by The Editors on March 6, 2008

If we hadn’t overheard two gated-community moms discussing windy, open-cockpit plane rides over the coast while their children were in swim lessons, we probably would have missed this story on a business at the Carlsbadistan Airport.
In addition to biplanes, Barnstorming Adventures (800/759-5667 or barnstorming.com) offers aerobatic rides in a WWII war-bird plane. Or, thrillseekers can play out a dogfight in two Varga air-combat planes. Biplane flights start at $199 for one or two people; war-bird and dogfight flights cost more. . . The company’s Sunset Special Fly/Dine package for two ($569) includes a 60-minute sunset flight, followed by a three-course meal at the nearby Four Seasons Aviara Vivace restaurant.
As one woman said, “The only thing we kept thinking about while on the flight is that we don’t have wills.” Point taken.
[Link: Coastal Living]
by The Editors on March 6, 2008
The Agua Hedionda Lagoon Discovery Center is displaying the jaw and tusk of a Mastodon that was found in Carlsbad last June (2007).
The ancient mammal’s tusk and jaw bones are on display at the Agua Hedionda Lagoon Discovery Center, at Faraday Avenue and Cannon Road, through July. . . .The fossils are owned by the San Diego Natural History Museum, whose team of paleontologists discovered mastodon bones June 14 when earth movers were grading land for a housing development at El Camino Real and Cannon Road in Carlsbad.
Or maybe you’re not interested in dead elephant bones.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
by The Editors on March 6, 2008
At first we thought this was the memoir of a bitter old man and his wife, however, My Bag and Me, is actually a kids book that was produced by Carslbad-based Penton Kids Press to teach kids about the importance of reducing our dependency on paper and plastic bags.
“We believe it is important to help young children understand and participate in going green,” says Penton Marketing Director Tom McGrew. He adds, “‘My Bag and Me’ follows a child, and his reusable shopping bag, on a trip to the grocery store. By the end of the story, the child is ready to say no to paper and plastic and prove it with his own reusable bag.”
So yeah, keep consuming kids, but when you’re bringing home a carload of food wrapped in plastic and paper be sure to carry it in a reusable cloth bag.
[Link: Marketwire.com]
by The Editors on March 6, 2008
When the Carlsbad City Council “voted in Februrary to give Catholic Charities $108,500 in seed money” to start planning a farmworker shelter that didn’t sit very well with the freelance border patrollers who call themselves “The San Diego Minutemen.”
Jeff Schwilk, leader of the San Diego Minutemen, said he was “shocked and amazed” when he heard . . . Schwilk and others told the council Tuesday that it shouldn’t go into the housing business. First, Schwilk said, the people who employ the farmworkers ought to provide housing. Second, the farmworkers who might stay at the proposed shelter are likely to be illegal immigrants who shouldn’t be working in this country, he and several others argued.
Hard to believe the Minutemen would actually leave their oh-so-important posts down by the border. Just think how many workers snuck in while the council was meeting.
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on March 6, 2008
The Carlsbadistan Starbucks reopened it’s doors at 5 PM on Tuesday March 4, 2008 with little or no fanfare. In fact, we challenge you to see anything different about the place other than the cream and sugar station is now taking up window space on the Coast Highway side.
“There’s a lot less bump and shove going on behind the counter, that’s for sure,” said one barista. “We have a lot more room back here.”
Well, if they have more room behind the counter, maybe that will transform into better, faster coffee that will keep those lines from streaming out the door. Still no AT&T free wireless for Starbucks cardholders, but it’s apparently on the way.
by The Editors on March 6, 2008
A Hispanic man in his 20s robbed a 25-year-old Carlsbad resident in Holiday Park last night (March 5, 2008) at about 8:30 PM. When the man showed that he had no money, the Hispanic man stabbed him the stomach.
The man told police he was walking in the park when someone approached and demanded money, Margo said . . . The victim said he pulled out his wallet to show he had no money, and the assailant reacted by producing a large kitchen knife and stabbing him in the stomach before fleeing on foot, Margo said.
We sincerely hope there is more to this story.
[Link: Fox 6]
by The Editors on March 4, 2008
Utah-based golf bag manufacturer OGIO has filed a lawsuit in Utah Federal Court “citing Callaway Golf Company for patent infringement.”
OGIO, the golf bag manufacturer renowned for innovative design, currently holds more than a dozen individual patents for acclaimed bag components. One such design – the OGIO Woode organizing top – was such a high-demand feature when it was first introduced in 2002 that Callaway Golf Company requested the design on its OGIO-engineered bags. OGIO provided original equipment manufacturing services for Callaway from 2000 through 2005.
Despite the companies agreeing to part ways nearly three years ago, a patent-violating version of OGIO’s organizing top continues to appear on Callaway- designed golf bags including its 2008 golf bag collection.
[Link: Bunkershot.com]
by The Editors on March 4, 2008
Christopher Facione, 37, of Carlsbad is the founder of The Next Level Athletics in Encinitas and the coach of a North County traveling girls softball team. He has been arrested on “suspicion of having sex with a 17-year-old player,” according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
According to court records, he had sex with one of his softball players twice at his Carlsbad home. The first incident occurred on or about Oct. 2, 2007, with the second between Oct. 7 and Oct. 20, 2007, according to the records. . . . A warrant for Facione’s arrest was issued Feb. 20, court records show. He was arrested last Thursday and was later released on $100,000 bail.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
by The Editors on March 4, 2008
Marueen LoBue sounds a little scary. She’s raised two sons Andy, 27, and Ben, 21 and now that they’re out of the house and still alive she believes she has a little information to share with the rest of us in the form of a “self-published” book titled Mean Mom’s Club: The Mom’s Rule Book.
“If you consider a mom’s role is to insure safety,” LoBue said, “then it becomes clear that your job does indeed including being a mean mom: setting clear boundaries and saying no when the boundaries are being tested, each and every time without fail.”
Damn, if wasn’t for our Mean Reader Club rule about never, ever reading another self-published book, we’d check it out. Sadly, we’ll never grasp any of the pearls of wisdom Mrs. LoBue is handing out. Hey, rules are rules.
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on March 3, 2008

More pleasant hurdles for Poseidon Resources and the proposed desalination plant from the North County Times:
In a recent letter, the control board said it wanted more information about how the plant would minimize harm to fish and the environment —- 21 months after the board awarded the plant a discharge permit.
In November, the California Coastal Commission awarded the plant a permit, on the condition that its backers, Poseidon Resources Inc., answer more questions about the same subjects.
Environmental groups last week immediately said the control board’s action proved environmental worries were valid, and that agencies were moving too quickly to conditionally approve the plant.
“It’s absurd to us that any agency could pre-approve a project of this magnitude without having this information already tied down,” said Marco Gonzalez, an environmental lawyer active in the Surfrider Foundation, which has sued to overturn the commission’s permit approval.
Seems like none of the agencies wanted to be the one to put their foot down. They all offered conditional approvals, and now it’s looking like Poseidon is having a rough time meeting the conditions.
[Link: North County Times]