Squid Fry

ROTTEN APPLES… Only in Pacific Grove would a do-gooder school cleanup turn into a bureaucratic squabble over the planting of apple trees. Squid hears that more than 100 parent volunteers pitched in for Fall Sweep at Robert Down Elementary School on Oct. 25 to do some tidying up and gardening. But a tipster says the Pacific Grove Unified School District’s suggested list of bushes and trees consisted of non-native, non-edible plants. So environmentalist and parent Fred Ballerini offered four apple trees, thinking his kids could learn about edible and sustainable gardening on their way to school. The parents planted the fruit-bearing trees without pre-clearance from the school district – definitely a recipe from The Anarchist Cookbook. Come Monday, Assistant Superintendent Robin Blakley got peeved by the rebellious parents and ordered maintenance workers to take out the trees. (That will show those organic-apple-juice-loving parents!) The district’s position is that any tree-planting by outsiders has to get PGUSD board approval. And now the fresh cream for this apple strudel: The district plans to remove the trees so they don’t root while the project makes its way to the trustees. (A meeting with school officials and parents was planned Wednesday, past the Weekly’s deadline.) Squid smells rotten apples, or maybe that’s the apple-red tape that’s strangling Robert Down school. There may be a lesson for the schoolkids after all: if you want to get something done, don’t go through government.

G-MEN, DON'T SHOOT… Squid is doing some serious head scratching – with all 10 appendages – over Monterey County’s $27 million art heist. The Weekly’s staff cephalopod is not alone. For weeks, eyes have rolled in the heads of art experts near and far over the antics of the alleged victims – the wealthy and hapless Ralph Kennaugh and Angelo Amadio of Pebble Beach. In late September, the two reported a theft including art by Renoir, Van Gogh and Rembrandt, but couldn’t recall how they came by the master works or whether they were fully insured. The men grabbed local headlines this week by once again escalating their war of words with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office. Attorney Vicki St. John, who represents the two men, reportedly called for an FBI probe of the local lawmen for “corruption, collusion and cronyism.” News accounts have St. John trying an end run around the Sheriff’s Office by asking the G-Men to place her client’s missing works in its database of stolen art; however, the FBI only responds to such requests when they’re made by law enforcement. Pretty gutsy set of moves, Squid reckons, at a time when the Sheriff’s Office has Kennaugh and Amadio in their sights as possible fraudsters.