Life Events

Where’s The Love? Dehumanization, American Style

March 13, 2017 by Jim Miller

By Jim Miller

The last time I saw Hunter S. Thompson speak before he died, he threw out a good line about how in the post-AIDS world, the New Right began to flourish because people were afraid to touch each other.

And how Thompson mused, can we ever expect people to stand together in any other way when they are afraid to do that?

Now, years later, what seemed like a bit of insightful hyperbole appears to be backed up by social research.

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News and Notes for Ocean Beach and Point Loma – Early March 2017

March 7, 2017 by Frank Gormlie

Newport Ave Re-Paving Begins Thursday, March 9

The long-anticipated re-paving of Newport Avenue begins Thursday, March 9th. Beginning at 8am, the work crews will re-pave the normally-busy commercial street from Abbott to Sunset Cliffs Blvd. Workers will grind down the old asphalt 3 inches, and then pour in 3 inches of the fresh smelly, gooey, stinking-hot new asphalt (ever worked with it? it’s pretty bad stuff).

Gas Leak Tuesday at Sunset View Elem

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ACLU: San Diego City Council Makes ‘Inexcusable Failure’ in Not Adopting Recommendations from Independent Study on Police Racial Profiling

March 3, 2017 by Source

After pleas from the public for action, the City Council failed to lead

By Norma Chavez-Peterson, Executive Director / ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties

The majority of the San Diego City Council demonstrated an inexcusable failure in leadership Monday, Feb. 27th in their decision to accept the 2-year independent study of police traffic stop data, but disregard its recommendations.

The Council had before them the results of an SDSU study, requested by former Councilmember Marti Emerald in 2015 to address community concerns about racial profiling by San Diego Police Department officers, …

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My Girlfriend’s a Robot, but I’m a Drone

March 1, 2017 by Source

robot

By Bob Dorn

Hi. I’m a robot?

Are you amazed I can talk like a freshman on speed?

Don’t be. It’s all just zeroes and ones, yeses and nos, exes and minuses that can account for the way I so humanly can flick my long blonde hair over my earpiece, or, in the case of my boyfriend, yell Wahoo!!! when there’s a story about the Chargers pledging $1 million for a new stadium on the waterfront.

He’s so cute. He’s a third generation drone and has been on active duty somewhere around the North Pole… isn’t that near Russia? … helping some country or the other design the best routes through the new Northwest Passage. He has to watch out for icebergs. I wonder why there are so many of them up there. Icebergs, I mean.

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The 10 Core Social and Political Beliefs of a Boomer Feminist

February 24, 2017 by Source

My 10 Core Social, Political Beliefs

By Anne Haule / Musings of a Boomer Feminist

Anne Haule

The election of Trump has caused me to focus on my core beliefs and work toward advancing them. I recommend this exercise for everyone. It is a useful way to clarify where you stand and to focus your energies.

So, in no particular order and subject to further additions, here they are.

Reproductive Rights and the Right to Die

Nothing could be more fundamental than the notion that the government has no place making healthcare decisions for individuals.

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News from Ocean Beach and Point Loma – Late February 2017

February 21, 2017 by Frank Gormlie

* Friends of the OB Library to Hold Booksale – Sat. Feb. 25th
* Kellogg Beach Developer’s Connections to OB
* Surfer Rescued off Sunset Cliffs – Sat, Feb. 18th
* Almost a Million Bucks for That?
* Starbucks Sign Routed Non-Customers to Other Businesses
* DId LA Times Foodie Just Diss Ocean Beach?
* OB Puffery from New York Times
* Fish for Free
* Roberto’s Shows Solidarity with Immigrants
* Point Loma Has a New Book Store
* Voltaire and Chatsworth Changes?
* Shuttered Hospital Lot Transformed into Outdoor Gathering and Green Space
* Props for Dog Beach
* Choral Group Performs “Slave Narratives”
* Power Outages Hit Point Loma and OB

COME INSIDE FOR THE STORIES

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Waiting For Death: Ecopsychology as Human Supremacism

February 18, 2017 by Source

Mauna Kea night time view with Milky Way Human Supremacism

Mauna Loa, night time view (Photo: Rustedstrings/Wikimedia/CC BY-SA 3.0)

By Will Falk / San Diego Free Press

So many indigenous people have told me that the levels of sustainability their traditional cultures achieved prior to the arrival of colonizers were based on lessons learned from non-humans. Implicit in these lessons is the truth that humans depend on non-humans. This dependence is not limited to the air we breathe, the water we drink, or the food we eat. This dependence sinks into our very souls.

