The 'Welcome to the 21st Century' award

A welcome to the 21st century rose to the Escondido City Council for its Wednesday 4-1 vote to allow citizens to use DVDs, slide shows and other electronic displays when addressing the council. Resident Wally Gutierrez, who accused the council of censorship on April 2 when it refused to view his DVD, expressed the best affirmation of that vote: "How citizens address the City Council should be up to them, not the council."

A 'How Low Can You Go' award

A big, ugly raspberry to the unknown person who recently broke into the Melrose Church of Christ in Vista and vandalized its sanctuary.

The 'Team Work for the Tribes' award

A rose to the local American Indian tribes forming a new organization to help communities recovering from last year's devastating wildfires and to better prepare for future natural disasters. The October wildfires burned through large segments of North County's reservations, including the La Jolla, Rincon and Mesa Grande communities: 100 structures destroyed at Rincon, La Jolla, Pauma, and 50,000 acres were burned.

The 'Say It Ain't So' award

A big, ugly, nasty raspberry to modern-day criminal perpetrators using today's Internet to rip off Americans to the tune of $240 million in scams involving everything from pets, check-cashing schemes and online dating.

According to a report by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, based on data from the Internet Crime Complaint Center, more men were conned than women over the Internet, with an average loss of $765 compared with $552 for women.

A 'Take That!' award

A raspberry to the San Antonio-based USAA insurance company that in 2004 denied a $84,744 claim for water damage to an Oceanside house owned by U.S. Marine Capt. John Colombero. The Marine sued the insurance company, and a San Diego jury last week awarded Colombero $3.5 million in punitive damages after he had won $50,000 for emotional distress. Colombero's fiancee told him about the verdict during a phone call to Iraq, where he is serving his third tour of duty with the Corps.

While we celebrate Colombero's well-earned comeuppance of USAA after four years of frustration and vexation, we have to ask the jury members what their rationale was for such an astronomically punitive award?