River’s population of steelhead trout.The DRA released its recommendations after its staff tes-

tified May 5 in San Francisco as part of Cal Am’s applicationto the California Public Utilities Commission to recovercosts from customers for its share of the dam removal pro-ject.

Cal Am community relations manager Catherine Bowiedefended the water company’s right to charge its ratepayersfor the project.

“The work we have to do on the San Clemente Dam is theresult of a regulatory requirement,” Bowie told The PineCone.

“And it is general commission practice to allow for raterecovery of any activity that is necessary to running the watersystem, and that includes complying with regulations anddismantling outdated infrastructure.”

But in its findings, the DRA said Cal Am had misman-aged the large amount of sediment that accumulated behindthe dam over the years, making it useless for water storage.The water company was also negligent in not accumulatingfunds to cover the dam’s removal, the DRA said.

At the May 5 hearing,DRA supervisor JoyceSteingass testified that,because of Cal Am’s “pastimprudence and lack of duediligence,” the companyshould not be allowed torecover any of the estimat-ed costs for the dam projectand any future liabilitiesthat may arise.

Bowie said Cal Am hastried to resolve the damconundrum, but the compa-ny was often hamstrung byregulatory red tape.

See DAM page 24APHOTO/PINE CONE FILE

State and federalofficials want obso-lete San ClementeDam (at lower rightof photo) torn downfor earthquake safetyand to improve trouthabitat, but Cal Am’s customersshouldn’t have topay for the work,according to thePUC’s Department of RatepayerAdvocates.

“We are encouraging the public to look to cities, countiesand nonprofits to see if they can play a role in managingparks,” explained Roy Stearns, a spokesman for the CaliforniaDepartment of Parks and Recreation.

Garrapata State Park — which made the hit list and hasvery little infrastructure to manage — would seem like an idealcandidate for such an arrangement.

Home to a popular seven-mile loop trail and what isarguably Big Sur’s mostaccessible beach, GarrapataState Park is located justseven miles south of Carmel.On most days, dozens ofpeople — including manylocals — hike the strenuousloop trail and enjoy its ver-dant redwood forest andstunning ridge top vistas.

In recent years, the trailhas become one of most trav-eled hiking paths in Big Sur.In 2009, when wildfiresclosed many other trails, theGarrapata loop experienced

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May 20-26, 2011

Garrapata State Park’s magnificent beach (above) and invit-ing redwood trail (right) should be closed to save money,state officials say, unless a local solution to keep them opencan be found.

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Local money, effort could keep state parks openBy CHRIS COUNTS

AMID THE doom and gloom of Friday’s announcementthat 70 state parks might have to be closed because ofCalifornia’s budget shortfall, park officials offered a bit ofhope by suggesting local communities could help save thoseparks by assuming at least some of the responsibility of run-ning them.

Costs add up to findnew city administrator

By MARY BROWNFIELD

MAYOR SUE McCloud signed a contractMonday with an executive search firm to find areplacement for former city administrator RichGuillen — a search that will cost as much as$24,000.

The consultant, Peckham & McKenney, will havefour months to identify a candidate for the job andwill receive $16,500 for the work and up to $7,500in expenses.

Meanwhile, interim city administrator John Gossis being paid $650 per day — a maximum of $3,250per week — to run the city until a permanentreplacement steps in, according to a six-month con-tract signed last month.

Combined, Goss’ services and the executivesearch will cost taxpayers more than $100,000.

According to the recruitment contract, Peckham& McKenney will work with the council to developa candidate profile and then identify individuals whomeet the city’s requirements. It will respond to allinquiries and resumes, review applications, inter-view leading candidates, conduct backgroundchecks, assist in negotiations, recommend finalistsand arrange interviews so the council can make itschoice.

“Both parties will exhibit a full faith effort toensure a timely and successful search,” the contractsays.

While the process should be completed withinfour months, if the city chooses to extend the searchbeyond that time, additional fees will be negotiated.

Signed by Bobbi Peckham May 6 and McCloud

MUSEUM NOT SURE WHAT TO DO WITH CREEPY RELICBy KELLY NIX

A HUMAN fetus that for decades was stored in the base-ment of the Pacific Grove museum — and is now sitting in apolice department evidence locker — has city officials scratch-ing their heads over what to do with it.

The fetus, rumored to have been donated or sold to themuseum by legendary marine biologist Ed Ricketts, may have

been at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History since the1930s before the city gave it to P.G. police late last year forsafekeeping.

“They requested we hold onto it until they figure out whatto do with it,” P.G. Police Cmdr. John Nyunt told The PineCone.

Should the fetus, which is just 3 inches long, be put on dis-play at a small-town museum best known for its scores ofstuffed birds and wildlife animals? Or should it be handed overto a university, larger museum or research institution?

The answer depends on whom you talk to.“I think it should be researched and retained at the museum

as part of Pacific Grove’s cultural patrimony,” said EstherTrosow, a former museum board member.

DRA: Cal Am should pay for dam removalBy KELLY NIX

CALIFORNIA AMERICAN Water company’s share-holders — not its Monterey Peninsula customers — shouldpay the $138 million cost to tear down the 90-year-old SanClemente Dam, a state advisory agency said last week.

Though the dam was built in 1921 — and Cal Am did-n’t acquire it until the 1960s — the acting director of theCalifornia Public Utility Commission’s Department ofRatepayer Advocates, Joe Como, said asking customers “topay for Cal Am’s corporate mistakes is unjustified.”

Cal Am has proposed collecting $138 million over 20years from its water customers to fund the dam removalproject.

In 1991, a California agency responsible for safety ofthe state’s dams determined the San Clemente Dam couldcollapse in a moderate earthquake and ordered Cal Am todo something to make it safer.

An original plan to strengthen the dam gave way to amore expensive plan to remove it after environmentalistsraised concerns about the dam’s impact on the Carmel

See POLLACCI page 12A

See COSTS page 24A

See PARKS page 21A

See RELIC page 11A

EXPERTS DUEL OVER

POLLACCI JUROR BIAS

By KELLY NIX

A POLLING expert hired by prosecutors tried topoke holes in the validity of a survey commissioned bydefense attorneys indicating the trial of accused rapistTom Pollacci should be moved out of the county becausepotential jurors know too much about him and might beinclined to convict him again.

Pollacci — who was sentenced to eight years in prisonin June 2010 for raping a woman in the loft of his fami-ly’s P.G. liquor store in 2008 — is charged with threecounts of forcible rape against two additional women in2007 and 2008.

Pollacci’s attorney, Michelle Wouden, filed a motionApril 14 asking Monterey County Superior Court JudgeTerrance Duncan to move the trial from MontereyCounty to Madera County.

On Tuesday, Susan Geringer, a Fresno StateUniversity teacher and polling expert hired by Wouden toconduct the survey, said the results show it would be nec-essary to move Pollacci’s trial to another county in orderfor him to receive a fair trial.

“I personally don’t believe believe he could get a fairtrial here in any way, shape or form,” she testifiedTuesday in a Salinas courtroom.

Of the 100 eligible people surveyed in Monterey