The Nose for News

SNIFFED OUT: Norm Stamper served 28 years as a San Diego cop before being tapped as Seattle’s police chief in 1994. He retired in 2000, and turned to writing. These days, Stamper bears a striking resemblance to the late comedian George Carlin. And the resemblance isn’t entirely physical. Like Carlin, Stamper’s developed an affinity for marijuana. More than an affinity, really. Stamper’s practically become a crusader for the weed. He’s an advisory board member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). Earlier this year, he wrote the foreword to the book Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink? And last month, he was keynoter for the 38th national conference of NORML (the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws). The pitch: “Norm says, ‘Yes We Cannabis’—and so should you!”

SO I SEE: Two more upscale San Diego restaurants are in transition: After a rocky three years that hit bottom with the tragic suicide of its former owner, Hawthorn’s in North Park is in the process of reinvention. The current owners reportedly are downsizing the dining room, with plans to concentrate on the bar and entertainment side of the business. The owners of neighboring True North are said to be part of the new team. Meanwhile, California Cuisine, a Hillcrest mainstay for two decades, has been sold. It’s scheduled to reopen this month as an Italian restaurant called Buonissimo 2 ... Rancho Santa Fe, with a median home asking price of $3,362,493, comes up sixth—just $5,000 short of Beverly Hills—on Forbes’ latest survey of “America’s Most Expensive ZIP Codes.” That’s down 12 percent from last year. Number one on the list: Alpine, New Jersey, at $4,139,041—down 23 percent ... Legendary Chargers coach Don Coryell celebrates his 85th birthday in San Diego on October 17 when he headlines the Huntington’s Disease Society of America’s “Celebration of Hope” gala at the downtown Hyatt. Yes, it’s Don Coryell’s 85th birthday. Sorry.

INCOGNITO: Sarah Palin, who’s pretty much avoided the public limelight since resigning as Alaska’s governor in August, was camped out in San Diego last month. Residents of a local apartment complex say they spotted Palin poolside, wearing a T-shirt, sunglasses and visors and focused on her laptop computer. All of which adds up. Palin’s working on her memoirs, and her ghostwriter, Lynn Vincent, lives in the neighborhood.

MONEY’S TIGHT: A La Jolla husband and wife, who’d served as unofficial guardians for an elderly friend for years, were left to help settle her estate when the woman died recently. Among her papers, they discovered a $750 cancelled check, written to the woman’s landlady back in 1995, with the notation, “Final month’s rent.” When the guardians asked the landlady for a refund, she balked. No notice, she said. But she ultimately yielded to the couple’s irrefutable logic: “How does a woman who dies in her sleep, in her bed, at the age of 98, no less, give 30 days’ notice?”

PARENTAL GUIDANCE: Yes, not all children are blessed with rocket scientists for parents. But don’t most parents exercise good old common sense? Apparently not, judging from this photo of one of Mission Valley Center’s courtesy baby strollers:

REMEMBERING: Fred Kinne, the former San Diego Evening Tribune editor and WWII fighter pilot who died in August at 93, was also a tennis mentor who taught an estimated 7,000 youngsters to play the game. Kinne’s teaching went far beyond the basics. He also taught finesse. In a New York Times remembrance, writer John Martin recalled Kinne’s coaching of Owen Chambers, “a promising 14-year-old [who] hit a masterly slice and topspin serves.” Kinne, Martin wrote, counseled Chambers to never let anyone change his serve. “Chambers later won a tennis scholarship to UC Santa Barbara, and Kinne got a frantic call: ‘Fred, the coach wants to change my serve.’ Kinne responded quickly: ‘Here’s what you do. Hit a few serves and go to the coach and say, “Coach, that’s a lot better.”’ Two weeks later, Kinne got another call from Chambers: ‘Fred, the coach thinks he changed my serve!’ The ploy worked, with no feathers ruffled, a Kinne trademark.” 

Go to sandiegomagazine.com/IonSanDiego for more of Tom Blair’s monthly columns. His online city column appears exclusively at ­sandiegomagazine.com/citycolumn. Items may be e-mailed to tblair@sandiegomagazine.com.

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