Carmel Pine Cone, February 5, 2010
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T HE PROS AND CELEBRITIES – TICKETS, SCHEDULES, PARKING AND SHUTTLES – INSIDE THIS WEEK! EBBLEEBBLE EACHEACH ATAT&&TTNationalPP Pro-Am – FebruaryBB 6-14, 2010 Volume 96 No. 6 On the Internet: www.carmelpinecone.com February 5-11, 2010 Y OUR S OURCE F OR L OCAL N EWS, ARTS AND O PINION S INCE 1915 Hazdovac touts There’s a new golf French restaurateurs experience, fiscal course in the AT&T may have been conservatism serving up fraud By MARY BROWNFIELD A LIFELONG Carmel resident seeking an ■ D.A. is investigating after historic fifth four-year term on the city council, Paula Hazdovac said she’s seeking reelection smorgasbord of complaints because she enjoys serving on the council and By KELLY NIX wants to tackle major issues it’s facing — primar- ily, public safety and the economy. RANCIS AND Christine Richard received glowing “I’m really excited to be running again,” she F reviews for their short-lived French restaurants, Chez said. “People say it’s a thankless job, but it’s real- Christine in Carmel and Bistro Christine in Monterey, and for ly not. It’s very gratifying.” restaurants they operated earlier in Hollister and Gilroy. Hazdovac, who has owned and run Two Sisters By all accounts, the food they prepared for their cus- Design with her sister, Pat, in Carmel since 1994, tomers was outstanding and won them many fans. said city finances are a high priority. But three weeks into opening a new restaurant in Pacific “The economy is really the key issue, because Grove — Le Normandie — the Richards are facing allega- just about everything is going to relate to that,” tions they’ve bilked landlords out of rent, stiffed restaurant she said. “Having the expertise and the knowledge suppliers and duped well meaning customers into lending and the background — I’ve been through his them money. before. Every council I’ve served on is very fis- Their total indebtedness may be more than $400,000, cally conservative, which fits for me, because according to more than a dozen people interviewed for this that’s the way I am.” story. While some have criticized the city for cutting Some of their unpaid creditors have even accused the costs by eliminating jobs and hiring outside con- French couple of creating phony medical problems to attain tractors, Hazdovac said the decisions have been sympathy and solicit loans. vindicated. Fifth District Monterey County PHOTO/PAUL MILLER The Monterey County District Attorney’s Office has taken Supervisor Dave Potter recently told Carmel Brian Thompson of Monterey checks out the amazing scenery notice of the Richards’ business practices, telling The Pine Rotary members what the county is doing to shore from the pro tee on the 11th Hole at Monterey Peninsula Country Cone its consumer fraud unit has launched a criminal inves- up its budget, she said, “and it’s what we did here Club’s Shore Course Wednesday. In just a few days, some of the tigation. seven or eight years ago.” world’s top golfers and most famous celebrities will be in the same Such fiscal conservatism and streamlining spot, as MPCC becomes part of the AT&T Pebble Beach Bad luck? National Pro-Am. See our special section for complete coverage. Christine Richard acknowledged she and her husband See HAZDOVAC page 10A face a mountain of debt. But she said their extensive unpaid bills are the result of a bad economy, bad luck and a string of Bad driving lands Man facing years in See COMPLAINTS page 22A burglary suspects in jail jail for catching trout COUNCIL RECEPTIVE By MARY BROWNFIELD By CHRIS COUNTS TO METAL ROOFS TAILGATING AND crossing a double-yellow line led to the arrest last week of a 33-year-old Salinas man sus- A SAN Francisco real estate developer could be By MARY BROWNFIELD pected of ransacking and burglarizing a Carmel home, and headed to federal prison for creating a fishing pond on stealing the residents’ car. his property near Gilroy and catching several steelhead THE CARMEL City Council didn’t tell the people who The driver’s arrest also led to the capture of another sus- trout. want a metal roof installed on their Santa Lucia Avenue pect in a Monterey motel room. Luke Brugnara, 46, pleaded guilty Jan. 26 to four home, “Yes,” but it didn’t tell them, “No,” either. Instead, When Monterey County Sheriff’s deputy Bryan counts of “taking” of steelhead trout and two counts of council members unanimously voted Tuesday night to send Hoskins pulled over Raymond Saldivar on Highway 1 and making false statements to investigators. He could be the Robinson Family Trust and designer Dana Annereau back sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison and to the planning commission with direction to come up with a See SUSPECTS page 8A have to