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wearing a dress shirt and shoes and leather chaps topped by a pair of sweat Denny, 37, was able to shorts. “deport” Cherrie Belle Hibbard from her home in Unclear on the Hemet, Calif., in January Concept back to her native — A 27-year-old man Philippines. According to was arrested for trespassing Hemet police, Denny, with a in January in Seattle’s Lusty gun and fake U.S. Marshal’s Lady peep-show arcade, badge and shirt, knocked on whose layout is a strippers’ Hibbard’s door and con- dance stage surrounded by vinced her that he was there private viewing stalls for to escort her to the airport customers. According to and out of the country and police, the man climbed that Hibbard’s husband had from his stall, through a ceilto buy her the ticket. Denny ing panel, and navigated the then accompanied Hibbard overhead crawl space, which through airport security and only allowed him to peep at put her onto a flight. Upon the strippers from a differquestioning by police later, ent angle. Denny apparently remained — In December, British in character, continuing to Columbia’s District of insist that he is a Marshal. Sechelt Council approved a Denny was arrested on sus- bylaw making it illegal for picion of kidnapping, imper- licensed dogs to chase squirsonating a peace officer and rels, seagulls and other wild several other charges. animals. The councillors — Buffalo, N.Y., televi- added a defense of “provosion meteorologist Mike cation” but left it undefined, Cejka was arrested in which might be especially December after a brief problematic in instances in police chase and charged which the dog is the only with trespassing after he witness to the alleged provowas spotted at 4 a.m. tinker- cation. ing with the covering of a motorcycle in a stranger’s The Continuing Crisis yard. Cejka told police he — In February, the was on his way to work at Board of Trustees of the station and had merely Saugatuck Township, Mich., stopped to admire the scheduled a May referenmotorcycle he had remem- dum asking voters for an bered seeing in that yard increase in the property tax over the summer. He was in order to cover unanticiCONTINUED FROM A3
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address a growing budget gap. Council members, city staff and the business community worked together for months to develop a plan that would be acceptable to all parties. The five-tier model created allowed businesses to pay either a flat rate or a percentage of their gross receipts. On the lowest level, or tier one, those making up to $66,499 would pay a flat rate of $50. Tier five businesses, defined as having gross receipts of $2.5 million or more, could pay $1,150 or .0004 percent. During the Jan. 27 meeting, as directed by council members, City Manager David Ott presented a sixth tier that would apply to businesses making more than $5 million. According to Ott’s estimates, the additional tier could potentially add between $12,000 and $30,000 to city coffers. Peter House, president of the Highway 101 Village Walk Association who has been working as the liaison between business leaders and the city, said the sixth tier is more likely to raise an additional $3,000 and $4,000. He said according to 2008 numbers, there were about 45 businesses — mostly manufacturing, wholesale or construction — with gross receipts of $5 million or more. Some are no longer in Solana Beach, others have fallen out of the category because of the poor economy, and most do some or all of their business outside the city so they wouldn’t be taxed on those sales. The difference in the tax payment between the
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fifth and sixth tier is about $600 annually. House said there are currently only about five companies that would fall into that category. “Adding a tier on here is exactly what the business community asked you please not to do,” House told council members at the Jan. 27 meeting. “If what we need to do to keep the business community on board is stick with the five tiers, I’ll support that,” Mayor Tom Campbell said. Council members Dave Roberts, Joe Kellejian and Lesa Heebner agreed and staff was directed to bring back a final resolution with five tiers. Before the end of the discussion on Jan. 27, Roberts asked House if the additional tier would essentially be a deal breaker for business leaders. “That’s an interesting question,” House said. “I don’t want to go back and ask them.” But that’s exactly what House found himself doing after the Feb. 10 meeting, during which Councilman Mike Nichols asked his colleagues to reconsider adding the sixth tier. “The goal here is to try to increase revenues wherever possible,” Nichols said. “This extra tier ... really only addresses businesses that gross more than $5 million. It doesn’t change any of the lower tiers. “It’s really trying to level out the playing field and make it a little bit more fair,” he said. Heebner said since the Jan. 27 meeting she had given the matter a lot of thought and talked to shopkeepers and other business owners who are in the lower tiers. “They’re felling a little
pated new expenses. The budget overrun was due to the mounting costs of defending lawsuits by people and companies complaining that the Township’s property taxes are too high. — University of Montreal School of Social Work professor Simon Louis Lajeunesse, intending to research the effects of pornography on men’s relationships with women and needing a control group for comparison, advertised in the local community for up to 20 nonusers of pornography, but he was forced to radically alter his research model when no one signed up. Concluded Lajeunesse, in December: “Guys who do not watch pornography do not exist.”
