Brush With Death Moves Ex-Deputy to Dedicate Himself to Issues of Life

Trauma and insight.

As a San Diego County sheriff’s deputy, Dean Mesa was shot and nearly killed by a suspected drug dealer Sept. 26, 1986.

What followed for Mesa was emergency surgery to remove bullet fragments, a difficult convalescence and finally a disability retirement in 1988.

What also followed were long months of reflection that sharpened Mesa’s views about the sanctity of life and the need to protect it wherever it is endangered.

In 1990, he broke with his former colleagues and testified at a San Diego public hearing in favor of blood tests for all cops who shoot suspects: to see if their judgment was clouded by drugs or alcohol.

And now Mesa is under house arrest for four months because of an act of civil disobedience to stop what he sees as another kind of violence in our society.

On July 20, 1989, Mesa joined three other anti-abortion activists in a nonviolent sit-in at a San Marcos abortion clinic. All were convicted of misdemeanor trespassing.

As of last Friday, Mesa, 32, wears an electronic anklet to alert authorities if he ventures 150 feet from his Vista home. If so, he will be returned to jail, where he already served 16 days.

Before he got involved in the controversial Operation Rescue movement, he remembered his days as a deputy.

He remembered how deputies would use all manner of derogatory terms for suspects. He saw a similarity with those who claim that the unborn are not yet human beings:

“They dehumanize them so they can brutalize them. I see that same process in police work and in the abortion movement.�

Of Mesa’s co-defendants in the sit-in, one accepted probation and two were sentenced Friday to 60 days in jail (despite belated requests for probation).

Those two--Georgina Cheek, 39, and Angela Phelps, 33--will soon be eligible for the electronic surveillance program. Still, they may opt to stay in jail because they will be free sooner than if they accept house arrest.

Mesa is unsure if he will take part in other sit-ins. But he says he definitely will stay involved in Operation Rescue as it matures from demonstrations to political activism:

“A pro-life view without action does nothing,� he said.

Recessionary Lows Reach Skyboxes

The big city.

* Not even the skybox set is immune from recession.

With bankers and developers leading the way, skybox holders at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium are opting not to renew their leases (at $29,000 to $49,000 for a full year of stadium events).

It’s a touchy subject for Charger officials, who decline to say how many skyboxes are vacant, except to say it’s more than last year.

Others in the know say 21 holders--out of 78 skyboxes total--have notified the Chargers that they are not renewing.

* San Diego bumper sticker: “Urine Testing Isn’t NORML.�

(It helps to know that NORML is the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws.)

* The National Enquirer is out with its story on the July 3 deputy-kills-deputy case in Olivenhain.

An Enquirer photographer failed to get an ambush picture of Deputy Gary Steadman at his San Diego home (neighbors called the cops). Instead, a high-school mug shot makes him look like Dan Aykroyd.

The supermarket tabloid also purports to disclose Deputy Mike Stanewich’s dying words: “Gary, don’t blame yourself. It was my fault.�

Steadman is back at work, as of this week.

* San Diego City Atty. John Witt, 58, says he’ll run for his sixth term next year. Look for him to hire a political consultant soon.

So far, no announced challengers.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Howard Wayne, a failed Assembly hopeful last year, says he considered running but is now leaning against the move.

* Deposed San Diego Councilwoman Linda Bernhardt has applied for a job with the Southeast Economic Development Corp.

Don’t look for it to happen.

Out in the Open

The San Diego City Council on Monday voted to force the owners of X-rated movie houses to remove the doors from “preview rooms� to discourage indecent behavior.

It’s already being called the Pee-wee Herman Ordinance.