• Average population of a US congressional district: 646,952

• Population of San Mateo County: 705,499

A new $20,000 webcam gives viewers worldwide access to the beach at Año Nuevo State Natural Reserve, reports the County Times.

Every corner of the remote 9-acre island, long the province of just the few researchers lucky enough to make the trip, has become part of the public domain — along with every burp, bark, snort and primordial grunt uttered by its corpulent inhabitants.

The state is engineering a "soft launch" of the high-definition webcam, a gift from a donor that has taken more than two years to set up with its solar panels and remote-controlled motion technology. ...

Viewers will find plenty of drama over the next two months as hundreds of female sea lions continue to lay their pups, mate one last time and leave their young elephant seals behind on the island to learn to swim, said Gary Strachan, supervising ranger at Año Nuevo State Reserve.

Click to view the webcam.

Aircraft are banned below 1,000 feet between Point Santa Cruz and Pescadero Point within three miles of shore, reports the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

The fixed-wing single-engine Piper came from the south, dipped down toward the water just north of Lighthouse Point, then followed the surf line and zipped up the coast about 30 feet above the cliff’s edge around 3 p.m., witnesses said. The two-tone plane then turned around and headed south along the same course before climbing higher. ...

"What we’re trying to prevent is low-flying aircraft from disturbing the marine life and seabirds," he said.

Pilots who violate the regulations can face tens of thousands of dollars in fines, though Yerena said the first violation usually results in a warning.

A story about a priest accused of child abuse in Indianapolis contains details about a former Montara home for troubled priests.

The House of Affirmation, headquartered in Massachusetts, closed amid financial scandal in 1989. The Rev. Thomas Kane, its co-founder, was the subject of sex abuse allegations in 1995 that were settled by the Catholic Diocese of Worcester.

But Mercer, the archdiocesan attorney, defended the House of Affirmation, saying that when Monroe arrived for a yearlong stay in 1981, it was still considered on the cutting edge of clinics for sex abusers.

Located in Montara, Calif., the House of Affirmation’s West Coast hub was an attractive place where priests could retire, and Wall said people from the local Catholic diocese would go there for retreats.

"It was kind of a good mob operation," he said. "The front looked just fine."

The clinic’s director wrote Monroe in advance of his visit, telling him to bring swimwear. He also said a monthly stipend from the archdiocese would be useful so he could "join other residents for occasional dining-out, movies, concerts, etc., which we consider most therapeutic and strongly encourage."

Monroe arrived with a suitcase of troubles. In sworn statements and a post-priesthood letter he wrote to O’Meara, he said he was suppressing his homosexuality and was engulfed in raging substance abuse. Those things, along with an immaturity that made him feel more comfortable around kids, prompted the child abuse, Monroe said.

Still, his greatest fear was that psychological testing might lead church officials to discover his homosexuality. "I left for the House of Affirmation with the intention of proving one point—that there was nothing wrong with me," he said.

His substance abuse, he said, was never addressed: "The whole time I was in Montara I drank like a fish. I continued to use drugs. And that’s not really conducive for making the kind of changes that you need to make for good mental health."

T.J. Rodgers continues his plan to build a winery west of Skyline, above La Honda. The Almanac has an extensive report on the state of this controversial project.

Seven years after Mr. Rodgers, CEO of Cypress Semiconductor and a resident of Woodside, got a permit from San Mateo County to drill three caves 300 feet into Langley Hill for the winery, he is still trying to get another permit to install the actual winery in the caves. Grapes from Mr. Rodgers’ three vineyards are now being trucked to San Carlos to make the wine. ...

Months of blasting with dynamite to complete the caves riled neighbors, particularly downhill in La Honda. At the same time, neighbors became increasingly concerned about impacts of the vineyard on their community. They worried about how it might compete for scarce water supplies, or how erosion from runoff might silt up streams and pollute drinking water with pesticides and chemicals. ...

The revised DEIR should be released in April, says county planner Mike Schaller. It will be available for public review and comment for 45 days, and subject to several public hearings before the commission acts on the winery application.

