Andrew Thurm Coldwell Banker
In today's challenging real estate market, work with Andrew Thurm, an award winning agent representing Santa Monica and the Westside!
3w10.442.1651 ww.andrewthurm.com
310-444-4444 Hybrid • Mercedes-Benz
SantaMonicaTaxi.com
AUGUST 22-23, 2009
Visit us online at smdp.com
SM to LAX $30
not valid from hotels or with other offers • SM residents only • Expires 5/31/09
Volume 8 Issue 248
Santa Monica Daily Press HAPPY B-DAY, CO-OP
We have you covered
THE WATCH THE PETS ISSUE
Coyote ugly Reports of critters killing pets are up BY EMMA TROTTER Special to the Daily Press
DOUGLAS PARK For 13 years, Wally the cat
times over the past several years, winning just over a half dozen games since 2006. The team is now in the Western Division of the American Conference. Now those wins won’t count. SMC officials have self-imposed sanctions and penalties on the program, vacating all wins back to the 2006 season. It will also be suspended from post-conference play this season and be placed on probation for three years during which time the college will develop and institute a plan that will monitor all areas of the program. “I, along with our senior administrators,
was the king of the neighborhood. “He was just mister stud cat,” said his owner, Kristin Rotblatt, who lives near Douglas Park just north of Wilshire Boulevard. “He was very sweet to us, but he never took any crap.” Wally met his untimely death earlier this month — at the jaws of coyotes, Rotblatt suspects. She said her beloved pet had been missing for five or six days when a neighbor called her and said she found Wally’s body on her lawn. “When I saw that cat and how he’d been killed, I knew it was a coyote,” Rotblatt said. “It was the same night that a white duck was killed by a coyote in the park. And my neighbor said she had heard a huge fight happen between a cat and coyotes in the bushes outside her window.” Wally isn’t the first cat in recent memory to die in such a way. Santa Monica Police Department Lt. P.J. Guido said animal control officers have been dispatched to pick up remains of cats eight times since July 21 of this year, mostly north of Wilshire and east of Fifth Street. Over 30 sightings have been reported in the last year. While the numbers alone are not unusual citywide, Guido said, the attacks do represent “an increase,” especially in the area. Guido emphasized that the attacks are “suspected” — not confirmed — coyote kills. “There has not been one case where there was a sighting of a coyote attack upon a domestic animal,” he said. In that situation, the only clues that coyotes were responsible come from the remains, which in the case of coyote kills are often distinguishable by decapitation or missing limbs. Left in this partially-eaten state, the attacked felines usually die before they can be taken to veterinary hospitals. That might explain why Santa Monica Dog and Cat Hospital veterinarian Carrie
SEE SMC PAGE 11
SEE COYOTES PAGE 12
LOCAL BOYS
Brandon Wise news@smdp.com Drummer Anthony Logerfo of the band Venice warms up with the rest of the group at Thursday night's Santa Monica Pier Twilight Dance Series.
A change at the very top SMC football coach dismissed amid recruiting violation claims BY MELODY HANATANI Daily Press Staff Writer
SMC After 15 years at the helm, Santa Monica College’s head football Coach Robert Taylor has been dismissed from the program amid allegations of recruiting violations that involved student athletes receiving special financial incentives that were not extended to the rest of the campus population. Sources said Taylor changed the residency status of out-of-state players on his football team so they would pay the significantly lower in-state tuition. SMC officials confirmed that Taylor was relieved of his duties
as head football coach and that he remains on the staff as a full-time physical education professor. He was hired in 1984 as an assistant football coach and was promoted to head coach in 1994. During that time, he coached several future NFL stars, including Isaac Bruce, Steve Smith and Chad Ochocinco, formerly known as Chad Johnson. Taylor did not respond to a call seeking comment. The team has experienced success during his tenure, including in 2003 when the Corsairs won the Western State Conference. The program has however fallen on harder
GABY SCHKUD (310) 586-0308 #1 REALTOR SANTA MONICA OFFICE 2008!
FABULOUS DINNER SPECIALS SERVED 4PM - 10PM COMPLETE DINNERS $11.95
1433 Wilshire Boulevard, at 15th Street 310-394-1131
OPEN 24 HOURS