DUI Enforcement Effort Gets $10,000 Grant

LA MESA -- The La Mesa police have won a $10,000 grant to fund extra efforts to combat drunk driving. See Traffic Information Below:

 Case Highlights: On June 7, 2013 La Mesa Police Detective Dale Perry indentified the robbery suspect from the Sierra Market (3800 Massachusetts Avenue) robbery that occurred on January 28, 2013. In the Sierra Market robbery, the clerk got into an altercation with the suspect and was injured. On June 7, 2013 at approximately 10:00 am, La Mesa Police detectives arrested 43 year-old Johnny McGee of San Diego and 38 year-old Gina E. Ludwig of San Diego for the robbery. During the investigation, detectives were able to link the two suspects to four additional robberies in the City of La Mesa. During some of the robberies the suspect wore a Spiderman mask. La Mesa Police are working with surrounding jurisdictions to determine if these two suspects are related to additional robberies in the area. Johnny McGee was booked at San Diego County Jail on robbery charges, assault with a deadly weapon, restraining order violations, burglary, and conspiracy. Gina Ludwig was booked into Las Colinas Detention Facility on one charge of robbery.

Traffic Information: In 2010, 10,228 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes. These alcohol-impaired driving fatalities accounted for 31 percent of the total motor vehicle traffic fatalities in the United States. Traffic fatalities in alcohol-impaired driving crashes decreased by 4.9 percent from 10,759 in 2009 to 10,228 in 2010. The alcohol-impaired driving fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) decreased to 0.34 in 2010 from…

Planning Underway For Summer's Hottest Night

MT. HELIX -- Summer is here and that means it is time for the Sixth Annual heART of Mt. Helix. Tickets go on sale today for the August 17 event featuring local restaurant tastings (including Anthony's Fish Grotto, Mardi Gras Café and Terra American Bistro), live music, craft beer from Ballast Point Brewery, silent and live auctions, and a view of San Diego that can't be matched!

The sunset event will include visual arts demonstrations by local artists Chuck McPherson, Frank Cota and Sally Ault, music from East County musicians, a signature cocktail from Alchemy Restaurant, and dancing under the stars to the Mighty Untouchables. This is truly the event of the summer on the top of the hill.

Click here to purchase $50 (general amphitheater seating) or $100 (reserved table seating) tickets.

You can find a complete list of restaurants, auction items and more details on the Park website. You can also check the park's Facebook page for regular updates and to enter a contest to win tickets.

Lastly Mt. Helix Park has been nominated as one of the "Best Places to Get Married" in San Diego County. Between now and July 7, cast your vote for the Park at www.utsandiego.com/bestof/ and help the park win.

La Mesa Couple Wins Landscape Contest

LA MESA -- As Helix Water District’s winners of the 2013 Water Agency Landscape Contest Tere Trout and Jonathan Becket of La Mesa were awarded a $250 gift certificate from a local nursery, a $250 gift certificate from Home Depot (one of the conservation partners of the San Diego County Water Authority), and a complementary membership to the San Diego Horticultural Society.

Recently a ceremony was held at The Water Conservation Garden, located on the grounds of Cuyamaca College, honoring all of the winning entries of this annual Water Agency Landscape Contest.

With an expansive 1.7 acre lot, the couple has changed their landscaping over the past 13 years, focusing on low water-use-plants. Particularly during the past two years, they have been drawn more and more to drought tolerant landscapes they observed on garden tours. Principally enjoying succulents, the couple now exchanges cuttings with adjacent home owners—as the desire for more water-efficient landscaping has spread throughout the neighborhood.

The property has a pool, which is enjoyed by their three children, and also a pond. The pond is a natural seep from the surrounding area runoff. The couple recycles the pond water to help irrigate the landscape. While the pond attracts an enjoyable variety of birds and waterfowl, it also serves as a focal point for their backyard activities, including the use of a landscaped “chess board.”

Photos of the Helix winner and all the winning landscapes can be found at:…

The Phases Of Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!

It is a phrase we use ritually once a year, but truth be told, it is a phrase that changes in meaning throughout the arc of our lives. When we are young, it is about our own Dad, who we believe will live forever. It is a happy day. As we enter our own middle years, it becomes a day about our spouse, the father of our own children too.

And it is a doubly happy day, honoring the selfless acts of two men in our lives. But as we enter the later years, it becomes a poignant day, often reminding us, as it does me now, of a gap in our lives.

My Dad, with the strong shoulders and hands weathered by decades in the fields, has left us, but on this day he returns, as he does frequently throughout the year. He often arrives at subtle and unexpected moments with the sound of a soccer goal or on the aroma of a Sunday pozole. Hominy and pork, simmered and topped with shredded cabbage, radishes and the hot, deeply red chili sauce he loved. In a way, my Dad was like his favorite food -- simple, direct, strong and filling in ways that prepared us all for the long run -- a run, I now realize, he was already winning.

Enjoy the day and, if you are lucky enough to have your Dad with you, savor his favorite meal.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Gina Garcia, publisher of La Mesa Today, is a San Diego realtor.

Great Minds And Great Art At Library Event

See slideshow below.

LA MESA -- A beautiful San Diego morning greeted an energetic gathering of local authors and artists gathered to share their work at an event sponsored by the Friends of the La Mesa Library.

The event included speeches by Richard Lederer and famed local muralist Salvador Barajas (photo above) who displayed some of his work during a lecture to a crowd inside the library.…

A Special Movie Night With Mom

(more photos below...)

