Articles by dweisman

Oops, they did it again to Chito’s Taco ATM

Oops, Chito’s Taco Shop ATM, with all due respect to Britney Spears, they did it again. Thieves for the second time in less than a month hit the mom-and-pop taco shop, just off Interstate 15 by Westfield North County mall, and this time they got what they sought — the shop’s ATM machine. When last we went Britney Spears at the Del Lago Boulevard eatery…


Waiting for $1.99 a gallon gas and Ladeau

 Waiting for Godot had nothing Saturday on waiting for Ladeau — and his APEX Fuels gas tanker. With a special promotional price of $1.99 and 9/10 cents per gallon of regular unleaded — $2.09.9 and $2.19.9 for higher grades — a line of vehicles snaked around the station and the block. Nobody moved. Pumps were dry with a third gas tanker of the day on…


Turn out the lights, Champion’s party is over

Lines out Grand Avenue, tears on half-eaten cinnamon rolls, Champion’s Family Restaurant was scheduled to wrap it up Friday, Jan. 29, the future be damned. Friday was going to be a kind of Escondido Mardi Gras Day, a carnival of anticipation, regret and last hurrah before the inevitable All Souls Day and Lent. As word got out last week that the family-owned American cuisine institution…


Grand Avenue filmmaking 101: ‘Mr. Getaway’

Lights, camera. Action? What the heck was going on Saturday in the alley behind the 100 block of E Grand Avenue? A white mini-van was there. People were milling around. Sometimes the mini-van was moving, and people were running around. Weird. While word on the street is “alley-way-cul-ture” is a secret Escondido happening, this was unusual even for that. Turns out this was the master…


New Palomar College baseball field now in play

Palomar College has one of the top junior college baseball programs in the nation. Now it has a $10.2 million baseball complex second to none if the JUCO world. The brand spanking new baseball complex opened play on Jan. 27 with the Palomar Comets taking on the College of the Desert Roadrunners. A brief ribbon cutting and ceremony preceded the game. Baseball and Palomar sports…


Meadow Lake Golf Course becomes new, shorter Boulder Oaks links

Escondido’s Meadow Lake Golf Course isn’t looking like its old self anymore. It’s a new, shorter course with a new name — Boulder Oaks. When last we played through, the course ceased play in July. That was to implement a $6.2 million course renovation financed by the Metropolitan Water District’s turf removal program. It’s all part of the plan to lure hitherto non-golfing golfers since…


Escondido ‘Dream Team’ protests ICE raids

Several dozen protestors against immigration deportation policies rallied at Escondido’s Police Headquarters, then Escondido City Hall at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26. Members of the San Diego Dream Team, sponsoring the protest, posted various real-time social media accounts, some of which are displayed here. They followed picketing with a community meeting in the evening at the East Valley Community Center. San Diego Dream Team is…


People Behaving Badly (January roundup)

Since last we met, Escondido-San Marcos-Valley Center has been the scene of some wild time, criminally speaking and otherwise. A bittersweet tale at best, tragedy and crime, some deadly and others of the head-scratching variety have been in the news. Here are some of the highlights and — shall we say — lowlights of the last few weeks. Skylar Tosic still missing Continuing to confound…


Counting and aiding Escondido homeless

Every homeless person counts It happens every year. Interfaith Community Services gets a handle on the extent of homelessness in Escondido with its annual count of homeless people. The count is scheduled for 4 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 29 in the streets and shelters of Escondido. Volunteers are needed, according to agency officials. Called We All Count, the annual single-day event that provides…


Escondido high school teachers want salary increase

Money, honey. Even as Escondido Union School District (EUSD) elementary and middle school teachers were griping about salaries 20 percent lower than they believe they should be, their high school counterparts were engaged in a heated dispute with their school board. over pay and pension funding. Elementary and middle school teachers, many dressed in powder blue EEEA (Escondido Elementary Educators Association) T-shirts packed the EUSD…