Carmel Pine Cone, June 26, 2009 (Main News)
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THRIFT-SHOP PURCHASE HOLDS SURPRISE: CREMATED REMAINS By MARY BROWNFIELD ashes of a previous owner’s family member, and the surprised explained. “We contacted the sheriff’s office to turn it over to buyer notified the shop, which called the Monterey County them in hopes they could get the remains back to where they WHEN A patron of the SPCA Benefit Shop on Carmel Sheriff’s Office June 10. belong.” Rancho Lane bought a nice looking urn, the person ended up “We get in so many donations, and a lot of people just The coroner’s division took custody of the vessel and its with more than an objet d’art. The piece still contained the drop off boxes and bags, so we don’t know where the urn See URN page 24A came from,” SPCA spokeswoman Beth Brookhouser BULK RATE U.S. POSTAGE PAID CARMEL, CA Permit No. 149 Volume 95 No. 26 On the Internet: www.carmelpinecone.com June 26-July 2, 2009 Y OUR S OURCE F OR L OCAL N EWS, ARTS AND O PINION S INCE 1915 Beekeeper saves day for homeowner, hive County OKs By CHRIS COUNTS River School HER HOUSE was riddled with termites, and Big Sur resident Belinda Shoemaker needed to call an exterminator. But tenting the house would also mean killing a colony of bees expansion that were living in the roof — something she could not bring herself to do. By MARY BROWNFIELD But how do you get rid of thousands of honey bees in an inac- cessible part of your house? Shoemaker did the time-honored Big AFTER A dozen people spoke in its favor — including Sur thing, and asked her neighbors to lend her a hand. But only after two young children and a judge — and only one opposed it, failing to get professional help: At the beginning of June, she con- Carmel River School received unanimous approval tacted bee experts, television and radio stations, and even posted an Wednesday for new classrooms and a multipurpose room, as ad on Craigslist. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find anyone willing or well as a sidewalk and loading zones to make students’ able to take the bees away. arrivals and departures more orderly and safe. The Monterey “Nobody wanted to make the journey to Big Sur,” Shoemaker County Planning Commission also retroactively OK’d the explained. relocation of several portable classrooms on school grounds. So Shoemaker started passing the word around Big Sur, and one Approved by the state more than a year ago, the project of her neighbors, Blake Forrest, who turned out to be an amateur beekeeper, offered to help. See SCHOOL page 10A Neighbors to the rescue A few days later, Forrest showed up Shoemaker’s home, which RUCKS FACE NEW FEE overlooks Pfeiffer Beach. He brought along his two children — 16- T year-old Grace and 9-year-old Nandi — as well as another bee-savvy neighbor, Jack Koch, and another local youngster, 11-year-old Ryan TO CROSS CITY LIMITS Alexander. Dressed from head to toe in protective “bee wear,” Forrest, Koch By MARY BROWNFIELD and Grace spent much of June 9 gaining access to Shoemaker’s bees and moving them into bee boxes. Meanwhile, Shoemaker and the THE CITY will pay a traffic engineer $11,600 to count two youngsters safely watched the operation from inside the house. heavy construction vehicles driving through town and decide Shoemaker’s bee colony was located under her roof, so a few how much they should pay for the damage they cause to the streets, the council decided this month. The study will be See BEES page 24A used to establish a “construction truck impact fee” to fund road work in town by imposing a new charge on building per- After boards were removed from the eaves, the busy bee colony in mits. Belinda Shoemaker’s roof was revealed (top). In the photo below, The contract with Nichols Engineering had been set for Blake Forrest (left) and Jack Koch (right) prepare to transport a portion automatic adoption as part of the consent calendar at the of the bee colony, while Grace Forrest watches from below. PHOTOS/COURTESY BELINDA SHOEMAKER See TRUCKS page 20A Jury: Seaside The town Bill Bates loved says goodbye florist did not MORE THAN 200 people gathered at Community Church of the Monterey Peninsula Sunday to pay tribute to the life of longtime Pine Cone cause RLS fire cartoonist Bill Bates, who died May 21 after a 10-month illness. At left, Bates’ son, Oliver, addresses the crowd, telling them, “My dad wouldn’t By KELLY NIX want everybody to be sad, that’s for sure.” And below, another Bates son, Will, plays the drums with a jazz quartet performing some of Bates’ favorite FOLLOWING A two-week trial, a jury music. Former Mayor Ken White recalled the time when the city council decided Monday that a small Seaside florist was declared a “humor overlay district” that extended two feet