VolumeThe 101 No. 22 Carmel On the Internet: www.carmelpinecone.com Pine Cone May 29 - June 4, 2015 TRUSTED BY LOCALS AND LOVED BY VISITORS SINCE 1915 Goats wreak havoc inside P.B. home Mystery man By KELLY NIX ing on plastic flowers, trampling carpet and leaving behind inundates city piles of poop. DOZENS OF naughty goats barged into the backyard of Last Friday morning, Phoebe Croonquist, 90, was having a Pebble Beach home last week, devouring most of a couple’s breakfast in her home on Forest Lodge Road when she with PRA requests lush garden before making their way inside the house, gnaw- looked outside and saw dozens of goats in her backyard. Surprised, she yelled to her husband. BY MARY SCHLEY “There were about 70 of them,” Paul Croonquist, 95, told The Pine Cone A MAN identified only by an email address has request- Wednesday. “I ran out there in my PJs and ed voluminous records from the city under the California bare feet.” Public Records Act, including “the names of all vendors the As the Croonquists tried to herd the city has done business with during the Burnett Era,” as well goats from the garden back to the adja- as related contracts and bid documents, and correspondence cent greenbelt where they had been between various city officials and The Pine Cone. dropped off to clear brush for fire preven- In the requests, which came by email, “Marshall Duncan” tion, dozens of the animals hastily provided no contact information or clues to his identity. He munched the couple’s hydrangeas, aza- also hasn’t responded to emails from The Pine Cone asking leas, roses, geranium and other plants. who he is. The goats stripped the Croonquists’ rose His first request for documents was received by city clerk bushes from the bottom up, sparing only Lee Price on May 9. In that email, Duncan demanded “elec- the top flowers they were unable to reach. tronic copies to this email address of the data used to compile A potted lemon tree was left bare, and the investigative report discussed at the city council meeting much of the vegetation that provided of May 7, 2015.” ground cover in the front yard was gone. There was no council meeting on that day, a Thursday, and “They just went through that garden Price asked for clarification regarding the records Duncan PHOTO/COURTESY JENNIFER VALDEZ, CALFIRE like Grant took Richmond,” according to wanted. He then told her he wanted copies of “all contracts, More than 50 goats from this herd got into a Pebble Beach backyard last week, and some Croonquist, who said the animals got in invoices, check registers and any and all financial even made it into a house, before a fire truck helped the herder get them back where they belonged — clearing brush to reduce fire danger. See GOATS page 13A See RECORDS page 27A P.G. pump station will Air district installs pollution monitor on Scenic resume operation soon By MARY SCHLEY Such fine particulate matter has been widely linked to adverse health effects, since it can be carried deep into the AN EXPENSIVE gadget quietly installed on private By KELLY NIX property near Scenic Road and 13th Avenue has been collect- See MONITOR page 27A ing data regarding smoke from beach fires since late last THE PUMP station in Pacific Grove that was ground week, according to Richard Stedman, air pollution control zero for the accident that resulted in more than 200,000 gal- officer for the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control lons of sewage being discharged into the Pacific Ocean last District. The monitor tracks the number of tiny particles in An air monitor like week could be running again as early as Saturday. the air, including spikes caused by beach fires, and was this one was installed On May 18, equipment failure at the Monterey Regional installed at the request of the city and several nearby resi- on private property Water Pollution Control Agency’s pump station at Ocean dents who have complained about the smoke. near the beach to View and 15th Street led workers to divert the raw sewage track the amount of Meanwhile, the city’s proposal to control the number of pollution caused by into the ocean to prevent the pump station from being ruined. beach fires and get them up off the sand by installing fire beach fires after A total of 220,000 gallons went into Monterey Bay. rings is wending its way through the regulatory process. some residents com- Bret Boatman, the MRWPCA’s maintenance supervisor, Approved by the city earlier this month, the pilot program plained about the told The Pine Cone Thursday the station could resume nor- was appealed by resident Alexis Delehanty to the California