PASSAGES: BILLIE JO JANNEN, CHAIR OF CAMPO-LAKE MORENA PLANNING GROUP AND FORMER ALPINE SUN EDITOR

By Miriam Raftery

June 19, 2025 (Campo) --  Billie Jo Jannen, an award-winning journalist and chair of the Campo-Lake Morena Community Planning Group from 2013-2025, died May 27 of cancer at age 69. 

Jannen was a powerful voice for backcountry residents. She won awards for investigative reporting and spent nearly 25 years as a reporter and editor covering East County’s hottest topics such as wildfires, wind turbines, border and land use issues. Her coverage drew national attention on 60 Minutes and 20-20 TV shows.

She also rooted out tales of feral pigs and turkey hunts, offered tips on how to remove horse manure, and covered local politics. As Jannen wryly noted, “Some might see similarities in these topics.”

Her ascendancy into a stellar journalism career didn’t take the usual career path.

“I started out working in the trades, but my life took a sharp turn. I lost a finger in a printing press,” she told ECM in a 2011 interview. Raised in Oregon, she came to San Diego to pursue a degree in engineering, but never completed it. “Before I knew it, I was married, expecting a child and living in Alpine,” Jannen said.

She began writing feature stories for the Alpine Sun. She moved to Campo, where she discovered her true calling: investigative reporting.  Her first exposé was on illegal dumping of transformers by the County in Campo.  She later started the Eastern Empire Guardian—an online news site dealing strictly with backcountry news in East County. 

Later offered a job as managing editor of the Alpine Sun, she also freelanced for other news outlets. For a time, she moved back to Oregon after accepting an offer from the Wallowa County Chieftain as managing editor. Her husband , David, stayed at their Campo ranch, with plans to sell the home, then move to Oregon. Then the bottom fell out of the local housing market, so Jannen returned in 2007.

In addition to the publications named above, her work has appeared in the San Diego Union, San Diego Union-Tribune, North County Times, The Daily Californian, The Daily Astorian, and other media outlets. She also authored the “East of the Line” column for East County Magazine.

Jannen also hosted the TGIF report, a radio show on backcountry issues that aired on my107.9 radio in Alpine.

 She also created the original website for the County’s Task Force on Fire Protection and Emergency Medical Services, chaired by Supervisor Dianne Jacob.

 

Her journalism  awards include prestigious first places from California Newspaper Publishers Association for her work in environment, education and border coverage, as well as recognition from San Diego County Board of Supervisors and California State Assembly for her expose of non-residents sending children across the border to attend school in California. She also won awards from San Diego Press Club and the Sierra Club.

 Her reporting of the battles surrounding the proposed Campo landfill won her recognition in other venues, including a book on the subject and more awards. Her breaking stories have been followed by national and international news venues, and resulted in reforms in county, state and federal policies.

Her community service includes serving as a member on the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy committee and the Rural Economic Action League, a backcountry economic development think tank.

Donna Tisdale, long-time chair of the Boulevard Community Planning Group, remembers Jannen as a “very intelligent and caring person” whom the community was very fortunate to have.

“Through her years as a reporter, Billie Jo played a huge role in keeping the Backcountry, and beyond, informed on most if not all the battles we fought to defend that ruggedly beautiful area from so many obnoxious projects,” Tisdale recalls. “She also reported on the border / smuggling issues that plagued us for decades along with many other issues. I remember when she broke the story that Mt. Empire School District was bussing in students from Tecate, Mexico to boost their daily attendance. That was a huge scandal at the time.”

Most of all, Tisdale recalls,  “Billie Jo was my good friend for almost 40 years. She will be missed.”