CRA News April 2005

Selected articles from the newsletter of the Carmel Residents Association

Katie and John Ruskell are new members of the Carmel Residents Association, but not new to Carmel. John's parents were the late Shell and Speirs Ruskell, long-time Carmelites and familiar figures around town. Because he spent 30 years at the front desk of the Carmel Post Office, Speirs was especially well known. Katie and John moved from Marina into the family's Carmel home two years ago. Photo by Peggy Purchase.

President's Message
Investing in The Future

by Sherry Shollenbarger

Many Carmelites, observing that years have passed without action on a new and continuing source of revenue, determined that rather than watch one more year come and go they would organize and present the community with a healthy source of income. This new income could not be touched by the state and would support a city greatly loved by all who live here--a city that is fighting to maintain services and infrastructure. I am excited by the 54% vote for Measure A and the mobilization of residents to organize and send a message to our council.

There are many ways to move forward from this point. As I see it, we must make overtures toward one another, break the barrier of distrust and speak together. Businesses must speak with residents, residents with businesses and residents with each other. We must speak with civil discourse; we must take it upon ourselves to learn the facts, and we must understand that we all care about Carmel. We must learn to agree to disagree when necessary and keep trying to find solutions to our problems. There is no more time for bickering. We can now literally watch our city dwindle in services offered and observe as our infrastructure crumbles more or we can look toward the future together. We must attempt to build bridges and reach consensus regarding our problems. What makes us a wonderful community is our diversity--it doesn't have to undermine our future.

The council has witnessed the result of a missed opportunity on its part. The residents would have passed with a majority a 2% increase in the TOT had the council proposed it. The citizens are more organized and mobilized. There is momentum for solutions now. The City Council has been given the "pulse" of its residents.

Let Spring Begin !

The Carmel-by-the-Sea Garden Club's spring event will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Sunset Center on Saturday, April 23. A plant sale featuring over 200 plants will be held in the courtyard and specialty items will be sold in the lobby. Talks by a landscape and a floral designer will be at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 per presentation or $45 for both. Proceeds benefit the Garden Club's restoration of the library garden. For more information, please call 622-7377.

CRA PROFILES
by Walter Gourlay

Kay and John Ambro -- a six-career couple

Each one of this versatile couple is in a third career. John is a prize-winning artist and Kay an accomplished writer. But John was first a successful bank manager, then a policeman and the nemesis of wrongdoers in Beverly Hills. Kay, after working as a dental assistant, became a fashion director for a boutique, then went into education, and finally realized her dream of being a journalist and writer.

Kay was born in Bellingham, Washington. When she was ten her father, in the Air Force, was first transferred to the vicinity of Paris, then to Columbus, Ohio, and then to the San Fernando Valley, where Kay studied journalism in high school. "I'd always wanted to be a writer," she says, "I was on the school paper and even won a trophy, but unfortunately my mother convinced me to become a dental assistant instead."

Kay trained as a dental assistant at Valley College, and met John at a friend's house. They dated for three years before getting married, in 1973. Then Kay said goodbye to dentistry and became a fashion director for a Beverly Hills boutique.

John had been raised in Los Angeles, but when he was eight the family moved to Sherman Oaks in the San Fernando Valley so his father could be closer to his work as an animator for Walt Disney. John attended Van Nuys High School and the Valley College, where he pursued business administration and pre-med.

He'd also developed a lively interest in art, working part-time for Disney doing background painting and taking art history courses in college. In 1964, after four years in the US Air Force during the Vietnam War, John worked as an assistant administrator at a hospital in Hayward. There followed a succession of banking jobs, the last one as a bank manager at Crocker Citizens Bank, but deep down he'd always wanted to be a policeman.

John gave up his banking career and enrolled at the Los Angeles Sheriff's Academy. In 1972 he became a patrolman in the Beverly Hills Police Force. He's very proud of the Beverly Hills Police Department, which he describes as "proactive" rather than "reactive" as in L.A. and other places. As a result, he says, Beverly Hills has one of the lowest crime rates in California.

John became department training officer and cadet and reserve coordinator, did undercover work in the Crime Suppression Unit and then joined the Detective Division, in the Fraud, Forgery and Bunco Unit.

In 1986 his interest in art came in handy when he created the Art Fraud Investigation Team that drew international attention when it cracked a ring of crooks who were importing art forgeries from Paris and selling them in local galleries. The team closed down six galleries, arrested twenty persons in the art trade and confiscated about $80,000,000 in fake art. (See Lee Catterall, The Great Dali Art Fraud.) "Buyer Beware," warns Ambro, "especially if you're about to invest large sums of money in what you think is original art."

In 1991 he worked in investigations involving vice, narcotics, burglary, homicide and juveniles. In the meantime, he earned a B.S. degree from UCLA (1978) and a Masters in Public Administration from USC (1981). He has taught art in a junior high school and courses in Criminal Justice at Valley College.

