New Mini-Kidnapp-ing. The brothers Mo-ises and Noe Salce-da, better known around town as the "tow truck guys" were the third victims in a series of recent
Ro-sarito mini-kidnapp-ings.
Moises and Noe were apparently waylaid by a group of 12 armed "comman-dos" about midnight
on Aug. 15, while heading to their tow yard just south of Rosarito. The bro-thers were released by the kidnappers after being held for only 15 hours. This incident is similar to two other recent Ro-sarito
kidnapping in-cidents, where the victims were releas-ed after having been held only a few weeks. Short-term kidnappings are very unusual, as most kid-nappers hold their victims
for months. Often, kidnap victims are never seen again, or their bodies
are tossed out of cars along high-speed Ti-juana thoroughfares. The whereabouts
of the two other recent kidnap victims in Rosarito, the owner of the Bada Bing topless club and the owner of the Rincon casino, remains un-known.
Last month, a mem-ber of one of Rosa-rito's oldest families and his son were both kidnapped, and some reports indica-te that Bernie
Her-nandez, owner of Bernie's Insurance, may have been ano-ther short-term kidna-pping victim.
Cholo-landia in Pu- |
whisked away if left unguarded. Cut wires dangle from electrical poles, because thie-ves steal the wires to sell the valuable co-pper. Garbage is be-ing tossed along the road and in the ca-nyons, and the Gen-X garbage truck guys report picking up bags containing hu-man waste. Resi-dents are also con-cerned about fires burning unattended at night. Puesta del Sol is a relatively new de-veloping
community in the hills just south of Rosarito. Resi-dents are attempting to form a homeow-ners association
to address these and other problems. They have recently succee-ded in getting a Ro-sarito policeman
to patrol the area.
Developers Renege on Promises. Two Baja communities
re-port getting the brush-off from big local de-velopers. In Costa del Sol, residents report that the Las Palmas condos have set up their painting
scaffol-ding on the roof of a private home. This
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a project architect denied making any such promise. The homeowner also ca-lled the Las Palmas attorney, and reports that the attorney ac- cused her of being "disrespectful" and then hung up on her.
At Baja Malibu, re-sidents on the east side of the toll road endured dozens of heavy dump trucks from The Residences development
thunde-ring along their little cobblestone streets for months. Repre-sentatives
from The Residences
promi-sed the Baja Malibu homeowners that they would "come and fix everything", and "cle-an up the dust, and make everything
ni-ce." So far, no repairs have been made. One Baja Malibu lady said "our peace and quiet is gone, I can't wait to move out!"
Military Decamps. Much to the delight of local businesspeople,
tourists, and commu-ters, the military check points have pulled up stakes and moved on. Military check points at the entrance to Playas Tijuana
backed up commuter traffic for months. This check-point was strategi-cally
located at the exact point where two gangland drive-by shootings occurred
earlier last year. Peo-ple traveling south to Rosarito and other points in Baja were delayed at this point. The free-road check point, set up just north of La Gloria, also ca- used mile long traffic jams for commuters
|
esta del Sol. Long time Puesta
del Sol residents are becom-ing increasingly alar-med over the num-bers
of deportees, ex-cons and cholo types moving into the area's shacks and abandoned houses.
Homes cannot be left unattended, or they will be robbed and vandalized. Building materials are also |
particular resident and her husband also suffered
extensive damages to their ho- me earlier this year when an entire chunk of the condos broke off and crashed on top of their roof. The homeowners were assured that they wo-uld be compensated for the damages, but when the residents attempted to collect, |
traveling from Tijuana
to Rosarito and back. On Popotla Boule-vard, a third check-point had tourists
backed up for a mile in both directions every weekend. Busi- ness people protest-ed the checkpoints, saying that it was bad for tourism. Federal and state officials argued that there was still far too much |
crime, especially in the Rosarito area, to remove the army checkpoints. Truck loads of soldiers and black-outfitted Pre-ventative
Police can still be seen driving through the streets of Tijuana and Rosarito, especially after a violent crime or a kidnapping.
Topless Baby-Boo-mers. A middle aged |
American woman has been making the ro-unds in the local bars approaching large-breasted Baby Boo-mer gals and sug-gesting
that they consider working in her proposed new topless club when it opens. The enterpri-sing lady said, "Men are tired of looking at anorexics, they prefer big bodies and big
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