Month: January 2015

People find comfort believing we are now living in a post-racial society. We are not. There has been progress in racial issues, mind you, but there is still work to be done.

By Angelo Lopez / Everyday Citizen

One of the best up and coming political cartoonists in the nation is Joaquin Junco Jr, aka “Junco Canché”. Junco is the political cartoonist for El Coyote Crossing Borders and the San Diego Free Press, and he has had cartoons published in El Coyote Online, La Prensa San Diego, and the Southwestern College Sun.

Junco is studying graphic design at Cal State San Bernardino, where he began doing freelance cartoons. His cartoons offer an incisive view of the state and national political scene from a Hispanic point of view. His cartoons at the Southwestern College Sun won awards from the San Diego Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Report from Sunset Cliffs Natural Park Advisory Committee

By Lois Lane

What is it about water that attracts almost everyone? Some sort of primal need that recognizes the healing and restorative power of the water itself.

The Sunset Cliffs Natural Park Advisory Committee met Monday, January 5 at the Cabrillo Rec Center. The recent tragic events set a somber note for the evening, as the Recording Secretary, Larry McCleary, presented the OB Rag article describing the circumstances of Barry Ault’s tragic death.

The business of the evening got an early start with a discussion that came from the public comment period, plus a presentation requesting a practical approach to erosion which resulted from the mid-December storms, specifically the deterioration of the swale below the parking lot.

A continuing saga of romance on the internet!

I have been a member of several on-line dating sites for the past 4 years. I have written about some of my experiences with the men that have responded to me, and, in fact, am in the process of completing a book based on those experiences. But today, for the first time, my beef is not with the scammers but with “Match.com” and their policies.

When I signed up with this company, I immediately stated that I did not want an automatic renewal of their “services”. There was a button to push and I did so. Or at least I thought I did so. But when I received my credit card statement yesterday I found that I was charged a $78+ fee for an additional three months subscription. When I called the company to complain they were closed. The message said that if I were to send an email they would respond the next working day. So I sent the email. And there was no call-back. Today I called them. Interesting to note they said they never got the email. …

You can’t get away from the fact that the brand new paved trail in the brand new OB Entryway Park does not connect with Robb Field. The new walkway ends abruptly near the bottom of the incline with a nice bench.

But clearly, there is no trail or pavement or walkway that leads directly into the huge park that abuts this new addition to OB’s parks.

Most of the landscaping is yet to come in, as can be seen, but the paved walkway is complete, as it winds down from the circular entrance near the intersection of West Pt Loma and Sunset Cliffs Boulevard at the busiest entrance to Ocean Beach.

You’re not supposed to be in the little park yet, …

By Stan Levin/ San Diego Veterans for Peace

The San Diego Chapter Veterans for Peace (SDVFP) has for the past several years been actively engaged in our signature charity the “Compassion Campaign.”

Some members had gotten together in 2010, before I became a member, and discussed the problem of homelessness in San Diego and what we might be able to do to help veterans who because of a variety of circumstances find themselves living on the street.

By John Lawrence

There will be no more taxpayer bailouts for the Big Wall Street banks. That much has been established by the lobbied to death Dodd-Frank banking reform (yeah, right) bill.

However, instead of taking money from the government (taxpayers), the principal has been established that the next source of money for profligate banks will be your deposit accounts. Yeah, that’s right, the money to stabilize the banking sector during the next crisis will come out of your savings and checking accounts.

To add insult to injury – since the banks pay you zero percent on your savings account in the first place – the banks have the right to confiscate your funds if they crash the economy again as they did in 2008. Remember the Great Recession? It’s coming again to a bank near you.

How can they do this, you ask?

By Lois Lane

A first time visitor to Ocean Beach is not likely to notice the small pathway zig-zagging towards Robb Field on the corner of Sunset Cliffs and West Pt. Loma Blvd. This particular Gateway is visually dominated by the gas station, particularly at night.

What exactly is this Entry/Gateway? What did we get for $1,830,660.

Not everything is known, but here are some facts. The most current project is city of San Diego North Ocean Beach Gateway Phase II (S1204). This is what it is: …

Fundraiser Set Up for Kell Winn Injured in Crash

Ocean Beach is mourning the loss of one of its young sons, Kyle Witkowski, who died in the crash of his car off Sunset Cliffs during the early hours of Saturday, January 3rd. Kyle, who was 28, never made it out of his car when his Tahoe crashed through the guardrail, fence and dropped to the rocky shore below.

A memorial has been set up around a public bench at the fateful intersection, Bacon and Coronado in OB – right on the cliffs. Heartfelt notes, many flowers and candles drape the site. Bouquets of flowers adorn the nearby chainlink fence. The ocean below continues without hesitation at the loss of human life on its doorstep.

OB Time – a sad time

There’s some very sad circles of families and friends in and around OB and Point Loma these days. I was going to write about something else, but am troubled by the loss of life.

The lives of three local men have been claimed by various causes recently. But the tragedies show us that speeding down a street in a car and careening off the cliffs will kill; they show us that ocean pollution off the cliffs – whether from the storms or locally-sourced – will kill; and again, we’re shown that meth will kill.

Billboard Linked to OB Lawyer an Eyesore in East County

We all think we know what graffiti is when we see it, especially spray-painted tagging team symbols.

But aren’t there other types of graffiti?

How about the marking of public space by a group or company that mars that public space for a profit? That marking and marring of public space can be done by a commercial sign or billboard.

By Ernie McCray
When I reflect on the last piece I wrote, “A Holiday Season with Tamales and Smiles,” I realize that pretty much all of 2014 was a year of smiles for me.

The year got off to a running start, moving like water rushing from a stream to a river to the ocean. Time truly does move fast…

Family wise, there was much to smile about as all my children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, on the whole, appeared to be moving along in life rather nicely. My granddaughter, Kinya, whom I rarely see, and her children, visited in the summer from Memphis, Tennessee, and being around them made smiles come easily. Lyric, my youngest grandson, turned one, and I can’t be around him for a second before he elicits a smile from me…