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THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2012
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WildER SIDE of La Jolla
The
Photos by Don Balch
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hotographer Don Balch has caught in his lens the wilder side of La Jolla lately, starting with a red-tailed hawk, above, that flew over Black’s Beach in late June with a fresh catch for lunch in its talons. A few days later, Balch was at La Jolla Cove when he spotted a rare sight — a sea turtle poking its head above the water. “Since they blend in and don't surface frequently, it's not that common to spot one,” he said. “It made my day!” Balch also caught sight of a Sphinx moth on Mount Soledad and a thick cluster of bees — usually caused, he said, when they swarm around a queen bee — in Bird Rock. “You can get pretty close [to the bees] without consequence,” he said, proving our wild La Jolla can exist alongside its human inhabitants without worry.
La Jollans get a glimpse of Holocaust veteran’s memoirs BY DAVE SCHWAB | VILLAGE NEWS La Jollans were inspired by the harrowing story of the experiences of a Mexican-American veteran during the Holocaust and his unique written contribution to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. — though a public presentation on July 15 at Congregation Beth El in La Jolla unfortunately didn’t include the 87-year-old veteran himself, who is recovering from a hip replacement. But the presentation, titled “A conversation with Anthony Acevedo,” did feature Kyra Schuster, curator of the Holocaust museum and Acevedo’s son, Tony, who spoke of his father’s experi-
ences at Berga, a subcamp of the notorious Buchenwald concentration camp, where his father was held after being captured by the Germans. After keeping a secret diary documenting his experiences, Acevedo signed a document after the conclusion of the war barring him from making his memoirs public. In 2010, however, Acevedo donated his diary to the Holocaust Museum noting, “I speak for all my buddies who were there.” The first Mexican-American to register with the museum’s Holocaust Survivor Registry, Acevedo’s diary is the first written account by an American captive and one of 150 diaries donated to the museum.
Though Americans tend to be thought of as liberators of the war, Schuster said, “We rarely think of them as victims of the Holocaust.” Schuster recounted the story of Acevedo, who was born in the U.S. but deported with his family to Mexico when he was a child because they were not in the country legally. After the start of World War II, Acevedo returned to the U.S. to enlist and was assigned as a medic to the Army’s 70th Infantry Division. He was captured at The Battle of the Bulge — Germany’s unsuccessful last-ditch attempt to turn the tide against the Allied offensive after D-Day. Acevedo, Schuster said, kept his
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Coastal Commission seals the deal on year-round rope barrier Panel blasts perennial human duels over Children’s Pool pinniped protection BY DAVE SCHWAB | VILLAGE NEWS Noting people — not seals — are the problem at La Jolla’s Children’s Pool, the California Coastal Commission (CCC) voted unanimously to require a yearround rope separating humans from seals there for three years. Commissioners on July 11 granted the city’s request to extend the visual guideline rope that is put in place from Dec. 15 to May 15 during the marine mammals’ pupping season for the rest of the year. But commissioners denied the city’s request to be absolved of legal liability for the pool. In rendering their decision however, commissioners expressed doubt that having a year-round rope will resolve the longstanding dispute between proseal and pro-beach-access factions over the city’s shared-use policy at the pool. “I don’t believe anyone on this dais believes a rope is a solution to this problem,” said commissioner Dr. William A. Burke following more than two hours of public testimony for and against the year-round barrier. Likening the squabble over shared use at the pool to reality-TV shows, Burke quipped, “Why use a rope? Just draw a line in the sand: Save on the nylon.” “The (pool) wall is the problem,” Burke said. “It’s caused a division in your community that should not be there.” Commissioner Jana Zimmer agreed. “The bigger problem is the way peo-
diary through the end of the war, when he and colleagues were taken on a “death march” away from Berga in an effort by the Germans to stay ahead of the Allies, until their liberation by American forces. After the war, some of the survivors, including Acevedo, “signed a document that they would never publicly speak about what happened to them under threat of disciplinary action.” Acevedo, Schuster said, ultimately decided to open up about his experiences because, he said, “These young people disappeared for no reason at all and they deserve at least some piece of my life.” The donation of Acevedo’s diary and his American Red Cross armband, she said, “more than doubled our Berga collection.”
ple have engaged with each other,” she said, adding “the rope barrier is not going to be the ultimate solution.” Children’s Pool is a manmade pocket beach originally built in 1931 by Ellen Browning Scripps, who funded construction of a crescent-shaped breakwater creating a safe wading pool for children. It became a de facto seal rookery in the 1990s after seals began congregating there in larger numbers, using the beach to breed and haul out while fouling the pool’s shallow waters with their waste. For several years, shared-use had been the status quo at Children’s Pool, with the rope up during the marine mammals’ winter-spring breeding season, and down in the summer-fall when people use the pool more and seals less. But co-existence has proven difficult. Ongoing high-profile confrontations continue between pro-seal advocates — who feel pinnipeds need to be protected year-round from harassment by people with a guideline rope — and swimmers, divers and fishermen who insist the rope barrier denies their right guaranteed in the state constitution to unfettered public-beach access. Seal advocates were elated by the commission’s decision, believing a yearround rope was overdue. “The commissioners did the right thing because the rope really works when people use common sense, and the cautionary signs are prominently displayed,” said Ellen Shively, president
SEE SEALS, Page 4 At the July 15 presentation, Michael J. Sarid, western regional director of the Holocaust Museum, said the museum has inspired nearly 40 million visitors since it opened 20 years ago. “As the museum approaches its 20th anniversary and Holocaust survivors and eyewitnesses are dwindling in number, the museum is in a race against time to gather as much evidence of the Holocaust to teach its lessons for generations to come,” he said. “The truth of the Holocaust is a truth that the world must never forget.” Asked by an audience member what Acevedo took away from his experiences, son Tony said, “He would always tell us to treat people with kindness.” For more information visit www.ushmm.org.