SLIPPERY DUCK… A lack of bones makes it easy for Squid to combine alcohol and staircases. Not the case for Monterey County resident Nora Lagapa, who fell down the stairs in 2008 at The Mucky Duck and claims she has since racked up more than $400,000 in medical bills and suffers memory loss, says attorney Deborah Jurgensen of Ventura. 


Now Lagapa has filed suit in Monterey County Superior Court, seeking the $400K plus an undisclosed amount for “emotional distress.” Want to talk distress? Try beleaguered Mucky Duck owner Eric Waddell, who describes the lawsuit as “frivolous” – and unfortunately timed, after three people were shot on New Year’s Day outside his establishment. Jurgensen suggests Duck bouncers are too tough – “perhaps some heavy-handedness by their staff contributed to the incident” on Jan. 1 – and the same attitude led her client to sue. 


The correlation is totally bogus. As Waddell says, “Our number one goal is safety and security… we don’t just kick somebody out because we feel like we don’t like you.” Lagapa, he adds, declined an offer to call an ambulance for her.


Can the Duck buy a break? “The media is killing me,” Waddell tells Squid. His biggest complaint: dubbing shooting suspect Alejandro Jose Gonzalez the alleged “Mucky Duck Shooter.” Waddell says sales are down $20,000 this month. “I don’t even know if I’ll be able to keep my doors open,” he says. 


Meanwhile, on Jan. 14, Monterey County Superior Court Presiding Judge Timothy Roberts ordered the media not to publish Gonzalez’s photograph (even after some had already done so), an act regarded as prior restraint in violation of the First Amendment. Gonzalez’s picture is still on The Herald’s website, The Californian’s website, KSBW’s website, and KION’s website. 


HERBICIDE FACIAL… Big Sur resident Leo Foster’s journey from his home to his mailbox on Jan. 11 brought a special delivery – a mist of what he believes was glyphosate (a systemic herbicide, aka Roundup) courtesy of a Caltrans spray truck. 


“They barely stopped spraying,” he e-mails, “in time to avoid spraying me directly in the face.” 


Ah, the burning eyes! Ah, the combative attitude from a Caltrans employee who said Foster didn’t know what he was talking about – even when Foster quoted the herbicide’s MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) verbatim! 


To add insult to injury, Foster reports Caltrans was likely spraying for the invasive species pampas grass and Scotch broom. Glance up the hillside and what’s waiting to reseed? Pampas grass and scotch broom.