OB Rag

By Frank Gormlie

Ever since Donald Trump announced he was running for president, reports began circulating in the press about all the various failures of his businesses, which included the bankruptcy of his Atlantic City, N.J., casinos, the defunct Trump University here in San Diego where students successfully sued him, and particularly the troubles of his Trump Towers.

For instance, in the saga of the Trump Tower in Tampa, Florida, Trump sold the use of his name to developers of the $300 million condo project for $2 million. The developers collected down payments from investors but after the project went south in 2008, the snookered buyers sued Trump for misleading them.

There’s a going-away party – of sorts – for San Diego’s District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis when she leaves office on Friday, July 7th. It’s called the “Bonnie Bash!”

In fact there will be a Jazz Funeral March to celebrate the event, organized by the San Diego Americans for Safe Access chapter – a group that over the last several years has been very visible challenging Dumanis in her personal war against cannabis.

This past July 4th, many families enjoyed themselves at Kelloggs Beach, on the Bay side of Point Loma.

But a developer wants to ruin the area and a petition drive has begun to save the beach. Organizers want to take the petition to the Peninsula Community Planning Board to have them understand that many people do not wish to see this type of development at Kelloggs.

Surfrider Volunteers Tackle the Morning After Mess

Nearly 500 volunteers gathered at four popular beaches the morning of July 5th to assist with the Surfrider Foundation annual post-Fourth of July Morning After Mess beach series. By midday, volunteers had recovered over 800 pounds of trash. Surfrider volunteers hosted four cleanups in collaboration with I Love a Clean San Diego and San Diego Coastkeeper from 9 a.m. to noon at the following County beaches:

• Ocean Beach Pier,
• Belmont Park in Mission Beach,
• Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach
• and the Oceanside Pier.

These cleanup sites were chosen because of the high concentration of beachgoers and notorious reputations for post-Fourth of July trash.

By Judi Curry

GRRR! Last week my microwave oven broke. Since a neighbor had her house catch on fire due to a faulty microwave, I decided rather than limp along with a door that had to be banged shut rather than closed normally and risk the possibility of fire I would purchase a new one.

I did extensive research, and decided on a Panasonic 2.2 CuFt Inverter Countertop, and then did price checks on those places offering the oven.

Not surprisingly, I ended up making the purchase from Amazon, which seems to be where I am purchasing everything lately. The total cost was $187. It was to be delivered the next day – a Monday.

In the Sunday paper, I happened to notice the Frys’ ad – good only on Sunday– and they had the exact same oven listed for $99.99!

By Ernie McCray

Tina Turner once sang “What’s love got to do with it?” And, ordinarily, as one who is a “love my neighbor as thyself” kind of guy, I’d answer: “Everything.” Giving my love is pretty much how I’ve managed to survive in the Milky Way. I don’t know any other way. But how loving am I? Really? I had never asked that question before receiving an email recently from an old friend, a high school classmate — in response to something I had written about The Donald. She wrote:

Dear Ernie. I believe that Mr. Trump is a deeply disturbed man. The only way I know of to soften that pain in my heart and gut is to send him love.

Yup, someone did place a tiny border wall around Donald Trump’s Hollywood Walk of Fame Star, complete with barbed wire and warning signs.

By Jim Miller / Kelly Mayhew

As I wrote last week, these are dire times for public education. With Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education leading the charge for big budget cuts, charter schools, and a radical privatization agenda, the possibility that free quality public education for all in America could soon be a thing of the past is real.

One would think that such clear and present danger to a cornerstone of our democracy coming from the right would unite Democrats behind the mantle of defending public education.

According to Claudia Jack of the Ocean Beach Mainstreet Association, the “Day After” clean-up is going smoothly, although volunteers found plenty of marshmallows – a clean sign that some beachgoers celebrating July 4th in OB either did not get the message about the ban on throwing marshmallows following the fireworks or are trying to bring the old OB tradition back.

Claudia estimated only 10% of those on the beach were throwing marshmallows.

The OB Rag has heard from numerous sources that Target Express intends to purchase the Newport Avenue Antique Center on the main commercial street in Ocean Beach. The “junior Target” will open, reportedly, at the end of summer.

The Antique Center, owned by Craig Gerwig, is arguably the largest building on Newport.

This has huge implications for Ocean Beach and the conditions on Newport.

“I Love My Dog, but….”

Let’s get one thing straight. I LOVE MY DOG, SHADOW. And I love his playmate “Rolle”. I love Shadow’s cousin “Toby”. There have only been two dogs in my lifetime that I did not love – the German Shepard that bit me when I was 5 years old, and the Pit Bull that attacked Shadow two years ago causing me to break my leg in three places, as well as my ankle and the cheek bone.

Other than those two dogs, I cannot think of any dog I don’t go “gaga” over. So when I received a note from a neighbor – Barb – saying that there is a lot of discussion about “service dogs” and other animals being brought EVERYWHERE, I decided to do some investigation and see what I could find out.

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain News

Remaining Three Mile Island Reactor to Shut Down

On May 30 Chicago-based Exelon Corporation, the largest US owner and operator of commercial nuclear power plants, announced that it would be shutting down its Unit 1 reactor at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania in September 2019. Located 10 miles from Harrisburg, the state capitol, and 90 miles northwest of Philadelphia, the reactor started up over in 1974, over40 years ago.