New York City

Local ironworker Paul Pursley spent 10 weeks at Ground Zero following Sept. 11

Sept. 11, 2001: Local ironworker Paul Pursley spent 10 weeks at “Ground Zero” following the terrorist attack. His major complaint in the years following concerned his inability to get correct, and affordable, treatment due to the costs involved, costs that Congress finally agreed to add funding to the 9/11 First Responders fund almost 18 years later. “Ironworkers worked every day,” Pursley said. “We went on 12-hour shifts…


Bruce Kauffman’s ‘Tale of the Toppled Hurler’

(Editor’s Note: Author Bruce Kauffman died in December 2018 at his home in National City. A longtime journalist with the North County Times at Escondido and San Marcos, and before that CNN, Bruce was born in Massachusetts and attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison while taking a BA at Case Western Reserve University and MA at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.  Locally, he specialized…


Rats! People got to change or rats will prevail

(Editor’s Note: A statewide panel of pest control experts says San Diego and other urban areas in California are experiencing a rat infestation that threatens public health. A report released by Reform California last year said a survey of 23 rodent control companies across the state showed a sharp increases in rat populations everywhere. More than 78 percent of the companies reported an increase of at least…


Tale of the Toppled Hurler: A Peter Hartwell Story (Part 8)

Tale of the Toppled Hurler: A Peter Hartwell Story by Bruce A. Kauffman c 2017  All rights reserved. For full story to date, visit: https://escondidograpevine.com/a-the-tale-of-the-toppled-hurler-a-peter-hartwell-story/. Last we looked, intrepid journalist Peter Hartwell had been abducted at the Back Bay railroad station in Boston and brought to the Charles River, where he’s thrown into the back seat of a sleek late-model two-door Infiniti. A corpulent fellow jiggles…


Tale of the Toppled Hurler: A Peter Hartwell Story (Part 7)

Tale of the Toppled Hurler: A Peter Hartwell Story by Bruce A. Kauffman c 2016  All rights reserved. For full story to date, visit: https://escondidograpevine.com/a-the-tale-of-the-toppled-hurler-a-peter-hartwell-story/. Followers of reporter/editor Peter Hartwell have so far heard him relate how the Boston Red Sox lost a bid to be the World Champions of baseball for the first time in eighty-six years because their ace collapsed walking off the mound…