Carmel Valley Village
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So many gorgeous cars ... so many events ... this week on the Monterey Peninsula! ONCOURSONCOURS Read all about CC them in our colorful special section! AUGUST 7 - 13, 2015WEEK VolumeThe 101 No. 32 Carmel On the Internet: www.carmelpinecone.com Pine Cone August 7-13, 2015 TRUSTED BY LOCALS AND LOVED BY VISITORS SINCE 1915 Council weighs emergency ban on beach fires More employee By MARY SCHLEY turmoil at city hall WITH THE mayor saying he wouldn’t want to live on Scenic Road n Hostile workplace claim settled for because the smoke from beach fires could be harmful to his young son, and a $125K; Hanson angrily retires councilman threatening to resign if his fellow council members didn’t take By MARY SCHLEY action to immediately ban or limit beach fires, the issue of fires on Carmel Beach COMPLAINTS FROM a police dispatcher who said she rose to a fever pitch this week, and the endured harassment, discrimination and mistreatment at the council convened Thursday night to con- Carmel Police Department were settled Monday — without sider banning them altogether — at least her even filing a lawsuit — when the city council agreed to temporarily. pay Deborah Hidalgo $125,000. “I will not take responsibility for fur- Meanwhile, after being warned that strong language he ther environmental damage to Carmel’s used while on the job might be construed as harassment of a premier asset — its beach,” councilman fellow employee who happened to hear the comments, John Ken Talmage said. “Nor will I be respon- Hanson abruptly retired Tuesday, saying he was worried that sible for contributing to the increasing continuing to work for the city would cause him to “have a heart attack and die.” health concerns of our residents.” PHOTO/KATHY BANG After fielding an increasing number Hidalgo — who handled parking enforcement from 1987 of complaints about wood smoke drift- Beautiful summer nights mean more people gathering around fires on the beach — which to 1992 and then returned to work as a dispatcher in 2005 — ing over the beach bluffs and charcoal leads to dirty sand and bad air, say those who want the fires banned. marring the beach’s famous white sands, See EMPLOYEES page 16A the forest and beach commission, and then the city council, Commission, which isn’t set to consider the issue until later took the steps this spring to limit beach fires by developing a this year. plan calling for 26 fire rings and other restrictions. But a res- ident appealed the plan to the California Coastal See FIRES page 20A Pumpkin smashing to become sanctioned event WATER COPS POSING AS RESTAURANT CUSTOMERS By MARY SCHLEY By KELLY NIX violates the rule, they’re busted. Fines range from $100 to $500. EMBRACING A long-running Halloween tradition that RESTAURANT OWNERS, beware: Water spies could Four Peninsula restaurants that were recently issued “first used to be considered akin to vandalism, the Carmel City be among your customers. offense courtesy notices,” or warnings, for improperly serv- Council voted Tuesday to authorize the closure of the town’s In an effort to make sure restaurants are not wasting even ing water should expect to draw interest from the district’s main street for a pumpkin-rolling contest as part of the city’s small amounts of water, Monterey Peninsula Water new espionage program. birthday celebration Oct. 31. Management District employees are posing as customers to “We will probably show up at each of those restaurants at “The activity of rolling pumpkins down Ocean Avenue at catch restaurants in the act of offering or serving customers some point in time, and sit down and order a meal,” Stoldt night during the weeks surrounding Halloween has been a water before they request it. said. long-standing, albeit unauthorized, tradition in Carmel,” The investigations begin when somebody rats out a place Those businesses are Il Fornaio in Carmel, Lalla Grill in library and community activities director Janet Bombard where they recently ate. Del Monte Shopping Center, TusCa Ristorante at the Hyatt in explained to the council Aug. 4. “Community activities staff “When someone says, ‘I was at the Blank and Blank Grill Monterey, and First Awakenings in Pacific Grove, all of is requesting permission to incorporate the activity into the and they were serving water without the customer asking,’ we which were warned to stop serving water unsolicited. annual City Birthday Party and Parade, allowing residents do try to confirm that,” water district general manager Dave “Presently our policy is to only issue a fine if a district the opportunity to safely and legally roll a pumpkin down Stoldt told The Pine Cone this