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www.PeninsulaBeacon.com www.SDNEWS.com Volume 25, Number 14
THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2010
San Diego Community Newspaper Group
ARTIFICIAL REEF MARKS 10 YEARS OF REBIRTH
OB’s gateway face-lift funded BY ANTHONY GENTILE | THE BEACON For local residents, the wait for the Ocean Beach Gateway Project — the key entryway to OB — is nearly over. Construction will begin in October on the park at the northwest corner of Sunset Cliffs and West Point Loma boulevards, nearly a decade after the first funds for the project were secured. “Obecians have donated money over the years for this. They’ve bought bricks and tiles [to bear their names as donors] and they’ve watched us put up signs,” said Ocean Beach Com-
Diver Jay Schwartz, mooring coordinator for the wreck of the HMCS Yukon for the San Diego Oceans Foundation, swims past the anemone-covered bridge of the wreck just two miles off the coast of San Diego. The wreck is now an artificial reef for marine life habitat, and was prepared and sunk for recreationPHOTOS BY RONAN GRAY I THE BEACON al divers to enjoy. The 10th anniversary of the Yukon’s intentional sinking will be celebrated July 14-15.
Sunken naval ship gives marine life a safe haven
SEE GATEWAY, Page 10
Pyrotechnics show set to dazzle OB BY ANTHONY GENTILE | THE BEACON Local skies will be lit up on the Fourth of July during the annual fireworks show at the Ocean Beach Pier. The Ocean Beach MainStreet Association (OBMA) will host the annual show, after spending months preparing for it. “The fireworks company does all the planning for it,” said Denny Knox, OBMA’s executive director. “We just tell them what kind of look we want and they take it from there and make suggestions on what we
One dark night in July 2000, a 366-foot-long Canadian naval destroyer packed with explosives sat at anchor less than two miles west of the foot of Pacific Beach Drive. The deck was dark and there were no lights in the windows of the bridge. but none would arrive in time. Shortly after abandoning ship a little A small crew battled with an under- after midnight July 14, the last group of size pump below deck, struggling in vain men to set foot on the HCMS Yukon to stem the flow of water that had begun watched as she floundered and disapto flood in through a hole in the hull peared beneath the dark waves to the near the waterline. The crew had radioed SEE SHIP, Page 7 the Coast Guard for additional pumps,
munity Development Corporation (OBCDC) member Ann Kelsey. “[Now] people are going to see action there.” On June 21, the nonprofit OBCDC learned the City Council had allocated $241,000 for the project from Proposition 40, a state measure passed in 2002. That gave OBCDC a total of $722,188 — enough to begin phase-one design and building tasks for the project. “It’s really going to brighten
BY RONAN GRAY | THE BEACON
SEE FIREWORKS, Page 5 Schwartz enters the wreck of the HMCS Yukon in June to inspect and clean commemorative plaques placed inside before it sank off Mission Beach 10 years ago.
Point Loma High’s grads poised to make their marks BY SCOTT HOPKINS | THE BEACON Around 450 young men and women joined a distinguished legacy of graduates as Point Loma High School (PLHS) presented diplomas during its 85th commencement on June 18. Under azure-blue skies, class members appeared from afar, their maroon-colored caps and gowns shimmering in the sun. As students in the PLHS orchestra played the first notes of “Pomp and Circumstance,” an overflow crowd at Pete Ross Stadium strained to find sons, daughters, grandchildren and nephews. Walking two-by-two under a lacy arch, the procession entered Bennie Edens Field at 3 p.m. Students from the Point Loma High School class of 2010 launch their caps in the time-honored graduation tradition during commencement ceremonies June 18. PHOTO BY SCOTT HOPKINS I THE BEACON
SEE PLHS, Page 4
Fourth of July fireworks illuminate the sky above the Ocean Beach Pier in 2009. COURTESY PHOTO BY JOE EWING
OBMA urges crowd to keep marshmallow fight on sand BY ANTHONY GENTILE | THE BEACON The annual Ocean Beach Marshmallow Fight — tradition that follows the Fourth of July community fireworks show from the OB Pier — turned a little wild last year, leaving a gooey mess on the streets and sidewalks. The aftermath of last year’s event has prompted Ocean Beach MainStreet Association executive director Denny Knox to encourage this year’s participants to keep the fight on the beach during the event’s silver anniversary this Fourth of July. “Everybody is recommending
this year — even the marshmallow throwers — that we all keep our heads about it and don’t take [the fight] off of the sand,” Knox said. “I think they were just having so much fun [last year] and they got carried away.” Volunteers and local residents were left to clean up last year’s mess on the morning after July 4. Knox said keeping the marshmallows on the sand should make this year’s cleanup significantly easier. SEE OBMA, Page 5
And the winners are ...
Case laid to rest
Two years at sea
Street fair flashback
The votes have been tabulated for The Beacon’s annual Amateur Photo Contest. Check out the winners! 2
The book has been closed in the case of a Point Loma murderer who took his own life in jail. 3
A Point Loma-based couple circumnavigates the globe, chronicles their adventures in a new book. 5
A photo roundup of the 31st annual OB Street Fair and complete list of chili cook-off winners. 11