Art Galleries Attracting More Crime

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Try to be more like Carmel, P.G. gets the same crime as Carmel.
Art Is Anal

12/15/08

Thief working the Works: To the sticky fingered individual who lifted a gorgeous painting from the walls of the Works art gallery in Pacific Grove, I offer my most sincere feelings of pity, as you are obviously a pathetic person. As much as this world needs compassion right now, I really can’t feel anything for you but objective anger. Shame on you, you thief and loser.

Misty Dawn

12/22/08

Give it back: I join Misty Dawn, who wrote to report the theft of a painting from The Works gallery, in saying, “Shame on you” to the thief.

The Pacific Grove Art Center was also struck by a sneak thief who stole an exquisite needlepoint tote bag from a display by one of the studio artists. The incident was a personal violation against the artist.

In addition to the expense of materials, hundreds of hours of work were involved in creating this beautiful piece, which was displayed for the enjoyment of others. How could anyone possibly enjoy something that was stolen from the artist, on display at a nonprofit center, right before Christmas? This petty criminal deserves a lump of coal in his or her stocking.

Joan Jeffers McCleary

P.G. Business Tells Army Sargent “We Don’t Serve Your Kind”

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A soldier at the Presidio of Monterey got a taste of that attitude on Veterans Day in Pacific Grove this year. As he and his wife were leaving a business establishment, they were told, “We don’t serve your kind around here.”

Army Sgt. Derek Williams, who is studying Spanish at the Defense Language Institute, is just back from a combat tour in Iraq with the 504th Military Intelligence Battalion.

Ice Cream Shoppe

It’s the Ice Cream Shoppe on Lighthouse. The place is a shrine to the anti-Bush types.

P.G. BusinessTells Army Sargent “We Don’t Serve Your Kind”

Fire In Apartment – Cat Bed Next To Heater

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Kitten Makes Fire

They knocked the flames down quickly enough to prevent their spreading to the downstairs unit or the detached apartment to the rear, according to Gunter. No one was injured, and the occupant’s four cats also escaped unharmed.

Although they were innocent bystanders, the cats are indirectly responsible. The resident had built a plywood contraption to hold catnapping baskets in the sun room, and a piece of the wood was quite close to the electric wall heater, according to Gunter, who investigated the cause and origin of the blaze.

Fire In Apartment – Cat Bed Next To Heater

Stamm To Be Retried On Child Molestation Charges

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David Stamm

The date for the second trial of a Monterey businessman accused of molesting a 14-year-old boy, showing him child pornography, and tampering with a witness, was rescheduled Wednesday to Feb. 2 —five weeks later than the original date — to allow the prosecution, the defense, and Superior Court Judge Terrance Duncan additional time to prepare.

Stamm To Be Retried On Child Molestation Charges

Cannery Row Is More Than Steinbeck Or Tourists

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Stohans

the Clement hotel built a walkway that gives pedestrians free access to the ocean side of the hotel and the rear of the Pacific Biological Laboratory, “Doc’s Lab,” where Ed Ricketts plied his trade as a collector of specimens for marine biological research.

Eventually, he said, similar walkways may give the public walking access to the entire Cannery Row shore front.

“It’s not just about Steinbeck anymore,” said Bonnie Adams, executive director of the Cannery Row Business Association.

Besides Steinbeck’s own lore, the walking tour gives glimpses into the role of women in the canneries, the great Associated Oil fire of 1924, Cannery Row in the movies and in literature.

Cannery Row Is More Than Steinbeck Or Tourists

Mail Thieves Caught

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A P.G. resident was among the victims.

Officers made their first arrest Nov. 4, tracking 39-year-old Edith Gaskins down at her Seaside home, where she was hiding in the closet.

When they interviewed 33-year-old Leticia Balajadia, also of Seaside, “she tried to point a finger at all the others, but it turned out she was very involved in the operation,” Uretsky said, and she was arrested Nov. 17.

The other two, 33-year-old Warkiesha Pettis-Gulley and 40-year-old Brian Anderson, a husband and wife who live in Marina, were arrested early this month after fleeing Washington Mutual Bank.

They had entered the Seaside WaMu earlier in day but left, and a bank official issued an alert to other branches in the area, according to Carmel detective Jesse Juarez. In Carmel, Pettis-Gulley walked up to the counter with a forged check to deposit, but the teller recognized her and called police.

Mail Thieves Caught

Hero – Former Store Owner Buys Back Business, Saves Jobs

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Searls

“I know the government officially says we’re in a recession. I’ve just chosen not to participate,” said John Wiseman, of Searle Framing.

Wiseman walked away from his small Central Coast chain of art supply and framing stores after he sold it 14 months ago to an investor.

Wiseman was working on his golf game full time when he got word last weekend that his old stores would close its doors, leaving more than a dozen long-time employees without jobs.

Hero – Former Store Owner Buys Back Business, Saves Jobs

Glen Blevins Gets Prison For Beating Laborer

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Blevins attended P.G. High

Judge Timothy Roberts said he was aware of ongoing federal and state court cases addressing the inadequacy of mental health care in California’s prisons.

However, he said, attempts to find an alternative program for Glenn Blevins were unsuccessful and he was too much of a danger to release.

Roberts also rejected Blevins’ request to withdraw his no-contest plea, saying it was too late in the case. Blevins said he agreed to the plea bargain only because he’d been told he would be granted probation.

The judge said the viciousness of his crime, and Blevins’ increasingly serious arrest record, made him an inappropriate candidate for probation.

Glen Bevins Gets Prison For Beating Laborer

Great Story Describing Canceling CalPERS

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Pacific Grove will go down in history as one of the few cities to pull out of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.

Former P.G. City Councilman Dan Davis, a mathematician whose term ended earlier this month, has been arguing for the city to quit CalPERS for years. New reports show the state retirement system has lost 31 percent of its value– more than $81 billion– since its peak in October 2007.

“You don’t really need to understand the details to know that we’re in trouble,” Davis says. “If [CalPERS] doesn’t recover those losses, we need to make up the difference. Cities don’t have the money to do that.”

It may seem logical for P.G. to jump from a sinking CalPERS ship– but the timing is terrible. If the city had terminated the retirement plan in June 2007, Davis says, CalPERS would have refunded P.G. about $10 million. In June 2008, the refund would have been about $1 million.

“Now,” he says, “the city of P.G. owes CalPERS about $20 million.”

Yah, I know. Attract and keep quality workers with CalPERS as a benefit. But by winning workers from another town you’ll fill the ranks with workers that are prone to jump ship. If they left one job to come here, what keeps them from moving on. I have worked at jobs that were not as good as offers from Oakland. But who wants to work in Oakland?

Great Story Describing Canceling CalPERS