By Mike Allen

Photo:  Race-walk winners Claire Tallent, Australia, and David Velasquez, Ecuador

January 26, 2019 (Santee) – The U.S.A. Track and Field 50 kilometer (31 mile) Race Walk Championship was held today in Santee, which has hosted the national championships eight times in the past 11 years. This year’s race determined the make-up of the U.S. team that will compete at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru in July. The race was also a qualifier for the IAFF World Track & Field Championships in Quatar in September.

Held concurrent with the national championship was the Waterbridge Capital International 50K Challenge,  on the same Santee course that started and finished at Santee Trolley Square. Winners were David Velasquez, 24 of Ecuador and Claire Tallent, 37 of Australia.  The international competition included race walkers from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Mexico. Among the top US walkers was Nick Christie from El Cajon. 

Santee Drive-In Theatre is one possible site for low-income housing

Council also approves feasibility study on community choice energy option, with two other cities

View Powerpoint presentation

By Mike Allen

January 24, 2019 (Santee) --Believe it not, Santee needs new housing, particularly affordable type, and more rental stock to handle demand from folks who cannot afford to buy houses.

But where to put housing geared to low income earners, and how that construction will impact other properties are not easy subjects, as was revealed at the latest City Council meeting Jan. 23.

The agenda item that prompted much frustration and hand wringing was a proposed residential condo development on a parcel owned by the county. City Ventures, a large Irvine-based developer, recently obtained the 22-acre parcel which is now in escrow. The company wants to build 365 new units at the site, which is just east of Town Center Community Park, behind the YMCA.

East County News Service

Update January 17, 2019 11 p.m. Kennedy's vehicle was last seen Monday near Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa and a doctor's office in Lakeside. The search has now been extended beyond San Diego County for the missing woman and her black Chevy Trailblazer SUV, license #6RQP193.

January 17, 2019 (Lakeside) -- The Lakeside Sheriff's Substation wants your help in locating a missing woman. According to the Sheriff, 70-year-old Kathryn Anne Kennedy was last seen at her home on Harritt Road in Lakeside near Lakee Jennings. Her family reported her missing on Wednesday, January 16th.

"She has medical concerns and some memory problems," Jill Barto, a Cajon Valley school board member who has joined in the search, told ECM.

By Miriam Raftery

January 11, 2019 (Santee) — The Sheriff’s department seeks public help to find a white male in a dirty, newer model white Ford F-150 pickup truck lifted rims. The driver reportedly  tried to trick a 12-year-old boy into accepting a ride. The suspect is described as in his 40s with short blond hair, stubble on his face, wearing a brown Hurley baseball cap and short-sleeved plaid shirt in white and blue.

Story and photos by Liz Alper

January 9, 2019 (El Cajon) - Grossmont boys soccer is...well...let’s just say they could be doing better this season.  They’re currently sitting at 0-8-2 so far.  Tonight, the Hillers hosted Santana in the first Grossmont League game for both teams.  The Sultans are faring much better at 11-4-1.

East County News Service

January 6, 2019 (Santee) – Ashleigh Hanson, 40, of Santee died in a solo-vehicle collision this morning in the 11400 block of Woodside Avenue in Santee.

Sheriff’s deputies and fire personnel responded to the scene and found that Hanson had died of her injuries.

“At this time, it is not known if drugs or alcohol were a factor, however weather and driving too fast for conditions may have contributed to the collision,” says Joe Passalacqua with the Santee Sheriff’s department.

Luxury, energy-efficient homes still available in four neighborhoods

East County News Service

Photo: Lake Ridge, courtesy of Pardee Homes San Diego

January 4, 2019 (Santee) -- Move-in excitement is in the air as families and homebuyers are receiving keys and unpacking boxes in all four of Pardee Homes’ upscale Weston communities in Santee: Lake Ridge, Sandstone, Talus and Prism.  The new, state-of-the-art homes also have access to natural open spaces and outdoor activities.

East County News Service

December 29, 2018 (Santee) – Warren Morris, 51, has been identified by the County Medical Examiner’s office as the man found by Sheriff’s deputies lying on a sidewalk near Walmart in Santee on the afternoon of December 23rd. 

By Ana Nita

December 11, 2018 (Santee) -- The battle over the Fanita Ranch urban development proposal in Santee entered a new phase once the City of Santee scheduled the scooping meeting at the end of November to gather public input on a revamped proposal. 

East County News Service 

December 4, 2018 (Santee) -- C.W. Driver Companies, a prominent builder serving California since 1919, recently broke ground on County of San Diego’s new Assessor, Recorder, County Clerk (ARCC) office in Santee. The building will be the nation’s first zero net energy archive facility and will maintain strict temperature and humidity conditions to preserve delicate archive materials properly. The single-story, 25,000-square-foot structure will be home to the East County Branch Office and Archives.

East County News Service

November 25, 2018 (Santee) – The Santee Historical Society invites you to an old-fashioned Christmas Open House on Saturday, December 1st from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Santee Barn (9200 Magnolia, between Mast and Mission Gorge Rd.)

An East County Magazine exclusive report

View video with exclusive interviews:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=984eIPcneAo or click the image above.

By Ana Nita

November 19, 2018 (Lakeside) – “I don’t know what started it,”  says El Monte Valley resident Dianna Alotta, who works and lives at a horse ranch close to where the #ElMonteFire began on Sunday afternoon. After her husband told her that a fire was burning, she recalls, “I looked over and there’s smoke, so I came running back here.” She adds, “Thank God a bunch of other people, neighbors and stuff pulled together, got the horses out of the danger range.”

By Miriam Raftery

November 18, 2018 (Lakeside) – Lakeside activist Barry  A.Treahy and his wife, Jackie, have submitted a letter and petition to County Supervisors opposing a sand mining project in El Monte Valley. Treahy says the petition has been signed by a majority of property owners deemed by the County to be within the “sphere of influence” of the El Monte Nature Preserve LLC project, the ironically named sand mining endeavor.  Barry Treahy has also filed a complaint with the County Grand Jury (see attachments 1, 2, 3, 4)

Treahy contends that adding sand mining in the 1970s as an allowable land use bypassed critical notification to neighbors.  He further contends that the county’s Planning and Development Services program, which is funded entirely by developer fees without tax revenues, “opens the door to salary abuse, overcharging clients, outside influence, extortion and corruption. The obligation of a Government entity is collect taxes to fund necessary activities. The correct method to avoid those pitfalls,” Treahy’s Grand Jury complaint states.

By Mike Allen

November 16, 2018 (Santee)--Santee is finally getting an indoor movie theater, and another restaurant to go with it.

The long-awaited project that was a top priority of elected officials and most of the city’s candidates is slated to become a reality following unanimous approval of a contract by the Santee City Council Nov. 14.

The council voted 5-0 to enter into a development agreement with Eneract LLC to build a multi-screen movie theater and restaurant that will be operated by Studio Movie Grill, a Dallas-based private company that pioneered the dine-in cinema concept starting in the 1990s.

East County News Service

November 12, 2018 (Lakeside) – The Sheriff’s department announced tonight that a 14-year-old student at El Capitan High School has been arrested and booked into Juvenile Hall for making criminal threats on social media toward the school.