Advertisement

Memorial Day Was Perfect for Fun in Sun : Traffic Snarls, Blazes Mar Otherwise Nice Day

Share
Times Staff Writers

San Diegans on Monday crafted a textbook holiday into an encyclopedia on fun and recreation, with only some bad traffic and two brush fires marring an otherwise perfect day.

Fishing, bicycling, sailing . . .

San Diego police said that though traffic was heavy in the always hard-hit Mission Beach area, public parking lots were closed only for parts of the day.

The unexpected moderation of crowds in the area may have disappointed some free-wheeling entrepreneurs, who offered a parking space on Mission Boulevard for $25. There were no apparent takers.

Advertisement

A Pleasant Day

“I think we’ve got it whipped this year,” said San Diego Police Officer Jene Calloway, one of about 15 motorcycle officers assigned to the beachfront along Mission Boulevard. “We’ve got more traffic controllers out in areas that gave us problems in the past, and things are running smoother this year. And people seem a lot nicer this year than in the past.”

Shouted another motorcycle officer as he rode by: “Even the residents around here aren’t complaining!”

Memorial Day was celebrated in quintessential San Diego style, from parties, picnics and family gatherings to formal ceremonies honoring the fallen soldiers of the nation’s wars. In Oceanside, a new Vietnam Veterans Memorial was unveiled.

. . . roller skating, surfing, jogging . . .

There were problems during the day--mostly on the freeways. Monday night the California Highway Patrol was investigating a crash on Interstate 5, near the Stewart Road exit in Camp Pendleton, involving at least one fatality, but no details were immediately available.

Along Interstate 5 in North County, traffic was sluggish into the evening, with at least four crashes on the freeway through Camp Pendleton and a fifth in Carlsbad as motorists headed north after the three-day weekend.

On Sunday night, a Santa Ana resident was killed when his car was rear-ended on I-5 in Oceanside.

Advertisement

The San Diego County coroner’s office identified the victim as Eluterio Orozco, 20, whose car was hit and thrust down a freeway embankment, where it caught on fire. Two passengers were hospitalized at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla. The car that struck Orozco’s left the scene and was being sought, the CHP said.

People returning from Mexico had to endure waits of up to two hours Monday afternoon at the San Ysidro border crossing--even with all 21 lanes open--but U.S. Customs officials reported in the evening that the wait had shrunk to less than an hour.

A one-acre brush fire caused anxiety but no damage or injuries when it erupted about 2:30 p.m. near northbound California 52 at Genesee Avenue in Clairemont. About 75 firefighters extinguished the blaze, and homeowners in the area credited a recent brush-clearing project for saving nearby homes.

The California Department of Forestry reported a 30-acre brush fire in the Couser Canyon area of Pauma Valley in North County that was extinguished without incident.

. . . jet skiing, sail boarding, tennis . . .

Most of Monday’s action was at the county’s parks and beaches, where revelers celebrated a day off from work under clear skies.

Monday’s temperatures reached 68 at Lindbergh Field, 70 at the Cabrillo National Monument and 70 in Vista and Ramona. The county’s warmest spots were Santee and the San Diego Wild Animal Park--both 76--and Borrego, where it hit 90.

Advertisement

More of the same nice weather is expected for today and Wednesday.

. . . yard work, waxing cars, back-yard barbecues, surf fishing . . .

By late afternoon Monday, lifeguards reported about 15 rescues in unspectacular surf along San Diego city beaches. About 80,000 people spent their day on the beach or along Mission Bay and San Diego harbor, officials estimated.

Staking Out a Claim

Among them were Josefina and Augusto Torres and their family, who staked out some premier grass on Harbor Island for an all-day outing that started early Monday.

“I got here at 4 in the morning to save this spot,” boasted Josefina, pleased by her investment that won the family an unmarred view of sailboats and the downtown San Diego skyline.

The rest of the 15-member family arrived several hours later for an outdoor breakfast of bacon and eggs and a lunch of barbecue ribs and chicken.

Dinner? She pointed to the sizeable sand shark on the grass, and a backup supply of hot dogs.

“You’ve got to be really careful when you fillet the shark,” said her son, Augusto Torres Jr., who caught the fish off the rocks opposite the North Island Naval Air Station. “It has an ammonia gland in the center of the fillet which, if you break it, will spoil the meat.”

Advertisement

. . . volleyball, basketball, strolling along the boardwalk, trolling in convertibles . . .

The day was spoiled a little for Brian Edwards, who drove into San Diego from Garden Grove for a day of jet skiing off Fiesta Island. San Diego Police Sgt. Gerald Alton, patrolling in a 22-foot Boston whaler equipped with a pair of 120-horsepower outboard engines that can take him to “the speed of sound,” cited Edwards for not having his machine properly licensed.

Paying the Piper

No sooner had Alton finished his paper work on Edwards than, still standing in his boat, he blew his whistle at a car that entered the loop road around Fiesta Island from the wrong direction.

“Will that guy have to pay more than me?” Edwards asked Alton. “Oh yeah,” Alton said. “In that case,” said Edwards, “I’m having a real good day.”

Alton said the weekend crowds around Mission Bay were moderate and generally well behaved. And after 19 years on the force, he didn’t mind his current beat--even if he had to work all three days of the holiday weekend.

“I’ve done every assignment there is, you name it. So I deserve this,” he laughed, looking at the bay from his boat.

“The biggest drawback is you’re working when everyone else has the day off--including the bad boys,” he said.

Advertisement

. . . sail boarding, kite flying, quiet reflection . . .

Advertisement