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Hiking as Resistance

February 13, 2017 by Jim Miller

By Jim Miller

Over the last few weeks I’ve had the pleasure of speaking at a variety of forums along with folks from other activist groups about what needs to be done in the age of Trump. During one of these events at Grossmont College, I was struck by something a colleague of mine who leads nature expeditions for the Sierra Club said about his students and their relationship or lack thereof to the natural world.

Ten years ago, he observed, about half of the students he dealt with had had some experience hiking in the backcountry, roaming the desert, or visiting a state or national park, but that number has been consistently shrinking over the last decade or so.

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Weekly Progressive Calendar for San Diego

February 11, 2017 by Doug Porter

Over Two Dozen Ways to Get Involved and Make Your Voice Heard

By Doug Porter

Congratulations, resistees! We have survived 1.4% of Donald Trump’s (only) four-year term. It’s more important than ever to remember we’re involved in a marathon, not a sprint.

The latest polling results are out as I write this, and they offer encouragement for those of us involved in this movement. Support for impeaching the president has risen from 40% to 46% in the past week. NBC’s Saturday Night Live comedy now has more credibility than the man in the oval office.

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We’ve Got to Stay Ahead of this Devil Named Trump

February 9, 2017 by Ernie McCray

By Ernie McCray

I was watching Stephen Colbert the other night, laughing away at his brilliant witticisms and daffiness, and a segment came on wherein a visual, referring to Trump’s “ban,” read, in part, “…a five year old was handcuffed…”

I stopped chuckling for a moment in reaction to such a terrible statement, trying to picture a five year old being shackled. But Colbert was on a flow so I had to let that go and next up on the show was White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, commenting on the little boy’s inhuman predicament with these words:

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Bluff Collapse Reminds Us of the Natural and Inevitable Erosion of Sunset Cliffs

February 7, 2017 by Frank Gormlie

Sections of the bluff along Sunset Cliffs in Ocean Beach collapsed January 28th, right after heavy rains. First reported by Delinda Lombardo in the San Diego Reader, the collapse affected two properties, 5107 Narragansett Avenue – the Pelican Point apartment complex, and the property just to its south, 1783–1787 Ocean Front Street.

None of the units on the properties were directly affected, but the cliff gave way under patios on the first floor at the Pelican Point. Lombardo reported, “Though there was no reported damage to the structure itself, the seawall located below the property is crushed.”

Even though some tenants still live there, it has not been determined just how safe they are or how risky the cliff is in its current state. NBC reported that “the apartment manager is still living on the property along with dozens of other tenants.”

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Reader Rant: “OB and Point Loma – Beware the Old Armani Leather Jacket Scam”

February 3, 2017 by Source

Reader Rant by Rick Dower

On Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 1st, I almost became the victim of an attempted scam which I will call the ‘old Armani leather jacket con’.

I was walking my dog across Pt. Loma Ave at Guizot St. just an hour before I wrote this up as a warning for OB Rag readers, and a guy in a nice white Jeep Grand Cherokee stops in the middle of the street, hails me in a heavy Italian accent. Needs directions to the airport.

He pulled onto Guizot, I gave “Antonio” directions, he profusely thanks me. In heavily accented English, he then tells me he is a designer for Giorgio Armani in Milan, was in San Diego for a big fashion show and is leaving in 2 hours for London for another show.

What-a size are you?” He is so grateful for my help he offers to give –give!– me 3 nice-looking “Armani” leather jackets he designed and brought to town for the show.

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One-Third of Working Age Families in San Diego Can’t Make Ends Meet

February 3, 2017 by Source

Latest data shows more than 1 million people living in families with incomes too low for expenses

Center on Policy Initiatives

A new report from the Center on Policy Initiatives finds that a third (33%) of all household in San Diego County have incomes below the level needed to cover basic living expenses.