Least Competent Criminals — Poorly Conceived: (1) Travis Copeland, 19, bolting from a courtroom in Waukegan, Ill., in January, ran down a hallway and then lowered his shoulder and thrust himself at a window, intending to crash through it to freedom. Courthouse windows are bulletproof, and Copeland merely bounced off, staggered away and fell to the floor in pain. (2) Chamil Guadarrama, 30, was arrested in Springfield, TURN TO MORE ODD FILES ON A23
bit like they’re carrying the burden,” she said. “It’s more fair to have the tiers. ... I don’t think we would lose the support of the business community with this.” Campbell agreed, saying that if people don’t support the plan because of the additional tier, “they weren’t going to support it anyway.” Roberts, who serves on the business liaison committee with Campbell, felt differently. “I spent a great deal of time talking to people in the business community,” he said. “They wanted this as simple as possible, (with) as few tiers as possible. “I don’t think losing the support of the business community for a couple of thousand dollars is worth it at this time.” Before the split decision, House thanked council members for working with business leaders. “I promised the 23 people that signed the compromise (petition) that I would look at the ordinance as it came through,” he said. “I want for the record to say the ordinance that’s on the books today does meet the compromise.” House said he was “absolutely baffled” by the council’s action. “There was no warning this was going to happen,” he said. “If I had known, I would have given a different presentation. We’re all one city, and the city is in trouble. We said we’d step up to the plate to help. Now I feel like there’s no ground under me.” House said he was coordinating a meeting with business leaders. Nichols suggested they provide input at the next council meeting. A four-fifths vote is required for the measure to pass.
GETTING INTO GOLF Second-grader Theresa Hooker gets tips on ways to perfect her swing with the help of Encinitas Ranch Golf Course golf pro Heidi Richardson, as part the Rancho Encinitas Academy second annual Golf Clinic fundraiser at the Encinitas Ranch Golf Course. The proceeds benefited the school’s parent organization, Rancho Encinitas Academy League and a variety of school-wide projects including campus beautification, teacher appreciation events, yearbook, newsletter, graduation and school concerts. Courtesy photo
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budget issues remain unsolved. McClain said the recently formed Strategic Plan Financial Task Force is working to provide recommendations for savings, guidelines for reserves, long-term budgetary goals and revenue enhancement opportunities. In addition to recommending no schools be closed, McClain also proposed purchasing a property for the district’s administrative offices and maintenance and operations facilities. She also suggested moving the employee and public preschool and child care to Sycamore Ridge School. Those facilities are currently located on Ninth Street, west of Camino del Mar, on the former site of Del Mar Shores Elementary. The city bought that property in 2008 for $8.5 million, but is allowing the district to remain until next year. An advisory committee held 19 meetings since last May to determine if there was excess space within the district to house those facilities. About 40,000 square feet of excess space was identified, but no one school had more than 10,000 square feet, which is not enough to accommodate the administrative needs. If suitable property isn’t found, McClain recommended temporarily co-locating the offices at Del Mar Hills Academy. Terry Tao, an attorney working with the district, said using less than
10 classrooms would not trigger the need for an environmental impact report or rezoning. Once the board decided not to close any schools, most of the approximately two dozen people who signed up to speak opted to still do so to protest that recommendation. Parent Chris Wallace said partial closure, which is what co-location is, would be “equally unpalatable” as full closure. Beth Westburg asked for a definition of temporary. “The ‘temporary’ portable (classrooms) have been here for 12 years,” she said. Trustee Katherine White agreed, calling temporary co-location “scary” because an end date is unknown. Her suggestion, which failed to garner support, was to move the preschool and child care to Del Mar Hills and house the district offices at Sycamore Ridge because projected growth at that school would almost guarantee the move wouldn’t be permanent. White also motioned to take co-location at Del Mar Hills out of the equation, but that also was not supported by her colleagues. President Comischell Rodriguez was successful in her motion to eliminate plans to co-locate or build new offices at Torrey Hills School. Proceeds from the Shores sale — now estimated at about $8.3 million — can be used to purchase a property, but not for recur-
ring expenses, such as lease payments. Those must come from the general fund, which is used for, among other things, teacher salaries. McClain said she would be reluctant to give up funds that go to students, however, she is scheduled to address Del Mar City Council at its Feb. 22 meeting to discuss a lease extension to avoid multiple moves. Realtors working with the district said few properties meet its requirements. The board agreed to house maintenance and operations at a separate location, allowing the agents the look for a smaller building, which could provide more opportunities. Co-location would mean administrative services would be temporarily housed at different locations, something McClain didn’t recommend. But she said it was a solution district officials could live with in the short term. Transferring some or all of the Shores proceeds to the general fund for recurring costs is an option. However, that would exempt the district from receiving state construction funds for 10 years. Tao described that as a “dangerous” move. He said a client that did that regrets the decision and is trying to pay back the money so it can once again receive state aid. White asked staff to at least let the board know how much state funding the district received last year.