Volume 97 No. 22 On the Internet: www.carmelpinecone.com June 3-9, 2011 Y OUR S OURCE F OR L OCAL N EWS, ARTS AND O PINION S INCE 1915 Water district director Appeals court fight: Could Flanders Mansion questioned for asking suddenly be turned into low-income housing? a lot of questions ■ Activists paint doomsday picture input from the Carmel if the city sells it, bringing untold harm to the environment, according to the latest legal docu- in bid to overturn public vote ments from a group of preservationists who have waged a 12- ■ But says she doesn’t oppose desal plant year battle to force Carmel to keep the historic home. By PAUL MILLER Despite an overwhelming 2009 public vote that the city By KELLY NIX would be better off if Flanders Mansion were sold to a private STATELY, AGING Flanders Mansion could be turned buyer and the proceeds used for some other civic purpose, ALTHOUGH SHE was only seated on the five-member into affordable housing or a halfway house with very little and a string of unanimous city council decisions since 1999 Marina Coast Water District board in December, director Jan that reached the same conclusion, the state must step in to Shriner has caused quite a stir. halt the sale at least until the city does more study of its pos- Shriner’s apparently pesky questions about the proposed sible environmental impacts, according to documents filed regional desalination project and other issues have riled fel- with the California Sixth Appellate District by Melanie Billig low board members and MCWD general manager Jim and her group, the Flanders Foundation. Heitzman, who in May accused her of creating a “hostile But the city, which is trying to sell the mansion for use as work environment.” a single-family home — with deed restrictions to ensure its That led the water board to vote 3-1 to hire an attorney to preservation and the protection of adjacent parkland — says investigate whether Shriner’s numerous requests have the idea of the historic building becoming a home for poor amounted to harassment. people or drug addicts is so far-fetched that there’s no legal Shriner met with the attorney retained by the MCWD, requirement that it be studied in an EIR now, according to Jeanine DeBacker, Wednesday for more than two hours. legal filings. DeBacker, who has already interviewed Heitzman and Both sides agree that the Flanders Mansion parcel, which other board members, is expected to wrap up her investiga- was split off from nearby Mission Trail park in 2000, would tion Friday or early next week. have to be offered to other government agencies before the “There were a lot of questions, and questions about ques- city could sell it to a private buyer. tions,” Shriner said of the meeting, which she called “very PHOTO/PINE CONE FILE But they differ sharply over what might happen next. comprehensive.” Activists trying to prevent the sale of Flanders Mansion are “The sale of Flanders Mansion may result in its purchase painting doomsday scenarios for the old home if another gov- See WATER page 18A ernment agency buys it. See FLANDERS page 17A FEDS SAY LIMEKILN PARK CAN’T BE CLOSED Corn seeks reduced By CHRIS COUNTS Garrapata), there has been little outcry over the possible clo- sentence for DUI crash sure of the other Big Sur park on the governor’s hit list, JUST TWO weeks after California Governor Jerry Limekiln State Park. But thanks to a deal with the federal By KELLY NIX Brown announced the possible closure of 70 state parks in an government, it appears the state will be forced to keep the effort to bridge the state’s budget gap, one of the two Big Sur park and campground open. A PACIFIC GROVE man sentenced in March to seven parks on his hit list received a boost from an unlikely ally — Limekiln is one of 16 California parks that receive feder- years in prison for the drunken driving crash that paralyzed a the federal government. al dollars from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, classmate is expected to seek a reduced sentence Friday. Another local state park, meanwhile, is also receiving which collects royalties from offshore oil drilling projects to On March 10, Monterey County Superior Court Judge unexpected help. Thanks to the nonprofit Ventana buy parklands. According to Jon Jarvis, the director of the Russell Scott sentenced Aaron Corn to seven years and four Wilderness Alliance, volunteers will celebrate National National Park Service, the state’s acceptance of the funding months for the Feb. 21, 2010, accident that left Corn’s friend, Trails Day by launching an effort Saturday, June 4, to repair constitutes a binding contract to keep those 16 parks open. Chelsie Hill, paralyzed and several other friends injured, and