By Robert Gehr

Update November 13, 2016:  Jarred  Jefferson, 22, has been charged with felony vandalism for destroying or damaging 13 flags,  as well as two counts of obstructing an officer, NBC 7 News reports.  Poles were broken and some flags thrown in the street, where vehicles ran over them.  The flags had been put up by a local Boy Scout troop.

November 12, 2016 (El Cajon) — El Cajon Police arrested a young man yesterday morning who was reported to be damaging American flags displayed along Main Street in downtown El Cajon in recognition of Veteran’s Day.

Witnesses called El Cajon Police to report a man vandalizing American flags and it didn’t take very long for a Police officer to arrive, track down the perpetrator and make contact. The suspect did resist initial attempts by the first officer on scene attempting to arrest him, but was eventually taken into custody after another officer responded and aided in controlling the uncooperative man.

Bond measure narrowly losing

By Jonathan Goetz

November 9, 2016 (El Cajon) -Conservative Republicans have won election in the five-person race for Cajon Valley Union School Board. Both are  endorsed by the Republican Party though the race is nonpartisan.

Clark-Mejia serves as the lead marriage and family therapist intern at New Day Women’s Center and Counseling Services, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that serves women and their families.

East County News Service

By Miriam Raftery

November 6, 2016 (El Cajon) — El Cajon’s Planning Commission unanimously approved a conditional use permit Wednesday to start construction of the new El Cajon Animal Care Center.

Voters approved a half-cent sales tax increase to fund the $10.5 million shelter under Proposition O back in 2004, which will be more than double the size of the current shelter, with room for expansion. The new shelter at 1351 North Marshall Ave. will be within a block of the old shelter.

Update: The victim has been identified as Richard Kent Chartier. The cause of death was a penetrating gunshot wound to the abdomen. The manner of death was ruled a homicide. Chartier was a resident at the 1321 Oro Street property in unincorporated El Cajon.

 

By Miriam Raftery

November 5, 2016 (El Cajon) – Vincent Frank Peterson,42, has been arrested and will be charged with the murder of a man found with mortal wounds Friday night in unincorporated El Cajon.

Deputies were called to a home on Oro Street near Greenfield Drive after a caller to 911 reported an assault with a deadly weapon around 10 p.m. Friday.  The victim, 42, was found with injuries to his torso and died on the way to a hospital.

By Jonathan Goetz

November 3, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) – Deceptive mailers have been sent to voters in El Cajon and Lemon Grove, readers tell ECM.

The San Diego County Democratic Party has endorsed Vickie Butcher, Stephanie Harper and Ben Kalasho in the El Cajon City Council Race. But a reader has alerted ECM that a mailer claims El Cajon Democrats endorsed Butcher as well as Humbert Cabrera and Steve Goble.  Cabrera and Goble have not been endorsed by any political party.

Source: El Cajon Police

November 3, 2016 (Lemon Grove) -- A suspect has been arrested at a Lemon Grove residence for a shooting that occurred in El Cajon on October 28^th at 12:40 p.m.

During the incident, witnesses described an argument occurring between two males and the suspect, near a kiosk in the 1000 Block of Decker Street. The suspect walked away from the argument to a vehicle parked a short distance away and retrieved a handgun. He then walked back to where the kiosk was at and fired numerous shots at the victims striking one of them in the leg. The suspect fled the scene in the vehicle.

By James Kecskes, County of San Diego Communications Office

November 2, 2016 (El Cajon)--County officials and community members broke ground on Gillespie Field Airport’s new Cajon Air Center on October 31st.

The groundbreaking kicked off the first phase of a multi-phase redevelopment project in unincorporated El Cajon.

East County News Service

Jonathan Goetz and Miriam Raftery contributed to this report

November 1, 2016 (San Diego) – San Diego Superior Court Judge Janis Sammartino heard evidence October 26 in a case filed by the National Association of Colored Persons (NAAC) and seven protesters against the city of El Cajon, the Sheriff’s Department, and El Cajon Police.

East County News Service

November 1, 2016 (El Cajon) --- El Cajon Police are searching for a late model Honda Accord, grey or silver, with possible front end damage following a hit-and-run accident Friday night shortly before 9 p.m.  The eastbound vehicle struck and seriously injured a 45-year-old man who was crossing the 1100 block of East Main Street outside of a controlled intersection.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  Devorah Fox,  left,  and Ramona Irwin, right

October 31, 2016 (El  Cajon)—East County Magazine invited all five candidates running for the Cajon Valley Union School District to be interviewed on our radio show. Two responded.  

Hear our interview with  Ramona Irwin and Devorah Fox: https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/sites/eastcountymagazine.org/files/au... , and scroll down for more information about the candidates.

By Miriam Raftery

October 29, 2016 (El Cajon) — Cliff Diamond, former El Cajon Police Chief and past interim Chairman of the East County Chamber of Commerce, died October 25 in Sierra Vista, Arizona.  Diamond collapsed while on an RV vacation with his wife, Leslie and despite efforts by paramedics to revive him, was pronounced dead at a nearby medical facility.

By Miriam Raftery

October 28, 2016 (El Cajon) — The City of El Cajon is moving forward with plans for a new animal shelter.  A public hearing on a proposed conditional use permit for the new facility will be held by the city’s planning commission on Tuesday, November 1 at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers (200 Civic Center Way, El Cajon).

By Miriam Raftery

Photo courtesy ECM news partner 10 News

October 25, 2016 (El Cajon)—A 14-year-old football player at Grossmont High School was injured  by lightning that struck nearby while walking toward the locker room after football practice yesterday around 6:15 p.m. 

In 2010,  we reported on a coach at El Capitan High School who kept players on a field during a lightning storm in violation of district policy. “The policy of the GUHSD in thunder/lightning storm conditions would be to immediately seek safe shelter at the first sound of thunder and to remain in said shelter until at least ½ hour after the last sound of thunder,” Larry Pear, director of extended and co-curricular activities at the Grossmont Union High School District,  told us at the time.

Numerous witnesses report seeing lighting strikes throughout the afternoon in the community, right up until the time the student was struck. So why wasn’t yesterday’s football practice at Grossmont High, in the same school district, cancelled?

East County News Service

October 25, 2016 (El Cajon) - There will be a local authors' book signing on October 29 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.