January 17, 2011 (Sacramento)--California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom issued the following statement commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, urging all Californians to participate in local communities through public service. To find a service project in your community, visit: www.californiavolunteers.org.
“Our nation has made great progress, guided by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision of advancing social justice and opportunity for all," said Newsom, "but I recognize that there is still work to be done."
Egyptian proprietor also serves up coffee, snacks, and free classes to help Arabic-speaking residents
By Miriam Raftery
January 17, 2011 (El Cajon) --
On Saturday, throngs of well-wishers stopped by on Saturday to bid welcome (ahlan wa sahaln, أهلا وسهلا) to Zohny Hanna at his new business, Serenity House in downtown El Cajon. The store/coffee shop offers Christian books, art, and music in Arabic. Located on Main Street just east of Magnolia, Serenity House also offers free classes in English and community orientations for East County’s growing population of Arabic-speaking immigrants, asylees, and refugees.
“This is my land now. America is my new home,” says Hanna, who came here on a tourist vista back in 1997 with his wife and children, then received asylum status due to persecution of Coptic Christians in his native Egypt.
January 18, 2012 (San Diego's East County) -- Here are a few of our favorite shots from January--early signs that spring is on the way.
Please send us your best images for publication in a future issue! E-mail your top shots taken in East County or San Diego's inland regions to editor@eastcountymagazine.org.
January 17, 2010 (Poway) – Ramona resident Cynthia Clay, founder of Clay’s Canine Sidekicks and Leashes for Leaving, died Christmas night, December 25th, one day before her 58th birthday.
“Cyndy, while seriously disabled herself, created and managed over the years two service dog training groups,” said Hope Goodwin, a client who owns a service dog obtained through Clay. “I believe that Cyndy's training group is the only one in the U.S. that teaches the disabled how to train their own Service Dogs,” she said of the two-year program.
January 17, 2011 (San Diego) – San Diego Police report that a resident at 3000 Central Avenue became angered when a transient parked his pushcart on the property at 7:24 a.m. According to Officer J. Jacobsen, the resident hit the homeless man in the face with a 2 x 4 board.
January 17, 2011 (La Mesa)--Grossmont Healthcare District (GHD) is continuing its support of Communities Against Substance Abuse (CASA), East County's oldest, community-based, non-profit organization dedicated solely to substance abuse prevention. The GHD board of directors recently voted unanimously to approve a grant of $49,000 to help fund CASA’s Students Together Against Alcohol ‘N Drugs (STAAND), a youth advocacy program.
January 16, 2011 (El Cajon) – El Cajon Police Officer Dan Hansen stopped a car for a registration violation at 9 p.m. tonight at the intersection of Greenfield and Main. The car had not been registered for six months and was to be impounded, so an inventory was taken and a live grenade was found in the trunk.
Officers evacuated businesses near the car, and closed down the intersection.
January 16, 2011 (La Mesa)—Author Linda Schroeder will discuss her novel, Artists & Thieves, a mystery set in the Monterey art scene, in the Friendship Hall of United Church of Christ of La Mesa on February 12th. The novel introduces heroine Mai Ling who, in the words of Editor Mary Holden, is “a new kind of detective on the literary scene: smart, beautiful, respectful of her elders and her cultural history.”
January 16, 2011 (San Diego) – Larry Burns, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court’s Southern District in San Diego, has been assigned to preside over the case of Jarod Lee Loughner, the accused gunman in last week’s Arizona massacre. Loughner is accused of shooting 19 people in Tucson, Arizona, killing six. The dead include Arizona’s chief federal judge John Roll and a nine-year old girl. The injured include Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot through the brain.
January 16, 2011 (Barrett Junction) – A serious accident involving a motorcyclist down in the roadway has been reported at 12:00 noon today on Highway 94 near Barrett Lake Road. An ambulance is en route and other motorists have stopped to assist. The accident is near Barrett Café in a curve in the road, CHP reports. No further details are available at this time (12:20 p.m.)
