Mayor’s Visit to Red-Light District Leads to Arrest in Prostitute Killings

The big city.

* The mayor and the working girls.

After two prostitutes were shot to death June 20 and a third was wounded June 28, Mayor Maureen O’Connor decided to give the case her personal attention.

Accompanied by the plainclothes cop who serves as her bodyguard and driver, she spent two nights patrolling hooker hot spots--El Cajon Boulevard, Rosecrans Boulevard, 32nd and Commercial--talking to the play-for-pay denizens.

Telling them to be careful. Encouraging them to report any john who seemed suspicious. Handing out her business cards.

The post-midnight forays seem to have worked.

Police Chief Bob Burgreen credits O’Connor with helping persuade normally cop-shy prostitutes to provide information that led to a suspect being identified.

He says the arrest Wednesday was the result of mayoral street smarts and good work by cops:

“The mayor has a kind of sixth sense in matters like these, when to jump in and what to do. Maybe she should have been a cop.”

* “Hard Copy,” “Current Affair” and “Inside Edition” are all frantic to get those Tailhook pictures showing the 17-year-old girl being abused.

* A mayoral poll making the rounds has Peter Navarro a point or two ahead of Susan Golding, with a quarter of the voters still undecided.

* If nothing else, the decision by rapper Ice T to pull his “Cop Killer” song has simplified vacation plans for Dan Greenblat, special assistant to Sheriff Jim Roache.

Now that the boycott has been lifted, Greenblat can take his daughter, Stacy, 8, to the Magic Mountain theme park (owned by Time Warner).

* Lori Dang, a news assistant at KUSI (Channel 51), has become Peter Navarro’s campaign press secretary.

Diane Oaks, who had been in line for job, decided instead to stay with the circus; she does publicity for Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey.

* People magazine is interested in the case of San Diego cop and rapist Henry Hubbard.

* North County bumper sticker, on an ancient yellow Cadillac: “Fight Crime: Shoot Back.”

Pumping for the Truth

Sports and other things.

* When urine isn’t enough.

The Authentic Natural California Bodybuilding Championship in Balboa Park on Aug. 15 promises that all contestants are steroid-free.

To prove it, each iron pumper is required to submit to a pre-contest polygraph test.

* A competition in San Diego waters between the United States, Australia and New Zealand. America’s Cup?

No, the Pride of the Pacific Surfboat Rowing Challenge, sponsored by Air New Zealand and San Diego’s Pan Pacific Hotel.

Round 1 is Aug. 30 off the Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach. Then on to Auckland and Australia’s Gold Coast for rounds 2 and 3.

* Truth in advertising.

A tobacco store in Hillcrest: “Bad Habits.” Selling, of course, “Death Cigarettes.”

* Jesse Valdez, veteran Channel 10 cameraman and “boxercise” instructor in recent years for the San Diego Athletic Club, is opening his own gym: San Diego Boxing Academy at 6th and Broadway.

He’ll train (male and female) yuppies who want to learn boxing without quitting their day jobs in nearby high-rises.

* Thinking of you.

Carol Masciola wrote a story for The Times recently on the growing number of llama farms in North County and elsewhere.

Now she’s gotten a thank-you gift from the Black Hills Llama Lodge in South Dakota: A darling pair of black earrings, made from dried, baked, polyurethane-coated llama dung.

Known as Llama Doodle Dangles. Suitable for evening wear.

No Harm Done

Lead on a release from the American Nuclear Society conference in San Diego:

“Contrary to public belief, America’s nuclear plants are not blowing up everyday, nor are they contributing to global warming, or toxic spills.”

I feel better already.