The revised EIR will include results of a new hydrologic study that looks at both groundwater supply and demand in the area, and at surface drainage from the vineyards into Langley and Woodhams creeks. "It should hopefully answer the questions," Mr. Schaller says. One key element in the winery application, a land swap, is being welcomed by downhill neighbors. Mr. Rodgers proposes to trade about 23 acres of land in the watershed of Woodhams Creek for land above the entry owned by neighbor Willard Wyman.

This land trade, which depends on county approval of the winery application, would eliminate a potential vineyard on the steep slopes above Woodhams Creek. This creek provides the water supply for Cuesta La Honda, a community of 280 homes and the La Honda Elementary School.

"The proposed land swap is a big step in the right direction in terms of ensuring the protection of our drinking water," wrote the Cuesta La Honda Guild in a comment last August.

A fight in Pescadero led to the arrest of seven farm workers on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy, reports the Almanac.

Around 8:20 a.m., deputies responded to a 911 call reporting a fight among a group of men in the 900 block of Bean Hollow Road, in an area where farm workers live, said Lt. Ray Lunny of the Sheriff’s Office.

The deputies found three male assault victims, two of whom needed to be taken to a hospital for treatment.

The victims had apparently been attacked with various weapons, including sticks and knives, by a group of men, Lt. Lunny said.

Blue Blanket Improv is currently accepting applications for the 2009 Blue Blanket Improv Performing Arts Scholarship Program.
The mission of the Blue Blanket Improv Performing Arts Scholarship Program is to encourage performance arts on the Coastside by providing support for deserving local high school students who wish to continue their education at the college level. To be eligible for the BBI scholarship program, candidates must meet the following criteria:
•  Current high school student
•  Living or attending school on the Coastside (Montara to Pescadero)
•  Completion of BBI scholarship program application

Rainfall this winter is far below historical averages and water districts all over California are considering rationing.  So far, two dozen California water districts have extended rationing imposed last year, and more is like to be on the way, reports the Chron.

In the Sierra Nevada, where ice and snow turn into about 60 percent of the water flowing out of the state’s taps each year, snowpack is about two-thirds of normal.

"Projections for the state’s water supply continue to look poorer as the water hasn’t come down," said Elissa Lynn, the state’s chief meteorologist. ...

In San Francisco, water managers have asked customers to voluntarily cut use by 10 percent, resulting in a 12 percent reduction.

The hydrological gods also have been kind to the city. The watershed draining into the Hetch Hetchy reservoir is at a much higher elevation than the watershed that supplies the East Bay water district, and is on the runway for many major storm systems.

"Our reservoirs are in pretty decent shape," said Michael Carlin, assistant general manager of water at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. "But over the next couple months, we’ll be watching the storms coming through, the trajectories, the reservoirs. ...

Based on that, we’ll see if we can make it on voluntary conservation or if we have to go mandatory."

Hetch Hetchy, which is owned by the SFPUC, supplies water for the County Coastside Water District, which serves Half Moon Bay and El Granada.

Half Moon Bay resident Dennis Paull reports that he has measured the rainfall in December and January of 3.75 inches, only 40% of his 9.25 average since 2001.

The draft of Half Moon Bay’s annual audit says the city’s $18 million Beachwood settlement obligations "raises substantial doubt about the city’s ability to continue as a going concern", reports the County Times. The city is planning to issue bonds, but the debt service on those bond would be $1.5 million a year for 30 years.

The report continues: "Going concern relates to the city’s ability to continue to meet its obligations as they become due without substantial disposition of assets outside the ordinary course of business, restructuring of debt, externally forced revision of its operations, or similar actions."  ...

Mayor John Muller, who has refused to look at bankruptcy as an option to defer payment, said he was "shocked and alarmed" at the wording and blamed it on the fact that the auditing firm did not have a complete picture of all the steps the city is taking to lessen its debt burden.

"They don’t realize the details of what we’re doing. We do have the potential for bonding and we do have the potential to look for other resources," Muller said. ...

City Attorney Tony Condotti said he was preparing comments in response to the audit and would ask for "clarification" on what was meant by the term "going concern." He said that, from a technical standpoint, that language was based on accounting standards that don’t apply to public agencies.

Condotti was also prepared to argue that the city "doesn’t go out of business" automatically if it runs out of money to fund basic services and salaries.

The City Council will take up the report at its next meeting, Tuesday, Feb. 10.