Dear Readers,

With huge crowds on hand to witness the drama of golf’s biggest names competing for a major championship and a $12 million purse, the 119th U.S. Open got under way at Pebble Beach Thursday. We have a special section with complete coverage, a host of features and profiles you won’t want to miss, and some great photography, too.

Cell phone towers shouldn’t be allowed in the city’s residential zones, the planning commission decided Wednesday — no matter what the FCC says. Mary Schley reports.

There was yet another drowning Saturday at Monastery Beach, which we all know as Mortuary Beach. This time it was a father trying to save his son. Mary Schley has that one, too.

An experienced eminent domain attorney will warn the water board next week about what he says are the hazards of trying to take over Cal Am. Kelly Nix has the details.

The city’s report on alleged harassment by former mayor Steve Dallas is almost ready to made public. A guilty plea has been entered in the case of a local doctor who was murdered in Las Vegas. 5th District supervisor Mary Adams says she’ll run for re-election next year. Will the U.S. government use Roundup in the Big Sur backcountry? A new hotel plan has been released for a key site near the Monterey Bay Aquarium. A church is suing over ownership of the land under its meeting hall. Neal Hotelling’s History Beat column links Charles Lindbergh, a Carmel Valley cattle ranch, Ed Haber and the U.S. Open. In this week’s installment of the memoirs of S.F.B. Morse, the man who made Pebble Beach possible reflects on his success. And my editorial says that if electricity isn’t banned, maybe some other things shouldn’t be, either.