RON'S RESOLUTION... Squid''s been there before, sitting in a MONTEREY PENINSULA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT Board of Directors meeting in the MONTEREY CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS, listening to water board members bicker amongst themselves, when all of the sudden Squid''s got tequila on the brain.

Surely former board member RON CHESSHIRE understands Squid''s sentiments. Chesshire couldn''t even make it across the street to his regular bar stool at STOKES ADOBE during one meeting last year, opting for his own stash of Jim Beam. And while he never did get that official good-bye kiss and thank-you-for-the-memories from MOLLY ERICKSON, KRIS LINDSTROM or ZAN HENSON, Chesshire''s now got bragging rights to something even better: a no-drinking-in-City-Hall resolution, although Monterey City officials won''t say the ban on booze is in Chesshire''s honor.

"It used to be a free meeting place, and now we''re saying that if you are a public agency using the facility, you''re required to rent the facility," says Monterey City Manager FRED MEURER. The city recently bought some new expensive computers, a digital camera and other high-tech equipment in order to broadcast meetings from City Hall via local access television.

"We''ve basically transformed the city council chambers into a studio," Meurer says, and rent will help pay for the upkeep and maintenance.

And another new rule (to keep the equipment safe, wink wink) is that "smoking and alcoholic beverages are not allowed in the City Council Chamber, adjacent hallways, bathrooms or kitchen, or other portions of City Hall," according to a staff report.

Good news for Squid and Chesshire-the new booze, room and board require- ments don''t take effect until July 1. So until then, Squid says get yo'' drink on.

PRINCIPAL OF DARKNESS...Allow Squid to share some words of wisdom with SALINAS HIGH SCHOOL Principal JOSEPH PAWLICK: put your money where your mouth is.

Upon taking the helm at Salinas High in the fall of 2000, Pawlick boldly announced that Salinas High would become a CALIFORNIA DISTINGUISHED SCHOOL, a prestigious title earned by the top 5 percent of the state''s high schools. Schools can''t even apply unless their Academic Performance Index (API) test results are high enough.

So when State Superintendent of Public Instruction DELAINE EASTIN announced the 247 winners of the 2002 California Distinguished Schools awards and the 33 Blue Ribbon School Program nominees, Squid scanned the seven-page list for SHS, imagining Pawlick''s beady-eyed acceptance speech, only to find...no mention of Salinas High in either category.

Squid must note that the two awards programs recognize elementary and secondary schools in alternate years. This crop of California Distinguished Schools are elementary school while the National Blue Ribbon Schools are middle and high schools. So Pawlick couldn''t have competed to be a distinguished school even if Salinas High''s API test scores were high enough-and they weren''t. Thirty three high schools and middle schools, however, made the Blue Ribbon School nominee list. Salinas High didn''t.

May Squid suggest a new designation for that $60,000 Pawlick wanted to spend on artificial turf for the football field (before the School Board wisely axed the idea)? More text books, lab stations and school supplies, maybe? Because even an ousted So Cal athletic director must know that there''s more to high school than football.

Send Squid a shot: squid@coastweekly.com