PLNU going for brass ring The Sea Lions dominate and earn a spot in the College World Series. 9 THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2009
San Diego Community Newspaper Group
www.SDNEWS.com Volume 24, Number 19
Lifeguards eye switch in union representation
If it’s one thing I took away from the trip, it’s that it’s time for us to get over our anger, find forgiveness, find peace and move on. STEPHEN BATES, VIETNAM VETERAN, OCEAN BEACH
War experience comes full circle
BY ALYSSA RAMOS | THE BEACON
San Diego City Lifeguard Sgt. Ed Harris and fellow lifeguards began petitioning last April to leave the group’s union and join 911 Teamsters of San Diego. Despite the mayor’s rejection of the lifeguards’ election plan, San Diego City Council members voted 5-3 Tuesday, May 12 to approve the choice. “The council has voted to allow the lifeguards to choose who their representatives should be,” Harris said. “In 60 to 90 days, there will be a vote we hope will be run by the state.” According to Harris, more than 70 percent of lifeguards signed the petition, which
asked the mayor’s office to hold an election for the group to secede from the Municipal Employees Association (MEA) and join the 911 Teamsters. Lifeguards would form a branch of the 911 Teamsters in San Diego. “We want to be part of the nationally recognized Teamsters 911,” Harris said. “We’re following the city’s process... but it’s not up to the city to put us into a union. “The lifeguards signed a petition to choose. We’re asking for the state to come in and run an election — not the MEA or 911 [Teamsters] but a ballot that lifeguards would vote on.” Lifeguards will choose the SEE LIFEGUARDS, Page 7
Removal of cliffside benches not sitting well with neighbors BY SEBASTIAN RUIZ | THE BEACON
Stephen Bates, a Vietnam veteran from Ocean Beach, has had four decades to reflect on the war experience. KIRBY YAU | THE BEACON
Return to Vietnam aids healing “Being in combat watching the sadness of death, experiencing the fear of bullets whizzing by your head, seeing the destruction of war gives a human being a sense of being very temporary.” — S.D. Bates, “In Search of Truly Noland” BY SEBASTIAN RUIZ | THE BEACON
ike many veterans from current and past military conflicts, Stephen Bates has struggled through battles both public and personal. This Memorial Day, history and memories are brought full circle Bates, shown here in the late 1960s, during a time of reflection, a sense of wades through a field of reeds in Viet- healing and self-reconciliation with nam. He would earn the Purple Heart. respect for the men and women who COURTESY PHOTO have served their country with
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honor. The Army veteran of the Vietnam War sits on a couch in his well-kept Ocean Beach home, where he and his wife, Linda, have lived A former Army Ranger since 1999. walks 3,000 miles to He sits qui- Ocean Beach in tribute etly, radiating to fallen soldier Pat a sense of Tillman / page 4 introspection as he remembers back to his time in the jungle and fields of the Mekong Delta SEE VETERAN, Page 5
Ocean Beach residents and neighbors are responding with action after watching the city remove about 16 benches at scenic viewpoints along Sunset Cliffs Natural Park and along Sunset Cliffs Boulevard. The benches, which often served as a respite point for elderly walkers and ocean watchers, began disappearing in recent weeks. The origin of the benches remains shrouded in mystery and may never have been city sanctioned, though some of the benches are known to have been placed in the memory of local loved ones who have passed. While some of the benches along Sunset Cliffs Boulevard have been permanently removed for safety and liability reasons, the city has plans to place new benches at safer locations inside Sunset Cliffs Natural Park, according to Kathleen Hassenauer, deputy director with the city Park and Recreation Department’s developed regional parks division. One bench abutted a cliff guardrail, potentially endan-
Some neighbors and frequenters of the walkway above Sunset Cliffs say they are none too pleased about the city’s decision to remove benches at various scenic outlooks, shown by the gap and debris above. COURTESY PHOTO
gering bench users if a vehicle struck it, she said. “We’re going to be looking at other places inside the park,” said Hassenauer. “[We will be] identifying potentially safe sites that would be suitable locations for benches and working with SEE BENCHES, Page 7