www.BeachandBayPress.com | Thursday, January 5, 2012 • A retooled Victorian home is the source of pride for a Pacific Beach couple, Page 3 • A roundup of local live music events in the area, Page 4 • A PB nostalgia group forms to bind common memories of local life, Page 5
WHAT’S INSIDE: • The Sandbar Sports Grill offers the perfect place to get beached during the NFL playoffs, Page 10 • Whalewatching season arrives to give locals a special treat, Page 9 • Education Notebook: a snapshot of happenings and honors at local schools, Page 16
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Myriad California laws cut new teeth Changes abound for smokers, bullies, gun fans, workers BY PATRICIA WALSH | BEACH & BAY PRESS Fasten your seats belts (properly) and leave those unloaded handguns at home. A slew of new state laws that took effect Jan. 1 are sure to make life’s ride a little more interesting in 2012. What’s in: recycling for renters and revised standards for use of car seats for children. What’s out: smoking for renters, open carry of unloaded handguns and self-service check out of alcohol at retail stores. In the realm of technology, out-ofstate online businesses will be subject to a California use tax, and digital readers won’t have to worry about Big Brother watching. California will also become more equal for all with a gay-bullying law and a gay history law — the first state law of its kind in the nation. Animals are also the source of greater protection, with laws shielding sharks and cracking down on abusive pet owners. Every employer and employee will want to read the fine print of a compendium of new workplace-related laws that will help the world’s eighthlargest economy going for another year.
Among the new state laws that took effect Jan. 1 was legislation mandating landlords provide recycling options for renters. File photo
Here’s a look at just some of the new laws for 2012 that took hold Jan. 1. CAR SAFETY • California has a new booster-seat law that requires children younger than 8 — or who are not yet 4 feet, 9 inches tall — to use a booster seat securely fastened in the back seat of SEE LAWS, Page 7
French Gourmet socked with $387,000 penalty for hiring undocumented workers BY NEAL PUTNAM | BEACH & BAY PRESS
The PB Shore Club on Ocean Boulevard in Pacific Beach would like to expand its facility with a patio extension to accommodate potentially 126 more customers. But some neighbors and surrounding businesses are critical of the plan, saying Pacific Beach already Photo by Don Balch I Beach & Bay Press has more than its share of alcohol-related issues.
Shore Club patio-extension plan draws fire at ABC hearing protested the expansion during the hearing. Detractors said there already not enough police, fire A special California Department of Alcoholic Bever- and emergency services to handle the greater alcoholage Control (ABC) hearing was held Dec. 14, setting the related issues in Pacific Beach, and claimed the club’s stage in the next two weeks to determine the fate of the planned expansion would exacerbate the problem by PB Shore Club’s plan to expand seating for 126 more adding more potential customers. customers by adding a 1,800-square-foot patio. They also pointed out that the hearing was taking place While the Shore Club’s ownership pursues the plan as four days after police reported six arrests, a felony assault an economic shot in the arm and as a way of evening the playing field with neighboring taverns along the shoreSEE PATIO, Page 6 front near Crystal Pier, a group of Pacific Beach residents BY KEITH ANTIGIOVANNI | BEACH & BAY PRESS
While the owner and manager of The French Gourmet Restaurant were placed on probation for hiring undocumented workers on multiple occasions, the Pacific Beach restaurant was fined nearly $387,000 on Dec. 22 by a federal judge. Owner Michel Francois Malecot and manager Richard Kauffmann, both 59, dodged jail time from U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Whelan, even though Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Kanter had asked that Malecot and Kauffmann get six and four months in prison, respectively. Kauffmann and the Turquoise Street restaurant pleaded guilty Oct. 13 to hiring 10 illegal immigrants. Malecot pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of continuing to employ undocumented workers since first being raided by
authorities in the 1990s. The families and friends of both defendants filled the courtroom. After the court hearing, Malecot, flanked by his supporters, was asked by a television reporter if he was satisfied with the sentence. “Well, yes, I don’t really have the choice. I wish it would have never happened,” said Malecot. His lawyer, Eugene Iredale, said Malecot was “too generous, too compassionate to pull the trigger on people who had been working for him for five, for six or eight years.” “I think the judge did an excellent job … and came to a decision that was fair and just,” said Iredale, who noted the restaurant now employs “100 U.S. citizens,” including part timers. SEE PENALTY, Page 6