DA BOSS… Squid oozed behind the lettuce curtain the other day to see who (since Cuddly Hero of the Masses Dennis Donohue seems determined to step out of the public eye) is gunning for the Salinas mayor’s race. There’s Bill Freeman, whose victory over Johnny Gray in the Hartnell Community College District trustee race proved that while an eminently qualified black man can get elected U.S. President, he can’t get elected to a crap office in Salinas. There’s also South Salinas dentist Hla Myaing (whom Squid hadn’t heard of either); ex-Salinas-cop-turned-private-eye-who-lives-on-the-edge (of Maple Park) Joe Gunter (or, as Squid thinks of him, the rational choice); gadfly Margaret Serna-Bonetti (whom nobody will ever think of as the rational choice, but she makes public meetings interesting); and Rick Phinney, developer Gerry Kehoe’s local lackey. Phinney was registered to vote in Aromas last election, put a South Salinas address on his candidate paperwork and may not actually live in the city. “Why do you ask?” he responded on Facebook when queried about his residence. “I think Toro [Park] is still considered Salinas,” he responded when asked if he lived there. Even Squid can read a map, and Rick, Toro Park is no Salinas.


Adieu, Mes Amis… A lot of labels apply to Squid, but Squid wears none so proudly as “pain the ass.” So it’s with affection that Squid says goodbye to the most lovable PITAs in Pacific Grove: Esther Trosow and Snick Farkas.


Snick: The artist who’s stood up at just about every P.G. City Council meeting for the last 15-plus years to perform his “Colossus of Gold” cartoon. The sometimes-clever, sometimes-unintelligible COG, inspired by a goofy statue of John Steinbeck, has since 1994 parodied the absurdities of California’s silliest town. Squid sniffles to think Episode #369 may be Snick’s last. “Come to Eureka!” the hideous statue proclaims. “Big trees! Big squid! Bigfoot!”


Esther: The tireless watchdog of the Monarch Grove Sanctuary and the P.G. Museum of Natural History, among others. Trosow worked at the “mvsevm,” as Snick calls it, for more than 15 years, and is responsible for archiving the invaluable turn-of-the-century glass negatives by C.K. Tuttle. But she became increasingly bitter as the museum moved to public-private ownership, pissing off more than a few people with her hostile emails. 


On July 24, Farkas and Trosow packed up and headed to greener pastures. “There are no jobs here,” snapped Snick, who worked at P.G.’s vacuum store with Esther. “And you guys got water problems and Eureka doesn’t, so have fun with that!” 


But… Squid wanted to hire Snick to paint Squid’s portrait. Farewell, strange fellows, and godspeed.