Almost 50 years ago now, a man returned from war in Vietnam with a duffel bag. Inside the bag was a few pounds of marijuana -- and inside the man, Air Force veteran Dennis Peron, was the force behind marijuana legalization in the United States of America.
A lot's been written and said about Peron, who spent several decades brazenly selling cannabis out of a series of Castro District addresses (when you get a chance, read Fred Gardner's excellent review of Peron's life here). There were other people who gave marijuana to sick people, including wasting-away AIDS victims, during the epidemic's darkest days. And there were other people instrumental in writing -- and passing -- Prop. 215, California's first-in-the-nation medical marijuana law in 1996.
But today is his day. He's 68, and, with legal weed a reality in two American states, his "life's work almost done."
Complaints of San Francisco police misconduct are at a 21-year low. Knowing that, you'd think San Francisco constables are more popular than they've been since the alcalde days.
But it's hard to buy into that notion when it appears that public mistrust of San Francisco cops is soaring, especially as of late. Last month, an officer shot and killed 28-year-old Alejandro Nieto, who was armed with a Taser; an angry march on the Hall of Justice materialized where police cars were vandalized. More recently, cops have been receiving anonymous death threats.
Apparently, Spring Break will leave you with a lot more than alcohol poisoning and sunburns.
A Northern California head bug professional (?) is advising anyone who had fun over Spring Break to start checking your head for lice. The logic being that time off leads to vacations and play dates, which in turn leads to head lice infestations.
News that four Smart Cars were upended in a spree of wanton violence besetting San Francsico's streets has rapidly traversed the globe.
Suspended Senator Leland Yee shambled into San Francisco's federal courthouse this morning amid a processional of lawyers -- each representing one of the 29 defendants named in a sprawling federal indictment.
Wearing a dark suit and a put-upon expression, his new attorney James Lassart in tow, Yee pled not guilty to the array of charges against him, which include public corruption and international arms trafficking.
Two weeks ago the senator was arrested in his Richmond District home during a massive FBI sting that also nailed political consultant Keith Jackson and Chinatown gangster Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow.
Jackson also pleaded not guilty to multiple charges, including gun running and murder-for-hire. Chow's lawyer Tony Serra didn't enter a plea, saying that he needed more time to acquaint himself with the material. Not all the defendants were present, suggesting this procedure may stretch on indefinitely.
A 21-year-old man was shot during a robbery as he walked to the BART station last night. The only thing is he was the one who shot himself -- accidentally.
According to police reports, the man was walking to the Powell Street BART station at about about 10:30 p.m. when an armed man approached him, carrying a semi-automatic gun.
The gunman told the victim to "hand over all his stuff." As the victim was complying, he accidentally hit the gun, causing it to go off, says Officer Gordon Shyy.
San Francisco police say they've nabbed the woman who was seen in a video snatching a Macbook computer from a local coffee shop.
The video went viral yesterday after SF Citizen and SF Weekly posted the video, showing a blonde woman stealing the computer from a downtown coffee shop. The victim, a software developer, was able to retrieve the surveillance from the coffee shop and posted it on her tumblr page.
On Monday at about 2:30 p.m., police got a call about a suspicious woman at a Starbucks on Clay Street. "An employee at another coffee shop actually saw the video on SF Weekly regarding the laptop theft incident and noticed this person matching the description was in her coffee shop," Officer Gordon Shyy tells us.
This morning, medical authorities said it was 72-year-old Il Sun Im who was killed while walking through the Civic Center this weekend.
Im was walking along Golden Gate and Van Ness avenues at about 11 p.m. on Sunday when a driver headed north on Van Ness hit him.
