7 marines die in crash - San Diego Union

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T H E WO R L D ’S G R E AT E S T C O U N T RY & A M E R I CA’S F I N E S T C I T Y
Coming Sunday
U T S a n D i e go . c o m
San Diego mayoral candidates discuss how to improve local schools
7 Marines die in crash
in depth
A3
revenue
surge
erases
budget
deficit
City to boost library,
rec hours, install
new fire alert system
Craig Gustafson &
Jen Lebron Kuhney • U-T
Mayor Jerry Sanders
declared an end to San
Diego’s lingering budget
woes Thursday, saying an
unexpected revenue surge
erases a longstanding deficit and allows him to begin
restoring services he had
been forced to cut in recent
years.
The city has an additional
$16.5 million to spend for the
current fiscal year because
of
better-than-expected
tax revenue and measures
implemented by Sanders to
reduce costs in the $1.1 billion operating budget.
Sanders said part of the
new revenue — $5 million —
will be used to expand hours
at city libraries and recreation centers, increase the
size of the next police academy class, bolster reserves
and finally implement a new
fire alert system that had
lacked funding. The rest will
A video framegrab provided Thursday by KPNX-12 News shows an aerial view of the helicopter crash site near Yuma. AP • KPNX-12 News
Two helicopters collide during training in Imperial County, killing servicemen from air wing based at Miramar
Gretel C. Kovach
& Kristina Davis • U-T
YUMA
Seven Marines from a
San Diego-based air wing
died after two helicopters
collided Wednesday night
in a remote desert area of
southeastern California. It
is one of the Corps’ deadliest aviation training acci-
dents in years.
Six of the men killed in the
Imperial County crash were
from Camp Pendleton. The
other was from the Marine
air station at Yuma.
There were no survivors
aboard either aircraft. Preliminary reports indicated
a collision, but the cause of
the crash is under investigation, the 3rd Marine
Aircraft Wing announced
at sunrise Thursday.
The AH-1W Cobra and
UH-1Y Huey went down
about 8 p.m. during routine
training on a military range
along the California-Arizona state line, about an hour
and a half drive from Yuma
Marine Corps Air Station,
said Gunnery Sgt. Dustin
SEE Crash • A7
RIVERSIDE COUNTY
Camp
Pendleton
SAN DIEGO COUNTY
5
Chocolate Mountain
Aerial Gunnery Range
111
Salton
Sea
78
Miramar Marine Approximate area of
Corps Air Station helicopter collision
8
San
Diego
94
50 miles
IMPERIAL COUNTY
El Centro
CALIFORNIA
er
rd
U.S.-Mexico bo
ARIZONA
Glamis
Yuma
8
Yuma Marine Corps
Air Station
20 miles
Sources: ESRI; Tele Atlas; USGS
U-T
SEE budget • a3
Basic Police work at state
care homes often missing
Family of La Mesa man who died calls
special force ‘incompetent, horrendous’
Ryan Gabrielson
California Watch
coming Sunday
No one was ever held to
account for the death of
Van Ingraham of La Mesa.
Wat c h d o g
California has assembled
a unique police force to protect about 1,800 of its most
vulnerable patients — men
and women with cerebral
palsy, severe autism and
other mental disabilities
who live in state institutions
and require round-the-clock
monitoring and protection.
aimed at Israel in India
and the attempted terrorist attack in Georgia.
The bombing in New
Delhi injured the wife of
an Israeli diplomat while
an attempted attack the
same day in Georgia was
thwarted.
ted Gabe Watson, 34,
accused of drowning his
newlywed wife during a
honeymoon diving trip to
Australia eight years ago.
The judge said prosecutors did not prove the
man intentionally killed
his wife to collect on a life
insurance policy.
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attacks on Israelis
condemned by U.n.:
The U.N. Security Council is strongly condemning the terrorist attack
A8 • Islamist
insurgents in
retreat: African Union
forces are succeeding
in their effort to crush
Islamist insurgents
operating in Somalia.
The nation
man acquitted in
wife’s drowning:
A judge in Birmingham,
Ala., on Thursday acquit-
A5 • left turns
tougher for seniors:
Older drivers are much
more likely to die in
intersection crashes, and
with each passing year
the simple task of making
a left turn becomes more
challenging, according to
a report. In 2009, 5,288
people age 65 and older
were killed and 187,000
were injured in traffic
crashes.
An investigation by California Watch has found that
the 90 detectives and patrol
officers at the state’s five
board-and-care institutions
routinely fail to conduct basic police work even when
patients die under mysterious circumstances.
Most abuse cases are
logged but never prosecutSEE watchdog • A7
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Dominique Gambale works to strengthen her right
shoulder where muscle tissue was removed to be
placed in her injured right leg. CHARLIE NEUMAN • U-T
Surgeon’s military
background saved
accident victim’s leg
Encinitas resident
was struck by taxi
outside nightclub
PETER ROWE • U-T
At an international gathering of orthopedic surgeons in San Francisco this
month, Encinitas’ Dominique Gambale enjoyed
treatment worthy of a Nobel
Prize winner. Surgeons applauded her speech, attended a panel discussion focusing on her, cheered a public
service announcement that
tells her story, and posed for
fan photos with her.
From near and far, doctors
flocked to Gambale. “One surgeon from Baghdad shared
the story of his son, who had
been electrocuted and lost a
piece of his skull,” she said.
“Because of what I had been
through, he felt he could relate this story to me.”
Gambale, though, is no
doctor. The 46-year-old
mother of two is a case study
in how medical techniques pioneered on the U.S. military
fighting abroad can assist civilians suffering at home.
A year ago, Gambale and
her husband, patent attorney James Gambale Jr., were
leaving the Stingaree nightclub in the Gaslamp Quarter
when an out-of-control taxi
hit her, shattering her right
leg. Initial news reports said
that her leg had been amputated.
It might have been, if
SEE recovery • a6
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