East County News Service

March 7, 2023 (El Cajon) --- Shelter to Soldier (STS), a San Diego nonprofit that adopts dogs from local shelters and rescue organizations and trains them to become psychiatric service dogs for post-9/11 veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury and/or Military Sexual Trauma, will hold its 4^th annual “Saving Lives, One Swing at a Time” golf tournament on Friday, April 21 at the Championship Oak Glen Course of Singing Hills Golf Resort at Sycuan (3007 Dehesa Rd., El Cajon).

By David R. Shorey, East County Program Manager, Institute for Public Strategies

Photos courtesy IPS

March 4, 2023 (Lakeside) -- For almost 20 years, the Lakeside Community Collaborative has worked to enhance the health and safety of Lakeside residents. The Collaborative is made up of representatives from schools, law enforcement, chamber of commerce, public health organizations, and everyday Lakeside residents. Through monthly meetings, the group shares information and coordinates activities to address important issues facing Lakeside. This includes assessments of community conditions that could lead to substance use and abuse.

A “Walking Woodside” community assessment was conducted by the Lakeside Community Collaborative on a Saturday morning in February 2023. IPS was joined by a representative from the San Diego County Department of Homeless Solutions and Equitable Communities and a member of recently formed Lakeside Amity Group. We walked both sides of Woodside Avenue, between Winter Gardens Boulevard and Maine Avenue. A distance of about 1.4 miles.

The goal of the Collaborative was to not only conduct the assessment, but also encourage community engagement. We hope that this endeavor will bring awareness to issues like alcohol retail density. By physically walking down this street and taking in the environment, we were able to better identify with our own eyes, potential areas of concern. What we found was more than concerning, it was outright scary.

By Jacob Pamus

March 4, 2023 (Santee) -- The Kiwanis Club of Santee is organizing a Special Olympics for Southern California at West Hills High School on May 20. Kiwanis is partnering with the Southern California Special Olympics Committee for this project highlighting the achievements of special needs athletes.

By Jessyka Heredia

Photos by Jessyka Heredia and MIriam Raftery

Photo, left: David Arambula

March 4, 2023 (Lemon Grove) – Testimony was heard yesterday from the defendants in day two of the civil trial Christopher Williams vs. David Arambula and the City of Lemon Grove, in which Williams alleges that former Councilman Arambula assaulted him during a business meeting at Arambula”s house to discuss Williams’ medical marijuana dispensary application with the City. The application had been denied by the planning commission and an appeal was slated to be heard by the City Council the following week.

Arambula disputes assault claims

Arambula was called to the stand first by Cory Briggs, who represents Williams in the case. Arambula said he met Williams for the first time the evening of July 14, 2017 at his home. Arambula stated that Taisha Brown,  Vice Chair of the county Democratic party at the time, invited Williams with Arambula’s consent because Arambula was tasked with “bringing as much revenue sources as possible” by the city Manager Lydia Romero.

Arambula said that Brown knew the city’s financial condition was in the red and that Williams wanted to invest in the city. When asked by Briggs if he knew they would discuss city business, Arambula said, “Yes, investing in the City.” He denied knowing that Williams had a pending cannabis dispensary application on appeal, contradicting Williams' testimony the day before.

Teen driver who died was not wearing seat-belt

East County News Service

Updated March 3, 2023 with identity of the victim.

March 2, 2023 (La Mesa) – An 18-year-old El Cajon man, Eugene Nelson,has died after he lost control on I-8 west and struck a California Highway Patrol vehicle that had stopped to investigate a pair of unrelated solo-vehicle accidents on Feb. 25.

According to Officer Jared Grieshaber, the vehicles involved in those two accidents were blocking the center divider and the #1 lane of traffic. “The CHP officer on scene parked his patrol vehicle with the emergency lights activated, within the #1 lane, and partially within the center divider for scene safety,” Officer Grieshaber said.

March 2, 2023 (In-Ko-Pah) – Greg Curran sent in these photos of a rare snowfall blanketing In-Ko-Pah in the high desert, near the Desert View Tower and Boulder Park.

View video 

By Jessyka Heredia 

February 28, 2023 (Lemon Grove) -- Thanks to the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), federal stimulus funds were given to the city of Lemon Grove back in late 2022 in the amount of $6.4 million aimed at giving cities direct relief after the impacts of the COVID19 pandemic. A gift card program initiated by Lemon Grove with federal funds has been a success, generating over $122,000 in gift cards redeemed at local businesses. So at it’s February 21 meeting, the City Council addressed ways to extend the program with two additional phases.

