Past Columns

  You see it when you gaze out over the ocean from one of our sublime coastal bluffs. It looks like an oil slick in the water about half-a-mile from shore.

  Over the past two months, a 315-foot boat named Liberty Island has been stalking close to our coastline. This vessel is the dredge doing much of the work to complete the 2012 Regional Beach Sand Project. This $28 million undertaking is a joint venture of the San Diego Association…

It is the rarest pine tree in North America and it only grows on a small stretch of San Diego coastline.

So Hank Williams Jr. did the unthinkable. He bluntly spoke his mind while being interviewed on a television program, and has since lost a job he’s had for 20 years. Good ol’ Hank made an analogy about describing a round of golf between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John…

TIMESTAMP: 3:38 p.m., Thursday Sept. 8, 2011 …I hope I have enough of a charge left in my laptop for this missive to make its way out to the rest of the world. They have to know what’s going on here. The sun is still out but we have precious…

As another year slowly creeps across the calendar, life and death usually pop their silly heads up and beg another conversation. The final breath that walks us through our last steps towards what will continually be the original enigma: What happens after we die? That’s the ultimate question. The quintessential…

At some point my client and his wife realized that the money given to the decorator was not being used for its intended purpose — furniture, accessories, etc.

This column is the first of a two-part column on how to collect on a judgment you have obtained from the courts. Look for the conclusion in the next issue.

Missing person cases are seemingly a common assignment for P.I.’s, but truthfully, they’re not. In fact, I’d be surprised if half of the P.I.’s even knew where to start, unless they had law-enforcement training, particularly with the F.B.I.

REGION — A former government employee and his wife pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court to defrauding the Department of Veterans Affairs out of more than $130,000 by claiming he was unemployed and required full-time caregiving from his wife, all while he was working a full-time job. Rafael Castro,…

It’s time to do-si-do and do that good old Oceanside square dance where you put one step in and one step out: let’s move ahead while we also slip back.

Would you believe it if I told you that we have a world famous rock star buried in Oceanside?

When the district attorney declined to bring charges last February in the fatal shooting of a 21-year-old Oceanside man by a security guard during a fight at the Vista transit center, there were many questions left unanswered. We do know that sheriff’s deputies are reported at the time to have…

These headlines lately about how Wall Street movers and shakers are throwing lavish parties for the holiday season, one featuring a performance by the hip-hop star Lil’ Kim dressed up as a black cat, reminded me to look for article I’d heard about called “What Good is Wall Street?” The…

Was it a dispute over severance pay that led a man to turn his rented Escondido house into a manufacturing plant where accidents happen? Did he think his best source of start-up capital would be a big bank, like the Bank of America? He had an account there into which…

I enlisted my nephew to help me with my annual, absolutely-must, summer garage clean-out. Since my children had the bad grace to grow up and leave home, I now turn to the next generation, as my back gets dicier. It was glorious to have a big, strong, bright 16-year-old willing…

Back in 2000, Motorhead frontman and cult icon Lemmy Kilmister, along with rockabilly guitarist Danny B Harvey (Lonesome Spurs), and former Stray Cat Slim Jim Phantom, met by pure chance while recording parts for an Elvis tribute album. Afterward, the guys were all hanging out at the studio when they…

It takes more than talent to make it as a successful artist (or anything for that matter). You have to be strong, ambitious, determined and undeterred by everyone else’s doubt or else you won’t make it. More than anything, you’ve got to believe that what you’re doing is something truly…

I don’t recall when or why the term “opening day” was coined, but it was an agreed upon day when Swami’s broke, and the beach breaks closed out, and were left unridden until May. If memory serves, one criterion for opening day was that the waves needed to be ridden…

If you spend much time outdoors, the largest organ in your body will take a beating. Each day sun and wind combine with stress and free radicals to conspire against your exterior in a never-ending war that hammers a surfer’s pliable skin into brittle shoe leather, or worse, cancerous scabs….

I never thought I’d see the day when I was among the best surfers in the water. Of course I don’t mean when the waves are pumping and North County’s finest are out, but during the summer doldrums when the surf rarely exceeds three feet and turns are required to…

A day at the mall could leave your wallet lighter but the rest of you heavier, says Consumer Reports.

