Alain
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
PUC Loves SDG&E
All, For your edification and perusal... SAN DIEGO--California regulators have rejected a San Diego utility's plan to cut power to homes when weather is ripe for major wildfires. The California Public Utilities Commission voted Thursday in San Francisco on a proposal from San Diego Gas & Electric Co. to cut power to 60,000 homes and businesses in dry, windy weather before fires hit. The utility's power lines have been blamed for causing devastating wildfires two years ago. It claims those fires probably wouldn't have happened if the shutoff plan were in effect. Critics note that a number of systems would fail immediately or within hours: life-critical medical devices, water pumps, phones, televisions, garage door openers, traffic lights. http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_13305860— September 10, 2009 10:09 p.m.
PUC Loves SDG&E
Don, et.al, My post here is directed to people who are convinced that they have "no skin in the game." If this is YOUR thinking, you are deluding yourself and it just might cost you your home, belongings and possibly your very life. Any fire that starts in the "outback" will threaten the whole of the North County. Look at the L.A. "Station" fire, if you need proof! Everyone in San Diego County is in jeopardy! This is not a local fight. Fire is no respecter of borders or property lines. My next point is that someone sent me an article regarding a recent brush fire that started in Hemet and moved towards Idylwild. Fire investigators found small bits of ceramic power line insulators and bits of metal strewn about. Did you know that there are "explosive charges" at the top of power poles?? They are designed to save the power line circuits from overloading and destroying the circuit. When the circuit breaker trips, these "explosive charges" ignite to blow the wires from the circuit, to "short circuit" the line. Now, I submit to you a question: is it not possible that one of these "explosive charges" could have gone off prematurely or malfunctioned in Hemet, starting the fire? What else could have blown those insulators and metal parts to smithereens?? Surely, not a drop of 50' from the top of a power pole... Another point. Early on, most of the "news media" were under the delusion that this whole protest against SDG&E was about preventing SDG&E from "pulling the plug" on the folks in the above mentioned towns. This was INCORRECT! SDG&E already has the authority to pull the plug. They did so earlier this month up here...three times. SDG&E needs to PUC ruling for this. However, what they do need is a "rule modification" which gives them "tort immunity" from doing so. This means that they can pull the plug and be free from lawsuits!! Great strategy. So, in a nutshell, SDG&E pulls the plug when certain weather criteria are met. We sit in the dark for 24 hours or longer. A small fire starts and begins to gain momentum. Firefighters arrive only to find that there is no water in the fire hydrants to draw from. Yes, firefighters have 1,000 gallons on board, but how long is that going to last on a 1/4 acre fire in a 50 MPH wind?? Small fires don't stay small in 50 MPH winds. The handwriting is on the wall, folks. In all probability, SDG&E is going to get their "tort immunity". Many people in the county are going to pay for this insanity...with more than their checkbook. Little wonder that the P.U.C. is called, "the largest rubber stamp in California." No one person, no entity or corporate structure should ever be given full immunity from anything they do. No one, not no way, not no how. Not Richard Nixon, not Union Carbide, not Exxon and not SDG&E. Everyone needs to be held accountable for their actions, no matter how "altruistic" or well meaning their intentions. Alain Michel...Valley Center/Pauma Valley— September 9, 2009 10:36 a.m.