Second prize is two lunches

Supervisor Jim Bates offered to have lunch with the door-prize winner of County Government Day at the College Grove shopping center last November.

Check the oil and cut the umbilical cord, please

Supertramp's Roger Hodgson became a father scant minutes before going on stage at the Sports Arena this past summer, as his wife Karuna gave birth to daughter Heidi in the band's motor home in the parking lot (rather than in a hospital) so the child could be born "on the road."

At least he didn't dangle his participle

Chula Vista Star-News columnist Lowell Blankfort, referring in a column to Supervisor Lucille Moore's relationship with a local attorney, meant to ask facetiously whether the attorney deducted money from his taxes for entertaining the supervisor, in whom he had a romantic interest. A misprint, however, asked if the attorney got a tax break "for entering her." A correction ran in the next issue.

Tell it to the Marines

In its February issue, Oui magazine published an article entitled "Towns Without Pity" — which listed Oceanside as one of the ten toughest small cities in the nation. "Our advice," counseled the story, "is that next time you're headed north to L.A. or south to San Diego along the coastal highway around Oceanside. In fact, a detour through Las Vegas is probably sufficient. "

Woodstein strikes again

The night last October a U.S. Grant Hotel elevator fell seven floors and slightly injured eight people, several television news crews descended on a hapless elevator repairman, who said he had no answers for the near tragedy. Refusing to take no comment for an answer, the news hounds — with lights flashing and cameras whirring — pursued the repairman down a long corridor as he tried to escape. Trapping him at hallway's end, the reporters made ready to pounce. The harsh glare of the camera lights emphasized each bead of sweat dripping off the man's face as he cowered in the corner. "What is your company going to do about this?" one reporter demanded. "Are all your elevators this dangerous?" Another reporter shoved a microphone in the frightened man's face and ordered, "Tell us who you work for! What's your name?" Cringing, with no place to turn, the repairman — now on the verge of tears — alternately covered his face with his hands and glared at the reporters. "No comment," he squeaked. "I have nothing to tell you people."

Most popular holiday of the year

Halloween.

Rock and roll will never die, but it can get very sick

Heavy metal returned to San Diego Stadium August 5 for the first time in more than a year (complaints from neighboring residents had led to a ban on concerts). More than 50,000 youngsters showed up to hear Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick, UFO, and the Pat Travers Band. There were 93 arrests, 300 vehicles towed, one reported stabbing, a hit-and-run death, 70 medically treated freak-outs, 49 cops, and forty-four police reservists. More extravaganzas are expected.

The 1979 logorrhea award to:

Herman Baca Runner-up: Bob Dale. Second runner-up: Dr. Michael Dean.

Many a tier has to fall

Unmoved by revised calculations that indicated it would be cheaper to improve than to destroy, the San Diego Board of Education went ahead and demolished Balboa Stadium.

You should see him when he's excited

Twenty-seven-year-old Charles Logan was "bored" the wee hours of January 11, and so he opted for a little exercise. Deciding against a stroll around the block, he instead clambered 320 feel up the KSON broadcasting tower in Southeast San Diego, where he remained several hours until police and fire officials coaxed him down. Said Logan of his nocturnal impulse: "I had nothing to do and decided to climb the tower."

Keep your elbows off the table, use a napkin, and don't talk with your foot in your mouth

Supervisor Roger Hedgecock invited four reporters to his office for a wine-and-cheese lunch last August 7. The munchies were on him, he told the inquisitive journalists, and the county would not be billed. But before he left for home that night, Hedgecock filed a request with the county auditor for a twenty-five-dollar reimbursement for the lunch. The request was later approved. When questioned about the incident, Hedgecock said, "I don't know what the bookkeeping problem was. If I haven't paid for that lunch, I will."

If you cock your head sideways and squint, it's not quite as noticeable

The big rip smack in the middle of the Ken Cinema screen takes first prize for most irritating distraction of the year.

Maybe so, but wasn't that a great four-part series about Walter Cronkite's boat?

Michael Gomez, the Christian mayoral candidate in the September 18 primary, tried to sue nearly every media outlet in town for not giving him enough coverage — except the Evening Tribune. His reason? "I won't sue the Tribune," Gomez said, "because they haven't really covered the election."

Can I get a witness?

El Cajon evangelist Dennis Goodell in March pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old girl he was "counseling." Goodell was sentenced to 90 days in the county jail, received five years probation, and now resides in New Mexico, where he ministers to those in need at his new church. Michael Newman, a Catholic deacon and editor of the diocesan newspaper Southern Cross, resigned his post this fall to become a partner in Hypmovation, Inc., a self-hypnosis business specializing in "sales motivation and self-improvement." The Oakland-based Church of Hakeem, described by police as a cover for a Ponzi con game, attracted several hundred spiritually deprived San Diegans with its lure of heaven on earth. Reverend Taalamu, Hakeem's local contact, was arrested in January for conspiracy to sell securities without a permit. Marvin Ellsworth Sudduth, Jr., principal of Christian High School, located at the First Baptist Church of Escondido, was shipped off to Patton State Hospital after pleading guilty in October to three counts of oral copulation involving boys aged 10 to 14.

