SPECIAL 2014 SECTION ACH INSIDE VolumeThe 100 No. 28 Carmel On the Internet: www.carmelpinecone.com Pine Cone July 11-17, 2014 TRUSTED BY LOCALS AND LOVED BY VISITORS SINCE 1915 What’s the protocol when an otter jumps in? City moves By KELLY NIX McInchak case to IT’S COMMON to see kayakers in Monterey Bay trying to get a close look at its wildlife. But a group of kayakers got more than they could have federal court hoped for when a pair of audacious and frisky California sea otters joined them Tuesday evening — By MARY SCHLEY in their boats. Five people in four rental kayaks were paddling THE CITY and its top officials — including city admin- around Monterey harbor around 6 p.m. when the two istrator Jason Stilwell and administrative services director cheeky otters playfully bobbed up and down in the Sue Paul — will be fighting the lawsuit from former IT man- water before happily plopping themselves aboard the ager Steve McInchak in federal court, not Monterey County’s boats and rolling around the way puppies wrestle. courts. The people in the boats were stunned, and so were Citing McInchak’s claims that his federal rights were vio- onlookers. lated, among numerous state law violations also alleged, the “It was very entertaining, at least for us in the Santa Barbara law firm representing the city filed papers in restaurant,” said Jackie Edwards, a Pine Cone U.S. District Court in San Jose Tuesday “removing” it to fed- employee who was dining at Rappa’s restaurant at the eral court. end of Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey and looking Mayor Jason Burnett said the decision to move the case out into the bay when the show started. “They sure was made by lawyers for the government agency — the were having a good time.” California State Association of Counties Excess Insurance The kayakers appeared to try to paddle away from PHOTO/REDDIT.COM Authority — defending the city, and not by the city council. the animals, and didn’t encourage them to climb A playful otter jumps into a tourist’s kayak in the Monterey harbor Tuesday Stilwell said because the McInchak lawsuit “asserts vari- aboard, but the otters were persistent and made their evening. A group of otters repeatedly jumped and played in several kayaks ous allegations against the city, including claimed violations during the evening — drawing astonishment from the kayakers and onlookers of federal law,” the law provides for the the case to be moved See OTTERS page 10A from shore. to federal court. “The facts of the case will be evaluated by the court, and we look forward to the court’s determination on these claims,” he added. Pot farmers’ rat poison spreading through food chain But McInchak’s attorney was critical. “I am disappointed that the city does not trust our local By CHRIS COUNTS potentially serious health risks the widespread use of antico- agulant rat poison poses, particularly when it is used reck- See McINCHAK page 23A AFTER A hiker discovered the remains of three dead lessly on public land. foxes along a trail in the Big Sur backcountry, the executive Not only do anticoagulant rodenticides kill the rodents director of the Ventana Wilderness Alliance, Mike Splain, that eat the marijuana plants, they can also take a deadly toll said the foxes may have died from eating prey that consumed on the animals that feed on the rodents, including foxes, coy- Jewelry can be rat poisons used by large-scale illegal marijuana growing otes, bobcats, mountain lions, hawks and owls. operations. “This type of rat poison has a really high potential to con- expensive, and so is a Just last month, nearly 28,000 marijuana plants were taminate the entire food web,” said Jonathan Evans, a removed from Los Padres National Forest in Monterey spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprof- license to sell it County by federal, state and local authorities. it group that has lobbied to have the poison outlawed. While Splain also said the foxes could have died from By MARY SCHLEY something else, such as distemper, his concern highlights the See POISON page 11A A WOMAN who makes jewelry, clothes and acces- sories will have to leave her small shop in Carmel Plaza Damaged real estate office can keep posting flyers because the coffee shop next door wants to expand. But Edith Schneider can’t simply find another storefront in town to rent By MARY SCHLEY the damaged wall. On Wednesday, the Carmel Planning for her shop, Blue Lemon, because the city caps the number Commission unanimously decided she can keep doing that of jewelry stores operating here at 32 — and all those permits AFTER A tourist drove an SUV through the front win- until the building is repaired — but she has to paint the wood have been claimed. dow of her real estate office on Lincoln Street in early June — and if the damage isn’t fixed in another 18 weeks, she’ll “I have to find another store where there used to be a jew- while attempting a U-turn, Carol Crandall began posting fly- have to ask permission again. elry store before — that’s the problem,” said Schneider, ers showing listed properties on the particle board covering Faced with the prospect of possibly having to remove some or all of the signs, Crandall pleaded with commission- See JEWELRY page 17A ers to allow her to display them. “I picked this office specifically because of the frontage,” she said of her Preferred Properties office, which is located Jeweler and in the Pine Inn complex at Lincoln and Sixth, an area well clothing maker traveled by tourists and locals. “We rely on those windows Edith Schneider for people walking by.” has to give up Requiring her to remove the flyers, which show homes her space in and properties listed for sale with the agency, could drive her Carmel Plaza. agents away and wreck her business, she said. But since she “I’m trying to make lemonade out of lemons. This wasn’t sells jewelry, she my plan — somebody went through the window,” she said. can’t find another Fortunately, no one was hurt, and Crandall decided to make place in town light of the incident by including a photo of the SUV crashed that doesn’t cost into the front of her office, and a note explaining that the beta the earth, so she testing of her new drive-through window didn’t go so well. might have to Complicating matters is the fact the old steel windows move her busi- ness elsewhere. used in the building are difficult to find, so Crandall is expecting repairs to take at least a few months. PHOTO/MARY SCHLEY Realtor Carol Crandall can continue posting property flyers on the “I’m at your mercy, sitting here with eight to 10 weeks particle board covering the smashed wall and window of her Lincoln Street office, but she has to paint the bare wood. See FLYERS page 17A 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 July 11, 2014 Sandy Claws By Lisa Crawford Watson “When we go to the beach,” says her person, “there Full of It is no relaxing, no reading our books, no way. Bella is all about her ball or Frisbee. It’s a constant thing the entire When she met Bella, a year-old McNab Border Collie, time. I can throw it 150 times, and that isn’t enough. she hoped she wasn’t taking on too much by dealing She’s full of energy, but she’s also full of love. I can see with her illness and an active pup. Once she got her it in her eyes. She’s the most loving, caring, emotional home, she realized she had underestimated how ram- animal. Turns out she’s the best thing that’s ever hap- bunctious Bella can be. pened to us.” “We couldn’t have known how much attention she needed,” her person says. “I’ve never seen a dog make you feel so guilty if left behind. If we’re going out to din- ner or someplace she can’t go, the look on her face is downright human, a kind of tragic, ‘Where are you Fundraiser to going without me?’ She takes it out on us by eating the cat food even when she’s not hungry.” protect police K-9s McNab Border Collies are named for Alexander McNab, a sheep herder in the mountains of Scotland, WASHING A dog at Pet Food Express in the Crossroads who immigrated in 1866 to Mendocino County, and shopping center this weekend will benefit Cover Your K9, a settled on a 10,000-acre ranch. Disappointed in the cal- project raising money to buy bulletproof vests, trauma kits and other items to protect police dogs as they work. iber of working ranch dogs he found in the area, he Dog owners wanting to support the fundraiser, which is aiming to hit the $600,000 mark this year, will pay $15 to wash their own pets at Pet Food Express Saturday or Sunday, July 12 or 13, with all the money going to Cover Your K9. Over the past five years, pet owners have helped raise nearly a half-million dollars to help protect police dogs. This year’s money will go toward buying $75 Stat Packs, which are about the size of a wallet and contain medical sup- plies, including specialized hemostatic pads to stop bleeding.