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Stories by John T. Griffith

Vets’ shelter to remain open in Midway District until July

Mayor Filner appropriates funds from budget surplus

On Tuesday, April 22, the San Diego City Council voted to keep open the homeless veterans’ tent shelter at 2801 Sports Arena Boulevard. The shelter, a 150-bed facility for homeless vets that usually operates from ...

Camp Pendleton erects war memorial

Warriors of many nations honored

On Thursday, April 11, families and dignitaries gathered at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside to dedicate a memorial to honor coalition troops killed in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province. USMC Major General Charles Mark Gurganus with British Brigadier ...

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 ...

Big Lots store in Vista closes after 16 years

The Big Lots store at the Shadowridge Plaza Shopping Center located on Sycamore Road in Vista, is scheduled to close its doors forever on April 15. According to store manager Oliver Cregier, even though the ...

Air traffic control tower at the Ramona Airport to close

How will they see wildfires in East County?

The threat of the federal government to close the air traffic control tower at the Ramona Airport has caused the County Board of Supervisors to protest. The Federal Aviation Administration had placed the Ramona tower ...

Bridge dedication for Oceanside police officer Dan Bessant

Native son shot while on the job in 2006

In an early-evening ceremony on Friday, March 8, the bridge on North Pacific Street (over the beach area of the San Luis Rey River, south of Oceanside Harbor) was dedicated to the memory of Oceanside ...

Vista’s illegal parking problem on Poinsettia Avenue

A no-man’s land of code enforcement

On Poinsettia Avenue in Vista, which runs parallel along the westbound side of Highway 78, catering trucks, vehicles for sale, and vehicles parked there to advertise services are a everyday sight from the freeway. According ...

Monumental: Alta M. Hulett at Mt. Hope Cemetery

Practiced law in San Diego, died at 22

Alta M. Hulett, born on June 4, 1854, in Rockford, Illinois, learned how to operate the telegraph at ten years of age and went on to become an operator. Fascinated with the legal profession, she ...

Del Mar Racetrack’s long lost airport

You could take a plane

If the recent plan to have a train stop at the Del Mar Fairgrounds falls through, resurrecting the adjacent former airport is certainly a nonstarter. Located on the San Dieguito River wetlands between the Del ...

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 ...

Vandals Smash Cars in Vista

Located on the 200 block of Smilax Road Vista, Mariposa Apartments has been the site of countless vehicle damage and vandalism incidents since the spring of 2012. Situated in a park-like setting, the complex is ...

Monumental: SDSU War Memorial

Sponsored by the SDSU Alumni Association's Veterans War Memorial Committee, the war memorial at San Diego State is one of few such tributes of its kind to be erected on a U.S. college campus. Located ...

Monumental: POW Liberation Memorial in Miramar

Dedicated on September 16, 2011, the POW Liberation Monument is located at the Miramar National Cemetery. Designed by artist Richard Becker, the memorial is a 15-foot tall, bronze, concrete, and stainless steel sculpture, a tribute ...

Snails Invade Vista After Recent Rains

Shortly after the rainfall on the weekend of Oct. 19–21, Vista’s (southeastern) Buena Creek area and western Vista, near S. Santa Fe Avenue, were invaded by thousands of small cone-shaped snails. The terrestrial gastropod mollusks ...

Monumental: Airplane Ridge

On the eastern slope of Japacha Peak, in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, is the location of a little known and most unusual monument anywhere in San Diego County. This piece of history began 90 years ...

Monumental: Military Dog Memorial in Encinitas

The Rancho Coastal Humane Society’s military working dog (MWD) memorial is the first of its kind on America's West Coast. Dedicated on April 16, 2011, the monument is to honor "all military working dogs and ...