TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2006
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Volume 5 Issue 285
Santa Monica Daily Press A newspaper with issues
Walk on the wild side
DAILY LOTTERY 1 11 20 21 46 Meganumber: 18 Jackpot: $34M 5 15 21 29 44 Meganumber: 4 Jackpot: $37M
Wary pedestrians are fed up with notorious boulevard
2 3 17 22 25
BY MELODY HANATANI
MIDDAY: 7 2 7 EVENING: 5 1 0
Daily Press Staff Writer
1st: 04 Big Ben 2nd: 02 Lucky Star 3rd: 05 California Classic RACE TIME: 1.44.87 Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the winning number information, mistakes can occur. In the event of any discrepancies, California State laws and California Lottery regulations will prevail. Complete game information and prize claiming instructions are available at California Lottery retailers. Visit the California State Lottery web site at http://www.calottery.com
NEWS OF THE WEIRD BY
CHUCK
SHEPARD
Reuters reported in August that a man was killed in his workshop on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro when he tried to open a rocket-propelled grenade (probably to recover scrap metal) with a sledgehammer. And two days before that, in the Indiana town of Brazil (near Terre Haute), a 31-year-old man was accidentally killed in the explosion of the pipe bomb he was carrying (probably to be used to help him catch fish in Birch Creek).
TODAY IN HISTORY Today is the 283rd day of 2006. There are 82 days left in the year. U.S. Naval Academy opened in Annapolis, Md. 1845 The George Gershwin’s opera 1935 “Porgy and Bess” opened on Broadway. Germany completed its annexation of Czechoslo1938 vakia’s Sudetenland. Chiang Kai-shek took the oath of office as president 1943 of China.
QUOTE OF THE DAY “An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.”
NIELS BOHR
DANISH PHYSICIST (1885-1962)
INDEX Horoscopes Choose what works, Sag
2
Surf Report Water temperature: 66°
3
Opinion A read-letter day
4
Commentary Watch where you point that Bible
5
State Don’t hail Caesar
8
SM Parenting Coping with school shootings
10
National GOP in a pickle
13
MOVIETIMES Catch a flick!
15
Ad space odyssey
ELK GROVE — A pumpkin that grew to gargantuan proportions in the California sunshine broke a state record, but it couldn’t beat a monstrous squash raised under New England lightening and rain storms. This year’s winner of the giant pumpkin weigh-off at Elk Grove’s 12th annual Harvest Festival registered 1,280 pounds, beating out another 120 California growers. Grower Gary Miller of Napa said the 107-inch pumpkin “was just well behaved.” Miller netted $6,400, the $5-per-pound prize for the heftiest pumpkin. Miller, who began growing giant pumpkins for the Mondavi family, said he enjoys showing off his pumpkins to kids on farm field trips. “I take the covers off the pumpkins and their eyes just start sparkling,” he said. “They’re thinking, ‘Maybe there really is Santa Claus.”’ On the other side of the country, another farmer appeared poised to break an even more prestigious record. Ron Wallace’s pumpkin weighed 1,502 pounds at the weighoff in Warren, R.I. That’s heavier than the current Guinness World Record-holding 1,469-pound pumpkin grown last year by Larry Checkon of Pennsylvania. Wallace said at the 13th annual Rhode Island Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Growers Championship that the key to growing a giant pumpkin is the ability to commit to the task.
More big’ins http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com
16-19
Band & Orchestra Instruments
RENT-TO-OWN (310) 453-1928 1901 Santa Monica Blvd. in Santa Monica www.santamonicamusic.com
See OCEAN PARK BLVD., page 6
By The Associated Press
ON THE NET
Classifieds
requested that the Transportation Management Division brief council on the progress of a traffic safety study for which it allocated approximately $75,000 last year. The study
Now that’s the great pumpkin, Charlie Brown
14
Comics You’ll laugh, you’ll cry
Photo courtesy
SUNSET PARK — Business owners and residents fed up with traffic accidents on Ocean Park Boulevard will get their chance to vent tonight.
The City Council is expected to hear an update on a traffic safety study targeting the accident-prone area just weeks after a pedestrian in a crosswalk was killed by a vehicle near the intersection with 25th Street. Councilman Richard Bloom
Born to ride
Alejandro Cesar Cantarero II/ Daily Press Xavier Raymond, aka ‘X-Ray,’ takes in the scene while waiting for other enthusiasts to arrive for Critical Mass, a throng of cyclists that meet the first Friday of each month at the Santa Monica Pier before setting off around the Westside.
CONSENT AGENDA
City workers living it up (Editor’s note: This is part of an ongoing series that tracks the city’s expenditures appearing on upcoming Santa Monica City Council consent agendas. Consent agenda items are routinely passed by the City Council with little or no discussion from elected officials or the public. However, many of the items have been part of public discussion in the past.)
College, schools candidates can pay a hefty price BY KEVIN HERRERA Daily Press Staff Writer
BY AMY KAUFMAN Special to the Daily Press
CITY HALL — City Council is expected to re-up tonight with a union representing more than 850 clerks, technicians and trade professionals, providing the city workers with a 4-percent cost-of-living increase in each of the next two years.
In total, elected officials will discuss spending more than $3 million when they gather in Council Chambers, the lion’s share of which is earmarked for Santa Monica employees. The Municipal Employees Association (MEA) is proposing to
CITY HALL — It’s been said that a good education doesn’t come cheap. Apparently, neither does running for public office in Santa Monica. With less than four weeks before the Nov. 7 election, the candidates vying for four seats on both the
See CONSENT, page 7
See DISCLOSURE, page 8
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