October 15, 2014 (San Diego’s East County)-- East County Roundup highlights top stories of interest to East County and San Diego’s inland regions, published in other media. This week’s top “Roundup” headlines include:

LOCAL/REGIONAL

• San Diego County wins Special Districts award (UT San Diego)
• SDSU Professor Selecting 'Tweeters' To Spread Emergency Messages (KPBS)
• Effort Started To Get More Recycled Water From Padre Dam (KPBS)
• Peters gets backing of 11 ex-Chamber of Commerce execs (Times of San Diego)
• How San Diego Hospitals Would Handle Ebola (KPBS)
• Curtains for Thomas Jefferson School of Law? (SD Reader)
• Cohn Group unveils $10 million floating party space (UT San Diego)
• Woman crushed by car ID'd as chamber VP   (UT San Diego)

STATE

• Is California headed for a ‘megadrought’? (UT San Diego)
• Thousands Of Mail-In Ballots Going Uncounted In California (KPBS)
• California woman freed after 17 years, declared innocent of murder (Reuters)
• Editorial: Michael Peevey leaves a mixed legacy as CPUC president (SacBee)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

October 12, 2014 (San Diego)--For experienced daredevils, that adrenaline rush is hard to come by when you are scared of virtually nothing. So, where do all of these gutsy guys and gals live and what do they do for thrills and excitement?

Update October 8, 2014:  The search for Sally Estabrook continues.  A witness reported seeing someone resembling her Monday walking near mile marker 15.  A dog search team and helicopters with night-vision goggles have joined in the search.

East County News Service

October 6, 2014 (Julian) – Take a look at these newly-released photos of 75-year old Sally Estabrook, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and has been missing since Saturday, October 4th  from the Pinezanita RV Park & Campground on Highway 79.  Dozens of Sheriff’s Search and Rescue volunteers have joined professional search teams from across Southern California.

The Sheriff is asking anyone with surveillance video (home or business) from the day she disappeared to come forward, in hopes of finding clues.

Estabrook’s husband discovered she was missing after he finished taking a shower around 4 p.m. Saturday.  The search has been going on ever since then.  On Monday, the search area was expanded to five miles outside of the campground.

By Miriam Raftery

Hear audio of the complete debate at the links below. (Note, these may take a few moments to load.)  Or click "read more" and scroll down for details and highlights.

• Part 1:  https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/sites/eastcountymagazine.org/files/au...
• Part 2: https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/sites/eastcountymagazine.org/files/au...

October 2, 2014 (Rancho San Diego)—Republican Congressman Duncan D. Hunter, a Marine Corps veteran,  and challenger James Kimber, a former Navy corspman and current physician assistant in neurosurgery, took the stage September 26th at Cuyamaca College in a contentious yet civil debate.  Voters have a clear choice in this race, in which the candidates clashed on nearly every issue. While finding common ground on the importance of fighting terrorism and protecting the backcountry against massive energy projects that threaten rural communities and public safety, the two contenders offered contrasting views on nearly everything else, from budget priorities to climate change to the role of government itself.

Paul McCartney’s OUT THERE Tour has added a San Diego concert set for Sunday, Sep 28th at 8:00 p.m. at Petco Park. Our freelancer, Ariele Johannson, attended the McCartney concert in August at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles—and also shares memories of a Beatles concert in New York 50 years ago that she attended back in 1964. Written for the 50th Anniversary of the Beatles first U.S. tour, this article is a “must read” for all Beatles fans of today and yesterday.

Photo, left: Beatles in 1964,  Library of Congress image

THE BEATLES! IN PERSON                                                                             

By Ariele Johannson                         

September 23, 2014 (San Diego)--The year was 1964, and I was touched by a movement—the craze of “Beatlemania.” An eleven-year-old girl in Long Island, New York, my life still felt like a closed book. I didn’t fit in anywhere…yet. I was quiet, smart, freckle-faced, and wore glasses. Yes, they called me “four eyes.”

San Diego's thirst for Colorado River water threatens ecosystem at Salton Sea

By Leon Thompson

Photos:  Salton Sea Authority, U.S. Geological Survey, Salton Sea Museum, and Tobias Deml

September 20, 2014 (Salton Sea) – The rotten smell in the desert just east of East County is the harbinger of worse things yet to come.

The tell-tale odor of “rotten eggs" prompted officials to issue an air quality warning for the Coachella Valley.  The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued an odor advisory Tuesday warning residents they could experience headaches and nausea.

By Miriam Raftery

September 19, 2014 (La Mesa)—Drew Ford, a fixture in La Mesa with roots dating back to 1927, has sold to SoCalPenske. Mallory Lee, agency manager at Drew Ford, confirmed the sale to ECM reporter Janis Russell, adding that she believes Penske will keep the facility a Ford dealership.

East County News Service

Hurricane Odile has struck the coast of Baja California, Mexico in Cabo San Lucas at record speeds of 125 miles per hour as a category 3 hurricane.  Up to 11 inches per hour were reported in the tourist resort town, according to CNN.

As Odile moves north, it is not expected to make landfall near San Diego. However moisture from the system could bring significant rainfall across our region Wednesday and Thursday, the National Weather Service Reports. The risk of flash flooding will also increase by mid week. 