In 1977, the couple had a son, John, and Kay retired from her fashion manager's position. She volunteered for child care at their church, and then took a position dealing with learning disabilities of children. Later she worked at desktop publishing and in five years developed her own desktop publishing firm, which produced brochures, newsletters and yearbooks for private schools.

At one point when John was injured in the line of duty, Kay took a job as office administrator for Eagle Eye Film Editors. Then, finally, she achieved her high school dream, writing a weekly column for a Studio City magazine in San Fernando Valley, and articles for the Jewish magazine To Life, including one on the colorful "Two Gun Cohen," the notorious gangster who became the bodyguard and confidante of Sun Yat-sen.

During his years on the police force John had been sketching and painting landscapes, seascapes, and African wildlife from photos and other illustrations, winning several awards. In 1999, with the rank of Lieutenant, he retired from the Beverly Hills Police Department and the Ambros moved to Carmel, where John has pursued his third career as an artist, and Kay hers as a writer.

"We can walk to the beach and to plays here," says John. "It's a gorgeous little village," Kay adds. "I think of it as 'God's back yard.' People are really here because they are happy. We have the better of two worlds, the sea and the forest."

Last month John entertained and amused authors, speaking at a Carmel meeting of the Central Coast Writers Club, on the difference between police work in reality, and in myth. "Don't believe what you see on Law and Order, he warned. "Stick to reality in your fiction."

John has been on the CRA board. Kay has written occasional "Profiles" for the CRA Newsletter, and takes part in Beach Cleanups. For three years she worked at the Harrison Library before she and ten others were laid off. She hopes to return to work there when city finances improve.

In the meantime, Kay, already a harpist, is learning to play the harpsichord. And both of them -- John the artist, and Kay the writer -- will be at the CRA Celebrating the Artist Amongst Us event at the Cherry Center this May, where you can meet this fascinating couple.

Hidden or Overlooked Fire and Health Safety Dangers
Downloaded from "Public Safety" on the
Carmel Fire Department website

A fire can strike anyplace, at anytime, even when the most detailed and organized precautions have been taken to assure that homes and workplaces are safe from threats to life and health.

Many hidden dangers exist that, with a little education, can further reduce the chances that a fire or accident will occur. Some of these, when we're made aware, will cause us to say to ourselves, "I knew that!" Then again, others will generate serious concerns about the overall safety where we live and work.

Electricity is a common cause of structure fires due to the misuse of extension cords, outlets and appliances. Although thin, cheap extension cords are legal and approved by Underwriters' Laboratories, the fire service urges you to avoid using them. They simply do not have the durability to withstand the abuse of stepping on them, rolling furniture over them and overloading them, which leads to short-circuits and fires. We do not encourage the permanent use of extension cords in your home (it is outlawed in the business district), but if you must use them, please purchase heavy duty cords with a single female end (only one plug can be connected to it). If you need extra outlets, only use power strips with built-in circuit breakers and heavy-duty cords. Avoid using cheap, plastic multi-plug adapters that connect directly into the outlet.

The natural gas and electrical appliances we use often have features that offer timesaving conveniences and/or a more comfortable environment. Some of the most dangerous of these appliances are the following:

• Space Heaters. Designed to provide comfort, these are a cause of about 22,000 fires a year nationally. For your protection, keep them at least three feet away from combustible materials, do not leave them running unattended and don't use them as clothes dryers. Prior to leaving the room or going to sleep, don't just turn it off, unplug it.
  
  
• Furnaces. There is a tendency for combustible materials to accumulate near furnaces, so please keep a minimum clearance of three feet. Your furnace should be serviced at least once every two years with the filters being cleaned or replaced more frequently. PG&E offers free inspections of your furnace and other gas consuming appliances, which concentrate on checking for carbon monoxide leaks and operating efficiency.
  
  
• Clothes Dryers. Please clean your lint filter prior to each use. Over 15,000 fires are attributed to clothes dryers, and dirty lint filters are the most common cause. Do not leave the dryer running if you are not home, vent the dryer to the outdoors and do not put synthetic fabrics, plastic, rubber or foam into it.
  
  
• Plug-in Air Fresheners or Room Deodorizers. These are fairly new on the market, but are quickly making an impact as a fire hazard. Plug-in air fresheners, due to a petroleum substance that is found in the unit, have started several structure fires around the country. Hopefully, people will become more aware of the risks and avoid using them.
  
  
• Automatic Coffee Makers with Timers. For some reason this type of appliance has a tendency to ignite, even when not in use, due to some type of electrical malfunction. Even though it is inconvenient to do so, we recommend that you unplug the unit, along with all of your other portable appliances, when they are not being used.

