Move over vampires, goblins and haunted houses, this kind of Halloween terror aims to shake up even the toughest warriors: An untold number of so-called zombies are coming to a counterterrorism summit attended by hundreds of Marines, Navy special ops, soldiers, police, firefighters and others to prepare them for their worst nightmares.

We’ve Changed Our Minds about Prop 35, but NOT about Sex Trafficking

October 29, 2012 by Source

During a meeting of the San Diego Free Press Editorial Board over the weekend, some of us expressed reservations regarding our stand, as a group, on a YES endorsement of Proposition 35. We agreed that we would do more research and report back. Below are the opinions of two of our members, whose views mirror my own and are expressed much more eloquently. ~ Editor du Jour, Patty Jones

SDFP Editorial Board Member Anna Daniels

Wading through the propositions on the ballot this year required both time and effort. I have felt largely confident about the positions I had taken on issues and candidates, except for Prop 35, the anti-sex trafficking initiative. …

Read the full article → 5 comments

Romney’s Job Creation Plan That No One Is Talking About

October 29, 2012 by Source

By John Lawrence / San Diego Free Press / Oct. 27, 2012

Mitt Romney has a jobs creation plan if he becomes President, alright. But no one, including Mitt Romney himself, is talking about it.

Remember the $2 trillion he wants to spend on the military? That $2 trillion he wants to spend on the military which the Pentagon doesn’t even want (but Defense contractors certainly do) translates into a huge jobs program.

Read the full article → 1 comment

Man arrested in another OB grope attack – this one inside victim’s apartment

October 28, 2012 by Staff

A man suspected of staging a grope attack was arrested by police early Sunday morning. A woman sleeping on a couch in an apartment at 2196 Abbott Street awoke to find a man groping her. Pushing him away, she jumped up, ran into the bathroom, locked the door and called police. One to two roommates also awoke and ran outside.

Police responded and found the suspect in the victim’s backyard. The victim ID’ed him and he was booked on suspicion of sexual assault. He has yet to be identified by police. Source: Fox5 News

Read the full article → 1 comment

Appellate Court Reverses Conviction of Local San Diego Operator of Medicinal Marijuana Dispensary

October 26, 2012 by Staff

Ruling Is Blow to DA Dumanis’ Efforts to “Criminalize” Storefronts of Medical Marijuana Collectives

On Wednesday, October 24th, the Fourth District Court of Appeal for California – located right here in downtown San Diego – issued a unanimous ruling reversing the conviction of a San Diego medical herb dispensary operator, Joyan Jackson. Medical marijuana activists hailed the ruling – a published ruling – as a landmark case. A published case means it applies to other future cases.

Read the full article → 4 comments

Are shark attacks against humans increasing off the coast of California?

October 25, 2012 by Frank Gormlie

With this latest fatal great white shark attack up in Northern California earlier this week, another one at that same beach exactly two years earlier, and what with that deadly attack up in Solana Beach in 2008, does it seem that shark attacks against people are increasing?

Well, according to the California Department of Fish and Game, the answer is “no”. Here is what their website says: …

Read the full article → 0 comments

Northern California Beach Closed for 72 Hours After Fatal Great White Shark of Surfer

October 25, 2012 by Staff

The beach where a veteran surfer was killed by a Great White Shark on Tuesday, Oct. 23, was closed for 72 hours. The beach – called Surf Beach – is off the Vanderberg Air Force base and is expected to open Friday, the 26th.

It is now accepted that it was a Great White – estimated at 15 to 16 feet – that attacked and killed Francisco Javier Solorio Jr. Solorio was an avid surfer who had been surfing at the spot ever since he was a kid. He is survived by his wife Kasey, and two daughters, Monique and Frankie.

Read the full article → 0 comments

Ocean Beach Mainstreet Association Appeals to L.A. Owner of Apple Tree Property

October 25, 2012 by Source

Executive Director Denny Knox requests re-consideration on behalf of Ocean Beach.
Here below is the letter from Denny Knox of the OBMA, sent October 1st to the landowners of the property that Apple Tree Market sits upon:

Mr. Elliot Megdal
Elliot Megdal and Associates
1875 Century Park East – Suite 1840
Los Angeles, CA 90067

Re: Apple Tree Supermarket Notice to Vacate

Dear Mr. Megdal,

By way of introduction I am the Executive Director of the Ocean Beach Mainstreet Association (OBMA), which represents 525 businesses in Ocean Beach, CA. I am writing on behalf of the Executive Board of the OBMA as well as Saad Hirmez, owner of Apple Tree Market located at 4949 Santa Monica Ave. San Diego, CA as regards the notice to vacate sent to them on 9/27/12.

