Birthday boy found dead Celebrating his 21st birthday, Michael David Mayfield was found dead in a hot tub on March 31 at Point Resort & Spa on Mission Bay, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office. Mayfield was last seen swimming in the resort’s pool and hot tub early Tuesday, March 31 as he and his friends celebrated his birthday that night. The cause of the man’s death had not been determined by press time. The medical examiner performed an autopsy on Wednesday, April 1. Car crashes into house, pot spills out Police found approximately 70 marijuana plants in a Pacific Beach home after a man suspected of drunk driving crashed into the house on Morrell Street on Sunday, March 22 at approximately 4 p.m., according to police officials. Police arrested an uninjured, 63-year old Timothy Woodhouse after he drove into the house. He may have hit several vehicles along Garnet Avenue as well, according to police. Officers found the pot plants, along with several grams of the substance “no longer in plant form,” when checking the home for injured persons, stated San Diego Police Department spokeswoman Mònica Muñoz, via email. The residents were out of town at the time of the accident. Police obtained a search warrant and confiscated the plants. An arrest warrant has also been issued for a resident of the house. PBTC: Word on the street Visit www.sdnews.com for full story Tired of trash blowing down your street? Sick of the graffiti tags? Fed up with the same old potholes? Help is just a few clicks away. Residents can fill out a request form online on the city’s website www.sandiego.gov by clicking on the Public Works and Street Division links. If you see someone spraying graffiti, call 911 to report the incident. Got solutions to fixing the budget crisis? Facing an estimated $54 million in budget cuts, the city is seeking input and creative ideas from residents. Call the San Diego Speaks hotline at (619) 226-6934. Councilman Kevin Faulconer will hold a State of the District address on Monday, April 27 at the Old Town Theatre. The city will hold a budget meeting from 6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. on Monday, April 20 at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center, 4726 Santa Monica St. Street sweeping delinquents continue to frustrate PB residents. Activists have often said the city’s budget crisis could be dramatically reduced, if not solved, by issuing tickets to the numerous illegally parked cars that take up precious beach space and prevent street sweeping. Additional enforcement is on the way, said Ronald Lacey of Mayor Jerry Sanders’ office. Lacey said the city is hiring additional officers to enforce parking regulations, littering and other infractions that negatively affect the quality of the ocean and beaches. Pacific Beach Town Council will hold its next meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 15 at the Taylor Library, 4275 Cass St. For more information ww.pbtowncouncil.org Prepare for California least tern In spring, the endangered California least tern flies to shore to nest on sandy dunes and hatch its young. Open sandy dunes have disappeared, however, into flat, populated beaches and developed cliffs. Along Mission Bay, at Mariner’s Point, the invasive Devil’s Thorn and Filaree create a vegetative blanket, an unsuitable habitat for nesting least terns, and the birds have not appeared for the past two years. Instead, they started showing up at Dog Beach in Ocean Beach, a less protected site, explained Audubon spokesperson Jim Peugh. The San Diego Audubon Society hopes to bring the California least tern back to Mission Bay by pulling the invasive plants and setting up least tern decoys to attract the real bird. The group will host its last habitat restoration efforts to prepare the 11-acre site at Mariner’s Point on April 11 from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers are encouraged to show up with work gloves, weeding tools and clippers, and are advised to wear long-sleeved shirts and bring water. The least terns may arrive as early as April 15 and leave as late as Sept. 15. They prefer a sandy habitat to raise their young because the chicks are sand colored and camouflage into the soil. The adult birds are white with black markings. The open, sandy dunes make it easier for the adults to spot predators, while the invasive vegetation provides a place for predators to perch in wait for the chicks. “[The California least tern] is endangered because of habitat loss,” Peugh said. “There used to be dunes everywhere. The terns would nest in one dune and if a predator came along, they could move to another dune. Now there are only a few places that are open enough that they can actually nest on them.” Directions to Mariner’s Point: From Sea World Drive heading west, exit onto West Mission Bay Drive (going north). Continue over the bridge and then take a left on Gleason Road (across from the Bahia Hotel). Take an immediate left onto Mariners Way and proceed to the end of the road. Clean PB Day Pacific Beach Town Council holds a “Clean Pacific Beach Day” the first