Carmel Pine Cone, August 3, 2007
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A successful A young singer A hot dog’s career launched who’s really summer retreat on the streets ‘worth a listen’ — INSIDE THIS WEEK BULK RATE U.S. POSTAGE PAID CARMEL, CA Permit No. 149 Volume 93 No. 31 On the Internet: www.carmelpinecone.com August 3-9, 2007 Y OUR S OURCE F OR L OCAL N EWS, ARTS AND O PINION S INCE 1915 $1,000 REWARD FOR GRAFFITI VANDAL TV anchor’s dog By MARY BROWNFIELD fatally mauled CARMEL POLICE are offering $1,000 to whomever provides the crucial information that ■ Distraught Olga Ospina has been helps them arrest the graffiti vandal responsible for spray-painting three 6-foot-high stenciled fig- absent from CBS, Fox newscasts ures of a camera-toting tourist on city hall, Tutto By KELLY NIX Mondo Trattoria and Carmel Plaza. “Requests to remain anonymous will be strict- HEARING will be held to determine the fate of a dog ly honored,” according to the flier that asks any- A that sprang from a car in front of the Pacific Grove post one with information to contact detective Jesse office last week and viciously mauled KION and KCBA Juarez at (831) 624-6403. anchorwoman Olga Ospina’s 2-year-old Maltese, which later It’s been a week since the vandal last struck, died from its injuries. according to police. Ospina, who was regular- Responding to an alarm activation the after- ly seen briskly walking her noon of July 26, officers discovered a third figure beloved dog, Lulu, on carefully painted on a white, stuccoed wall ask- Lighthouse Avenue, also ing, “Do movie stars live here?” received injuries to her hand That morning, the character was also found from the attacking dog, a stenciled on a wall at city hall, accompanied by black Labrador, which is the words, “THANKS for taking care of tourist being held under quarantine before citizens.” At Carmel Plaza, the same thing at the Monterey County was painted sometime during the previous week- SPCA and could be eutha- end, with the caption, “Where’s the beach?” PHOTO/WIKIPEDIA (LEFT), CPD nized pending a hearing at The figures clearly evoke the work of the cel- Is the Carmel vandal who stenciled a camera-toting tourist on a down- Pacific Grove City Hall. ebrated, yet anonymous, British graffiti artist town wall (right) a wannabe Banksy, the well known British guerilla “This was a pretty trau- graffiti artist responsible for the “What?” boy (left) and political van- matic incident for those See GRAFFITI page 11A dalism across the globe? involved,” said Pacific Grove See LULU page 14A Mountain lion may be prowling near school Olga Ospina ■ Cat attacks raise concern Mary and Bart Hancock, who live on Monte Verde Street across from the elementary school, wish they had heeded that Building inspector By MARY BROWNFIELD advice after a neighbor told them a mountain lion had been spotted in the street one recent evening. hangs up his clipboard WITH THE discovery of two mauled cat carcasses on “The next door neighbor, Kim Moscato, had warned us Carmel River School grounds, residents are concerned a the day before, and unfortunately we let our cat out anyway,” mountain lion is hunting in their neighborhood. said Bart Hancock. “It’s hard to keep an outdoor cat in, espe- but keeps his gun But any one of the predators known to inhabit the nearby cially if you want to get some sleep. We are sure sorry now.” riverbed could have been the killer, according to a wildlife Sylvester, the Hancocks’ 14-year-old black and white cat, By MARY BROWNFIELD biologist. She urged people to keep their animals indoors or was found on school grounds the morning of July 26. They otherwise safely confined after dark. let him out around 3 a.m., and it appeared the predator killed THE UBIQUITOUS Tim Meroney — known to rush “If they love their pets, they should bring them in at him in the driveway and carried his mutilated body across the from building sites to bank robberies in his dual roles as full- night,” said Terry Palmisano, a senior wildlife biologist with street. time city building official and part-time police officer — put the California Department of Fish and Game. “I can not one of those jobs to rest this week. Meroney retired Tuesday emphasize that enough. We say it over and over.” See LION page 23A after more than 22 years as Carmel’s building official. He will still carry a badge and help catch scofflaws, just not the Cops use surveillance tape, OnStar to nab suspects See MERONEY page 13A By MARY BROWNFIELD Rockwell and Tiffany Kenefick, 22, were stopped on Highway 68 at Canyon del Rey and arrested late July 15. Two more rescues in A CARMEL Valley man and a female transient landed