Read the full article → 15 comments

OB’s Own Halloween Story – the Case of the Unclaimed Cremated Ashes of Henry Lefebvre

October 25, 2012 by Frank Gormlie

Ocean Beach has its very own Halloween mystery: the case of the unclaimed cremated remains of Henry Lebebvre.

You may have heard by now, that a locked metal box with cremated ashes with a label reading: “Henry Lefebvre” and dated April 30, 1995, was found about six months ago in a bay of an OB carwash facility, the OB Suds, on Voltaire. The carwash owner saved the box thinking that someone would show up and claim it, but no one has.

So on Monday, OB Suds owner turned it over to the Ocean Beach Mainstreet Association for safekeeping. It sits on a table at the OBMA’s office. Denny Knox, executive director of OBMA, told the media:

“We would like to return it to a family member.”

Read the full article → 1 comment

Bill Moyers: The Plutocracy Will Go to Extremes to Keep the 1% in Control

October 24, 2012 by Source

Moyers, Matt Taibbi and Chrystia Freeland explain how the plutocrats have willfully confused their self-interest with America’s interest.

From BillMoyers.com and AlterNet /October 19, 2012

The One Percent is not only increasing their share of wealth — they’re using it to spread millions among political candidates who serve their interests. Example: Goldman Sachs, which gave more money than any other major American corporation to Barack Obama in 2008, is switching alliances this year; their employees have given $900,000 both to Mitt Romney’s campaign and to the pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future. Why?

Read the full article → 3 comments

Saying Good-bye to George McGovern and Russell Means – Heroes of the 1970’s

October 22, 2012 by Frank Gormlie

When heroes from our past pass on, sometimes it seems like there’s a rush to the exit doors. This weekend and today, both George McGovern and Russell Means passed through that door. Both of these heroes of the Seventies lived and died in South Dakota.

George McGovern, the peace candidate from South Dakota, a former Congressman and Senator from that state, who won the Democratic Party’s nomination for president in 1972, died early Sunday in Sioux Falls, S.D. He was 90.

And Russell Means, a former American Indian Movement activist who helped lead the 1973 uprising at Wounded Knee, reveled in stirring up attention and appeared in several Hollywood films, died early Monday at his ranch in Porcupine, S.D. He was 72 years old and had fought throat cancer.

Read the full article → 9 comments

Rumors and Crime in Ocean Beach. The Truth Is Out There, and we at the OB Rag aim to find it.

October 22, 2012 by Mercy Baron

Like the poster on Fox Mulder’s wall, we, at the OB Rag, aim to find it.

I’m referring to the rumors that have been flying around our little beach community in regards to all the assaults, sex crimes and attacks that have been occurring in alarming numbers here the last couple of months and even longer. Most of them are true, but some of them just ain’t.

It seems that we hear of an incident, and within 24 hours, we “hear” of several more. In response to all of this, many of us have formed the OB Citizen’s Patrol, along with the guidance of Tim Nolan, owner of Tower Two Cafe.

The first meeting was on October 8, and over 30 people crammed into Tim’s resto to voice their concerns and sign up for the first organized patrols since the 1970’s. Tim said it started way back then in response to local crime and the time had come again to relaunch the patrols. Tim was involved back then, and has been patrolling ever since. He has gone out on his own for many years to make the neighborhood safe for his family.

Read the full article → 15 comments

Connecting More Dots Between Propositions 30, 32, and 38

October 22, 2012 by Jim Miller

The Munger Muddle, Democrats for Education Reform, Obama, and the Koch Brothers et al Weave a Tangled Web that Might Just Kill Our Children’s Future (if we let it)

In a recent column, I outlined the connections between the advocates and funders of Proposition 32 and opponents of Proposition 30, noting the central role of Proposition 38 backer Molly Munger’s brother, Charles Munger, who has donated over $20 million of his own money to a campaign fund to gut unions and defund education. Charles’s main allies in this effort, as I pointed out in that column, are also big supporters of the privatization of education and other forms of profiteering at the expense of public schools.

