OB Rag

By Ernie McCray

I found myself, a day or so ago, kind of tearing up, thinking about a passage I had read in “Just Mercy,” a story of justice and redemption, or better yet, the lack thereof.

Bryan Stephenson, the author of this incredibly revealing narrative about the inequities in our justice system, says, concerning a man who was less than a day away from being executed unbelievably wrongfully, “Why do we want to kill all the broken people? What is wrong with us, that we think a thing like that?”

I’d say that we can entertain such thinking because we have no real values of any substance to guide us as a society. Oh we have documents that say we’re high on freedom of speech and freedom of religion and so on and so on and we sing:

America! America! God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
from sea to shining sea.

But do we really honor such thinking? Not by a long-shot.

From Media Advisory – CHE Cafe

On Wednesday, November 19, UCSD administrators decided to seek a writ of possession to enforce an earlier unlawful detainer judgment and evict the CHE Cafe Cooperative and any students from the cafe space it has continuously occupied for over 34 years.

Despite a resolution by the UCSD Associated Students Council asking the Chancellor to not proceed with posting a 5-day notice to vacate, and 14,000-signature petitions and open letters demanding that UCSD stop the eviction actions against the C.H.E. Cafe, delivered to the Chancellor earlier this month, action by the administration to evict the CHE Cafe continues rather than negotiations for a new lease agreement with the Co-op.

The Old OB Hippie Speaks – Writes

Shrooming in Joshua Tree is one of my most favorite things to do. I haven’t done it really for decades, but I did it last weekend. Are you shocked? Are you shocked I would put it in a headline?

Well, I’m here to tell it like it is.

Besides being a naked effort to attract young readers to my column, I wanted to push the online OB Rag more in the direction its original predecessor was – a “real” underground newspaper. The original Rag published in the first half of the 1970s. It and other allied alternative newspapers in San Diego, like The Door and The San Diego Street Journal, would publish articles about drugs, their effects, reviews, exposing undercover cops, blah blah blah. Other underground newspapers – like the Berkeley Barb – would even post drug prices and qualities.

So, I’m here to be real honest with my readers. I took shrooms – psychedelic mushrooms – last weekend in Joshua Tree.

It’s finally happened! A brand new bench was just installed in front of the OB Library.

The Friends of the OB Library are the responsible group for this venture into making our public facility a better place to be. What’s a library without a bench in front?

With a grant from the OB Town Council and through their own fundraising, the Friends were able to purchase the metal outdoor furniture. This is a great tribute to the community by one of the most wonderful band of local OB lovers.

There is a little background story that involves yours truly.

There is an OB community clean-up happening Saturday, November 22nd. Sponsored by the Cleaner Streets Initiative OB, it will start at 9 am and continue to noon.

Volunteers are asked to meet on the grass north of the OB Pier, and even though supplies are provided, people are asked to be Green and bring their own gloves and bucket.

Editor: Keeping up with OB’s iconic band, Slightly Stoopid, here’s a review from a New Hampshire online mag. They played at the Whittemore Center Arena on Nov. 15th in Durham, NH .

From NewHampshire.com

While it’s a rare commodity for a band to tour as consistently as Slightly Stoopid, the group’s diligent commitment to live music provides some insight into their loyal fan base and unique creative metamorphosis throughout their 17-year existence.

Though it’s been a couple of years since the release of their last studio album, Top Of The World (August 14, 2012), the Ocean Beach, California-based group—…

There is a soul-searching national scrutiny going on right now about fatal shootings of civilians by police officers.

In a LA Times article, published Nov. 16th, the issue of police killings of civilians is raised and it describes how the ranks of families are expanding “who demand answers about why lethal force was used, and who decides what is reasonable use of force.”

The key and central question is : What’s reasonable force?

By Bruce Coons

Sunset Cliffs Park was originally landscaped in 1915 by sporting goods magnate Albert Goodwill Spaulding at the cost of two million dollars. It was to be given to the City of San Diego with the provision that they maintain it.

This bequest consisted of landscaped walkways along the cliffs with rustic railings, pebbled steps and stairways, palm thatched shelters with benches, Japanese-style rustic arched bridges, caves with stairway access, even a 15 x 50 foot saltwater swimming pool carved into the natural rock that cleaned itself with every high tide. This was a major tourist attraction of which there are many postcards from the time around today that attest to its popularity.

Park’s Walkway Does Not Enter Adjacent Robb Field

Reporter Tony de Garate in an excellent Nov. 17 piece in the San Diego Reader, has informed us that the much-ballyhooed ribbon-cutting on the Ocean Beach Entryway Project – Park is being delayed – once again.

De Garate reports that “there’s too much salt in the soil” at the planned park at the intersection of West Pt Loma Avenue and Sunset Cliffs Boulevard, according to the City, and that the November 20th opening of the new park will have to be pushed back into next year. The city’s latest estimate of the completion date – as of Nov. 1st – is now February 2015.

Apparently, there has been even another hit and run incident in Ocean Beach lately. This one occurred on November 6th, reportedly.

In a post at Reddit.com San Diego, LksdG2 stated that on Nov. 6, around 7 pm, his girl friend’s vehicle was t-boned at the intersection of West Pt Loma and Bacon Street by a drunken driver – who fled the scene.

The post states that a white Toyota with a camper shell ran the stop sign and hit the other car. The male driver got out of the truck, approached the other car, still in the intersection. The woman in the hit car was still badly shaken up and didn’t respond to the guy who had come up to her vehicle – who smelled strongly of alcohol.

[Originally published June 14, 2008]

by Marc Snelling

In case you didn’t know you were in Hillcrest , or AbNormal Heights there is a big sign to tell you. Same goes for University Heights, which despite the marketing does not have a university. Even streets have them.

Nothing says NEIGHBORHOOD! in San Diego like a huge sign on the main road.

This got some OBceans to thinking that our puny sign, and the first few blocks of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard were not a complimentary enough entryway to OB. …

The OB Rag is running a poll right now on our home page on what readers think about the possible repainting of the exterior of the OB Hostel by its new owner, USA Hostels. Take the poll and tell us what you think.

If you’d like to explain your position, please use the comments below.