By Gig Conaughton, County of San Diego Communications Office

June 20, 2018 (San Diego) - Agriculture values sprouted for a second straight year in the annual County Crop Report, helped by 20-plus percent increases in the value of lemons, miscellaneous vegetables and tomatoes, and a continued renaissance for oranges.

By Miriam Raftery

June 19, 2018 (Alpine) – Moka, a young rescued tiger, has arrived at the Lions, Tigers and Bears rescue facility in Alpine. The tiger was intercepted by Border Patrol agents when someone tired to smuggle him over the border and was temporarily cared for at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park before coming to the Alpine facility.

Source:  Saps at Sea

June 18, 2018 (Spring Valley) - Ahoy all Saps! Time to set Sail on the ocean of laughter!  The Saps at Sea, the San Diego section of the official Laurel & Hardy fan organization, the Sons of the Desert, presents their 40th Anniversary Spectacular on Saturday, July 28 starting at 7:00 p.m. with the doors opening at 6:30 p.m. at Williams Hall at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Spring Valley.

Protest planned Saturday downtown

Story and photos by Miriam Raftery

Photo: Congressman Juan Vargas, right, and Congresswoman Susan Davis, left, arrive at child detention facility in El Cajon.

June 18, 2018 (El Cajon, CA) – San Diego Congressional members Susan Davis and Juan Vargas joined House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic members of the Hispanic Caucus in touring three local facilities holding child immigrants, including a fenced facility in EL Cajon with 65 migrant boys, 10 percent of whom were forcibly separated from their parents by the Trump administration’s new “zero tolerance” policy of prosecuting all undocumented parents.  In the past six weeks, the federal government has acknowledged taking away over 2,000 children from parents at the border, including infants and toddlers.

“The United States should have a zero tolerance policy for the immoral treatment of children,” said Rep. Davis (CA-53), a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee whose district includes part of El Cajon. “We are a nation of values and we ask our men and women in uniform to defend those values every day. This policy is in no way consistent with those values.”

By Ken Stone, originally published at Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Network

June 18, 2018 (Julian) - Julian residents Lori Foss and Patricia Van Natta stood quietly in a heating-up helicopter hangar Thursday, watching their East County supervisor and Cal Fire chief boast of backcountry fire readiness.

By Eric Bartl

June 17, 2018 (El Cajon) - Kaleo Church of El Cajon is hosting a free basketball camp at Cajon Valley Middle School at 550 East Park Avenue.  It will run Monday through Friday (June 18-22), 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Anybody ages 5-17 is welcome.

By Miriam Raftery

 June 17, 2018 (Santee) – Activists in Santee are spending Father’s Day  gathering signatures on two petitions on issues impacting Santee and Mission Trails Regional Park areas.   

 The first aims to put the Santee General Plan Initiative on the ballot to require voter approval of development projects larger than the general plan currently allows.  The second calls on the California Public Utilities Commission to halt SDG&E’s proposed gas pipeline. Click links in this paragraph to read ECM’s prior articles on these issues.  Below are details on where you can find petition gathers and rallies: 

By Miriam Raftery

June 16, 2018 (Ramona) -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Violent Crimes Task Force (VCTF) ask your help to identify a man believed responsible for robbing two banks in Ramona and a bank in Mira Mesa over the past week.

Dubbed the “Skinny Bandit”, he is described as a light-skinned black man in his mid 20s to 30s, between 6 ft. and 6 ft. 6 inches tall with a slender build, weighing 140 to 170 pounds.  He claimed to have a weapon and in one robbery, threatened to shoot the teller, but no weapon was seen.

Below are details on each of the three robberies:

Our guide to unique lodging and adventures in San Diego’s beautiful backcountry

By Miriam Raftery

June 15, 2018 (Dulzura) – The pioneer-era Clark Ranch, home of the Dulzura Winery  in Dulzura, California dates back to 1885 and has remained in the Clark family to this day. Once known for its groves of olives and production of pickled figs, the land today is planted in vineyards and the former pickling house has been converted to a wine-tasting room, with a cozy guest cottage upstairs.

It’s an idyllic retreat for a peaceful stay in the country, miles away from city hustle and bustle, along historic Route 94. The name Dulzura means “sweet” in Spanish and may originally have referred to honey grown in the region.  Pioneering in Dulzura, a book written by Dorothy Clark Schmid, offered this picturesque description: “A rugged but sweet land, relaxed as its sun-based hills and deliberate as a prospector’s burro.”

East County News Service

June 15, 2016 (Lakeside) – The Shirthouse Band will perform summer bluegrass music this Saturday, June 16^th at 2 p.m.

This free concert will be held at the Lakeside Library, 9839 Vine Street.

By Eric Bartl

June 14, 2018 (San Diego) -- It wasn't your typical political rally. About 600 people gathered for the San Diego County Republican Party’s bi-monthly event Monday evening, June 11^th, at the Town and Country Hotel in Mission Valley. It was the first time California’s 2018 statewide Republican nominees appeared together.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo, left: Screenshot, Fox 5, of a resident's video; right below: Cal Fire photo of helicopter dropping water on the blaze

June 14, 2018 (Ramona)—The  Hope Fire caused minor damage to one residence and charred 35 acres in Ramona today 

East County News Service

June 14, 2018 (San Diego) – The Eureka! SDSU restaurant (5140 College Ave.) is helping guests kick off summer with an outdoor music fest and beer garden, all on an expansive patio, featuring five live music acts and five of the best local craft breweries to San Diego. The festivities run from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, June 23.

Source: UCSD News Center

Photo:  Graduate Leon Sanchez Reyes (left) with his sister and two younger brothers.

June 14, 2018 (San Diego) --This year, UC San Diego’s class of 2018 will be having the majority of commencement ceremonies on Saturday, June 16 and Sunday, June 17.  A total of 7,449 students will take the stage this weekend as this year’s graduating class participates in the campus’ various commencement ceremonies. Among the students is Leon Sanchez Reyes  Just two weeks before starting his first year at UC San Diego in 2014, Sanchez Reyes’ parents were deported. The immigration agents explained to him that his parents were going to be sent back to Mexico and nothing could be done about it.

“I felt abandoned and full of anger. Not at my parents, not at the officers—they were only doing their job—but at the system for leaving four children without their parents,” said Sanchez Reyes. The next night, Sanchez Reyes and his siblings met with their parents in Tijuana, discussing schooling and housing plans. Sanchez Reyes had secured housing on campus for his first year, but his parents and siblings had to relocate to Tijuana and then Rosarito.

East County News Service

June 14, 2018 (Julian) -- This year Julian’s 4^th of July parade has the theme, “Julian’s Star Spangled 4th,” a salute to the men and women who made our country great, both domestically and militarily.

For more than twenty years, Julian residents, their friends and parade lovers from all over have lined up at on the town’s main street to wave their flags, cheer the marching bands, salute the Marine Color Guard, and carry a giant American Flag down the thoroughfare. Bands include a bag pipe band, Dixieland jazz, mariachi music and the Gold Drum and Bugle Corps.