‘Low-Priority’ Crime Victim Locates Thief, Retrieves the Stolen Goods

An everyday night in the big city.

Diedre Knowlton and three friends decided to go to a Thai restaurant in Hillcrest Sunday night.

The four had been camping in the Anza Borrego Desert and had a few hours to spare before one of their number had to catch a flight home to San Francisco.

The dinner was fine and a good time was had by all until they returned to Knowlton’s car: a 1984 Volvo station wagon. This being 1992 and car clouts being rampant in San Diego, you can guess what they found.

The Volvo’s back window was smashed and upward of $2,000 of top-quality camping gear had been stolen: jacket, stove, tent, sleeping bag, clothes, lantern, etc.

Two cops were located at a nearby convenience store.

“Sorry,” said one of the cops, “we don’t investigate car break-ins, but here’s a telephone number to file a report in the morning.” End of conversation.

“The glass was still crinkling out of the car, and they told us they couldn’t help,” Knowlton said.

Another friend called 911 and says she got the same response. “Sorry, we don’t. . . .”

If you’ve read the newspaper lately, you know it’s a manpower thing. There aren’t enough cops to respond to low-priority crimes like car break-ins.

So the four friends decided to take matters into their own hands. Barely a block from the car, Knowlton went down an alley to check behind a building.

There she spotted a smallish fellow, scruffy, disoriented, reeking of marijuana and holding her friend’s stuff:

“I guess I marched up to the guy and yelled at him. I took the duffel bag in one hand, and the backpack in the other hand, pushed the guy down and took off running.”

The street person-ripoff artist did not chase Knowlton but yelled some menacing words in Spanish.

“Later, I just wanted to be sick,” she said. “It’s hard to dissipate that much adrenaline that quickly.”

In the end, the mini-adventure ended satisfactorily. The friend even made his flight.

Still, Knowlton, 38, a substitute teacher from Carlsbad, is nonplussed at the need to resort to do-it-yourself law enforcement:

“You don’t want to act like vigilantes, but you don’t want to be ripped off, either.”

Hazards of Homeownership

Things in (and out of) the news.

* Headline in Oceanside Blade-Citizen on a short story about a Vista man who nearly severed three toes with a lawn mower: “Man Mows His Toes.”

* Amnesty International took a full-page ad in the New York Times to call for Gov. Pete Wilson to spare Robert Alton Harris. Complete with a boyhood picture of Harris.

* Several religious leaders in the state are publicly urging Wilson to show mercy to Harris, but San Diego Catholic Bishop Robert Brom plans to make no comment or attend any of the prayer vigils and protests.

A spokesman says Brom supports the church’s stand against the death penalty, but feels that his personal involvement in the Harris case would add nothing.

Brom took a similar low-profile approach to the Persian Gulf War. Ditto the abortion controversy.

* Sign held by demonstrator in downtown San Diego: “Gas Harris.”

* Tax time/stunt time.

Judy Jarvis, a registered nurse and candidate for the Republican slot in the 49th Congressional District, will be tending to those suffering from “acute taxpayer’s syndrome” as they flock to the main post office to file their returns before midnight.

She’ll do blood pressure checks and offer stress management tips. And promise not to vote for tax hikes.

* Don’t look for the California Intercollegiate Press Assn. to be invited back to the Lake San Marcos Resort.

The resort manager says last weekend’s gathering of 300-plus college journalists was the rowdiest convention of any sort she’s seen in her 10 years there.

Among the young journalists’ transgressions: Late night drinking and hollering, trashed rooms, beer bottles in the swimming pool, and half a dozen boats set adrift.

“They just came down here and went crazy,” said resort manager Susan Frazar.

Other guests fled and sought refunds.

Senior Sight

Come-on line to attract the elderly to a vision care lecture sponsored by Scripps Memorial Hospitals: “Grandchildren should be seen and not blurred.”