San Diego Magazine / March 2007 / Remembering the Finest

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Remembering the Finest

KING OF THE ROAD: Roger Miller once said no matter how famous or important you are, the size of your funeral still depends on the weather. The day of slain Oceanside police officer Dan Bessant’s funeral was a typical balmy Southern California winter day, but even a ravaging thunderstorm probably wouldn’t have impacted the massive funeral procession for the affable 25-year-old officer, who left behind a grieving widow and a baby boy. Inside New Venture Christian Fellowship Church, where the services were held, it was standing room only, with about 1,500 law enforcement officers from as far as Phoenix. Many had grim memories of standing in the same church three years ago to bid farewell to another Oceanside cop, Tony Zeppetella, also shot and killed on duty. Bessant was gunned down by a reputed gang member during a routine traffic stop in the Mesa Margarita neighborhood. In a touching tribute in the North County section of The San Diego Union-Tribune, columnist Logan Jenkins wrote, “Cops may not get paid like kings, but if they’re killed on duty, they’re mourned like heads of state. Makes perfect sense to me.” Amen.

THIEVES WILL BE THIEVES: The days when Carlsbad police used to roust vagrants and drop them off at the border with Oceanside may be long (or not so long) gone. But the class distinction between the two coastal burgs lives on. From a recent North County Crime Log in The San Diego Union-Tribune, under “residential burglaries”: Carlsbad, jewelry and a decorative egg valued at $2,000; Oceanside, stove and refrigerator valued at $743. Another day, a residential burglary in Oceanside netted “vodka and cigarettes valued at $70.”

DUBIOUS DISTINCTION: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal’s upholding of the 2004 suspension of Poway High School student Chase Harper for wearing a T-shirt opposing the annual Day of Silence has made the Pacific Justice Institute’s annual Hall of Shame list. The 10 incidents on the annual ranking, according to the group, represent “the worst instances of hostility toward faith, family and freedom.” The Day of Silence is a national student-led effort in which participants take a vow of silence to protest the discrimination and harassment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth in schools. Harper’s T-shirt, which he wore on two days, was peppered with anti-gay messages, including “HOMOSEXUALITY IS SHAMEFUL.”

IS THAT THE SAME AS GAMMA RAYS? Encinitas residents are rallying against a proposed expansion of tiny 138-bed Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas, demanding a study of how traffic on nearby streets will be affected. But that’s not all the 30 or so residents are worried about, according to the North County Times. They are also worried about noise from helicopters landing or taking off from the hospital’s helipad “and electromagnetic radiation from the hospital’s medical equipment.”

WHO LET THE DOGS OUT? Joggers in Carlsbad say they are increasingly being chased by dogs in otherwise quiet residential neighborhoods, typically by pets in open garages or on front lawns. One runner says he’s considering going before the Carlsbad City Council to ask for an ordinance restricting dogs to enclosed areas unless they’re leashed. “Now I know what letter carriers go through,” he says.

WORDS OF PRAISE: North County office-holders are a chatty bunch, given the flood of press releases they send to alert the media every time they do something they consider important. But it’s a fair bet no one keeps the press as well informed as Senator Mark Wyland. No sooner had he sent out a press release headlined “Senator Mark Wyland Praises Swift Work of the Oceanside Police Department to Apprehend Suspect in the Murder of Oceanside Police Officer Dan Bessant” than came a second one, “Senator Mark Wyland Praises Governor’s Call for Career Technical Education in the State of the State.” We’re waiting for one this month, praising the annual celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.

WHEELING IN THE YEAR: Breanna Dobbe, a former Poway High School student now attending college in Rochester, New York, is taking the long way home to the West Coast this summer. She’s signed up with Bike & Build, a New York nonprofit organization that raises money for affordable housing, and she will take the 2,800-mile trek on two wheels—assuming, that is, she can raise the $4,000 Bike & Build requires each bicyclist to contribute. Half that amount must be turned in by the end of this month; anyone who wants to contribute can do so at bikeandbuild.org. Dobbe is taking the southern route, leaving Jacksonville, Florida, on June 12 and aiming to arrive in San Francisco on August 16. The trip includes several “Build Days” for Habitat for Humanity, including a five-day layover in Slidell, Louisiana, in an area devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

North County tips? News? Gossip? Thomas K. Arnold can be reached at tkarnold@sandiegomagazine.com.