News from Ocean Beach and Point Loma – Early February 2017

Photo by South OB Girl

Craig Larson has a t-shirt that many people might want!!! Spotted at People’s Coop.

Photo by South OB Girl

New Bus Benches

Looks like a budget for new bus stop benches around town was approved by MTS at some point in time. And benches have been recently installed, like this one  at the Newport and Cable bus stop.

Slightly Stoopid Sounds – 20 Years After Debut Album – Are a Lifestyle for OB and World Fans

Slightly Stoopid were severely inexperienced when they signed their first record deal back in the early ‘90s. The San Diego-based outfit were still in high school playing mostly punk-rock and ska tunes when Bradley Nowell of Sublime signed them to Skunk Records, …after a performance at Foothill Tavern in Long Beach. …  Twenty years after the release of their self-titled debut album, the band’s legacy embodies more than a sound—it’s a lifestyle for their hoards of fans across the world. Only a handful of other alt-Reggae bands have captured the hearts and minds of Rastafarian fans like this band. … Growing up in the Ocean Beach neighborhood of San Diego, the band’s founding members grew up on a diet of skating, surfing and diverse music…. This diverse background gave them that edge of creating a sound that is unique, but distinctively California-cool. The band features co-founders and childhood friends Miles Doughty on guitar/vocals and Kyle McDonald also on guitar / vocals. Ryan Moran (aka RyMo) is on drums, Oguer Ocon (aka OC) is on congas / percussion / vocals, DeLa and Karl Denson are on Sax, and there’s also Paul Wolstencroft on Keys. OC Weekly

Chargers Ex-Employee and Democrat to Challenge Zapf for District 2

Jordan Beane, 32-year-old and former senior producer of Chargers.com, the team’s official website, is planning on running for City Council District 2 when the next Primary is held in June 2018. District 2, of course is where OB and Point Loma are, along with Pacific Beach and Mission Beach. Currently, he serves as director of the PB Town Council and and is a member of the Pacific Beach Democratic Club, San Diego County Democrats for Environmental Action and San Diego County Young Democrats. To win a seat in 2018 that is currently occupied by Lorie Zapf, Beane said he plans to campaign with a priority placed on environmental issues, identifying better accommodations for the homeless population and affordable housing. San Diego Union-Tribune

Electric Waste Band celebrate 25 years at Winston’s

Best music venue in San Diego? The answer is clearly Winston’s in Ocean Beach. Between the ‘70s seaside ambiance, the “Twin Peaks”-esque red, velvet curtains and the oft-attempted but rarely actualized infinite reggae loop, it’s one of the only venues in San Diego to have truly captured that quintessential Southern Californian — what’s the word I’m looking for? Atmosphere? Culture? Personality? Vibe. On Monday nights, from the sparkling rubble of leftover body glitter and chakra-depleted crystal shards, Electric Waste Band materialize like ghostly apparitions in the seaweed mist. For the past 25 years, EWB — not to be confused with ELO, ENT or FWB — have been playing Grateful Dead covers for aging hippies of all ages, and they’ll be celebrating that accomplishment tomorrow and every Monday night in February. 7SanDiego

Car Thief Hits Cop Car, Careens Through OB and Escapes

A car thief rammed a San Diego police patrol car Tuesday, Feb. 7, drove briefly on a sidewalk, hit a parked car and escaped in Ocean Beach. No one was injured in the collisions on Castelar Street near Etiwanda Street … An officer … in Mission Beach ran a computer check on a 2010 Honda Civic and found that it had been reported stolen… The officer tried to pull over the driver, who didn’t stop. A pursuit started shortly before 8:30 a.m. The Civic driver sped south on West Mission Bay Drive… then headed south on Sunset Cliffs Boulevard in Ocean Beach … Officers followed the Civic up and down several small streets and as it cut through a gas station and down an alley to Voltaire Street. It wasn’t clear at what point the Civic swerved onto a sidewalk briefly, but police supervisors then ordered officers to stop the pursuit about 8:45 a.m. The Civic driver hit a parked Mercedes-Benz on Castelar, made a U-turn and rammed a patrol car. Police said they believe the collision was a deliberate assault, not an accident. The impacts knocked the front bumper off the Civic. The Civic was last seen heading north on Sunset Cliffs Boulevard. Pauline Repard San Diego Union-Tribune

Traveling Poet Stops Off in OB

When Jeremy M. Brownlowe comes into town, he leaves smiles and tears behind. Brownlowe is a writer based in Portland, Oregon, who calls himself the Typewriter Troubadour. Brownlowe travels the country writing custom poetry, and spent a few days in San Diego. … Brownlowe set up a wooden TV tray at the Ocean Beach Farmers Market, placed his vintage Smith-Corona typewriter on top, and its worn case etched with the words “Custom Poems: Your Subject, Your price” below. Crowds gathered to wait in line to get a custom poem, written on the spot, in as little as five minutes. 10News

The Split Life of Student Parents

It is 6:30 a.m. and Nadiya Taitague is ready to get her children up. She will leave the house 30 minutes later. Feeding the family pets, preparing breakfast, getting the kids cleaned and dressed, and making sure everything is in order; this is only a small portion of Taitague’s busy morning. By seven a.m., Taitague takes her children to school. Two hours later, she is about to start her own school day. Taitague is a 33-year-old mother of three and an environmental science major at Point Loma Nazarene University. She commutes from Menifee, California near Riverside. Her husband, a police officer, often comes home from his shift as she is leaving the house. “It’s almost single parentings,” she said. For more, go to LomaBeat.com with by Ombretta Di Dio.

