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Off-duty cop kills beer thief at Santee Vons

Editor picks of Moss Gropen's stories in the Reader

St. Louis and friends on a beer run at Vons
St. Louis and friends on a beer run at Vons
  • Steal Beer And Die

  • The bloodstains have long since faded, courtesy of Scram, sun, and time. More than a decade ago, in the parking lot of a Vons in Santee, Christopher St. Louis, 18, lost his life in the pursuit of free beer, shot by off-duty El Cajon police officer Tenaya Webb. (6/29/16)
Auto traffic in and out of downtown on the 5 on a Wednesday afternoon
  • Stop The Irrational Bike Bias

  • If the streets are underused and there’s room for the bicycle lanes, I have no problem with San Diego putting them in. They’re relatively cheap to install, assuming all you’re doing is re-painting lines or painting the bicycle lane green. That’s fine. The challenge is that when you have a lot of car traffic in that area, the bike lane will make congestion worse. (8/24/16)
“The mental aspect of becoming a wrestler is far more important than the physical part."
  • Grappling With Success

  • On a sunny, dry, slightly crisp late-December day, I drive up Espola Road, past a succession of upscale horse properties, to Poway High. It’s here, in a leafy, tony neighborhood next to the Poway Center for the Performing Arts, that high-school wrestling reaches its apex, not only in California, but, some would argue, in the nation. (2/29/12)
Paul Gregg at the Red Fox: “If they start to get out of line, using foul language, maybe trying to impress their buddies, I cut ’em off.”
  • San Diego’s Piano Bars

  • There’s an iron man caressing the ivories over on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, and if you miss his act this weekend, don’t worry; he may still be playing there 40 years from now. Pianist Scott Skinner, 68, started playing at the Godfather in 1977 and hasn’t missed a note since. (5/31/17)
When the first residents arrived in 1969, ithe Swim & Racquet Club had already been built.
  • Scripps Ranch – cows gone, rattlers remain

  • Let’s face it: if Gertie Stein had stumbled upon Scripps Ranch in an unplanned detour on the way to surveying the Stingaree in its dotage, she might have quipped, “There’s no ranch in the ranch.” It’s pretty damned hard to find. (11/8/17)
From aerial photograph taken March 31, 2007 at a height of 10,200 feet aboard a Cessna 210.
  • San Diego’s Secret Missile-Testing Sites

  • The first time I ventured beyond the gate, it was padlocked, so I scrambled up and over a low dirt embankment to the left and kept running. Obviously, I told myself, the gate — a rusted and bent relic of the Cold War — was meant solely to keep out vehicles; pedestrians were tacitly permitted, even expected.... (April 2, 2008)
The overwhelming majority of Thoroughbred racehorse owners are responsible and committed to lifelong stewardship of these animals.
  • Where do they go when the races are over?

  • And where do they go — not after the gates spring open — but after the race is run, after all their races are run? After the society matrons’ $1000 hats are back in the closet, after the losing pari-mutuel tickets have been picked up by the infield “stoopers,” after the last $7 beer has been drunk — where do they go? What happens to these well-bred equines. (7/13/11)
I just handed my last 90 bucks to a scowling man behind the counter.
“I haven’t taken a shower in a week, and I’m getting stinky.”
  • My house has wheels

  • “I’ve never been homeless before.” At least Osiris Murillo still has her car — where she and her three-year-old daughter will sleep tonight, behind the gates of a designated “safe lot” in an unsafe neighborhood. “I haven’t taken a shower in a week, and I’m getting stinky.” ( Nov. 30, 2011)
“Yesterday, we had a group of 20 attorneys ride up on horseback from the Mt. Woodson area,” says Kohill owner Mike Kopp, with wife Aurora.
  • Magic In A Bottle

  • “I’m ‘micro,’” quips Cullen, who’s also purple from head to toe. It’s pressing time at Cactus Star Vineyard at Scaredy Cat Ranch and the crew — that would be Joe — is immersed in the process of turning just-picked clusters of Syrah grapes into young wine. (11/27/13)
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Live Five: Rebecca Jade, Stoney B. Blues, Manzanita Blues, Blame Betty, Marujah

