PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ENCINITAS, CA 92024 PERMIT NO. 94
THE COAST NEWS
VOL. 27, NO. 37
.com
MAKING WAVES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
NOV. 29, 2013
City clerk retires after 25 years By Bianca Kaplanek
PADDLE OUT FOR KIRK
Dave Passmore, left, father of Kirk Passmore, talks with a surfer following a paddle out in Kirk’s memory. On Nov. 13, Kirk went missing while big wave surfing on the North Shore of Hawaii. Kirk, 32, was well-known in the Carlsbad area, where he grew up. Several surfers took to the waters off of Tamarack State Beach for the Nov. 23 paddle out. Another paddle out was also scheduled in Hawaii, where Kirk had lived full time since 2012. Family and friends said he always had a passion for the ocean. More photos on page A21. Photo by Tony Cagala
Lack of funds threatens closure of abuse, sexual assault center By Rachel Stine
REGION — Palomar Health’s Forensic Health Services Department is the only place in North County where police can take children who have been abused, women who have been raped and other victims of violent crime to be interviewed and examined. But the department may be shut down in a matter of weeks if the center is unable to raise $95,000 by Dec. 31, and be able to keep raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for years to come. Operating out of Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, the department A boy drew this picture of a person facing down a dragon while he told started as the Child Abuse his story of abuse at the Child Abuse Program at the Forensic Health Program in 1984 and expand- Services Department at Palomar Health. Image courtesy of ed in 1991 to incorporate the Palomar Health
Sexual Assault Response Team. Over the past 29 years, Forensic Health Services has provided services for more than 15,000 children and adults. “The Child Abuse Program at Palomar Health is directly related to our ability to convict child molesters and rapists,” said District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis in a statement. “Without the program, some of San Diego’s most serious criminals may not be effectively held accountable.” The information and evidence collected by the department’s staff of forensic interviewers, medical doctors and sexual assault nurses,
DEL MAR — After more than 25 years, most of them as city clerk, Mercedes Martin is retiring on Dec. 2. “I feel very lucky,” Martin said at her last City Council meeting on Nov. 18, during which she was presented with a resolution honoring her “exemplary service to the city.” “Del Mar has been very good to me,” she added. “I’ve really enjoyed the many years I’ve been here.” Originally from Kansas City, Kan., Martin’s significant other “pulled us out here” in 1988. “I wasn’t too thrilled about living in California,” she said. “But I decided if I was going to move I was going to finish college. I had gone to school on and off but never earned my degree.” Martin, Don Christiansen and son Eric, who was 2 at the time, settled in Carlsbad, where they still live. In March of that year she was hired as the Planning Department secretary. “Jim Sandoval was the planning director at the time,” she recalled. “I think he hired me because I was familiar with the word pro-
Two Sections, 48 pages Arts & Entertainment . A15 Food & Wine . . . . . . . . B12 Legals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B7 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A21
TURN TO FUNDS ON A22
After 25 years, most of them as city clerk, Mercedes Martin is retiring Dec. 2. Del Mar has been her only employer since she moved to California in 1988. Courtesy photo
cessing program the department was using. I worked full time and went to school at San Diego State part time until I got to the classes that were impacted. “Jim was very flexible,” she said. “He let me work around my school schedule.” In 1993, Martin was six months away from earning TURN TO CLERK ON A23
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