Update 9 p.m.: The victim was a 67-year old Caucasian man from Valley Center, the San Diego Medical Examiner's office reports. His name has not been released pending next of kin.
January 16, 2011 (Anza-Borrego) – A fatality accident involving a trailer and a motorcycle has shut down Highway 78 just east of Scissors Crossing in the Anza Borrego Desert State Park, California Highway Patrol reports. The accident was reported at 11:41 a.m. and the road closure occurred at 12:04 p.m.
January 16, 2011 (Borrego Springs) – Famed night-sky photographer Dennis Mammana announces a series of photography classes and lectures in Borrego Springs in January, February and March, plus a celestial overnight campout in the Anza-Borrego desert January 29-30.
January 16, 2011 (San Diego)--Cox Communications Senior Vice President and General Manager Bill Geppert has announced his plans to retire, culminating a 30-year career in the communications industry, to focus on serving the San Diego community.
“We are deeply grateful to Bill for his outstanding leadership heading up our operations in New Orleans, the United Kingdom and, finally, San Diego,” said Pat Esser, President and CEO of Cox Communications.
January 16, 2011 (San Diego) – A man, 26, tried to pass traffic by driving onto the sidewalk in his 1998 Mitsubishi Montero this morning at 8:25 a.m. at 4400 Home Avenue. His vehicle struck a 2003 Ford F-150 that was turning right onto Fairmont ahead of him, causing the F-150 to roll over and strike a 2000 GMC Yukon.
January 16, 2011 (San Diego)—A woman, 40, lost control of a 2007 Hummer H3 that she was driving at a high rate of speed on Mission Gorge Road at 3:25 this morning, according to San Diego Police Officer David Stafford. The vehicle plunged down an embankment and into the backyard of a house on Echo Dell Road, then struck a fence and a tree.
January 15, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) – Three local organizations and an East County land use issues expert have filed a lawsuit against five federal agencies. The suit alleges that the agencies approved SDG&E’s planned Sunrise Powerlink transition line in violation of environmental regulations—in some cases, making decisions based on the original route through the Anza Borrego Desert, instead of the revised southern route through numerous East County communities.
The suit makes other contentions, notably that key decision makers ignored fire danger and failed to consider the collective impact on public lands in East County, where several wind farms are planned as well as Powerlink in some wilderness areas. In addition, plaintiffs claim that some decisions were made before completion of studies on endangered species and that once completed, those studies found the project could threaten endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep, golden eagles, and other species.
January 15, 2011 (San Diego) -- Councilmember Marti Emerald has asked Mayor Jerry Sanders to use newly found pension savings to fund San Diego’s financially strapped public safety agencies.
The City has learned its required pension payment for the 2012 fiscal year will be about $20 million less than originally anticipated-- about the same amount demanded in public safety cuts for next year.
January 15, 2011 (San Diegoi)--In California, a program to keep criminals from learning home addresses of policemen has morphed into a bureaucratic boondoggle that allows California Public Service Workers to avoid freeway tolls, red-light tickets, and bridge tolls.
January 15, 2011 (Escondido) – Carlos Martinez of Escondido sustained internal injuries and serious head trauma after he was ejected from his vehicle. The accident occurred at 4:54 a.m. on San Elijo Road in San Marcos.
January 15, 2011 (San Diego) – Another Year is about how people move in and out of our lives, such as how my two sisters and their families from out of town visit once or twice a year. With each visit, I see they have made all sorts of progress in their lives. They have kids, the kids grow up, and each year everyone gets a little smarter and wiser.
January 15, 2011 (Lemon Grove)--In celebration of Women's History Month, the Lemon Grove Historical Society will continue its free "History Alive" lectures series on Feb. 3 at 7 p.m. in the H. Lee House Cultural Center, 3205 Olive, Lemon Grove. Ashley Gardner, past president of the Women's Museum of California, presents the story of women who helped to build San Diego County in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
January 14, 2011 (La Mesa) – This morning, the El Cajon Police Department received a call from an unidentified man at his residence in El Cajon. He made a vague comment about a shooting at Helix High School in La Mesa, then hung up upon being questioned by the dispatcher. El Cajon Police and La Mesa Police gathered information about the suspect to assess what was believed to be a potential threat.