The suspects were nabbed hours after the victims, whom in jail after Monterey County Sheriff’s deputies tracked them Ragan would not name, returned to discover their house in Big Sur River gorge down through the OnStar system in the stolen car they were the gated Sleepy Hollow subdivision east of Carmel Valley driving. According to Sgt. Scott Ragan, 24-year-old Daniel Village had been burglarized. “Their place had been ransacked, and two of their cars had been stolen,” he said. The other was a Mercedes, which was recov- ered this week. They also stole a heavy portable safe, Ragan added. “It had roughly $100,000 of cash and jewelry in it,” he said. The victims called police, as well as the operator of the PHOTO/SARA HOWLETT Cadillac Escalade’s wire- Rescuers prepare to remove an injured man from a popu- lar Big Sur swimming area Monday — one of two rescues Devinshire Johnston Tiffany Kenefick Daniel Rockwell See ARRESTS page 12A this week. See the story on page 5A. Get your complete Carmel Pine Cone every Friday morning in convenient pdf format as an email attachment. Free subscriptions available at www.carmelpinecone.com. 2A The Carmel Pine Cone August 3, 2007 Preservation makes life easier for wheelchair-bound homeowner By MARY BROWNFIELD disability by expanding the bedroom and bathroom on the and west sides of the property. main floor. They also wished to keep a separate unit on the Architect Gretchen Flesher said she designed the addition WHILE HISTORIC designation of a home can mean property, which was once a studio, for live-in care when the to make the house easier to headaches for its owner, the status also comes with some need arises. live in while adding as little benefits. But the Lees’ plans require more square footage than floor area as possible. That’s what Edwin and Jill Lee learned July 16 when allowed under city rules. “The owners feel the ‘The house plans for a small addition to their Casanova Street home were City attorney Don Freeman said an exception could be house has so much charm and has so much approved by the Carmel Historic Resources Board. made to accommodate Edwin Lee’s handicap, but when they character that it’s not a house With Edwin Lee wheelchair bound, the couple had hoped asked the planning commission to consider the concept in you’d want to go in and recon- charm and to make their four-level home more accommodating to his May, commissioners suggested a square-footage exception figure to try to meet these could be made provided no other remodel options, such as needs,” Flesher said. character ... it’s adding an elevator, reconfiguring the interior or demolishing In his July 16 report to the not something the studio, were feasible. historic resources board, khaki’s . the best They also recommended the Lees have their house evalu- senior planner Sean Conroy you’d want to ated for historic significance, since if the property qualified, said the board “may allow the reconfigure’ the extra square footage could be accommodated under the expansion of nonconformities in men’s clothing city’s historic preservation ordinance. when this is found necessary to achieve consistency with Architecture worth saving the Secretary’s Standards,” for the renovation of historic New Historian Kent Seavey surveyed the property and deter- properties. mined the main house, designed by Lennart Palme and built None of the other remodel options were feasible, he con- Arrivals in 1940, and the subordinate unit, designed by Miles Bain cluded, recommending the board accept the historic home’s and constructed in 1941, are historically significant for their inclusion on the register, allow the exception to the floor area architecture. limit as a “reasonable accommodation,” and find the pro- With that news, the Lees asked the HRB to add their home posed design consistent with the Secretary of the Interior’s to the city’s historic register and requested permission to standards. He also requested a few changes, such as using build the addition, as well as handicap ramps on the north horizontal wood siding, to ensure the addition is delineated from the older part of the house. “I think it’s a very good solution to Mr. Lee’s present lifestyle, and I would like to compliment staff and the city Did you know... attorney for being solution oriented,” board member Julie As America expanded westward in the Wendt said. Chairman Erik Dyar said he appreciated being 1830s, mountain men (fur trappers) able to see the inside of the home, and he praised the Lees for often served as advance scouts for the wanting to preserve not just the exterior, but the interior, as government. A group of mountain men much as possible.