Read the full article → 0 comments

Suspect in Ocean Front Grope Attack in Custody – Police Call for Witnesses

October 19, 2012 by Christopher Dotson

Suspect Arrested on Other Charges – SDPD Calling for Witnesses and Information to Attack in Ocean Front Alley on Wednesday

San Diego Police Department’s Lt Natalie Stone has confirmed a suspect who police think is the perpetrator in the grope attack is in custody – although he is in custody on other charges. The man had just been released from jail last Monday – 2 days prior.

A 25 year old woman was ambushed while walking in the 1600 block of Ocean Front alley shortly before 9 a.m. on Wednesday, the 17th of October. She was hit on the head, told to be quiet, and then groped. The man ran off. There is some new info – the assailant apparently was frightened off by the sudden appearance of a Cox Cable truck.

Police say they need any witnesses to come forward who may have any information regarding this most recent attack against a young woman in South Ocean Beach. If you do have info, contact the San Diego Sex Crimes unit by calling 619-531-2210.

Read the full article → 1 comment

Daniel Ellsberg: Defeat Romney, Without Illusions About Obama

October 18, 2012 by Source

With Election a Toss-Up, Progressives Could Influence Outcome and Prevent a Romney Victory

By Daniel Ellsberg / Reader Supported News / October 18, 2012

It is urgently important to prevent a Republican administration under Romney/Ryan from taking office in January 2013.

The election is now just weeks away, and I want to urge those whose values are generally in line with mine — progressives, especially activists — to make this goal one of your priorities during this period.

An activist colleague recently said to me: “I hear you’re supporting Obama.”

I was startled, and took offense. “Supporting Obama? Me?!”

Read the full article → 11 comments

New Sexual Assault in Ocean Beach – in Ocean Front Alley Between Del Mar and Coronado

October 17, 2012 by Frank Gormlie

The U-T San Diego is reporting yet another sexual assault in Ocean Beach. This one was in south OB, in the Ocean Front alley between Del Mar and Coronado Avenues.

In this latest incident, which occurred Wednesday morning – Oct. 17th – a young woman walking in the alley was assaulted by a man who approached her from behind. He struck her on the head, told her to be quiet and he wouldn’t hurt her, fondled her breast and then ran away.

Read the full article → 9 comments

Concerns and Questions about Crime in Ocean Beach: Crime Map of Last 30 Days

October 17, 2012 by Frank Gormlie

Ask around. It does seem like there’s an uptick in crime around Ocean Beach, doesn’t it?

Or at least, we seem to more aware of it.

The sexual assaults, the peeping tom, and now all these assaults and stabbings around Newport Ave, the Pier, and Oktoberfest…. There’s been so much concern of late, that an OB Citizens’ Patrol has been formed, and has been out on its rounds in northwest late-night Ocean Beach. Fliers are circulating warning women not to walk alone at night.

Our community nerves have been shaken. Our antenna are out – and some of us are more aware.

Read the full article → 25 comments

Something smells fishy with Coastkeeper ‘teaming up’ with SeaWorld to ‘beautify’ Mission Bay.

October 16, 2012 by Frank Gormlie

Something smells fishy. The other day we received a press release from San Diego Coastkeeper – actually, it was a joint press release, from them and from SeaWorld – talking about how they are both “teaming up” together to “keep Mission Bay beautiful”. They’re planning a “clean the Bay day” on October 27th – and volunteers will get prizes including passes to SeaWorld.

While we applaud any organization’s efforts to clean Mission Bay – heaven knows it needs it – something just doesn’t sit well with us on this announced partnership.

Why is that? What’s wrong with a strong environmental organization with a solid reputation partnering up with a corporate entity to beautify the surrounding area?

