We met San Juan Capistrano councilmember Lon Uso a couple of months ago at the Friday morning coffee klatches organized by Capistrano Dispatch editor Jonathan Volzke and thought him a swell guy for daring to speak good about Mexicans in a room full of elderly, crotchety gabachos who didn't believe Mexicans assimilate. But as my mentors at the Weekly always teach me, never like a politician too much, 'cause they'll always do something to prove themselves a fool.
That's exactly what Uso did today
The revolving door of eateries continues. According to the Capistrano Dispatch, the space that the recently departed Rendezvous occupied in San Juan Capistrano's train depot is being developed by the people behind Gemmell's of Dana Point.In it's place, come mid-January, will be a steakhouse called "The Vintage Steakhouse".
Even with June's final ousting of the remaining trustees who served under Nixon-wannabe superintendent James Fleming, the South-County shitshow that is Capistrano Unified School District hasn't been showing any less shit lately. In fact, the newly monolithic slate of "reform" trustees (the final two were elected in November) seems just as clueless as their hit-list-writing predecessors when it comes to not seeming like an anti-democratic cabal of soccer moms with secret agendas.
Last
Stephen Glauser / Flickr / Creative CommonsThe Capistrano Insider posted last week an entertaining, slightly depressing exchange between Capistrano Dispatch editor Jonathan Volzke and a Long Beach husband and wife who were considering moving to San Juan Capistrano. That is, they were considering moving there until they came down to Camino Capistrano on the night of the Swallows Day parade and saw some awful stuff. Just awful. They sent the Dispatch an email to carp:As we made
our way through dow
City of Rancho Santa MargaritaTony BeallAs if to demonstrate why anyone would be interested in a movie about school districts, Capistrano Unified delivered some of its trademark drama at last night's premier of Not As Good As You Think (which we previewed here). Capistrano Dispatch editor Jonathan Volzke apparently wasn't invited to the event -- though the Weekly and the Register were -- and he was told that space was full when he tried to register for a seat at the screening. That's strange on
Photo by Matt Coker The fountain gets to stay.Capistrano Dispatch reports the lawsuit pitting the Orange Diocese against Native Americans over a memorial garden installed above burial grounds at Mission San Juan Capistrano has been settled.The dispute produced a Weekly news story on the legal spat and a cover story on the lead plaintiff, Chief David Belardes, leader of the so-called "Belardes Group" of the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation. That coverage also produced a follow-
Hey, look! The fresh faces you normally see at the average Capistrano Unified School District board meeting have been picked up and plopped into a professional-looking documentary trailer:
NOT AS GOOD AS YOU THINK - Official Trailer from Lucas Abel on Vimeo.The movie, sponsored by the pro-"school choice" Pacific Research Institute, chronicles the "Myth of the Middle Class School" -- the idea that by living in affluent areas, your kids are guaranteed an at-or-above-par public education. To make
Photo by John Gilhooley
Chief David Belardes with tribal manager Joyce Perry of the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians.
When the Weekly was covering the conflict between Mission San Juan Capistrano and a faction of the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians earlier this year, it appeared at times that Chief David Belardes would not be able to participate. In the end, he graciously gave way more face time than the reporter and photographers deserved, especially considerin
