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Thirty Years Ago Victor laughs to himself thinking about how easy it is to bunk honkies. Anyone who is a transient is sure to get his ass kicked in a dope deal because, as Victor explains, he will be too stupid to make certain that he finds a go-between he can trust. Victor recalls last year when the Grand Jury indicted thirty people and managed to close down the bar, Martell's, to quell the downtown drug traffic. The business had to be moved, spread around, up and down the strip. "Thank the Lord for the Search and Seizure Laws," mutters Victor to himself. -- "DESOLATION ROW," Esteban Nunal, May 6, 1976

Twenty-Five Years Ago It was I who murdered Emory Van Falkenstein. Van Falkenstein had spotted the 1921 Philadelphia edition of Bret Harte, that rare, almost legendary volume in ruddy board cover. It was the one book I needed to complete my Bret Harte collection. And Van Falkenstein did not need it, did not want it as I did, with an all-consuming lust. -- "THE BINDING MYSTERY OF THE VILLAINOUS VAN FALKENSTEIN," Pierre Menard, May 7, 1981

Twenty Years Ago Mayoral candidate Maureen O'Connor has looked to twin sister Mavourneen for advice throughout the current campaign. But this relationship hasn't occupied all of Mavourneen O'Connor's time: she has been involved in the purchase of real estate valued at more than two million dollars. That property, which includes the historic Palm Hotel, has been purchased by investors headed by Robert Ballantyne, friend of Maureen O'Connor's husband, Robert O. Peterson, and of the O'Connor sisters. -- THE INSIDE STORY, Paul Krueger, May 8, 1986

Fifteen Years Ago I wanted to get away from there. One of the orphanage boys climbed on my back. I decided to step over the barbed-wire fence instead of going around it. My knee gave out halfway across, and I fell back into the wire. It tore my thigh open, and blood spurted out.The boy helped me across the fence with a spooked look on his face. Little boys always stare at blood like it's a miracle.

I went into the bathroom where Pastor Von was bathing the orphanage boys.

"Drop your pants," he said.

We could see the fat inside my leg through the cut. "Looks good," Von said.

One of the gringos in there cried, "Jeez!" -- CITY LIGHTS: "THE JOY OF COOKING," Luis Urrea, May 9, 1991

Ten Years Ago The battle between cops, firefighters, and Mayor Susan Golding over what's to become of the old Naval Training Center has grown into a memo war between staffers for two city councilmembers. It started when Barbara Warden's chief of staff, Mitch Berner, who sides with Golding's desire to annex most of the land to an expanded Lindbergh Field, dashed off an angry memo to Byron Wear's chief of staff, Johnnie Perkins. Wear -- whose constituents include noise-sensitive Point Loma dwellers who want the airport moved -- favors construction of a police and fire training camp on the surplus federal property. -- CITY LIGHTS: "WARDEN COPS AN ATTITUDE," Thomas K. Arnold, May 2, 1996

Five Years Ago While 91X was talking about what they thought might be on the new blink-182 album called Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, another station -- audible in parts of San Diego County -- was playing from the album. Although Take Off Your Pants and Jacket is not supposed to be released until June 12, KROQ Los Angeles started playing a cut called "The Rock Show" on April 20.

"They could have stolen it [the song] off Napster," said Jim Richards, who oversees 91X and the other San Diego FM stations. But Richards did admit it could be a conscious decision by the band to give KROQ a big scoop. -- BLURT, Ken Leighton, May 3, 2001