Thirty Years Ago

Neddy Massaro’s jail is the best in San Diego. She lives on the tenth floor of the sleek Metropolitan Correctional Center, the federal highrise at F and Union streets in downtown San Diego. There are four color televisions on her floor and a microwave oven for heating snacks. The correctional center can hardly be compared to the last prison where Massaro stayed, the state penitentiary in Tijuana, informally called La Mesa. Fifteen men have been killed in that jail since November.

And yet, given the choice of spending equal time in either prison, Massaro said she would rather return to La Mesa. Life was better there, she said. Here, her mail is opened and her room is searched, whereas at La Mesa she got to use heroin or at least got stoned nearly every day.

— “LOCKED UP AND LET LOOSE,” Joe Applegate, July 13, 1978

Twenty-Five Years Ago

More precisely, Najimy and Helm say OMBAC’s nationally renowned OTL World Championship is too much of a game and party, and not enough of a sport. So Najimy and Helm organized a women-only pro tourney and convinced 180 female players to desert the OMBAC classic and instead play this Saturday and Sunday at Mariners Point.

But five years ago Najimy got so disenchanted with OMBAC’s Fiesta Island frenzy that she stopped entering the OMBAC tourney. “A woman player can hardly walk from one court to another without having her [bathing suit] top ripped off,” she says.

— CITY LIGHTS: “OTL,” Paul Krueger, July 14, 1983

Twenty Years Ago

“We at BFI Medical Waste Systems believe that fetuses from abortions and human appendages should be destroyed by the services rendered at a crematorium, whenever possible,” reads the text. Spurgin says it may be true that BFI is incinerating fetal remains, but that is not because it wants to.… Garvin sees himself caught between two constituencies that cannot be placated, regardless of what BFI does. He explains, “The generators say, ‘Just burn it. Treat it like regular path! But the other side says, ‘It’s special. Treat it different.’”

— “WHAT BECOMES OF SAN DIEGO’S 20,000 FETUSES EVERY YEAR?” Bob McPhail, July 14, 1988

Fifteen Years Ago

Steve Esmedina loves and respects us, his readers, and we spit back at him ungratefully. What a dork. Not that Greil Marcus is anybody to lose yer wig sticking up for, but let’s face it — Esmo’s days as “rock critic” were numbered a good two decades ago. Does he really think anybody’s gonna care what he has to say about critics who actually bothered to follow “rock & roll” past Procol Harum?

— LETTERS: “READER STAFF CURMUDGEON AND READER STAFF BRAT SUBMITTED TO LENGTHY ASSAULT,” Glen Galloway, July 15, 1993

Ten Years Ago

At the age of 56 I have yet to meet someone nice who doesn’t feel awkward or uncomfortable around me, someone who, let alone, thinks I’m handsome!

While gays demand tolerance from the straight majority, the gay establishment cannot offer tolerance to its own handicapped minority! Gays give their own pets more affection and understanding than they give to their own fellow gay and disabled.

— LETTERS: “FEAR AND LOATHING ON TWO FRONTS,” John Primavera, North Park, July 16, 1998

Five Years Ago

Here’s a compact glossary of terms you will find and what they really mean. From a Friday-morning paper: City Heights. First, you should know that City Heights is not so much a geographical designation as it is a signal to owners of guns, registered or unregistered, that here’s where your investment pays off. If your guns are registered, you are in a fine position to visit with your new neighbors whose guns are not.

— T.G.I.F.: “DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE A GOD-GIVEN RIGHT TO LIVE IN AMERICA’S FINEST CITY? THINK AGAIN.” John Brizzolara, July 10, 2003