Roses & raspberries

By: North County Times Opinion staff - | Monday, June 4, 2007 10:56 AM PDT ∞

The 'Take North County Out to the Ballgame' Award

A rose to the North County Transit District for adding Coaster trains to get North County's Padres fans to and from the weekend games. The Coaster has long had service for weekday evening games, but has left sports fans out of the public transit loop on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information, visit www.gonctd.com or call 5-1-1.

Way to go, NCTD! This almost makes up for the Sprinter.

The "K-K-Kontemptible Kowards" award

A raspberry to the miscreants who defaced the home of Charles and Lillian Adams by scrawling "KKK" on their garage wall Thursday night or early Friday morning. The Oceanside power couple, who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in March, are black. She is a retired schoolteacher and longtime trustee for the Oceanside Unified School District; he is the chairman of the board of trustees for MiraCosta College District, a retired biomedical engineer and a Vietnam veteran.

Whoever they were, whatever the malicious intent, the vandalism would be unacceptable. Police are investigating it as a hate crime; we hope the cops find the bozos responsible for this repulsive behavior.

The 'Right Hand, Meet Left Hand' award

A raspberry to the state's Bureau of Unclaimed Property for its lackluster efforts to identify and notify folks who are owed money by the state. The California Taxpayers' Association took gleeful note of one such entity that was due $6,000 in unclaimed funds from the bureau ---- none other than the Bureau of Unclaimed Property itself!

Last month, a federal judge issued a temporary order prohibiting the state from selling off unclaimed property because of its insufficient efforts to notify owners. That move could cost the state more than $100 million a year. The Board of Equalization and the Franchise Tax Board, the two state agencies charged with collecting taxes and administering tax laws, also had $1 million worth of unclaimed property on the list. No wonder the government never has enough money; it can't even keep track of what it owes itself.

The 'To Bee or Not to Bee' award

A rose to 13-year-old Justin Song of Carmel Valley who made it to the final rounds of the National Spelling Bee by passing a 25-word written test and then advancing through the competition by correctly spelling the words "hoodlum," "cytochrome" and "rissole." He won the San Diego County Bee in March. His downfall was the word "Belial," an Old Testament name that has come to signify the personification of worthlessness or wickedness.

Justin will always be a P-A-L-A-D-I-N in our eyes.

The 'California Day-Dreamin' award

A raspberry to the whole ignorant lot of us, whose ignorance was confirmed in our responses to a survey conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California and announced late last week . The survey's results portray a majority of Californians who admit to knowing "very little" or "nothing" about how municipal bonds are paid for in California ---- hint: Your grandkids may find out someday! ---- and yet who nonetheless feel that the state should keep drawing from this magical, self-replenishing money well.

The institute's survey found that almost two-thirds of likely voters supported the governor's call for $43.3 billion in additional infrastructure bonds, despite the fact that California has already approved about $93 billion in bonds in just the last 10 years. What's more, some 59 percent said that amount of bonded debt is about right or "too little" ---- despite some 52 percent admitting to knowing "very little" or "nothing" about how bonds are paid for.

You couldn't ask for a better profile for an electorate primed for exploitation by cynical politicians and special-interest groups.