One Escondido Gadfly Faces Her Day in Court

Any developer can tell you that an anti-growth gadfly can be a pain in the neck.

Louie Pauletto, owner of Louetto Construction Co. in Escondido, goes a lot further. He says Elsie Mohler has caused him “loss of sleep, headaches, depression, frustration, loss of appetite, nausea irritability for a period of several months.”

How does Pauletto spell relief? L-A-W-S-U-I-T.

Pauletto has filed a $1-million damage suit against Mohler, the 71-year-old president of the Eden Valley Homeowners Assn.

He says she’s guilty of “extreme and outrageous conduct” by spreading false allegations about drainage problems at an industrial park he wants to build near a mobile home park.

Mohler frequently testifies at Escondido City Council and Planning Commission hearings, and hectors reporters into investigating various land-use schemes. She is constantly on the prowl for broken promises by developers.

Pauletto isn’t talking about the suit or Mohler. His attorney, former Escondido Police Chief Jim Connole, says only: “I don’t like to try cases in the media.”

That’s an interesting comment considering that Exhibit A attached to the lawsuit is a story done on Mohler’s pesky ways by the Escondido Times-Advocate. In it, Mohler is called “Escondido’s most tenacious government watchdog, a pit bull among city activists.”

Mohler is undisturbed by the suit.

“Well, honey, the last time I looked we still have freedom of speech, even in Escondido,” she said. “It’s going to take a lot more than a harassment suit to intimidate me.”

Earnings Aren’t Gung-Ho

Notes from here and there.

* The Marine Corps is willing to be modern, but not that modern.

An order from Headquarters Marine Corps has been received at Camp Pendleton and other Marine bases: “The wearing of earrings by male Marines under any circumstances is prohibited.”

The ban applies to Marines in uniform or mufti, on-duty or off. It was suggested by Marine sergeant majors and endorsed by Commandant Alfred M. Gray, whose taste in chic accessories runs more to chewing tobacco than earrings.

* The after-dinner roast works best when the roastee is a public persona stuffed with self-importance, like a plump Christmas goose.

By those standards, Thursday night’s San Diego Press Club roast should be incendiary. The targets are Supervisor Brian Bilbray and San Diego Chamber of Commerce executive Lee Grissom.

One of the roasters, San Diego Union columnist Tom Blair, says he plans to dust off a line used by Pete Wilson at a Grissom roast a decade ago: Grissom is so enamored of himself that “his fondest wish is to die in his own arms.”

* Your tax dollars at work:

The San Diego City Council this week voted to seek $204,000 from the State Department of Boating and Waterways to install “pontoon potties” in the middle of Hodges, Otay, El Capitan and San Vicente reservoirs.

But the floating restrooms will not have the usual public-works sign listing the names of council members. Too much opportunity for rude graffiti.

Vicious Cycle

If you want an idea of how intractable the drug problem in San Diego is, take a look at the case of Kevin (Schoolyard) Standard, sentenced Monday to 14 years in federal prison.

Standard, 26, was the alleged boss of the violence-prone Syndo Mob, blamed by police for 60% of the crack cocaine sold in Southeast San Diego. In all, 29 Syndo members have been convicted since November.

That should put a dent in the crack market, right? Not necessarily.

In fact, a big bust can often make things worse.

San Diego Police Cmdr. Cal Krosch, head of the gang and drug unit, says that taking a major drug dealer out of action can lead to more violence as smaller players swarm in to claim part of his turf. Drive-by shootings increase and the police scramble to keep the lid on.

“We’re always chasing something new,” Krosch said.