Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Volume ı ı ı Number 38 | 75 cents Serving the entire San Mateo Coastside since ı898 www.hmbreview.com

Editorial a 4A | Weather & Tides a 5A | Police Log a 5A | A&E a 2B | Sports a 5B | Real Estate a 1C | Classifi eds a 2C

a n d p e s c a d e r o p e b b l e

COASTSIDE PAC CITED FOR 2005 VIOLATIONSLCP FINED FOR MAILING,

‘CLERICAL’ ERRORSBy Mark Noack

[ mark@hmbreview.com ]

The San Mateo County League for Coastside Protection has agreed to pay $3,500 in fi nes lev-ied by the state Fair Political Practices Commis-sion for two campaign violations dating back to the 2005 election cycle.

The state commission cited the Coastside-based political action committee for failing to properly identify itself as the publisher of the

short-lived “Voice of the Coast” mailing, which was distributed several times in the run-up to the 2005 election.

State elections laws require political organiza-tions or candidates to provide their names and

addresses on the outside of any mass mailings sent to voters. The “Voice of the Coast” did not include this information on the outside, but it was printed inside the newsletter.

The commission also penalized the league for misreporting its donations from City Council candidate and former Mayor Mike Ferreira and Coastside County Water District candidate Jim Marsh. In elections reports fi led by the league in January 2006, Ferreira and Marsh were listed as donating $827 and $300, respectively. The actual donations were later determined to be $912 from Ferreira and $680 from Marsh. Both candidates were endorsed by the LCP and paid for inclusion

in the “Voice of the Coast” publication.“It was a clerical error,” explained Scott Boyd,

co-chair of the league. “A couple things fell through the cracks.”

The two violations together could have amounted to $10,000 in fi nes, but the com-

Minor violation or clear deception?The Review’s editorial suggests that the LCP’s vi-olations were both minor infractions and an at-tempt to deceive voters — the latter offense being the most egregious. See editorial, Page 4A.

“It was a clerical error.”

— Scott Boyd, San Mateo County League for Coast-side Protection co-chair

See PAC a 9A

High surf brings Mavericks waves,

but no contestSURFERS VOTE AGAINST

HOLDING CONTEST TODAYBy Greg Thomas

[ greg@hmbreview.com ]

The National Weather Service issued a high surf ad-visory to boaters and beachgoers Monday, anticipat-ing waves as high as 20 feet rolling into the Coast-side on Thursday morning. The weather service also warns of the potential for coastal fl ooding in the re-gion over the period.

Of course, one man’s danger is another’s attraction and the 24 big-wave surfers on call for the Mavericks Surf Contest have their eyes on the coast this week. They voted not to hold the contest today, but weath-er watchers say storm systems are stacking up out in the Pacifi c.

The weather service expects the surge to produce powerful waves, strong rip currents and beach ero-sion along a stretch of the California coast, but it’s the wind that compelled surfers to pass on the opportu-nity to compete.

Mark Sponsler, a key Mavericks weather forecaster, said Monday the wind and rain expected today is “cer-tainly not good contest weather.”

El Niño is in full swing, stirring up batches of big surf that will continue to land on the Coastside inter-mittently this winter. Holding a contest is just a mat-ter of aligning big waves with wind and other factors, say Mavericks surfers and offi cials.

Weather models infl uencing the confi dence of surf-ers have been erratic, generating a series of near miss-es and false starts since the window opened in Novem-ber. Sponsler said surfers are aware that more swells are “piling in behind (this one).”

The oscillating models for big waves have prompted a handful of votes since the contest window opened. As weather updates roll in, surfers face the challenge of calling an appropriate day to hold the contest some 48 hours in advance of the arrival of a swell.

Even without a contest, Mavericks surfers have been seen hitting the spot on big days, and there’s ev-ery reason to believe they will be on the coast today — despite the risk.

Contest invitee Ion Banner of El Granada said the setup “looks like a prime tow-day” at Mavericks, de-spite a potentially choppy experience. r

[ w e a t h e r ] [ s t a t e p a r k s ]

By Greg Thomas[ greg@hmbreview.com ]

On Thursday afternoon, Gary Stra-chan made a fi nal sweep of his for-mer abode, a weathered white Victo-

rian adjacent to the park rangers’ station at Año Nuevo State Reserve. He occupied the home for two-and-a-half decades during his career service as a State Parks ranger.

Tracing each empty, echoing room, Stra-chan scooped up two last mementos: an

acrylic canvas a friend painted of him riding a wave at Waddell Creek, and a spray-paint-ed gold park ranger’s hat — a sort of going-away gag gift from a rang-er buddy.

Donning the shiny hat, cocking an eyebrow and twisting down the corners of his mouth, Strachan struck his best impression of a John Wayne charac-ter. “Don’t take yourself too seriously,” is the fi rst of Strachan’s four guiding principles for life.

At 60 years old, the gangly surfer looks happy and healthy — the telltale signs of a man who spent his best years active out-doors.

After 25 years patrolling the beaches, pro-tecting the forests, mobilizing vol-unteers and lobbying for preserva-tion of Coastside resources, Stra-chan retired. His last day was Dec. 31. He leaves behind a legacy of

dedicated service on the Coastside. Friends and colleagues say he embodies the iconic omnipresent ranger.

“He’s a guy who’s a real generalist old-time

Lars Howlett / Review

Retired California State Parks ranger Gary Strachan sits on the porch of his former home at Año Nuevo State Reserve. He’s holding the gold-en hat he received at his retirement party.

A State Parks icon looks back on career in ‘paradise’34-YEAR RANGER HANGS UP HIS GOLDEN HAT

See STRACHAN a 9A

Q&A

Cunha students venture into science

ANNUAL SCHOOL FAIR IS A RITE OF PASSAGE

By Mark Noack[ mark@hmbreview.com ]

Developing the scientifi c method took humankind a few mil-lennia, but Cunha Intermediate School eighth-graders managed to get a pretty good handle on it over the last few months.

“Yeah, I think they got it,” said Cunha science teacher Lucin-da Hitchner while touring the rows of science projects placed throughout the school gym Monday night. “The kids always sur-prise me with their ideas.”

Hitchner walked by the dozens of backboards featuring titles such as “Skydiving Barbie,” “¡Eating Chocolate!”, “How Fast Are You?”, “How Tall are You?” and “Who Died?” A bit drained after a full day in the classroom, Hitchner and her team were doing

SURVEY GAUGES INTEREST IN

NEW HOOKUPS By Mark Noack

[ mark@hmbreview.com ]

The Coastside County Water Dis-trict is testing the waters, fi guratively, to see whether they can entice proper-ty owners using private wells to sign up for the district’s water service.

The water district is surveying land-owners to fi nd out if there is a market

[ s c i e n c e f a i r ][ i n f r a s t r u c t u r e ]

See SCIENCE FAIR a 9ASee WELLS a 9A

Water district looks to lure well-users

Lars Howlett / Review

Cunha Intermediate School science teacher Lucinda Hitchner looks over eighth-grade science projects in the school gym Monday. The fair itself takes place today.

Checking out the whales a Tours out of the harbor get you close to our ocean neighbors > 1B