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Stories by Peter C. Salisbury

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Torpedo found by dolphin in Coronado

Munition is at least 125 years old

Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific (SPAWAR) reported that one of its Navy dolphins discovered an old torpedo last month just off the shore of the Hotel Del Coronado, during a mine-hunting training exercise. ...

Imperial Beach phone booth dumped

For years, a phone booth sat on the corner just outside of the Siesta RV Park in the 400 block of Palm Avenue in Imperial Beach. Made of aluminum and glass with a light in ...

King tides create salty problems in Imperial Beach

Flood parking areas, require bulldozer work

Residents in Imperial Beach were dealing with more flooding as unusually high “king tides” hit the California coast last week. Condominiums along Seacoast Drive were inundated with water on Friday morning, January 11. The high ...

Imperial Beach sand project creates seawater pool near homes

Cast-iron pipes at risk?

Some Imperial Beach residents who own beachfront condominiums are worried. They say they have been complaining to city hall for months after high-tide water started pooling in an area of beach that was rebuilt with ...

Imperial Beach Center Memorializes Boys

The Jonathan Sellers & Charlie Keever Outdoor Education Center opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday, November 26, at the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge, located on the north end of 13th Street along ...

Navy to Remove Polluted Soil in Imperial Beach

Tons of contaminated soil will be excavated from two sites at the southern border of Naval Outlying Landing Field (NOLF) Imperial Beach within the next month, according to Michael Pound of Naval Facilities Engineering Command ...

Cluttered Home Hinders Firefighters in Imperial Beach

Imperial Beach firefighters were called to a home in the 1200 block of 7th Street shortly before 8:00 a.m. on March 8. Firefighters had to stretch their hoses 1500 feet to reach the nearest hydrant. ...

Dry-Rotten Electric Pole Falls on Imperial Beach Apartment Building

A utility pole fell against an Imperial Beach apartment building on the morning of December 7, cutting off power to approximately two city blocks. At around 6:30 a.m., the wooden pole fell against the two-story ...

Blaze at SDG&E substation in Imperial Beach

Residents living near the SDG&E substation at Palm Avenue and Thermal Avenue were blasted awake at about 6:30 on Saturday morning, December 3, by three loud explosions. Soon after, residents observed fire and smoke coming ...

Gumby-Suited Would-Be Thief Fails at 7-Eleven Robbery in Rancho Peñasquitos

SDPD public Information officer/detective Gary Hassen reported that an individual in a Gumby costume attempted to rob the 7-Eleven at 9701 Carmel Mountain Road in Rancho Peñasquitos on September 7 at 12:30 a.m. Store surveillance ...

Imperial Beach Burger King Closes with No Notice

It’s been over 20 years since Burger King opened their restaurant at 1180 Palm Avenue. Recently, though, all the Burger King logos were stripped off the building, and the restaurant's appliances and equipment were removed. ...

Interview with a Google Maps Street View Driver

The Google Maps “Street View car” was making it rounds on Eighth Street in Imperial Beach on July 27 when it pulled into Veterans Park and stopped. The driver introduced himself as “Google Mike” and ...

Will Sleep on Floor for Comic-Con 2012 Tickets

About 2400 Comic-Con attendees crowded into a ballroom at the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel every morning of the world’s largest comic convention July 21–24, some arriving as early as 1:00 a.m. They were there to ...

Street-Corner Vendors in Imperial Beach

In Imperial Beach, residents who park their car on the lawn or have a yard sale without a permit say they can expect a visit from a code-compliance officer. Some of those same residents object ...

Teen Driver with Young Students Crashes into Fire Hydrant in Imperial Beach

As Oneonta Elementary School in Imperial Beach was dismissing students on June 16, nearby, a 19-year-old man lost control of his Chrysler PT Cruiser and sheared off a fire hydrant. According to witnesses, the driver ...

