Auctions at The Ranch --Going, Going, Gone

It was like nothing Rancho Santa Fe had ever seen, and nothing it wants to see again.

An auction last weekend at a home on Paseo Delicias attracted everything people move to the Ranch to avoid: crowds, traffic jams, noise, signs, outsiders. For two days people were bidding eagerly on a load of antiques, Oriental art, jewelry, Oriental and Persian rugs and bronze statues.

The amplified sounds of “going-going-gone” shattered the normally tranquil atmosphere beneath the eucalyptus trees. Cars were parked everywhere and the traffic jam stretched for miles.

When the auction (called by residents “the invasion”) began on Saturday, the courts were closed so the chance of getting a restraining order was nil. The Ranch has strict rules against running a commercial activity in a residential area.

Alarm had started to spread Friday when direction signs erupted on local streets and even on the clubhouse lawn at the golf course. The Ranch security force took down many of the signs but it was too late.

“In Rancho Santa Fe, we don’t even allow signs to be put up when a house is for sale,” said Phyllis Paul, who lives next door to where the auction was held.

Jack Heacock, a salesman with Clotfelter Associates, the Ranch’s oldest realty firm, says it was all a misunderstanding between the tenant and the auctioneer. What was supposed to be a discreet garage sale got out of hand, with outside goods being trucked in, he said.

“We would not have approved of anything like this,” Heacock said. “I can assure you of that.”

The Rancho Santa Fe Assn., guardian of the good life at the Ranch, has already been alerted. Scolding letters will be sent to all involved. “This is not something we’d like to see again,” said association manager Walt Ekard.

Mayor Wants in on Act

If you ask the children to name their favorite performer in the Moscow Circus, it’s a good bet many would pick Alexander Frish--the juggler, clown and mime who invited them into the ring to be part of his act.

Mayor Maureen O’Connor, who attended opening and closing nights when the circus played the Sports Arena, was equally fascinated with the eccentric Frish and wants him to return to San Diego for next year’s Soviet Arts Festival.

She pitched Frish on the idea while whisking him and one of the ringmasters to the airport Sunday night to catch a flight to Los Angeles. Nothing was settled, but the mayor vows to be persistent.

Last Chapter on Parties

Are officials at San Diego State University sensitive about the student body’s image for putting good times above education? (Does Santa wear a red suit?)

Here’s a press release to local editors and reporters from SDSU’s Office of Communications:

“SDSU’s undeserved reputation as a party school is most completely refuted during the twice-annual final examination periods. The only parties on campus next week will be study parties, as students buckle down for the ordeal which brings each semester to a close.”

Photo opportunities are available at the library and student lounge.

Honestly Speaking . . .

Same subject, different views.

Ex-Mayor Roger Hedgecock on Monday, explaining his taking on television as a talk-show host:

“I’m the only person with the background and knowledge and the honesty and gutsiness to get in there with real issues, get behind the headlines and expose people to what’s happening.”

Judge William L. Todd Jr. to Hedgecock on Dec. 10, 1985, just before sentencing him to a year in jail (now on appeal) for felony conspiracy and perjury:

“I feel you have violated the public trust in an onerous, onerous way in the violations you did commit. And I agree you did not steal public funds. Your conduct, though, is reprehensible in every sense of the word because you violated the public trust, completely, over and over again.”