OB Rag

San Diego police are searching for a man responsible for detonating a so-called “cricket bomb” in a restroom at Dusty Rhodes Park Sunday morning, Dec. 11.

One man was in the restroom at the time of the explosion but was not injured, although he did suffer ringing in his ears. He called police around 8:45 am. The victim told police another man had exited the restroom as he walked in. Now, police are looking for a 45 to 50-year-old suspect described as a 6 feet tall white male wearing a red shirt and pants.

Screen grab from Mount Laguna live cam, Dec. 12, 2022 at 8:20 a.m.

In today’s San Diego Union-Tribune, the editorial board slammed District Attorney Summer Stephan, the San Diego Police and San Diego State University officials over their handling — or lack of handling – last years gang-rape case involving SDSU athletes.

They say that DA Stephan’s statement was “inadequate” over the refusal to file charges, given the “high-profile” nature of the case. “Both the DA and SDPD need to explain their decision-making.” The long history of the mistreatment of victims in many sexual assault cases “hangs over the case,” and that it “shows why for many sexual assault victims, the process of seeking justice only yields new agony.”

If you get a chance to pick up the Dec. 7 edition of the San Diego Reader, you’ll find OBcean Deanna Polk, all masked up giving the peace sign, on the front cover.

The paper’s frontcover article by Siobhan Braun is all about “How Covid tore San Diego friends and neighbors apart.” Polk is interviewed and spouts a lot of good common sense, but another person interviewed Amy Reichert, a co-founder of the very controversial group ReOpen San Diego, doesn’t. Polk and Reichert are diametrically opposed.

On Thursday, Dec. 8, the Union-Tribune announced:

The city of San Diego and development team Midway Rising have cemented an agreement to negotiate the lease and redevelopment of the city’s 48-acre sports arena site in the Midway District.

Monday, the parties executed what’s known as an exclusive negotiation agreement, or ENA. The milestone solidifies the pairing, and starts the clock on a two-year period that requires the developer to produce important material at set dates and not deviate too far from its winning bid.

by Ernie McCray

Woke up this morning
after a nice sleep
last night
and turned on the news
to a scene
that had me
brimming with delight,
the incredibly beautiful sight
of Brittney Griner
boarding a flight,

By Aliah Fabros / LomaBeat.com / Dec. 7, 2022

A colossal canine skeleton hangs from the ceiling, its jaws cracked open in a toothy grin. This is definitely not Starbucks. Above the espresso machines, a surrealist melting clock ticks an hour ahead. By the entrance, a woman delicately plucks a harp.

Welcome to The Template coffee house, home to any local university student who owns a pair of low cut Doc Martens and Diesel the pitbull.

In a travel website, the Old Point Loma Lighthouse is listed as one of three on the California coast that are “supposedly haunted by their old keepers.”

The Star reports:

What is it about lighthouses that ghosts like so much?

Maybe it’s the mist that often seems to shroud their lonely towers. Maybe it’s their historic role as a beacon to keep sailors safe from shipwrecks.

Whatever it is, up and down the California coast you’ll find lighthouses supposedly haunted by their old keepers – and others on the opposite side of the veil.

From Times of San Diego

San Diego County Regional Airport Authority is celebrating the completion of 5,000 sound-insulated homes through its Quieter Home Program.
The Quieter Home Program is San Diego International Airport’s residential sound insulation program in which certain residences around SAN, as determined by the Federal Aviation Administration, may be eligible for sound insulation treatments to mitigate aircraft noise.

In a nation-wide review of the impacts of short-term rentals on cities, San Diego — and Ocean Beach — are noted. And former OB Town Council prez Gretchen Newsom is quoted.

Business Insiderran a piece on December 7 about how “leaders” in such cities as San Diego and Atlanta are aiming to limit short-term rental activity and that some STVR owners “are pushing back against government regulations.” It is an ironic twist, isn’t it? She is not mentioned, but Councilwoman Campbell could claim to be one of those “leaders.”

Fourteen months after the gang-rape of a then-17-year old woman by SDSU football players, the San Diego District Attorney’s Office has decided not to file any charges. But, the civil suit the victim has filed will move forward.

Plus, SDSU’s own inquiry into the off-campus incident in mid-October 2021 “is still under way,” University President Adela de la Torre stated on Wednesday, Dec. 7. The school has “interviewed individuals from across our community and reviewed a range of evidence.”

Here is the beginnings of a report by Lyndsay Winkley and Teri Figueroa via the Los Angeles Times, Dec. 7, 2022.