HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012

Volume 97 No. 52 On the Internet: www.carmelpinecone.com December 30, 2011 - January 5, 2012

Y OUR S OURCE F OR L OCAL N EWS, ARTS AND O PINION S INCE 1915 While America shivers, local hikers hit the trail Doctor responds

By CHRIS COUNTS to drug charge ARE YOU suffering the post-holiday blues? Will New Year’s Eve leave you with a splitting with drug test headache? Well, there’s no better remedy for whatever ails you than a good hike. Throughout much of the country, sub-freez- n He shared office with ing temperatures and generally lousy weather infamous cocaine-using M.D. keep people close to the fireplace during the hol- iday season. But here on California’s central PINE CONE STAFF REPORT coast, winter is the perfect time to head outside and take a walk in the sunshine. DR. GREGORY Tapson, who was arrested for cocaine But where’s the best place for a winter hike? possession and public intoxication the night of Dec. 16 after Basically, any trail that catches the sun. Because his wife was pulled over for DUI, was the longtime partner the sun stays in the southern sky during the of Dr. Carl Bergstrom, according to public records and sev- shortest days of the year, trails that face north eral of Tapson’s patients. aren’t a good choice. And neither are the deep, The men shared a medical office at 26366 Carmel Rancho V-shaped canyons along the Big Sur Coast — Lane, the records show. where steep ridges and towering redwoods block Bergstrom is awaiting retrial on accusations he raped an out the sun. That means popular summertime acquaintance in his Carmel Woods home in April 2009. An hikes, such as the Soberanes Canyon Trail at appeals court overturned the conviction in October because If you’re looking for soli- Garrapata State Park and the Garzas Canyon of what it said were faulty jury instructions given by Trail at Garland Ranch Regional Park, can be tude, Fort Ord Dunes State Park offers four miles Monterey County Superior Court Judge Russell Scott. surprisingly cool and dark during the off-season. During his trial, Bergstrom admitted buying cocaine However, hikes along coastal bluffs can be of unpopulated beaches (above). Andrew Molera while he was at his office. A tape recording made while he ideal, especially if you don’t get too early a start. was at work showed him offering to trade cocaine for sex. He Also, trails along south-facing ridges can be sur- State Park in Big Sur fea- tures a bounty of hiking also “apparently could be heard on the tape snorting cocaine” prisingly warm on a winter’s day. possibilities, ranging from in his office, the appeals court noted. Here are just a few great places to go for a ridge-topping East But after news coverage of Tapson’s arrest for cocaine hike this winter: Molera Trail to a gently possession, Michael Chapman, who described himself as a meandering walk among “longtime patient and friend,” contacted The Pine Cone to n Fort Ord Dunes State Park sycamores (right) to a ask for the “opportunity to present a rebuttal.” scenic beach. According to Chapman, Tapson took a drug test after he With sparse crowds even during summer, was released from custody. A copy of test results, dated Dec. you’ll have much of the park’s 990 acres all to 17 at 11:22 a.m. (more than 12 hours after his arrest), showed yourself on an off-season day. Fog and wind are Tapson had no measurable amounts of cocaine or other ille- scarce, and with four miles of empty beaches gal drugs in his system. “He is not a ‘cocaine guy’ and has never been into recre- PHOTOS/CHRIS COUNTS See HIKES page 11 in Real Estate See DOCTOR page 15A Bank exec in bizarre Lombardo parts company with Lombardo & Gilles high-speed chase By PAUL MILLER thing, and he’s very good at assessing that,” Williams said. And Clint Eastwood, who was represented by Lombardo By MARY SCHLEY MONTEREY COUNTY’S most prominent land use in getting permits for the Tehama golf course and housing attorney has left the law firm that bore his name for the last project in Carmel Valley, said Lombardo was “just a very A VICE president of Wells Fargo Bank’s investment 17 years and started a new one. good land use lawyer ... I couldn’t think of anybody better.” department led sheriff’s deputies on a high-speed chase down Anthony Lombardo is no longer with Lombardo & Gilles According to Lombardo, in 2007 he “transferred owner- Carmel Valley Road Friday LLP. His new firm is called Anthony Lombardo and ship” of Lombardo & Gilles to Gilles and another lawyer in night before being wrestled Associates. to the ground and hand- “I find it more invigorating and exciting to do my own See LAWYER page 15A cuffed on charges of DUI, thing,” Lombardo said, in explaining his decision to move felony reckless evasion and from a law office that employed as many as 17 lawyers to one resisting arrest, according to with just three. Tiffany lawsuit moved the Monterey County He started his former firm in 1994, and in 1998 it became Sheriff’s Office. Lombardo & Gilles when Jeff Gilles came on board. Deputy Joseph Crivello Over the next decade, it represented most of the county’s to federal courthouse was on patrol in the area of high-profile real estate developments, working for clients Meadows Road around 9:15 such as Clint Eastwood, the Pebble Beach Co., Quail Lodge, By KELLY NIX p.m. Dec. 23 when he saw a Hyatt Hotels, Carmel Valley Ranch, Bernardus, Denny black Mercedes driven by LeVett and the Carmel Valley Athletic Club. A DISCRIMINATION lawsuit filed in August by a for- 52-year-old Pebble Beach “All you have to do is work day and night for 18 years, and mer employee of Tiffany & Co. in Carmel has been moved resident Kevin Stapleton, a you’ll become an overnight success,” Lombardo observed. out of Monterey County Superior Court to federal court at senior executive with the “Whether it’s because of my fame or infamy, I generate a lot the request of attorneys for the jewelry company. bank’s Carmel Rancho of work and have achieved a fair degree of expertise.” Ex-Tiffany & Co. worker Ruth Herrera claimed in a law- office, heading westbound at Kevin Stapleton “The difference with Tony is that he’s incredibly persistent suit that managers at the Carmel shop on Ocean Avenue sub- what the deputy estimated and gets his clients’ issues addressed more aggressively than jected her to discrimination, harassment and retaliation was 10 mph over the speed the other land use lawyers,” said Monterey County 5th because she is Mexican. Tiffany has denied Herrera’s allega- limit, according to Cmdr. Lisa Nash. District Supervisor Dave Potter. “You could say he’s annoy- tions. Crivello pulled in behind the Mercedes to confirm its ingly aggressive.” According to court documents, Tiffany filed a notice speed and watched as the driver swerved from one side of the Developer Alan Williams credited Lombardo with having moving the case to United States District Court, Northern a good sense of causes that have public support. See CHASE page 14A “Monterey County is split 50-50 on pretty much every- See CLAIM page 20A Have the complete Carmel Pine Cone delivered every Thursday evening to your iPad, laptop, PC or phone. Free subscriptions available at www.carmelpinecone.com