Clothing Robbery Outside La Mesa Boutique

Last Friday, the only witnesses to a snatch-and-grab robbery outside the Fashion Kiss Boutique in La Mesa was a mannequin named Bianca...and a surveillance camera. Fashion Kiss owner Michella Dresselhuys installed a surveillance camera in ...

Taggers Arrested After Posting Graffiti Photos on Facebook

On April 21, San Diego sheriff’s deputies arrested several members of a tagging group responsible for over $70,000 in property damage in Imperial Beach. Law enforcement officials tracked them down on Facebook, according to a ...

Teen Driver Injures Border Bandit Biker

Members of the Border Bandits motorcycle club called sheriff’s deputies on the evening of Friday, March 18, after one of their own was involved in an accident with a teenage driver outside their chapter meeting ...

Imperial Beach’s Miracle Shopping Center to be Demolished, Rebuilt

Save-U-Foods, part of the Save-A-Lot discount grocery chain and one of only three full-service grocery stores in Imperial Beach, is being forced to close on Friday, March 4. The City of Imperial Beach, which paid ...

Boy Collides with Truck in Imperial Beach

At approximately 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 12, San Diego sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call to the alley between the 1200 block of 11th and Florida streets in Imperial Beach. The driver of ...

Mannequin Stolen from Fashion Kiss

Michella Dresselhuys, owner of Fashion Kiss, a ladies clothing and accessories boutique on date Avenue in La Mesa, reported to police on Friday, December 4 that between 5:30 pm and 6:30 pm a thief stole ...

Imperial Beach Stop Sign Gets Mixed Reviews

Imperial Beach residents living along Connecticut Street on the south side of Imperial Beach Boulevard have been concerned for years about vehicular traffic. They complained that cars traveled too fast and something needed to be ...

Little Girl Strays From Imperial Beach Daycare Center

Shortly before sunset on Tuesday, November 16, a couple responding to a Craigslist ad about a “free trailer” found a small child wandering at Florida Street and Grove Avenue in Imperial Beach. They immediately notified ...

Search for Home Invasion Suspect Leads Police to Imperial Beach Home

San Diego police and sheriff’s deputies surrounded a home in Imperial Beach early on October 24, in search of a home-invasion robbery suspect. According to San Diego police Sgt. Steve Shaw, “At approximately 9:30 this ...

Imperial Beach Boy Starts House Fire

San Diego firefighters rushed to a fire in the 800 block of Granger Street shortly before 9:30 a.m. on September 5. Battalion chief Dennis Clay confirmed that a young boy was responsible for the fire ...

Sucker Stab

The text messages that the parents of 18-year-old Tiffany began receiving on July 24 were chilling: “i think someone was stabbed,” she texted from Comic-Con shortly after 5:00 p.m. “They have locked down hall h,” ...

Time to Call Batman?

Pastor Fred Phelps and members of his Westboro Baptist Church, out of Topeka, Kansas, plan to picket San Diego Comic-Con on opening day, July 22, starting at 1:15 p.m. The religious group has made headlines ...

Illegal Dryer?

Shortly after 3:40 p.m. on July 6, firefighters responded to a 911 caller who reported flames coming from a dryer on a balcony at 642 Ocean Lane. After they learned what they were up against, ...

Oh, Sheet!

Imperial Beach artist Kelly Tracy was driving the 5 freeway north on the afternoon of May 29. “I was in the slow lane, and about eight to ten car-lengths ahead I notice a full sheet ...

Drive-In Laundromat

Shortly after 1:15 p.m. on Monday, January 11, a Dodge Durango was driven into the Sombrero Mexican Food Restaurant at 189 Palm Ave. and the laundromat next door. According to Sombrero owner Maria Gomez, a ...

Thanks, Grinch

About a hundred families at the Hollywood Palms Apartment Complex on Home Avenue may have a dismal Christmas thanks to a real-life Grinch who broke into a storage area at the complex sometime this week ...

Repeat Thief?

The North Island Credit Union at 1101 Palm Avenue was robbed at about 10:20 a.m. on Wednesday, December 2. A sheriff’s deputy at the scene acknowledged that the robber who fled the scene on foot ...

