East County News Service

September 16, 2016 (Santee) — The San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce, along with the East County Development Council, Santee, Lakeside and Alpine Mountain Empire Chambers invite you to Politics in Paradise part 2. 

Candidates for races across East County have been invited—including city council and mayoral contests as well as races ranging from school boards to the Grossmont Healthcare district. Here’s your chance to meet candidates up close and personal, hear their ideas, ask questions and network with movers and shakers from across our region.

East County News Service

September 12, 2016 (Santee) -- An East County teacher is among five San Diego County instructors named teachers of the year.  The winners were nominated by their school districts out of 26,000 teachers countywide and were honored at a ”Salute to Teachers” gala event on Saturday.

Santee Chamber celebrates oktOVERfest with OTL and Party in the Park

East County News Service

September 8, 2016 (Santee) - The Santee Chamber of Commerce is bringing an Over-the-Line tournament and Party in the Park to Santee at their inaugural oktOVERfest on October 1.

Source:  City of Santee news release

September 6, 2016 (Santee) - Santee’s annual Bluegrass Festival is a wine, beer and food tasting mixed with music and assorted fundraising activities, including a treasure-filled opportunity drawing and silent action.

People come for the fun and frivolity, but they leave behind substantial funds to support valuable ‘I’ community programs such as staffing for the Santee Teen Center.

By Miriam Raftery

September 4, 2016 (Lakeside) – County Planning Commissioner Michael Beck,founder of the Endangered Habitat League,former head of the Lakeside River Park Conservancy and current board member of theSan Diego River Park Foundation, has drawn sharp criticism from some Lakeside residents over his involvement with the El Monte Nature Preserve LLC that is proposing a sand mine in El Monte Valley.  One prominent activist has called for Beck to recuse himself from voting for conflict of interest reasons.

Now Beck, in an exclusive interview with East County Magazine, says he’s always planned to recuse himself from voting on the controversial project—and also defends his efforts to get the best long-term environmental restoration possible for a project he believes will likely be approved as an allowable use under current zoning. No one has asked that the zoning designation be changed, he notes.

East County News Service

September 1, 2016 (Lakeside) – The much-anticipated reopening of San Vicente Reservoir is slated for September 22^nd, SDFISH.com reports.  The lake has been closed since September 1, 2008 for construction of the largest dam-raise in the U.S.  SDFISH.com has also set up a discussion forum on San Vicente’s opening here.

Fishing and boating reservations must be made in advance through Ticketron roughly four weeks in advance.  The following information is available on the city of San Diego’s website for San Vicente:

The 46^th annual Barona Powwow will take place September 2^nd -4^th at the Barona sports park, located on the Barona reservation in Lakeside just north of the Barona Casino and Resort. Powwows aim to preserve Native American cultural traditions for future generations. 

Barona’s powwow attracts tribal dancers and drummers from across the nation, as they compete for prizes. (Admission for spectators is free). You can also shop for Native American arts and craft items at vendor booths, and purchase food such as Indian fry bread.

August 20, 2016—Two Sig Alerts have been issued due to separate crashes in East County, both forcing long-term shutdowns of  major roadways.

A fatality accident has shut down State Route 67 in both directions for 8 to10 hours. Southbound 67 is closed at Archie Moore Road.  Northbound SR 67 is closed at Poway Road.   A head-on crash between a silver pickup and black Nissan reportedly occurred  on the highway just north of Cloudy Moon Road after the truck veered across the centerline.

By Miriam Raftery

August 19,2016 (San Diego’s East County) – State and local water agency representatives have offered more information for the public following a recent report revealing that 150 reservoirs statewide are “mercury impaired,” including10 in San Diego County, as ECM reported. 

A key clarification is that the term “mercury impaired reservoirs” referred to testing of fish in those waters,  not testing of water for drinking.  Drinking water can test with no detectable mercury levels, yet still have high, unsafe concentrations of mercury in fish, particularly larger fish that have consumed smaller fish.  This problem raises a new issue: the need for new testing methods to detect low levels of mercury that while not unsafe in drinking water,  can result in unsafe levels in fish living in those waters.

Source: Santee Fire Department

August 18, 2016 (Santee) -- The City of Santee is reintroducing red-colored fire suppression vehicles into its fleet after 50 years of having yellow as the primary color for the department’s fire apparatuses.

East County News Service

August 17, 2016 (La  Mesa) – At today’s 2 p.m. meeting of the Helix Water District Board (7811 University Ave., La Mesa), directors will consider addition of fees and other changes at Lake Jennings, including adding kayak rentals and a tee-pee rental venue at the campground.  These are the latest improvements proposed by a committee led by director Joel Scalzitti.    As a result, the lake that some board  members sought to close due to budget shortfalls is now operating at a profit.  View board package and agenda.

At its last meeting, the board voted 3-2 for hefty rate hikes of 10.1%, effective on water use after  November 1,2016 and billings starting January 1,2017. That action has inspired five challengers to run against two board members who voted for this hefty rate hike as well as earlier recent increases—moves that fueled outrage in public comments and emails sent to the board.

East County News Service

August 11, 2016 (Santee) – 10 News reports that Pami Peterson found dozens of tacks, most pointing up, spread out and hidden in the grass at Mast Park where she brought her three young sons to play.

By Miriam Raftery

August 8, 2016 (Santee) — The man who fired arrows from a crossbow at Sheriff’s deputies in Santee and died after officers returned fire during a SWAT team incident Friday has been identified as Santee resident David Michael Moya, 31.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  @SDSheriff.net on Twitter

August 6, 2016 (Santee) – A man who reportedly threatened to kill his mother prompted a SWAT team intervention yesterday afternoon at a home at 9901 Woodglen Vista Drive in Santee.  After the suspect fired arrows at Sheriff’s deputies out the windows, deputies returned fire. A robotic device later confirmed the suspect was dead, said Lieutenant Greg Rylaarsdam with the Sheriff’s Homicide Detail.

By Miriam Raftery

August 2, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) – The deadline to file as a candidate to run for local offices is August 11. But so far, many East County races have no candidates declared or qualified for the ballot, according to the Registrar of Voters candidate list for the November election.  Most community planning groups have nobody running.  The same is true in some school, water and fire districts. Races with no candidates will be filled by appointment. In other districts, people are running unopposed—even incumbents on some of the most controversy-riddled boards.

No candidates are listed yet for the city councils in El Cajon, La Mesa, Lemon Grove or Santee, nor for the mayoral seats open in Lemon Grove and Santee, nor the La Mesa City Clerk or Treasurer seats.  Candidates have been actively campaigning in some of those races and some will likely file before deadline, but it’s also common for candidates to drop out before qualifying for the ballot.

In the Grossmont Union High School District, incumbent Jim Stieringer is thus far running unopposed in district two (La Mesa/Mt. Helix/Rancho San Diego); in district one (Lemon Grove/Spring Valley) which is an open seat, only one candidate has filed: Pastor Steve Babbitt from Spring Valley Community Church.