East County News Service

February 4, 2024 (Santee) -- The City of Santee’s eighth annual Fido Fest will take place Saturday, February 17 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Town Center Community Park East, located at 550 Park Center Drive, Santee 92071. Join the City of Santee for tail-wagging fun at one of San Diego County’s most popular dog events.

This family and dog-friendly event is an opportunity for attendees to view adoptable dogs from about 20 local rescues, shop from various vendors, watch amazing demonstrations, and enjoy giveaways. If walking or shopping through the excitement works up your appetite, 5 food vendors will be serving delectable eats for all to enjoy. There will be a variety of arts and crafts to paw-take in, including: yappy hour, treat finder, doggy tattoos, an off-leash area, fly ball demonstration, an agility course, and a sniff station.

Show off your four-legged friend in costume, size, and trick contests for a chance to win a giveaway item! In addition to the showcase of contest entries, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and Santee Fire Department will demonstrate their canines’ capabilities.

Source: County News Service

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

February 3, 2023 (San Diego) --  The San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Jan. 30, 2024, took new actions to help people in communities flooded by the Jan. 22, 2024, torrential rains, including putting into place temporary additional tenant protection measures. The approved ordinance prohibits people who were affected by the floods from being evicted without just cause. The ordinance also restricts certain rent increases on eligible properties from January 22, 2024, to March 30, 2024.

The flood affected areas specified in the ordinance include residential units located in the following ZIP codes: 92102, 92104, 92105, 92111, 92113, 92114, 92115, (San Diego); 91977 (Spring Valley); 91950 (National City);91945 (Lemon Grove); and 92118 (Coronado).

East County News Service 

January 31, 2024 (El Cajon) – A 20-year-old Lemon Grove man was shot and killed last night around 8:35 p.m. after exiting his vehicle, which had crashed and gone down an embankment off I-8 in El Cajon.

JPA to discuss options in a closed-door meeting with legal counsel

By Miriam Raftery

Photo, left:  Dr. Michael Hager, President, Friends of the Water Conservation Garden, and Lauren Magnuson, Interim Director of the Garden

January 30, 2024 (El Cajon) – Friends of the Water Conservation Garden and the garden’s new interim director, Lauren Magnuson, made impassioned pleas at a January 23 meeting,  asking the Joint Powers Authority (JPA) to allocate additional funds through June to help alleviate a financial crisis.

The Water Conservation Garden is celebrating its 25^th anniversary this year. Magnuson. said, “We supported the community during the pandemic. Now we are hoping that the community will support us.”

The Garden has over $1 million in financial obligations, including large loans taken out during the pandemic and some smaller grant funds slated to be returned. Questions have been raised by the JPA over years of inaccurate record-keeping practices and borrowing by Friends to cover the Garden’s operating expenses, among other concerns.

“The Garden has significantly cut our monthly budget by more than half,” Magnuson told ECM in an interview earlier this month. “We unfortunately had to furlough a good portion of our staff and lean on current staff to absorb those furloughed positions.” She has pledged full transparency and open communication with staff and volunteers, scrambling to pull together financial records and options to help the garden grow and thrive in the future—though the task is daunting.

By Jocelyn Campos

January 28, 2024 (El Cajon) -- In 2024 Uprise Theatre partners with Cuyamaca College's Queer Student Center to offer East County San Diego monthly name and gender change clinics along with legal clinics specifically for those folks who identify as LGBTQ+.

Although hosted through Cuyamaca College these clinics are open to everyone, for free.

January 27, 2024 (Ramona) -- Joe Cortez photographed this pair of coyotes chilling out in the Ramona Grasslands County Preserve. This biologically diverse 3,541 acre preserve also supports 23 butterfly species, 21 reptile species, six types of amphibians, 37 mammals, over 100 types of birds, and 408 plant species. You can visit on your own, or join a docent-led guided excursion.

East County News Service

January 27, 2024 (Spring Valley)—A Local Assistance Center for those impacted by recent flooding will be at the Spring Valley Library,836 Kempton St. in Spring Valley.  Hours for the two-day center will be Sunday, Jan. 28 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Monday through Wednesday, Jan. 29-31 from 10 a.m.to 7 p.m.

No appointments are needed. Flood victims can walk in for help with services such as:

By Jonathan Goetz

January 24, 2024 (Poway) -- Poway High School is presenting a musical rendition of Disney’s The Little Mermaid at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts. The show is scheduled to take place in early February 2024. The tickets for the show are priced between $15.38 and $25.63 (including the service fee). The show promises to be an affordable, enjoyable and memorable experience for attendees.

If you are interested in attending the show, you can purchase tickets from the Poway High School Titan Theatre. The website also provides information on the seating arrangement.

By Jessyka Heredia

January 24, 2023 (La Mesa) – Mastiff kitchen in La Mesa is serving up homemade sausages that will really knock your socks off, but their menu has so much more to offer, so you might want to share family style. From crispy pan pizza’s and burgers to Brussel sprouts, you won’t be disappointed.

East County News Service

January 23, 2024 (San Diego's East County)--If you or someone you know is experiencing unsafe living conditionsin EastCounty due to flooding, the Red Cross has opened a shelter.  The shelter is in the Bostonia Recreation Room,1049 Bostonia St.,El Cajon. Additional shelters have been opened at Lincoln High School and the Coronado Community Center.

"The County of San Diego Office of Emergency Services is actively monitoring the storm and its impacts," says Supervisor Joel Anderson, who notes that the winter storm ha affected many parts of the County, with multiple communities and highways experiencing flooding, "especially communities I represent in the unincorporated area of the County."

"The County of San Diego will be assisting with damages caused by the winter storm. More details on that will be shared in the coming days," Supervisor Anderson adds. "For now, if there's any way my office can be of assistance to you during this time, please do not hesitate to reach out to us using the contact form on my website."

The safety of students and school staff is of the upmost importance to San Diego County School Districts. The following schools have early dismissals or closures planned for this week. Please contact your school's administration for more details:

By: Jessyka Heredia

January 22, 2024 (Lemon Grove) — Lemon Grove Happenings in collaboration with Elevated Coffee, and the Musicians Club of San Diego are hosting ‘Groovin’ in the Grove’, a band open mic event at Elevated Coffee Sunday January 28, 2024, from 2:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m.

By Miriam Raftery

Updated January 23, 2024 to include city and county of San Diego declaring an emergency

January 22, 2024 (San Diego’s East County) – Heavy rains during today’s storm caused widespread flooding, road closures, power outages, and inundation of vehicles and structures including an East County school. Flooding also prompted numerous rescues including motorists trapped in vehicles in Spring Valley and Lemon Grove, as well as homeless people stranded by rising waters along the San Diego River in Santee.

Richard Attaway took dramatic  photos  (left) of Mission Gorge Road in Santee just east of  Carlton Hills Boulevard, where he said “there are homeless clinging on trees for their lives in the river bed.” One video showed a woman stranded on an island surrounded by swift-flowing currents. Numerous emergency crews were on hand and at least one person was rescued from the floodwaters.

By Miriam Raftery

January 21, 2024 (Alpine, CA) – Tamara Newton, a Granite Hills High School alumni and daughter of Alpine resident Carlette Anderson, is hospitalized after suffering a brain hemorrhage from a suspected tumor. She is paralyzed on her left side, cannot walk, and requires full-time care.

“The family has been very generous, but now we need some extra help with her expenses and recovery,” Anderson, founder of CPR PROS,  told  East County Magazine. A GoFundMe account has been setup to help pay for surgery and other medical needs.

The family posted on the site, “There is no doubt that it will be SO much easier for her if you join us in showering her with blessings and support in this time of need. She cannot work at this time, has limited savings and many new expenses. AND all this happened within days of moving from New Jersey to California with her youngest son.”

East County News Service

January 21, 2024 (La Mesa)-- Lamplighters Theatre in La Mesa will present playwright Arthur Miller’s classic, The Crucible January 12 through February 4. 

Written in 1953, it is a dramatized and fictionalized retelling of the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1692-93. Most of the characters are real historical figures.  Miller wrote the play as an allegory for McCarthyism.  It is regarded as a central work in the canon of American drama.  It’s a story of one man’s struggle toward grace.  It depicts human struggles both internal and external:  a community galvanized by fear and suspicion, a wife betrayed by lust, an orphan girl blind with passion and obsessed with revenge, ruthless prosecutors, deluded holy men, and covetous neighbors. 

Lamplighter’s director has updated once again, this time to 2020, where it appears the country is again seemingly divided and moving in two extreme directions.

By Miriam Raftery

This story has been updated after the victim died.

January 21, 2024 (Jamul) – Sheriff’s deputies have charged Travis Bodle, 53, for the murder of his mother, 77-year-old Vickie Bodle.

The Fire Department called Sheriff’s deputies after responding to the 14400 block of Hillside Estates Drive in Jamul, where the victim showed signs of a physical assault.  She was transported to a hospital with life-threatening injuries in critical condition, and has since succumbed to her injuries, says Lieutenant Joseph Janjura with the Sheriff’s homicide unit.