East County  News Service

August 23, 2015 (Lakeside) – Yesterday at 5:30 a.m., 16 detectives and deputies from the Lakeside Sheriff's Substation conducted a probation compliance/directed patrol operation in the Lakeside area.  Thirteen people were arrested, including five on warrants and seven on misdemeanor crimes. Stolen property was also recovered, including a $1,500 sound system control console.

August 22, 2015 (Poway)--The Most Rev. Samir Hana Kafity, twelfth president-bishop and primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East, and bishop-in-residence at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Poway, died on Friday afternoon at home after a stroke. He was 81 years old.

East County News Service

August 22, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – Monsoonal flows could bring afternoon and evening thunderstorms, lightning and heavy downpours Monday through Thursday in East County, along with gusty winds.

August 24, 2015 (San Diego)--The California Transportation Commission (CTC), San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), and San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce are hosting a public forum on Tuesday in San Diego on road infrastructure and maintenance needs at the local, regional and state level.  The forum from 4 to 6 p.m. will be held at the CALTRANS building’s Garcia auditorium at 4050 Taylor St., San Diego.

Representatives from the CTC, SANDAG, and the Chamber will discuss the reasons for California’s deteriorating transportation system, and potential short-term and long-term funding solutions to stabilize road repair and maintenance funding. Topics to be covered include:

August 22, 2015 (El Cajon)--Learn how to avoid getting reeled in by financial scammers and other crooks at East County’s first-ever “Don’t Get Hooked” event set for Wednesday, Sept. 23, in El Cajon.

East County News Service

August 21, 2015 (San Diego) – A suspected drunk driver who ran a light at Golfcrest and Navajo road struck and killed Rocia De Anda Leamon, a 38-year-old mother of three teenage sons.  The young mother was crossing the street to go walking on Cowles Mountain as she did daily, when she was hit and thrown 57 feet, landing face down on the pavement, the Union-Tribune reports.

By Miriam Raftery

Photos 1 and 2: grey wolf images from trail cam provided by CDFW

Photo 3: grey wolf, not in CA, by John and Karen Hollingsworth USFWS

August 21, 2015 (California) – California Department of Fish and Wildlife has released photographic evidence of seven wolves—two adults and five pups just a few months old—in northern California’s Siskiyou County.

By Miriam Raftery

August 21, 2015 (Borrego Springs)—A mother and her infant son are dead of injuries sustained in a two-vehicle collision that occurred yesterday shortly before 4 p.m. in Borrego Springs. Three other people were injured, according to the California Highway Patrol.

East County News Service

File photo by Nadin Abbott:  San Felipe wildfire, a prescribed burn  in San Diego's East County that got out of control in 2013.

August 21, 2015 (Anza-Borrego)—East County residents and a fire official have voiced concerns over a prescribed burn scheduled to be conducted by the California State Parks service today in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

“My opinion, not wise!” says Fire Chief Sam DiGiovanna at the Verdugo Fire Academy in Los Angeles. DiGiovanna also author’s the “Chief’s Corner” column on East County Magazine. He questions why a burn would be done in mid-summer amid drought conditions. “I don't have all the facts," he acknowledges, "however, fuel moisture content is the lowest ever. We have bone dry drought conditions. We have over 11,000 firefighters on the west fighting multiple major blazes. Aircraft, resources, personnel are stripped thin. We risk it? What if it gets away?”

August 21, 2015 (Anza-Borrego)--California State Parks is scheduled to conduct a limited prescribed burn on park lands today, conditions permitting.  This burn will occur in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park at Carrizo Marsh. The burn will impact travel on roadways in the burn area.

East County News Service

August 19, 2015 (Alpine)—The Kiwanis Club of Alpine is looking for some good cooks to enter its annual Alpine Kiwanis Car Show & Chili Cook Off set for Saturday, September 19.  The fundraiser supports local children and the Alpine Community Center.

Update, August 21, 2015:  Donna Tisdale notified us that the backcountry "celebration over the death of Soitec's Boulevard projects was a bit premature. Today, County staff informed me that Soitec is going to remove the 160 cargo containers full of potentially toxic batteries from their Rugged Solar project and will resubmit the revised EIR for certification by the Board of Supervisors. (Back in February, Soitec self-terminated their Tierra Del Sol Solar project just 1 month after receiving Board approval due to a lack of buyers.) Staff is trying to docket the revised EIR for the Board agenda by October so they can meet the Court's order to report back by November 2nd on how they plan to comply," adds Tisdale, who concludes, "The battle to save the backcountry continues."

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: A Soitec solar panel in Newbury Springs, California

August 20, 2015 (Boulevard) – The last of four massive solar projects proposed by Soitec Solar in Boulevard may now be officially dead.

On August 7^th, Superior Court Judge Joel R. Wohlfeil  overturned County Supervisors’ approvals of Soitec’s Rugged Acres and Tierra del Sol projects,  because the approvals violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)  Soitec and the County failed to file an appeal by the August 14^th deadline, says Donna Tisdale, chair of the Boulevard Planning Group and founder of Backcountry Against Dumps, which filed the lawsuit aiming to halt the project. View the court's judgment.

“Soitec’s Boulevard projects, approved for 1,200 acres, are now dead and buried!” Tisdale wrote in an email to project opponents. Any new projects proposed for those sites would need to start all over at step one,” requiring a new environmental impacts review, a lengthy and costly process. “I have asked the County for details on when they will set aside their voided approvals, as mandated by the court,” Tisdale added.

East County News Service

August 19, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – An Avian Flu outbreak has caused 48,000 chickens and other poultry to be  put to death to prevent spread of the deadly disease, CBS news reports.  That’s caused the price of eggs to skyrocket—and has left some restaurant owners scrambling to find substitute ingredients.

August 18, 2015 (El Cajon) --The Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College is offering a free sprinkler repair and maintenance class this Saturday, Aug. 22 from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.