How fast could Student’s letter to They went all out you move without Obama stands out for new restaurant hip bones? from the crowd — INSIDE THIS WEEK BULK RATE U.S. POSTAGE PAID CARMEL, CA Permit No. 149 Volume 95 No. 11 On the Internet: www.carmelpinecone.com March 13-19, 2009 Y OUR S OURCE F OR L OCAL N EWS, ARTS AND O PINION S INCE 1915 State parks policy: VIPs lobbied to Dogs allowed only where it’s paved help replace ■ Canines banned dog in the canyon, which was formerly designated as the Pfeiffer bridge in Hatton Canyon route for a highway. “They should have just put up a sign By KELLY NIX By CHRIS COUNTS that said that dogs have to be on leashes.” TIRED OF waiting around for the state to free up money A NEW ban on dogs in He called the posting of the so a vital bridge at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park can be Hatton Canyon has upset sev- signs “a rotten thing to do” and installed, nearby resident Jack Ellwanger is petitioning local eral residents who have long suggested that he would now be politicians for help. walked their pets in the area. forced to walk his dog along In December, financing was frozen for about 5,600 infra- Meanwhile, a state park offi- Highway 1, which he considers structure projects around the state, including plans to install cial said the ban is only tempo- “dangerous when you’re walk- a new bridge at the entrance to the Big Sur park. rary, and that dogs — as long ing a dog on a leash.” Though it was believed money to pay for the bridge would as they are on leashes — will In response to the concerns be freed up when the state finally passed a budget in be allowed to return to the of Simkins and others, Dana February, the park is still bridge-less and remains closed, canyon once construction of a Jones, Monterey sector superin- threatening the summer tourist season. paved recreation trail is com- tendent for California State pleted. Parks, said her agency had no See BRIDGE page 9A Fred Simkins, who lives in alternative to posting the signs. the Hatton Canyon area, “According to state park reg- learned of the ban when he ulations, dogs are not allowed stumbled across one of several in undeveloped areas and signs state parks workers trails,” Jones explained. recently installed along the “Hatton Canyon is considered PHOTO/CHRIS COUNTS canyon’s perimeter. to be an undeveloped area. In New signs prohibiting dogs recently appeared on “Hatton Canyon has always state parks, dogs are only the perimeter of Hatton Canyon. The signs will been a dog-on-leash park,” allowed in parking lots and remain posted until a recreation trail that travels argued Simkins, a lifelong through the canyon is paved. local who regularly walks his See DOGS page 27A MAN ACCUSED OF RAPING UNCONSCIOUS DISABLED WOMAN PINE CONE STAFF REPORT give legal consent and who was unconscious at the time. The alleged crime occurred in the liquor store on A PEBBLE Beach man turned himself in to Seaside April 21, 2008, and carries three separate charges, all authorities last week after Pacific Grove police obtained a felonies. warrant for his arrest. Police tracked down Pollacci after he reportedly left the Thomas Pollacci, 49, whose family owns Ron’s Liquors woman at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula on Lighthouse Avenue in downtown Pacific Grove, is sus- with a head injury. In the following months, they gathered pected of raping a woman and then leaving her at the hospi- evidence — including having forensics specialists sweep the tal with a head injury nearly a year ago. Lighthouse Avenue liquor store where he works — and inter- The complaint filed in Monterey County Superior Court viewed the victim, who is not from the area. by deputy district attorney Cristina Johnson in late February Neither officers, nor the district attorney’s office, would accuses Pollacci of forcible rape of a woman unable to reveal any further details of the case. Pollacci, who police PHOTO/COURTESY JACK ELLWANGER said is a registered sex offender, is set to appear in a Salinas There is no bridge at the entrance to the campground at courtroom at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 24, for his arraign- Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, keeping the campground closed Footloose feline takes ment. and hurting tourism. the long way home Sewer plant tour Motorcyclist: Caltrans By MARY BROWNFIELD a hit — with the boys ignored pig danger CAT gone AWOL for more than a year found her A By KELLY NIX By PAUL MILLER and KELLY NIX way home last month, thanks to a Carmel resident who coaxed her inside and summoned the city animal con- HERE’S NOTHING funnier to young boys than bath- N A Monterey courtroom this week, a parade of wit- trol officer to scan her