Month: March 2015

By Ernie McCray

I love my life, especially my moments with kids. Recently I had the pleasure, along with a teenage Latina friend of mine, of talking to an assembly of young people, most of them Latino, in Chula Vista, about something they’re confronted with regularly: whether to join or not join the military.

We were doing so because we hate to see our children being sucked into the war machine by Uncle Sam who loves to play with their innocence.

The OB Rag staff is just returning from a wonderful R & R out in Borrego Springs. We have to…

Early next week, OBceans have a chance to show their support for the Ocean Beach Community Plan, a document that represents the blueprint for development and public facilities in OB, a plan that has been in existence for nearly 40 years, recently updated – and that has weathered an attack by the influential San Diego Planning Commission.

If you’ve followed the the twists and turns of the Community Plan Update process of last year, then you know of what I speak.

Contest Runs Until April 1st – Winner Gets Dinner for Two at Nico’s – (just kidding – it will be at one of OB’s named dinner restaurants.)

Tom and Jane Gawronski started it all. When we saw their version of the “OB Gothic” recently in a photo as part of PR for their recent presentation on OB’s historic cottages with Kathy Blavatt, a idea struck.

The Gawronskis were posing in front of one of their OB cottages with its pointed roof top in the background, with Tom holding a pitchfork and Jane in an old school apron in a simulated version of the original and totally iconic “American Gothic” by Grant Wood.

We asked ourselves – what a great pic! So, why not have the OB Rag sponsor a contest of everybody’s different versions of the original – but for Ocean Beach, – the “OB Gothic”.

The contest is on – starting today –

Stanford researchers say human-driven global warming behind increasingly frequent and severe droughts, including current one

By Sarah Lazare /Common Dreams

The increasingly frequent and severe droughts that have punished California over the past two decades—including the current record-breaking one—are primarily the result of human-caused climate change and will likely grow even worse, scientists at Stanford University warn.

The worst has happened. The 7-month baby girl injured early Monday when she and her father were hit in a crosswalk in Point Loma has died. Her name was released: Juniper Aavang.

Juniper’s family was visiting San Diego and from Woodstock, Illinois. She was being pushed in a stroller by her father as the mother was walking in front. They entered a crosswalk on a side street off of Catalina Boulevard that goes to Canon Street.

At last night’s Ocean Beach Planning Board meeting, Wed., March 4th, the planners got an earful about a new pipeline project coming from Pacific Beach. Plus candidates running in the upcoming election on March 10th got to give a mouthful about why they’re running.

The monthly meeting got off to a slow start, with Board chair Pete Ruscitti wondering out loud whether there would even be a quorum. But the members dribbled in, the meeting began, and more slipped in during the course of the meeting until there was only one absence.

OCEAN BEACH: There was a stabbing of a man walking with his girlfriend early Thursday morning in an alley north of the 4900 block of Saratoga Avenue in OB, according to local CBS8. It took place reportedly around 2:30 a.m.

The 40 year old’s injuries to his abdomen were not life-threatening and he is recovering. The woman was not injured.

Sunset Cliffs Natural Park Advisory Committee Gets the Low-Down at March 2nd Meeting – Meanwhile Native Plants in Park Near Full Flower

By Lois Lane

No OB Rag reader doubts that we live in the most beautiful place in the world. Almost springtime is one of the most beautiful times of year, and within the next two weeks the native plants in Sunset Cliffs Natural Park will be in full flower.

Native plants were a hot topic at the Advisory Committee meeting on March 2nd, and the 25 people in attendance were gifted with spectacular presentation on the Unique Paleontology and Geology of Sunset Cliffs byDr. Tom Deméré, Curator of Paleontology, San Diego Natural History Museum.

Report recommends that law enforcement report shootings and other incidents of police brutality to federal government

By Lauren McCauley/ Common Dreams

Rights groups and others are welcoming the release of a report by the president’s policing task force on Monday, saying that the policy recommendations are the best chance the White House has for improving the relationship between law enforcement agencies and the communities they are meant to protect and serve.

Darren Wilson Is Cleared of Rights Violations in Ferguson Shooting

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has cleared a Ferguson, Mo., police officer of civil rights violations in the shooting of Michael Brown, a black teenager whose death set off racially charged and sometimes violent protests last year. The decision, which was announced on Wednesday, ends a lengthy investigation into the shooting last August, in which Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Mr. Brown in the street. Many witnesses said Mr. Brown had his hands up in surrender when he died, leading to nationwide protest chants of “Hands up, don’t shoot.” … MORE INSIDE …

Justice Department to Fault Ferguson Police, Seeing Racial Bias in Traffic Stops

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has nearly completed a highly critical report accusing the police in Ferguson, Mo., of making discriminatory traffic stops of African-Americans that created years of racial animosity leading up to an officer’s shooting of a black teenager last summer, law enforcement officials said. … MORE INSIDE …

Department of Transportation Predicts Oil Train Derailments Will Become Increasingly Common

By John Lawrence

On Monday Feb 16, 2015 an oil train carrying millions of pounds of crude oil derailed in Boomer, West Virginia. The accident was the latest in a spate of fiery derailments in Canada and the U.S. as vast quantities of oil are being moved across these nations through sensitive environments and large population centers.

A couple days earlier on Feb. 14, there was a crude oil train derailment south of Timmins, Ontario. It took almost a week in subzero temperatures for the fires to burn out. Both the West Virginia accident and the oil train derailment and fire in Ontario involved recently built tank cars that were supposed to be an improvement over a decades-old model in wide use that has proven susceptible to spills, fires and explosions – the Dot-111.