts. Don’t think anyone would be in a tidepool dressed from Mens’ Warehouse. Did Rashelle call the police or just critique the man’s fashion?

Rashelle Diaz said she and a friend were enjoying the beach when they noticed a man and a younger lady bent over, sawing or hacking away at something.

Diaz described the scene, saying, “He was decapitating a seal he had already skinned, and separated the skull from the body.”

Diaz confronted the man, informing him that his actions were illegal.

“90% of the locals in Monterey are aware of that. You cannot go near a seal alive or dead. It’s the law,” she said.

The man claimed he had a permit for marine biology research, but Diaz noted he lacked proper safety equipment and identification.

“This man is in flip-flops, huge hunting filet knife. You know, he’s got a hoodie on, some camo shorts. Not professional looking at all,” Diaz said.

Dead Seal Mutilation Reported

Plane Crash At Asilomar Shoreline, 3 Dead

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Lost in the clouds or mechanical failure?

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office released the identities of three people killed in a plane crash Saturday night.

The victims have been identified as 60-year old Steve Eugene Clatterbuck of Salinas, 36-year old James Vincent of Monterey and 44-year old Jamie Lee Tabscott of Monterey.

The sheriff’s office said the victims’ family and friends wish to extend their gratitude for the outpouring of support from the community. They also ask for privacy during this difficult time.

The US Coast Guard said the FAA and NTSB will conduct their investigation to determine what caused the plane crash.

Multiple agencies were on scene Saturday night into Sunday morning. Pacific Grove Police, Monterey Fire, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office all were dispatched to help. Even San Mateo County Sheriff’s along with one CAL Fire boat and two of their drones.

Plane Crash At Asilomar Shoreline, 3 Dead

Private Plane Crashes at Asilomar Shoreline

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Sunset Shoreline

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, Pacific Grove Police, the Coast Guard, and CAL FIRE are responding to the incident near Asilomar.

Multiple agencies are actively working to locate a debris field in the ocean.

Sunset Drive is currently closed between Jewell Avenue and Pico Avenue.

Flight Radar indicates that a private twin-engine plane departed San Carlos Airport in the Bay Area at approximately 10:07 p.m., heading to Monterey Regional Airport.

Flight N8796R, a Beech 95-B55 Baron, reportedly crashed into the ocean near Sunset Drive and Jewell Avenue at around 10:38 p.m., according to Flight Radar.

Private Plane Crashes at Asilomar Shoreline

Two Men Arrested For Sexual Assault in P.G.

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Sebastian Benavides-CamachoPaul Michael Akiaten

 

On July 4, police said that a woman went to the station on Pine Avenue to report that her “significant other,” Paul Michael Akiaten, 45, had attacked her “Following the investigation, it was determined that the victim had been sexually assaulted and  battered,” Cmdr. Brian Anderson told The Pine Cone Tuesday. Akiaten, a Pacific Grove resident, was arrested and booked into the Monterey County Jail on suspicion of multiple crimes.

“During the contact and subsequent investigation, a female juvenile disclosed sexual activity with an adult male,” Anderson said. “The suspect, Sebastian Benavides-Camacho, 19, Of Seaside was arrested and transported to the Monterey County Jail.”

Two Men Arrested For Sexual Assault in P.G.

Relief! Parklets Are Going Going Gone

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Starting to resemble a third world shanty town.

Parklett Parking

The last of the Covid-era dining structures that allowed people to eat outside in Pacific Grove are being torn down.

While there were some ardent supporters Of the parklets, they were installed during the Covid-19 pandemic and were never intended to be permanent. Others criticized the structures for being ugly and occupying parking spaces.

Relief! Parklets Are Going Going Gone

Useless Land Acknowledgement Process Starts

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Fake History being accepted as truth.

However, such acknowledgments have come under scrutiny for being little more than feel-good measures. That sentiment and others were discussed in a lengthy article by two University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill associate professors — who are also members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the Choctaw Nation — and a San Diego professor. The statements, they said, often fail to include that indigenous groups owned the land, describing indigenous peoples as mere “stewards” or custodians.”

Useless Land Acknowledgement Process Starts

Wild Fish Manager Detained And Deported

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Adds up – not a legal resident and have a criminal record? You are outta here.

A restaurant worker in Pacific Grove who was detained by immigration officials in June has been deported to his home country, according to the organizer of a fundraiser for his family. Juan Contreras, 43, a former manager and server at Wild Fish, has lived in the United States under an asylum claim for about 25 years. But on June 4, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested him after he went to the agency for a “routine check-in,” the owners of the eatery, Kelvin and Liz Jacobs, said.

Wild Fish Manager Detained And Deported