Read the full article → 7 comments

Note to Obama: Ditch Simpson-Bowles for FDR

October 15, 2012 by Jim Miller

In the aftermath of the spectacular shellacking that Mitt Romney gave the President in the first debate, there was much handwringing in liberal circles. Critics on the left side of the spectrum couldn’t believe how Mr. Obama let Romney prevaricate so boldly and wildly as he hammered away at the President’s record while simultaneously and stunningly repackaging himself as a centrist unrecognizable to those of us who were paying attention to Mitt’s rightward tilt during the primary season and the obvious implications of his plutocratic agenda.

Read the full article → 0 comments

Stabbing and Robbery Under the Ocean Beach Pier Friday Night

October 13, 2012 by Staff

The U-T San Diego is reporting that a young man and his woman friend were attacked by a group of men Friday night under the OB Pier around 8 pm.

The man, reportedly 18 years old, was stabbed twice, in the chest and in an arm. His injuries are not considered life-threatening.

Read the full article → 22 comments

Walmart Walkout Widens to 12 States, Black Friday Walkout Threatened

October 11, 2012 by Doug Porter

San Diego Labor Leader Lorena Gonzalez Banned from all Walmarts

Editor: The following is a compilation from Doug Porter’s two most recent Starting Line columns at the San Diego Free Press about Walmart and Lorena Gonzalez, San Diego’s labor leader.

Walkouts at the worlds’ larger retailer spread to at least twenty eight stores in twelve states yesterday, with unprecedented protests against company treatment of employees and working conditions expected to continue today at the annual Walmart investor meeting in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Read the full article → 32 comments

Citizens’ Patrol for Ocean Beach to Begin October 12th

October 9, 2012 by Source

Report from Meeting on Monday Night – October 8th – at Tower Two

By Celeste
Around 30 or so people crowded in the Tower Two Café on Monday’s meeting on creating the OB Citizens Patrol. Tim Nolan, owner of the cafe, had recommended that people who sign up for patrols carry a flashlight. He also suggested having a siren to scare people away. He reinstated several times that the patrol is set up to PREVENT not to PROVOKE and anyone “misbehaving” would be asked to leave the patrol group.

He also suggested that the patrols take place on Friday and Saturday nights in two 3 hours shifts. The first shift would begin at 9pm-midnight, and then midnight-3 am. He would like to have 3 or more people in a patrol group, patrolling a 2 block square (depending on how many people show up). The area that would be patrolled would be Newport Ave to West Point Loma Blvd, and Cable Street to the beaches.

Read the full article → 4 comments

Is Whole Foods Sincere About Its Support for Labeling Genetically Modified Foods?

October 9, 2012 by Source

By Ronnie Cummins / Alternet / Oct. 4, 2012
Is it possible that Whole Foods wants to ride the GMO labeling popularity wave while it quietly works behind the scenes to prevent Prop 37, or any other GMO labeling law, from passing?

After months of pressure from the organic community, including thousands of its customers, the leadership of Whole Foods Market on September 11 endorsed Proposition 37, the California Ballot Initiative to require mandatory labels on genetically engineered foods. But the endorsement came with “reservations” and inaccuracies. It also included the false claim that company policy precludes Whole Foods and its executives from providing much-needed financial support to Prop 37, a campaign that consumers – the very people who have made WFM and its executives wildly profitable – overwhelmingly support.

Read the full article → 10 comments

Reader Rant: ‘Now I understand the reluctance by some in OB to involve the police.’

October 9, 2012 by Source

During the recent meeting at the OB Woman’s Club over concerns about the sexual assaults, I was surprised by the “anti-police” attitudes by many attendees, having lived in OB for a number of years with no major complaints.

That is, until the other night.

Perhaps SDPD resents the proposed Citizens Watch or are under pressure for not publicizing the recent sex crimes, and are responding aggressively to allegations of insufficient patrol units. But, what happened to me was uncalled for . . .

I rode my bike to Apple Tree Market, was unknowingly “red lighted” for a block and detained in the parking lot by two cops. I saw the flashing lights and thought they were responding to a crime at the grocery store, until they walked in my direction.

Read the full article → 6 comments

The Widder Curry’s “Reading Wall” in Ocean Beach – a Photo Gallery

October 8, 2012 by Frank Gormlie

Have you missed Judi Curry’s bloggings? We have.