Our East County Magazine Show's July radio broadcasts are now online, covering hot issues from the Banner Fire to immigrant children to local rallies to save Iraqi Christians. We also interviewed local authors, musicians, a new winery owner, and a representative of the Lions Clubs’ Camp Jack in Descanso for disadvantaged children. Plus we had coverage and analysis of local and national issues, from the minimum wage to  some controversial Supreme Court rulings.

We also rebroadcast of our interview with Sycuan Chairman Daniel Tucker on the tribe’s Emmy Award winning documentary on Kumeyaay history, plus on the 4th of July weekend, we re-aired our “Spirits of 1776” dramatic presentation featuring `interviews’ with our nation’s founding fathers and mothers. Plus we brought you on-the-scene coverage of Descanso Days.

For a full list of interviews and issues on each of our July shows, click here, or click “read more” and scroll down. To listen to future shows, tune in to KNSJ 89.1 FM Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 9 a.m. or listen online live during our broadcasts at www.KNSJ.org.

Watch on YouTube

Read the President's full address here.

By Miriam Raftery

September 10, 2014 (Washington D.C.)-- President Obama tonight spoke to the nation , laying out a comprehensive strategy to “degrade and ultimately destroy” ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) terrorist group that has declared an Islamic state across Iraq and Syria, massacring thousands of Iraqis and beheading two captured American journalists.

“Working with the Iraqi government, we will expand our efforts beyond protecting our own people and humanitarian missions, so that we’re hitting ISIL targets as Iraqi forces go on offense.  Moreover, I have made it clear that we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are,” the President said. “That means I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria, as well as Iraq.  This is a core principle of my presidency:  If you threaten America, you will find no safe haven.”

The President made clear that the U.S. will lead an international effort to eradicate ISIL. He assured that unlike the past decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, this conflict will not include U.S. combat troops on the ground.  Instead, he laid out a four-part strategy. First, air strikes will target ISIL in Iraq, Syria and wherever else ISIL poses a threat.

By Miriam Raftery

September 8, 2014 (La Mesa)—The East County Cash Mob is back – and you’re invited to help several struggling small business owners in La Mesa’s downtown village all day on September 13th.

“Times have been tough with local construction on the city streets. Their business has dropped 80 percent,” says Susan Barron, organizer of the event, said of the impact that torn up streets from a downtown revitalization project is having on local merchants.

Cash mobs organize through social media to draw customers and support small businesses during tough times. To participate, simply come prepared to spend $20 or more at any of the following businesses:

• Act ll                   8321 La Mesa Blvd.
• Wildflowers          8323 La Mesa Blvd.
• Amethyst Moon    8329 La Mesa Blvd.
• O’Dunn Fine Art    8325 La Mesa Blvd.
• Glamour Girlz    special invited guest inside Amethyst Moon
  

By Miriam Raftery

September 4, 2014 (San Diego)--Fast food workers across America on Thursday put down their burger flippers and picked up picket signs.  Workers went out on strike at an estimated 150 fast food restaurants nationwide. The workers want wages raised to $15 an hour . They point out that it’s not just kids working at fast food chains nowadays;  the economy has forced many adults including parents with families to take jobs in the fast food industry. Many are struggling at minimum wage jobs.

In some places, striking workers engaged in civil disobedience, from New York to San Diego. Locally, workers in City Heights staged a march from McDonalds to Burger King and Jack in the Box outlets.  Several staged a sit-in on the University Bridge over I-15 to draw attention of  motorists, and some protesters were arrested, KPBS reports.

Photo, left: rattlesnake in Ramona, by Elena Pena

By Miriam Raftery

September 3, 2014 (San Diego’s East County) – Neurotoxic snake bites, known as “super bites”, were formerly  rare in our region, found mainly in the Mojave Desert. But 10 News reports these serious bites are occurring now in suburban areas of San Diego and East County.

A dog with a neurotoxin bite in Del Cerro, for example, went into shock and had difficulty walking. The dog was treated at Pet Emergency and Specialty Center in La Mesa, where vets told 10 news that three of the ten snakebites treated in the past week have been neurotoxic bites.

August 30, 2014 (Alpine) – Viejas Casino & Resort will attempt to launch the world’s longest chain of fireworks—more than 10,000 – to celebrates its 23^rd anniversary on Friday, September 12th at 8 p.m. You’re invited to the festivities near the Viejas Hotel pool to witness the sky come alive with fireworks during this Guinness Book of World Records setting attempt.

East County Chaldean Bishop Jammo to personally deliver donations from Iraqi Christian Relief Fund fundraiser to persecuted Christians in Iraq

East County News Service

August 27, 2014 (El Cajon) Tonight at 7 p.m.,  over 700 San Diegans, including the Chaldean community, will gather in solidarity to raise funds for persecuted Iraqi Christians, at the Iraqi Christian Relief Fund (ICRF) fundraiser at St Peters Chaldean Cathedral in Rancho San Diego.

This is the first major fundraiser in San Diego for persecuted Iraqi Christians.

Speakers at the fundraiser showing unity with Iraqi Christians, will include Dr. Jim Garlow, Senior Pastor of Skyline Church in Rancho San Diego.