week. employee verifies the offense,” Stoldt said. “A first offense Ocean Avenue.” The water district’s mission is simple. Unidentified dis- courtesy notice can result from any person reporting it to us.” Not only would it be fun, it would add a new ele- trict employees sit down, look over the menu and wait to see if they’re served water without asking for it. If the restaurant See WATER page 16A See PUMPKINS page 21A Cities — and traffic — gearing up for Concours Week Gridlock at Bixby Bridge By MARY SCHLEY “During both of these events, Ocean Avenue and sur- rounding streets will be closed to through traffic, and WITH CONCOURS Week ever growing in activi- the city encourages residents and visitors to use ty and popularity, city officials have engaged in lengthy Carpenter Street and Rio Road to access and exit the discussion about how best to handle congestion in city,” he said. Carmel, while other cities are also notifying residents of To help keep traffic flowing, parking will be tem- upcoming traffic jams and street closures. In town, porarily banned in areas that have become “choke parking restrictions and other measures — including points” during past years. “Of most concern have been free shuttles between the Mission and downtown for the islands along Junipero,” Tomasi said. “These will be area workers — are being taken to try to reduce traffic roped off and posted as No Parking.” jams and ensure safe passage for emergency vehicles on Also, Mountain View from Junipero to Torres will be the already narrow streets. closed Tuesday through Thursday, and Torres, Santa Carmel Police Cmdr. Paul Tomasi warned residents Rita and Guadalupe streets between Ocean and Sixth to plan ahead, especially if they have medical needs or avenues will be closed for part of the day Tuesday and other special considerations, for the tie-ups that are Thursday. bound to occur during the Concours on the Avenue Furthermore, downtown workers and others can park Tuesday, Aug. 11, and the Pebble Beach Concours Tour for free in designated lots at the Carmel Mission and d’Elegance Thursday, Aug. 13. Both events involve ride a shuttle to Sunset Center at San Carlos and Ninth PHOTO/COURTESY BILL NYE closing several blocks of Ocean Avenue, and the on those days between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Concours on the Avenue also includes side streets on Times Square on New Year’s Eve? Trafalgar Square on V-E Day? No, it’s a dirt road in Big Sur — every summer weekend. See page 10A. the north and south sides of the main drag. See TRAFFIC page 19A 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 August 7, 2015 JANIE ROMMEL-EICHORN, MFT LIC#MFC28062 By Lisa Crawford Watson KIMBERLY DRINKER, LCSW LIC#LCS9727 Sandy Claws …are pleased to announce that they are now sharing an office at Gauge gets game 26485 Carmel Rancho Blvd., #4, Carmel GAUGE IS a black Labrador retriever whose person They each have over 25 years of experience selected him for his papers, his parents, his bloodline, his treating children, adolescents, adults, couples personality and his particular physical characteristics — and families with the myriad issues that arise all important qualities to consider in seeking a dog that during the life cycle. can hunt. Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, Attention Issues, Substance Turns out, at just 1-and-a-half years old, Gauge is Abuse, Codependency, Grief and Loss, Coping with Cancer, already an expert at retrieving. Communication, Couples Therapy, Parenting, Family Therapy, Divorce, Meditation, “Gauge is a soft-mouth hunting dog, which means he Spiritual Development, Sandplay Therapy, EMDR brings the bird back gently,” says his person. “He’s Some Insurances accepted extremely birdy; he has an intuitive interest in birds. Out PLEASE CALL TODAY AND LET US ASSIST YOU in the field, he has a great nose for sniffing out birds in WITH YOUR NEEDS! the tulies or grasses.” (831) 625-9676 Gauge was born with the instinct to go after the bird; Janie his person trained him to bring it back. Kimberly (831) 620-1650 While his person sought the perfect hunting dog, when it came to the rest of the family, he had another game plan for Gauge who, at 10 weeks, was a Christmas- morning puppy for the kids. Mom and Dad gathered all four kids and told them there was going to be a new member of the family. “We said we’d decided to adopt a baby boy. Right then, bounding down the hallway came Gauge. The kids screamed in delight — or maybe relief.” Gauge lives nearly two hours north of Carmel, but his in the sand.” family comes to town several times a year for vacations Some people are scared of big black dogs, and Gauge JAMES E. RHEIM, M.D. • JOSEPH R. RHEIM, M.D.