Palomar

When Palomar's Nakoa McElrath took the opening kickoff the length of the field for a 100-yard touchdown, it foreshadowed the scoring blitz to come in the Mission Conference Central Division football game between Fullerton and Palomar Saturday at Palomar. With the help of Anthony Scott and Odyssei Wilridge, Fullerton prevailed, 65-48, for its fourth consecutive victory. The Hornets (4-2, 2-0) scored nine touchdowns, breaking the school record of eight set in 1994.

I like to walk, so a hotel deal that rewards me for what I'd be doing anyway ranks high on my list. In this deal, Hotel Palomar Los Angeles and Hotel Palomar San Diego give guests a pedometer and a walking map upon arrival. Those who walk at least 10,000 steps in a day, roughly five miles, receive half off a future stay.  The deal: The Walk This Way Package rewards step-aholics with up to three nights at 50% off the best available rate for a future stay at either hotel. It also comes with a $20 food and beverage credit and a goody bag with the pedometer, map, bottled water, an energy bar and foot lotion.

These are bad days for the Pierce College basketball team, loser of two of three games in the Antelope Valley basketball tournament. Friday, Pierce lost, 75-58, to Palomar in the consolation bracket of the tournament. Pierce got there by losing to Antelope Valley on Thursday. "We're just like Nevada Las Vegas was at the start of their season last year," Pierce Coach Larry Lessett said. "No matter what we do, we can't win. We're just not doing anything right."

Come fall, Californians could find themselves with fewer parks to visit and fewer services available at parks that are open. That was the tenor of the plan that California State Parks officials outlined Friday as they targeted for shutdown 70 of the state's 278 parks because of budget problems. But don't panic. The closure plan is far from final, and in the meantime, summer camping reservations are being honored, officials said. Several parks on the hit list are in Southern California , including popular and well-known places such as: McGrath State Beach near Ventura, which draws campers and bird-watchers; Fort Tejon State Historic Park in the Grapevine Canyon north of Los Angeles, with restored adobes and exhibits on Army life; Palomar Mountain State Park in San Diego County, near the world-famous Palomar Observatory, which offers mountainous hiking trails with views of the Pacific; And the quirky and fascinating Salton Sea State Recreation Area in Riverside County, known for its bird life and infamous for its periodic mass die-offs of fish.

Sophomore quarterback Jeff Sturch will lead San Diego Mesa College at home against Palomar at 7:30 Saturday night as play begins in the Mission Conference. Sturch was 30 of 50 for 317 yards and 3 touchdowns but also had 5 interceptions as Mesa lost to Cerritos, 30-20, in the season opener Sept. 12 at Cerritos. Palomar counters with quarterback Mark Heintschel, who was 18 of 30 for 152 yards and 2 touchdowns in the Comets' 45-24 victory over Monterey Peninsula last Saturday.

Oceanside and San Dieguito, which both won last week, have joined The Times' high school football Top 10. Oceanside (4-1) is ranked eighth after a 42-0 victory over Ramona. The Pirates' only loss this season was against No. 1 Vista, 28-0, in the season opener. San Dieguito (4-1) is ninth after a 21-12 upset victory over Fallbrook. Vista remained No. 1, beating Poway, 35-19, and Lincoln stayed No. 2 with a 51-0 victory over Morse. Pos. Team (League) Record 1. Vista (Palomar) 5-0-0 2.

The physicians and surgeons encountered since I came to Escondido appear, overall, a cut above what cities of this size ordinarily attract, being a "one hospital town." These are the physicians and surgeons who have helped Palomar develop into a hospital I would feel comfortable being admitted to. These physicians and surgeons helped to develop Palomar by donating much of their time, energy and talent to bettering Palomar's credibility in the community. To pay wages for an orthopedic surgeon ($520 over a 24-hour period averages to $21 per hour)

Point Loma High School, which completed its first undefeated regular season since 1982 by defeating Morse, 14-13, Friday, has finished as the top-ranked team in The Times' San Diego County football rankings. Point Loma has held the No. 1 ranking for the past five weeks. Mount Miguel (10-0) finished No. 2 after concluding its first unbeaten regular season since 1978 with a 16-7 victory over Helix. The rankings: Pos. School (League) Record 1. Point Loma (City Eastern) 10-0-0 2.

