32nd Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Parade to Take Place Sunday

San Diego to Celebrate MLK Jr.

The 32nd annual Martin Luther King Jr. Parade will be held Sunday afternoon in downtown San Diego to pay tribute the slain civil rights leader, who would have turned 83 Sunday.

The parade will go along North Harbor Drive from the County Administration Center to Navy Pier. It will include floats, marching bands, drill teams, church groups and others paying tribute to King, who was born in Atlanta Jan. 15, 1929.

The parade is organized by Alpha Phi Alpha, the country's oldest black fraternity, of which King was a member.

King, a Baptist preacher, led the 1955 bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala., and later founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

In 1963, the led a march to Washington, D.C., where he delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech in which he foresaw that "my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.

A march to Selma, Ala., in 1965, was met with police and mob violence and later became known as "Bloody Sunday."

King drew his inspiration for nonviolent protest from Mahatma Gandhi and became one of leading anti-war activists as the war in Vietnam dragged on.

On April 4, 1968, just a day after delivering his "I have been to the mountaintop" speech, he was assassinated at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tenn., at 6:01 p.m. by escaped convict James Earl Ray.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan made King's birthday a national holiday -- it was not observed until 1986 -- to be celebrated on the third Monday every January.

Man Robs Mira Mesa Bank

A bespectacled man with a bushy mustache robbed a Mira Mesa bank at gunpoint Saturday, and was whisked away by a getaway driver, San Diego police said.

The suspect entered the California Coast Credit Union at 9825 Mira Mesa Boulevard about 10:30 a.m., and walked up to a teller, displayed a black handgun and demanded cash, according to San Diego police Officer Frank Cali.

The robber left the bank with an undisclosed amount and got into a waiting newer charcoal gray Toyota Corolla without license plates, Cali said.

The car's driver, only described as male, crossed the center divider of Mira Mesa Boulevard before heading north on Interstate 15, Cali said.

The robber was described as a white male, 5 feet- 9 to 5 feet-10 inches tall with a bushy mustache and eye glasses. He was wearing a long black coat with the hood pulled over his face, tan pants and white tennis shoes.

Suspect Arrested for Series of Burglaries

A 40-year-old man was behind bars Saturday in connection with a series of vehicle burglaries that took place from last August to December.

Curt Simnitt was arrested at a La Mesa motel Friday, and was identified by detectives as a suspect in the string of incidents in Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach and downtown La Mesa, according to San Diego police Lt. Andra Brown.

Police said the suspect generally targeted surfers, swimmers, joggers and other beachgoers and would watch as they secured their belongings in their vehicles then hid the keys nearby, Brown said.

After the victims left the area, Simnitt would allegedly retrieve the keys, unlock the vehicles then remove the victims' property, Brown said.

In some instances, the suspect forced entry to the victims' vehicles, Brown said.

The crimes were mostly committed at San Diego beaches, however, the suspect also hit vehicles in shopping center parking lots, Brown said.

Detectives previously identified Simnitt as a suspect and searched his residence, where they found property and evidence from about 50 vehicle burglaries, although Simnitt was not arrested at that time because he was already in custody on unrelated charges, Brown said.

Police, however, did arrest Simnitt Friday after detectives spotted his vehicle at a La Mesa motel, Brown said. He initially refused to come out, but eventually exited the room and was arrested without incident, Brown said.

Simnitt was booked into jail on numerous charges, including 20 counts of possession of stolen property, five counts of identity theft, as well as burglary, forgery and possession of a controlled substance, Brown said.

He was being held on $475,000 bail and was scheduled to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to jail records.

Some of the stolen property has already been returned to its owners, however a  large amount including surfboards, wetsuits, backpacks, watches, wallets and computers remains unclaimed, Brown said.

-City News Service