José Castrillón Henao was said to have cut a dashing figure on the streets of downtown San Diego. Partial to expensive Armani suits and accompanied by a flashy girlfriend, the Colombian native — who said …
February 25, 1999
News & Stories
Cali cartel cocaine smuggler tarts up fancy condo at San Diego's One Harbor Drive
Where do some of the expressions in our language come from?
Matmail: What and where is a corner of the earth? Why are there always four? Why not eight, as in a cube? Or more? Can you elaborate on the source and reasoning of this anomaly? …
February 25, 1999
Why do cats leap to their feet and go tearing around the house?
Dear Matt: Why does my usually docile cat suddenly leap to her feet and go tearing around the house? Is she hallucinating? It's weird. -- Marko, El Cajon In kitty's mind, she's probably being chased …
February 25, 1999
The depth of Frank and Thelma Bompensiero's love
Frank Bompensiero’s daughter Mary Ann is talking. She stops and wipes away a tear with the back of her hand. Her father was gunned down execution-style in February, 1977, in a Pacific Beach alley. Mary …
February 25, 1999
Anza-Borrego's Smoke Tree Canyon twists its way into the barren flanks of the Santa Rosa Mountains.
Stark and barren, yet glorious in their nakedness, Anza-Borrego's skeletal mountain ranges conceal more than they reveal to casual passersby. If you want to know them better, you must leave the security of the automotive …
February 25, 1999
Enviros want to save La Presa area of Tijuana River
Silverio De La Mora Ceballos is hard to spot among the ten-foot-high reeds of this pristine section of the Tijuana River. "Pristine" isn't a word you think of when you talk about the Tijuana River, …
February 25, 1999
Legendary San Diego police auction
It's one of those urban legends everybody has heard: the police auction. Porsches can be had for $500, 48-inch TVs go for under $100, and mountain bikes sell for $20. To test the legend, I …
February 25, 1999
Mistress of devil-worshiper Anton LaVey camped out in Imperial Beach
Now the story can be told. More than ten years ago, Ed Legace, boys' swim and water-polo coach at Grossmont Union School High School District's El Capitan High School, abruptly quit his job for what …
February 25, 1999