the Oak Grove Trail at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, which was “It is linked directly to the deed of these lands,” Jarvis was for stealing the Toyota 4Runner he crashed. badly damaged during the Basin Complex Fire in 2008. quoted as saying last week. “It says the state makes a com- Though Corn asked for probation, Scott sentenced Corn While local hikers are forming a group to help save mitment to provide these places for public use in perpetuity. to most of the maximum nine-year term he could have Garrapata State Park (“FOG,” which stands for Friends of To not do that is essentially a breach of that contract.” received. Once the scene of an extensive mining operation, an Believing the sentence to be too harsh, however, Frank unsuccessful logging venture and an invasion by hippies, Dice, Corn’s attorney, was scheduled to present a motion 716-acre Limekiln State Park is located 56 miles south of Carmel and features 24 campsites, a picnic area and a small See CORN page 22A Nostalgia beach. The property was acquired by the Big Sur Land Trust in 1984 and opened as a state park in 1995. for artichokes Meanwhile, the VWA is best known for rehabilitating See PARKS page 23A Architect still making things simple at 84 Dangerous highway gets By ROSE DEAN EVERS top priority for re-do WHETHER 70, or even 80, is an acceptable retire- ment age is debatable to some, but slowing down has no By PAUL MILLER place in the lexicon of prominent San Francisco design- er John Wheatman. ANYBODY WHO’S driven between the Monterey “My calendar is quite full,” said the 84-year-old Peninsula and San Francisco is familiar with the journey’s Wheatman on site at one of the five projects in Carmel, choice between two bad roads: Highway 17 through the Carmel Valley and Pebble Beach that he’s recently over- Santa Cruz mountains and Highway 156 from Castroville to seen. Prunedale. Perhaps Wheatman hasn’t quit work to take time to But last week the directors of the Transportation Agency smell the roses because his professional philosophy for Monterey County promised some relief when they said revolves around that: showing clients how to see the Highway 156 should be one of the county’s top priorities for beauty in the quiet everyday objects around them and to four-laning. embrace a clutter-free vision that emphasizes the A $109 million plan to build a new road alongside the importance of family, heritage and utility at the same existing one could be completed by the end of the decade, time. said Jason Burnett, Carmel’s TAMC representative. “My day is brightened by the fact that I sleep under “The next year will be used for environmental review and a quilt that my grandmother made. When I’m making engineering,” said Burnett. “Then it will take two years or so This 1972 aerial of the bygone Odello artichoke fields is part See DESIGN page 9A of a new exhibit at Sunset Center. See page 13A. See HIGHWAY page 22A Have the complete Carmel Pine Cone delivered every Thursday evening to your iPad, laptop, PC or phone. Free subscriptions available at www.carmelpinecone.com 2A The Carmel Pine Cone June 3, 2011 Sandy Claws By Lisa Crawford Watson get her feet wet. She wants her hair blown dry and her Three French Hounds ears swabbed daily. She keeps her girlish figure with regular exercise, chasing birds on Carmel Beach. But Each time she brings home another, just a few tears her favorite pastime seems to be perfecting her pose and the promise that they’ll earn their keep wins her for the camera. one more French Bulldog. And so it is that she has At just 7 months, Baby Hugo is pudgy and pasty three working dogs. white, his countenance resembling Winston Churchill. Jet-black Geno is 6 years old and still likes to be car- He earned his nickname, Huge-Oh, by dragging ried around like a baby. By all observations, he is around his dinner dish in search of handouts. An lethargic and lazy. But actually he is a working colum- accomplished household “director of research and nist, a dog writer with an actual byline in Gentry investigation,” he grabs anything that isn’t weighed Magazine and The Doggy Gazette. down — rugs and rocks, sticks and socks, twigs and Little white Lulu is a diva, a high-maintenance model shoes — and pulls it into his person’s office for her who has sat in the spotlight for Carmel photographers approval. and some San Francisco spreads. Lulu doesn’t like to But their work isn’t all for profit. Philanthropy pooches at heart, these pups make special appear- ances at animal benefits, such as the annual fundrais- Largest Selection of er for the Hope Center of Monterey County, the only food pantry in the area that feeds the entire family, Fine Furnishings, including pets.