Inside this week…a colorful section featuring ideas to fill stockings and warm hearts! GIFTGIFT GUIDEGUIDE BULK RATE U.S. POSTAGE PAID CARMEL, CA Permit No. 149 Volume 94 No. 50 On the Internet: www.carmelpinecone.com December 12, 2008 Y OUR S OURCE F OR L OCAL N EWS, ARTS AND O PINION S INCE 1915 Memoir recalls the Boys of Summer POLICE CRACK — from a girl’s point of view FRAUD RING By CHRIS COUNTS ■ Stealing mail, forging checks ON HER first trip to spring training at and collecting the cash Vero Beach, Fla., in 1958, Flo Snyder dis- covered that all baseball players love a prac- By MARY BROWNFIELD tical joke. “They sent me to retrieve the keys to the THREE WOMEN and a man accused in a rash of mail batter’s box,” recalled Snyder, a Carmel res- theft, fraud and forgery that “has plagued banks and busi- ident and former Pine Cone columnist who nesses in the Monterey Peninsula and Salinas since will sign copies of her new book, “Lady in September” are being held in Monterey County Jail as the the Locker Room,” Tuesday, Dec. 16, at charges against them climb. Pacific Grove Cmdr. Tom D.E. Craghead Fine Art Gallery. Uretsky released the names of the suspects this week but said For 10 years, Snyder served as a secre- as the investigation continues, the initial estimate of $10,000 tary to Red Patterson, an executive with the stolen from individuals, banks and retailers is “just scratch- Los Angeles Dodgers. Patterson was in ing the surface.” charge of public relations, so when the Police allege the suspects raided mailboxes in the Salinas Dodgers moved west from Brooklyn to Los and Monterey areas, and forged or altered incoming and out- Angeles after the 1957 season, he came out going checks they found in the mail. They then opened sev- early to get a head start on what promised to eral personal bank accounts and deposited the stolen checks. be an eventful year. He hired Snyder as his “The suspects then withdrew cash from local ATMs while secretary, making her the first employee of the checks floated between banks, and prior to the checks’ the Los Angeles Dodgers. PHOTO/COURTESY FLO SNYDER being rejected for insufficient funds or as fraudulent, coun- Snyder picked an eventful time to work Flo Snyder (second from left) picks up baseball tips from Dodgers’ slugger Gil terfeit or stolen forged documents,” according to Uretsky. for the relocating team. Just two years Hodges (left) and some of his famous teammates, including Don Zimmer (right). Police started working on the case several weeks ago after before starting her new job, the Dodgers a bank teller at Wachovia realized the suspects were trying to were the toast of the baseball world after defeating the New ernous football stadium, the L.A. Coliseum, which was withdraw money from an account into which a fraudulent York Yankees in the 1955 World Series. “The Boys of not well suited for a team that relied on hitting a lot of check had been deposited. Summer” were one of baseball’s most colorful — and tal- home runs to right field. So the team reinvented itself, “They had made some ATM deposits of checks that were ented — teams ever, featuring Hall of Famers like Duke placing an emphasis on pitching, defense and speed. Over clearly forgeries,” he said, and the name on one of the checks Snider, Roy Campanella and Jackie Robinson, the pioneer the next decade, with the dynamic pitching duo of Sandy belonged to a Pacific Grove resident who is a Wachovia who broke baseball’s color barrier. In 1958, though, the Dodgers were playing in a cav- See BASEBALL page 14A See FRAUD page 13A Carmel Sands hotel A very busy week for the Eastwoods project bound for EIR By PAUL MILLER smiling admonishment to Clint Eastwood about a comment the former ON’T TALK that way to her Carmel mayor made to his wife, Dina, By MARY BROWNFIELD ‘D when she’s with me!” at the White House Sunday evening. That was President George Bush’s GLOBAL WARMING should be evaluated — The president had Dina Eastwood in a along with many other factors — in an environmental bear hug when he told impact report for the 58-room luxury hotel, day spa, Clint Eastwood off. tapas bar and underground parking garage planned for The encounter was the site of the Carmel Sands Lodge at San Carlos and part of a whirlwind week Fifth, according to an attorney who is the son of the for the Eastwoods which plan’s most vocal opponent. The Carmel Planning included dinner with Commission listened to public comments and learned Secretary of State about revisions to the project Wednesday night but did Condoleezza Rice on not make a decision on whether the proposal should Saturday, visits to the undergo a full EIR, though it very likely will. White House and John Compagno, who works for a large San