By Miriam Raftery

Image: U.S. Constitution, cc via Bing

June 18, 2023 (Sacramento) – California Governor Gavin  Newsom has proposed a 28^th amendment to reduce gun violence. Newsom says, “The 28th Amendment will enshrine in the Constitution common sense gun safety measures that Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and gun owners overwhelmingly support — while leaving the 2nd Amendment unchanged and respecting America’s gun-owning tradition.”

Because Congress lacks enough votes to pass even modest gun reforms,  Newsom has called for a constitutional convention to be convened,as allowed under Article V of the Constitution.  But that’s never been done.  It requires a steep bar:  two-thirds of states must call for a constitutional convention,  amid a currently divided political landscape.

But even some who might support gun reforms may think twice about potential risks to our democracy that a constitutional convention could pose, since the process could open the door to rewriting other aspects of the Constitution that  Americans have long taken for granted as permanent protections for our rights and liberties.

East County News Service

June 17, 2023 (San Diego) — C. Hook Theater will present  “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” June 21-24 at the Ray & Joan Kroc Performing Arts Theatre (6611 University Ave., San Diego).

The musical is based on the beloved characters created by Charles Shultz in the comic strip “Peanuts.”

Second tragedy in a week occurs at popular waterfall site

By Miriam Raftery

June 17, 2023 (Julian) --  The U.S. Forest Service has closed the trail to Three Sisters Falls unitl further notice while first responders search for a missing man, 27, who was last seen swimming late  yesterday.  Helix Water District has shut off water from a dam feeding the falls to aid rescue efforts.

Deputies with the Julian Sheriff's Substation received a call for help on Friday, June 16 just before 5:00 p.m. “Two people were swimming at the middle level of the falls. One went underwater and did not resurface,” says Lieutenant William Amavisca.

By Miriam Raftery

June 16, 2023 (San Diego's East County) -- A Juneteenth Jubilee, outdoor concerts, the Mt. Helix Food and Wine festival, a Taste of San Diego East, a Team on a Trek challenge, comedy, the musical Grease onstage,  4tth of July celebrations and fireworks are all coming up in San Diego’s East County in June and July.

Find full details on these and many more hot summertime happenings below.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  A Yellow-Naped Amazon Parrot, by Charles J. Sharp, Sharp Photography, CC by SA 4.0

June 15, 2023 (Jamul) – Chirping at a Miami airport alerted authorities to a smuggler with 29 parrot eggs inside—including one that had just hatched. Two dozen of the eggs later hatched out, including 21 critically endangered Yellow-Naped Amazon parrots and three Red-Lored Amazons.

Update June 19, 2023 --The deceased has been identified as  Max Andrew Vizcarra, 26. The Medical Examiner found cause of death to be blunt force injuries and inhaling products of combustion.

By Miriam Raftery

June 15, 2023 (Dulzura) – A 26-year-old San Diego man lost control of the sedan he was driving last night on State Route 94 in Dulzura, causing a fiery collision with a pickup truck.  The crash killed the sedan driver and injured the pickup truck’s driver.

According to the California Highway Patrol, the sedan was heading westbound on 94 just west of Cochera Via Drive around 7:10 p.m. when the driver traveled onto the dirt shoulder, then spun counterclockwise and crossed into the eastbound lane. The sedan struck a 2012 Dodge Ram 2500 pickup driven by a 26-year-old man from Tecate, Mexico, who was traveling at 55 miles per hour.

“The right side of the sedan struck the front of the Dodge, resulting in the sedan bursting into flames,” says Officer Jared Grieshaber with the CHP. “The driver of the sedan was knocked unconscious during the impact, and the driver of the Dodge attempted to extricate him from the sedan, but was unable to do so.”

 By Miriam Raftery

June 15, 2023 (Washington D.C.) – By a 7-2 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court voted this morning to uphold the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) provisions which require that Native Americans be given preference to foster or adopt Native  American children. 

The law was enacted to keep children in their Tribal community and protect tribal sovereignty, in response to many decades of Indian children being taken away from their families by both state and federal authorities and given to white families to adopt, or winding up in the foster care system, losing cultural identity. The law gives priority to adoption by others in the Tribal community, if parents cannot care for their own children.

