OB Rag

The U-T San Diego is reporting yet another sexual assault in Ocean Beach. This one was in south OB, in the Ocean Front alley between Del Mar and Coronado Avenues.

In this latest incident, which occurred Wednesday morning – Oct. 17th – a young woman walking in the alley was assaulted by a man who approached her from behind. He struck her on the head, told her to be quiet and he wouldn’t hurt her, fondled her breast and then ran away.

Ask around. It does seem like there’s an uptick in crime around Ocean Beach, doesn’t it?

Or at least, we seem to more aware of it.

The sexual assaults, the peeping tom, and now all these assaults and stabbings around Newport Ave, the Pier, and Oktoberfest…. There’s been so much concern of late, that an OB Citizens’ Patrol has been formed, and has been out on its rounds in northwest late-night Ocean Beach. Fliers are circulating warning women not to walk alone at night.

Our community nerves have been shaken. Our antenna are out – and some of us are more aware.

The OB Citizens’ Patrol – set up in response to several sexual attacks and peeping tom in northwest Ocean Beach – will hold its second meeting tonight, Tuesday, Oct. 16th at 7pm. The group meets at Tower Two Cafe – owned by Tim Nolan, who has been organizing the patrols.

Last Friday, Oct. 12th, the patrol had its first launch, with people going out from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m., and then again at midnight until 3 a.m. But they just missed a stabbing at the Oktoberfest.

Here is the agenda for the Project Review Committee of the OB Planning Board, scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 17th. The sub-committee of the full Board is chaired by vice-president Landry Watson and starts sharply at 6:30 pm. All their meetings are held at the OB Rec Center at 4726 Santa Monica Avenue.

Something smells fishy. The other day we received a press release from San Diego Coastkeeper – actually, it was a joint press release, from them and from SeaWorld – talking about how they are both “teaming up” together to “keep Mission Bay beautiful”. They’re planning a “clean the Bay day” on October 27th – and volunteers will get prizes including passes to SeaWorld.

While we applaud any organization’s efforts to clean Mission Bay – heaven knows it needs it – something just doesn’t sit well with us on this announced partnership.

Why is that? What’s wrong with a strong environmental organization with a solid reputation partnering up with a corporate entity to beautify the surrounding area?

A Million a Day in TV ads can buy lots of confusion

by Stacy Malkan/ Yes on 37 / October 15, 2012

The world’s largest pesticide companies are spending One Million Dollars a Day to confuse California voters about Proposition 37 — a simple label that will give us the right to know what’s in our food.

A Million a Day in TV ads can buy lots of confusion, but it can’t buy facts.

Here are the facts about Prop 37:

• No cost to consumers: Adding a few words to labels costs nothing. Labeling didn’t raise costs in 50 other countries and won’t raise costs here. It won’t add red tape or bureaucracy either, and the only independent study on Prop 37 confirms these facts. Read the Truth about Cost.

Alternet / By Steven Wishnia / Oct. 11, 2012

For the first time in two decades federal courts will consider the science behind medical marijuana — and today there is more evidence than ever.

Once again, medical-marijuana advocates are taking to the courts to eliminate the biggest barrier to legal use—the federal law that classifies marijuana as a dangerous drug with no valid medical use.

On Oct. 16, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the federal appeals court that usually handles cases involving government regulations, will hear oral arguments on Americans for Safe Access v. DEA. .

In the aftermath of the spectacular shellacking that Mitt Romney gave the President in the first debate, there was much handwringing in liberal circles. Critics on the left side of the spectrum couldn’t believe how Mr. Obama let Romney prevaricate so boldly and wildly as he hammered away at the President’s record while simultaneously and stunningly repackaging himself as a centrist unrecognizable to those of us who were paying attention to Mitt’s rightward tilt during the primary season and the obvious implications of his plutocratic agenda.

Yet another person has been injured in a fall off Sunset Cliffs. Late Sunday night – early Monday morning around 2 am, lifeguards got the call about injuries from people falling off the cliffs near Ladera Street.

Around sunset Sunday evening, the Coast Guard suspended its search for a vessel in distress off the coast of Point Loma.

According to lifeguards, the Coast Guard was searching for a white and green vessel carrying two adults and three children.

More violence is reported in Ocean Beach.  This time, a bouncer in front of an OB nightclub was stabbed by…

The U-T San Diego is reporting that a young man and his woman friend were attacked by a group of men Friday night under the OB Pier around 8 pm.

The man, reportedly 18 years old, was stabbed twice, in the chest and in an arm. His injuries are not considered life-threatening.