Most Ambitious San Diegans of 1979

Bill Lowery, Clare Crane, King Golden, Lee Grissom, Nancy Stockett, George Mitrovich, Harold Green (in absentia), Jim Bates, Des! Arnaz, Michael Tuck, Colleen O'Connor.

Left

Herbert Marcuse died July 29.

Memorable quotes from Councilman Bill Mitchell Known to have said:

"I just can't get along with Geminis." (By way of explaining the departure of his administrative aide, Tony Ott.)

"Hey, that's not a bad game for a bunch of foreigners." (Upon viewing his first soccer game.)

"It must be the same person, 'cause the writing all looks the same." (At a recent council discussion regarding an anti-graffiti ordinance.)

Believed to have said:

"And is that Mrs. Hayakawa?" (While pointing to a portrait of Emperor and Empress Hirohito at a mayor's reception for Sen. S.l. Hayakawa.)

Denies having said seriously:

"Where are they going to find the eleven on their phones?" (During a meeting, the subject of which was the emergency number 911.)

Offered in Councilman Bill's defense:

"He's an idealist, a people's representative, even when it's in conflict with what he thinks is right."

Your Safety — Our Business

In February, several members of the San Diego police vice squad doffed their uniforms and their street clothes in the line of duty. They were gathering some first-hand intelligence at the Fourth Avenue Club in Hillcrest, a men's bathhouse popular with neighborhood gays. After a few hours of mixing with the regulars, the cops sensed that something was amiss and called in reinforcements. A total of twenty-five officers swarmed into the establishment and arrested twenty-three men on a variety of sex-related charges. Nearly all cases were later discussed.

Well, it's for art, right?

Over the persistent objections of Balboa Park, open-space protectors, the city council on January 2 granted the Old Globe a three-year extension on the operation of its festival stage, a "temporary" structure constructed in spring of 1978 with the understanding that it would be torn down no later than October 31 of that year.

Cream rises to the top (and quickly sours)

Carlos n' Charlie's.

Of course, even da Vinci had to start somewhere

Readers of the the Evening Tribune were forced to endure another year of infantile scribbling by editorial cartoonist Ralph Yoes.

Dirty trickster

A well-dressed man with a leather attache case walked into Councilman Bill Lowery's office last September and calmly dumped a bag of dirt on an aide's desk. The culprit, insurance salesman Leo Schweikhard, said his action was a result of three weeks' frustration with city officials who promised but failed to clean up a construction mess in his Adams Avenue business. Lowery called the incident "inexcusable," but his aide, Pat Krebs, wasn't too surprised. "I've been dumped on before," she said. Within three hours, Schweikhard's sidewalk was being cleaned by city crews.

Punch and judicial show

Superior Court Judge Roscoe S. Wilkey successfully filed for medical retirement as a result of a three-year-old back injury he admitted didn't cause him any pain. A month before filing his request, Wilkey had been the subject of an article in the Union detailing his alleged ignorance of the law, incessant procrastination, unwillingness to make decisions, and favoritism toward certain attorneys. South Bay Municipal Court traffic referee John R. Menard was taken to court on charges of shoplifting some drill bits and equipment from the Chula Vista FedMart. He was acquitted by Judicial Court Judge Al J. Carrion, who noted that only Menard and the security guard at FedMart really knew what happened that day. "I have not, nor do I pretend to have, the wisdom of Soloman," confessed Judge Carrion. Superior Court Judge Artie Henderson withdrew herself from consideration for appointment to the U.S. District Court after it was revealed she had been sued ten times in small claims court for not paying her bills. (The debts included a $528 bill from Saks Fifth Avenue of Beverly Hills.) Superior Court Judge Francis E. Gallagher also successfully filed for medical retirement not long after newspaper accounts of a highly unusual midnight session in his chambers, during which he reportedly chastised county jail personnel for not being more expeditious in the release of his eighteen-year-old daughter, who had been arrested for possession of cocaine.

At least our prices didn't slip

La jolla's Cote D' Azur restaurant received a B rating from the county health department May 8 (regraded to A on June ZJ). Alfonso's, also on Prospect Street's restaurant row I bagged a B on November 1 (regraded to A on November 30).

Most depressingly familiar highway mishap

Young Navy men injured or killed in motorcycle accidents.

