10A half moon bay review ■ wednesday, april 4, 2012

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By Lily Bixler[ lily@hmbreview.com ]

The behavior of kids on the playground is always on the minds of elementary school ad-ministrators. That is true even when school districts seem to be drowning in debt and class siz-es are increasing. So, the pros-pect of a program that could help kids be nicer to each other is bound to get public support.

That’s just what’s happening at Cabrillo Unifi ed School Dis-trict.

With a push toward anti-bul-lying and character develop-ment efforts within elementary education, local schools are on a

waiting list for Playworks, a pop-ular non profi t program that en-courages kind and creative play.

Cabrillo Education Founda-tion has stepped up, and, with the help of grant money, the lo-cal foundation is ready to put $65,000 toward implementing Playworks at each elementa-ry school site. The catch is, lo-cal schools’ parent-teacher or-ganizations must contribute $10,000 toward the program as well.

Initially, some in the school communities weren’t keen on putting precious dollars toward playground behavior when classroom learning is threat-ened by cuts. Others see val-

ue in improving school culture through organized play.

Corrine Bucher, a Hatch par-ent who volunteers two or three times per week for recess duty, spearheaded the effort to roll out Playworks as a pilot pro-gram at Hatch this fall.

“They are hungry for some-thing to do on the playground that’s healthy, and they are hun-gry for ideas,” Bucher said. “We’re not trying to make them do anything, rather we’re trying to give them options.”

She added that, as a result of the Playworks initiative at Hatch, she sees students inter-acting who don’t usually do so.

“They are building a com-

mon bond,” she said. “It raises the bar on the playground and creates a culture of play.”

Late last year the national nonprofi t organization trained parents and teachers to help kids organize games and activ-ities for the students at Hatch. Playworks provided the school with a playbook brimming with game ideas.

News of the success of Hatch’s implementation of Playworks spread. Last summer, when it came time for CEF to begin allo-cating $90,000 in proceeds from its $2 million endowment, there was overwhelming support for Playworks, according to CEF President Michele Hannegan. r

Hotel owners protest proposed penaltiesSTAFF ALLEGE HMB HOTEL

FAILING TO PAY TAXBy Mark Noack

[ mark@hmbreview.com ]

An effort to add teeth for collecting Half Moon Bay’s transient occupancy tax has led some Half Moon Bay hotel owners to cry foul, alleging the action would give the city too much enforce-ment power.

The proposed action would allow the city to fi le liens, seize property or fi le a criminal case against hotels that neglect to pay taxes. The pen-alties would only affect inn own-ers who fail to turn over the city’s 10 percent tax on all lodgings at ho-tels, resorts and bed-and-breakfasts. The action was part of a series of re-visions being recommended by city staff to tighten the municipal code.

Speaking last month at the City Council meeting, Comfort Inn own-er Keet Nerhan said the new en-

forcement caught the hotel commu-nity by surprise. The action could be construed as an unfair punish-ment on the majority of hotel own-ers who have been good to the city, he said.

“It’s a slap in the face from city staff for not telling us what they’re up to,” he said. “If we mail a check and it doesn’t get to the city, then we could get a lien against our property, (or) you could fi le charges. That’s not good.”

City staff gave assurances that the

code changes were not a means to begin seizing property. City Attorney Tony Condotti said that the changes are in line with rules employed by other towns and became necessary in Half Moon Bay after one hotel own-er refused to pay the tax over the last two years.

Asked later for more details, City Manager Laura Snideman said the matter had been resolved. She de-clined to identify the delinquent ho-tel or provide more specifi cs.

The transient occupancy tax pro-

vides the city’s largest single source of revenue, approximately one-third its total budget.

The City Council approved in-troducing the municipal-code changes, setting the matter on track for final approval later this month.

“It’s not that we’re going to go out there and seize property,” said Coun-cilwoman Naomi Patridge. “It’s that we have the tools to make sure we can collect.” r

[ c i t y ]

Stolen crab signals end of harbor honor systemHARBOR THEFT INVESTIGATION

CONTINUESBy Lily Bixler

[ lily@hmbreview.com ]

Dave Mallory wasn’t much interested in a chat early in the morning of March 26, when fi sh handler Mike McHenry passed him on the docks at Pil-lar Point Harbor. Mallory, the owner of Morning Star Fisher-ies, was on his way to the har-bor offi ces to report that hun-dreds of pounds of crab and halibut had been stolen from his fi sh processing operation.

A week later, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Offi ce contin-ues to investigate the theft of 444 pounds of crab and other fi sh from Morning Star Fish-ery. The incident was report-ed at about 9:30 a.m. March 26 when someone stole fresh fi sh and crab by entering a fi sh processing building through an unlocked door, according to a Sheriff’s Offi ce report.

Authorities say the incident happened sometime over the weekend. San Mateo County Sheriff’s Lt. Larry Schumak-er told Bay City News that the suspects entered Morning Star Fisheries and stole 198 pounds of halibut, 86 pounds of fl oun-

der, 150 pounds of crab and 10 pounds of sand sole. The seafood was worth more than $2,100. The haul had been packaged for delivery for a cli-ent, Shumaker said.

The theft hurt more than Mallory’s pocketbook. The harbor has a long-standing honor system whereby anglers can record how much bait and ice they take from communal stocks provided by the proces-sors. That symbiotic relation-ship between processors and fi shermen is now disturbed, local anglers say.

Commercial fi sherman Duncan MacLean said the Pil-lar Point Harbor fi shing com-munity feels violated.

“It affects not just Mallory but how he interacts with ev-eryone,” MacLean said. Fish-ermen are so upset by the in-cident, MacLean explained, that the Half Moon Bay Fish-ermen’s Association is put-ting up a reward to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and convic-tion of whomever is responsi-ble for the crime.

MacLean said whoever is re-sponsible must have taken a lot of time monitoring the op-erations of Morning Star Fish-eries to determine an oppor-tune time to strike. A life-long fi sherman, MacLean said he

thought the theft would take about 30 minutes — if the thieves had enough manpow-er and knew what they were doing.

Shumaker said the county Sheriff’s Offi ce has no new leads on the case.

“We’ve talked to a few peo-ple out there and everyone

seems to think it’s someone who knew about the opera-tion,” Shumaker said. “So it has to be somebody who ei-ther works or lives in the area

or knows what the fi shery does and how they operate. Unless we get someone to come for-ward with some names, we’re stuck with where we are.” r

[ p i l l a r p o i n t ]

Charles Russo / Review

The San Mateo County Sheriff ’s Offi ce is investigating the theft of about 400 pounds of crab and fi sh following an incident that may change the relationship between fi shermen and processors at Pillar Point Harbor.

[ s c h o o l s ]

Schools hope for program to improve playground culture