Rowdy’s End Point

At around 10:20 p.m. on Sunday, November 29, sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call about a shooting at an apartment complex on Holly Avenue in Imperial Beach. Inside an apartment, police discovered a 21-year-old ...

I'm a Hero!

When they heard the smoke detector going off in a vacant condo unit, neighbors called the fire department to the Bayside Villas in the 600 block of 13th Street on Saturday morning, November 7. Ten-year-old ...

Crazy Crime

On Wednesday, October 27, a shirtless man attacked a green waste container full of palm fronds in the 1100 block of Grove Avenue. An 11-year-old boy walking home from school with his 10-year-old cousin witnessed ...

Girls from Spring Valley

Shortly after 1:00 p.m. on Friday, October 2, San Diego Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a 911 call from an apartment house at the corner of 13th Street and Grove Avenue in Imperial Beach. Three patrol ...

Motorcycle Sisters

Two young women riding a new Kawasaki motorcycle and a woman driving a Toyota Camry were involved in a traffic accident in the 1300 block of 13th Street on Thursday evening, September 24. The Camry ...

Stove on Fire

In Imperial Beach Thursday morning, September 24, a fire at 1325 Grove Avenue destroyed two apartment units and displaced six adults and three children. Fire engines from Chula Vista, Coronado, Imperial Beach, and San Diego ...

Scholarship Scam?

San Diego parents of high school students began receiving mailings from Arlington, Texas-based “College Admissions Assistance” in recent weeks and, judging by the letter’s formal appearance, could have been mistaken in believing the mail was ...

Zodiac Smuggler

At about 4:15 a.m. on Tuesday, September 15, U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted a boat off the coast of Imperial Beach carrying ten duffel bags stuffed with marijuana. According to Customs spokesperson Jackie Dizdull, ...

Shot in the Dark

Shortly before 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning, September 8, shots rang out at the Imperial Sands Mobile Home Park, just east of Imperial Beach. Lupe F., who has lived in the park for 30 years, ...

Water, Water Everywhere

Stella Garcia walks to work every morning in Imperial Beach, and for the third Thursday in a row, a home’s lawn sprinklers have kept her off the sidewalk. “I have to walk in the middle ...

Teens + Firecrackers

On Wednesday, August 19, at approximately 1:30 p.m. (a regularly scheduled minimum day at Oneonta Elementary School), firecrackers lit at a home across the street caused a commotion as hundreds of students were leaving school. ...

He Can’t Be Gone

Shortly after 10:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 6, a sound like a plane crashing in my yard took me to my window. Nothing stirred, then neighbors came running out of their houses. Around the corner ...

A Lively Senior Moment

Shortly after 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, August 6, a 91-year-old man crashed his Dodge Caravan into the entrance railing outside the CVS/pharmacy in the Imperial Beach Promenade Shopping Center. According to a San Diego sheriff’s ...

There’s a Fly in My Hood

San Diego County agriculture officials discovered a Mediterranean fruit fly in a trap last week in Imperial Beach, and local I.B. resident Don Smith – who has a master’s degree in entomology -- says he’s ...

Comic-Conned

On Saturday afternoon, July 25, San Diego Police helped quell an unruly crowd on the main floor of the San Diego Convention Center. During an appearance of the cast of FX channel's It’s Always Sunny ...

They Shot My Homie

Shortly before 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 19, residents in the 1300 block of Grove Avenue in Imperial Beach heard what they thought were firecrackers. Ten minutes later, one of those residents walked to his ...

Nightmare on Elm

At approximately 3:30 p.m. on Friday, July 3, four assailants wearing black ski masks entered a home on Elm Avenue in Imperial Beach. A male and female inside the home were ordered to lie on ...

Whoops

An Imperial Beach elementary school student has been diagnosed with pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough. On July 1, South Bay Union School District superintendent Carol Parish sent a letter to parents whose children may ...