Graswich on Kings rumor mill

If you missed R.E. Graswich today he leads with an awesome piece of Kings/arena gossip:

Bumped into Joe Benvenuti the other night. Joe, the developer who wrote the check to bring the Kings to Sacramento in 1985, had a scoop. He said he was thinking about selling his 31 percent ownership in the team. And there was something else. “It’s my understanding they have an agreement to move the team to Anaheim,” Joe said. “I expect to read about it in The Bee.”
“There is no such deal and there have been no discussions,” said Kings president John Thomas. “I’m sure Mr. Benvenuti was joking. I talked to him shortly after you did, and he was telling lots of jokes. I’m sure that was one of them.” Benvenuti, who financed Gregg Lukenbill’s dream to purchase the Kings for $10 million, said Sunday he was not joking. But his sources may be questionable. “The Anaheim deal was a rumor,” Joe said. “Everyone’s talking about it.” …

Good news, bad news

Well today brings two big stories, one sad and one incredibly good. First the sad, it’s now official: Tower Records is gone. Like, for real. Liquidation sales start today. First Sacred Heart, then Tower, and since these things happen in threes, expect an announcement soon after November 7 about another Sacramento institution packing house…

The good news today is that the DEA has busted Daryl and Solomon Summerfield (hmm Solomon, eh? so these stories really are related…weird) a father and son drug outfit that was moving large amounts of cocaine around. If you just read this story in the Bee, one bit they left out, and that Ron Jones reports on CBS13, is that this operation was the coke supply for Oak Park. One thing Ron Jones doesn’t report is who “Scott McGregor” is, the person quoted in the article several times. I have a hunch that he might be talking about McGregor Scott, the US Attorney in Sacramento. What is that dude doing reversing his names like that! Making Ron Jones’ job harder is what. Anyway here’s to brighter days ahead for Oak Park…

One man, one threat

The President’s stay in our area was a short one.  It was probably a good thing, because it seems he wore out his welcome before he even got here:

Howard Kinsey, 41, faces one count of threatening to take the life of and inflict bodily harm on the President of the United States under the indictment returned by a federal grand jury, U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott said…

Meanwhile, an Elk Grove engineer charged with sending threatening letters containing a powdery substance to a country club where President Bush appeared this week was scheduled to appear in court Thursday.

Michael Lee Braun, 51, faces two charges of sending threats through the mail.

Boys, how about next time you just don’t re-elect the guy?

The epidemic spreads

It seems that our chronic local problem is spreading:

A teen was arrested Wednesday after leading officers on a chase in a stolen car and crashing the vehicle into the garage of a Manteca home, Manteca Police officials said…

Wilson led police on a short chase through residential neighborhoods at speeds over 80 miles an hour before losing control and crashing into the garage of a home near Mission Ridge and Swan drives. Wilson was able to climb out of the overturned car and scramble into the house before he was arrested by officers in the backyard, Osborn said.

Poor Manteca.  You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.

Regional Transit: The Soundtrack

If you’re like me, you enjoy musical accompaniment on your RT commute. Be it the popular Apple iPod device, a Walkman, or the songs in your head, there are certain tunes that really fit the bill for your particular route and time of day. For example, on a rainyish day like today, crossing the river on I5 heading into Natomas, Sufjan Stevens was where it was at. After work, heading uptown on the 50E I’m thinking maybe something a little more rockin.

Well, I want to hear from you. Leave a comment with your route and some songs that make it rock (or make it roll) for you. Perhaps we could get a mix CD going…so feel free to also donate several thousand dollars for permissions if you’d like to see that happen!

Undercover ops at North Sac house of massage

I’m sure we’re all safer for the Sheriff’s having busted the South Seas Massage and Tanning Parlor in north Sacramento which was operating as a whorehouse. But the KCRA report does bring up some questions.

A decoy went into the business carrying cash and wearing a wire. Authorities said 15 minutes later, the decoy was offered sex for money. …

Well that’s how you’d do it, isn’t it. Cut and dry, get in, get your collar, get out. There’s more.
Continue reading “Undercover ops at North Sac house of massage”

Dickinson calls public need for arena info “laughable”

A week ago, if you were real quiet you could hear the air squealing out of the arena deal’s tires. Now, you basically have to cover your ears to block out the sound of its rims grinding:

Representatives of the Sierra Club and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association called an afternoon press conference to demand that the latest arena site plan and proposal … be made public. … Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson called the demand for public review “laughable” since the documents are simply draft proposals that have yet to receive a response from the Maloof family. … “It’s a laughable request made purely for campaign purposes by the opposition,” Dickinson said. “As we’ve seen over the past several years on a number of occasions, negotiating in public has not proven to be very successful,” he said.

Successful for who, exactly? In Roger-speak, doesn’t that mean that when the people know what’s really going on they frequently won’t go for it? Does he really think that a proposal our public officials are making on our behalf to a private company is nothing we need to see?

How low will they go?

The story on top of the Wall Street Journal’s list of most-viewed and most-emailed stories today is about falling home prices nationwide. The WSJ’s a subscriber site, but I’m a subscriber, so … this link is good for seven days. Check out the chart at the bottom of the piece. The prediction is a 9.9 percent drop in Sacramento prices with the market bottoming out in the second quarter of 2008.

Here, let me get that for you

Late last year I wrote a post about the forming of lines in public places. My point was that we have unwritten rules in society which allow us to function in such a manner that total chaos is held in check. That, and sometimes people just suck.

Well, I’m at it again. This time I am having issues with the “rules” regarding the opening of doors for people. In general there are a few basics, right?

Continue reading “Here, let me get that for you”