for a microchip. Mew, who turns T I room talk. nesses testifying on behalf of a severely disabled motorcycle 9 years old this weekend, had fled her Atherton Road And there may be no better way for kids to learn about rider painted a picture of negligence, indifference and incom- home in August 2007 after the family brought home a what happens when you flush the toilet than to take a tour of petence by engineers and administrators for Caltrans as wild new cat. the Carmel Area Wastewater District’s treatment plant. pigs invaded the site of a habitat restoration project on the The mystery of the missing kitty began to unravel at Among its jobs, the CAWD plant turns wastewater into south bank of the Carmel River. the end of January, when Carmelo Street resident crystal clear water that irrigates Pebble Beach’s golf courses, The motorcyclist, Adam Rogers, a former kickboxing Carolina Bayne learned her neighbor, a Frenchman with saving tens of millions of gallons of drinking water every instructor and employee at the Inn at Spanish Bay, collided a fondness for animals, had been feeding a cat he year. with a wild pig in September 2003, suffering severe brain believed was feral. Distressed the cat would go hungry “We love giving tours,” said CAWD plant general manag- damage after being thrown from his motorcycle. He is suing after he moved out of town, the man told Bayne, and she er Ray von Dohren. “We believe it is important that people the State of California for up to $8 million to compensate assured him she would take over as cat custodian. see what happens after they flush.” him for his injuries and pay for lifetime care. He left a cardboard box with a pillow, food and dish- Carmel River School teacher Pam Gillooly’s third-grade From the witness stand, Caltrans employees and es, and she used them to slowly coax the cat to her class visited the facility last spring, one of the many tours supervisors denied being aware of any particular danger to See FELINE page 9A See SEWAGE page 10A See PIGS page 19A Get your complete Carmel Pine Cone every Thursday evening in convenient pdf format via email. Free subscriptions available at www.carmelpinecone.com. 2A The Carmel Pine Cone March 13, 2009 Board takes Col. Griffin’s Craftsman cottage off historic list By MARY BROWNFIELD identified the building as historic for its Craftsman style and would have lived there for less than two years.” association with Monterey Peninsula Herald founder and And while Craftsman style was prevalent in the 1920s, A CRAFTSMAN-STYLE cottage on Camino Real publisher Robert Allen Griffin. and the cottage apparently underwent few changes since its owned for a short while by the founder of the Monterey But representatives of the owner, the Edith Pomeroy Trust, construction, the city has no original plans for it, and no mas- Peninsula Herald does not warrant mandatory preservation, filed an appeal, arguing the ties to Griffin are tenuous at best, ter builder or architect can be linked to it. Conroy pointed out according to the Carmel Historic Resources Board, which and its style is nothing special. that nothing in the historian’s analysis suggests the home is voted last month to remove the home from the city’s historic “Based on title research at Monterey County, the appellant “particularly important or unique architecturally.” list. found that Mr. Griffin sold the property in 1924. The appel- With 48 other Crasftsman-style buildings on the invento- According to a Feb. 24 report by planning and building lant also found Mr. Griffin’s name appeared on numerous ry, Conroy said he would support removing the property from services manager Sean Conroy, the one-story, shingle-sided records in the 1920s, suggesting he owned several proper- the list, and the historic resources board agreed. Removal cottage was constructed in 1922 by an unknown builder, and ties,” Conroy said in his report. “Staff concurs with the appel- means the owners can demolish or remodel the home accord- Percy Parks added a bedroom to it in 1930. A 2005 report lant that there is no solid evidence that this property was the ing to current design rules and codes, as permitted by the city residence of Mr. Griffin, and even if it was, it appears he planning department. Did you know... His honor, the village smithy – City seeks $$$ for sand castles, birthday party John Catlin was elected mayor of Carmel in 1932 on the condition CARMEL OFFICIALS will ask the Monterey Institute of Architects), $4,250 for the birthday party and that the office wouldn’t interfere Peninsula Foundation Youth Fund to give them $10,000 to Halloween Parade, and $3,000 for the Christmas tree with his business as the village help pay for the city’s Independence Day celebration, lighting.