San Marcos Stories

San Marcos Stories

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Car Show Sunday in San Marcos in its second year

Exotics, race cars, trucks, low-riders, classics

On the first Sunday of each month, from March to October, UPS drivers Steve Sherman and Frank Renteria put the brakes on delivering packages to North County residents and host Car Show Sundays in the ...

Carlsbad desalination plant pipeline installation proceeds

Part of Las Flores Drive closed for a week

Due to the Carlsbad Desalination Project, Las Flores Drive, between Grand Avenue and Mirada Drive in San Marcos, will be closed for a week. KSD Construction manager Brendan Slagle said the closure is related to ...

Sandy Hook Elementary School Memorial in San Marcos

Little angel plaques and trees

In the aftermath of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, the country was left devastated. One San Marcos man wanted to express more than his own grief by ...

Double Peak — San Marcos

Double your pleasure on this hike with inspiring vistas and a remarkable assortment of flowering plants.

Canine Capers Dog Show in San Marcos

The San Marcos Lions Club hosted their fifth annual Canine Capers Talent Show at Woodland Park on April 21, and a pair of newcomers took away the coveted Most Look-Alike trophy this year. When asked ...

UPS Can't Find Me. FedEx Can't Find Me. Visitors Always Get Lost.

San Diegans outside the bubble.

What’s it like to live in what passes for “the wilds" of San Diego County? Bill Manson finds out.

Rock Church Opens in San Marcos

The Rock Church of Liberty Station celebrated the opening of its North County location on Sunday, March 18. From its temporary sanctuary in Carlsbad, the popular mega-church moved to a permanent location in San Marcos. ...

Palomar Heights Church

Denomination: Assembly of God Membership: 175 Pastor: Jon Allbaugh Age: 45 Born: Kansas City, Kansas Formation: Vanguard University, Orange County Years Ordained: 22 San Diego Reader: How long do you spend writing your sermon? Pastor ...

Man Accused of Stabbing Mate While in Bed

A 28-year-old Escondido man is accused of stabbing his lover in the neck after an argument on Memorial Day morning, May 30. Alexander John Twedt was arraigned this week on a single charge of attempted ...

Child Porn Maker Marc Romain Mandina Avoids Jail

A French citizen living in San Marcos pleaded guilty to a single felony count of child porn, with the understanding that he will not spend any time in jail. Defendant Marc Romain Mandina, 41, was ...

Angry Man Sparks Fear at San Marcos Walmart

On May 30 at about 10:00 a.m., San Marcos Walmart customers were petrified when a man raged through the store, threatening to "shoot the place up,” according to a trembling and tearful witness. She said ...

Twin Oaks High School Student Charged with Knife Possession

At the Vista courthouse on May 23, Twin Oaks High School assistant principal Todd Marquet testified that 18-year-old Ernesto Gomez had been in attendance for two years before trouble arose. When Gomez got into an ...

San Marcos Boulevard Ready for Improvements

At the San Marcos City Council meeting on April 26, the council voted to accept improvements made to San Marcos Boulevard as part of the city’s “Smart Corridor Project.” The project was mostly paid for ...

Shelley Malil Sent to Donovan State Prison to Begin Life Sentence

Shelley Malil, a former Hollywood actor who tried to stab to death his ex-girlfriend in her San Marcos home in 2008, was sentenced to life in prison in December. He was sent from local jail ...

San Marcos Man Charged with Possession of Kid Porn

A 37-year-old man videotaped a 12-year-old girl taking off her clothes and then showering in his San Marcos home in 2007, according to prosecutor Keith Watanabe at the Vista Courthouse on Friday, February 18. Marc ...

Portable Basketball Hoop in the Way — and an Answer

Resident Jamie Wetzel appeared before the San Marcos city council on Tuesday, December 14 to discuss his issues with the city’s property value and neighborhood preservation ordinance. Over the past few months, Wetzel has been ...

