Margot Jackson

North County Times

Here's the skinny. If you try to get from Rancho Bernardo to Escondido by an alternate roadway -- that is by other than the freeway -- it can't be done.

Well, it can be done with a humvee going through parts of Lake Hodges, but the fact is that there is no way to go north on an auxiliary road. I know this is my own special fixation but I keep wondering if, during a natural disaster when freeways would be jammed (which is nothing new), how would a crowd exit stage north?

Why does this bother me? I don't know other than the fact that other states I've known and loved had always had some kind of access roads. And yes, I know that I've bugged you with this every year for eight years to think about it. I made my annual call to the department of public works and county manager Mohammed Fakhrridine, who listened patiently and then kindly told me, "No, nothing has changed."

Is it possible that no one else really cares about this? In the case of a flood, an earthquake or just mass panic because Tom Jones is coming to town, can't we have a way out to the north? Or must we remain here? Come to think of it, that's not such a bad idea. If we have to remain, there is no lovelier place to be.

Let classical music knit your nerves: On Monday, May 21, at 6:30 p.m. the RB Library is presenting the Victoria Trio performing "A Program of Romance from Around the World." This is built as a young adult program and there is no better age group to introduce to classical music. The players are Miho Ito Gary, piano; Victoria Eicher, violin and Chongkai Ma, cello. Naturally, you are just as welcome to this evening of music if you are an adult.

Too long or to Long: The scuttlebutt is that Longs Drugs will be coming to the Westwood Shopping Center, but no one seems to know for certain when it will arrive or, in some cases, if it will arrive. Still, shopkeepers in the center all have heard some word of the drug store planning to take over the southeastern end of the center, replacing businesses such as the Rancho Market, DiCrescenzo's and Mona Lisa Restaurant. Rumor also has it that the last day of business for these merchants will be June 30. I'll try to keep you posted.

RB birthdays this week: Akiko Hull, Leonard Zurit, Hazel Burns, Carol Eckley, Don Rohan, Margaret Brewer, Margaret Gould, Helen Stanton, Clara Cetel, Susan Rosen, Barbara Berner, Eloisa Denton, Margaret Money and Willy Sollie.

Margot Jackson is a free-lance columnist for the North County Times.

5/3/01