High drama in the Reader

Rescue near Palomar Mtn., behind the lines in South Africa and Mission Beach, mother killer, gallbladder surgery, and San Diego's toughest cop

Author

By Various Authors

Publish Date

May 12, 2018

The question was whether they could make it in the dark. (Robert Burroughs)

Shane Snider, Mike Baxter. Mike stopped and called out to ask if they shouldn’t go right, but Shane didn’t reply. (Robert Burroughs)

The unlikely rescue

Shane heard a noise and stopped. It was a voice, unintelligible. Mike stopped too. “Tony!” they called together. They heard an answer and followed it up to where the hunter had come to rest. He was hunched against a tree and had a smear of blood on his shin. He had lost his rifle but was still wearing his pistol and holster. Absurdly, they asked him if he was Tony Carrasco.

By Joe Applegate, Jan. 11, 1990 Read full article

“Does anybody know a back way out of here?” (Jennifer Hewitson)

Reader writer reports from South Africa

Our two buses pass a gas station where three army hippos stand watch. Soldiers instantly mount vehicles, dart onto the highway, quickly overtake, pull over our second bus. People aboard yell for our driver to stop. He doesn’t.A dozen shrieking voices, “Stop, stop. We can’t leave them there.” The driver drives. More screams. “Oh my God, my God. Stop the bus. Stop it, stop it, STOP IT!”

One evening in a life of selling lies

In the past, I’ve worked all of the party spots: Ocean Beach pier, Fiesta Island, Balboa Park, and concerts at places like the Sports Arena, SDSU, and San Diego Stadium. This season, Mariners is where the action’s at. During the high point of summer, the crowd at Mariners was so large and chaotic that I could make one sweep of the point without much chance of discovery.

By Julien B., Feb. 9, 1989 Read full article

USD graduation, 1966

The blood upon his hands

"I took a pillow and began to smother her,” he continues. "Then I stopped. She was astounded. She asked me to go into the kitchen and get her a cup of coffee. When I came back, I noticed that she had run across the street in her bare feet to a neighbor’s house. I realized, of course, that making love to my mother would be the ultimate, the most unpardonable sin, so I decided to choose the lesser of the two evils. I had to kill her."

By Sue Garson, March 9, 1989 Read full article

A hand holding the forceps grasps a tip of the liver’s lower edge, lifting it gingerly, revealing the gallbladder, nestled against the liver’s back. (Janet Taylor)

Under the knife

It is time to inject dye into the remaining ducts and x-ray the abdomen. This will ensure that the clips are secure. The dye process will also detect any gallstones that might be lodged in the cystic duct. The orange pancreas is now more fully visible. There are lavender touches and a deep-red line of tendon across it at an angle. A surgeon bends into the body with a syringe.

By Mary Lang, July 20, 1989 Read full article

"They used to call me ‘Fast Eyes’ If somebody shot a .38, I could actually follow the bullet all the way to the target." (Craig Carlson)

One tough cop

"A homosexual murder, I remember that real clear. I was the first person there. They gave him an enema with Clorox, really fouled him up pretty good. Split his body open, his gut open. He was cut all over. His guts had pulled up and stacked up on his chest. There was blood all over the walls. Quite a mess."

By Judith Moore, May 18, 1989 Read full article