www.montereycountynow.com AUGUST 20-26, 2026 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 13 Car Week has come and gone, another year of revving engines and traffic jams and $748 million in auction sales. At Exotics on Broadway, billed as “the people’s show” in Seaside, police officers armed with long rifles observed the event from rooftops as a safety precaution, a grim reminder that any crowded event these days can quickly turn deadly. “The reality of today’s world requires us to prepare for the worst while always hoping for the best,” Seaside Police Chief Nick Borges writes. The reality is that the worst did also happen, with cars themselves—motor vehicle crashes left three people dead in the final weekend of Car Week. California Highway Patrol responded to two fatal collisions on Saturday, Aug. 15. One, at 2pm on Esperanza Road near Chualar, left bicyclist Juan Roberto Lopez-Gomez of Gonzales dead at the scene. A semi truck, driven by a 61-year-old from Yuma, Arizona, collided with 58-yearold Lopez-Gomez while the driver was turning right onto Old Stage Road. CHP has released little information, such as the suspected cause of the crash or whether the cyclist was wearing a helmet. A few hours later, at 8:23pm, 47-year-old Brian Roberts was walking across Highway 1 near Palo Colorado when a 20-yearold from Fresno driving a Dodge coupe hit and killed the Big Sur resident, who had worked at Ventana resort for 20-some years. CHP reports that drugs or alcohol are not believed to have played a role in either crash. At 5:14pm on Sunday, Aug. 16, as Car Week was winding down, a silver BMW convertible occupied by four friends visiting from the East Bay was driving from Carmel through Monterey when the vehicle hit a tree. All four occupants were injured; one passenger, 19-yearold Jerrod Tyson ChapmanMarshall, was killed. The case remains under investigation but Monterey Police Lt. Ethan Andrews says the 20-year-old driver will be arrested on charges of vehicular manslaughter and maybe more, depending on what police learn in their investigation. (Police report his blood alcohol concentration was 0.13 percent, above the 0.08 legal limit.) Andrews says Monterey PD is always on alert for illegal conduct on the road, especially during Car Week. “Obviously it does not make us very popular with a lot of car enthusiasts that come, because they are looking for a fun car experience,” he says. “Unfortunately sometimes that fun experience is to see cars operating unsafely or recklessly. We remind folks it doesn’t take much for a car to lose control. In an instant, it goes from a fun experience to a tragedy. It happens fast and once it happens, there is no going back.” Motor vehicle crashes remain the single biggest cause of death for young people. And every one of those deaths is preventable. William Perlstein spent 30 years working for CHP and during that career, saw more mangled human remains at the scenes of crashes than anyone would care to. After he retired, he acquired the driving school Drive Carmel, hoping to help prevent at least some of those unnecessary future deaths. He asks his students if they’ve ever been a passenger in a car with a driver who is texting, a practice that makes a driver 23 times more likely to be in a crash, he says. Regularly, 90 percent raise their hands. “It’s shocking,” he says. “That is just so scary and so problematic.” But even with the allure of screens, Perlstein says, “What kills most people, still, is speeding. And driving under the influence is extraordinarily dangerous.” These, it would seem, are easy problems to solve—and speeding is something that Car Week traffic can actually help to mitigate. But unlike, say, aviation—which includes extensive redundancy—Perlstein notes motor vehicle collisions can result from just a single error. (He is careful to avoid using the word “accident,” because most of these are not.) We entrust each other and ourselves with immense responsibility every time we get in a car. A body count of three in one weekend in Monterey County is a painful reminder that real people face potentially devastating consequences from cars. It’s easy and fun to glorify them on the auction block or a car show, but all of us should operate according to principles of safety—it is a matter of life and death. Sara Rubin is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@montereycountynow.com. Car Culture Three people are killed in one weekend amid dystopian reality of Car Week. By Sara Rubin SLOP HAPPY…Squid is skeptical of artificial intelligence for many reasons, one of which is near and dear to Squid’s three-chamber heart: the environment. AI’s high energy and water demands are depleting resources faster than Squid can pop shrimp-flavored popcorn. That hasn’t stopped a deluge of AI content from being generated from right here in Monterey County. Carmel Mayor Dale Byrne has churned out at least 18 AI-crafted songs since June 21, posted to the hearthis.at platform. Most are cringe-worthy odes to Carmel and its denizens. He’s dabbled in different genres, from Broadway to Americana, country and pop, plus one that sounds like evangelical praise music. Byrne writes the lyrics, then leaves the rest to AI. “It’s a diversion, something I enjoy doing,” he tells Squid’s colleague. (Just three hours later, there was a new AI-generated song about Squid.) He posted a song on Aug. 15 entitled “One Loud Week,” about Car Week, sung as a rock power ballad. (“Some folks love it, some folks leave. Some folks have got a business and have no way to flee.”) One song, honoring the Carmel Art Association’s 100th anniversary, includes the line, “Carmel Art Association, where inspiration finds creation.” It’s an AI-generated song that comes with an AI-generated cover logo, praising real artists who create real art and who now collectively face an existential crisis thanks to AI. Squid has no words—and no intention of asking a robot for inspiration. SCRATCH THE ITCH…Squid is grateful that sea creatures cannot get poison oak, as aquatic skin lacks an immune response to the plant’s oil. Not so for humans—the poor firefighters working on the Timber Fire in Big Sur—and Squid recently heard of suspicions that some people are potentially weaponizing the vile plant to keep others out of a park in Pacific Grove. During a P.G. City Council meeting on Aug. 5, councilmembers were reviewing a draft forest management plan for George Washington Park. Exactly how to care for it has been a bone of contention between those who want it used at least partially for recreation and those who believe it should be treated purely as a nature preserve. Environmental Program Manager George Fuerst told councilmembers that he’d heard comments that some people are in favor of planting poison oak to keep others out (except birds, rabbits and occasional nosy cephalopods), although he sounded doubtful. Councilmember Tina Rau was less skeptical. “I don’t think the poison oak has been left to its own devices,” she said. “There was a thumb on the scale.” Squid imagines people in camo hazmat suits sneaking in at night with poison oak seedlings, on a righteous mission to defend the park at all costs. It makes Squid’s translucent skin itch just thinking about it. THE LOCAL SPIN SQUID FRY THE MISSION OF MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY IS TO INSPIRE INDEPENDENT THINKING AND CONSCIOUS ACTION, ETC. “In an instant, it goes from fun to a tragedy.” SEND SQUID A TIP: squid@montereycountynow.com
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAzNjQ1NQ==