LA MESA -- On Friday night, NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton swung through La Mesa to pick up his mother Gloria and take her to a movie.

The Helix High graduate, who is now a national broadcaster, drove her over to La Jolla. Carrying his own chair, which protects a sensitive back, the Waltons sat in the theater's front row as the film flickered on to the screen.

Within minutes, Walton was, in fact, on the screen. On this night, Gloria Walton, would get a different glimpse of her son's post-basketball life.

The film was The Other Dream Team and, with Bill Walton's frequent expert commentary, told the story behind the evolution and triumph of the Lithuanian Olympic basketball team and that country's eventual survival of Russian oppression. The film was being shown as part of La Jolla Country Day School's Young Leaders Film Festival and on this night the audience was going to get a surprise performance from one of La Mesa's legendary sports figures.

The Other Dream Team  took viewers back to the childhoods of four Lithuanian youths who used basketball as a way to carve out a personal identity in a country Russian troops had occupied all their life. It traced the resurgence of Lithuanian nationalism through the Russian glastnost period and eventually shared the amazing inside story of how the 1992 Lithuanian Olympic team ended up expressing the will of the nation by defeating the Russian team to win a bronze medal.

The American rock legends, The Grateful Dead, had helped sponsor that team and had…

 Police Ticket 56 Distracted Drivers
LA MESA --  The La Mesa Police Department, in an effort to keep everyone safe on our streets, was aggressively enforcing the state’s “Distracted Driving” laws during the tenth “Traffic Safety Enforcement Program“ operation, which took place Friday June 14, 2013. The program relies on heavy enforcement and public education as a means to help reduce deaths and injuries on our local roadways.
La Mesa Police Officers wrote 56 tickets to persons either talking on their cell phone or texting while they were driving, 2 citations for other hazardous violations and gave 13 warnings for lesser traffic offenses in a six hour period on Friday morning. Funding for this operation was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Authors And Artists Will Gather Saturday

LA MESA -- The Friends of La Mesa Library Authors and Artists gathering on Saturday is turning out to be a sizeable public event.

The latest count has more than 30 authors and nearly a dozen artists gathering in and around the library grounds on Allison Avenue, sharing their work and displaying painting, ceramics and other artistic endeavors under tents to be erected on the patio between City Hall and the Library/Post Office building. Tables will also be set up in the breezeway in front of the City Council meeting chamber.

"Things are coming together well,'' said John Schmitz, who is heading up this free festival of local art and writing power. (Photo at top shows Schmitz in blue with last year's featured author, former San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy.)

In the Internet Age of easy publishing, having a book published in print increasingly is both an achievement and a statement of the value of an author's endeavor. This gathering will bring a lot of local authors and artists to light.

The County Library system is getting in on the act as well, bringing an exhibit of the San Diego Legends of Art Exhibit featuring the work of Salvador Barajas, one of the original Chicano Park muralists. You can meet Barajas and see some of his work during the event and hear a presentation from County Library chief Jose Aponte at 11 a.m.

The event's keynote speaker will be Richard Lederer (photo right), the former host of Way With Words on KPBS radio and now a local columnist on…

Car Show Takes On Independent Life

LA MESA -- In what could only be described as a polite, almost tasteful, demonstration of civil disobedience, several classic car owners showed up on Thursday afternoon and parked their cars on La Mesa Boulevard.

"The show is on,'' one of the owners said, sort of defiantly and then sat down in a lawn chair near the former Gingham Restaurant.

As protests go, this was more of a sit-in.

A survey of La Mesa Boulevard at 4 p.m. revealed more than a half dozen other classic car owners had showed up despite the fact that the Back to the 50s Car Show was officially delayed until July 11th by show finances. A few other hotrods motored by.

And an independent survey showed that only five of the six classic car owners had put money in the parking meters!

"The city is screwing the merchants,'' one car owner explained. "There's no reason they should have to pay anything to put this show on. Look, this is the show. We park there, we sit here. What's with all the costs?"

These car aficionados were feeling in a feisty mood and sounded a bit more like classic bikers at times, but there was no marching or placards or prominent tattoos, for that matter. 

The La Mesa Village Merchants Association delayed the traditional first-Thursday-in-June start of the annual car show because it didn't have the funds to cover the costs the city charges them for shutting off streets and supplying extra security.

That has caused some frustration for car owners from throughout East…

Bistro-Feel Coming To Gingham Site

LA MESA -- The Cohn Restaurant Group is being a bit more public about its plans for the former Gingham restaurant property on La Mesa Boulevard.

In a Union-Tribune story, David Cohn, the restaurant group's principal owner, acknowledged publicly that the sale is close to completion and gave a few hints of how his group hopes to succeed where others have failed.

Cohn said Deborah Scott and his operations manager Michelle Kveen, would lead the La Mesa effort. That's big news in itself because Scott has been one of the most successful entrepreneurial chefs in San Diego for years now. Her Indigo Grill in Little Italy and her work at Island Prime and C-Level Grill on San Diego's waterfront has been innovative and successful over a long period of time.

Cohn told the U-T he would be investing heavily in remaking the recently overhauled Gingham outdoor patio (see photo below right)  into a more kid-friendly environment. Cohn wasn't announcing a name for the new restaurant yet, but he made it clear he was using two of his successful restaurants in Hilcrest and Ocean Beach to shape the "bistro" feel of the La Mesa location.

Those two restaurnts -- 100 Wines (above right) and Bo Beau (top photo) -- were recently visited by La Mesa Today and both offered a very different…