Left, right, and another right

Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Ronald A. Gaines was found guilty in August of one count of assault on a recruit, two counts of violating orders prohibiting abuse or maltreatment of recruits, and two counts of forcible sodomy. Sergeants Charles Bryant, Rockie Cross, and Jose Lopez, all Leathernecks, pleaded guilty to a variety of charges stemming from an incident in the wee hours of June 26 at Camp Pendleton in which it was alleged that the three punched, kicked, and choked more than ninety sleepy enlistees. Marine drill instructor Salvatore Teta was arrested on charges of assaulting fourteen recruits both verbally and physically.

Rumor of the year

A Mobil (or was it Exxon?) gasoline tanker truck was seen - and photographed! - actually dumping petrol somewhere out there in the desert. Honest.

All the ads that fit, we print

San Diego magazine marked its thirty-first anniversary with word that it now ranks seventh in the nation among all monthly magazines in total advertising pages. A brief announcement noting the achievement was carried on page 201 of the August issue, next to the table of contents.

Young at heart

Santee school teacher Anthony Michael Ottombrino, 28, was taken by surprise last May when sheriff's deputies arrested him at Hill Creek elementary school on charges of unlawful intercourse with one of his former pupils. The girl in question, a fourteen-year-old eighth grader, allegedly was Ottombrino's partner in at least three illicit trysts at the teacher's Linda Vista apartment. The Santee school district suspended Ottombrino pending the outcome of the case, which was later dropped when it was learned the teacher and his youthful paramour had slipped off to Utah — where her age was no problem — and had gotten married.

Aggravation without representation

San Diego Republican Representative Robert "Congo Bob" Wilson, upon hearing that the extension of Balboa Naval Hospital into Florida Canyon might be turned down by local voters, said he would push for condemnation of the affected parkland regardless, and said a popular vote was "meaningless. "

Here's Ron Fortner without the news

Having been canned by Channel 39 in favor of blue-eyed Paul Bloom, anchorman Ron Fortner sniffed around till he landed a job with Channel 6'5 across-the-border news operation. Not for long. This fall he was cut loose there, with no place to go but ... Costa Rica?

Ballot proposal

A one-cent municipal tax on each sale of roller skates, the proceeds from which will be used to pay for the eventual sandblast removal of the green stripe now defacing the sidewalks of Balboa Park.

On patrol

Recently eligible San Diego Police Chief Bill Kolender has "popped in on" more social scenes (private soirees, benefit dances, promotional parties, hot nights at Bully's) than any other police chief in the history of law enforcement.

Misguided kindness department

Channel 39 reporter Cathy Clark got quite a scoop last August when she and her crew captured on tape the police shooting of downtown hotel resident Samuel Brown. As other TV news teams arrived at the scene, Clark, in an unusual gesture of professional cooperation, allowed them to tape the footage directly from Channel 39's video playback machine. Channel 8 and Channel 10, the recipients of Clark's graciousness, showed the tape on their 5:00 p.m. news programs, ninety minutes before Channel 39 went on the air with their "scoop."

Commencement speaker of the year

Maurice Stans, former Nixon cabinet member and Watergate felon, gave the graduation address and picked up his honorary doctorate of law from National University this summer. Informed of Stans's sordid White House dealings, National U. president David Chtgos just shrugged, "Oh, well, I don't think he had anything to do with that. After all, he was just an accountant. You know, a bean counter."

Overused words and phrases of 1979

Most overused word overall: disco.

Most overused phrase in Southern California: no problem.

Most overused phrase in the Seventies: the Sixties. Most overused phrase in music: new wave.

Most overused word and phrase in baseball: flake, free agent.

Most overused phrase in football: knee injury.

Most overused word in contemporary art: performance.

Most overused word in motion picture advertising: event.

Most overused buzz word: buzz word.

Most overused phrase at Mom's Saloon: hit on. Most overused word in the NBA: compensation.

Most overused word in national television news coverage: correspondent.

Most overused phrase on rock music radio stations: more uninterrupted music.

Most overused word in television commercials: service.

Most overused phrase in journalism: The Times has learned.

Waiting for the dough

Last summer an eight-channel walkie-talkie worth $1200 was liberated from an unmanned fire department vehicle, and fire officials despaired of ever seeing it again. When firemen later heard strange voices breaking into their radio communications, they managed to arrange a telephone conversation with a third party, who set up a ransom exchange. A midnight meeting at Eighth Avenue and J Street downtown resulted in an undisclosed amount of money being traded to the thieves' representative for the walkie-talkie. Deputy Fire Chief Wes Kilcrease, glad to have the radio once again, noted that "it's much cheaper if you can buy it back from the thief."