Women and children are most impacted, largely because employed women throughout the county earn 74 cents for every $1 paid to men. Among households headed by single mothers, 69% have incomes below the bare-bones level known as the Self-Sufficiency Standard.

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Anti-Immigrant Sentiment and Anti-Semitic Acts Impact San Diego

February 1, 2017 by Doug Porter

immigrant

By Doug Porter

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer made a statement on Tuesday indicating his disapproval of the executive order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries where President Donald Trump’s companies do not have investments.

Though milder in tone than statements by mayors in Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle (some of whom have actually joined protests), Faulconer’s statement does recognize that individuals affected by the order are essential parts of the community.

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Death of Yoga Empire Founder in Point Loma Ruled Self-Inflicted Accident

January 31, 2017 by Frank Gormlie

Trevor Tice, the founder of a yoga fitness empire, whose death in December at his Point Loma mansion initially thought by police to be “suspicious”, accidentally inflicted serious injuries on himself in a number of falls and collapses. His death has been ruled an accident by the San Diego County Medical Examiner in a report released January 26th.

Tice, whose body was found by police December 12th at his house at 952 Cornish Drive, died of head injuries after several drunken falls inside his multi-million dollar home it was concluded. After testing, he was found to have been very intoxicated with a blood-alcohol level of .20 percent and had taken a benzodiazepine — a tranquilizer like Valium and other antidepressant drugs.

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News from the Point Loma Avenue Commercial Area of Ocean Beach

January 30, 2017 by Frank Gormlie

Today, we look at what’s new among the businesses along Point Loma Avenue in south Ocean Beach.

This is the last part of our 3-part series on the commercial areas of Ocean Beach. (Here is the Voltaire Street update and here is the Newport Avenue update.)

The commercial area along Point Loma Avenue is the smallest and shortest business district, and like the other main business streets in OB, it’s a tough, challenging street – as it’s never easy being a small storefront along that one block. And our photo-report of the block is not pretty.

John Baker Frames Closed

One of the most well-known business, John Baker Picture Frames, has definitely closed its doors.

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Yoga Festival Held in Ocean Beach Was a “Labor of Love” for Organizers

January 30, 2017 by Staff

It was readily apparent that the 4-day yoga festival held in Ocean Beach that began on Friday, Jan. 27th, was a rousing success. Some 800 people took part – and it continues today, Jan. 30th – as festival-goers had dozens of options in how to participate – from participating in traditional classes overlooking the ocean, wine-tasting-based yoga sessions, yoga with your dog, a “namastoked” sunset surf session.

More info on today, Jan. 30, see the website of the San Diego Yoga Festival.

One of the key coordinators was our own Melanie Williams, board member of the OB Town Counsil and owner of TriPower Yoga in Ocean Beach. She told the San Diego Union-Tribune that planning the festival and then pulling it together was “a labor of love.”

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Vigil Held in Louisiana for Woman Who Died After Being Swept off Ocean Beach Rocks

January 30, 2017 by Frank Gormlie

In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a candle light vigil was held for Ariana Toro, the woman who died after being swept off rocks at the end of Santa Cruz Avenue in Ocean Beach January 21st. The vigil was held on Saturday, the 29th, as co-workers of Toro mourned her loss.

Meanwhile, in Ocean Beach, a debate has developed in our pages over how to respond to her death and the other injuries and fatalities along Sunset Cliffs, and Santa Cruz beach itself.

We offer the following report of the vigil as a way for OBceans to get to know the actual person who died off our cliffs …. from Baton Rouge channel 9CBS:

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Ed Harris on the Dangers at the End of Santa Cruz Ave in Ocean Beach

January 27, 2017 by Frank Gormlie

By Ed Harris

The rocky shore between the Ocean Beach Pier and Santa Cruz Cove is an area that has claimed several lives.