Where Did the Save-A-Life Money Go?

The Chicago Tribune of January 16, 1995, ran a story of a mother, Carol Spizzirri, lamenting the death in an auto accident of her 18-year-old daughter, Christina, in 1992. “This is my girl,” whispered Spizzirri ...

San Marcos Officials Conceal Federal Fire Map

"It is not this council's policy to keep anything hidden from the people," said San Marcos’ Mayor Jim Desmond to fire chief Todd Newman during the city council's October 26 meeting. "The first time I ...

Salaries of San Marcos Administrators Questioned

“Tonight, I am asking for [city clerk] Susie Vasquez’s resignation,” said San Marcos business owner Laura Mouradian during the oral-communication portion of the September 14 city-council meeting. According to Mouradian, she was told by a ...

Not Funny

Hollywood actor Shelley Malil is accused of attempted murder for allegedly stabbing an ex-girlfriend more than 20 times at her home in San Marcos. The attack happened more than two years ago, on August 10 ...

Double Pane Problem

Forty year San Marcos resident Helen Cortez appeared in front of the city council on June 22 to comment on the increased noise from Sunset Park, which is directly across from her home. Cortez described ...

Tricky All Over Town

The San Marcos Sheriff's Station is looking for a woman who responds to ads posted in businesses, the Penny Saver, and craigslist for rooms to rent. The suspect calls and arrives to see the room, ...

Palomar Pioneers: Of Travail and Tragedy

Rattler ManJoseph Beresford, son of a British Lord, fell in love with the ­gardener’s daughter. His father, whose lineage went back to James I, gave him an ultimatum: marry beneath your rank and lose your ...

Palomar Pioneers: The Water Bearer

In 1904, young Elise Roberts and her family summered on Palomar Mountain. They left their Long Beach home in a roofed wagon, half packed with clothes and bedding, the other half filled with hay for ...

Thanks, Nosy Neighbor

A nosy neighbor was responsible for the capture of two parolees who were committing a burglary on February 22, according to a sheriff's department press release. At about 2:30 p.m., a San Marcos resident saw ...

More Than a Catfight

On February 6, two women were arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and battery at the Jumping Turtle Bar and Grill in San Marcos. According to a sheriff's department press release, deputies responded to ...

Jumping Turtle Still Has Some Bounce

“The Jumping Turtle is not going out of business,” says owner Matt Hall, despite having lost his most recent appeal to keep the City of San Marcos from revoking his venue’s entertainment permit. “City Hall ...

Play the Sneaky Development Game

An Orange County developer who led the effort to delay San Diego’s general plan update until his own project could be approved is one step away from his goal. On October 23, the San Diego ...

San Marcos' Smoke Signals

"Behavior modification takes time," said a San Marcos city employee during a November 11 city council meeting. The behavior they would like to modify is to prevent smokers from lighting up in nondesignated areas and ...

Suing San Marcos

“We filed a claim today against the city [of San Marcos] on nine different counts,” says Matt Hall, operator of the Jumping Turtle since February 2003. The lawsuit alleges harassment, intentional and negligent infliction of ...

An Execution in the Hills

MISSION HILLS An Execution in the HillsBy Scafidi, March 24 “Hello, Zack. What’s up?” “Uh, hi, uh, Fred? It’s me, Zack.” “Yup.” “My cat’s got a gopher cornered over here. Can you come quick? And ...

Shotski!

I went to a pool party in San Marcos in August that began with a morning visit to a Stone Brewing Company beerfest. I showed up after everyone had made it back to Heidi’s house. ...

San Marcos Hotel

The question that San Marcos residents ask Mayor Jim Desmond most often: What's going on with the unfinished Marriott hotel project? The project, on the corner of Las Posas Road and Los Vallecitos Boulevard, has ...