February 28, 2023 (Rancho San Diego) – David “Dave” Steele has passed away of suddenly of congestive heart failure. Named small businessman of the year by the San Diego East County Chamber in 2022, Steele owned Pure Solar Power and was known as the “East County Solar Guy.”  He was also an elected member of the Valley De Oro Community Planning Group and an active member of the La Mesa Business Networking International group.

A celebration of life will be held on Friday, March 3 at 2 p.m. at Skyline Church, 11330 Campo Rd. in Rancho San Diego.

By Miriam Raftery

Photos by Henri Migala and Miriam Raftery

February 27, 2023 (Santa Ysabel)-- The weekend storm brough snow to unusually low levels in San Diego County's mountains. With  popular destinations such as Julian, Cuyamaca and Mount Laguna blocked except to residents and chains required in the morning, followed by traffic jams when some highways later opened, ECM's editor and photographer headed to Santa Ysabel instead.

Visitors pulled off alongside the highway were enjoying building a snowman and tossing snowballs, with dogs frolicking in the snow. Several motorists paused to pose for pictures with horses standing just behind a barbed wire fence.

Blue skies,puffy clouds and sunbeams warming the terrain completed this idyllic scene.

East County News Service

February 27, 2023 (Ramona) – Looking for wildflowers? You don’t have to go all the way to Anza-Borrego.  Henri Migala took these colorful photos of a hillside abloom in orange and yellow daisies along the Old Julian Highway in Ramona yesterday.

If you’ve found a great place to view wildflowers locally this spring, send your photos and the location to editor@eastcountymagazine.org.

East County News Service

February 24, 2023 (Jacumba Hot Springs) – For its annual Earth Day celebration, the Desert View Tower and Boulder Park will host a Boulder Fair on Saturday, April 22 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

East County News Service

February 23, 2023 (El Cajon) -- Amber S. Dine sent in this photo of a Cedar Waxwing, taken off her balcony in El Cajon. These migratory birds typically travel in flocks, traveling in search of berries on cedars and other trees. At times they’ve been known to over-indulge, resulting in intoxication!

By Miriam Raftery

Photos: Snow in Julian today, courtesy of San Diego Sheriff Media Relations unit

February 23, 2023 (San Diego’s East County) – Treacherous. Severe. Really dangerous conditions. Those are terms used by National Weather Service meteorologist Alex Tardy in a webinar today to describe  a slow-moving atmospheric river, coupled with high winds and frigid temperatures from an arctic jet stream, swooping into San Diego County Friday and Saturday.

The storm could dump a potentially unprecedented three to five feet of snow at elevations above 4,000 feet in some parts of Southern California, with another foot and a half forecast on Mt. Laguna atop considerable snow that's already fallen.  Also forecast are debris flows in areas not normally subject to them as snow melts. Blowing and drifting snow will impact major southern California highways, including highway 78 and the eastern portions of Interstate-8 in San Diego County.

East County News Service

February 22, 2023 – The storm has caused power outages amid frigid weather in some parts of East County. While power has been restored in most areas, power went down in parts of Borrego Springs last night due to weather affecting SDG&E equipment, and is not expected to be restored until this evening.  Borrego resident Nikki Symington posted on Facebook, “I am freezing. No electricity since 9 last night."

According to SDG&E, “Last night at its peak 11,000 SDG&E customers were without power during the night, in addition to momentary outages caused by high winds. Crews have made significant progress in restoring thousands of customers and are working to restore remaining customers as quickly and safely as possible.”

The utility states that to protect the safety of its customers, employees and communities, the company has taken proactive steps to prepare for winter storms this week, with the strongest storm due this weekend. A news release from SDG&E states, “In anticipation of these storms, SDG&E increased the number of field crews and equipment available to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. The company’s meteorology team is also monitoring weather conditions minute-by-minute to help provide situational awareness to crews working hard to maintain the infrastructure that serves our communities. However, preparedness is a community effort, and the company encourages all of its customers to have a plan in place in case of unplanned outages.”

To help customers prepare for the upcoming storm, the company is sharing the following safety tips to help keep you and the region safe: