By Rebecca Jefferis Williamson 

Photos courtesy of the California Nurses Association

April 13, 2020 (Poway) – Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Poway’s Palomar Health laid off 221 healthcare employees.  Today, around 45 registered nurses, technicians and other healthcare workers held a protest outside Palomar Medical Center in Poway.  

“Number one-we want safe staffing, number two-proper PPE (personal protective equipment), and three-rescind the layoffs,” Lori Isham, a five-year employee who participated in the protest, told ECM.  

By Miriam Raftery

April 9, 2020 (Lake Morena, CA ) – Last September, the County issued a do-not-drink order for 123 customers of the Lake Morena Views Mutual Water Co. due to high nitrate levels.  Nearly seven months later, high nitrate levels in the district's well water persist, forcing many rural residents to rely on bottled water for drinking and cooking.

Solving the problem will take more money than the small rural district can afford. As a result, the state is mandating that to receive funding help, the district must be combined with the neighboring Oak Shores Municipal Water District which serves Lake Morena Village – even though customers in that district previously voted against consolidation.

According to the State of California, infants under six months old and pregnant women should not drink water with high nitrate levels. Infants who drink nitrate-contaminated water or formula made with the water can develop blue baby syndrome, which causes blue skin and if left untreated, death.  High nitrates can also affect oxygen-carrying ability of the blood in pregnant women. Wellman Simmonds, president of Lake Morena Views Mutual Water Co., says that the warning also includes “elderly and those who are sick to not utilize the water for cooking or drinking.”

Boiling, freezing, filtering or letting tap water stand will not reduce nitrate levels—and boiling may actually increase nitrate concentrations.

Decision bypasses Campo’s tribal regulations and land use planning protections: Legal challenges are in the works

By Donna Tisdale, President of Backcountry Against Dumps

April 9, 2020 (Campo and Boulevard, California)-- Against strong opposition, including many tribal members, the Department of Interior just approved the Record of Decision (ROD) for Terra-Gen’s controversial Campo Wind project with 60-586 ft tall 4.2 megawatt (MW) turbines on Campo Tribal lands in rural San Diego County.

These turbines are taller than the tallest skyscraper in San Diego and twice as powerful as existing Kumeyaay Wind and Tule Wind turbines that already generate nuisance level adverse impacts for neighbors! To add insult to injury, the ROD was signed by the Assistant Secretary, which means we lose the right to appeal that approval.

Legal challenges are in the works.

Campo Wind is opposed by neighbors as well as by a qualified number of voting Campo Tribal members, but Campo leaders have ignored two valid tribal petitions: 1) to terminate Campo Wind ; 2) to remove their leadership for failing to hold the vote to terminate[1]. Turbines are planned far too close to homes and offices and can restrict the number and placement of new homes for current and future residents.

Campo’s elections are set for April 17^th, with strong hope that leaders will be voted in who will act to better protect their people and resources, and to stop Campo Wind dead in its tracks.

By Miriam Raftery

April 8, 2020 (Poway) – “We looked different, but got things done as usual,” Poway Mayor Steve Vaus posted on Facebook, with a masked photo, following last night’s city council meeting. The Council met in Council chambers, but without an audience. To comply with social distancing requirements, the public could watch live online, call in or send comments in ahead of time.

By a unanimous vote, the Council approved a moratorium on commercial evictions due to COVID-19 impacts until May 31, provided the commercial tenant notifies the landlord promptly. The documentation may be as simple as a statement signed under penalty of perjury stating that the tenant has suffered financial hardship due to the COVID-19 emergency. Tenants would still owe the rent after May 31, unless they negotiate long-term repayment or other arrangements with their landlord.

Update: Barbara "Betty" Wells has been found safe in Cathedral City in Riverside County.

By Miriam Raftery

April 5, 2020 (San Diego) – The Sheriff seeks public help to find Barbara “Betty” Welt, 86, reported missing yesterday by her daughter. She has dementia and speaks with a German accent. She was last seen yesterday getting off a bus in Miramar in a blue sweatshirt, maroon pants, black shoes and carrying a black purse. She was asking for directions to Palm Springs and may be trying to get a ride to her former home there.  

After going missing from her daughter’s home in Rancho Santa Fe, she got a ride to the Escondido Transit station before taking the bus to Miramar yesterday morning. She is 5 feet 4 inches tall, weights about 150 pounds, has hazel eyes and white hair.

By Miriam Raftery

April 3, 2020 (San Diego's East County) --  A quake measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale occurred this evening at 6:53 p.m. near Anza, at the boundary of San Diego and Riverside counties.  The U.S. Geological  Survey earlier ranked the quake a 4.6 but later upgraded its intensity.

The shallow quake, at a depth of about 6.6 miles, occurred along the San Jacinto fault which seismologists have previously indicated is capable of generating a powerful quake up to 7.5 in magnitude. There is a 5 percent chance that this quake could be a precurser to a large quake within the next 48 hours, seismologist Tom Rockwell with San Diego State University told the San Diego Union Tribune.

By Miriam Raftery

April 3, 2020 (Tecate) – Along the California-Mexico border at Tecate in San Diego’s East County, construction of the border wall is being done by workers not maintaining social distancing or wearing masks—despite national, state and county emergency declarations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Construction is deemed an essential business under California’s emergency order and the Trump administration has specifically deemed building the border wall essential.  But why are no precautions being taken to protect the health of workers and the public?

By Miriam Raftery

April 2, 2020 (San Diego) – Over 849 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in San Diego County. Of those, 1.4%, or 15 people have died, according to  County health officials. The county has identified several cluster outbreaks, including an outbreak in East County linked to the PalmCare Pharmacy in El Cajon,  NBC-7 reports.

A 25-year-old pharmacy tech who worked there , and who  had hoped to become a doctor, died last week at his family’s home in Riverside County. The pharmacy’s customers included many in East County’s Iraqi Chaldean community.

By Rebecca Jefferis Williamson

File photos by Miriam Raftery

March 31, 2020 (Alpine) -- Local tigers and other rescued exotic animals at Alpine’s Lions Tigers & Bears Animal Sanctuary need your monetary help.  The tigers, and more, need to keep eating even during today’s economic hard times induced by the COVID-19 crisis.

With millions in stay-at-home lockdown locally and nationally, money from attendance at the sanctuary has evaporated. The facility is closed to the public due to the pandemic. The COVID-19 shutdown has also forced postponement or cancellation of fundraising events for the foreseeable future.

You can donate at https://www.lionstigersandbears.org.  

Founder Bobbi Brinks set up the rescue facility and dedicated it to providing a safe haven for abused and abandoned exotic animals for life.

Unlike the infamous facility featured on “Tiger King,” Lions, Tigers and Bears is a no-kill and no-breeding  sanctuary.

By Paul Kruze

March 31, 2020 (El Cajon)-- Cajon Valley Union School District (CVUSD) Superintendent David Miyashiro, EdD and Board of Trustees have walked into a new controversy after reports by NBC San Diego and the San Diego Union-Tribune on pay raises authorized the district board.

Following a call to action by the Cajon Valley Employees Association (CVEA), some 100 CVUSD teachers wearing red t-shirt and coats gathered in the CVUSD boardroom on March 10, the last board meeting before the district shut down due to COVID-19. In no uncertain terms, employees let the Board of Trustees and district cabinet know of their unhappiness with recent pay raises given to Superintendent David Miyashiro, EdM and others.