The Monterey Bay Aquarium is the best for kids in the entire country.
That’s the word from Parents magazine, which calls the aquarium tops in its August issue. The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta came in second.
Well, that’s a better ranking than the one from Trip Advisor that ranks Alcatraz Prison higher . . .
A caller apparently called the victim and identified himself as a merchant banker for First Caribbean Bank. He told the victim he had won a Publisher Clearinghouse-type sweepstakes, according to police commander Thomas Uretsky.
The solicitor advised the victim to send $2,900 to an address in Texas to pay for the excise taxes on the winnings.
victims are asked to call a phone number with a three-digit area code to collect a prize and the victim assumes they are making a domestic long-distance call. But when making the call, they are connected to a number outside the United States and are charged international call rates.
Uh huh. Send $2900 and call an overseas toll number. Don’t ever believe anyone saying you will win money if you send them yours . . .
On Monday, the phones at Monterey Peninsula Reservations were busy with visitors seeking last-minute rooms. The few rooms available were mostly because of cancellations, said owner Donna Ibens.
Two-night minimums are pretty standard, he said, and rates climb as demand increases. So while the county’s average room rate in December and January was $129, the July and August rate average last year reached $180.
“The prices are scaring people a bit,” said Ibens. “I’ve had a lot of calls and they don’t want to pay $300 a night.”
The least expensive rooms were $250 a night in Pacific Grove and Carmel, said Ibens.
These are the hotels opposing a tax hike? $500 to stay in PG for two nights? Ow!
A half-acre fire that broke out in a heavily wooded area just north of Pebble Beach’s famed 17 Mile Drive this afternoon was contained at 2:10 p.m., Fire Capt. David Jones said.
The effort to contain the fire involved at least eight engines, two hand crews, two air tankers and a helicopter. The fire was officially contained at 2:10 p.m.
No injuries have been reported and an investigation is under way into the cause of the fire.
Cause of the fire? Air, heat, fuel. Duh.
Employees at Pebble Beach Lodge voted overwhelmingly Thursday to approve a five-year labor contract that includes a minimum $4-an-hour raise.
Leonard O’Neill of UNITEHERE! Local 483, the union representing the employees, said 98 percent of the members who voted approved the agreement.
Annual hourly pay increases are $1 in the first year, 50 cents in each of the second and third years, and $1 in each of the last two years.
“In my 30 years with this union, I have never seen a contract as good as this one at the Lodge,” said O’Neill
Comes to .80 per hour per year after six years. $32 a week. After taxes and union dues, maybe $20 a week. And that’s the best the union could get in 30 years. Does not sound like that union is doing much for the workers.
On Tuesday morning, Michael Scott Beckman told a 911 dispatcher he had just escaped from three captors who held him at gunpoint and robbed him downtown. At 10:05 a.m. police raced to the corner of Pacific Avenue and Laurel Street — where the freed man was waiting — and for three hours a dozen officers pulled over cars and stopped people for questioning.
Then Beckman recanted his story. The kidnapping was an excuse for missing work, police said Beckman later told them.
It’s not something we see all the time, but we do see it,” prosecutor Dave Genochio said.
In March, a Scotts Valley woman claimed a $5,000 winning lottery ticket was stolen out of her hand outside the Scotts Valley Safeway. Police later determined Adriana Bartch, 35, had made up the theft story and never had a winning ticket. She was arrested on suspicion of filing a false police report.
Also in March, a teenage girl lied to authorities when she said a masked man stabbed her at San Lorenzo Valley High School, prompting a 2 1/2-hour campus lockdown. The Sheriff’s Office decided not to pursue charges against her because of her age and the problems she was dealing with, deputies said at the time.
Reminds me of our own local story from 2003 – the drug deal gone bad
Good move.
Letters From the Editor:
They are dangerous when you are trying to get out of a parking lot. They look tacky when driving through town. They line every main thoroughfare in town. One business on Main Street even has 4×8 signs.
I was in business for 35 years in Salinas, my first location being in the same strip mall that Kerr is located. I got business by advertising in the newspaper, direct mailings and word of mouth.
Fin the giant salmon rolled into Cannery Row for a daylong visit to pump up public awareness of the plight of wild salmon on the Columbia and Snake rivers in Washington state.
Fin is big enough for a child to crawl into. Three year old Lazuli Dunton of Santa Cruz, declined to crawl inside. “It’s scary.”
Cannot figure out if the eco-nuts want to fence off the rivers so the fish can be left alone (only to be eaten by bears or sea lions) or just another anti-farmed salmon terrorists. Shrug. They never really tell the whole story.
Yah, set the salmon free. I’d rather have a burger than fish any day.
When it comes to saving taxpayer dollars, U.S. Rep. Sam Farr receives low marks, according to a study released Monday by the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste.
Farr, D-Carmel, scored just 5 percent on the group’s annual congressional rating. The score was lower than both the average 9 percent for House Democrats and the average 29 percent for House members.
The group rated 21 key votes in the Senate, including votes to reduce spending in appropriations bills, enact earmark reform and repeal the estate tax. The average Senate score was 44 percent.
Vanessa writes to the Hear-Old:
“Why would I shop at a Pacific Grove farmers market when I can find fresh produce at Grove Market
Why would I shop at a cavernous hardware store when I can walk into P.G. Hardware
Why would I shop at an enormous office supply chain when Alpha Stationery
There are so many reasons to live and shop in Pacific Grove, many of them that feed my soul and reassure me of the decision we made 32 years ago to make this our home forever.”
Well Vanessa, some people have to work and don’t have a lot of time to dodge the tourists or find parking downtown. Biggest factor is that the streets once again roll up at 7:00PM and none of those stores are open when working people come home to PG.