smoke. mal pumping of Pacific Grove’s sewage to the agency’s treat- Coastal Commission this week, and it’s unknown when the ment plant north of Marina as early as this weekend. About state agency will take up the matter. one million gallons of sewage a day pass through the station. The new monitor, called an E-BAM, has been placed While the main pump is out of action, a bypass is being used “across from where a lot of fire pits are located,” Stedman to keep the sewage flowing. said, adding that the property owner volunteered to have the The accident happened while upkeep was being done on a equipment installed there. “Over the holiday weekend, we saw several spikes” in the amount of particles smaller than See SEWAGE page 27A 2.5 microns in the air. VOLUNTEERS BATTLE STEEP TERRAIN, PAPERWORK TO BUILD BACKCOUNTRY TOILETS By CHRIS COUNTS a vastly discounted price,” Benoit said. But getting the toilets to the backpacking sites was no small challenge. ADDRESSING A major sanitary problem that has The plan was to use mules to pack in the disassembled toi- plagued backpacking sites in the Ventana Wilderness along let parts. A mule, Benoit explained, can carry about 100 the Big Sur River in recent years, volunteers last week fin- pounds on its back. But downed trees along the trail ham- ished installing five new pit toilets and refurbishing another pered the effort. Volunteers used cross saws to remove about four existing toilets. 50 of them, but two particularly large trees needed chain “At long last, there are nine wilderness toilets along the saws to be removed. And that required a lengthy permit heavily used Pine Ridge Trail,” announced trail crew chief process because power tools are prohibited in wilderness Steve Benoit of the Ventana Wilderness Alliance. areas. “One big tree fell, and it took us two months to get per- The project was accomplished thanks to the efforts of mission to use a chain saw on it,” Benoit said. about 40 volunteers, the generosity of a Santa Cruz County Eventually, the trail was made passable to Terrace Creek lumber company, and the cooperation of team of mules, but Camp, which is located about six miles along the trail — and still took nearly two years — in part because of the difficulty nearly halfway between Highway 1 and Sykes Camp, where of maintaining access to the site using trails that run along the famously overcrowded and overrated hot springs are steep, forested and eroding slopes. located. From there, volunteers carried the parts to their des- “It’s been a long process,” said Benoit of the project, tinations. which began in July 2013. At each location, small pits were dug about five feet deep PHOTO/COURTESY STEVE BENOIT The five new toilets — each weighing about 75 pounds — using rock picks and post-hole diggers. Benoit estimated Workers celebrate the installation of a pit toilet at Terrace Creek were built from redwood and cedar by volunteer David Camp in Big Sur, about six miles from the nearest paved road. Hirsch. The wood was purchased from Big Creek Lumber “at See TOILETS page 26A 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 May 29, 2015 By Lisa Crawford Watson Lions to host Sandy Claws Antiques & Collectibles Appraisal Day Secret service By MARY SCHLEY BBY IS a sweet, smart, social little thing, who A OT SURE how much that silver teapot your great loves treats and attention, and even her canary, Fig, N grandmother left you is worth? Or even exactly how old it is who sings to her throughout the day. Some people and what those odd little characters etched in the bottom of it might call this 2-year-old French bulldog spoiled, but mean? For those answers, and more, all you have to do is she just thinks she’s special. As a certified service dog, bring it to the Community Church of the Monterey Peninsula Abby is, indeed, special, particularly to her person. in Carmel Valley on Saturday, May 30, and hand over $10. After years of training police dogs, guide dogs and While that fee will go straight to the Mission Trail Lions of service dogs, Abby’s person developed rheumatoid Carmel to help the blind and visually impaired, you will walk arthritis, and found she needed assistance, herself. So away with a bounty of new knowledge about your cherished collectible. she brought home baby Abby from a local breeder, Five antiques experts will be on hand for the service orga- and trained her to suit her own needs. nization’s inaugural Antiques & Collectibles Appraisal Day: “My arthritis is degenerative,” says her person, “and John Buonaguidi from All American Antiques, Terry Trotter my balance is bad, so Abby helps steady me.