Carmel Pine Cone, January 18, 2008 (Main News)
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Find ways to keep that youthful glow on the outside… and on the inside. Inside this week’s Carmel Pine Cone 1 . 1 9 . 0 7 BULK RATE U.S. POSTAGE PAID CARMEL, CA Permit No. 149 Volume 94 No. 3 On the Internet: www.carmelpinecone.com January 18-24, 2008 Y OUR S OURCE F OR L OCAL N EWS, ARTS AND O PINION S INCE 1915 When an XXL kitty-cat comes to call Water shortage By CHRIS COUNTS about to get a REPORTS OF mountain lions in parks, along roads and in neighborhoods around the Monterey Peninsula have become pretty common. lot worse But for all the sightings in recent years, very few photographs have been produced to verify them. By KELLY NIX This week, a series of beautiful images, captured by Gerda Michaylov of Carmel Valley, present a CALIFORNIA AMERICAN Water Co. plans to fight a remarkably clear picture of an animal that inspires draft cease and desist order from a state water agency com- fascination and fear. pelling the company to reduce its pumping of the Carmel “I was lying in bed Friday morning when I River by a staggering 50 percent. looked out the window and saw the lion,” recalled Tuesday, the State Water Resources Control Board hand- Dr. Lubo Michaylov, Gerda’s husband. “I saw this ed down the proposed order, which provides a timetable for big animal walking around. It was not a deer, but Cal Am to severely rampdown river usage from 15 to 50 per- something else. I told my wife about it, and she got cent within six years. The order could be finalized in a few 1.19.07 her camera.” weeks. At some point in the encounter, while Gerda’s “Saving the first 15 percent is difficult but achievable,” camera was trained on the lion, her husband tapped said Cal Am spokeswoman Catherine Bowie. “But getting to the window. the 35 to 50 percent reduction is going to require a new water “The lion detected the noise,” said Michaylov, See WATER page 8A See LION page 29A In a series of photos that CHS says it will wouldn’t be out of place on the pages of National Geographic, Gerda camouflage lit sign Michaylov of Carmel Valley captured the beauty, the By MARY BROWNFIELD gracefulness and the haughty attitude of a lion that visited THE ELECTRONIC sign maligned by Carmel High her yard last week. School’s neighbors but embraced by students will be relocat- ed and camouflaged so passing motorists no longer see its brightly lit, red scrolling letters. On Monday night, the Carmel Unified School District See BILLBOARD page 26A City politics gain LANDLORD-TENANT DISPUTE, RUNDOWN TRAILERS worldwide audience JUST THE BEGINNING OF JENSEN CAMP’S TROUBLES By CHRIS COUNTS Jensen Camp are shocking: a failing, overflowing and illegal ■ Council votes to webcast meetings septic tank; trailers with no heat or no hot water; trailers with AS A result of numerous building code violations and failing floors, leaking roofs, mold or structural damage; trail- By MARY BROWNFIELD reportedly unsafe living conditions, the owner of upper ers installed without permits; wood stoves installed without Carmel Valley’s Jensen Camp may lose his permit to operate permits and exposed electrical wires. CITY-HALL WATCHERS will soon be able to keep his mobile home park. Meanwhile, the code enforcement track of zoning ordinances and budget reviews and listen officer who is investigating the camp said complaints by a See CAMP page 9A to citizen complaints — all from the comfort of home. local businessman and a Last week, the Carmel City Council unanimously county supervisor that he’s voted to broadcast its meetings via the Internet. being “heavy handed” are “This is yet another example of our trying to open unfounded. This dilapidated communication,” Mayor Sue McCloud commented Jan. Located about 25 miles trailer at Jensen 8 before discussion got under way. southeast of Carmel and just Camp in Carmel across a creek from the Valley has been “Seven years ago, we tried to get our council meet- declared uninhabit- ings broadcast live [on television],” city administrator Cachagua Store, Jensen Camp is a small community able by the state — Rich Guillen said, but it was too expensive. Not only is which it obviously streaming video via the Internet cheaper, the meetings of about 75 residents who is. But some resi- will be archived online for at least a year and can be rent trailers or trailer space dents say code viewed by anyone with a computer and an Internet con- from a single property enforcement efforts nection at any time. Agendas will also be posted online, owner, Javier Guzman. are going too far. allowing users to search for a specific topic, click on the According to code enforcement officer Phil appropriate link and be taken to that particular spot in PHOTO/CHRIS COUNTS the