The Wild, Wild West Lives on in San Diego

Here’s a story of San Diego, 1991.

Make of it what you will.

Maybe it’s a cautionary tale about San Diego becoming a more dangerous place to live, or maybe it’s a sermonette favoring the often-damned 2nd Amendment (“the right to keep and bear arms”).

It begins with a pair of tourists from London, an older couple, walking peacefully along Harbor Drive near Anthony’s Harborside Restaurant.

We’re not talking about some lonely Gaslamp Quarter alley at midnight or a stretch of booze-sodden South Mission Beach. Rather, it’s prime tourist territory, just after 5 p.m., lots of people around.

A purse snatcher grabs the woman’s purse. She refuses to let go. Her husband fights back, bravely but feebly.

Rather than back off, the thief begins to pummel the hapless couple. All for a few bucks in a purse.

Brian Duncan, 47, who works for the Municipal Court, is on his way home.

He sees the beating under way, and, without hesitation, pulls his car over and jumps out. He reckons there’s no time to call 911.

The thief starts running. Duncan gives chase. Over a hedge, through a parking lot, heart heavily pounding.

The thief turns to face his pursuer. Duncan pulls a gun, for which he has a permit, and orders his quarry to the ground.

Along comes Greg Miller, 43, an investigator for the district attorney, also on his way home. Miller uses his handcuffs and calls for police on his car telephone.

The suspect, Thomas Odom Williams, 32, was arraigned this week on two counts of felony robbery. Bail was set at $200,000.

Prosecutors want Williams branded a “habitual criminal,” increasing any sentence. He’s done prison stretches in Florida and California.

Miller has made other off-duty arrests. For Duncan, this was his first:

“It just seemed like the right thing to do.”

Cops Told to Clean Up Act

Go for it.

* No nudes is good nudes.

The County Grand Jury last week recommended that the San Diego Police Department discourage cops from attending parties that feature nude dancers and/or hookers.

Even before the jury report, the PD had moved to discourage fleshly recreation.

Two rookie cops in a recent Police Academy class were fired and others were punished after a wild bachelor party attended by disrobed ladies of debatable virtue.

No matter that the party was not on city property: “Inappropriate off-duty conduct.”

* North County bumper sticker: “I Love Animals: They’re Delicious.”

* Magic Kingdom vs. the Pentagon.

The Naval Training Center in San Diego was added to military bases that might be closed after businesses around Orlando, Fla., financed a study suggesting that the training center in Orlando be kept open. Prominent among those businesses: Disney World.

“Mickey Mouse put us on the base-closing list,” complains Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham (R-San Diego).

* T-shirt on guy in downtown San Diego: “Alcatraz Triathalon: Dig, Run, Swim.”

SOL Has Another Meaning, Too

Had we but world enough, and time

This coyness, lady . . .

In the State Senate chamber, there’s a little attention-getting gambit called “staying off the bill.”

A senator procrastinates in voting, draws everybody’s gaze, and maybe, if the vote looks close, wins the promise of a favor later.

Sen. Lucy Killea (D-San Diego) has been doing it a lot lately, to the consternation of even her own party.

She got caught Saturday stalling too long on one of the year’s most important bills: the $56.4-billion budget.

After 27 votes for passage were tallied, the vote was closed, leaving Killea shouting frantically, “Killea, No. Killea, No. “

She submitted a letter the next day asking that she be recorded voting No.

Too late: Once the gavel hits, you’re SOL: Senator Out of Luck.