Month: May 2015

by Dan Bacher

The spill from a ruptured pipeline owned by Plains All American Pipeline expanded overnight from 4 miles long to two slicks stretching 9 miles along the coast, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The pipeline carries crude oil from to Flores to Gaviota.

Preliminary reports indicated that the ruptured 24 inch pipeline in Goleta leaked an estimated 21,000 gallons of crude oil Tuesday. However, the pipeline company may have actually released as much as 105,000 gallons, with tens of thousands of gallons going into the ocean, according to the latest data from Plains All American.

Less than a month ago, the Point Loma Democratic Club held a panel discussion on the topic of the history of San Diego’s medical marijuana regulations – and the following is based upon my notes of that discussion.

The panel included Terrie Best from the San Diego Chapter of Americans for Safe Access, Alex Kreit, Associate Professor and director of the Center for Law and Social Justice at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, and Ebon Johnson, director of the Green Nectar Dispensary. Cynara Velasquez, an activist on the issue and club member, served as moderator.

In 1996, Prop 215, the Medicinal Marijuana Initiative for California passed. It essentially protected patients and gave limited protections for care givers.

By John Lawrence

My daughter was entering the freshman class at UCSD in 1992 and the plan was for me to move out of our condo where we had lived for 18 years and in with my girlfriend. Renting out the condo would bring in $1000 a month and let me pay for a good share of my daughter’s college expenses.

After about a year when the relationship didn’t work out, I decided that rather than rent an apartment which would cost me what I needed to pay my daughter’s expenses, I would go homeless instead.

By Dave Maass / Electronic Frontier Foundation

Whenever lawmakers congregate to discuss computer crime, you can reliably predict that the debate will gravitate toward expanding police powers, leaving the realistic concerns of everyday Internet users by the wayside. After all, fearmongering around the film War Games helped fuel the passage of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, one of the most egregious laws the digital world has ever faced.

This legislative session, California lawmakers have proposed creating …

The annual Ocean Beach Historical Society’s OB EXPOSED! – their exhibit and contest – will be held on Friday, May 22th, at 6:00-8:30 pm at the Masonic Center, 1711 Sunset Cliffs Blvd., in OB.

The event is labeled the “Photographic Impressions of Ocean Beach & Point Loma”, and the 2015 OB Exposed! has new and exciting additions… including an opportunity drawing for great prizes from local venders and a larger historical photo display.And it’s all free – including refreshments!

By Matthew Wood

When local lawyer and activist Bryan Pease opened up his Newport Avenue thrift store earlier this year, it could be confused with a number of other thrift shops in the neighborhood. But this store, like his original store in Clairemont, is all about the animals.

Call it a co-op for a cause. A four-legged five-and-dime. A no-flea market?

Whatever you want to call it, the store isn’t in it to make money, just to further Pease’s pro-animal causes.

He started the Animal Protection and Rescue League back in 2003. Since then he has been a champion of a number of animals rights issues in the news, such as protecting the seals in La Jolla, fighting against puppy mills ,,,

Point Loma Democrats Hear about Sex Trafficking

By Lois Lane

The program, “Sex Trafficking of Minors in San Diego,” last Sunday, May 17, 2015, seemed distant from the Ocean Beach and Point Loma audience. We quickly learned that this is one indeed one of our local problems and one of the most profitable illegal activities, greatly out-earning drug dealing. The product is also renewable – you can only sell a package once, but with prostitution, you can sell the same product over and over.

The speakers were Ali Serano, Assistant US Attorney, Sergeant Chris Cameron, San Diego County, and Gayle Sollfrank, representing a resource for victims, GenerateHope.

If we don’t think this is our problem, Ms. Serano displayed a printout from that day, showing six active Point Loma links on the primary Internet site (not publicized here).

By Torrey Bell-Edwards / Munchies / May 12, 2015

I started as a door guy—I wasn’t even bar-backing at first. There was a sense of being entrenched, where you have to earn your stars. You check IDs and learn how to deal with people, how to calm down angry drunks and occasionally put someone in a headlock if shit gets real.

But mostly, you learn how to treat people right and how to make the night go smoothly, which makes it better for everyone. Then they’ll put you on backing up your bartender, and then it’s just busting your ass for hours on end. It’s cool because the amount of money you make is directly proportional to how hard you work, which is not true of most industries.

By Jim Miller

When Proposition 13 was first approved by voters in 1978 it was sold as a protection for single-family homeowners. But what voters were not told is that Prop. 13 contained giant loopholes that allow big corporations and wealthy commercial property owners to avoid paying their fair share of local property taxes.

By Lois Lane

This is my report of the Ocean Beach Community Development Corp (OB CDC) meeting of May 13th, held in the Rec Center.

Commemorative Plaques at Entryway Plaza

The OB CDC regular meeting opened with a discussion on a request for commemorative plaques on the Entryway/Gateway project. There is still space available for 100 bricks. Small ones, 8” x 2”- are expected to cost $200, while the large ones, 12” x 12” – go for $1000.

No phone numbers or advertising are permitted, and the CDC appears to reserve the right to disapprove the engraved wording, just in case you are thinking of funding one that says “In memory of Anthony’s Pizza Parlor.”

Here’s the OB Rag’s “Weekend Sedition” – a round-up of local Ocean Beach and Point Loma news and notes .

*Memorial for Anne Gillin was held on Sat., May 16
* City Atty Office Ordered 10 Medical Pot Dispensaries to Close – Including 1 in OB
*Colony of Cats Fed by OB Joggers and Bikers
*Collier Park Tree Removed after falling
*March vs Monsanto – May 23
*Plum Street House in Perpetual Remodel Under Ultimatum
*Carlsbad May Have Won Fight Against Power Plant
*Overweight, the San Salvador Replica Postpones Official Launch
*Crime report – 52 Crimes 4/24/2015 – 5/3/2015
John Noble of Coastal Sage Adopts a Plot in Balboa Park
*Point Loma Nazarene Extends Nursing Program

By Matthew Wood

This week has been a whirlwind neighborhood tour for Ocean Beach’s favorite band, Slightly Stoopid.

The local boys played an invitation-only show at OB Noodle House Bar 1502 on Wednesday night, then made an appearance this morning with 91X at Nico’s Restaurant.

“You can’t beat being home,” said Kyle McDonald, one of the band’s founders. “It suits us nice to live in the place you want to be.”

The show at Noodle House celebrated the restaurant’s first anniversary. It also helped raise funds for the OB Fireworks Show on Fourth of July.