Category: Life Events

By Ernie McCray

Just turned 75.
As I think about being a year older,
my first thought is
I’m so glad to be alive.
No jive.
On my list of priorities,
breathing is most high,
as I want to take all that I’ve seen,
over the years, with these old eyes,
all the bits and pieces of life
that are memorialized
and analyzed
and crystallized into my being’s archives
and use these experiences
in a constant quest
to stay wise –
because I dare to surmise
that there is no point in being 75
if you’re not wise.

This is a chronicle – complete with a photo journal – of the best bicycle ride around Mission Bay. It is a ride that has been honed by the author – along with a few friends – over the last three decades – since the early Eighties.

It is a ride along a route that has a minimum of traffic and street exposure, and it is a route that is approximately …. 13 miles round trip from the Ocean Beach Skateboard Park in Robb Field.

The price of some cancer drugs exceeds $100,000 a year.

By John Lawrence / San Diego Free Press

How much is your life worth?

In a free market economy like the US, that question is settled by ability of the individual to pay. If you can’t pay over $100,000 a year for a life-saving cancer drug, your life isn’t worth as much as someone who can.

In a free market economy your life is worth exactly your ability to pay. In countries where the government pays the cost of drugs, they decide how much your life is worth. In Britain it’s $50,000; that’s the price the British government has negotiated the most expensive drugs down to. Is there a moral limit to how much Big Pharma can charge for some life saving drugs?

Some doctors seem to think so.

Suit Alleges Conspiracy and Excessive Against Sheriffs and County in Arrest

There has been a positive development in a convoluted and sad story about a woman arrested in OB for using her boyfriend sheriff’s credit card. Her arrest had been used against her in a child custody dispute with him. With all charges dropped, Michelle Cameron had sued the County and the Sheriffs for the use of excessive force and conspiracy.

10News is running a story about frustrations and solutions. A local Point Loma woman found her stolen jewelry – worth $1,000 – online, and at first went to the police and then to eBay – both without success … initially.

It’s a cute story with a lesson and happy ending.

Sarah Endemann’s hubby had purchased a pair of apis cabochon stud earrings from Tiffany & Co. and a matching bracelet, worth a thousand bucks. It was a birthday present and he either stuck them or hid them in his golf bag, that he left in his truck.

The suspect in the March 24th sexual assault in Ocean Beach has been now charged with the August 25, 2012 sexual assault – which occurred in the same general vicinity as the more recent one. The D.A. says it was “the same M.O.”

Richard C. Butts pleaded not guilty to the late March assault, where he is charged with one count each of kidnapping with intent to commit a sexual assault, forced oral copulation and assault with intent to commit a sexual offense.

That assault on March 24 occurred late at night around 10:15 pm, as a 26-year-old woman was walking home in the 4800 block of Long Branch Avenue from a dinner at a friend’s house. Suddenly, a stranger ran up to her, grabbed her and gave her a bear hug. He then dragged her 30 to 40 feet to a more secluded area and sexually assaulted her. He had wrapped a sweater over her eyes, gagging her with it.

Fortunately, she was able to yell and scream for help and several neighbors immediately responded by running to the scene of the attack, chasing the assailant away. Butts was then arrested by police less than a half hour after the attack and close to the restrooms at Robb Field.

WallStreet Journal / April 11, 2013

San Diego County Annual 5K NAMI Walk to be held this Saturday at Point Loma Liberty Station

Calling all walkers! The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI San Diego and NAMI North Coastal) is holding their annual walk on Saturday, April 13 at NTC Park in Liberty Station and wants you there!

The walk starts at 9 am Saturday with check-in beginning at 7:30 am at NTC Park in Liberty Station at 2455 Cushing Road, San Diego, CA 92106.

Media personality Geni Cavitt will be the emcee for the event. “A lot of people there know how I feel about NAMI so I’m happy to do it,” said Cavitt, who has more than 20 years of experience in communications and broadcast journalism and is a champion of mental health in the community.

An Ocean Beach pit bull crashed through a metal fence yesterday – April 10th – in the morning as a woman walked her dogs down the alley of 4400 block of Santa Cruz Avenue. The dog attacked one of the woman’s dogs, clamping onto it that it took the pit bull’s owner who tried to break it up, to have to hit it with a metal pole before the pit released its clench.

Animal Control was called to the scene, the pit captured and taken. As the dog has been regulated by Animal Control since 2010 when it was deemed a public nuisance after it bit someone ‘off-property’, it will be put down.

It all began between 8:15 and 8:30 am on Wednesday as Danielle Johnston was walking her three dogs down the Santa Cruz alley. One of her dogs was a German Shepard.

By Judi Curry

As my subscriptions to five online dating sites comes to a close, I look back at some of the situations I have found myself in and can’t help but laugh hysterically. On the other hand, some of the time I found myself sad and depressed because things did not turn out the way I had hoped they would. Sounds like I might be bordering on bipolarism.

Some of the people that I have met have been wonderful and I consider them friends. Of course, I wasn’t looking for friends when I joined the sites; I was – and still am – looking for a companion, a lover, a best friend. I am thrilled that Joe, a man I frequently went out with has found a potential companion for life. I will always think of him as a friend and have also “friended” his new squeeze. Jim, I know I can always count on you if I need help; you have been there each and every time I have asked for some thing.

I have been amazed at the number of men that are married and are looking for a one-nighter.

Continuing my series of ‘random’ stories of Ocean Beach, I wanted to go somewhere besides my usual haunt of Newbreak Cafe, across from the Lifeguard station. So, I tried going over to the great new coffeehouse on Voltaire that just opened, TeMana Cafe, … but it closed at 3pm. I turned and headed up the block to Hungry Lu’s where they must have good coffee, related to the Grab and Go stores – but no, they don’t sell coffee. Kids, I tried, I really did, but it was back to Newbreak for me.

It was a windy, cool day in OB, so I was looking forward to a mug of strong French Roast, and once I settled in at a small, round table inside Newbreak I was not disappointed. As I try to keep my interviews gender balanced, I was looking this day for an OBcean woman.

I found Sophie Stephens studying at her laptop; she had purple hair, so I thought this person must have a story to tell, and again I was not disappointed. She jumped at the chance to be interviewed – and as she met my criteria (resident of OB or Point Loma, willing to be interviewed, and have photos taken), I asked her to join me at my table which was a little quieter than hers.

A local TV station has a report out today about how some OB residents feel that a section of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard is a “death row”.

10News quotes OBcean Daniela Rottigni terming the intersection of the boulevard and Cape May Avenue as “death row”, after dealing with the problem for a decade, she said.

Here is part of the report:

Rottigni says Sunset Cliffs Boulevard just is not safe, and speed is a huge part of the problem. … Runaway cars have caused major damage to private property, including Rottigni’s car, which was hit four different times.

“And to know that my car can get damaged, thousands and thousands of dollars for people not respecting or the city not even coming around and do something about it… it’s a disgrace to me,” she said.

There was a twist to the domestic violence incident that occurred in Point Loma the night of Saturday, March 30th. The woman involved went to jail and the male went to the hospital. Usually, it’s the other way around.

This time, the woman allegedly stabbed the guy – her boyfriend – in the arm during an argument at 3266 Loma Riviera Drive in Point Loma, police say.

San Diego Police officer David Stafford stated to the press:

“A woman in her late 30s got into an argument with her boyfriend. and she took out a knife and stabbed him in the arm.”