1980: Bomb Bandit Gets Away with Bank Loot

A look back at Lemon Grove, 32 years ago this week.

Bandit with A Bomb: Monday morning was fair and calm when a casually dressed, mid-20s bandit armed with a bag, a box and a note demanded all of the money in the teller's drawer at Crocker Bank (today Berry's Sporting Goods).  

The note, with a terseness that would do Hemingway proud, read:"This is it. Give me all the money. Don't try anything funny. This bomb will go off." He pointed at the box on the counter while handing the teller the bag.

"He never said a word," the teller later reported to police and FBI agents. "I thought he wasn't serious and tried to joke with him, but he pointed to the last line on the note and it said, 'Don't pick death,' so I didn't."  

She gave him all the money, he left, she pressed the alarm, onlookers gathered and the Sheriff's bomb squad arrived only to find a block of wood inside the bag. The squad removed film from the bank's surveillance camera, but as of press time no arrest had been made.  

Women’s History in the Making: Community leader Lois Heiserman filed papers to run for Lemon Grove City Council citing the need for "an outspoken woman's voice and viewpoint" on a council dominated by men. Heiserman first ran for council in 1977 and lost by 45 votes. Her impressive resume included co-founding the Effective Problem Intervention Committee in 1974, chairing the Social Action Board, and serving on the boards of the Lemon Grove Congregational Church (today, the Parsonage Museum), Soroptimist, Mount Miguel High School Advisory Board and the Nutrition Board. Heiserman was a leader in senior nutrition and led the charge to build the Lemon Grove Senior Center on Mt. Vernon Street.

Heiserman won with 1,587 votes and became the first woman to serve on the city council. She was later honored with a large bronze plaque on the wall of the Senior Center.

Vets Fete Flag: Lemon Grove VFW Post 2082, 2885 Imperial Avenue (the building on modern Lemon Grove Avenue with the giant flag mural on the back wall) raised money at a barbecue to underwrite a Patriotic Flag Pageant at the hall. Volunteer active-duty men and women garbed in the costumes and uniforms of various eras presented flags through U.S. history, from the American Revolution to Vietnam. The event was free.

Show Time: The Lemon Grove Players held auditions for the 1890s musical melodrama, "Dirty Work at the Crossroads," at Palm Junior High.  

Founded in 1978, the Players were a huge favorite in town with their professional productions and costumes, ambitious repertoire and talented casts. Anne-Charlotte and Michael Harvey (SDSU Drama Department and parents of Broadway actress Ellen Harvey), Dr. Robert Burns and Jacquelyn Burns, Dorothy DuBois, Donna Adams, Victoria and Michael Dietrich, and others mounted classical works, from Moliére's "A Flea in Her Ear" to contemporary plays and musicals.

"Dirty Work at the Crossroads" called for a villain who wooed a hapless young woman after poisoning her mother, deserting his wife, driving the local blacksmith to drink and blackmailing a wealthy widow. Dave Hoyt played the villain, Michael McLeod directed, Robert Burns and Harold Berg produced, Anona Bolieu played piano, and the show ran for seven performances at Lemon Grove Junior High. Tickets were $1.50 to $3.

Max on the Set: Max Goodwin, editor of the Lemon Grove Review, urged readers to see the1979 movie, "A Force of One," starring Chuck Norris and Jennifer O'Neill.

Goodwin had covered the story when the film was shot at one of his pet beats, the old Coliseum at 15th and E Streets in downtown San Diego. The former fight reporter noted that the Coliseum was freezing the night Norris and Bill Williams played karate gladiators before 300 extras, who were paid $40 in scrip to cheer and boo on cue.   

"They brought in huge heaters to lessen the goosebumps on the semi-nude fighters," wrote Goodwin. "During the setup, some enterprising extras rushed to a printer to get the scrip duplicated. They turned in the phonies to Promoter Millsap, but he had devised a symbol visible under ultraviolet light. He also had SD police officers on hand to convince the larcenous their phony scrip wouldn't fly."

(Danny Millsap was a colorful figure in boxing in San Diego for decades. He died in 2005 at age 85.)

"A Force of One" featured Norris as a karate champion hired to stop a serial killer, a narco gang and a crooked cop in their tracks.  

"He sees the darkness. He hears the silence. He is the only one who can stop the killing," proclaimed the movie poster.  

The film cleaned up in Southeast Asia even though it got, like, one star. But the old Coliseum got oblivion when it was shut down at the end of 1979 and turned into a warehouse.  

Bike Rodeo Scores: The Monterey Heights School PTA held a bike rodeo at which kids got their bike brakes, wheel balance, tire pressure and reflectors tested for safety. More than150 kids showed up, lots of cookies were consumed, and prizes were awarded for "best overall safety" by the Auto Club of California.

Cash for Cans: Every Thursday you could haul your cans to the Reynolds Aluminum Mobile Recycling Unit at Vons, 555 Sweetwater Road, and get 23 cents a pound plus a 12 cent a pound bonus, for a whopping 35 cent payoff.  

"Aluminum cans are everywhere," said the Reynolds ad.  "Kitchens, parks, roadsides, streets, alleys. Go get 'em."

Today, alas, plastic bags and cups are ubiquitous by the roadside, but cans and plastic bottles aren't, as Americans of all income levels collect the recyclables and turn them into cash in tough times.