PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ENCINITAS, CA 92024 PERMIT NO. 94
THE COAST NEWS
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MAKING WAVES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
VOL. 23, NO. 46
NOV. 13, 2009
Bonds, costs lead to water rate jump
THISWEEK BACK AND KICKING PICTURE THIS
An Oceanside art exhibit gives expression to a few unlikely young A12 photographers
By Promise Yee
SAILING IN
Oceanside celebrates and educates with the annual arrival of the B1 tall ships
INSIDE
TWO SECTIONS, 48 PAGES
Business Directory . . . B20 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . A6 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . B19 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . B22 Crime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A8 Crossword Puzzle . . . . B18 Doorman Diaries . . . . . . B3 Eye on the Coast . . . . . . A5 Frugal Living . . . . . . . . B11 Henry’s Health Tips . . . . A9 Hot Off the Block . . . . . A7 The Law and You . . . . . A11 Legal Notices . . . . . . . . . B6 Odd Files . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4 Outside Perspective . . . . A4 Pendleton News . . . . . A16 Pet of the Week . . . . . . A18 Second Opinion . . . . . . A13 Small Talk . . . . . . . . . . . B1 Taste of Wine . . . . . . . . A9 To Your Health . . . . . . . A10 Who’s News? . . . . . . . . . A8
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STRONG OFFENSE Midfielder Anthony Medina of the San Diego Sockers manuevers around Stars of Mexico defenders during an exhibition game Nov. 7 at the Del Mar Arena. The Sockers won 9-5. Photo by Bethany Salvon
Sockers restart franchise with decisive preseason win By Randy Kalp
DEL MAR — The wait for San Diego Sockers fans was finally over when the revived professional indoor soccer team took to the field to pick up where their championship brethren left off nearly five years ago. The Sockers played the Stars of Mexico in a preseason game Nov. 7 that kicked off their first season since the franchise folded in 2004. Playing in the Western Conference of the
Professional Arena Soccer League, which has 54 teams in 10 divisions across the United States, the Sockers will host 12 home games this season at the newly renovated Del Mar Arena at the Del TURN TO SOCKERS ON A20
LOCAL STAR Midfielder Nate Hetherington, of Encinitas, takes time to talk to fans following the San Diego Sockers 9-5 win Nov. 7 over the Stars of Mexico at the Del Mar Arena. Photo by Bethany Salvon
Man listed as sex offender for act with teen By Randy Kalp
CARLSBAD — A 24year-old man convicted of engaging in sexual relations with a teenage girl at a Carlsbad elementary school will have to register as a sex offender for life, a San Diego Superior Court judge ruled Nov. 9. Judge Daniel Goldstein said the one unique factor in the case was that the crime occurred on school grounds, which he said coupled with the fact the victim clearly appears to be underage warranted sexual offender registration by Leo Burns Welnick. Welnick, of Carlsbad,
pleaded guilty in September to one felony count of oral copulation by a person over 21 on someone under the age of 16 and false imprisonment in connection with a June incident at Magnolia Elementary School with a then-15-year-old Carlsbad girl. Additionally, Welnick received 365 days in county jail and will be placed on three years probation. He has credit for 183 days served in jail. In accordance to his plea deal, two felony charges — forcible oral copulation and kidnapping — were dismissed. Welnick had faced
more than a decade in prison. Deputy District Attorney Elisabeth Silva said one of the considerations for the plea agreement was protecting the victim from having to testify at trial. In a Vista courtroom filled with approximately 20 family and friends of Welnick, the teenage victim and her mother addressed the court. “His actions have ruined our family,” the victim’s mother told the court. “He’s sick and I will forever hate him.” The teenage girl, who wiped back her tears, said anytime she hears the name “Leo” she begins to cry.
“You’ve brought nothing but shame to your family name,” the victim said as she addressed Welnick, who stood behind the opaque glass of the courtroom’s holding cell in his jail jumpsuit. “Because of you, I lost my innocence.” Welnick’s attorney, Brad Patton, told the court his client suffered from bipolar disorder and at the time of the incident had stopped taking his medication. Patton said he believed Welnick’s mental illness got worse around that time due to the breakup with his long-term TURN TO OFFENDER ON A21
OCEANSIDE — Council OK’d increases in water rates that will cost an average family $8.40 more a month in water charges and $10.37 more in wastewater charges. The OK to raise rates failed to get a three-fourths vote Oct. 14, but passed Nov. 4 with a 3-1 vote to approve city ordinances that amend water and wastewater rates. Mayor Jim Wood voted no on the ordinances and Councilwoman Esther Sanchez was absent. “It doesn’t give us much room to wiggle,” Lonnie Thibodeaux, water utilities director, said. “We can breath now.” The approved increases sit on the high end of rate options proposed Oct. 14, that ranged from a $6.45 to $10.43 a month increase in water and a $4.96 to $14.82 increase in wastewater. Approved rates cover debt service, pay the higher cost of water supply that has been charged to the city by the Metropolitan Water District since September, and begin to replenish revenue funds spent to cover water costs. What irritates many is that the cost of water supply paid to the Metropolitan Water District is a fixed rate that increases when water use goes down through conservation. “They’re going to continue doing this,” Oceanside resident Gary Myers said. Another increase in water rates is expected from the Metropolitan Water District in January 2011. “It’s a death spiral, the less water we have to use the more we have to pay,” Mick Healy, representative of the Country Club Villas Home Owners Association, said. “The problem here is that it’s not a competitive model,” Councilman Rocky Chavez said. “We only get water from one source. We TURN TO WATER ON A19
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