The Carmel Pine ConeT R U S T E D B Y L O C A L S A N D L O V E D B Y V I S I T O R S S I N C E 1 9 1 5

Volume 103 No. 37 On the Internet: www.carmelpinecone.com September 15-21, 2017

PHOTO/ANDREA PAGE

These graphic burns on Chris Lovera’s back showhow the lightning traveled through his body.

Pacific Grove man and kids struck by lightning n Father recoveringfrom burns on 80 percent of back

By KELLY NIX

USING HIS phone to record atorrential downpour at SequoiaNational Forest where he and his twokids were camping Labor Day week-end, Chris Lovera joked. “Man, wepicked a good weekend to comebackpacking, didn’t we?”

Shortly after tucking the phoneinto his left breast pocket, it hap-pened.

While huddled under some treesnext to Jennie Lake, lightning strucka lodgepole pine before hitting thefamily, hurling their bodies into theair and scattering them on theground several feet apart.

Nick Barton, an eyewitness to theSept. 3 strike, would later say itlooked like the family had been

“blown up.”Unconscious, Lovera, 51,

revived to the cries of his son, Aiden,12, a P.G. middle schooler who hadalso been knocked out but was thefirst to awake. “He was screaming,‘Daddy, Daddy,’ in the most primalway,” the Pacific Grove resident saidSunday. “I looked at him and sawblood all over his face. He thought Iwas dead.”

Lying flat on his back, Loverawas paralyzed and had suffered aruptured left eardrum. He was blood-ied and blackened, but alive. Most ofhis clothing had been blown off hisbody, while other bits were fused tohis skin.

When he came to, one of the firstthings he saw was the horrifyingimage of his daughter Nadia, 9, facedown in the dirt before she hadregained consciousness.

Nearby campers who saw what

MAYORS, COUNCIL GIVE FREEMAN A GRATEFUL FAREWELLBy MARY SCHLEY

FIVE FORMER mayors — including Clint Eastwood —along with current and former council members, honoredoutgoing city attorney Don Freeman this week for his morethan three decades on the job. Freeman, who is still in prac-

tice and provides counsel for the City of Seaside, amongother clients, retired from his job as city attorney in Carmeland handed the reins over to Glen Mozingo, who assumed thepost earlier this summer.

At Tuesday’s city council meeting, Freeman watched —occasionally suggesting the council had more important

business to tend to — as the current andformer officials took their turns at themic, starting with Charlotte Townsend,who was mayor when Freeman came towork for the city.

While “slackness and not payingattention and malfeasance,” were prob-lems at city hall when she became mayor,Townsend said, Freeman and then-cityadministrator Doug Schmitz spent entireweekends working on their own time tohelp resolve the city’s issues.

“I hope the community is exceedinglygrateful, as I am,” she said, referring toFreeman as “a legal eagle and a human-ist,” who was known not only for fightingfor the city in court, but for “going andhelping little old ladies out of their bath-tubs.”

She said she was glad to honor him,but sad to see him go.

“You’re the greatest attorney we’veever had,” Eastwood, who was mayorfrom 1986 to 1988, told Freeman. “In

By MARY SCHLEY

DAVIS FACTOR — grandson of legendary makeupcompany founder Max Factor, and a generous supporter ofseveral key Monterey Peninsula institutions — died in an

automobile accident inSonora a week ago Sundayat the age of 82.

His wife of 17 years,Christine, 66, was drivingtheir Lexus on Highway 108in the Sierra foothills around2:30 p.m. Sept. 3 when, forunknown reasons, she let thecar drift off the road and hita large tree, according to theCalifornia Highway Patrol.Davis and another passenger,16-year-old granddaughterSara Hahl, were airlifted byhelicopters to separate trau-ma centers in Modesto, andhe later succumbed to hisinjuries. Christine was taken

by ambulance to a third hospital in Sonora.Daughter Emily Factor told The Pine Cone the crash was

caused by “a malfunction” of the Lexus, and that Factor’s

Factor death blamed on car ‘malfunction’

Val Verde project rejected again, developer still hopefulBy CHRIS COUNTS

A PLAN to build 31 units, including seven at belowmarket rates, on Val Verde Drive at the mouth of CarmelValley was shot down again Sept. 12 — this time by theMonterey County Board of Supervisors on a unanimousvote.

The hearing marked the second time the project wasrejected by the supervisors. First proposed in 2006, it’s beenbefore the county’s planning commission three times.

But developer Brian Clark told The Pine Cone he stillwants to build the project — and he’s hoping to get a boost

from new state regulations intended to make it easier foraffordable housing to be approved.

Located just east of Carmel Rancho shopping center, theproject originally called for 42 units, including 10 that wouldbe affordable. It has since been scaled back, but that hasn’tdampened the opposition to it.

At this week’s hearing, attorney Molly Erickson blastedClark’s plan — just as she has done previously.

“Everyone is opposed to this project,” Erickson said.“There’s a lot not to like about it. It’s essentially asking for alot of special treatment. All the inclusionary units arecrammed together on one lot. It stretches the county codesway past the breaking point.”

Resident Margaret Robbins called the development “aflawed project” that will “destroy the rural character” of theneighborhood.

By KELLY NIX

A WEEK after the Trump administration announced itwould phase out the executive order shielding illegal immi-grant children brought into the United States by their parentsfrom deportation, the Monterey County Board ofSupervisors passed a resolution to support them.

On Tuesday, the elected officials voted to adopt a resolu-tion “supporting Dreamers and the Deferred Action forChildhood Arrivals Program,” which the Obama administra-tion established in 2012. The program allows those whoarrived in this country before their 16th birthday to also getwork permits.

Before the supervisors cast their vote Tuesday, 5thDistrict Supervisor Mary Adams sent a message to theDACA recipients, who are said to number about 800,000nationwide, including 20,000 in the county.

“I want to thank the Dreamers, specifically,” Adams said.“You are our future.”

‘Racist,’ ‘hateful’Using labels that have become ubiquitous for anyone

who opposes DACA or illegal immigration in general, sev-eral proponents of the resolution called the decision to phaseout DACA “racist,” “discriminatory” and “bigoted.”

Program advocate Israel Villa thanked 1st DistrictSupervisor Luis Alejo for his support of Dreamers.

“It’s an important step at a time our folks are underattack,” Villa said. “I think it’s important that we resist thisracism, this racist agenda that’s going on in our nation.”

Similarly, 4th District Supervisor Jane Parker called thepresident’s decision “hateful.”

As the administration “continues to undermine the safetyand security of various groups of people ... we must continueto stand together,” Parker said.

Third District Supervisor Simón Salinas called Trump’smove “mean-spirited,” and said he hopes the resolution willurge Congressman Jimmy Panetta “to do everything human-ly possible to figure out a compromise” on immigrationreform.

Trump’s decision gives Congress until March 2018 towork out a replacement for DACA, at which point thedreamers would be eligible for deportation.

Supes unanimousin vote to protectcounty’s 20,000‘Dreamers’

PHOTO/KERRY BELSER

Five former mayors came to city hall Tuesday to honor Don Freeman (second from left) forhis 33 years of service as city attorney. Flanking him are Ken White (left), Steve Dallas, SueMcCloud, Charlotte Townsend and Clint Eastwood.

Davis Factor in 2001

See FACTOR page 14A

See HOUSING page 31A See DREAMERS page 12A

See FREEMAN page 15A

See BURNS page 30A

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