God's little acre put on hold

On January 23 the city council approved evangelist Morris Cerullo's plan for a 228-acre, $100 million religious complex to be built in Mira Mesa (and to include a 6Ooo-seat worship center, 2000 housing units for the elderly, a convalescent hospital, a ministerial training center with 500 student-housing units, and a 190-foot "worship tower"). Construction was to have begun this year, but financial problems — aggravated by heavy expenses for Cerullo's El Cortez teaching center downtown — have put the project on a back burner that doesn't cook very well. Meanwhile, the El Cortez Center has come under rue from students who were disappointed to find that many of the space-age educational tools advertised in the evangelical school's brochure did not exist.

Blow that whistle somewhere else, chump

After meeting with frustration in his attempts to alert his superiors in the city's housing rehabilitation program to such irregularities as collusion, payoffs, conflicts of interest, and preferential treatment of certain contractors, housing advisor James Welbaum finally went to the San Diego Union with the story last May. Publication of the allegations, which did not mention Welbaum by name, resulted in the City council freezing the program's assets and ordering an audit, which backed up much of what Welbaum had to say. The day the audit was made public (August 9), Welbaum got his walking papers from city housing director Linda Sue Goldzimer, who wrote that "recent changes in the city of San Diego's organization and budget make it necessary to layoff some employees .... The city regrets this action is necessary and wishes you success in future employment."

Some of my best friends are shiftless

Builder Ray Huffman lost his seat on the state's Housing Task Force for his comments about the "laziness" of black Africans. But Huffman always claimed his statements were misinterpreted, so he expanded upon his feelings during an interview with editors of the housing industry's local magazine. " ... I said the African man is lazy," Huffman explained. "That is, lazy against our standards, but not lazy against their standards, or the rest of the world, for that matter — because the Mexican is basically that way; the American Indian is that way. The women of the American Indians did most of the work."

What you can do when parked in an 18-minute metered space downtown

Go to the main library at Eighth and E, locate your book in the card catalogue, return to your car. Go to the post office across the street from the library, stand in line for nine minutes, return to your car. Walk to the Grant Grill on Broadway, wait for a table, be seated, return to your car. Go to Tony's Barber Shop at Sixth and F, thumb through 27 pages of Sports Illustrated, return to your car. Attend a lunch-hour miniconcert at the Community Concourse, listen to the program announcement, observe the musicians, get settled, return to your car. Walk to the blood bank at Sixth and Columbia, fill out the necessary forms, return to your car. Go to Caruso's on Fourth Avenue, read the take-out menu, return to your car. Go to the Balboa movie theater on Fourth and E, purchase a buttered popcorn and a Dr. Pepper, return to your car.

It's called being on top the news

Thanks to the introduction of helicopters, television news in San Diego now has the capability of bringing viewers aerial coverage of the year's umpteenth brush fire, the most beautiful sunset in the third week of August, and spectacular vistas of cars backed up at the international border.

But he did offer to send his grandson, instead

Pope John Paul II received an invitation from Mayor Wilson to visit San Diego now has the capability of bringing viewers aerial coverage of

Pope John Paul Il received an invitation from Mayor Wilson to visit San Diego, which hizzoner described as a "rich cultural. social, and spiritual center." The Pontiff politely declined.

Rendering unto Roger

Supervisor Roger Hedgecock gave a speech last August before the board of supervisors in which he urged the county to enforce health and safety code requirements for farm workers' living conditions, without regard to residency status. When Hedgecock finished his impassioned plea, freshman supervisor Paul Eckert responded by saying, "Thank you, Caesar Hedgecock."

George Brown, racquetball clown, when you comin' back to town?

His father isn't speaking to him; his closest friends claim they don't know where the hell he is; his many creditors lie in waiting at every turn; his Rolls Royce is out of gas.

Cluck yourself

Swift, sure Moslem justice to the next journalist who resorts to chicken puns when reporting the latest drivel about Ted Giannoulas.

If you've got the time

At last Maureen O'Connor can get serious about spending hubby Bob's cash.

Best place to meet a lonely man after the bars have closed

Sixth Avenue area of Balboa Park.

Worst place to send your cousin from Iowa, who wants to learn how to surf

Windansea Beach, La Jolla.

For this he gets paid $50,000 a year?

Rod Page (on KSDO's "Midday" show): We're back live now with County Supervisor Lucille Moore.

Moore: As I was saying, Rod, the Alpine community plan was adopted only after thorough public discussion, and if there's controversy now, it's a result ...

Page: Alpine. That's not far from Jacumba, is it? Moore: Well, it's ...

Page: You been to Jacumba?

Moore: Yes. It's a lovely place.

Page: They got that great old hotel there. You know, with the mineral water and aU. About a month ago I was driving out there with Sean O'Reilly. You know Sean? Let me tell you a story about Sean O'Reilly.

T-shirt graphics around town

At La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art (9/24/79): "Born Toulouse"

At Padre Stadium (6/30/79):

"only He saves more than Rollie Fingers"

At State and F streets, downtown (4/23/79): a T-shirt with nothing written on it.

Jack Ford

So what.