The Californian from Salinas, California • 19

Waggin taiIsl20 Public Notices2C Qassified4C LOCAL Thursday, June 22, 1989 The Salinas Californian Page 1C State panel shuts down produce labeling measure idea of the seal as way to remind consumers that California has the most comprehensive pesticide monitoring program in the world. We were making a sincere effort to provide a substantial program to enhance the state of Californias already strong $40 million residue monitoring and enforcement program, said Barbara Buck, spokeswoman for the Western Growers Association. But the plan encountered criticism from environmentalists that it was only a public relations gimmick that would do nothing to improve food safety. Even some farmers were concerned that the plan would only confuse consumers by adding yet another label to the existing signs now present in food stores about Alar-free apples, special pesticide tests and organic food. Were disappointed that it became such a political football, Don Beaver, lobbyist for the California Grocers Association, said of the proposed state label.

He predicted that more food stores now will consider hiring private laboratories to test produce, a step thats already been taken by at least three California grocery chains. Please see SEALPage 2C By Jake Henshaw Gannett News Service The California Department of Food and Agriculture won't be putting its official seal on the states fresh produce anytime soon. In a bitter defeat for the department, the Legislatures budget conference committee in Sacramento voted 6-0 late Tuesday not to approve the agencys voluntary plan for a quality and safety label for use in advertising fresh fruits and vegetables. The decision could spur more independent pesticide testing by food stores and possibly an initiative next year by environmentalists to stop the use of the most dangerous pesticides immediately, observers on both sides of the issue said. Of course, I am disappointed about the Legislatures decision on the proposed label, said Henry Voss, director of the Department of Food and Agriculture.

We thought it was a good idea, and nothing that has happened has changed our mind about that. But opponents led by Craig Mer-rilees of the Consumer Pesticide Protection Project, a environmental coalition, charged that the plan would only have added to consum ers anxiety about pesticides. Its a big victory for consumers who will not be faced with a confusing, false and deceptive labeling program sponsored by the state of California, Merrilees said of the legislative action. The department had asked for permission to spend $1.3 million in 1989-90 from farmers who voluntarily agreed to pay a penny per carton of produce and report all the pesticides used on their fruits and vegetables. The money would have been used to fund a 20 percent increase in the 16,000 food inspections that the department now conducts annually for pesticides.

The goal of the program was to reassure consumers about the safety of fresh produce in the wake publicity this spring about Alar in apples and cyanide on Chilean grapes. Grocers supported by a not-en-tirely-united farm community had pushed the program, and it had become a test of wills between the traditional food industry and environmentalists. Grocers insisted that farmers and the state take more responsibility for reassuring the public about the quality of the produce. Industry and state officials developed the Castroville residents are focusing on this into the downtown area while keeping alive century-old schoolhouse as a way to put life a little of the towns past. Schoolhouse renovators hope Castroville learns a lesson The two-story, 45-foot-tall schoolhouse was built in the 1860s, according to Ausonio, the owner of a local construction company and town history buff.

In 1902, he said, the school district bought the land where Castroville Elementary School now stands and built a new school there, declaring the old schoolhouse on Preston Street between Seymour and Haight streets surplus property. A family by the name of McCarthy bought the building and decided to move it four blocks down the street to the corner of Merritt Street, Ausonio said. Now this was a monster-sized building to move in those days, Ausonio said. They had to get it up onto rolling logs and get a team of horses to pull it. The hardware store opened in 1903.

When McCarthy died, his son-in-law, Seba Bronson, took over, Ausonio said. Bronson retired about 15 years ago and the building has been empty ever since. He was kind of an introverted man. He didnt need the money, didnt want to sell and didn't seem to want to let anyone else use it, Ausonio said. When Bronson died about four years ago, the building went to the Stanford University Foundation, in accordance with his will, Ausonio said.

Ausonio and a group of local investors bought the building last year. This spring, they fixed it up. We redid the entire exterior, Ausonio said. We stripped away the rotting wood, put on a new roof and replaced all the windows. We also leveled the ground floor got put all the humps and bumps.

Ausonio credited painter Chuck Benoit with doing an exceptional job. Aluminum windows were made to look like the original ones, he said, through a special process that involved melting a white powder into the frames. By Ellen Karel The Salinas Californian CASTROVILLE A century-old schoolhouse sitting dead center in the middle of Castrovilles main street is now freshly renovated and poised to take its place as the centerpiece for a modern-day downtown revival. So says the native son who bought and helped resuscitate the building, vacant for the past 15 years. We just finished it two weeks ago, said Andy Ausonio.

Were looking for someone to move in but were being kind of choosy. A hardware store occupied the building for 70 years. Left behind and still intact are the rolling oak ladders built onto the store shelves. Theyre beautiful, Ausonio said. Even if someone uses the building for a completely different purpose, like a restaurant, they can still keep those ladders.

The perfect conversation piece, he said, not to mention a handy place for knickknacks. Silverie goes to jail for Hart Silverie was sentenced to three years in prison for stealing cigarettes, paper towels and a loaf of bread. Richard GreenThe Californian An expensive hay bum shoplifting Crossroads Mall, Carmel. Silverie was seen placing the cigarettes and other items in a hand basket, asking a produce section employee for empty boxes and concealing the merchandise in the boxes before strolling out the door. He was detained immediately and held for police.

