by The Editors on July 3, 2007
This morning at 5:30 AM a private plane taking off from McClellan-Palomar Airport hit powerlines and crashed onto the new The Crossings golf course, killing two people on board. The crash also started two brush fires that were still burning two hours after the crash.
Brian Dillard, a 33-year-old San Clemente resident, had just dropped his wife at work on Aston Avenue near College Boulevard and was on College heading toward Palomar Airport Road when he saw the crash. “From the corner of my eye, I saw an object very quickly. I thought maybe lightning hit because it was very foggy and then I heard an explosion,” Dillard said. “It was huge. The way the fire exploded, it exploded up and then spread. The sound wasn’t nearly as bad as the fire itself. There was no shaking or anything like that but it was enough to rattle me.”
According to the Associated Press the “twin-engine Beechcraft 90 turboprop was registered to Southwest Consulting Group in San Diego. The company specializes in “mechanical and electrical forensic engineering.”
[Link: San Diego Union Tribune]
by The Editors on July 3, 2007
The 20-year-old operator of Legoland’s Skyscraper Climb fell 25 feet Friday June 29th and suffered a broken right ankle, a splintered left heel and a fractured back and right wrist, according to Dean Fryer, spokesman for the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
The accident happened just after 6 p.m. Friday when the employee climbed close to the top of the outdoor 28-foot-high climbing wall. Fryer said it is not clear if the worker’s safety harness broke or if it was not connected properly. The agency is investigating the accident, he said.
Hmm, we wonder if there was any “free-soloing” going on?
[Link: San Diego Union Tribune]
by The Editors on July 3, 2007
This morning at 1 AM a 40-year-old motorist who “failed to yield to CHP” while traveling southbound on Interstate 5 led officers on a chase at speeds of more than 100 MPH before crashing on the La Costa off-ramp. The driver, whose name was not released, was seriously injured and taken to the hospital for treatment.
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on July 2, 2007
Carlsbad NASCAR fans already know that the Mark Simo owned Carlsbad-based SOBE – No Fear Ford driven by Carlsbadistanian Boris Said is entered in next weekend’s Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway. But for those of us who know absolutely nothing about auto racing, this knowledge may make it a bit more likely that we’ll watch a bunch of billboards on wheels drive round and round and round an oval. Go, Carlsbad!
If you’re wondering who to watch for, Boris’ car is number 60. He’s usually near the middle of the pack in a car that looks a little something like this:

by The Editors on July 2, 2007
The Carlsbad Police Department will hold a meeting Monday July 2 at 1:30 PM at Safety Center, 2560 Orion Way to gather public input on adding an entertainment ordinance to the City’s municipal code and repealing the City’s Cabaret code. If you attend, expect to be joined by pub owners who are among a small group of people who can attend a 1:30 PM Monday meeting.
In March when this issue first came up this is what the Carlsbad Restaurant & Bar Association had to say about this ordinance:
While none of us disagree with having an reasonable ordinance, we feel that this particular document as it is currently written is ambiguous, vague, discriminatory and contradictory.
We tried reading the ordinance, but got lost after the second whereas.
[Link: Carlabdca.gov]
by The Editors on July 1, 2007
This week’s Carlsbadistan What Do You Think? poll featured a question about tourism and the Village of Carlsbad. It appears that we’re not the only one’s wondering what the City is doing to help local businesses gather visitor dollars, according to the Coast News.
Former Carlsbad Councilwoman Norine Sigafoose thinks that the city isn’t holding up its end of the bargain when it comes to promoting tourism in Carlsbad. The Carlsbad Tourism Business Improvement District collected $770,000 in revenue from a dollar-per-night assessment of each occupied room in the city in the 2006/2007 fiscal year. Sigafoose thinks that number, which goes toward promoting Carlsbad, should be twice as much. “The city was obligated to double that,” she said. “I’m really upset with how this has turned out.”
Unfortunately, for Sigafoose (who owns the Seashore on the Sand hotel), it appears that the word “matching funds” never appeared in Ordinance number NS-778. Guess she’ll have to pay for her own advertising in the short term.
[Link: The Coast News]
by The Editors on July 1, 2007
For the past tow years the Festa Italiana was held in Cardiff, but now The Sons of Italy in America (La Costa dei Fiori) Lodge of Encinitas has moved their “all-Italian” July 7 event to the Island Shopping Center at 5814 Van Allen Way.
Carlsbad resident Frank Mangio, chairman of the event, estimated that about 1,000 people attended the festa last year. . . The all-Italian event will feature Sicilian folk dancers, instrumental music, arts and crafts, European art and photography, information about bocce ball and more than 25 vendors selling Italian items such as authentic Venetian masks and Vespa scooters.
Festa Italiana runs July 7, 2007 from noon to 5 PM for more information contact Frank Mangio at (760) 632-1199.
[Link: San Diego Union Tribune]
by The Editors on July 1, 2007
North County Times sports columnist Steve Scholfied got to tour Carlsbad’s newest golfing facility The Crossings and he says it should be “a blast for everyone.”
From what I saw during my tour, The Crossings will be special for golfers and non-golfers alike. It will be a tremendous asset to Carlsbad. . . Built around the strict confines of acres of environmentally sensitive wetlands, The Crossings appears to be an elegant and challenging layout.
This course may mean starting to golf, if you don’t already. For the rest of the story, click the link.
[Link: North County Times]