Photo by Joe Klein

Bruce Henderson: "I’ve had councilmembers rise up out of their chairs, screaming at me at the top of their voice."

Dick Valdez: "When I found out Children's Hospital was having a telethon last summer, I said. 'Let's picket the thing.'"

Paul Stachelek

Children's Hospital gave AIDS to hemophiliacs

So even after talking with Hartman, I still cannot get a date for when my sons were first tested. The only thing that I have in concrete, from Steven’s medical records, is they put him through a whole battery of tests in the summer of 1987, just before they transferred him to University Hospital. So Hartman said at the meeting that he knew for sure Steven was positive in '86, and maybe ’85.

By Neal Matthews July 16, 1992 Read full article

The company laid off five workers who could not keep up.

Photo by Sandy Huffaker, Jr.

The dark side of Chula Vista's American Fashion

Where before they had made suits in batches of 10- or 20,000, they now were asked to make them in batches as small as 10 or 20. Previously, they had made suits of similar styles but now had to sew constantly changing cuts and designs. Where they had once worked almost exclusively with wool, they now had to cope with a variety of fabrics, including cashmere, Ultrasuede, and hard-to-handle, filmy silks.

By Miriam Davidson, March 25, 1993 Read full article

Mexicali's population soared from 6,200 in 1920, to 64,701 in 1950, to more than 500,000 in 1974.

Paul Stachelek

The New River — most polluted and lethal river in California

Ammonia, chloroform, and boron show up at high levels in routine water-quality grab samples near the border at Calexico. Testing agencies have detected volatile organic compounds like benzene, acetone, and toluene. Imperial County Public Health employees, who regularly monitor the New River, have detected at least 28 viruses known to cause disease in humans. They’ve encountered typhus, cholera, encephalitis, and all three polio viruses.

By Brian McNeese and Dave Zielinski, Dec. 9, 1993 Read full article

Eatchel with Kacia, a dancer. "Pacer’s, the strip joint, we went after them. That was on Hard Copy."

Photo by Adam Case

How San Diego's hotel and restaurant union works

A union woman shouts, “That’s right!” Others begin to chant. “We want Ron! We want Ron! We want Ron! We want Ron!” Three maids look down from a second-floor balcony; two smile, one appears to blush. Hotel security guards move about the throng. One, with a linebacker’s build, confronts Al Abarca, a Local 30 business representative, who is filming the event on a camcorder. The man tells Abarca to stop filming.

By Patrick Daugherty Feb. 3, 1994 Read full article

"They kept trying to make the curfew-breaking the issue."

Photo by Sandy Huffaker, Jr.

Idyllic Spanish Village shaken by mystery stabbing

“Then I heard male voices outside on the patio. I didn’t look up because I didn’t want to be noticed. The voices moved left to right. I never looked up. The sounds went back around the right side of the Potters’ Guild. A few minutes later I heard a fight starting up. So at that point I really became scared. I turned the lights out, ducked low under the counter, then crawled to the back door of the Potters’ Guild. I could hear the fighting going on."

By Bill Manson Aug. 4, 1994 Read full article

Mayor Golding: “Most voters tell me that they don’t want everything to be put on the ballot.”

Mayor Golding and friends conspire to hide truth on stadium, convention center, library, sewer

“They will begin raising the hotel room tax on tourists first. But that won’t be enough. I’ve seen good projections over here, the real stuff, that shows we’ll be cutting the shit out of cops within five years if folks don’t vote to raise property taxes.” Hence, the staffer says, taxpayers are, without their knowledge, being “back-doored” into raising taxes down the road or facing the consequences. “I guess you won’t read about that in the Union-Tribune."

By Matt Potter, March 21, 1996 Read full article

Stadium concession area. The contract is careful not to mention specifically what the Sports Council will be doing.

Charge It to the taxpayers

Bruce Henderson, one of the chief critics of the Chargers’ deal with the City, who warned early on that the ticket guarantee meant trouble. “It clearly demonstrates that the City, as one would expect, doesn’t know what it’s doing. There’s no marketing program there, there isn’t a program of any sort outlined in the agreement, there isn’t even a requirement that they come back with a full-scale program to sell the full 60,000 tickets."

By Matt Potter, June 5, 1997 Read full article

Barbara Warden, Valerie Stallings. Stallings celebrated that the people didn’t get to vote on it.

Photo by Joe Klein

The most hated man in San Diego

"And then last Monday, the San Diego Union-Tribune prints this editorial that one thing we know is that it is absolutely guaranteed that the Chargers will be here through 2020, and that’s what really counts. Well, it isn’t guaranteed at all! What’s absolutely guaranteed under this contract is that, unless they’re fools, the Spanos family is going to start shopping this team in 2003!"

By Matt Potter, Sept. 25, 1997 Read full article