Extension cords, adapters and appliances are not really hidden, but their dangers and presence are quite often overlooked making them hidden to some degree. A truly hidden danger in any building is the interior wiring or electrical distribution, which supplies power to the panels, outlets, switches and fixtures that allow our lights and appliances to operate. Of the more than 41,000 yearly fires related to electrical distribution, around 35% are caused from problems with fixed wiring. Signs of possible interior wiring problems can be easily detected, and include:

• Wall switches or outlets feel warm to the touch.
• Lights flicker.
• Frequent use of multiple outlet power strips or extension cords.
• Frequent blowing of fuses, or circuit breakers that often flip.

We recommend you contact a licensed electrical contractor if you have any concerns regarding the age or condition of your interior wiring, or you are observing the above signs.

Since we all have the potential to experience a fire in our home or workplace, even if we take every precaution, it is vitally important to have functioning smoke detectors and a sound fire-escape plan. Your fire department is available, free of charge, to conduct a home inspection, assist with developing an escape plan and to point out any fire hazards of which you may not be aware. Call the fire department at 620-2030 if you would like to take advantage of these services. In the meantime, remember to inspect your smoke detectors and change their batteries since you turned your clocks forward one hour on April 3.

Please log on to carmelfiredepartment.com and click "Public Safety" for more general and seasonal safety information.

Important note: A Citizens Emergency Response Training (CERT) class started April 7. It's not too late to join the group. Please call Cindy Nagai at 624-2374, or Mitch Kastros or Leslie Fenton at 620-2030 for more information, or to enroll in the class.

OLD CARMEL
by Connie Wright

Harry Leon Wilson --
one of the Carmel gang

When Harry Leon Wilson came to Carmel in 1910 he was, unlike many of his contemporaries in town, financially well off. Born in Oregon, Illinois, in 1867, the son of a newspaper editor, he attended public schools, became a writer and then the editor of Puck (1896-1902), a satiric, humorous weekly magazine. In 1902 he published The Spenders, which became a best seller and enabled the author to get out of New York. The same year he married Wilbertine Teters Worden, who had a young daughter, Helen, for whom Harry had an affection, perhaps too great an affection. The marriage did not last and he then married Rose O'Neill, an illustrator for Puck and the originator of the kewpie doll craze. She favored pronouncing "roses" as "wosies" and they soon divorced. He met Booth Tarkington in New York, and together they visited Capri and Paris in 1905 and 1906. It was only with extreme difficulty that Tarkington succeeded in dragging Harry out to look at Paris. Something of a workaholic, Harry preferred to write. They collaborated on a play, The Man from Home, which was a success on Broadway and netted the authors over $600,000.

In 1908 he became a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, which had 250 distinguished members including Henry Adams, Mark Twain and William Dean Howells.

When Harry came to Carmel in 1910, he became part of the first wave of Carmel artists and writers including George Sterling, Mary Austin, Jack London, Jimmy Hopper, Grace McGowan Cooke and her sister Alice McGowan. Harry was immediately attracted to the beauties of the Carmel landscape and purchased some property in the Highlands, where he claimed he could see to Japan. He also discovered the Forest Theater and one of its actresses, Helen, Grace Cooke's youthful daughter, who had previously attracted the attention of Arnold Genthe, Sinclair Lewis and William Rose Benet. Helen had the same name and was the same age as Harry's first wife's daughter. Harry and Helen acted together in Twelfth Night in 1911. The village had thought that after two unfortunate experiences, Harry had chosen bachelorhood over matrimony, but in June of 1912 they were married in San Francisco, the groom age 45, the bride 18. Harry built their home, "Ocean House," on the present site of the Highlands Inn.

Harry wrote in his new home eight hours a day, wearing an old bathrobe full of cigarette burns, and pacing the floor of his big writing room, jotting down ideas for characters and situations on little bits of paper, and sometimes playing solitaire, while the other half of his mind created. He wrote mainly light, humorous fiction (novels and short stories) or drama. Some of his novels were adapted for the movies; Ruggles of Red Gap, for example, starred Charles Laughton.

Harry and Helen had two children, Leon Jr. and Charis, who was to marry Edward Weston. All was well with Harry and Helen's marriage until Helen starred at the Forest Theater opposite Theodore Criley, ten years Harry's junior, who, Harry thought, was more ardent than necessary in his stage love making. They fought a duel (actually fisticuffs); Criley won. The marriage lasted for five more years, but then Helen and the children left and Harry lived alone.

He liked bridge, poker and fine whiskey, and died in 1939.

DID YOU KNOW ...

... that fences and walls add to Carmel-by-the Sea's architectural richness. They are constructed of unpainted wood, wrought iron or masonry made of mortared natural granite, shale, sandstone, masonry faced with wood or concrete block with cement plaster finish. Fence heights are typically limited to 4 feet adjacent to a public street and to 6 feet elsewhere. For further information, call the Community Planning and Building Department at 620-2010.

(Information based on "Carmel from A to Z" and verified with Planning Department by Frankie Laney)

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