OB Rag

Dear Union Brothers and Sisters:
SEIU Local 221 President Sharon-Frances Moore has resigned. She will get over $107,000 of our union dues money to leave!

It was announced this evening, at a special meeting of the SEIU Local 221 Executive Board. Her stated reasons were “personal”. However, it comes after weeks of speculation about ethics charges reportedly filed against her with the International Union. The charges were reportedly filed against her by both members of the paid staff of the Local Union, and by one or more members of the elected Executive Board of the Local.

Our children. They have always been our pride and joy. Two girls, Tawny Maya and Nyla Summer and Carlos Biko, our tremendously energetic boy. I can’t adequately express just how much I admire them for how they’ve stood tall in spite of the smothering sadness they’ve endured with their mother no longer in their lives other than in a spiritual sense.

I don’t know how I could have made it without them making sure that we continue hanging out to have a little fun every now and then as we’ve always done as a family.

* OB Pier Closed Due to High Surf and Damage

* Circle of Life Comes to the OB Rag

* Local Coastal Commission Manager Insists on Public Hearing Before Removal of Fire Pits by City

* Contest to Find Missing 9th OB Fire Pit

* OB Cottage Becomes Home Design Classroom

* Don’t Crap On Us

* Volunteers Needed for Dog Beach Dune Habitat Restoration Project – January 23rd

* OB Poet Hosts Poetry Reading at Jungle Java

As we hear today, Martin Luther King is commemorated as an apostle of social harmony. In reality, his quest for justice made him a deeply controversial figure in his day.

It’s testimony to the awkward power of Martin Luther King’s life and work that so much effort has gone into sanitizing his memory. Today he’s commemorated as an apostle of social harmony, a hero in the triumphant march of American progress. But at the time of his death 41 years ago, on April 4, 1968, his increasingly radical challenge to war and poverty had made him deeply controversial, spied on and harassed by his government, feared and loathed by millions of Americans.

Sometimes some of the scariest news I read is in the business section. This morning, for example, “Johnson & Johnson accused of paying kickbacks, Federal case involves drugs in nursing homes.”

I am getting more and more anti-drug. Or maybe I should say anti-pharma. When I watch television I have to hit the mute button during all the pharmaceutical ads just to drown out the “fine speak,” the hurried, monotone spiel informing consumers of all the possible side effects of the wonder drugs they are trying to promote. What really torques me is that a lot of the time they don’t even say what the drug is supposed to do for you, but inform you to “ask your doctor if it might be right for you.” How many people ask doctors about drugs to treat conditions they don’t even have? Probably more than I would be willing to admit, and those people trust their doctors, don’t they. And they trust their pharmacists to give them the straight dope, right?

In a study released by the International Journal of Biological Sciences, analyzing the effects of genetically modified foods on mammalian health, researchers found that agricultural giant Monsanto’s GM corn is linked to organ damage in rats.

According to the study, which was summarized by Rady Ananda at Food Freedom, “Three varieties of Monsanto’s GM corn – Mon 863, insecticide-producing Mon 810, and Roundup® herbicide-absorbing NK 603 – were approved for consumption by US, European and several other national food safety authorities.”

My mother (Midge) had always told us that her grandfather, Cornelius Donahue, had come to this country from Ireland, but exactly where in Ireland was murky. Maybe County Cork, maybe not.

At a certain point, my brother (Lou) and I became interested in obtaining dual US/Irish citizenship for ourselves and for our mother. But in order to do this, first of all we had to document where in Ireland Cornelius came from.

So began my quest, “In Search of Cornelius.”

Editor: The OB Rag is beginning a series on ‘Getting to know our public servants’ with this report by Mary E Mann of an interview with OB’s Community Relations Officer.

Picture your high school guidance counselor in a police uniform, and you have a pretty good idea of Officer David Surwilo, the one and only community relations officer in San Diego Police Department’s Western Division.

The Western Division is huge and diverse, comprised of North Park, Hillcrest, Mission Hills, Linda Vista, Hotel Circle, Fashion Valley, Old Town, Sports Arena, Ocean Beach, Point Loma, and the airport area. Surwilo used to manage this area with three other officers, with four different “storefront” offices. That was in the sunny days before budget cuts hit the SDPD hard, and three officers and three storefronts were cut, leaving only Surwilo and his office on Sports Arena.

Editor: Whatever it is called, whether Saratoga Park or Ocean Park Villas, the 12 unit, 3-story condo project slated for the corner of Abbott Street and Saratoga Avenue has been a source of controversy for a while now. Just recently we noticed a “For Sale” sign prominently displayed on the corner of the current, old two-story apartment building on the south-west corner. Allison W. Maris – a nom de plume of one of our bloggers – took the project and pledged to get to the bottom of it. Here is her or his or – whomever’s – report:

You see the sign. It dominates the northeast corner of what the former chair of the Ocean Beach Planning Board called a “controversial proposal.” A fresh wind of inquiry at your back, you set a course into the mysteries of Saratoga Park.

The National Weather Service has issued a high surf advisory and authorities were warning beachgoers to avoid the potentially dangerous conditions.

The advisory is in effect from from 4 a.m. Wednesday through 9 a.m. Friday for San Diego and Orange counties. High surf is expected in most areas, with sets up to 15 feet on west-facing beaches, according to the weather service.

Costal flooding is possible during the astronomical high tides early Wednesday through Thursday afternoon, the weather service reported. In San Diego County, the areas most vulnerable to flooding are between Camp Pendleton and Leucadia in Encinitas, between Cardiff and Del Mar, from Mission Beach to Ocean Beach, and from the Silver Strand south to the mouth of the Tijuana River.

Editor: This was sent to us as a comment from an anonymous food stamp worker to this article posted back in February of 2009. We wanted to elevate it so more would see it.

by a food stamp worker

I would just like to clear up a few things. I am one of those horrible Food Stamp workers some of you like to complain about, so I do know a little bit about the subject. The rules for FS are created by the Federal Government, not case workers. Please do not blame us for doing our job.

A federal court last week handed down guidelines that limit the ability of police to use tasers at will. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals made its decision in response to a 2005 incident where Coronado Police Officer Brian McPherson tasered and injured motorist Carl Bryan, then 21, over a minor seatbelt infraction.

The court described in detail how Bryan had spent the morning driving 180 miles from Camarillo to Coronado only to be stopped by the highway patrol for allegedly speeding on the 405 Freeway. Bryan, upset by being hit with an expensive ticket, forgot to buckle his seatbelt before continuing on his journey.