On January 21, two woman were swept into the water at Santa Cruz Cove. Lifeguards responded and learned a citizen had rescued one women but the other was still in the water. The surf at this point was 15 feet, making the rescue attempt difficult and dangerous. Lifeguards entered the water unable to see her as they battled strong surge and tried to breath in the thick ocean foam. After 40 minutes, the woman was recovered and transported to the hospital, but unfortunately did not survive. Several lifeguards sustained minor injuries, and two were taken to the hospital for observation.

This scenario has happened there before.

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OB Warehouse to Close in Mid-February – Rumors Abound about Future of Building

January 19, 2017 by Frank Gormlie

The OB Warehouse on Newport Ave in OB, part of the Cohn family’s Eatery Empire, is scheduled to close up business in mid-February. This report comes from an online restaurant/ beer tabloid, sandieogville.com .

The OB Warehouse just opened in August of 2014 with a lot of fanfare and was much-heralded for its construction motif with award-winning restrooms. It was the 3rd Cohn Restaurant Group restaurant to open in the Peninsula (Corvette Diner in Liberty Station and Bo-Beau’s on Voltaire Street in northwest OB being the others).

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My Neck

January 17, 2017 by Source

By Anne Haule / Musings of a Boomer Feminist

Photo of hands palm down I love Nora Ephron’s book, “I Feel Bad About My Neck”. I have been feeling bad about my neck since I was about 55. As the years passed, my feelings grew as my weight increased and my necked sagged. All my photos are full face – no side shots allowed.

At 62 I had a consult with a plastic surgeon. When I told him I wanted to lose weight, he told me to wait on the surgery until I reached my weight loss goal – no point in sucking out the fat, cutting the muscles and stretching the skin just to have it sag again on an otherwise svelte neck – assuming I actually lost the weight.

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Welcome To 2017: Seven Keys for Immigrants to Overcoming Adversity

January 17, 2017 by Source

By Carlos Batara

As the new year dawns, most of us need to reflect where we’re headed, individually and collectively.

Unfortunately, far too many of those active in immigration circles are caught in the “feel sorry for myself” moment. With a new president, one who has articulated strong law enforcement measures, about to take office, the “doom and gloom” sentiments of immigrants and their advocates are deafening.

Yet, stop for a moment and reflect back to 2009 and 2013. What has really changed in immigration law since that time? In the majority of cases, my office helps immigrants under the same rules that existed back then.

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Living in OB

January 11, 2017 by Source

By Miles Himmel / The Following Story

It starts like a riddle. What gets older, but never changes?

While the waves crash along the shore and the wind blows the palm trees from side to side. An aroma feels the air right about the time as the sun fades away. And sure, the people get older, but no matter what, Ocean Beach never dies.

I finally left the warmth of my parents home about two years after graduating from college. I never intended to stay as long as I did, but when my dad passed away, I lived with my mom as we both coped from my dad losing his life to cancer.

As I looked for my first place to live away from home in San Diego, I wanted a fun place. Not somewhere in the suburbs. I had spent my childhood out in the boonies, away from the action. This was my only time to be somewhere loud and fun! I looked downtown, too expensive. I looked in Barrio Logan, nothing for sale.

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On the Topic of the GOP and Ethics

January 10, 2017 by Ernie McCray

By Ernie McCray

It makes perfect sense to me that the House Republicans tried to secretly curtail the powers of the Office of Congressional Ethics because, if you have no ethics, you damn sure don’t want some nosy person poking around documenting it.

And these GOP characters are as to ethical behavior as a sea turtle is to Death Valley. They’ve demonstrated for decades, which anyone can google, that they are not, by any means, on speaking terms with anything anywhere near synonymous with “ethics.” They are, in a word, ethic-less, if you will.

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News From Ocean Beach and Point Loma – Early January 2017

January 5, 2017 by Frank Gormlie

Progress at Apple Tree Market on Newport

Community Beach Cleanup – Jan. 7th

Larry Himmell Remembered in OB Son’s Foundation

Local Muralist Puts Brush to Wall – Paints Storefront

Silver Gate Students Get New Crosswalk

OB’s Serial Sharpie Tagger – “Mama Bear” – Gets Some Press

Suspect Jumped into San Diego River in Midway Area – Refused to Leave Sandbar

Sensory Deprivation in OB?