The sentence may provide a measure of satisfaction for the district attorneys office, which last June tried Silverie for the April 1972 murder of Sandra Peters, 17, of Carmel Valley. The charge was dropped after a jury hung 10-2 for acquittal and no new information was uncovered. By Marty Burleson The Salinas Californian A supermarket security guard has succeeded where the Monterey County district attorneys office failed, providing enough evidence to put Hart Silverie a man unsuccessfully prosecuted for a 17-year-old murder last year behind bars. The offense that earned the long-sought Silverie a three-year prison sentence: stealing 10 cartons of cigarettes, a roll of paper towels and a loaf of bread. Silverie was sentenced April 17 by Monterey County Superior Court Judge John M.

Phillips. The Acting Capt. Bill McClure of the Salinas Rural Fire Department walks past a 250-ton haystack burning near U.S. 101 south of Salinas Wednesday afternoon. The haystack, owned by Cloy Daniel, caught fire shortly after 3 p.m.

when a nearby stubble-field burned around it, Rural Fire Capt. Phil Stacy said. Firefighters said they would fan sparks across another nearby field if they attacked the haystack directly, so they kept up a vigil instead with two tanker trucks, Stacy said. Nearby farmer Shawn Martig-noni said he found a pile of smouldering garbage near the fires ignition point, but Stacy said no definite cause had been determined Wednesday afternoon. Daniels said the uninsured stack was worth more than $21,000.

Firefighters expected it to smolder through most of the night and part of today. three-year term was handed down because of Silveries 1986 conviction on the same offense. According to court records, Silverie was placed under citizens arrest March 10 by a security guard at the Safeway store at 5 'AROUND MONTEREY COUNTY YOUR WINNING WAYS Todays deaths R. Berlanga Escalante Hughes W. Miller A Sales I Tackel Complete obituary information is on Page 2C.

For the record A story on Page 2A Wednesday on arson fires listed an incorrect area where local arson fires are occurring. It should have said the southern rim of San Benito County. Achievements Elaine Higgins, head concierge at the Monterey Sheraton, is a member of Les Clefs dOr, the international professional fraternity of concierges, a group so exclusive that of 2, 000-plus members in 23 countries worldwide, only 150 are in the U.S Chie Koepke of Salinas was recently named Coordinator of an international youth education program sponsored by Educational Foundation of Foreign Study, a Cambridge, Mass, based non-profit organization. Patrick J. Byrne, the son of Frank and Marybeth Byrne of Salinas, graduated Magna Cum Laude from California Lutheran University.

Byrne majored in biology and will attend medical school in the fall. Michelle Richardson was recognized for outstanding academic performance and Sara report. Both were caught on foot, and a check of the scooters identification number showed it had been reported stolen from a Sacramento woman near Hartnell College on June 7, according to the report. Fox was booked into the Monterey County Jail on suspicion of vehicle theft and resisting arrest. The juvenile was ticketed and released.

Four Salinas men cited by police for allegedly offering money for sex Four Salinas men will get a date in court instead of a date with a prostitute following another Wednesday night prostitution raid in the lower Soledad Street district. Detectives using a female decoy cited Arturo Garcia Nunez, 28, of Tres Pinos; Timothy Harry Mitchell, 46, of Watsonville; Florentine Morales Montoya, 23, of Watsonville; and Jose Everardo Moreno, 19, of Salinas on suspicion of soliciting prostitutes, according to a police press release. Moreno was also accused of giving false information to an officer, according to the release. Public meetings MONDAY Monterey County Airport Land Use Commission, 1:30 p.m., Airport District Board Meeting Room, Monterey Peninsula Airport. Rivas for outstanding effort with the Presidential Academic Fitness Awards they received from the federal Department of Education this spring, according to Los Padres School principal Frances Berry.

Organizations The American Legion Post 589, at its recent meeting, unanimously named Joseph A. JoeFlores Legionnaire of the Year. The honor is awarded to the person who gives unselfishly of himself with regard to dedication, financial and general assistance to and for the post. Flores is a past commander of the post and is currently Service Officer and Judge Advocate. His position provided assistance to veterans, their widows and children.

YOUR WINNING WAYS is a report on the accomplishments of local people and organizations Send items and photos to the Winning Ways Editor at P.O. Box 81091, Salinas, 93912. Victim of robbery tries to flee, but assailants stab him in the back A 35-year-old Salinas man is recovering from a stab wound today after a robbery attempt on East Market Street. According to a Salinas police report, two men stopped the victim at about 11:45 p.m. Wednesday near a Shell gas station in the 400 block and demanded money.

He told them he had only $2 and ran when they demanded it. But he was stabbed once in the lower back as he fled, according to the report. The man was taken to Natividad Medical Center for treatment. Scooter theft suspect lands in jail after brief chase Wednesday night A Sacramento woman is reunited with her scooter today and two Salinas people are accused of vehicle theft after a Wednesday night chase through downtown Salinas, according to a police report. According to a report from Officer Wayne Scott, Rodney Leonard Fox, 20, and a juvenile were spotted speeding through downtown neighborhoods at about 10 p.m on a Vespa scooter with no headlights and no license plates.

Police tried to pull them over at Gabilan and Cayuga streets, but they fled to Gabilan and Capitol, then dumped the bike and ran, according to Scott's mmmmBmmaBmammmmmmmmmu wm iiiiiiiiiot inn News tips Do you have a news tip or story idea? If so, please call the Californians Ti-pline at 424-5689 or write to the City Editor, The Californian, 123 West Alisal Salinas, Calif. 93901..