Driver acquitted in ‘rage attack’ on bicyclist By Randy Kalp
OCEANSIDE — A Vista jury on March 23 acquitted a 31-year-old man accused of swerving his vehicle into a bicyclist. After a weeklong trial, which included testimony from both the victim and defendant, a jury found Michael Shields not guilty of assault with a deadly weapon with the allegation that he personally used his Jeep Liberty to commit the crime. Prosecutors alleged Shields turned his 4,000pound vehicle into Martin Rios on Feb. 25, 2009, on College Avenue after the bicyclist spit on his car. And to further prove their case, prosecutors said they had a key independent eyewitness who collaborated Shields’ aggressive act against the bicyclist. The witness, Trevor Hudson, had been following behind the two men on Barnard Drive shortly before the accident happened and said Rios had been traveling just outside the bike lane when for no reason Shields swerved at Rios nearly hitting him. Following the near-miss, Rios sped up his peddling, which Hudson said he believed was so the bicyclist could catch up to Shields. Moments after Rios caught up to Shields, he said he saw the defendant’s vehicle turn into Rios. Rios, 21, suffered minor injuries from the accident, according to court testimony. He has filed a civil lawsuit against Shields. “He lost it,” Deputy District Attorney Elisabeth Silva told jurors in her closing arguments. In a brief moment of rage, Shields swerved into Rios as the two traveled side by side down the street, the prosecutor said. When asked immediately after the accident by Rios and Hudson why he did it, Shields said because Rios spit on his car, Silva said in her closing argument. However, Shields and his attorney, David Boertje, painted a different picture. In his closing argument, Boertje portrayed Rios as an unemployed pothead looking for a payday. On the stand, Rios admitted to smoking marijuana daily and having a criminal conviction for vandalism, the lawyer said. “(Shields) took evasive action to avoid hitting Mr. Rios,” Boertje told jurors. Shields testified Rios was initially swerving in TURN TO RAGE ON 42
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RANCHO SANTA FE NEWS
APRIL 9, 2010
Annual garden festival signals spring tradition By Wehtahnah Tucker
ENCINITAS — Garden enthusiasts will once again be treated to the sights and smells of private gardens as the fifth annual Encinitas Garden Festival and Tour commences April 17. While celebrating gardening and the horticultural heritage of the city, the event is taking a more family-friendly, interactive approach this year. In addition to showcasing more than 20 private gardens featured on a walking tour of a selected community, the festival will feature the school garden at Paul Ecke Central, a drought resistant garden at the neighborhood fire house and butterfly gardening at the Monarch Program. The highly regarded tour will take place in Leucadia where residents have agreed to open their garden gates. “They are awesome,” said committee chairperson and local resident Nan Sterman. “This year we have such a variety of landscapes and the school garden that is of particular interest to everyone.” The festival is an all-volunteer event that grew out of an initiative of the city’s Cultural Tourism committee. Sterman said that the com-
SPRING HAS SPRUNG The Paul Ecke Elementary School garden will be part of the fifth annual Encinitas Garden Festival and Tour on April 17. Courtesy photo
mittee of volunteers works year-round securing garden sites, working out logistical details and soliciting funds for the one-day event that occurs each spring. “We have very dedicated, resourceful volunteers,” she said.
The Gardeners’ Marketplace will be located at Orpheus Park. The marketplace will offer festival-goers products and information for improving their gardens while also practicing environmental conservation. Ven-
dors will be on hand to sell unusual plants, vegetable seedlings and gardenthemed art. Guest speakers throughout the day will offer seminars on a variety of gardenrelated topics including
maintaining low-water gardens, growing your own fruits and vegetables, composting and using organic materials for pest control. While the marketplace TURN TO GARDEN ON 41
Earl Warren student off to national spelling bee By Bianca Kaplanek
SOLANA BEACH — To compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., students at Earl Warren Middle School must first win the contest in their individual classes. Then they have to defeat their peers in a schoolwide competition before heading off to the county spelling bee, after which the winner travels to the nation’s capital to compete. “Last year I didn’t do so well, so I wanted to do better,” said Alex Kahng, who at the time was participating in his first spelling bee as a seventhgrader at Earl Warren. He never made it past the classroom contest. “I don’t like to fail,” he said. As proof, Alex correctly spelled the word nexus at the San Diego Union-Tribune Countywide Spelling Bee on March 24 and is now off to Washington, D.C., for the national spelling bee in June. “I’m looking forward to representing San Diego,” he
said. Alex, 14, said he was a little nervous at the beginning of the county competition because there were so many people. But things started to “loosen up,” he said, as the pool of contestants began to diminish. As the spelling bee was winding down and he got the word nexus — a connection or link between individuals of a group or members of a series — he knew he could clinch the title. To help improve his performance this year, Alex said he memorized thousands of words from an online word list and a spelling manual. “I read a lot, too, so that helped,” he said. Alex also got some tips from Justin Song, the two-time county winner from Carmel Valley Middle School, which, like Earl Warren, is part of the San Dieguito Union High School District. He said he plans to continue to review the same study guides for the national spelling bee. If he gets stuck on a word,
Alex will ask for the definition or word origin, which he said can help. Despite his stellar spelling performances, Alex said his best subject is actually math. He is currently taking algebra 2/trigonometry at Torrey Pines High School, a class traditionally taken by high school sophomores. He was also one of the top 12 Southern California scorers in Mathcounts, a nationwide math competition open to students in sixth, seventh and eighth grade. The state-level Southern California contest was held March 20 in Irvine. Students participated in written and oral rounds as well as individual and team components. When Alex, a straight-A student, isn’t studying, he enjoys playing table tennis and reading — mostly science fiction. Although college is a few years off, he said he’d like TOP SPELLER Alex Kahng, an eighth-grader at Earl Warren Middle to follow in the footsteps of his School, is this year’s winner of the county spelling bee. He and his moth- father and grandfather by er will travel to Washington, D.C., in June for the Scripps National attending Harvard University and becoming a professor. Spelling Bee. Photo by Bianca Kaplanek
Coffee and Conversation features health care expert RANCHO SANTA FE — Find out how the new health insurance overhaul package affects you when North County financial advisor Deana Carter hosts “Health Care 2010: What Happened, What Should Have Happened, What’s Next?” The featured speaker is Robert Hertzka, a physician and former president of the California Medical Association. Join them for “Coffee and Conversation” from 8 to 9 a.m. April 15 at
The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe, 5951 Linea Del Cielo. Most Americans will be affected by the new health insurance legislation. The health care reform package will extend insurance coverage to an additional 32 million Americans by 2019. It is easily the most far-reaching and controversial health legislation since the introduction of the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Hertzka, a practicing obstetrical anesthesiologist,
has been on the frontline of legislative change in the healthcare industry. Recently, he was elected to the American Medical Association’s Council on Medical Service, a group of eight physicians responsible for developing most of the AMA’s public policy positions on health care access, cost and quality. In 2004, Hertzka served as president of the 35,000member California Medical Association. He also recent-
ly completed a two-year term as the chairman of the American Medical Association’s political action committee. An adviser to dozens of elected officials of both parties for nearly two decades, Hertzka has been active in policy development and advocacy for a wide variety of issues, including access to health care and improved patient safety. As part of his longstanding commitment to both poli-
tics and health care policy, Hertzka teaches a 40-hour elective course at the UCSD School of Medicine titled “Introduction to the Politics of Medicine.” The April 15 presentation on health reform is part of “Coffee and Conversation,” a series of monthly chats on a wide range of topics that affect your economic health. Contact Deana Carter at (858) 756-1566 for more information.