September 9Th Issue
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Kiosk In This Issue Fri., Sept. 9 6-9 PM Wine, Art & Music Walk Downtown Pacific Grove. Free • Fri., Sept. 9 Pacific Grove Art Center Art Exhibit Opening 7-9pm at 568 Lighthouse Ave. Reception with Nick Williams and Jaqui Hope Honey, apples & waffles - 5 Coming to a car show near you - 11 Banner year - 16 (Jazz) • Sat. Sept. 10 Cherry’s Jubilee Show & Shine Downtown Pacific Grove with Moonalice 5:30-8 PM • Sun., Sept. 11 Gospel Concert 6:00-8:00 PM Golden State Theatre 417 Alvarado, Monterey Donations are requested Times • Sept.9-15, 2011 Pacific Grove Community News Vol. III, Issue 52 Sun., Sept. 11 8/11 Remembrance 2:00 p.m. Pacific Grove Police Dept. 580 Pine Ave. Remains of missing PG woman found Pacific Grove • Bones discovered near where car was parked in 1983 Thurs. Sept. 15 Book Talk Rebecca Costa, By Cameron Douglas The Watchman’s Rattle: Thinking Our Way Out of Extinction Pacific Grove Library A land surveyor working in a wooded area near Del Monte Shopping Center in 550 Central Ave. Monterey discovered the skeletal remains of Jennifer Lynn Morris, a resident 7:00 p.m. of Pacific Grove who went missing on January 24, 1983. A check of dental re- $10 suggested donation cords confirmed the identity. Morris was 20 years of age when she disappeared. Police investigators are not releasing many details, but the case is being Sat., Sept. 17 investigated as a homicide. “We’ve had a few phone calls, mostly from people Deadline for submitting who knew her,” said Lt. Leslie Sonné of the Monterey Police Department. Heritage Houses for the Birds “Whether any of that pans out as an actual lead remains to be seen,” she added. (Auction event on Sun., Oct. 2) For info call In its Jan. 27, 1983 issue, the Monterey Peninsula Herald reported that Dennis Tarmina at 831-643-1943 Pacific Grove police were looking for the young woman, and that a $10,000 Sponsors are welcome reward had been offered for information on her whereabouts. According to that • report, Morris left her home at approximately 3 p.m. on Jan. 24, drew some Sat., Sept. 17 money from her bank, drove to the Del Monte Center in Monterey and made a Kimberley Pryor & Robert Marcum purchase at Saks Fifth Avenue. Her beige 1977 Ford Pinto station wagon was Acoustic Folk/Rock vocalists found later in the lot near the Cinema 70 Theater with her purchase inside. The Works Officer Dave Henderson of the PG Police Department was in charge of the 7:30 - 9:30 PM investigation. $10.00 cover The Pacific Grove/Pebble Breach Tribune covered the story in their Feb. 2, • 1983 issue. They quoted then-Pacific Grove police commander James Watts as Sat., Sept. 24 saying, “She’s from a good family, has never been in any kind of trouble, and The Mirth-O-Matics Improv comedy group Jennifer Lynn Morris close to the time of her dis- The Works See MURDERPage 2 appearance. Photo courtesy Monterey Police Department. 7:30 - 9:30 PM $10.00 cover • Two local measures on Nov. 8 ballot Pacific Grove voters will find two local measures on the November ballot. One will extend and increase a parcel tax which received Inside 70.84 percent of the vote four years ago. The other will ease some measures which have restrictred the hospitality industry locally since Measure C was passed in 1986. Ben Alexander Golf ...............6 Cop Log .................................3 Food ..................................... 5 Measure V Measure U Green Page ..........................16 Pacific Grove Unified School District City of Pacific Grove Health & Well-Being .......... 15 Shall Chapter 23.52 of the Pacific Grove municipal Code be High Hats & Parasols .............4 To preserve the educational quality of our schools in the Legal Notices .......................10 face of Statewide budget cuts, including but not limited to amended to allow not more than 79 (total) additional motel Opinion ...............................10 science, math, music, art, computers and libraries; maintain guest units and ease guest unit restrictions that existed prior Peeps ...................................13 small class sizes; and retain qualified teachers; shall Pacific to voter approval of Measure C in 1986? The Arts ............................. 8-9 Grove Unified School District levy $60 per parcel for four Majority Approval Required to Pass this Measure Shelf Life ...............................3 years to replace and extend the previously approved tax, with Sports ....................................6 an independent citizens’ oversight committee, and all funds Many hoteliers in Pacific Grove have been restricted since the Up & Coming events ..... 