January 14, 2011 (San Diego) – A woman, 26, has escaped an assailant who grabbed her in an apparent kidnapping attempt at 2:30 p.m. today.
San Diego Police Sgt. Ray Batrtrick reports that the woman was running near 58th and Trojan Avenue in the El Cerrito neighborhood (View map) which is south of I-8, west of the Rolando/La Mesa neighborhoods and east of Talmadge when she was approached by a white man in his 30s driving an older, faded red pickup truck similar to a Ford Ranger.
January 17, 2011 (Sacramento)--California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom issued the following statement commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, urging all Californians to participate in local communities through public service. To find a service project in your community, visit: 
By Miriam Raftery
January 17, 2010 (Poway) – Ramona resident Cynthia Clay, founder of Clay’s Canine Sidekicks and Leashes for Leaving, died Christmas night, December 25th, one day before her 58th birthday.
January 17, 2011 (La Mesa)--Grossmont Healthcare District (GHD) is continuing its support of Communities Against Substance Abuse (CASA), East County's oldest, community-based, non-profit organization dedicated solely to substance abuse prevention. The GHD board of directors recently voted unanimously to approve a grant of $49,000 to help fund CASA’s Students Together Against Alcohol ‘N Drugs (STAAND), a youth advocacy program. 
January 16, 2011 (La Mesa) – Is a serial pet poisoner on the loose in La Mesa?
Case to be moved to San Diego
January 16, 2011 (Barrett Junction) – A serious accident involving a motorcyclist down in the roadway has been reported at 12:00 noon today on Highway 94 near Barrett Lake Road. An ambulance is en route and other motorists have stopped to assist. The accident is near Barrett Café in a curve in the road, CHP reports. No further details are available at this time (12:20 p.m.)
January 16, 2011 (Borrego Springs) – Famed night-sky photographer Dennis Mammana announces a series of photography classes and lectures in Borrego Springs in January, February and March, plus a celestial overnight campout in the Anza-Borrego desert January 29-30.
January 16, 2011 (San Diego)--Cox Communications Senior Vice President and General Manager Bill Geppert has announced his plans to retire, culminating a 30-year career in the communications industry, to focus on serving the San Diego community. 
January 16, 2011 (San Diego) – A man, 26, tried to pass traffic by driving onto the sidewalk in his 1998 Mitsubishi Montero this morning at 8:25 a.m. at 4400 Home Avenue. His vehicle struck a 2003 Ford F-150 that was turning right onto Fairmont ahead of him, causing the F-150 to roll over and strike a 2000 GMC Yukon.
January 16, 2011 (San Diego)—A woman, 40, lost control of a 2007 Hummer H3 that she was driving at a high rate of speed on Mission Gorge Road at 3:25 this morning, according to San Diego Police Officer David Stafford. The vehicle plunged down an embankment and into the backyard of a house on Echo Dell Road, then struck a fence and a tree. 
Kaminski’s Sports Lounge Barbeque
January 15, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) – Three local organizations and an East County land use issues expert have
January 15, 2011 (San Diego) -- Councilmember Marti Emerald has asked Mayor Jerry Sanders to use newly found pension savings to fund San Diego’s financially strapped public safety agencies.
By Will Power
Tests Show Air Quality Unchanged, Soil Cleanup Completed
January 14, 2011 (La Mesa) – This morning, the El Cajon Police Department received a call from an unidentified man at his residence in El Cajon. He made a vague comment about a shooting at Helix High School in La Mesa, then hung up upon being questioned by the dispatcher. El Cajon Police and La Mesa Police gathered information about the suspect to assess what was believed to be a potential threat.
January 14, 2011 (San Diego) – A woman, 26, has escaped an assailant who grabbed her in an apparent kidnapping attempt at 2:30 p.m. today.
highlights accomplishments, but results are apparent in a stroll down Main Street
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