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THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME… One of Squid’s most favorite times of year is just around the corner: election season. Squid could miss it, of course, with all the campaign signs littering up the county.

Salinas Mayor Dennis Donohue’s stepmom Pat Donohue has been particularly busy nailing signs to anything inanimate. Stepmom is running for one of the most unglamorous seats on the ticket: Hartnell College Board of Trustees.

This race could be fun. On the one hand, there’s the woman who either was or was not the Wicked Step Mother, and Steve McShane, who either will or won’t soon be the ex-son-in-law of a well-known around these parts, Don Chapin.

McShane relinquished his last seat on the Hartnell board awhile back so he could move and run for this new seat. Squid doubts that McShane’s campaign literature will mention that he was on the board during the time that the state threatened to yank Hartnell’s accreditation, or that he refused to vote for a pay raise for teachers.

McShane’s still a proven thinker. After all, when his opponent’s stepson, His Honor the Mayor, asked for resident input on the official city flower, McShane had a brave idea: a pansy.

WATER WARS RUN DRY… Squid loves a good fight, which is why Squid’s beady eyes filled with tears upon reading that the Saga of Dan Heath v. Monterey County may be coming to a close. (Or maybe it was allergies.) But back to water works of a different sort…

Heath, who owns Water World Resorts at Nacimiento Lake and Lake San Antonio, filed a $170 million lawsuit against Monterey County in 2003 over the Salinas Valley Water Project, intended to stop saltwater intrusion. Heath says the county water project would drain too much water from the lakes and hurt his business. The lakes and Heath’s resorts are in San Luis Obispo County, but Monterey County owns the water rights. About a year ago, Monterey County Supervisors approved a settlement in which the County would buy out Heath, and Heath would agree to drop the lawsuit. (Supes discussed the lawsuit in closed session during their Sept. 25 meeting).

It looks like the two sides may have decided to play nice. The San Luis Obispo Tribune published a notice of sale for the resorts earlier this month, and a recent story in the papers says the County appears ready to buy out Heath.

This means Heath, who has gotten quite good at criticizing Monterey County over the past four years, will have a lot of spare time on his hands. Squid wonders where Heath’s gonna channel all of that newfound time and energy. Maybe he could take up face painting. Or karaoke.