In recent years, the 855 employees of the San Diego Water Department have faced scandals, alleged mismanagement, media scrutiny, and the rebuke of the city council. All this began in 1999 when news stories appeared …
October 3, 2002
News & Stories
San Diegans who use too much water
Francine Prose, The Lives of the Muses
Why Rossetti asked that Siddal’s body be exhumed was that, in a melodramatic gesture, he’d tossed into her coffin the manuscript of his poems. When he decided he wanted the manuscript back, he had the body dug up.
October 3, 2002
La Villa de Hubba Hubba
By all accounts, Archie Moore was more or less an old-fashioned kind of guy. The "Old Mongoose," who died on December 9, 1998, just short of his 85th birthday, was the world's light heavyweight champion …
October 3, 2002
Reading, Writing, Real Estate
No matter how troubled or dysfunctional its educational policy may seem, the San Diego Unified School District is still big business. With an annual operating budget of just over a billion dollars and another $1.5 …
October 3, 2002
Party hearty
This hasn't been the best of years for San Diego State president Stephen Weber. Budget Group, the big Florida-based rental-car outfit on whose board he sits, was forced into bankruptcy, and the company's stock fell …
October 3, 2002
How did they draw the eastern border of California?
Hey: How was the border between Nevada and California determined? Basically, it's an imaginary line drawn in the sand. -- Peter Torrance, San Diego For an imaginary line, it sure caused a ruckus. When Spain …
October 3, 2002
House cleaning for kangaroos
Hello, Matt: I saw a documentary about kangaroos, and they said the baby kangaroo spends about six months in the mother's pouch before it comes out into the world. The one thing they didn't tell …
October 3, 2002
What's the official state dance of California?
Matt: I read somewhere that California has an official state dance, the Western Swing. Can this be possible? -- Wondering, San Diego In Sacramento, all things are possible. But right at the top, to fend …
October 3, 2002
We listened to every Nickel Creek song
Rebecca loves Nickel Creek. We all love Nickel Creek. When our family odyssey into country music began early this year, Nickel Creek was one of the first groups that caught our collective ear. Listening to …
October 3, 2002
Meander along the densely wooded Walnut Creek Trail at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains.
Walnut Creek and its associated parkland stretches through the San Gabriel Valley communities of San Dimas and Covina. A wide and well-traveled equestrian and hiking trail goes the length of the park, crossing the streambed …
October 3, 2002
Die Trying
"I went through the window, But anytime you do a window gag, if you have exposed skin and that skin hits the ground, you’re going to get cut My hand hit the ground and I got some cuts."
October 3, 2002