Special Needs Students Take Center Court at Pt Loma High

Students with disabilities took center court Thursday night Feb. 5 in a basketball game at Point Loma High School. The 2nd annual “Unity Game” paired 7 students from special needs classes with players from the boys and girls varsity basketball teams. It also featured three “unity” students on the cheer leading squad. Hundreds of students and parents packed the gym to watch the game, cheering every time a shot went in. ABC10News

Coffee Cafe to Open with Bicycle-Themed Art on Shelter Island Drive

Sandy Hanshaw, who owns The Wine Pub in Point Loma, is launching a daytime companion adjacent to her wine bar and bistro on Shelter Island Drive. Opening [last] weekend is Coffee Hub & Cafe, an 800-square-foot eatery that’s also a celebration of cycling culture. The walls will showcase … bike-related objects, from riding saddles to cycling caps and classic jerseys, along with bicycle-themed art. Hanshaw’s husband Andy runs the San Diego Bike Coalition, and plans to organize community bike rides that originate and end at the cafe. … Coffee Hub will offer a full array of espresso drinks and … will serve a breakfast menu that ranges from breakfast flatbread to caprese eggs Benedict, savory bread pudding, and breakfast sliders made with homemade biscuits; lunch will include panini, housemade soups and salads. San Diego Eater

PB Employs Homeless and Security Guards to Make It Clean and Safe

There’s a brand new program that’s working to cut down on homelessness and rowdy behavior in Pacific Beach. It’s called the “PB Clean and Safe Program” and part of its goal is to put homeless back to work. … The group “Discover PB” started talking … Zapf got involved and together they came up with the “PB Clean and Safe Program.” “We’re actually hiring those who are unhoused and homeless. The PB Street Guardians and they’ll be getting paid to do a lot of the clean-up,” says Councilwoman Zapf. People have to sign-up to be involved and they’ll get paid minimum wage. Another component to the program involves hiring a private security firm to patrol Pacific Beach and free up police. CW6

Here’s Dave Rice’s account from San Diego Reader: “Funded in part by a $20,000 grant from city councilmember Lorie Zapf’s office, Discover will work with the Pacific Beach Street Guardians to conduct homeless outreach, connecting locals with assistance and offering them employment in cleanup and other beautification projects along the Garnet Avenue shopping and dining corridor.”

Rice also added: “One component of the district’s new Clean and Safe program is the hiring of a private security force to be supplied by National Public Safety. The company, which employs green-uniformed security personnel dressed to resemble actual police, created some controversy when it was brought in to serve in a similar fashion in Ocean Beach’s business district.”

6th Victim Disclosed in Last Summer’s Homeless Serial Killings

Last summer, a series of brutal attacks on homeless men gripped the city of San Diego. Police officials said then that 39-year-old Jon Guerrero allegedly used a railroad spike and hammer to murder three men [including one in OB] and maim two others.  But no one told us about Molly Simons.

Investigators revealed last week that Guerrero is also suspected of killing the 83-year-old woman in an alley off Arizona Street near University the morning of July 13 — two days before he was arrested.
According to Simons’ autopsy report, she was walking to a nearby bus stop on her way to volunteer at a local YMCA when a man on a bicycle hit her in the head, knocking her to the ground, as he passed. A witness called 911 and Simons was taken to a hospital with a swollen and bloodied face. Although she was conscious, she couldn’t recall what had happened, the report read. Doctors determined she had suffered a serious head injury, and despite medical intervention, her health quickly deteriorated. She died about two weeks later.

Unlike Guerrero’s other alleged victims, Simons wasn’t homeless. She lived with her husband in San Diego. San Diego police investigators didn’t say what led them to suspect Guerrero in her death. Simons’ killing has never been publicly announced, and it could just be a matter of timing based on when her case was handed over to the District Attorney’s Office.

The spree of violence began early July 3 when Angelo DeNardo’s charred body was found under a freeway bridge in Bay Park. An autopsy later revealed a railroad spike had been driven into the 53-year-old’s head and chest. He was then lit on fire. The second victim, Manuel Nunez Mason, was found critically injured in the Midway District on July 4. A railroad spike had been driven into his sinus cavity. He survived his injuries, but was rendered blind, prosecutors said. Shawn Longley, found dead in Ocean Beach on July 4, Derek Vahidy, who later died of injuries suffered on July 6, and a final victim, found screaming and bloodied on July 15, were all apparently injured by a railroad spike found near them, said prosecutors.

Guerrero was arrested July 15, soon after the last victim was located. About two weeks later, he was in court to be arraigned. Deputy District Attorney Makenzie Harvey spoke in detail of the five attacks. But before Guerrero could enter a plea, the proceedings were suspended so a court-appointed psychiatrist could determine if he was mentally competent to stand trial. It was several days after this, on Aug. 6, that investigators first submitted Simons’ case to the District Attorney’s Office for review.

A little more than a month later, before Guerrero had been arraigned on any charges, he was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial and was sent to a state hospital in San Bernardino County. If doctors at the hospital, and eventually a judge, determine that Guerrero’s competency has been restored, his criminal case will resume in San Diego Superior Court. Harvey declined to say this week whether the homicide of Molly Simons would be one more murder charge that Guerrero might face. Lyndsay Winkley San Diego Union-Tribune