Veteran of North County Causes to Vie for Congress Seat as a Green

Find a cutting-edge social-political movement in North County in the past 20 years, and chances are good that Richard Roe was among its leaders.

Self-help? Roe helped found the book division of Psychology Today magazine, which started in Del Mar.

Growth must be stopped? Roe was on the Del Mar City Council in the 1970s when it made slow growth into a secular religion and fought to prevent North City West.

(You might say that Richard Roe was Peter Navarro before Peter Navarro was Peter Navarro: coastal, boyishly good-looking, athletic, articulate, totally dedicated to smaller-is-better.)

Anti-oil drilling? Roe founded the Save Our Coast foundation.

Mass transit? Roe worked for the (ill-fated) bullet train idea (despite flak from old environmental allies).

Anti-smoking? Roe got the nation’s toughest no-smoking-in-public-places ordinance on the Del Mar ballot, only to have it snuffed out by voters.

And today, Roe is back in the political fray: as a Green Party candidate for the 51st Congressional District. He’s one of only three Green candidates in the county in the Greens’ first year as an official party.

Roe, now 56 and still an executive with University Associates, a business book publishing firm, says he got disillusioned with being a Democrat because of the Alan Cranston-Charles Keating scandal.

He had been San Diego coordinator for Cranston’s presidential try.

Feeling the political itch (he last ran for office in 1982, a losing race for Assembly), Roe went to the Greens convention to convince himself that the Greens “weren’t just a bunch of leftover hippies or social militants.”

He found the Greens dedicated to peace, environmental protection and eliminating corporate hegemony in the political process.

He’ll announce his candidacy next week at the water reclamation plant next to San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium--the hyacinth experiment that treats waste water. A symbol of his commitment to recycling.

Other things are happening in Roe’s life as well. His wife, Laurie, is set to give birth in May (Roe has a married daughter by a previous marriage).

As for his switch to the Greens, he explains: “Anything that keeps you young, that’s where it’s at.”

Coping With Stress, Latino Style

Words to live by.

Jose Vargas, a cop in Santa Ana, has compiled a list of Mexican folk phrases that he says help cops in Tijuana and elsewhere cope with the stress of their line of work.

Entitled “Beat Police Stress the Mexican Way!” the list is making the rounds of San Diego cop shops.

Among the soothing sayings:

De los parientes, el jefe y el sol, mientras mas lejos mejor. Translation: The farther you are away from relatives, the boss and the sun, the better off you are.

A la mejor cocinera, se le queman los frijoles. Translation: Even the best cook burns the beans.

El que nace para tamal, del cielo le caen las hojas. Translation: He who is born to be a tamale will get his corn husks from heaven. (To be used when you are outranked by a dunderhead.)

Arrancan como caballos y regresan como burros. Translation: They take off like racehorses and return like donkeys. (A description of new cops who ignore the advice of veterans, only to seek their wisdom later.)

Un burro con pipa y guante, es una bestia ignorante . Translation: A donkey with pipe and gloves is still an ignorant beast.

El que nace para maceta, no sale del corredor . Translation: He who is born to be a potted plant will never leave the hallway. (Vargas suggests this as solace for cops who repeatedly fail the sergeant’s exam.)

Sorry, Wrong Number

Less art, more matter.

* Where’s my money?

Because of a big-time telephone screw-up last week, people who were calling a credit union got the robbery division of the San Diego Police Department instead.

* The Padres plan to unveil their new performer/mascot/drumbeater at the home opener April 9 against the Dodgers. Until then, the costume and shtick are a deep secret.

* Despite a $10,000 reward, no word yet on the culprits who have been driving their car around the Rancho Santa Fe Golf Course.