by The Editors on November 15, 2007
We’re thinking of creating the Carlsbadistan Bank Robbery Tote Board, just so we can more easily keep track of all the bank robberies in our quaint little village (this is number six in six months).
Today’s perp was described as a white, 60-year-old man, 5 feet 10, about 160 pounds wearing glasses, a white shirt, and blue jeans.
The man entered the [California Bank and Trust] branch on Carlsbad Village Drive near Madison Street about 10:45 a.m. After the teller gave him the money, the robber ran away. No weapon was seen.
Though we find it hard to believe that he ran all that fast. He was 60.
[Link: San Diego Union Tribune]
by The Editors on November 14, 2007
The votes are in and the new student council at Kelly Elementary school includes (from left to right): Grady McDermott, vice president; Allison DeGour, secretary; Ethan Emery, president; and Analisa Almaguer, treasurer. Given the chance, we’d swap these four out with the Carlsbad City Council immediately. No questions asked.
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on November 14, 2007
It came as no real surprise to anyone, but last night the Carlsbad City Council voted unanimously (as the seemingly do for most development plans) to approve the environmental impact report on the Ponto Village Beachfront Vision Plan, according to a story in the San Diego Union Tribune.
It envisions 180 hotel rooms and 126 time-share units in an upscale resort overlooking the lagoon; a 215-room Hilton at Poinsettia Lane and Carlsbad Boulevard; and a 269-room hotel on Ponto Drive. . . . The plan also projects 128 condominium units, shops, restaurants, a wetland interpretive park and trails.
Looks like it’s all downhill from here.
“This is a very special place in our community,” Councilwoman Julie Nygaard said before voting for the plan. “There’s a lot of increased amenities. In the end we’re going to come out with a really nice place for our community.”
Yeah, special like Main Street in Huntington Beach. Wahoo!
[Link: San Diego Union Tribune]
by The Editors on November 14, 2007
Pat Weber, the owner of the Carslbad-based San Diego Surfing Academy, decided to escape the fires last month by taking his girlfriend to Baja for a short surf trip at Cuatro Casas. Things only got worse once they got into Mexico, according to the San Diego Union Tribune.
Just after sundown Oct. 23, two men wearing military clothing and ski masks confronted the couple. Weber said he initially refused to come out of his motor home, but surrendered after the robbers fired a shot into the vehicle. “They made us get down on all fours – execution position – and put guns to our heads. . . The gunmen sexually assaulted his girlfriend before stealing $10,000 worth of computers, video cameras and other gear, he said.
Weber stopped in Ensenada and reported the robbery. Apparently, they weren’t the first to be robbed at Cuartro Casas. Click the link for the rest of the story on the downside of Baja surf trips.
[Link: San Diego Union Tribune]
by The Editors on November 13, 2007
Tonight, according to the North County Times, the “Trustees of Carlsbad Unified School District are expected to approve three high school design and construction contracts totaling more than $5 million.”
The contracts include: $4.28 million in design fees to the architectural firm Perkins + Will; $150,000 in preliminary construction planning to McCarthy Building Companies; $322,240 in preliminary construction planning to Douglas E. Barnhart, Inc.
This spending is all part of the the approved Proposition P that “authorized the district to sell $198 million in school construction bonds.” It’s nice to see money being spent on education, so go crazy with it.
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on November 12, 2007
The wheels of progress seem to simply grind everyone into submission through sheer boredom. We’re reminded of a line from Tolstoy’s War and Peace quoted by Liesl Schillinger in the New York Times:
Where the issue is undecided it is always the most stubborn who come out victorious.
We’re not big fans of what’s called The Ponto Vision Plan, but at the same time we’re becoming less stubborn each day. Tomorrow, starting at 6:00 PM, the Carlsbad City Council will again meet to make up for a discussion that was postponed October 23 because of the fires.
At the meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall, council members will debate whether to accept an environmental report on the Ponto planning document. That report was ordered two years ago after strong public opposition to the development plan surfaced.
If you still care, show up at City Hall Tuesday at 6:00. We might see you there.
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on November 11, 2007
According to a story in The Eureka Reporter Taarna Renee Wiltsie, 19, of Carlsbad died near Orick, California “when her vehicle left US Highway 101 near Bald Hills Road, careened off an embankment, overturned and landed in a creek.”
Wiltsie was found dead inside her 2007 Toyota Corolla by emergency personnel at approximately 4:24 a.m. Sunday, according to a California Highway Patrol collision report. . . There were no witnesses to the incident, but a passerby discovered the vehicle after noticing tire tracks on the shoulder of the roadway and checked out the scene.
Taarna was a staff writer at Palomar College’s award-winning, student-run newspaper The Telescope. According to a story in the North County Times, Wiltsie was on her way to visit her parents in Springfield, Oregon. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends.
[Link: The Eureka Reporter]
by The Editors on November 10, 2007
The San Diego Sheriff confirmed that an injured 28-year-old man was found near the tracks at Acacia Street in Carlsbad.
The Sheriff’s Department is investigating whether a man who was found seriously injured on the railroad tracks in Carlsbad was struck by a train. . . . The 28-year-old was found lying on the west side of the tracks near Acacia Avenue at 2:40 a.m. [November 10], a sheriff’s news release said. There is no railroad crossing where the man was found.
According to a Carlsbadistan news tipster the man survived, however, his arm had been severed.
[Link: San Diego Union Tribune]
by The Editors on November 9, 2007
Talk about a case of bad gas:
A houseckeeper discovered two semi-conscious guests in a motel room Friday afternoon. The subsequent discovery of a carbon monoxide leak led firefighters to quickly evacuate the Marriott Residence Inn, said Battalion Chief Jeff Sprague of the Carlsbad Fire Department.
The out-of-state guests who were supposed to checkout of the Faraday Road Marriott this morning were found in their beds around 2 PM. It appears that a water heater vent pipe had come loose and filled their room with carbon monoxide. The couple were extremely disoriented when hospitalized, but “are expected to fully recover.”
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on November 9, 2007
It weighs in at 88 pages, but the Costal Commission staff report on the proposed Poseidon Resource desalination plant should be read by everyone who is interested in future of Agua Hedionda Lagoon or ocean life near Warm Waters. The report is very straight forward on why the project is a bad idea:
The proposed project represents a non-allowable use of Agua Hedionda Lagoon, one of 19 coastal estuaries in which permitted uses are limited to very minor incidental public facilities, restorative measures, and nature study. Further, the project would require ongoing dredging of the lagoon, which would adversely affect water quality and habitat. . . .The project would cause significant adverse impacts to marine life and water quality in Agua Hedionda and in nearshore ocean waters. The entrainment caused by the project’s use of an open-water intake within Agua Hedionda would result in a loss of productivity in the lagoon equal to that produced in no less than 37 acres of wetland and open water habitat. The project’s discharge into coastal waters of its waste stream at levels of salinity higher than the natural variability of these waters would cause adverse effects to marine organisms in an area ranging from about eight to over 40 acres of benthic habitat.
The Costal Commission’s November meeting at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel at 1433 Camino Del Rio South begins on November 14, 2007 with the desalination plant discussion scheduled for November 15 (it’s number seven on the agenda).
While the staff report clearly suggests a “No” vote, most political pressure seems to bearing down in the opposite direction. In fact, Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institutes auqaman Donald Kent believes the plant will actually be good for the lagoon, according to an editorial in the North County Times.
We’re thinking of creating the Carlsbadistan Bank Robbery Tote Board, just so we can more easily keep track of all the bank robberies in our quaint little village (this is number six in six months).
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