Counterfeit $100 bills circulating in La Jolla Two shops in La Jolla have been hit with counterfeit $100 bills — and there may be others. A young woman in her twenties purchased a bracelet with a $100 bill at Atelier Aucoin Salon on Girard Avenue last week. Store owner Jodi Aucoin said she had been warned to watch out for $100 counterfeit bills by James Oh, who owns Dolchi Mango on Fay Avenue. Oh had been handed $100 counterfeit bills three times in the past year. Aucoin said she hurried to check the bill but, unfortunately, she checked the wrong one and the suspect was long gone by the time Aucoin realized what had happened. “It’s awful. You lose your merchandise plus you lose all your change,” Aucoin said. Merchants should check that the bottom right corner of the bill is reflective — that it shows green and brown when turning the paper, Aucoin said. The bottom border should feel raised — it’s smooth on the counterfeit bills, Aucoin said. Merchants should also hold the bill up to the light to see the watermark, which should match the profile on the bill. Local streets on mayor’s list for resurfacing The city’s finances are in the dumps but the potholes may soon get better. Mayor Jerry Sanders has dedicated $47 million to resurface streets totaling more than 1,000 city blocks in length beginning this week, with plans to finish by the summer of 2011. In La Jolla, Soledad Mountain Road will be resurfaced from Palomino Circle to La Jolla Scenic Drive; La Jolla Village Drive will be resurfaced from Villa La Jolla Drive to I-805; and Nobel Drive will be resurfaced from I-5 to Genesee Avenue. The city staff estimated almost as many miles of city streets will be repaved as in the past eight years combined. The city is drawing from a $103 million bond reserved for capital improvement projects, which the city obtained a few years ago, said mayoral spokesman Alex Roth. Roth said in the past the city repaired its streets with money from the general fund and state tax revenue. This is the first time the city has pulled from the bond for street repairs. “There’s simply not enough money in the general fund to cover capital projects of this scope,” Roth said. Board deadlocked over Whitney Project The La Jolla Shores Advisory Board is in a deadlock over the Whitney Project — a controversial proposal to build a large, three-story building in La Jolla Shores. Three board members are in favor and three are opposed. The mayor-appointed advisory board revisited the topic April 20 and voted to send a “no recommendation” to the city. More than 30 residents turned out to show their opposition to the project at the meeting. Local architects say the size and scale of the building does not fit with the character of Avenida de la Playa. The La Jolla Community Planning Association rejected the project. Julie Hamilton, an attorney for La Jolla Shores Tomorrow, said the project doesn’t meet the criteria of the planned district ordinance (PDO), established to project the character of the neighborhood. “When you make findings, you can’t pick and choose which ones you want to apply,” Hamilton said. “It’s not a subjective process; it’s terribly objective.” A hearing office for the city’s Development Services Department will make the final decision on the project, which is appeal-able to the Planning Commission. Man pleads guilty to animal abuse charge A La Jolla man pleaded guilty April 15 to misdemeanor animal abuse in the choking death of his girlfriend’s puppy and was immediately sentenced to credit for time served, which was 51 days in jail. He was released from jail that night. David Hale Warner, 50, asked for immediate sentencing after a felony animal cruelty charge was dismissed. San Diego Superior Court Kathleen Lewis placed him on three years probation, fined him $100 and ordered him not to own any dogs while on probation. Warner and his girlfriend took the puppy to an emergency animal hospital on Feb. 24, but the Labrador puppy died two days later. Warner admitted he choked the 10-week-old puppy after the dog nipped his girlfriend in the face. In another case, probation was reinstated for Warner for domestic violence that stemmed from an incident in 2006 in which he punched his girlfriend in the face. His probation had been revoked when he was arrested after the dog died as probation requires that people not pick up new charges. Warner had been sentenced to 20 days public service work for the domestic violence. Lewis noted that he completed 15 days, but must do another five days. He was fined $699 and given credit for serving 218 days in jail total since 2006, according to court records. — Neal Putnam OTHER NEWS • A community cleanup will be held on Girard Avenue from Prospect Street to Pearl Street on Saturday, April 24 from 9 a.m. to noon. The sign-in table will be located in front of Chase Bank at 7733 Girard Ave. All necessary tools will be provided and volunteers will get refreshments. For more information contact Esther Viti at (619) 742-1373. • Scripps Cancer Center received $80,000 in grants from Susan G. Komen for the Cure, San Diego to support programs that provide free breast cancer diagnostic services for women in San Diego and Imperial counties and outreach, education and case management to under served populations in south and central San Diego. • One month after winning a 2009 poetry book award from the National Book Critics Circle, Rae Armantrout has received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for “Versed,” her 10th collection of poems. Armantrout has been a professor of writing and literature at UCSD for more than two decades and she is the head of the Department of Literature’s writing section. • Seth Lerer, dean of arts and humanities at UCSD, won the 2010 Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism with his book, “Children’s Literature: A Reader’s History from Aesop to Harry Potter.” Lerer will receive the $30,000 award — the largest annual cash prize in English-language literary criticism — at the University of Iowa on May 6.