Residential Customer Del Mar CA, 92014 ECRWSS
Volume XV, Issue 39
www.delmartimes.net
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Sept. 22, 2011 Published Weekly
Lifeguard station replacement to start Beach Safety Center project expected to be done by next summer
■ New chief of pediatric GI at Rady is a man with a mission. Page 8
BY JOE TASH CONTRIBUTOR Groundbreaking is set for next month on a $2 million replacement for Del Mar’s dilapidated main lifeguard station, a project that is planned for completion
by next summer’s beach season. At a meeting Monday, Sept. 19, the Del Mar City Council approved a contract with E.C. Constructors, Inc., to build the 17th Street Beach Safety Center, as the project is called. The council also voted to accept a $180,000 payment toward the construc-
POWERHOUSE PADDLE: (Above) Swimmers race for the water during the eighth annual Powerhouse Paddle and Swim on Sept. 18 in Del Mar. See page B25 for more. ICE CREAM SOCIAL: (Left) Grace Kyle, Claire Pickett and Ava Sargent at the Del Mar Hills Academy PTA ice cream social. See page B14 for more.PHOTOS: JON CLARK
Earth Song Books to close in November BY CLAIRE HARLIN Staff Writer Earth Song Books & Gifts, which has been part of the Del Mar community for more than 40 years, will close its doors in November. “For a long time, we’ve been competing with Amazon and Kindle, and our customers haven’t been supporting us in this economy,” said owner Annette Palmer. “We have to close because the funding just
JOHN R. LEFFERDINK
619-813-8222
station is in disrepair, and lifeguards have to climb a rickety ladder to reach the second floor, said Mayor Don Mosier. “It’s falling down. It was built in the 60s, it’s just way too small and the building is not worth repairing,”
SEE LIFEGUARD, PAGE 6
Del Mar school district pays teacher’s legal costs
■ Local teen attends Young World Summit in Switzerland. Page 4
■ Founder of Jenna Druck Center visits ‘Ground Zero.’ Page B1
made earlier this year. The group plans to complete its pledge through two additional installments in February and April. The council approved the donation from the friends group and the construction contract on a 4-0 vote, with Councilman Mark Filanc absent. The existing lifeguard
tion costs from Friends of the Powerhouse, a community group working to raise money for the project. The group has pledged to give the city a total of $700,000, or about one third of the construction cost. So far, the group has given the city $340,000, including the payment made Monday and a payment of $160,000
isn’t there. The numbers just don’t add up.” Earth Song opened in 1969, and Palmer, with the help of her family, bought the independent bookstore in 2007, only days before wildfires began to ravish nearby areas. She was 24 when she became owner of the store, located at 1440 Camino Del Mar, which she said she fell in love with at first sight. She found out the store was for sale
SEE BOOKS, PAGE 6
BY MARSHA SUTTON SENIOR EDUCATION WRITER The Del Mar Union School District agreed to pay a teacher’s court costs and legal fees when the teacher filed a harassment charge last spring against a parent at her school. The teacher claimed the parent, the mother of several children at the teacher’s school, was threatening the teacher and endangering the students at the school. The teacher, and the district, lost the case when the judge ruled in favor of the defendant, the parent, after a court appearance that included testimony from the teacher, the parent and the school’s principal, Wendy Wardlow of Del Mar Heights School. The alleged erratic behavior started when the teacher began dating the mother’s now ex-husband (the mother and father were separated and in the process of divorcing at the time). After the teacher reported to the school’s principal that the mother had made offensive and threatening statements to her, Wardlow alerted DMUSD superintendent Jim Peabody, who brought the issue to the district’s lawyer Dan Shinoff, of
Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz. Shinoff advised the school district to take the threat seriously and to pay the teacher’s litigation costs. The district became involved, he said, “because of the safety of the kids on campus.” After handling three school shootings in San Diego County, Shinoff said he weighed the risks carefully and recommended that the district support the teacher. “The school district’s interest was to make sure that all students and staff were safe which is its constitutional obligation,” he said. If the district had not taken the reported threats seriously and someone had been hurt, Shinoff said people would view the tragedy as having been foreseeable and would consider that those “in loco parentis had recklessly disregarded the obvious.” “That’s a huge calculated risk,” he said. Shinoff had no regrets about advising the district to take the case. “It’s easy to be a Monday morning quarterback,” he said in an email. The harassment case be-
SEE COSTS, PAGE 6
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