In Santa Clara County, open space preserves are being used to grow marijuana, creating what could be a dangerous situation, reports the Mercury News.

In the hillsides high above Saratoga, three men guarded a garden of nearly 40,000 marijuana plants, representing more than $116 million in illegal sales. Tipped off by suspicious neighbors, a team of eradication experts hiked to a remote swath of land nestled between private property and El Sereno Open Space Preserve to seize the pot growing there and arrest the farmers.

During the operation, which took place on July 10, shots were exchanged, leaving one grower dead and scattering the two others into the brush. While law enforcement officials say it is safe for residents to continue hiking and enjoying the preserves, the two men remain at large and the incident has left some mountain residents uneasy. ...

In 2008, Santa Clara County law enforcement teams performed 11 raids over five days, eradicating 76,278 pot plants, arresting three suspects and confiscating one weapon, according to statistics provided by Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP), a coalition of federal, county and local narcotics officers. About $11.6 billion in illegal marijuana plants were confiscated statewide, making California the No. 1 producer of commercially grown marijuana. The numbers do not reflect those marijuana gardens destroyed during the wildfires earlier this summer.

At first glance, the area does not appear conducive to growing a large marijuana garden. The hillsides are laden with steep ravines; there is no obvious water source. But far off the roadside, past poison oak plants, one notices how the trees eventually form a perfect canopy for camouflage.

The county sheriff is advising open space users to stay on trails to avoid growers, who are going to keep their crops off the beaten path.

A mountain lion was sighted at 4:30pm today in the area of Bernal Ave at Ocean Ave in Moss Beach. If you see a mountain lion, contact the Sheriff’ at 911. or Sgt. R. Johnson at Moss Beach substation 573-2844.

A neighbor told Coastsider that there was an alleged sighting on Airport a few weeks ago.

A mountain lion was struck by a car on Highway 92 about half a mile west of the reservoir.  The driver was unhurt, but the mountain Lion, is thought to be injured and was last seen entering the woods north of Highway 92.

The Coastside is subject to earthquakes, tsunamis, severe weather and wild fires. Coastsiders can learn how to prepare at home or away for these disasters Tuesday night from 6:30 to 9pm at Adcock Center, 535 Kelly Ave, in Half Moon Bay. 
   
Representatives from the City of Half Moon Bay, Coastside Fire Protection District, San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services and the U.S Geological Survey will be on hand to provide helpful information on how Coastside residents can prepare themselves and their families for these various hazards. 

RSVP:  Half Moon Bay Police Department (650) 726-8288 

San Mateo County will test the Princeton, El Granada and Pacifica tsunami warning sirens on Wednesday, September 3 at 10:00 a.m.  This test is different than our routine monthly tests in that it will be the first time the sirens have been tested at full volume and for a one minute duration. The sirens should be heard  by anyone outdoors throughout lower El Granada including Surfers’ Beach, all of Princeton, as well as Rockaway Beach and the Sharp Park area of Pacifica.  

We normally test the sirens monthly at the same time, but at less than half volume and only for 15 seconds.  This will probable be the only full volume test this year.  We picked September since it is National Disaster Preparedness Month.  More info on that can be found at http://www.Ready.gov.  

If the sirens sound anytime other than the routine monthly test on the first Wednesday of each month at 10:00 a.m., people should leave the beach area and tune their radio or television to the Emergency Alert Station ( such as KCBS 740 am) for official instructions.  In case of a tsunami approaching from a distance location, the sirens could sound several hours before the tsunami arrives.  The purpose of the sirens is to capture the attention of people that are outside and who have not been notified of the potential danger by radio or other means.

In other tsunami siren news, a third tsunami siren for the City of Pacifica has been approved and will be installed at the LInda Mar Beach in the next few weeks.  Two additional sirens have been approved by San Mateo County Planning Commission with one schedule for Moss Beach, above the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, and the other for the town of Pescadero.  (We anticipate the siren in Pescadero will be used more frequently for flood emergencies, rather than tsunamis).  The Half Moon Bay Planning Commission finally approved tsunami sirens for the Miramar area and Half Moon Bay north of Kelly Avenue.  Significant testing restrictions were placed on the latter siren, to be located at the sewer treatment plant at 1000 North Cabrillo Highway,  to keep from impacting wildlife.  

Installation of all sirens is anticipated by the end of the year.  Sirens are being provided by Hormann America of Martinez, CA, a national public warning contractor.  Funding for purchase, installation and maintenance has been acquired by the Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services through Homeland Security/Emergency Preparedness grants.

Jim Asche
Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services.

Wednesday night after midnight, I happened to get up and looked out in my backyard only to see someone sleeping on my back lawn. I have a completely enclosed yard with a gate but I do live adjacent to a community walk through between Hwy 1 and Myrtle where I have seen homeless people living.

Has anyone had a similar experience? The police were responsive about coming out, but by then, the person was unfortunately gone.

I know that HMB is a safe city, on the whole. However, about a month ago, there were items thrown in the same part of my yard where this person was sleeping, and now someone actually in the yard makes me feel very uncomfortable.

Rep. Anna Eshoo, has gotten $750,000 toward a new Emergency Operations Center and police station for Half Moon Bay written into the Homeland Security Appropriations Act being considered in Congress. The total cost is estimated to be $3.5 and $5 million, reports the County Times.

The facility, to be constructed on a site to be determined, would include necessities such as wireless Internet and satellite TV, backup generators and an independent electrical system.
...

The prospect of losing all three roads that connect to the Bayside in a major earthquake is very real, [HMB Police Chief Dan] O’Keefe said. Two major earthquake faults bisect the coast, and the roads have already fallen victim to slides, flooding and erosion over the years.

It might even be possible to lose all land line and cell phone communication, which happened in April 2006 when a landslide cut an AT&T fiber optic cable on the coast. Even the police station lost telephone access.

Losing access to the Bayside would also mean losing access to rescue workers, most of whom live elsewhere. On a typical night shift, four Half Moon Bay police officers are on duty, along with 10 firefighters and six sheriff’s deputies — three of whom are spread out over Skyline Boulevard and the South Coast.

Half Moon Bay’s police department is currently housed in a fifteen-year-old “temporary” structure. The article suggested that the center could serve all Coastside public safety agencies, including the California Highway Patrol, the county Sheriff’s Office and fire and state parks officials and that Chief O’Keefe is “confident he’ll find enough funding for the project, possibly from the county, to begin planning for the new building next year”.

Highway 92 at Skyline has just reopened after a big rig jackknifed about 7 this morning.