Tag: costamesa

CHRIST, WHAT AN ASSHOLE

Someone decided to get really, really high and shoot at people in an alley over off Baker & Fairview in Costa Mesa the other day. Killed one guy, hurt a few others. The victims appear to be nice local boys without any known criminal connections. Everyone involved was of Mexican ancestry. Everyone who knew the victims is shocked and saddened; there are little memorials on the street and the people at the surf shop where the dead guy worked are really down. It’s a bad day for the city and for my city, too; we’re so close. But here’s what Costa Mesa’s crypto-Nazi Mayor had to say:

“When you have job centers, soup kitchens and a high concentration of downscale rental units, it drives the city down,” Mayor Allan Mansoor said. “I favor a multi-faceted approach including stronger gang enforcement and overlay zone revitalization, and I also think a social worker holding the hand of a hardened gang member has not worked in other cities.”

Allan, it’s time to go. Maybe rural Arizona would be good for you, or that Pennsylvania town that just passed the “no Mexicans allowed” law. Running the Mexicans and the poor out of town is a solution to a problem no one has but you. What we wanted to hear was “Murder is the most serious of crimes and we’re lucky it’s rare here in Costa Mesa. We will bring these guys to justice and we will all work together for a safer city.” Just in case you have a pen handy, you might want to write that down.

And while we’re at it, I’ve been looking over the manifest for the Mayflower here and I see Smith and Standish and Johnson and Grey… Mansoor? No, no Mansoor. How odd. I was just reading the other day about how people with names like “Mansoor” are involved in all sorts of terroristical activities. Maybe we need to overlay zone revitalize about that.

http://www.dailypilot.com/articles/2006/08/04/publicsafety/dpt-shooting04.txt

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1233749.php

Welcome back to the human race

I’m warming up to Ruba. There’s no where else to go that late, so this is a good thing. This evening’s entertainment included some personal history about being a Marine and a felon simultaneously and how that worked out, someone’s idiotic $500 plastic sunglasses, and a guy named Bilbo who wore too much fringed stuff and a mullet.

Now here’s the good news: Panera’s putting in a location on 17th, apparently in the former Rite-Aid. Hurray for the imminent arrival of good free wifi, lots of power plugs, decent coffee, and food.

I was listening to “Sultans of Swing” on the radio in my car and realizing that what I like about that song is the bassline, although it’s supposed to be a Guitar Asshole Song.

Finally, the National Weather Service agrees that our weather has been all fucked-up:

The heat that scorched Southern California this past weekend was not only record breaking…but largely unprecedented in recorded history. Strong high pressure centered over the southwest United States sent easterly flow and strong sinking and compressing motion into Southern California that maximized the heating. Monsoon moisture also contributed to the heat by keeping the minimum temperatures up…and numerous daily high minimum temperature records were also broken for much of the last week.

Several high temperature records on Saturday were the all-time highest for the entire period of record (see details below). This is particularly remarkable in Escondido since the record dates back to 1900. At San Diego Lindbergh Field the temperature peaked at 99 degrees…becoming the hottest day since September 25 1989…which is still the last 100-degree day on record.

Also remarkable for areas near the coast was the time of year for this extreme heat since several daily records were not just broken…but shattered (by 16 degrees in Escondido!). normally onshore flow with a marine air presence dominates the weather near the coast at this time of year…so record high temperatures are not as high as they are during the late Summer and early fall…when Santa Ana conditions are usually the cause of high temperature records and are more likely to occur.

I can’t talk to her. She’s against shit she can’t even pronounce.

The Midnight Van

After last night’s fun, I went to bed at 6 am and slept until 2. The rest of the day was… slow. Fortunately nothing else broke at work. I was bummed at missing Nicole’s wedding, but there was no way that mission could have been accomplished without loss of life.

I finally dragged myself out of the house after dark and bought food, etc. I ended up at Ruba, which was full of weird ghosts of ten years ago. I don’t think I’d seen Sabrina since Indian Burial Ground Night at Totally Coffee. She didn’t acknowledge my existence, for which I am grateful.

Choice “Overheard at Ruba™” quotes:

“I live the same place she does. She has a nice rack. It’s been okay.”

“Oh, that Dennys. One of my best friends got busted for selling drugs to a minor there! It was awesome.”

“You and I have a lot the same background, but you’re good-looking.”

“You know her. She’s the racist secretary.”

“I know it was illegal before, I asked you how old is she NOW?”

“No, man, I can’t afford any tools. I just do shit to shit, you know?”

Ahh, Ruba.

It was 80 degrees F here at midnight with humidity around 50%. In coastal Orange County. I do not understand.

Area Newspaper’s Police Blotter Weird This Week

Newport Beach:

Island, 300 block: suspicious circumstances, July 7. A resident found that an envelope had been placed in her mailbox with her name printed on it. The envelope contained a vibrator, a battery and a note.