around Bates wherever he was. And Bates’ teenage daughter, Chelsea, said, not responsible for a 2007 fire that destroyed the “I know my dad will be remembered as a great artist, but he was also a Pebble Beach home of Robert Louis Stevenson man of his community.” A fundraiser to help pay Chelsea’s high-school School’s headmaster. tuition will be held at 2 p.m. June 27 at the Carmel Art Association. Hartford Casualty Insurance Company paid RLS and its headmaster, Joe Wandke, for their losses in the April 26, 2007, fire. And then Hartford sued the flower shop, Design One Environments, claiming the florist caused the fire by putting an accent lamp close to a ficus tree. But a jury in a Monterey courtroom decided the florist, owned by Debbie and Jim Bovenzi, was not negligent and didn’t cause the blaze. “I think justice was served,” Debbie Bovenzi told The Pine Cone after the verdict. “It was very frustrating for the last two years to have this [lawsuit] looming over us.” The Bovenzis were defended in the case by their insurance company, State Farm. In the suit, filed Jan. 16, 2008, Hartford sought to reclaim $2,080,367 it compensated PHOTOS/PAUL MILLER See FIRE page 11A Get your complete Carmel Pine Cone every Thursday evening in convenient pdf format via email. Free subscriptions available at www.carmelpinecone.com. 2A The Carmel Pine Cone June 26, 2009 Supervisors agree to join search for regional water solution By KELLY NIX in the works since 2007, when a coalition County. Monterey County Farm Bureau executive now called Water for Monterey County was At the June 16 meeting, just before super- director Bob Perkins said he was “alarmed” THE MONTEREY County Board of formed. The group meets every month in visors were to consider the water agreement, by the last-minute changes and suggested Supervisors voted last week to collaborate Marina. the plan was in jeopardy of falling apart after removing the revisions. with two other water agencies to study a plan Some critics, including Calcagno, have Weeks proposed making last-minute changes After the outcry, Water Resources Agency for a regional water supply. been leery of the group’s intentions, con- that would have redefined some of agree- member Steve Collins admitted the changes The memorandum supervisors approved tending the plan would not provide any water ment’s language. were a mistake. Tuesday forges a partnership between the to North Monterey County and would divert The proposed 11th-hour revisions Fifth District Supervisor Dave Potter Monterey County Water Resources Agency, water from Salinas Valley to the Monterey prompted sharp criticism. agreed. the Monterey Regional Water Pollution Peninsula. “I’m disappointed with the process “An 11th-hour change does not seem to Control Agency and the Marina Coast Water But Calcagno said the memorandum of today,” LandWatch interim executive direc- me the proper way to go about good govern- District. understanding supervisors approved last tor Amy White told the supervisors. ment,” Potter said. “We just made history,” said Supervisor Tuesday would entitle “North County to be a “Presenting changes last minute before the The supervisors approved the plan after Lou Calcagno following approval of the vital part” of a regional water plan. board vote is inappropriate.” the new language was stricken. agreement. “This is the first time there has Supervisors were set to vote on the agree- been a regional plan put together in this ment in April when farmers, landowners and county, and I think we should all be congrat- environmentalists opposed it, citing water ulated.” rights and other issues. The agreement will allow the agencies to Since then, Calcagno and county officials MPWMD files appeal challenging work toward a water project that could ulti- met with slow-growth group LandWatch and mately mean a drought-free supply for the others to revise the memorandum. judge’s decision over ecoresort Monterey Peninsula and other areas includ- Monterey County Water Resources ing North Monterey County. Agency executive director Curtis Weeks said By KELLY NIX “We are very confident the court will A publicly owned regional plan would Tuesday the agency would ensure water once again side with us and reflect the right include a variety of water projects, such as a rights were respected. EVELOPER ED Ghandour has side of the law,” Ghandour said. “And we desalination plant in North Marina, waste- “Our job will be to protect every pumper D encountered yet another legal speed bump in also expect sanctions against the district.” water recycling and underground storage. in the basin,” Weeks said. his quest to build a $300 million ecoresort in The 161-room ecoresort would be located A regional plan is an alternative to On July 13, the California Public Utilities Sand City.