San Diego — The strange saga of Soloman and Kathy Silver took yet another turn last week. Soloman is the 30-year-old ex--Point Loman accused of arranging the smuggling of hundreds of pounds of marijuana into Maine from 1992 to 1996. He was busted here in September after about 175 pounds of Mexican marijuana was found in a Tierrasanta storage locker in June. Narcotics detectives alleged the couple shipped marijuana to "every major city on the East Coast" over an extended period. After his arrest here, Soloman was shipped back to Portland, Maine, for trial. To help him make $500,000 bail, his parents, who live in Portland, put up two houses there worth about $300,000, one of which is the home of Soloman's grandmother. Then on January 2, Soloman removed an electronic monitoring device attached to his ankle and went on the lam with Kathy, traveling throughout New England and buying hair dye to change their looks. The government moved to foreclose on the houses and charged Kathy with aiding and abetting a fugitive. The couple left behind not only his parents but their four-year-old daughter. Soloman turned himself in last Wednesday, and last Thursday the Feds finally caught up with Kathy at Lindbergh Field, using the name Kay Silva and trying to board a plane for Las Vegas. After Soloman turned himself in, his $500,000 bail was revoked by a U.S. magistrate.

Sealing the slammer

Two former Navy SEAL trainees from Coronado have drawn virtual life sentences for murdering a vacationing Georgia college student in Virginia Beach almost two years ago. Dustin A. Turner, 21, was sentenced to 82 years in prison last Wednesday, 19 months after he and fellow trainee Billy Joe Brown killed Jennifer L. Evans after abducting her from a nightclub. Brown had earlier been sentenced to 72 years behind bars. The pair, who became buddies after meeting at SEAL training school in Coronado, lured Evans to their car, where they strangled her. Testimony during the trial revealed that Turner and Brown made a "hobby" of traveling across the country and picking up women whom they engaged in bizarre bouts of three-way sex.

Dream on

A new central library downtown, one of Mayor Susan Golding's fondest dreams, is hung up on red tape and cost overruns, and officials here say it probably won't be built until after the turn of the century, if then. But don't tell that to the Salt Lake Tribune, which, in a glowing report on the prospects for a new library there, says, "San Diego will start construction on its own this year"...That Del Mar lawyer who is fighting federal fraud charges in a Philadelphia court wants a little more elbow room. Allen W. Stewart is currently required to wear an electronic monitoring device and must observe an 8:00 p.m. curfew that puts him under house arrest every night in his multimillion-dollar Del Mar home. Accused of "plundering" two insurance companies he controlled, Stewart, who moved here a couple of years ago, says he has "overwhelming ties to the community" and wouldn't skip town. Federal prosecutors countered he transferred more than a million dollars out of his bank accounts before they were frozen by the government. A judge has promised a swift decision.

Crazy Diego

Maybe it's something in the water. Yet another San Diego--educated denizen of Generation X is making big money on TV cartoon series, a la Beavis and Butthead's Mike Judge, a UCSD physics major. The latest cash machine is 29-year-old Douglas TenNapel, creator of Earthworm Jim and Project G.eeK.eR, who has an art degree from Point Loma Nazarene College. People magazine reports his first job was cranking out dolphin murals at Sea World. A video game based on Earthworm Jim racked up a reported $60 million in sales. About his religious background, TenNapel says: "I'm a white-bread, raised-on-TV conservative Christian, and I come up with some of the most bizarre stuff people have ever seen." Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks SKG has signed him to a multimillion-dollar deal.

Contributor: Matt Potter