The grimy facts behind Valerie Stallings' guilty plea.
April 12, 2001
News & Stories
Why did Valerie Stallings take the fall for Padres owner John Moores?
Environment of Mistrust
As I was completing my instructions to a diminutive 70-year-old Filipino gentleman with congestive heart failure, a knock at the door cut me short. “A patient is having a seizure.” Jo, a medical assistant with …
April 12, 2001
How many bathrooms are there in the White House?
Dear Matthew Alice: How many bathrooms are there in the White House? In second grade, somebody told me there were 365. -- Silviano, Harborside School, downtown Here's a tip. Don't look at that kid's test …
April 12, 2001
What is a lifeguard supposed to do when it sees a surfer get nailed by a great white shark?
Hey, Matt: If a lifeguard all of a sudden sees a surfer just get nailed by a great white, what is lifeguard protocol? Does he have to go try to save the guy, risking becoming …
April 12, 2001
What is the meaning/origin of the word "honcho?"
Matt: I've looked through Spanish dictionaries and I can't find the meaning of the word "honcho." What is the origin of the term? -- Jake, San Diego Hey, gringo, not all words that end in …
April 12, 2001
Is it really illegal to remove a shopping cart from a grocery store's parking lot?
Hey, Matt! Someone in our apartment complex is slowly amassing a collection (five so far) of shopping carts out front near the street. Yes, true, it's unsightly, but this person has no car and needs …
April 12, 2001
Pio Pico's Disastrous Addiction
While he was governor, from 1845 to 1846, he sold or leased the missions. He needed the money to run things. He sold the mission at San Juan Capistrano to his brother-in-law for $750.
April 12, 2001
Our bed is never made
“I thought, ‘I cannot drive Aldine [a windy, canyon-hugging road] every day. It’ll freak me out.’ We looked in Normal Heights, and there were times we’d go to open houses, and I’d get this really uneasy feeling.”
April 12, 2001
Roomful of Pain
One of San Diego's busiest emergency rooms is Kaiser Permanente in Grantville. At 7:30 on a Tuesday night, the parking lot is illuminated by an arcade of food vendors under bright neon signs. Inside, there …
April 12, 2001
Circle to the summit of Condor Peak in the San Gabriel Mountains, and return by way of Trail Canyon
The all-day, 14-mile-loop hike up to the viewful summit of Condor Peak and back by way of verdant Trail Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains is well suited to properly conditioned hikers but punishingly difficult …
April 12, 2001