No-wait Nuptials Nixed

San Diego County is putting the brakes on spur-of-the-moment marriages. Beginning Monday, July 6, marriage licenses and civil ceremonies will be offered by appointment only. “The walk-in marriage services are being discontinued due to budgetary ...

Tick, Tick, Tick...

San Diego just lost another all-ages music venue. Sergeant Glenn Giannantonio of the San Diego Sheriff’s Department says that an April 18 show at the Jumping Turtle in San Marcos got out of control and ...

Worst of the Worst

Will an unruly punk show end live music at the Jumping Turtle? Sheriff’s deputy Sgt. Glenn Antonio said every patrol car assigned to San Marcos the night of Saturday, April 18, was called to the ...

Bicyclists' Blessing

The two-lane stretch of Buena Creek Road that connects Santa Fe Avenue and Twin Oaks Valley Road will be undergoing extensive construction during the next two weeks. Construction crews continue to widen the bike lanes ...

Peruvian Currency

Friday again. Payday again. You’ve been down to Ramen noodle soup since Wednesday. You’re in North County, but you are far from retiring, much less retiring rich. Vons is on the bus route along Rancho ...

tenSHUN!

A Cal State San Marcos study group held a public forum on Tuesday, February 24, to hear the pros and cons of allowing a ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps) program on campus. The study group, ...

Don't: Ask, Tell, Discriminate

At Cal State San Marcos, controversy has been raised over the possible introduction of Army ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps) courses to the curriculum. Similar to the ROTC programs of many surrounding high schools, classrooms ...

San Marcos Soap Opera

In San Marcos, the wounds from last November’s elections need more time to heal. Some of those wounds were reopened at a January 27 city council meeting while the council deliberated on Councilmember Mike Preston’s ...

Nine Sinking Cities

This month and in early February, city managers and finance directors in cities across San Diego County are appearing before their respective city councils to report significant budget deficits. Of the county’s 18 municipalities, 14 ...

San Marcos...More Like San Parkos

In 1980, the City of San Marcos made a pledge: for every 1000 residents they would have five acres of parkland. Over the past 28 years, the population of San Marcos has swelled to more ...

Less Dense, Fewer Homeless, More Sky

Having lived in San Diego since 1980, one would think that I would have long ago gravitated to residence in the northern portion of the county. It seems, by consensus, to be more generally livable ...

Train Water

In August 2003, the North County Transit District, preparing to build a train line linking Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos, and Escondido, applied to state authorities for a storm water discharge permit. The train, called the ...

Grace Community Church, San Marcos

My first note upon hearing the band at Grace was "powerful." Not so much the lyrics — the songs were familiar enough that I remembered at least three from last week's service at another church ...

"I am not rich! Maybe comfortable, but..."

A recent Friday night in San Marcos, at the Melrose apartment complex, indicated to me a whole new level of the living comatose. Toe tags should be issued by the score for those in these ...

Boards and Bones

Driving home from Vegas, I got into San Marcos around 10:00 p.m. I drove by a house that had festive lights glowing in the back yard and several cars parked in front.I went home, took ...

City Gets Bad Rap

Josh Dunn owns nightclubs in Escondido and San Marcos. His busiest night used to be Thursdays at Club Tropics in San Marcos, where he featured hip-hop. Last summer, he discontinued hip-hop at Club Tropics because ...

Party Down the Lawn

I moved to San Marcos about six months ago, and since these aren't exactly Rockwellian times, I've made no effort to meet my neighbors. Most of them I never see. The old geezer across the ...

Slow and Steady in San Marcos

"The rivalry was between the Jumping Turtle, the Longshot, and the Boulevard," says promoter Sulo King. "It was like [the movie] Roadhouse." The owner of one of those San Marcos nightclubs says, "In May 2004 ...

SDSU Preserves San Diego's Political History

Elected to the House of Representatives in 1952 and serving for 14 consecutive terms, Republican Bob Wilson saw plenty of paperwork come across his desk. In 1973, he began depositing it for future researchers at ...