Judi writes the Widder Curry column and often does restaurant reviews and other musings of life here in OB and on the Peninsula. Yet she has not been filing any columns of late.

And there is a darn good reason why she’s not writing these days – she just had surgery on her left hand and is left typing with only one hand for a while.

Read the full article → 7 comments

Medical Marijuana Dispensaries on Ballot in Four Cities in San Diego County

October 4, 2012 by Source

By Kenny Goldberg / KPBS / October 1, 2012

Medical marijuana has been legal in California since 1996. But today in San Diego County, many patients are having trouble getting their hands on the drug. That’s because all of the openly operating storefronts that sell marijuana have been shut down.

In response, activists in four local cities have placed measures to authorize medical marijuana dispensaries on the November ballot. But even if the measures win, patients might ultimately lose.

Vey Linville has severe emphysema. He needs bottled oxygen to survive. When Linville was first diagnosed, doctors told him without a double lung transplant, he’d soon be dead. Linville got his affairs in order.

Read the full article → 4 comments

Ocean Beach Group Formed to Educate Women About Sexual Assaults – “Citizens’ Patrol” to be Established

October 4, 2012 by Frank Gormlie

There was barely a seat available at last night’s meeting called by the OB Woman’s Club to discuss the recent sexual assaults in Ocean Beach. Nearly 50 people – over a quarter of them men – crowded into the building at the corner of Muir and Bacon – just yards from a violent sexual assault that took place during the wee hours of August 25th.

Becky Sorensen, vice-president of the club, opened the meeting and welcomed everyone. The meeting had been set up out of frustrations, apparently, at the weak response women had received when they brought up their concerns about the assaults and peeping tom at the OB Town Council meeting recently. A number of individuals approached the leadership of the Woman’s Club that night out in front of the Masonic Hall after the Town Council and asked if a meeting could be held there. Becky and Celeste McClure jumped into the task and printed up a flier and began distributing them around town.

Read the full article → 10 comments

A Call for San Diego Residents to Keep San Onofre Shut Down

October 3, 2012 by Michael Steinberg

A recent poll of Southern California residents found that most of them want to keep the troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant shut down . The poll also found that the residents don’t trust its majority owner and operator, Southern California Edison, to keep safety as its first priority at the nuke plant.

” A strong majority of Edison customers want to keep San Onofre shut down and almost half don’t trust Edison to put safety before profit,” environmental group Friends of the Earth reported on October 1.

Friends of the Earth (foe.org) commissioned David Binder Research to carry out the poll. The company talked to 700 registered voters in the counties San Onofre provides electricity to.

The results: “58% of respondents said they oppose reopening the plant…Only 32% said San Onofe should reopen,” Friends of the Earth reported.

Read the full article → 0 comments

Protest Planned Outside San Diego SeaWorld Due to Severe Injury to Orca – October 3rd

October 2, 2012 by Source

By Elizabeth Batt / Digital Journal / October 1, 2012

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), says it is planning to protest outside of SeaWorld San Diego on Wednesday, following an horrific injury to one of the marine park’s killer whales.

PETA who has already called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (APHIS) to launch an investigation into the gruesome injury received by Nakai on Sept. 20, says it is now planning a protest Wednesday to urge the federal government to take action against the marine park.

Nakai, an 11-year-old orca at SeaWorld San Diego, had his lower jaw sheared off to the bone with an injury so severe said Washington DC-based writer Tim Zimmermann, that the detached piece “Was big enough and intact enough for SeaWorld to retrieve it from the bottom of the pool.”

Read the full article → 4 comments

Vigil for Valeria “Munique” Alvarado – Young Mother Killed by Border Patrol

October 2, 2012 by Frank Gormlie

Question is raised – is this our ‘Trayvon Martin’?

Nearly two hundred people attended the vigil for Valeria “Munique” Tachiquin Alvarado in Chula Vista Monday early evening. Family, friends, supporters and strangers – and the media – gathered at the intersection of Moss Street and Oaklawn Avenue – where she was shot to death by a plainclothes border patrol agent on Friday afternoon, September 28th, while in her car.

The 32 year old mother of 5 had been fatally killed during some kind of interaction with the agent. Reports of what happened differed wildly. And during the at times emotional vigil family members, including the young woman’s father, called for answers and justice.

