Dear Readers,

The four-day Christmas holiday brought happiness to many households, but misery to 32 on an isolated ridge in Big Sur when a major rockslide Sunday cut them off from civilization. Even worse is the fact that nobody knows when the road to their homes will be open again. Chris Counts reports.

Police say they caught the man who brazenly stole a $20,000 Rolex from a downtown jewelry store last week. Kelly Nix has that one.

Most people think it's dumb to try to limit water use by telling people they can't have sinks and toilets, but a Monterey County judge said it's perfectly legal for the water district to keep doing so. Kelly also has that one.

With big income tax increases coming in 2013, the Monterey Peninsula is experiencing a boom in high-end property sales. But will the trend continue? I have that byline.

Monterey County is asking a court to order Steve Collins to pay the county's legal bills in defending itself against his lawsuit. Salinas urologists have started a PR campaign to counter allegations of medical fraud. Cal Am may not have water rights to the aquifer that would supply its proposed desal plant. Speaking of which: My editorial commends a business group for its analysis of local water needs (wouldn't it be nice to actually have an adequate supply?). And we have a new feature looking back at The Pine Cone's -- and Carmel's -- history.

Happy New Year to you all. We'll be here every week in 2013, just as we have been for almost a century. Did you know I haven't taken a Thursday off in eight years?

To get this week's complete Pine Cone, please click here. If you have an informed opinion about one of our stories and would like to submit a letter to the editor, please click here. And please don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions, comments or concerns.

Paul Miller, Publisher
paul@carmelpinecone.com

To return to the download page for the December 28, 2012, edition, please click here.