Now that La Jollans Are Upset with Planned Flight Route Changes – Something Might Happen

Worries About the Eucalyptus in Loma Portal

Sleeping Toddler in Jeep Stolen in Point Loma Heights Found After Thief Calls Cops

COME INSIDE FOR THE STORIES

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Well Known OBcean “G-Rock” Badly Injured in Vehicle-Pedestrian Accident Christmas Night

December 29, 2016 by Staff

A well known Ocean Beach man – who goes by his nickname “G-Rock” – was badly injured Christmas night in a vehicle-pedestrian accident; he’s currently hospitalized but is expected to recover.

Police reported that “G-Rock” was hit by a car at Ebers Street and Voltaire Street in Ocean Beach. It was determined by police that drugs or alcohol were not involved.

G-Rock’s name is Glyn Abraham Franks, according to a cousin, who contacted the OB Rag looking for any information about what happened. (Media called him “Glen”.) Franks is mentally challenged but has lots of friends in the community, as he was born and raised in OB.

He’s also an aide to his dad, Glyn Franks of 2nd Chances, Bread of Life food distribution.

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Buyer Beware!

December 28, 2016 by Judi Curry

How many times have you heard that? How many times have you said to yourself that you will not be caught up in any type of scam or fraud scheme because you are too smart for that?

I’ve said it a dozen times, and wouldn’t you know it – I got caught twice this week. Damn fool!

The first time was when I purchased a skin ointment to erase my wrinkles. (See my article on my New Years Resolution . A “free” trial and just pay shipping. That has been resolved, after I saw a $89.90 bill on my credit card.

But let me tell you about this other one.

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“A New Wrinkle in the Face of Things” – A New Years Resolution

December 27, 2016 by Judi Curry

>Lets “face” it. My husband has been gone over seven years and for the past 6 of those years I have tried to find a new companion.

I lost 100 pounds; I grew my hair long – I’ve since cut it -; dyed my silver-gray hair brown – I’ve since gone back to being a blond; and put back some of the poundage I lost. And although I have met several men, none of them were “Mr. Right” – and many of them have been “Mr. Wrong”, as evidenced by the book I am writing entitled, “Liar, Liar.”

So I have tried everything that I know what to do to attract a man with no success. I even have been in a passive relationship, where I have pretended to know nothing so that HE could be the dominant one. That didn’t work either.

What must be the problem? I asked myself.

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Trying to Climb Back to the Mountain Top

December 21, 2016 by Ernie McCray

by Ernie McCray

On the Sunday before the election I felt so good, sitting on a rock at Mt. Palomar in the sun. The day before I had gone on an invigorating hike as woodpeckers stored acorns and wasps and gnats and flies flitted about with critters unseen on the run.

I was on the top of the world, my usual self, full of humor, and get up and go.

Election night came along and after the results were in I had evolved into somebody I didn’t recognize. It seemed as though I had been shot with a taser gun that had been designed to take down a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

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More News from Point Loma and OB

December 20, 2016 by Staff

SWAT Action on Coronado Ave.

An incident at a Point Loma-area home Monday prompted a police SWAT response,

OB Neighbors Replace Stolen 90-Year Old’s Bike

Days after thieves stole the bicycle of a 90-year-old retired doctor, his neighbors came together to give him a new bike.

Arrest in Hit and Run that Injured 2 Pedestrians in Midway

A 21-year-old man arrested early Sunday, Dec. 18, is accused of seriously injuring two pedestrians in a hit-and-run crash in the Midway Area.

Point Lomans Want to Barricade City’s Proposed Chain-Link Fence Design for Nimitz Bridge

Whether one calls it the Nimitz Blvd. Bridge or the Voltaire Street bridge, the concrete span that passes over Nimitz Boulevard on the 3900 block of Voltaire Street between Wabaska Drive and Sea Colony Court, has found itself in a bit of a controversy.

Old Warhead Found in Point Loma Home Under Construction

The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department’s bomb squad investigated what appeared to be a military ordinance that was found in Point Loma Saturday afternoon.

YOU HAVE TO COME INSIDE FOR THE STORIES

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