Saturday of every month from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers meet at the PB library on 4275 Cass St. Tools, gloves and trash bags will be provided. Youth under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult. For more information, call (858) 483-6666 or email [email protected] Get to know Discover PB Discover PB will host an open house on April 14, 6-8 p.m. at the Catamaran Resort Hotel. Meet the group’s new executive director, Andy Hanshaw, hired on March 3. Hanshaw was previously a development officer for San Diego State University’s five-year, $11 million fundraising campaign for the Alumni Center that is now under construction. He has also worked for business improvement districts in downtown Phoenix and downtown Portland, Ore. Indoor playhouse opens Imagine your child jumping from a pirate ship into the freezing ocean, swimming onto the shore of a moat and scaling the wall of a medieval castle like a hero. Kid Ventures indoor play village and parent café at 5066 Santa Fe Drive provides the toys, clothes and setting for children to let their imagination, literally, run wild. Kid Ventures celebrates its grand opening at the play village in Pacific Beach on Saturday April 4, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Parents, grandparents and lazy babysitters are invited to bring the little ones for a day of play, and join in themselves. “We call it edutainment,” said creator and owner Debbie Fricker-Solomon. “It’s a whole family interaction for both the kids and parents.” The 6,000-square-foot indoor playhouse includes a large-scale toy fire engine, a grocer, a library and, of course, the pirate ship and castle. A disco room complete with mirrors and a disco ball rounds out the party. Chiropractic center offers health lectures Mission Beach chiropractic will hold free lectures and meditation sessions throughout April on Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. featuring Dr. Valerie Lunnon and Dr. Hillari Hamilton. On April 14, vaccines will be discussed. On April 21, there will be meditation. On April 28, a lecture will be given about healthy backs, stretching and nutrition. All events take place at Mission Beach Chiropractic, 2990 Mission Blvd, Suite 101. RSVP at (858) 539-7227. Easter egg hunt An Easter egg hunt will take place on Saturday, April 11, 10-11 a.m. at the PB Recreation Center, 1405 Diamond St. The day will include crafts, face painting, hot dogs, refreshments and a recycling fair. Age divisions: 10:15 a.m., 2 years and under; 10:30 a.m., 3-4 years; 11 a.m., 5-6 years; 11:30 a.m., 7-9 years; noon, 10-12 years; 12:30 p.m., all ages. For more information call (858) 581-9927. PB rec center offers spring camp The Pacific Beach Recreation Camp will host a day camp for children 6 to 12 years old April 6-10 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The camp costs $125 for the week or $35 per day. Participants must register in advance. For more information call (858) 581-9927. Clean up Crown Point Assemblywoman Lori Saldana’s office will host its sixth annual “Creek to Bay” cleanup at 3700 South Crown Point (off Ingraham Street) on April 25 from 9 a.m. to noon. The assemblywoman will not be present herself but her staff will attend. RSVP at http://www.creektobay.org/index.php/cleanup-sites. Donate used goods Pacific Beach Women’s Club will collect used clothing, household goods and furniture to benefit the Salvation Army’s Adult Rehabilitation Program on April 7 from 2 to 4 p.m. at 1721 Hornblend. For more information call Patty Barnhill at (858) 270-6264. City, county officers graded on environmental voting Four leading environmental groups have released report cards on the environmental voting records of the city and county of San Diego, with county supervisors receiving an average mark for their efforts and their city counterparts scoring somewhat higher. The League of Conservation Voters San Diego, San Diego Coastkeeper and the local chapters of the Surfrider Foundation and the Sierra Club gave the city council and Mayor Jerry Sanders an overall grade of B-plus regarding issues impacting local waters and coastal habitat over the last full year. “The 2008 San Diego Water Quality Report Card” includes information on the city’s votes on water and wastewater rate increases, urban runo ff issues, the beach alcohol ban and coastal protection funding. Five current and former council members scored in the A range. “The 2008 San Diego County Environmental Report Card” assesses the county board of supervisors on their actions during 2008 related to water and air quality, land use and renewable energy. The average grade was a C, with supervisors Pam Slater-Price and Greg Cox receiving the highest marks, at B-minus. The report cards, released Feb. 26, were prepared by Strategic Community Consulting, a student-managed firm based at the University of California, San Diego. This is the first year the groups have issued an assessment of the county’s actions; the city’s report card is the seventh such document. The reports mark the first time all four groups have jointly released their findings.