Hooray for North PB Restaurant Walk Thank you to the 18 generous businesses that donated all the delicious food for the 5th annual Taste of North PB Restaurant Walk last week. We sold almost 600 tickets and made approximately $8,000 for PB Elementary, PB Middle and Mission Bay High. This money helps supplement the drastically reduced funding from the school district at a time when even more severe budget cuts are imminent, and helps provide resources for enrichment, art, technology, music, drama and many other expenses at all three schools. We would also like to thank all the people who bought tickets and participated in the event this year. Seeing everyone – neighbors, teachers, students and friends – walk around eating and enjoying a beautiful Pacific Beach evening made the fundraiser for our schools a memorable community-building event. Laura Daly & Kerry Upp Co-Chairs, Taste of North PB Friends of Pacific Beach Elementary (FOPBE) Friends of Pacific Beach Secondary Schools (FOPBSS) Graffiti is graffiti is graffiti Let’s not blur the distinction between wall murals and graffiti. If a “Picasso” paints a masterpiece on a wall without either permission or ownership, it’s still graffiti and it’s still a crime. Graffiti is vandalism, period, and should be prosecuted as such regardless of it’s artistic merit. William Bradshaw Mission Beach Shop local doesn’t include mega chains Kudos to the group that put together the “shop local” posting on the back page of the 2/19/09 BBP edition. In this economy, supporting local business in PB is more important than ever. I damn near busted out my bongos in a euphoric feel-good moment until I perused the “local” listings: ah…Wells Fargo? Did I miss the memo? Last time I checked, the banking goliath Wells Fargo is based in the Bay Area, roughly 500 miles north of Garnet Avenue. As a dedicated truth seeker and purveyor of factual facts, I do believe we been gamed again! Credibility doesn’t grow on trees like government bailouts. Can we please grow and support a “buy local” program that is…local? That would be swell.  Brian Brunkow Crown Point No guns in schools; train elsewhere Guns don’t belong in our public schools.  JROTC guns don’t belong in our public schools either. The fact that air-riflery are part of JROTC training came as news to me (a former eight-year school board member), thanks to student activists at Lincoln High who brought the issue to light. The School Board was right to vote JROTC riflery off-campus several weeks ago, and that vote should have been unanimous, not split 3-2. In an unfortunate lapse of judgment and will, but as pure political gesture, this matter was reintroduced at last Tuesday’s board meeting, and the vote flipped 3-2 the other way —keeping riflery through this academic year ostensibly so that students can participate in springtime riflery competitions. The truth is that our school board should stick to its guns: guns don’t belong in our public schools, not even JROTC air rifles. The board could easily have called upon JROTC military leaders in this military town to arrange alternative military venues for such student competitions. Frances O’Neill Zimmerman La Jolla