pay a $600,000 fine. different metal roof. Brugnara’s troubles began in January 2007 when, Citing its durability, appearance and environmentally according to federal officials, he closed a portal in a friendly aspects, Annereau wanted to put a metal roof in a small dam on his property that allowed steelhead trout in “weathered copper” color on the house, which sits below Little Arthur Creek to migrate upstream. When fisheries street level. biologists arrived on the property to rescue several The roof would be visible from the road, and on Dec. 9, trapped fish, they were gone, and there was evidence 2009, the planning commission denied his application. they had been caught with a fishing pole. Annereau appealed that decision to the city council Feb. 2. At first, Brugnara denied any knowledge of what had Assistant planner Marc Wiener recommended the council happened to the fish. But dated receipts from a nearby deny the appeal, since the city’s residential design guidelines McDonald’s showed that he had, in fact, been at the fish- state “metal, plastic and glass roofs are inappropriate in all ing pond at the time the trout went missing. neighborhoods,” and “roof materials should be consistent Steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) are one of the with the architectural style of the building and with the con- most common fish in the world and are caught by text of the neighborhood.” anglers and sold in markets in many countries, but are Annereau argued the roof should be permitted because it See TROUT page 7A Raymond Saldivar Amanda Daly See METAL page 16A 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 February 5, 2010 Grand jury condemns county EMSA, calls for trauma center By MARY BROWNFIELD icantly suffered,” the grand jury wrote. Twenty years ago, the for improving the delivery of emergency medical services. A agency employed 32 part-time instructors; today, it has three. decade ago, a county civil grand jury recommended training THE MONTEREY County Emergency Medical As a result, many local fire and police departments no firefighters as paramedics and installing medical equipment Services Agency was criticized by the 2009 Monterey longer have in-house help, leaving workers to be trained by and drugs on fire engines to get critical care to people in County Civil Grand Jury for neglecting “the core basic needs various providers that don’t coordinate their curricula. rural areas of the county more quickly, and the 2009 report of equipment, training and continuing education of emer- “Consequently, the level of training is not uniform agreed. gency personnel.” throughout Monterey County,” the report continued. Cal Fire, which operates the Carmel Highlands and “This puts the community at risk of receiving inconsistent Although it continues to receive tax dollars meant for Cypress fire protection districts, and jointly runs Pebble and substandard care,” the group wrote, adding that the training, the agency tells the county’s fire and medical agen- Beach Fire, deploys firefighter-paramedics on its engines, Monterey County Board of Supervisors “needs to acknowl- cies to send their employees to other schools, which means and the grand jury suggested other agencies should, too. edge these problems and take immediate corrective action.” they have to pay for services they should receive from the “Conventional wisdom focuses exclusively on patient According to the civil grand jury, more than 20 years ago EMSA, according to the report. transportation issues. However, the most successful patient the county’s voters allocated funds for high-level training of The civil grand jury also said the EMSA isn’t properly outcomes result from rapid on-scene medical intervention, emergency medical personnel. supervised by its governing council — an appointed group of rather than mere transport,” according to the report. A fire But, in a document made public last month, the grand jury fire personnel, ambulance providers, law enforcement, hos- engine often arrives at the scene of a medical emergency reported the EMSA only offers occasional continuing educa- pital representatives, ER doctors, city managers, park offi- ahead of the ambulance. tion, trains first responders for all-volunteer departments and cials and members of the public. “The council should be the “Considering cost, access, timely response and quality of teaches CPR. vehicle for any change to the EMSA mission; however, this patient care, the fire service is the optimal choice for provid- Partly to blame is the EMSA’s reluctance to spend its bud- council’s role has been minimized,” the jury wrote, and it has ing pre-hospital emergency care services,” the grand jury get on as much training as it should. In 2007/2008, for exam- no say over the EMSA’s budget. wrote.