Speaking first, Christian Ramirez of the American Friends Service Committee spoke about the evening being a sober one. He said the community vigil “was called by the family to remember her life and bear testimony to the tragedy that occurred 72 hours ago. They demand justice.”

Read the full article → 16 comments

← Older Articles

Newer Articles →

Mat Wahlstrom April 24, 2024 at 7:38 pm on City Council Committee Sides With Upstart Planning Group in Uptown and With Existing Group in La JollaTook the words right out of my mouth, kh – literally and figuratively, from almost three years ago: https://obrag.org/2021/11/another-assault-in-the-war-on-san-diegos-community-planning-groups/
Chris April 24, 2024 at 6:15 pm on Students at PLNU Are Angry With Administration For Disrespecting Gay Community and Chilling Free SpeechNot to excuse the administration, but why did these students choose a school with a known anti LGBTQ stance due its religious affiliation?
kh April 24, 2024 at 5:55 pm on ‘Hey You! Get Up! We’ve Outlawed Sleeping in Public!’Not making false pipedream promises would be a start. I wish I could locate that press release from Todd Gloria as a councilmember where he...
kh April 24, 2024 at 5:53 pm on ‘Hey You! Get Up! We’ve Outlawed Sleeping in Public!’Sure. And vary widely based on zoning as well. I just checked two recently sold homes in Mira Mesa, and what they were reassessed at....
kh April 24, 2024 at 5:38 pm on Planning Groups Forced to Pay New $1,000 Fee to Appeal Projects Stifles Community DemocracyI know one of the appeals from 2022(?) was on the Inn at Sunset cliffs, and the appeal prevailed at city council. It was not...
T April 24, 2024 at 5:03 pm on Planning Groups Forced to Pay New $1,000 Fee to Appeal Projects Stifles Community DemocracyThis is great info. Last week at the PBPB meeting their planner was talking about the new $1000 appeal charge and why the city thinks...
gilbert field April 24, 2024 at 4:47 pm on ‘Hey You! Get Up! We’ve Outlawed Sleeping in Public!’Getting back to the original comment, which was what Larry Turner would do to reduce homelessness, I am still not sure what he means or...
kh April 24, 2024 at 3:38 pm on California Leaders Take Sides in ‘Most Important Supreme Court Case on Homelessness in 40 Years’Count me in the last group. Glad to see Governor Newsom has come around to my side and finally figured out that letting people die...
chris schultz April 24, 2024 at 3:34 pm on ‘Hey You! Get Up! We’ve Outlawed Sleeping in Public!’Exactly, land gets more expensive the closer to the coast generally speaking. The same standard doesn't apply everywhere.
CARL M ZANOLLI April 24, 2024 at 3:32 pm on Students at PLNU Are Angry With Administration For Disrespecting Gay Community and Chilling Free SpeechParents spend so much $$$ to send their kids to PLNU because they weren't accepted elsewhere.
Gail April 24, 2024 at 3:10 pm on Planning Groups Forced to Pay New $1,000 Fee to Appeal Projects Stifles Community DemocracyI agree, these are land use issues heard at community planning meetings, by volunteers. There is a $500 stipend offered by the City for the...
kh April 24, 2024 at 3:02 pm on City Council Committee Sides With Upstart Planning Group in Uptown and With Existing Group in La JollaThis whole process is trash. Some goons at the planning dept wasted a whole lot of community members' time on this farce. The city made...
kh April 24, 2024 at 2:22 pm on ‘Hey You! Get Up! We’ve Outlawed Sleeping in Public!’Assessed value can be far from the true value unless you just purchased it. The land value of my property in OB is over 85%...
Dr. Jack Hammer April 24, 2024 at 11:35 am on Students at PLNU Are Angry With Administration For Disrespecting Gay Community and Chilling Free SpeechBut isn't that why the parents pay so much $$$ for this education? So their little darlings can be protected from the 'evils' of the...
Gilbert Field April 24, 2024 at 10:23 am on ‘Hey You! Get Up! We’ve Outlawed Sleeping in Public!’I looked at Zillow for a typical home in Claremont. House is 1200 square feet and the price is $1 million. 1200 time $250 =...