East County News Service

April 8, 2017 (Rancho San Diego) -- In conjunction with the Spring Garden Festival and the Butterfly Festival at Cuyamaca College in Rancho San Diego, the Heritage of the Americas Museum holds a very special drawing each year:  the "Five-Choices Dream Drawing."  The drawing will take place at the museum on Saturday, April 29, at 2:30 p.m.  Tickets can be bought in advance or the day of the festival.  You don't have to be present to win.  The cost of a drawing ticket is $1.00.  The Heritage of the Americas Museum is located on the campus of Cuyamaca College in Rancho San Diego.  Admission to the museum and parking will be free that day. 

Kathryn Worley and Daemein Patterson to represent GUHSD in prestigious San Diego County Teacher of the Year Competition

East County News Service

April 8, 2017 (El Cajon) -- At the Governing Board meeting on Thursday, April 6, 2017, the Grossmont Union High School District honored Teacher of the Year nominees from each of its schools. This is a great honor, as each nominee was selected by their peers.

East County News Service

Update:  The deceased has been identified as Christopher John Kuhlmann, 37, of El Cajon.

April 2, 2017 (El Cajon) — A motorcyclist who drifted over the center line of Jamacha Road near Vista de la Valle struck an oncoming vehicle and died at the scene at 3:50 p.m. yesterday.  A second motorcyclist lost control and was transported to a hospital with serious injuries. 

East County News Service

March 31, 2017 (El Cajon) – The grand opening of BevMo’s new store at 3777 Willow Glen Drive in El Cajon was heralded in with the “sabering” of a ceremonial champagne bottle.   Doug Ratto, EVP and Chief Merchant, wielded a sword to cut off the neck of the bottle to signfy store’s christening.

East County News Service

March 28, 2017 (Rancho San Diego) - The Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College will host its Spring Butterfly and Garden Festival on Saturday, April 29^th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Activities include butterfly pavilion and garden tours, butterfly releases, face painting, kids’ activities and craft vendors, animal exhibitors, educational exhibits and presentations, us edible, ornamental and native plant sales. You can also sign up for landscape design consultations.

East County News Service

March 25, 2016 (El Cajon) – Civil rights leaders including Rev. Shane Harris from the National Action Network met with California Attorney General Xavier Becerra yesterday in Los Angeles to discuss police reform and accountability. The group asked for a special prosecutor to investigate the officer-involved shooting of Alfred Olango in El Cajon last September.

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Story and photos by Liz Alper

March 23, 2017 (El Cajon) - Tonight, Monte Vista and Granite Hills High girls lacrosse squared off in both schools’ second game of conference play.  Both schools sported winning records, with the Monarchs at a solid 7-2 and the Eagles at 3-2.

By Miriam Raftery

View video:  This agenda item can be viewed from 1:06:16 through 1:57:45

March 17, 2017 (El Cajon) – El Cajon’s City Council spent a full hour Tuesday debating a proposal by Mayor Bill Wells that aims to save Council time and staff resources by limiting how many items a Council member could place on an agenda single-handedly to just one per quarter, a maximum of four a year.  To bring forth any additional item, a Council member would have to gain support of one additional member. 

But that raises potential Brown Act violations andconcerns over suppressing citizen’s representation, the American CIvil Liberties Union (ACLU) warns in a letter sent to the City's attorney, Mayor and  Council members..

Newly elected Councilman Ben Kalasho strenuously objected to the proposal, leading to a testy exchange in which he threatened to sue Wells and fellow Council members to protect what he views as his right to represent his constituents.  Several members of the public also spoke out,  all opposed to sttifling their representatives’ ability to put items of concern on the agenda.

Source: County of San Diego

March 19, 2017 (San Diego's East County)--An estimated 900,000 gallon sewage spill was identified Friday, March 17^th at Los Coches Creek near East Sierra Alta Way in unincorporated El Cajon, the County announced today. The sewage entered the creek after an underground sewer pipe became exposed and significantly damaged during the February 27^th storms.

Does your son or daughter play a sport at a level other than varsity?  Drop a line on this story or tweet @ECMagSports to request coverage!

Like our sports coverage?  Donate to help support ECM’s sports section!

Follow @ECMagSports on Twitter for live sports coverage and stories!

Story and photos by Liz Alper

March 17, 2017 (El Cajon) - In the midst of Helix basketball’s playoff run, spring sports have begun in East County’s high schools and on St. Patrick's Day, Valhalla High boys lacrosse traveled to Grossmont for an early season conference matchup which marked the beginning of conference play.  Both teams are struggling in the young season; the Norsemen are 0-4 and the Foothillers are 0-3.

East County News Service

Photo:  Rollover crash caused by a drunk driver

March 17, 2017 (El Cajon) - Before you head out to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, be aware that El Cajon Police will have a DUI checkpoint tonight from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. in areas with high rates of DUI collisions or arrests in the past.  The checkpoint aims to stop and arrest alcohol and drug-impaired drivers as part of a traffic safety campaign.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Rev. Shane Harris during a January interview with East County Magazine on KNSJ

March 13, 2017 (El Cajon) — Rev. Shane Harris at the National Action Network in San Diego announced that he has asked Calif. Attorney General Xavier Becerra to appoint a special prosecutor to conduct an independent investigation into the death of Alfred Olango. Olango, an African-American man, was fatally shot in Sept. 2016 by an El Cajon Police officer.

Board tables proposal to reduce rates due to skimpy reserves

By Jonathan Goetz

March 9, 2017 (La Mesa) -- Two Helix Water Board incumbents who voted for multi-year double digit water rate increases were ousted in November. But that didn’t prevent water rates in this district serving 270,000 people from increasing 10.1% earlier this year, as the prior board had approved. 

East County News Service

March 9, 2017 (El Cajon) – A man was killed March 6^th while trying to stop a truck from rolling down a hill at 13220 Aurora Drive in El Cajon. He has been identified as Roy Sterner, 39, of Chula Vista.

Sterner was visiting a friend’s residence to work on the truck, but while he was pushing it to the front of the driveway, the truck began rolling downhill.  Sterner ran after the vehicle and tried to get in through the open window on the driver’s side, with his upper body in the vehicle and his lower body outside.