Opinion

Desalination will be key to California’s water future. It needs to improve first

Once improved, desalination could be a better drought solution for California than water reuse or more sustainable groundwater management. If the climate crisis is coming, the water crisis is already here. As rice fields were fallowed in California, Lake Mead water levels almost sunk so lowthat Hoover Dam could no longer generate power, and life-threatening toxic dust blew off the dried-up Salton Sea. Thirty percent…


Remembering the 2007 Witch Creek Fire

Fifteen years ago this week the Witch Creek Fire devastated Escondido, Rancho Santa Fe and North County San Diego. This is part of my first-hand coverage done as editor of the Rancho Santa Fe Record. I won the California Newspaper Publishers Association’s first place prize for local news coverage for this, and the other 26 stories, numerous photos, and overall coverage I produced during, and…


Poltergeists? Ghosts are just people, too

Having a ghost in your house doesn’t necessarily mean pictures fly off the wall at you and the dog cowers and growls at the top of the basement stairs.  Spirits are everywhere, and they come in a variety of shapes, sizes and intentions Hollywood has led people to believe that ghosts are not only real but vicious things that rip flesh and possess children to…


SD County supervisor district boundaries a bit of a twist

The Legislature has created commissions to redraw county supervisor districts in five counties after every census. However, unlike the state redistricting commission, these local bodies are stacked in favor of a county’s dominant political party. California once had a history of epic political and legal battles over redrawing legislative and congressional districts after each decennial census. The Legislature, dominated then as now by Democrats, would…


More nuclear power is no solution to climate crisis

If you live in Orange or San Diego County, hopefully you’re aware that San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) has been turned into a nuclear waste dump for the foreseeable future. If you live on planet earth, you’re wise to be tracking domestic and foreign moves to increase reliance on nuclear energy. The United States ushered in the atomic age in 1945 by dropping a…


Surveillance Pelicana Chapter 2: ‘Night of the Living Poets’

SURVEILLANCE PELICANA BY DAN WEISMAN The entire book appears at this link with chapters added after appearing online: Chapters 1-10: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-full-book-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/. Chapters 11-20: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-ii-chapters-11-to-20-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/ Chapters 21-30: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-iii-chapters-21-to-30-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/ CHAPTER TWO Following the Saints playoff loss, Tyger and his friend Armor’s Tungsten attend an open-mike poetry night at the Blue Bayou club on Tchopitoulas Street.   CHAPTER 2 “Night of the Living Poets”   “SURVEILLANCE PELICANA” Chapter…


Surveillance Pelicana Chapter 3: ‘What a Revolting Development This Is’

SURVEILLANCE PELICANA BY DAN WEISMAN The entire book appears at this link with chapters added after appearing online: Chapters 1-10: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-full-book-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/. Chapters 11-20: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-ii-chapters-11-to-20-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/ Chapters 21-30: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-iii-chapters-21-to-30-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/   CHAPTER  THREE Poetry night continues at the Blue Bayou. Events take an unpropitious turn towards ugliness due to a convergence of circumstances attributable to karmic order. Mona Mona and her friend Roger initiate a riot resulting in…


Surveillance Pelicana Chapter 4: ‘IRS Inc.’

SURVEILLANCE PELICANA BY DAN WEISMAN  The entire book appears at this link with chapters added after appearing online: Chapters 1-10: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-full-book-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/. Chapters 11-20: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-ii-chapters-11-to-20-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/ Chapters 21-30: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-iii-chapters-21-to-30-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/   CHAPTER FOUR Tyger interviews at Marrero for an insurance investigator’s position with Dorothy Lafleur of Information Retrieval Services (IRS) Inc. The position is explained and Tyger is hired. He begins his first assignment at Kenner with a negative…


Surveillance Pelicana Chapter 5: ‘People Behaving Badly’

SURVEILLANCE PELICANA BY DAN WEISMAN (The entire book appears at this link with chapters added after appearing online: Chapters 1-10: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-full-book-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/.) Chapters 11-20: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-ii-chapters-11-to-20-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/) Chapters 21-30: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-iii-chapters-21-to-30-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/)   CHAPTER FIVE Tyger works a case at Avondale. This chapter contrasts the official details of investigation with actual impressions. The Subject has a car accident while under observation. Tyger also works Hassan Ibn Ben Hassan in a…


Surveillance Pelicana Chapter 6: ‘Waking the Dead at MacLand and Bobby’s’

SURVEILLANCE PELICANA BY DAN WEISMAN The entire book appears at this link with chapters added after appearing online: Chapters 1-10: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-full-book-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/. Chapters 11-20: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-ii-chapters-11-to-20-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/ Chapters 21-30: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-iii-chapters-21-to-30-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/   CHAPTER SIX Waking the Dead at MacLand and Bobby’s Mac Long and Sarah Ivy, friends of Tyger, hold court at MacLand. They make local derelict Clyde get out of the trash. Some bongo jamming takes place. Later, Tyger,…