Kennedy Center Sunday, Francisco law firm and is the son of Mission Street and the premiere of Clint property owner Catherine Compagno, submitted a Dec. Eastwood’s latest film, 2 letter calling for an EIR. According to Compagno, the “Gran Torino,” in mitigated negative declaration — which identified Hollywood on Tuesday. potential environmental impacts and suggested how to Dina Eastwood reduce them to less-than-significant levels — “repre- explained Bush’s com- sents an exercise in denial — both of the existing condi- ment and hug this way: tions in Carmel, and the potential impacts that would “We were waiting in line result from the project.” for our turn to have a pic- He said it fails to accurately examine effects on views ture taken with the presi- dent. I was excited and and aesthetics, air quality during construction, opera- PHOTOS/JEFF SNYDER, FILM MAGIC (LEFT) ; ALEXANDRA WYMAN, WIRE IMAGE tional emissions and climate change. “Although individ- talking nonstop, as usual, Sunday night they were at the White House and Kennedy Center (left). Monday Clint and Dina and Clint said to me, See SANDS page 10A Eastwood flew to Los Angeles for the premiere of his new movie, “Gran Torino,” a touching drama starring Eastwood and acting rookies Bee Vang (at left in right photo) and Ahney Her. See BUSY 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 December 12, 2008 Architect gets $131K for next Forest Theater design phase By MARY BROWNFIELD ing parking off the property to turn the lot into a park, erect- improving the functionality of the theater and the comfort of ing walls along the perimeter and digging an underground the user groups and audience.” THE CARMEL City Council last week unanimously passage from the stage to the control booth at the rear. According to a letter from McCann, the schematic work approved conceptual plans for renovating the Forest Theater After a neighborhood meeting in fall 2007 and a commu- will take about three months and cost $131,000, with an esti- — which will turn 100 in 2010 — and voted to sign a nity meeting at the theater last June, city administrator Rich mated $10,000 more for a survey of the property’s bound- $131,000 contract with RFM Architects for a detailed Guillen forwarded several recommendations to McCann aries. His proposal incorporated Guillen’s requests and also schematic design. based on input from theater users, residents, neighbors and calls for infrastructure upgrades and ADA-compliant path- Commissioned by the Forest Theater Foundation, archi- other interested parties. ways. tect Richard F. McCann initially proposed significant Guillen requested the design include a 6-foot-high grape- changes to the theater and its surroundings, including mov- steak fence like the existing fence surrounding the property, See THEATER page 27A onsite parking, a turnout and handicap parking accessible from Santa Rita Street, use of the existing concrete founda- tion to install new benches and elimination of the center aisle in favor of two new side aisles, improvement of the existing concessions stand, elimination of the ticket and phone CHS students reach out booths, new bathrooms in a single building, elimination of the underground corridor, and no change to the the basic TO “ENJOY the holiday spirit by giving back to the com- dimensions and height of the stage. munity around them,” Carmel High School students have “RFM prepared a new conceptual plan that incorporates embarked on a number of outreach efforts this fall. From the public comments received,” city administrator Rich Nov. 17-21, they gathered used clothing, blankets, hygiene Guillen said in his Dec. 2 report to the city council. He asked supplies and “anything to make the holidays a little brighter the council to review and approve the conceptual plan, and for the less fortunate,” to distribute to the needy via OK the agreement with RFM Architects to begin the Dorothy’s Place in Salinas. schematic phase. After Thanksgiving, they kicked off an effort to collect “The revised plan meets the desire to maintain the exist- new, unwrapped toys “to hopefully bring a smile to a young ing structures and infrastructure in its current configuration,” child’s face and make the season’s festivities even more sat- Guillen wrote in his report. “The upgrades focus entirely on isfying for both the giver and the receiver,” according to stu- dent Tyler Greenway. The student government “plans to get the whole student body enthusiastic about this event and raise the largest mountain of toys — and therefore gaiety and mer- riment — that this school has ever seen.” To help the students achieve that goal, Greenway encour- Happy aged community members to add to the pile of new, unwrapped toys as well.