Articles by dweisman

Intrigue marks SM Council seat filling process

Conflicting special election cost estimates and private lobbying of council members are just two of the lingering questions pertaining to the San Marcos City Council’s decision to appoint a new member for a 2-year term rather than allow voters to decide. After a final Thursday count, City Clerk Phil Scollick had received 24 – count ’em, 24 — applications in various stages of completion. Applicants…


Bye Felicia time for good old boy from Alpine

Otherwise known as Rep. Duncan Hunter grifting out the string in 2019… Duncan Hunter’s 2019: No committee assignments, just the opportunity to run his mouth and vote against bills helping voters in California’s 50th Congressional District. And oh, by the way, a date with a U.S. District Court judge on Sept. 10. Hunter held on to his 50th district seat by just four percentage points…


No election for open SM council seat?

San Marcos has an open city council seat. However, leaders won’t schedule an election. Instead, council members want to fill the seat themselves and appoint the new council member. Wait, what? On Tuesday, Dec. 11, council members voted unanimously to fill the seat left open by Rebecca Jones when she was elected mayor last month, by voting among themselves for a new member. Does that sound…


Ammar Campa-Najjar hits comeback trail

Ammar Campa-Najjar makes it official It’s official, Campa-Najjar is back in the race to replace the disgraced, and clinging to a real person’s job in Congress, Duncan “Friggin’” Hunter. Campa-Najjar this week filed to run against Hunter in California’s 50th Congressional District in 2020, should Hunter even make it that far. Hunter’s date with campaign finance fraud destiny at Federal Court in September may result…


‘Round town: Hercules, low gas, and murder

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s at Valley Center History Museum The January birthdate of famed actor-bodybuilder Steve Reeves is being remembered at the Valley Center History Museum which has a collection of the late star’s memorabilia. Known internationally as the winner of every major bodybuilding competition as as the star of “Hercules” and 17 other motion pictures, Reeves is little-known as a rancher…


Climate change challenges San Diego farms

Facing the heat of global warming, farmers in San Diego are trying to survive and build resilience through practice—and are pushing policymakers to keep up. At Pauma Valley, a flat stretch of crop- and rangelands at the base of the Palomar Mountains in North San Diego County, July is usually a month of hot weather and raucous growth—with lemons, avocados, blackberries, and peppers all flourishing….


San Marcos council scam dates to 2007

If San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones’ attempt to circumvent local voters by appointing a new City Council member next month instead of scheduling a special election sounds familiar, it is. It has happened before and Jones was the beneficiary of the new seat, her first political office, as a result. That happened in 2007 when then-mayor and newly elected San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond…


Let us now praise Bruce Kauffman

Mensch (Yiddish: מענטש‎ mentsh, cognate with the German word Mensch meaning a “human being”) means “a person of integrity and honor”.[1] Highly savvy in the ways of journalism, and a brilliant analyst of the ways of the world, Bruce Kauffman was the very epitome of a mensch. He always was ready to lend an ear to a friend’s tale of joy or woe and help…


Making a holiday difference at San Marcos

It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas on Saturday, Dec. 8 as 160 kids from 38 families along with 110 kids without family members were adopted in the form of gifts and goodies provided by host families at the Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos at 1 Positive Place. “We look for families we know will need support for the holidays,” Boys…


Lake San Marcos: World’s oldest dead ringer

That gruff yet recognizable voice. The trademark cigar. Those corny jokes that may, or may not, be funny but with that rat-a-tat-tat Vaudevillian delivery that never seems to fail. It might be. It could be. It was…. Al Mager? Or was it George Burns? For those who thought George Burns was a permanent fixture in the Las Vegas of the sky, think again. Al Mager…