meeting. Hickenbottom of the Monterey County Sheriff’s See WEB page 28A Office, some of the code violations observed at Get your complete Carmel Pine Cone every Friday morning in convenient pdf format as an email attachment. Free subscriptions available at www.carmelpinecone.com. 2A The Carmel Pine Cone January 18, 2008 The bad news and the good news about parking downtown By MARY BROWNFIELD take public works superintendent Stu Ross a few days to pull mits who are provided 180 minutes in the longer zones and down all the old 90-minute signs and a handful of 30-minute one hour in the 30-minute spots. STEALTHY ENFORCEMENT of overtime parkers will signs to replace them with new ones showing the two-hour “We’re going to try to coordinate this so everything is begin by the end of the month, Carmel Police Chief George limit. happening in a short amount of time,” Rawson said. “We’ll Rawson pledged this week. But parking time limits will also The limits will not change for residents with parking per- try to get the whole city posted as quickly as we can.” be extended. While officers employ cameras and GPS technology to determine whether vehicles have stayed put too long, the public works superintendent will be busy converting hun- dreds of 90-minute and some 30-minute spaces to two hours. The city council approved both last year. “We’ve been field-testing it and trying to make sure we’ve Community services officer worked out the little bugs,” Rawson said of the high-tech, Lisa Panetta gets used to $71,575 patrol vehicle. “My understanding is we’re ready to touch-screen technology in go.” the new camera- and GPS- equipped parking patrol cart Police will provide a short grace period — probably less that will be in full use on city than two weeks — when motorists will return to their vehi- streets by the end of the cles to find polite warning notices under the windshield month. wipers advising they were caught on camera staying too long. “I haven’t developed it yet, but it will be nicely worded to tell what happened with a few sentences,” Rawson said. “That will be part of our education process.” After that, the fine will be $30, just as it is for people caught with conventional chalk marks. Carmel P.D. owns only one GPS-equipped cart and usually has two or three PHOTO/MARY BROWNFIELD officers on the street tracking parking, so violators will be identified by either method. “There will be a blend of electronic marking and tradi- tional chalk marking,” Rawson explained. Regarding the new time limits, Rawson expects it will Did you know... The Winston family of Pacific Grove ASSOCIATES may be best remembered locally for the namesake hotel built at Lighthouse PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SALES and 16th in 1904 (the building now anchored by Holly’s Lighthouse Cafe). Specializing in Property Management But in the 1890s, Will E. Winston was Randi Greene and Fine Home sales. a grocer who bought a young sea lion from a local fisherman and discovered it could be coaxed to 20 Years Experience perform for fish. Winston obtained other California sea lions, trained them at his home on Lighthouse Avenue, and 831-626-2150 soon joined the Barnum & Bailey Circus with what they www.vk-associates.com misnamed a trained “seals” act. It was a unique show, the first of its kind, and a hit with audiences throughout the US and Europe as the sea lions barked, bounced beach balls off their noses, clapped their flippers and even danced on stage in exchange for fish treats. Will eventually turned the busi- ness over to a son, H.W. Winston, who started training sea lions in a storefront on Forest Avenue in about 1915. KHAKI’S ® Randi Greene, Realtor , MBA, GRI, SRES Member, Coldwell Banker’s International President’s Diamond Society. Serving the Monterey Peninsula (831) 622-2589 ANNUAL www.RandiGreene.com Research by Thom Akeman, veteran newspaper reporter SALE Pebble Beach reads The Pine Cone up to 70% off shirts • sweaters • jackets • jeans sportcoats • chinos • dress trousers cords • ties • socks • belts An Area Favorite For Over 30 Years *Commercial *Residential *Industrial (831) 424-4119 (831) 372-1072 One mile south of Ocean Ave.; Exit on Hwy 1 at Carmel Valley Rd.; Right on Carmel Rancho Blvd.; Right on Carmel Rancho Lane. January 18, 2008 The Carmel Pine Cone 3A LBAM spraying results, future spraying still unclear By KELLY NIX production of crops that are hosts to the moth could reach an estimated $160 million to FOUR months after the Monterey $640 million annually, according to the state. Peninsula was sprayed with a pheromone to The state began aerial spraying of the eradicate the invasive light brown apple moth in the fall because that’s when the moth, the state has not said whether the treat- moth’s mating cycle begins.