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North County Times
Editorial
A rose ---- the "Hero of Our Time" award ---- to Oceanside police Cpl. Dan Koehler, who received the department's Medal of Valor award last week for rescuing two boaters in January. Koehler, a 13-year veteran of the department, swam out to a stranded sailboat after dark on Jan. 4 and tied a towline to the boat, which was then towed into Oceanside Harbor. Koehler received his well-deserved award at a City Council meeting last week.
A rose ---- the "Cultural Exchange" award ---- to Kazem al-Sahir, an Iraqi popular singer who brought his show to San Diego last weekend as part of an American tour. Sahir, 41, is one of Iraq's biggest pop stars and writes many of his own romantic ballads. He left Iraq in the early 1990s and lives in Canada today. It's not an easy time for an Iraqi to begin an artistic tour of the United States. We congratulate Sahir for his courage in bringing his art to the United States.
A raspberry ---- the "Despicable" award ---- to Kenney W. Foster, 53, of Encinitas, who was sentenced to seven years in state prison on Feb. 28 for selling at least $23,000 worth of fraudulent in-home health insurance policies to elderly residents of mobile-home parks in North County. Foster victimized at least 13 people, most of them in their 70s and 80s, and took one 81-year-old woman for $10,000. He spent five hours with one elderly victim before she let him take her for $1,000 just to get rid of him. "He went from mobile home park to mobile home park, selling them all a bill of goods," said Deputy District Attorney Robert Stein. We generally reserve our raspberries for civil or uncivil behavior, but these crimes are so heartless and the victims so vulnerable we'll make an exception.
A rose ---- the "Friends Indeed" ---- to the Friends of Hellhole Canyon Open Space Preserve, a Valley Center-based group of volunteers trying to raise money to buy 155 acres of private land in the heart of the canyon, next to the nature preserve there. The group has raised $232,000 for their project and need another $153,000 to buy the land, which was homesteaded in the 1800s. The rugged area east of Valley Center is accessible from Kiavo Drive, past Santee Road. The only way in and out today is a steep path. The friends hope to build hiking trails after they buy the land, whose purchase would increase the size of the nature preserve by one-fourth. It serves as a wildlife corridor and hosts at least 18 species of animals and many sensitive native plants. Information on the nature preserve and how to join the Friends of Hellhole Canyon is available by calling (760) 749-5320 or on the Web at www.hellholecanyon.org.
A rose ---- the "21st Century" award ---- to the San Marcos City Council, for using technology to help protect public safety. The council used at $30,900 federal grant to buy new Geographic Information System software that will help track traffic accidents in the city, and do other things such as make it easier to keep track of zoning and the placement of water and sewer lines. Once the information is entered into it, the computer program from a Redlands-based company will help police and city administrators eyeball the most dangerous intersections and stretches of highway in the traffic-plagued hub of North County. The computerized system is expected to yield much more accessible information, from a longer period of time, than the old method of sticking colored pins in maps. The money for the system came from a federal grant. Another rose goes to the Planning Commission, which voted unanimously a week ago to build a scenic overlook in Discovery Community Park, overlooking Cal State San Marcos. It was a good week for San Marcos: computers and open space too.
3/10/03