Innorthcounty

When the top news in Oceanside reads: “Highway Patrol Rescue Heron, Not Penguin From Interstate 5,” you know things have to be relatively calm in the booming city just south of Camp Pendleton. Oceanside may have had its share of shootings and gang related crimes in the past, but the future looks bright for the birth town of actress Denise Richards. As reported in the North County Times, for the first ten months of 2007 the crime rate dipped 7.5 percent and the gang crime rate dropped 16 percent, bringing the city’s crime levels to new lows. This is great news for Oceanside residents who are looking to clean up their streets and keep the neighborhoods safer. Of course the question remains, who was this heron dressed up in a penguin suit? Or was he a penguin dressed as a heron? And what was his business on Interstate 5?

Inhabitants of Oceanside must now deal with these pressing questions that may never be explained. Crime levels may be down, but what of the flying and the feathered? Oceanside could be headed for a scene straight out of the Alfred Hitchcock movie, “The Birds.” Readers were quick to question whether the penguin, er heron sighting was newsworthy enough to include in an edition of the North County Times. But really, shouldn’t we be glad that this rouge bird wasn’t waving and gun around on a shooting rampage? It might be time to start looking towards the sky for the comings of a revenge of nature, and I’m not just talking about plummeting bird shit.