Salinas Ca

NATIONAL STEINBECK CENTER Salinas, Monterey County It is always a challenge to commemorate a life, never mind a writer's life. Unlike museums devoted to sports legends or war heroes, a museum that honors a man of arts and letters must reflect his quiet, solitary pursuit. Which is to say that such a repository may be unbearably dull.

Plagued by gang violence for years, the city of Salinas has taken the standard approaches: beefed-up police patrols, court injunctions, parenting classes, high-minded gatherings of experts. But with more gang-related homicides so far this year than in all of 2007, officials in the agricultural city south of San Jose have started thinking more unconventionally. A few months ago, they sought the help of the city's grandmothers to keep kids out of gangs.

An abandoned downtown jail where Cesar Chavez spent 20 days in 1970 for refusing to call off a lettuce boycott is hallowed ground to many historians, labor activists and building preservationists, who want to turn the structure into a monument to his life and his farmworker movement. But all the Monterey County Board of Supervisors sees in the boarded-up jail is a dilapidated and dangerous relic that should be demolished to make way for an open-air plaza.

NATIONAL STEINBECK CENTER Salinas, Monterey County It is always a challenge to commemorate a life, never mind a writer's life. Unlike museums devoted to sports legends or war heroes, a museum that honors a man of arts and letters must reflect his quiet, solitary pursuit. Which is to say that such a repository may be unbearably dull.

In bounty hunter jargon, it was a cross-border "extraction." The four heavily armed bounty hunters from Salinas tracked down a suspected triple murderer at his brother's house in Mexicali. Aided clandestinely by one or two Mexican federal police officers, they chased and tackled the fugitive, hustled him into their car and fled to the international line, according to authorities. That was as far as they got: U.S.

A tiny tattoo of a broken heart behind her right ear has cost a Salinas teenager her job at the local Olive Garden Italian restaurant. Karen Ketola, 19, was given an ultimatum May 21: Remove the tattoo, work in the kitchen or find another job. She was given two weeks to have the tattoo removed, but she quit a few days later. Ketola had the tattoo when she was hired as a waitress last September, but about two months ago she was told to cover it or she couldn't come back to work, she said.

Bail was tripled to $1.5 million for a pastor charged with molesting a 16-year-old girl after prosecutors told a judge a second victim has been found. Superior Court Judge Russell Scott hiked the bail Thursday for Donald Domelle, pastor of the Baptist Temple of Salinas on Harrison Road, because he presents a flight risk based on new, more serious allegations, Deputy Dist. Atty. Gary Thelander said. Prosecutors plan to file at least 40 more counts against Domelle.

For the third time in 18 months, an Alisal High School athlete has died in a highway wreck. On Sunday, Vantory Miles, a starting guard on the school's 2002 championship basketball team, was killed in a one-car crash in Merced. He is the second member of the 2001-02 team to die in a crash. In March 2002, Jose Solis died when a car he was riding in flipped over in Southern California. About a month later, football player Raul Perez was killed in a car crash near King City.

Mayor Anna Caballero is spearheading a plan to keep libraries open in John Steinbeck's hometown. With just two months before the town's three libraries are set to close because of budget cuts, Caballero launched a $500,000 fundraising campaign. She said an anonymous Salinas Valley rancher had pledged $25,000 and promised an additional $75,000.

Monterey County grand jurors scolded the Board of Supervisors in a scathing, 229-page report that criticizes the board for allegedly dropping the ball on crucial issues of water, transportation and affordable housing. Monday's grand jury report said the board lacked budget expertise, bent to special interests and "employed a laid-back, wait-and-see attitude in the development of the General Plan."

A family cat helped alert his owner of a fire in the home, allowing everyone to escape unharmed. The fire started in the garage about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, homeowner Rick Genasci said. Officials said Christmas wrapping paper stored too close to the home's heating system sparked the blaze, which quickly spread to the house. The Genascis' cat alerted the family by scratching at the door that connected the house to the garage, Genasci said.

Bad news can blanket this agricultural city like the fog wafting in off the coast. Two years ago, Salinas was so broke it nearly had to shut its libraries for good. Last month came the spinach scare, paralyzing farmers and pickers, packers and shippers as news spread of three E. coli deaths and nearly 200 reported illnesses in 26 states. In between, companies decided to uproot from the Salinas Valley, taking 2,000 jobs with them.

A beautician has been charged after allegedly injecting a client with cooking oil as part of a wrinkle-defying cosmetic procedure. Martha Mata Vasquez, 39, of Salinas was charged with involuntary manslaughter and practicing medicine without a license. Bail was set at $1 million. Vasquez is accused of injecting vegetable oil into the buttocks of Olivia Aguirre-Castillo of Castroville on Nov. 17. Aguirre-Castillo died of organ failure.

The hometown of Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck is saving its library services. The City Council on Tuesday approved $10 million to restore library hours, put more police officers on the street and set up after-school recreation programs. The three Salinas libraries were set to close last year because of budget cuts, but a grass-roots campaign raised more than $500,000 to keep the libraries open with limited hours.

A North Salinas High School freshman has been arrested for bringing a realistic-looking toy gun to school, authorities said. The teenager was taken to Monterey County Juvenile Hall shortly after the 9-millimeter replica was discovered Thursday morning. School officers found the replica inside the teen's locker after another student reported the youth had a gun, police said. The teenager was suspended indefinitely. The school board will decide whether to expel him.

Bail was tripled to $1.5 million for a pastor charged with molesting a 16-year-old girl after prosecutors told a judge a second victim has been found. Superior Court Judge Russell Scott hiked the bail Thursday for Donald Domelle, pastor of the Baptist Temple of Salinas on Harrison Road, because he presents a flight risk based on new, more serious allegations, Deputy Dist. Atty. Gary Thelander said. Prosecutors plan to file at least 40 more counts against Domelle.

A North Salinas High School freshman has been arrested for bringing a realistic-looking toy gun to school, authorities said. The teenager was taken to Monterey County Juvenile Hall shortly after the 9-millimeter replica was discovered Thursday morning. School officers found the replica inside the teen's locker after another student reported the youth had a gun, police said. The teenager was suspended indefinitely. The school board will decide whether to expel him.

Supervisors will begin looking at several dramatic options for financially troubled Natividad Medical Center, from closing to a sale of the Monterey County-operated hospital. The Board of Supervisors will spend the next two months reviewing options presented during a meeting Tuesday that underscored a sense of urgency for the Salinas hospital.

How do you get reliable information about hurricanes headed toward your vacation destination? That question may have been on travelers' minds early last week as resorts in Cancun, Cozumel and areas along the Riviera Maya on Mexico's eastern coast cleaned up after Hurricane Emily. At the Travel section's deadline Tuesday, Texas was braced for a possible landfall. With experts predicting a heavy hurricane season this year, it's a good idea to log on to the National Hurricane Center website, www.

A 74-year-old Marina piano teacher who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor hit-and-run driving after his car struck and killed a man was sentenced to give 300 hours of free piano lessons to needy kids. Frank Bruno, who was also fined $1,100, said Thursday that he would never get behind the wheel of a car again and that he grieves over the death of Donald Ostrom, 48, and looks forward to meeting him in heaven. Bruno could have been sentenced to a year in jail.