Costa Mesa:

Location undisclosed: arrest, July 11. James Norwood Branch, 45, of Newport Beach, was arrested on suspicion of rape of a drugged victim and lewd and lascivious acts.

Police are investigating the cause of a loud explosion and several broken windows at a Costa Mesa apartment building late Monday. Police responded to the 2100 block of Elden Avenue at 9:30 p.m. to reports of a loud explosion, but did not see any evidence that an explosion had occurred. Tuesday morning, one resident found a piece of metal on the front porch and two other residents said their windows were broken, Costa Mesa police said. Arson investigators and the Orange County Sheriff’s Bomb Squad Tuesday morning found evidence that a destructive device was exploded outside the apartment building.

I never did find the naughty bits there I wanted!

When I was a kid, I went to a used bookstore called the Apollo. It was just across the boulevard on 18th Street, next to the music store where I got my Schirmer classical sheet music. It was a classic of its type: dark, confused, and full of toppling piles of paperbacks and magazines.

For a kid with only small amounts of kid money, it was paradise. I could get a big fat read for fifty cents. And the disorganization was really a plus. A visit to the Apollo meant strange finds and surprises, even if the surprise was a mechanical engineering manual from 1903 wedged in the “Occult” section.

Used bookstores are overstocked with the last few decades’ bestsellers in paperback, and the last generation’s bestsellers in hardback. You can always see who’s dying now by looking through old hardbacks. At the time, it was clear that the generation that read A.J. Cronin’s The Keys to the Kingdom and lots of Dreiser had just kicked the bucket. The paperbacks were a mix of 1960s radicals, 1960s radical reactionaries, 1960s freakouts, 1970s aquarium bubbleheadism, 1970s sexytime explosions, and 1970s thrillers. Since those were great decades for sf, I bought a lot of science fiction there too.

This is also where I met Madman Moriarty. He was an employee at the store and was… colorful. More than once he showed up in full 19th century Scots military finery including kilt, tam o’shanter, and assorted belts and medals. Civil war regalia occurred as well. He drifted in and out of a Scots accent. At 13 years old I had no tools for dealing with him, so I just listened as he described his war reenactment club’s activities, the glory of Scotland and the Scots fighting man, and many details of military life. He lived to correct small errors in his areas of expertise, but there weren’t many people breezing in from the Costa Mesa small business district to talk about Wallace’s last battle or the proper method for throwing a World War I German “potato masher” grenade.

Much later in life I realized that the 5149.5 stalker guy who hounded red_maenad at the bookstore and the over-the-top Scotsman who accosted vegemitelover and bruisedhips at the swap meet were the same affable madman who had delighted and terrified me 25 years before.

While I was in Los Angeles the Apollo moved from 18th street to a trailer in the parking lot next to Hi-Time Liquor. Nothing else changed. Over the years I bought some wonderful books there, including old recipe collections, vintage periodicals, and complete editions of both Pepys’ diaries and Burton’s Arabian Nights.

They’re closing now. After 44 years they’re packing it in, selling as many books as they can, and putting the rest on the Internet.

If you’re local, drop by and say hi and pick up a crappy paperback or two.

I found Bree’s sentencing info.

I spent 75 cents or so at the federal court website because I wanted to know what happened to her, what her sentence was etc. They took her in May of 2004 and she didn’t get sentenced until March 2005. One count of armed bank robbery and one count of using, carrying, or brandishing of firearm during crime of violence.

Looks like she got 18 months for the bank robbery and 5 years for using a gun to do it.

She pled out on 3/25/2005:

Docket Text: MINUTES OF SENTENCING held before Judge Cormac J. Carney as to Brianna Catherine Cery (1) count(s) 1, 2. Bureau of Prisons for a term of 18 months on count 1 and 60 months on count 2, to be served consecutively. Supervised release for five years on count 1 and three years on count 2, to be served concurrently under terms and conditions of the United States Probation Office and General Order 318 and 01-05. Special assessment of $200. Restitution in the amount of $108.00. Defendant is advised of appeal rights. C/R: Maria Dellaneve (tso)

For those who aren’t local and/or are confused by this, I’m referring to this bank robber, who was a regular at the Diedrich Coffee we all hung out at. She also worked at the local Kinko’s and as a bagger at the grocery store.

She was always an odd person, very much obsessed with the occult and “magick,” and willing to bore almost anyone with lectures on the beauty of Crowleyian thought. I got along with her okay. After the grocery strike she was the only worker at the market who didn’t get the raise/good benefits deal on rehiring. She blamed this on her transgendered status and I have to agree. I’m not sure what led to the bank robbery but she wasn’t doing too well after the strike and fallout afterwards.

Whoo, 5 years in federal. Gun bad.