Altercation leads to Abbott Street slashing A man’s arm was slashed with a knife during an argument Tuesday, June 28 in front of a home in the 2100 block of Abbott Street, according to investigators with the San Diego Police Department. Police officials said the suspect was taken into custody, but his identity has not been released. He is identified only as a 40-year-old white male, 6 feet tall, bald with numerous body tattoos. The incident took place shortly after 2 a.m., according to investigators. Police reports indicated that during a verbal disagreement, the 26-year-old victim — whose identity was also not released — was slashed on his left forearm by the suspect. The injury was not considered life-threatening. Police said that following the altercation, the suspect fled the scene, running southbound on Abbott Street. According to police, the victim refused treatment and was uncooperative at the scene. State to reimburse county for water-monitoring costs After four months of the county of San Diego footing the bill to monitor the quality of beach water, the state has unfrozen bond money to reimburse the county for the water-monitoring program. The state will reimburse the county $600,620 over the next two years to monitor bacteria levels at 44 beach and bay sites from April 1 to Oct. 31. The state has reduced its reimbursement to the county by 10 percent from past years, according to Mark McPherson, chief of the Land and Water Quality Division at the county’s Department of Environmental Health. During the past four months, the county had only sampled water at 19 locations and has decided to scale back its program to test only 44 sites instead of the previous 57 weekly samplings since the state restored the funding. “This whole ordeal has allowed us to really look at the program and fine-tune it,” wrote Luis Monteagudoa, spokesperson for county Supervisor Greg Cox’s office, in an e-mailed statement. Cox’s district includes communities from Pacific Beach to Point Loma. “As a result, we eliminated some sampling locations that have had very few or no incidents of higher bacteria levels and we added some new sites.” The state is funding beach water-monitoring programs throughout California with money from Prop 13 that voters approved in 2000 to sell $1.97 billion in bonds for clean water purposes. Budget cuts won’t affect summer lifeguard hours Despite city budget cuts, San Diego lifeguards will keep normal hours, staffing area beaches from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. throughout the summertime, from Ocean Beach to Black’s Beach in La Jolla. “People won’t notice any difference when they come to the beach,” said San Diego lifeguard Lt. Andy Lerum. Due to budget cuts, lifeguards lost three permanent lifeguard positions and $100,000 toward hours. They also faced a reduction of about 10 seasonal guards, Lerum said, leaving lifeguards with about 150 seasonal lifeguard staff. But Lerum said lifeguards continue watching over beachgoers, focusing on safety while using creative means to adjust for staffing losses. “We are just continuing to focus on anytime there’s an opportunity to conserve hours, then we do,” Lerum said. “For instance, if it’s a rainy day, we’ll ask for volunteers to go home.” While four emergency lifeguards remain staffed around the clock, Lerum said area beach hours change with sunset times. “We do have 24-hour lifeguard coverage year-round. That’s something other stations don’t have,” Lerum said. “It could be for a sinking boat, a cliff rescue or a boat fire. We wake up and respond just like the firefighters do.” Two guards remain on La Jolla’s night shift, while two lifeguards remain in Mission Beach. “Beach hours have not changed from year to year,” Lerum said. “It’s based on sunset time. Sometime around the second week of August, we start closing our stations at 8 p.m. In the middle of winter it gets dark at 4:30 p.m.” Lerum said summertime beachgoers should continue to follow several rules, including never swim alone, swim where lifeguards are staffed and supervise children. “We always tell people to talk to lifeguards to identify the best place to swim,” Lerum said. For more information, visit www.sandiego.gov/lifeguards. Nightly alcohol sales cut on Coaster trains In an effort to stem an increase in alcohol-related incidences on Coaster trains, the North County Transit District has voted to discontinue alcohol sales after 9 p.m. on all its runs. Conductors were to enforce the policy beginning July 1 after the San Diego Padres game at Petco Park. Coaster cars regularly stop at Downtown’s Santa Fe Depot on Kettner Boulevard, to the rear of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, before continuing up the coast to Carlsbad. Passengers discovered drinking on board are subject to citation or removal from the train. The district moves more than 12 million passengers annually through a family of transit services, including the Breeze bus system and Sprinter light rail. Annual stand-down fete scheduled at SD High The National Stand-Down for Homeless Veterans, an annual event during which military veterans receive medical care and social services help, has set its San Diego fete for Friday, July 17 through Sunday, July 9 on the upper athletic field of San Diego High School Downtown. Stand-downs are a part of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ efforts to provide services to homeless veterans. Typically one to three days in duration, they provide food, shelter, clothing, health screenings, Veterans Administration (VA) and Social Security benefits counseling and referrals to a variety of other necessary services, such as housing, employment and substance abuse treatment. They are coordinated between local VA groups, government agencies and community agencies serving the homeless. The first stand-down was organized in 1988 by a group of Vietnam veterans in San Diego. Since then, they’ve been used as an outreach tool to more than 200,000 veterans and their family members. Six-figure city workers fastest-growing group San Diego city employees earning at least $100,000 are the fastest-growing income group on the payroll, according to published reports. The San Diego Union-Tribune says about 13 percent of city employees exceeded the six-figure mark in 2008, allowing for salary and overtime. The figure represents an increase from 7 percent since 2005, the year Mayor Jerry Sanders was first elected. The paper added that the proportion of middle-income earners is shrinking and the lowest-paid segment isn’t growing. The shift toward higher compensation is reportedly the result of recruitment and retention issues stemming from a competitive marketplace for talented personnel. Art Academy takes up residence in North Park The Art Academy of San Diego, for 11 years a staple educational institution in East Village, has moved to North Park following stagnant enrollment that the school’s founder blames on the construction of Petco Park. The school’s new 2,500-square-foot digs, at 3784 30th St., translate to a 75 percent cut in overhead. Founder Stuart Burton hailed this development, citing North Park as a more user-friendly area. Since January, the school has accepted about 130 students; enrollment never exceeded 250 in the decade the school was located at 840 G St., north of the ballpark. Several smaller East Village galleries were impacted by the ballpark’s construction, which began in 2000; many were forced to close, and the academy’s efforts to attract patronage through several after-hours events at area businesses failed. Burton said it cost about $120,000 to keep the school open downtown.