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www.SDNEWS.com Volume 15, Number 44
So much land, so little water La Jolla man works to bring water to village in Ethiopia Youngsters in Dera, Ethiopia prepare to lug buckets of potable COURTESY PHOTO water to their homes in the village.
B Y DEBBIE HATCH | V ILLAGE N EWS illagers in Dera, Ethiopia wait in line in the hot, dusty outdoors for up to 15 days to retrieve potable water for drinking, bathing and cooking. Clean water for the region is brought in on government trucks, forcing villagers to walk up to five miles to retrieve it. They are only able to collect as much as they can carry home. “Everyone waits in line to get water for the week, day, whatever they need,” said Dave Rich, a La Jolla resident who traveled to Dera in March to film a short documentary in an effort to raise awareness of the dire situation. Rich’s inspiration for the trip came from his cousin, Jason Horgishiemer, a dentist who, while volunteering in Ethiopia for Doctors Without Borders, became aware of efforts to construct a 20-mile waterline running down from the springs of Mount Chilalo into Dera.
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Hope Arising, a nonprofit organization, is helping to fund part of the $2.84 million undertaking called the Dera Water Project. Rich hopes to use the documentary he shot as a visual plea to aid Hope Arising in raising its $253,000 contribution to the project. Having received large donations from Ethiopia’s Oromia Water Bureau as well as the World Bank, Hope Arising is getting closer to achieving its goal. Villagers in Ethiopia have also raised funds by selling goods in local marketplaces. The water line, once completed, will serve 58,000 Ethiopians. “If you want to have a functional society, first and foremost you need water,” said Rich, who by night is a local comedian and by day an employee of the Shell Corporation.
DERA WATER PROJECT FUNDRAISER WHERE: Voyeur Nightclub and Restaurant, 755 Fifth Ave. WHEN: Tuesday, Aug. 3, 7 to 9 p.m. COST: $70; to purchase tickets e-mail Dave Rich at daverich19@hotmail.com. Checks should be made payable to Hope Arising.
Parking problem Residents seek to deter late-night lookout parties BY JENNA FRAZIER | VILLAGE NEWS
SEE WATER, Page 2
Shark Week unveils what lies below BY JENNA FRAZIER | VILLAGE NEWS
cial to their own survival or to that of sharks in the wild.” For those who can’t dip their toes into the Shark Week runs from July 17 to 23 from ocean without hearing the “Jaws” theme, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. Shark Week at the Birch Aquarium at More than 10 species of sharks, including Scripps Institution of Oceanography may local species like swell sharks, horn sharks not sound like an ideal excursion. But and leopard sharks will occupy “touch Scripps education director Kristin Evans tanks” as naturalists invite guests to get up explained why the species are sorely misun- close and personal. derstood, and how Shark Week hopes to sub“They’re juvenile sharks, so they’re vert harmful stereotypes. much smaller than the ones you would usu“A lot of people think sharks are very ally see in the water or other display tanks,” aggressive, bloodthirsty hunters, and that’s Evans said. really not the truth at all,” Evans said. Science Exploration Adventure (SEA) Days “Shark Week gives people an opportunity to on July 17 marks the busiest day of activities learn how sharks are an essential part of the for Shark Week, Evans said. Hourly shark ocean community, while hopefully realizing that fearing sharks is not necessarily benefiSEE SHARK, Page 5
The La Jolla Community Planning Association voted to support an extension of the no-parking times at Via Casa Alta near Soledad Park. If the proposal is ultimately adopted by the city, parking would be banned from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. instead of the current window of 2 to 6 a.m. The move is designed to target late-night partiers PAUL HANSEN I VILLAGE NEWS and nuisances.
Curious visitors get a shark photo opportunity in big way at Birch Aquarium.
Concerned neighbors on La Jolla’s Via Casa Alta near Soledad Park are pursuing tighter parking restrictions because of latenight funseekers who park at the popular lookout near two vacant lots to drink, smoke, and do “who knows what else,” one resident said at this month’s La Jolla Community Planning Association (LJCPA) meeting. The LJCPA supported a motion in a 9-41 vote to install signs that change the current no-parking hours of 2 to 6 a.m. to a longer window of 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Clark Straw, who owns property adjacent to the lookout and who has lived in the nearby La Jolla Summit neighborhood for 20 years, said the number and frequency of “revelers” has increased “over the past five years or so” and now neighbors hear disturbances at least once a week. “There’s a lot of partying going on down there,” he said. “There’s some illegal activity, people getting intoxicated and smoking marijuana. There’s just a lot of loud noise and nuisance occurring at late hours.” Straw said local residents find themSEE PARKING, Page 2