East County News Service

September 29, 2015 (Santee)—Santana High School Principal Tim Schwuchow has notified parents in a letter about two incidents last week in which female students were reportedly followed by a white Chevrolet pickup truck.

“What if the next touch and go crash takes out a school in session?" – a resident’s letter to Supervisor Dianne Jacob

East County News Service

September 21, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) --After a plane crashed into a Santee home on September 3rd, killing the pilot and a flight student near Gillespie Field, Advocates for Safe Airport Policies or “ASAP” is calling for action to protect community members. ASAP has made many complaints to officials before this crash, which is the latest in a string of crashes and serious mishaps involving planes at Gillespie. But recently residents have warned of frequent and low flights over homes due to an increase in flight school training of students at Gillespie Field.  

Now ASAP is holding a meeting for concerned airport neighbors. The event will be held September 30^th at a private home in Fletcher Hills.  To RSVP and get the addresss contact suestrom1@cox.net.

By Miriam Raftery

September 6, 2015 (Santee)—A shot was fired but no one was seriously injured during a struggle to subdue a suspect, Jennifer Rebecca McKee, in Santee yesterday. Witnesses including two law enforcement officers say McKee tried to run over her boyfriend with a vehicle, then attacked him with a baseball bat and assaulted a law enforcement officer.

Signal will increase safety for drivers, residents and pedestrians

September 2, 2015 (Santee) – Pardee Homes has announced that the traffic signal improvement project on Mast Boulevard will soon be complete. The work is expected to conclude in early October. Pardee, developer of the future Castlerock residential community to be located north of Mast Boulevard between Medina Drive and West Hills Parkway, has been working with the City of Santee to expedite the installation of a traffic signal at the western exit from West Hills High School to improve safety for drivers, residents and pedestrians.

East County News Service

August 2, 2015 (Santee) – Nathan Smoltz, 31, has been arrested for felony drunk driving after the Ford Explorer he was driving plunged off a steep embankment and rolled over several times, ending up in a ravine in harsh terrain northwest of Summit Avenue in Santee.  Four people were injured, including two in serious condition and one who sustained critical injuries.

By Miriam Raftery

July 9, 2015 (Santee) – At last night’s Santee City Council meeting, 24 people came to show support for asking that dogs from puppy  mills be outlawed for sale in Santee.   The group is waiting to see if Council will agree to add the item to its agenda.

Sydney Cicourel, west coast director for The Puppy Mill Project, told Council members that her organization has gathered 3,000 signatures on a petition in support of the ban.  The group has been protesting at Pups and Pets, a Santee store that Cicourel says purchases dogs in from puppy mills where the animals are kept in “deplorable” conditions that are unsafe and unsanitary, often in stacked wire cages.

East County News Service

June 22, 2015 (San Diego's East County)--Summit Unitarian Universalist Fellowship will be holding a Standing on the Side of Love event to support the national "Black Lives Matter" movement in Lemon Grove, California on June 22nd from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m.. 

The movement is a rallying cry against police actions and a criminal justice system which results in extremely disproportionate acts of violence, incrimination and incarceration of Blacks in America. This event will also advocate that local law enforcement agencies such as the San Diego Sheriffs' Department stop conducting actions like Operation Lemon Drop which appear to target low income populations of color.

The rally will start at the northwest corner of Lemon Grove Avenue and Broadway.  At 5:30, local speakers will make short presentations regarding this movement in our region.

June 8, 2015 (Santee)--Toyota of El Cajon joined forces with the Padres Volunteer Team to help the San Diego River Park Foundation remove trash and debris from the San Diego River Watershed in the Forester Creek area of Santee on Saturday, June 6. The cleanup event targeted 20 sites along the river’s watershed, with the goal of collecting over 3,600 lbs. of trash in three hours.

May 26, 2015 (Santee) – West Hills High School in Santee was placed in lockdown today after staff received a call at 9:15 a.m. claiming that several bombs had been placed around the campus.

Sheriff’s deputies swiftly responded and found suspicious items, prompting a call to the Bomb Arson unit and a lockdown order for the campus.  Additional agencies were summoned including the Santee Fire Dept., San Diego Fire Bomb Squad, federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cal Fire, El Cajon Police and numerous Sheriff’s detectives.

May 21, 2015 (Santee) - The nine Chick-fil-A restaurants in San Diego County, including the Santee Chick-fil-A restaurant, 9418 Mission Gorge Road, Santee, are preparing to give away a combined total of about 10,000 chicken sandwiches on Wednesday, May 20, as part of a “Military Appreciation Night” promotion.

East County News Service

Photo: Heartland firefighter Gabe Belloli

May 17, 2015 (Santee) – The pilot of a single-engine Cherokee plane made an emergency landing Saturday morning on Prospect Avenue near Cuyamaca Street in Santee.

April 26, 2015 (Santee) – Sheriff’s deputies set up a checkpoint in the 8700 block of Mast Boulevard in Santee Saturday night to check for drivers under the influence of alcohol.

East County News Service

April 18, 2015 (Santee) –A man wearing a skirt entered several Santee businesses last Wednesday,  then lifted his skirt to show his underwear to women present.  One hairdresser at Hair It Is Etc. told 10 News the man seemed “mental” and was asked to leave.

East County News Service

April 7, 2015 (Santee) -- The Sheriff's Department wants your help in identifying and locating a woman who robbed a pharmacy at gunpoint in Santee.

The woman entered a CVS store in the 9700 block of Mission Gorge Road around 4:30 a.m. Witnesses say the suspect pulled out a pistol and demanded percocet, a drug, and threatened to shoot the clerk if the demands were not met. Once the woman was given the percocet, she walked out of the store. No one was hurt.