Holiday music, blues, rockabilly, and record releases in Carlsbad, San Carlos, Little Italy, downtown
St. Louis and friends on a beer run at Vons
St. Louis and friends on a beer run at Vons
  • Steal Beer And Die

  • The bloodstains have long since faded, courtesy of Scram, sun, and time. More than a decade ago, in the parking lot of a Vons in Santee, Christopher St. Louis, 18, lost his life in the pursuit of free beer, shot by off-duty El Cajon police officer Tenaya Webb. (6/29/16)
Auto traffic in and out of downtown on the 5 on a Wednesday afternoon
  • Stop The Irrational Bike Bias

  • If the streets are underused and there’s room for the bicycle lanes, I have no problem with San Diego putting them in. They’re relatively cheap to install, assuming all you’re doing is re-painting lines or painting the bicycle lane green. That’s fine. The challenge is that when you have a lot of car traffic in that area, the bike lane will make congestion worse. (8/24/16)
“The mental aspect of becoming a wrestler is far more important than the physical part."
  • Grappling With Success

  • On a sunny, dry, slightly crisp late-December day, I drive up Espola Road, past a succession of upscale horse properties, to Poway High. It’s here, in a leafy, tony neighborhood next to the Poway Center for the Performing Arts, that high-school wrestling reaches its apex, not only in California, but, some would argue, in the nation. (2/29/12)
Paul Gregg at the Red Fox: “If they start to get out of line, using foul language, maybe trying to impress their buddies, I cut ’em off.”
  • San Diego’s Piano Bars

  • There’s an iron man caressing the ivories over on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, and if you miss his act this weekend, don’t worry; he may still be playing there 40 years from now. Pianist Scott Skinner, 68, started playing at the Godfather in 1977 and hasn’t missed a note since. (5/31/17)
When the first residents arrived in 1969, ithe Swim & Racquet Club had already been built.
  • Scripps Ranch – cows gone, rattlers remain

  • Let’s face it: if Gertie Stein had stumbled upon Scripps Ranch in an unplanned detour on the way to surveying the Stingaree in its dotage, she might have quipped, “There’s no ranch in the ranch.” It’s pretty damned hard to find. (11/8/17)
From aerial photograph taken March 31, 2007 at a height of 10,200 feet aboard a Cessna 210.
  • San Diego’s Secret Missile-Testing Sites

  • The first time I ventured beyond the gate, it was padlocked, so I scrambled up and over a low dirt embankment to the left and kept running. Obviously, I told myself, the gate — a rusted and bent relic of the Cold War — was meant solely to keep out vehicles; pedestrians were tacitly permitted, even expected.... (April 2, 2008)
The overwhelming majority of Thoroughbred racehorse owners are responsible and committed to lifelong stewardship of these animals.
  • Where do they go when the races are over?

  • And where do they go — not after the gates spring open — but after the race is run, after all their races are run? After the society matrons’ $1000 hats are back in the closet, after the losing pari-mutuel tickets have been picked up by the infield “stoopers,” after the last $7 beer has been drunk — where do they go? What happens to these well-bred equines. (7/13/11)
I just handed my last 90 bucks to a scowling man behind the counter.
“I haven’t taken a shower in a week, and I’m getting stinky.”
  • My house has wheels

  • “I’ve never been homeless before.” At least Osiris Murillo still has her car — where she and her three-year-old daughter will sleep tonight, behind the gates of a designated “safe lot” in an unsafe neighborhood. “I haven’t taken a shower in a week, and I’m getting stinky.” ( Nov. 30, 2011)
“Yesterday, we had a group of 20 attorneys ride up on horseback from the Mt. Woodson area,” says Kohill owner Mike Kopp, with wife Aurora.
  • Magic In A Bottle

  • “I’m ‘micro,’” quips Cullen, who’s also purple from head to toe. It’s pressing time at Cactus Star Vineyard at Scaredy Cat Ranch and the crew — that would be Joe — is immersed in the process of turning just-picked clusters of Syrah grapes into young wine. (11/27/13)
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    Sponsored
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Reader writer Chris Ahrens tells the story of Windansea

The shack is a landmark declaring, “The best break in the area is out there.”
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Cognac serves to lighten the mood
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