OIL AND WATER… The Monterey Peninsula Water Management District has a bestie in Sand City Mayor David Pendergrass, who’s sat on the board almost long enough to legally start drinking on it. Or at least, eating a little finer. The 20-year board director, freshly anointed as chair, set the Jan. 30 closed-session dinner in a private room at Tarpy’s Roadhouse, with no cost cap for the nine diners.


To be fair, Tarpy’s prices are comparable to those at The Golden Tee, another past nosh spot for the board’s secret sessions. But Squid misses the district’s frugal old days of eating Costco lasagna in the staff kitchen. And Squid wonders why the fancy dining now, when the board hasn’t held a dinner meeting for several months in what the district calls a nod to “austerity measures.” 


Pendergrass says, “It’s a good use of public funds, because we’re working for the public.” Squid thinks he’s spooning up a little extra, appointing himself to five committees and outside agencies – more than any other director, at a $110-per-meeting stipend. His board ally, Jeanne Byrne, gets four, while ideological opposites Kristi Markey and Judi Lehman get three and two, respectively. 


If Squid ever becomes water board chair, Squid’s going to invent committees and sit on all of them – simultaneously, one tentacle in each seat. And at each meeting, Squid will order Tarpy’s lobster tail. At $46.95, it’s about on par with Squid’s monthly water bill.


ROAD WARRIOR… Squid admits it’s simplistic to dismiss all cops as overgrown bullies, but Squid was surprised to learn even California Highway Patrol officers have feelings. 


In a Jan. 17 lawsuit filed in Monterey County Superior Court, CHP Officer Frank Moore alleges Ruby and Jeffrey Stewart, whom Moore pulled over for speeding on the 101 near King City in January 2012, inflicted “emotional distress” when they complained to CHP about him. 


As Moore tells it in his complaint, he stopped the Stewarts on Highway 101, then the Stewarts called the CHP field office to complain. They described Moore as “unnecessarily hostile and unrelenting” and said he appeared to be “on something.” 


The way Moore tells it, it sounds like the Stewarts were writing their own Quentin Tarantino-inspired cop revenge fantasy. CHP did an internal investigation, and CHP Lieutenant Mark Mann tells Squid that while personnel matters are confidential, Moore is still on the job. 


Moore’s suing his haters for slander, libel and infliction of emotional distress. “Hostile and unrelenting” sounds about right when you sue someone. But hurt feelings are hard to put a price on, especially for a guy in uniform.