A brick – the Gravely Offensive award – to the dog walkers and vandals who contribute to the blighted appearance of the Oceanview Cemetery in downtown Oceanside.
What should be a well-groomed treasure is routinely treated like a canine latrine and graffiti gallery, says Kristi Hawthorne, president of the Oceanside Historical Society.
Over the Memorial Day weekend, U.S. flags placed on graves by Girl Scouts were vandalized.
Unfortunately, this sort of outrage is not new. Fifteen years ago, transients dragged furnishings into crypts. (I'm not kidding.)
Eternal Hills, the mortuary that took over Oceanview from the city in the mid-'80s, is justly proud of its park-like setting on El Camino Real.
“Our grounds feature a beautiful pond, rolling hills, well-kept landscaping and rose garden,” Eternal Hills boasts on its Web site.
That's a far cry from Oceanview, which looks like a dirt-poor cousin.
Bill Parsons, a member of the historical society, has done good work in documenting those in the cemetery, Hawthorne told me. He's applied for state historical landmark status, which could attract money to keep the crab grass and gophers at bay.
Also welcome would be regular security and an attractive entrance.
If Eternal Hills can't honor the remains of the city's pioneers with the same care it devotes to its manicured grounds on El Camino Real, then perhaps Oceanview should be returned to the city's, or a suitable nonprofit's, control.
A bouquet – the Politics Are a Beach award – to the Encinitas City Council for wasting no time in going back to voters with a 2 percent tax on vacation rentals to put more sand on local beaches.
For technical reasons, Proposition G on the June ballot required a two-thirds majority, which it barely failed to muster.
The council's 3-2 vote raises an interesting question.
Is it impolite – i.e., politically stupid – to ask voters to reconsider what they've recently rejected?
I'd argue it's politic – i.e., strategically smart – to anticipate that the November election will offer a vastly different voter pool than the one in June.
Low-interest primaries are grim affairs that favor center-right candidates and issues. High-interest presidential elections, on the other hand, are electoral festivals that tend to tilt to the left.
Councilwomen Maggie Houlihan and Teresa Barth, both of whom support the 2 percent sand tax, believe voters will not look kindly on having to revisit the issue.
Maybe, but the other view is that a significant percentage of Encinitas voters will weigh in for the first time, and they'll be more likely to want to stick tourists with part of the bill for replenishing the beaches.
It would have been a form of political malpractice for the council not to dive into a promising new pool of voters.
A foam brick – the What the Ale? award – to KPBS, the public FM radio station, for raising – and then dashing – the hopes (as well as the hops) of thirsty adult baseball fans on budgets.
Early Friday morning, a KPBS announcer reported that the Padres will kick off “July Dollar Days,” a month when hot dogs, sodas and beer will be . . . $1.
I almost crashed my car.
One-dollar brews?
I envisioned sell-out home crowds that couldn't care less if the Padres stink. The heavy buzz would be in the stands, not the field. The scoreboard would have to record the number of hits, errors and brawls.
My happy reverie was interrupted by the announcer correcting himself.
Hot dogs and sodas would indeed cost a dollar, but the price of beer will be discounted a buck.
Instead of paying larcenous prices ($6.50 to $9), tipplers will merely pay obscene prices.
And the buzz-less Padres will still stink.
A funeral bouquet – the Hugging the Torrey award – to Cardiff residents who rallied to decry the loss of a venerable Pinus Torreyana to the chain saw.
Yes, Torreys aren't just any tree. They're America's rarest native pine. Del Mar protects them like rare jewels, even on private property, as was the case in Cardiff.
In a vacuum of information, it's easy to paint a tree-cutting homeowner as a heartless absentee villain.
The truth is that Texas owner Mary Lou Shackleton moved into the Cardiff house before she was born. (Her pregnant mother bought it in 1950.)
Beset by termite and plumbing problems, the house needs to be remodeled, Shackleton said in an e-mail to the Union-Tribune. Initially, plans included the tree but, subsequently, it was determined that the Torrey, whose branches reached over four houses, had to go for safety reasons.
“I may lose more sleep tonight with the loss of this beloved tree,” Shackleton said. “I wish there had been another way.”
Logan Jenkins: (760) 737-7555; logan.jenkins@uniontrib.com.