11-12 spent locally and no money used for administrative salaries passage of Measure C in 1986 as to their ability to improve and/or Young Writers’ Corner .........13 or taken by the State? expand their properties in conformance with the original intent of Two-thirds Majority Approval Required to Pass this Measure Measure C to protect the residential character of the City and pre- Make us your friend on vent motels from having adverse impact on nearby neighborhoods. Facebook As Measure X, the $35 parcel tax, expires in 2013, the Pacific Measure U on the November 8 ballot would ease some of the Follow us on Twitter Grove Unified School District will ask residents to approve an in- restrictions by allowing for renovations within the existing footprint to receive calendar updates creased parcel tax to help offset state cuts and preserve educational of the affected motels and thereby improve their competitive posi- and reminders on your quality. The replacement tax, called Measure V on the November 8 tion in the marketplace. Facebook page! ballot, asks for a $60 tax per parcel for four years to fund academic It was developed over a period of some 11 months by a joint services and programs. committee which was formed by the City and included the original Measure X was passed by 70.84 percent of Pacific Grove authors of Measure C along with representatives from the hoteliers, voters. Measure V, which requires a two-thirds vote, would add City staff and the Chamber of Commerce. The resulting measure somewhere in the area of $368,000 per year to the budget begin- could see as many as 79 new rooms for motels built prior to 1986. ning in the 2012-2013 year, consecutive to Measure X. Measure Forty-seven of these would be from new construction and 32 from X currently provides an additional $230,000 per year. A survey divisions within existing structures. Standards would ease but would Send your calendar items to: [email protected] See MEASURE V Page 2 See MEASURE U Page 2 Page 2 • CEDAR STREET Times • September 9, 2011 pMURDER From Page 1 pMEASURE V From Page 1 was not having any kind of problems.” Morris was a student living with her parents commissioned by the District showed that 70 percent of polled Pacific Grove voters and one brother. Watts also told the Tribune at that time there were some new leads would likely approve the measure while 16 percent would vote “no.” Another 4 percent in the case but that he could not release that information. The Tribune reported that are leaning toward “yes” while 3 percent are leaning toward “no.” her parents located the Pinto after their daughter didn’t come home, and that the car Superintendent of the Pacific Grove Unified School District Dr. Ralph Gómez was unlocked. Porras said the additional tax revenue would help maintain smaller class sizes and Jennifer Morris’s parents have since died and her brothers are no longer in the area. protect enrichment programs, like art and music. The increase over the old parcel tax Monterey Police detectives have reopened and are investigating the case. They will help the district keep up with cost-of-living increases, he says. Class size reduction have been in touch with PG Detective Meghan Bliss, who pulled up the microfilm of means that two additional teachers are on staff, the cost of which has gone to $89,000. the file from 1983. There have been no significant new developments at this time, said “If this parcel tax doesn’t get renewed by the voters,” said Porras, “we will need Commander John Nyunt. to make commensurate cuts in our budget.” Structured as a parcel tax, the income remains in the district and can’t be affected Left: Morris’ remains were found in the woods adjacent to the recently con- by the State of California. None of the money would go toward administrators’ salaries, structed Century Theaters complex. In 1983, this area was still undeveloped. and independent citizens’ committee oversight is required. Given the current climate in Sacramento, where mid-year budget cuts loom if Right: Site of the old Cinema 70 theater. Morris’ car was found near here. revenues don’t meet projections, such local control is critical to local education. Pa- cific Grove Unified is a basic aid district: Local tax receipts are higher than the state’s revenue limit. But there are unfunded mandates and enrollment is creeping upward, officials maintain, so every dollar is important. Locally, property values have increased, largely buoyed by homes in Pebble Beach. But property values in Pacific Grove have remained static or even dropped. Pacific Grove Unified School District spent $12,647 per student in the 2009-2010 school year ($22.0 million total for 1,743.30 students), compared to median spending of $8,234 statewide. Spending regionally shows that Carmel Unified spent $17,451 per students and Monterey Peninsula Unified spent $8,008 per student in 2009-2010. Resultant API scores are comparatively higher: Scores for Pacific Grove were 877, with the median being 783.