“By ruling on the side of children’s health and safety, the U.S. Constitution, and centuries of precedent, the justices have landed on the right side of the law,” reads a statement issued by  leaders of four tribes involved in the case – the Cherokee Nation, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians in Southern California, the Oneida Nation, and the Quinault Indian Nation.  “With these latest political attacks on  ICWA now behind us, we hope we can move forward  on focusing on what is best for our children.”

East County News Service

June 14, 2023 (Sacramento) -- This year, the “House of Origin Deadline” was June 2^nd, the final day for bills to pass the house in which they were first introduced. Several bills by  Assemblywoman  Marie Waldron (R-Valley Center) passed the Assembly by that deadline.

By Miriam Raftery

Donald Michael Santini,  aka Wellman "Wells" Simmonds

June 13, 2023 (San Diego’s East County) – A fugitive wanted for the murder of a Florida woman nearly 40 years ago, as well as a robbery in Texas, has been leading a double life in Campo. There, he brazenly held public positions under an assumed name.

On Wednesday, Donald Michael Santini, known locally under the alias Wellman “Wells” Simmonds, was arrested in Campo's Lake Morena community by U.S. Marshals, ECM news partner 10 News reports.

Simmonds served on the Campo-Lake Morena Community Planning Group as well as president of the board of directors for the Lake Morena Views Mutual Water Company, a troubled water district where nitrate contamination has left district residents forced to drink bottled water for the past three years, as ECM reported.

“Everyone was surprised. There was nothing unusual about him,” Billie Jo Jannen, Chair of the planning group, told ECM.

By Rose Volstorf,  El Cajon

June 13, 2023 (El Cajon) -- “This is secret information. Look, look at this.”

Those are the words of former president Donald Trump, captured on tape, while he was showing stolen classified documents to others in a meeting at his private club, Mar-a-Lago. This is one of the many disturbing details in the recent indictment against Trump, where he is charged with 37 federal crimes, including obstruction of justice and violations of the Espionage Act.

The classified documents included information about U.S. and foreign defense and weapons capabilities, U.S. nuclear secrets, potential military vulnerabilities, and response plans for a possible foreign attack against the U.S. That’s just plain terrifying.

By Miriam Raftery

June 13, 2023 (Pine Valley) – The Sheriff’s department is asking for public help to find a man who falsely told a 12-year-old girl that her mother had asked him to pick her up. The girl told authorities that she had returned to Pine Valley Park after a movie screening Friday just after 9 p.m. to pick up belongings she had had left behind, when a tall, heavy-set man wearing a hoodie approached and asked her name.

“She gave the man a false name as she continued to walk away. After receiving the false name, the man told the girl that her mother had given him permission to pick her up,” says Lieutenant Jeff Ford with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Rural Command. “The girl immediately fled and notified her friends and family. The man did not follow her. The girl was not hurt.”

By Miriam Raftery

June 12, 2023 (Lemon Grove) – A celebration of life service for former Lemon Grove City Councilman Tom Clabby will be held on Saturday, June 17 from 1-4 p.m.at the H. Lee House in Treganza Heritage Park, 3200 Main Street in Lemon Grove.

Clabby passed away on January 22 in the company of family and friends. He served on the Lemon Grove City Council for 14 years from 1994 to 2008, after previously serving on the city’s planning commission. He was also the city’s appointed representative to Metropolitan Transit System, providing leadership at the agency.

By José Eli Villanueva, County of San Diego Communications Office

June 12, 2023 (Del Mar) - Get great ideas to get outside this summer at a new San Diego County fair exhibit. This year’s theme at the fair is ‘Get Out There’ and the County’s Parks and Recreation Department is featured in the main hall. Here’s a sneak peek and be sure to stop by when you’re at the fair.

Update June 19, 2023: The victim has been identified as  Darrell Raymond Yenawine, 60, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's office.

By Miriam Raftery

June 12, 2023 (Julian) – A driver and his passenger, both from Julian, were ejected from the vehicle during a rollover crash June 9.  

Neither were wearing seatbelts, according to  Officer Jared Grieshaber with the California Highway Patrol.

The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. The passenger, a 56-year-old woman, was transported by Mercy Air to Desert Regional Hospital with major injuries.

By Jacob Pamus

June 12, 2023 (San Diego) -- Former president Donald Trump’s second indictment, this time by federal prosecutors who allege that he compromised national security by mishandling classifeid documents,  is big news around the world.  Here’s a sampling of how the international press is covering the story.