A man driving a burgundy van grabbed three female Correia Middle School students as the students walked to the school at 4302 Valeta St. on March 30 at about 8:10 a.m. The man reportedly assaulted the girls near the corner of Valeta Street and Famosa Boulevard, according to a letter that Correia principal Patricia Ladd sent home to parents this week. According to the letter, the girls escaped and a school nurse applied ice to the girls’ wrists. Police were called and are investigating. The alleged attacker is described as a bald, black male, 6 feet tall or taller, in his early 30s. He was wearing a black shirt and reportedly driving a burgundy-colored, Ford van with solid side panels, according to the letter. The letter sent home to parents reminds parents and students to stay on campus, walk in groups and to yell aloud if someone approaches in an “inappropriate manner.” Free smoke alarms made available to seniors The Burn Institute is offering to install smoke alarms at the homes of seniors, 55 and older, for free through April and May. Operable smoke alarms increase the chances of victims surviving a house fire by 50 percent. Eligible seniors must reside in the county, own their home and not own a working smoke alarm. To make an appointment call (858) 541-21277 or e-mail [email protected]. Church slates pancake breakfast fundraiser The Oasis Christian Fellowship in Ocean Beach will host a fundraising pancake breakfast event on Saturday, April 4 to help fund a special outreach program. Church members will launch the inaugural event between 8 a.m. and noon at the Masonic Temple, 1711 Sunset Cliffs Blvd. to benefit the Oasis Christian Fellowship Missions Program. Proceeds from the breakfast will go to help offset costs to send two of the church’s young people to the Amazon for a 7-week outreach mission that will include home building and Christian ministry, according to Pastor Terry Miller. Organizers hope to raise $2,500 to achieve the goal.The cost of the breakfast is $5 and will include pancakes, sausage, juice and coffee. For more information, call (619) 249-0507. Mayor unveils sun-powered meters Mayor Jerry Sanders has unveiled a pilot project involving 51 high-tech solar-powered parking meters designed to improve the environment and the city’s real-time parking management efforts. The meters, located between 4th and 6th Avenues and West G and Market Streets downtown, serve a single parking space, take credit cards and coins and are said to be easily installed on existing poles. The meters also reportedly allow greater control of parking meter rates and include more robust displays, with better instructions and information for users. San Diego’s IPS Group, Inc., a global engineering firm, designed and developed the new meter technology. The pilot program will run through April 20. New Children’s Museum launches access program Downtown’s New Children’s Museum has launched “Check Out The New Children’s Museum,” a program designed to provide area families with unlimited access to the museum through membership cards available for checkout at each city library branch. Benefits include free museum admission for up to two adults and all children in a household. Cardholders can also participate in hands-on art projects in the studios and receive discounts on goods at the museum’s café and store. The Central library, located at 820 E St. Downtown, and each of the city’s 35 branch libraries have two circulating museum memberships available for checkout. The New Children’s Museum is located at 200 W. Island Ave. The phone number is (619) 233-8792. City asks for funds to keep fire pits burning San Diegans who wish to keep the fire pits burning on the beach are being asked to donate to the city budget. The city is calling on donors to help raise $173,000 by Dec. 15 to ensure the 2011 budget will cover the cost to maintain the fire pits. For more information, call Jenny Wolff at (619) 236 7002 or e-mail [email protected], or visit www.sandiego.gov/philanthropycenter. Cuban TV tech defects during baseball classic Yuri Boza, a Cuban broadcast television technician assigned to help cover his country’s performance in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, defected in San Diego on Friday, March 13 to seek political asylum in the United States. In an interview with a Miami TV station, Boza said he made the decision to defect when he’d learned he’d be traveling internationally to work on the games. Cuba’s victory over Australia assured the team’s visit to San Diego, where Boza boarded a flight for south Florida. He arrived in Miami, where a brother has lived for five years, the next day. Boza, 31, said he also entertained defection during travel to the Pan-American games in Rio de Janeiro in 2007 and to the Olympics in Beijing last year. “Young Cubans don’t have any loyalty to the revolution,” Boza told a Miami newspaper. “We simply don’t want to stay there because we see no future… and I’m not daunted by the current economic crisis because in Cuba we were born in and have always lived in crisis.” San Diego Charger Girls hold auditions April 5 The San Diego Charger Girls will hold auditions for the 2009 squad on Sunday, April 5, in the Jenny Craig Pavilion on the campus of the University of San Diego. All interested applicants should complete an application (available at www.chargers.com, Charger Training Facility, phone or mail) and include a nonreturnable photograph of themselves (5 by 7 or larger, black and white or color, head shot or full body shot) and send to: San Diego Charger Girl Auditions, P.O. Box 609609, San Diego, CA 92160.