A serious infection that has been on the rise in hospital patients is now being increasingly reported among people who work or spend time in health care settings, such as a doctor’s office or clinic, Consumer Reports On Health warns.

Need to find a good plumber, hairdresser or auto mechanic?

Some folks favor it Back stretch banter is that horsemen would like to see racing at the Surfside course the year-round. Among them is Del Mar Councilman Carl Hilliard, who owns a stable and races were the Turf Meets the Surf. The scenario goes likes this. Fairplex at Los Angeles…

Now it’s voters’ turn Politicians have been telling folks how well they have represented them while on their junkets to faraway places. Now voters can tell them on Tuesday whether they agree. Locally, there is a mixed bag of choices. No contests for city councils in Surfside and SolBeach communities….

Considered personal property Removing legal political signs, defacing them, or just messing with them is a crime that can be prosecuted. In 2008 a Parks and Rec employee in C’bad was found guilty and suffered dire consequences. In addition to a fine and probation, the devoted volunteer subsequently resigned. Helps…

DEL MAR — In the late 1950s there was a press party held at the Del Mar Hotel to announce that John Alessio and a Harbor City group was taking over operation of Surfside summer horse racing. This created a firestorm that was heard from here to Sacramento. The takeover never…

DEL MAR — In the early 1960s, villagers held a communitywide beach party to celebrate that the race trackers and tourist had gone elsewhere and things were quiet again. On the other hand merchants counted their revenue and hoped there was enough left in the till to carry them through…

DEL MAR — Before incorporation there was an independent rubbish collector who was reliable and only charged a pittance for his service. Nevertheless Joe Rafferty and Ken Reiley did their own hauling Saturday afternoons. They enlisted a neighbor whose name is not important. He had a small pickup truck that…

One great thing about working with plants of all types, irrigation systems and landscapes on a regular basis is that you can get great hands-on experience and learn oftentimes much more from doing and solving problems than you would by attending a lecture or a class.

One of my favorite plants here in Encinitas and California for that matter is now under attack and will cost us tax payers millions of dollars in the future because of dead or dying plants.

October is finally here and the weather has begun to change ever so slightly. This is my favorite month of the year. The Santa Ana winds come now, blowing back great plumes of offshore spray as they course up the faces of late summer swells creating giant arching rainbows of…

CAMP PENDLETON — Two rescued sea lions, one adult and one pup, were released back into the ocean last week on a private beach at Camp Pendleton after nearly two months of rehabilitation at SeaWorld San Diego. The unrelated female sea lions were rescued at different times and locations prior…

OCEANSIDE — Two Oceanside council members and the city’s police union have endorsed San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond in his bid for Congress, joining a growing list of local supporters for the Republican candidate. Desmond, who seeks to unseat Democratic Rep. Mike Levin in California’s 49th Congressional District in…

REGION — Luna is the most popular name for dogs and cats in San Diego, but names such as Bucky and Suki are also on the rise, according to an industry report released today. According to Rover.com, an online marketplace for pet supplies, the most popular dog name in the…

ENCINITAS — Scripps Health has opened a comprehensive rehabilitation services center, offering a range of therapies — including physical, occupational and speech — on an outpatient basis for those recovering from orthopedic, brain and spinal cord injuries, stroke, amputation or other physical disorders and surgeries, it was announced today. The…

ENCINITAS – Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas recently introduced an innovative robotic technology with significant promise for patients requiring biopsies of lung nodules to diagnose respiratory issues, including lung cancer. The goal of the new robotic bronchoscopy platform is to give patients an earlier, more accurate and less invasive approach to the…

Fifty years ago this month, the doors opened to Encinitas’ first hospital. And what began as a small facility providing long-term convalescent care has grown into a busy, full-service medical facility that cares for more than 80,000 patients a year in North County.

K-5 closed its doors this year. The Poway and Oceanside locations shut in February, but their flagship Encinitas branch remained open through March 1.

Kenzie Kessler chose surfing over school, now she’s back in class, fully committed

Surfers like to tinker. They’re constantly reworking and perfecting their art.