Attorney Paul Kennerson presented a plan to the court Friday, June 12 that would utilize a sprinkler system to disperse the Children’s Pool harbor seal colony in La Jolla. Superior Court Judge Yuri Hoffman gave the City of San Diego one more month to analyze Kennerson’s “scarecrow” plan. “[Scarecrow] is the trade name,” Kennerson said. “It’s tried and true… But the judge gave them further time. This has become a political battle versus a legal battle.” Hoffman gave the city another month, allowing the City Attorney’s Office to analyze Kennerson’s seal dispersal plan. Meanwhile, animal rights activists said another month leads the animals closer to pending legislation that, they said, would save the colony. “Kennerson proposed a scarecrow sprinkler system as an alternative [to the city’s barking dog plan],” Deputy City Attorney George Schaefer said. Schaeffer said he asked Hoffman for more time to analyze the many facets of Kennerson’s plan, which would shoot high-powered water onto moving targets at the Children’s Pool. “We had a meeting today in the mayor’s office and are carefully evaluating this alternative proposal,” Schaefer said. “There are a number of costs associated with any seal dispersal plan; those costs are primarily because of law enforcement.” Kennerson said many forces began aligning against his fight to open La Jolla’s Children’s Pool. “There’s a lot of force gathering against the right thing, here. We’re fighting the city, the city attorney — and environmental groups should be on the side of the water. It’s a rather populated opposition,” Kennerson said. According to Schaefer, an attorney sent the city a letter regarding Kennerson’s scarecrow, alerting the city attorney to possible violations under the California Environmental Quality Act. “One of the things we alerted the judge to [was that] it will require a federal permit,” Schaefer said. “Additional permits also may be necessary if the scarecrow is used, and the city is concerned about liability.” Kennerson’s scarecrow detects movement but doesn’t discriminate between seals and people, Schaefer said. And the city is evaluating several safety concerns such as whether it might spray a small child. “The court has found that the water is polluted from the seals… The city would have to shut the beach down,” Schaefer said. “We’re trying to fairly evaluate [the scarecrow plan]… it’s really opened up a can of worms.” “I’m tired [of the attitude] ‘if more people want this, then that’s the end of the question,’” Kennerson said. “The majority doesn’t make it [legally] right.”