Feb. 21, 2014
B3
T he C oast News
Odd Files By Chuck Shepherd Find That Genius! Beijing Genomics Institute scientists are closing in on a technology to allow parents to choose, from several embryos, the one most likely to yield the smartest offspring. London’s Daily Mail (in January, referencing recent work in Wired, The Wall Street Journal and The New Yorker) explained that BGI will have identified high-potential mathematics genes (by mapping the cells of geniuses) so that researchers can search for those among a couple’s array of embryos. (Most embryos will yield gene arrays resembling their parents’, but one embryo is likely “better” — and maybe much better.) One Chinese researcher acknowledged the “controversial” nature of the work, “especially in the West,” but added, “That’s not the case in China.” The parental price tag on finding the smartest kid? Expensive, said a supporter, but less than upgrading an average kid via Harvard, or even a private prep school. Can’t Possibly Be True “This (was) my life,” said musician Boujemaa Razgui in December, referring to the 13 handmade flutes that he played professionally, “and now they’re gone.” Arriving in New York City from Madrid with the 13 woodwinds in his checked luggage, he was shocked to discover that U.S. Customs had destroyed them without notice because “wood” is a restricted “agricultural” import. (Unsophisticated agents had apparently regarded them as mere bamboo.) Razgui plays all over the world including, since 2002, with the Boston Camerata ensemble staged by the city’s Museum of Fine Arts. Saved by the Blimps: Americans who have grown accustomed to hearing that the U.S. is militarily without peer might have been shocked to learn in January (as CBS News reported from a Pentagon interview) that America has “practically zero capability” either to detect enemy cruise missiles fired at Washington, D.C., from offshore, or even worse, to “defend against (them).” The Pentagon’s interim makeshift solution to protect the U.S. capital, said an official, is to launch two blimps, soon, to float two miles up over a base in Maryland to try to spot any such missiles.
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A bicyclist is being taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas after being hit by a motorist Monday afternoon. The cyclist sustained non-life threatening injuries in the collision on N. Coast Highway 101.
SALUTE TO SERVICE
From left, GFWC Contemporary Women’s of North County member Kathleen King helped salute members Betty Walden, on her fifth year of membership, and Laura Collins, for 10 years of active participation. CWONC is a member of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, committed to the betterment of our communities through volunteerism and the empowerment of women. For more information, visit cwonc.org. Courtesy photo
Projects planned to slow traffic By Bianca Kaplanek
SOLANA BEACH — In response to complaints from residents, several traffic calming projects are being planned throughout the city. “Periodically we receive complaints in neighborhoods about speeding,” City Manager David Ott said at the Feb. 12 meeting. “It’s our No. 1 complaint.” Ott said staff members meet with people who have expressed concern and then research and identify the issues. “Because people say there’s speeding doesn’t mean (we) just say, ‘Let’s go design some project,’” Ott said. “We verify and then go forward. … If we have identified an issue, we then try to develop appropriate potential responses to it.” The most extensive proposal is along Santa Helena, which was part of a 2008 traffic study that recommended placing temporary speed feedback signs along the roadway, extending a raised landscaped median to Santa Helena Park Court and building a raised median and sidewalk on the east side of the street north of Sun Valley Road to Santa Victoria. The feedback signs were used, but funding constraints precluded the city from moving forward with the other two proposed improvements. At the Feb. 12 meeting, staff outlined several other potential traffic calming measures, including construction of a handicapped-accessible crossing at the intersection of Sun Valley that will be paid for with a Community Development Block Grant. That same funding source will also allow the city to extend the median and curb pop out at Sun Valley and add pedestrian curb ramps on the south side of
Santa Helena at Santa Rosita and Santa Victoria. Other proposed improvements to slow traffic on Santa Helena include adding midblock “chokers” between Santa Victoria and Sun Valley and extending the median and adding a “choker” at the entrance to the residential area near Lomas Santa Fe Drive. “We really need to think about this and whatever we do we really need to … get the community involved here and get their opinion because I don’t think it makes sense to go expending a lot of effort if this isn’t going to be something that they want,” Mayor Tom Campbell said. “We just need to really make sure that we have a problem there,” he added. “I’m all for the safety aspect of it — do anything we can to slow down the speed. But I think what we found out from some of the things that we did on Highland by San Andres is that (residents) think they want them but then they really don’t.” Campbell said he frequently turns left onto Santa Helena from Sun Valley and has never noticed a traffic problem there.
“There’s always people that will complain and so we need to figure out how to get feedback from those folks,” Councilman Dave Zito said. “I’ve been getting some feedback certainly over the past several months about this intersection (at Santa Victoria) in general from people over there asking what can be done as they try to let their kids walk to school. I think particularly having the median extension and the crosswalk is helpful there.” City Engineer Mo Sammak said the plans have not been engineered and are entirely conceptual at this point. City engineers are also considering restriping Sun Valley to narrow the travel lanes and add diagonal parking near the park areas. Sammak said there may be a loss of about four or five parking spaces but the benefit would be slower speeds. H.G. Fenton Co. is conTURN TO TRAFFIC ON B15
Photo by Tony Cagala
Bicyclist hit by motorist on the 101 By Tony Cagala
ENCINITAS — Emergency services responded to a call Monday afternoon of a vehicle versus a bicyclist. A motorist traveling north on Coast Highway 101 just past D Street attempted to make a right hand turn before colliding with bicyclist also riding northbound. Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene at 1:23 p.m. Crews from the Encinitas Fire Department and an AMR ambulance provided medical attention to the cyclist. The cyclist was wearing a helmet and sustained non-life threaten-
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ing injuries, according to Deputy Lon Nguyen. The cyclist was taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas for further evaluation. The vehicle, a fourdoor sedan, received minimal damage, amounting to a broken passenger side view mirror. Nguyen said alcohol wasn’t a factor in the accident.
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