Mount Miguel, whose defense has two shutouts in two games, took over the No. 2 position in the The Times' San Diego County High School football Top Ten. Mount Miguel beat Madison, 22-0, Friday after defeating Bonita Vista, 14-0, the first week of the season. Mount Miguel started the season ranked No. 4. Sweetwater maintained its No. 1 ranking after a 14-7 victory over San Francisco Kennedy. Vista fell from No.2 to No. 3 after losing to Fontana, 12-7. Fontana is California's top-ranked team.

Liz Cervantes hit a sacrifice fly to break a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning to help Fullerton College defeat El Camino, 3-2, in the championship game of the Fullerton softball tournament Sunday at Fullerton. Fullerton beat Palomar, 3-2, and El Camino, 6-0, earlier to advance to the championship game.

It's not the kind of gear you'll see lying around any old campground on a Saturday: a 10-inch Meade LX200-ACF telescope with a GPS receiver and Smart Drive; a Carbon Fiber Schmidt-Cassegrain with an 80ED refractor hard-wired to a laptop for precision imaging; and a 300-pound, 25-inch Newtonian scope perched on a Dobsonian equatorial platform with a kid-friendly stepladder. But this isn't just any Saturday or any campground in the woods. It's the most astronomically happening public car-camping event in Southern California.

On Aug. 7, 1974, a confident young Frenchman named Philippe Petit walked a secretly rigged wire between the World Trade Center towers in New York, dazzling a waking city, inflaming authorities, and making gloriously real a goal he'd worked toward for six years. But it's taken 34 years for a movie such as James Marsh's acclaimed documentary "Man on Wire" to come along and chronicle it.

It USED to be a sign of quality if a hotel replaced your bath soap and sheets every day. But in this era of melting ice caps and dying oceans, the paradigm of luxury includes an element of social responsibility that makes those niceties seem wasteful. With the debut of the Hotel Palomar Los Angeles Westwood, travelers to the Westside can soothe and indulge their road-weary souls and their social consciences.

The owner of a Hollywood hotel that burned in a deadly arson fire six years ago was acquitted of murder charges Friday. Juan Ortiz, 50, wiped tears from his eyes as a court clerk read the not guilty verdicts of a downtown Los Angeles jury. Ortiz's six-month trial was the fourth attempt by Los Angeles County prosecutors to convict Ortiz of murder, conspiracy, arson and insurance fraud charges stemming from the fire Aug. 16, 2001, at the Palomar Hotel, in which two people died.

The last winner of the $200,000 Palomar Breeders' Cup Handicap, a Grade II that will be run for the 53rd time today at Del Mar, went on to bigger and better things. Intercontinental, the prohibitive favorite in winning the 1 1/16 -mile turf race a year ago, went on from that victory to an upset win in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Oct. 29 at Belmont Park and won an Eclipse Award as the nation's top female grass performer.

A former Los Angeles police officer has admitted to federal authorities that he and a group of fellow area law enforcement officers conducted a string of brazen armed robberies across Southern California staged to look like legitimate law enforcement raids. Ruben Palomares, 34, and his cohorts stole hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of drugs, cash, guns and other items over a nearly four-year period beginning in 1998, according to a plea agreement and related documents filed Tuesday.

Orange Coast College's Bart Recktenwald set the national record for all-purpose yardage in a season Saturday night, but left the business of beating up Palomar to others. Recktenwald gained 258 yards for a season total of 2,409, breaking the record of 2,321 set by Gavilan's Alonzo Washington. However, it was the passing combination of Keith Jarrett to Faasamala Tagaloa that beat Palomar, 37-23, in front of 3,200 in LeBard Stadium.

Southwestern College will try to end a six-game losing streak in a Mission Conference football game against San Diego Mesa Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Mesa. Southwestern opened the season with three consecutive victories, but things haven't gone right since. Southwestern appeared to have stopped the slide two weeks ago, but Saddleback kicked a field goal with eight seconds left for a 47-45 victory.

Former LAPD Officer Ruben Palomares, under investigation for allegedly heading a network of thieves who committed home invasion robberies and other crimes, was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison on federal drug trafficking charges. Palomares, a onetime Rampart Division officer, pleaded guilty last year to trying to buy 10 kilograms of cocaine from undercover DEA agents. The drug case, however, doesn't end his legal problems.

Andy Goodenough threw for 411 yards and three touchdowns and Palomar College held off host Chaffey, 20-14, in the Southern California Bowl on Saturday afternoon. The sophomore from Corvallis, Ore., completed 24 of 34 passes to lead the Comets, who move on to the California Community College Championship next week in Visalia. They'll face San Francisco, a 17-9 winner over Fresno.