El Cajon Police seek help to find white or silver SUV with front-end damage

East County News Service

October 23, 2025 (El Cajon) – Around 8 p.m. last night, a 12-year-old boy was struck by an SUV in the 300 block of Ballantyne Street, suffering major head trauma.  The vehicle, described by witnesses as a white or silver SUV with front-end damage, fled the scene.

By Paul Levikow

Image, left: Rendering of Troy Street Sleeping Cabins Project

October 22, 2025 (Lemon Grove) – The County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to approve negotiations with Caltrans to purchase land for the Troy Street Sleeping Cabins Project in Lemon Grove, after hearing comments overwhelmingly in opposition from residents and two City Councilmembers.

The project plan calls for building tiny homes on an undeveloped lot at 2800 Sweetwater Road and Troy Street, which the County expects to pay about $2 million to buy from the state. It’s part of the County’s Compassionate Emergency Solutions and Pathways to Housing efforts for people experiencing homelessness.

There were 26 requests to speak in person in the board chambers or on the phone. There were 78 e-comments in opposition submitted, while 5 e-comments were in support of the plan. Opponents warned of the potential for an increase in crime in the area, or said the project was too expensive and too close to an early childhood education center, or that the Board should focus on permanent solutions instead of temporary ones.

East County News Service

October 21, 2025 (Anza Borrego)—You’re invited to walk by the light of a full moon in Anza Borrego Desert State Park’s South Palm Canyon Wash on November 5 from 6:30 to  8:30 p.m.. The hike will be led by Mike McElhatton, education director at the Anza Borrego Desert Natural History Association (ABDNHA).

“Experience the unique and serene beauty of moonlight on the canyon walls as we take a 1.5-mile walk through South Palm Wash,” the invitation states. 

By Miriam Raftery

October 20, 2025 (La Mesa) -- If you plan to park in La Mesa, you’ll be paying more for meters starting in January.

The City Council has approved doubling parking meter rates from 75 cents an hour to $1.50 an hour for all 433 meters in the downtown village.  It’s the first price rise in 20 years.

In addition, parking permits will be consolidated into one tier at $80 per quarter or $288 per year. Businesses may purchase no more than five permits for their employees.

East County News Service

October 16, 2025 (Lemon Grove) – Lemon Town Films proudly presents the hometown premiere of Welcome Home to Lemon Grove, California, a new documentary by local filmmaker Michael Fanter. The film celebrates the community’s history, landmarks, and the people who have shaped “The Town with the Giant Lemon.” 

East County News Service

October 16, 2025 (El Cajon) - Olaf Wieghorst Museum and Western Heritage Center will host its first annual Fashion Show Fundraiser – “Boots and Belles: Fashion at the Wieggy” on November 8 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.  The event will feature stunning designs of local artist and designer Dawn Hough Sebaugh, whose WALA Collection blends the color, creativity, and western spirit that defines our community.

Located in the heart of the art district in El Cajon, the museum stands as a tribute to the artist whose vivid portrayals of the American West captured the spirit of a bygone era.  Olaf Wieghorst not only painted the West, but he also lived it.  Of all the places he could have called home, he chose El Cajon, where he raised his family, connected deeply with neighbors, and truly began his artistic journey.

East County News Service

October 14, 2025 (Ramona) – Ramona resident Ashley Rose Dietze, 35, died after being struck by a pickup truck while she was crossing the 700 block of Main Street  (westbound highway 78) in Ramona on October 11 at 9:20 p.m.  A 42-year-old male pedestrian was also hit and suffered major injuries.

East County News Service

October 14, 2025 (Lemon Grove) – Marco Lorenzo Quintero, 35, died at a hospital after being struck by a pickup truck while riding a bicycle in Lemon Grove.

East County News Service

October 14, 2025 (La Mesa) – The Tony-award-winning play Copenhagen explores explores an explosive confrontation inspired by actual events that have intrigued and baffled historians for more than 50 years: a 1941 meeting between two brilliant physicists, Niels Bohr of Denmark and Germany’s Werner Heisenberg.

The two men were long-time friends whose work together opened the way to the atomic bomb, but who were now on opposite sides of World War II. 

By Alexander J. Schorr

October 11, 2025 (La Mesa) — Following a September City Council meeting, La Mesa is moving forward with a redevelopment plan for a new civic center which has spanned decades. The current timeline calls for a new city hall to be completed as early as 2029, with expansion plans for the library to follow.  View the Civic Center Master Plan.

City manager Greg Humora said that he is  optimistic about the new timeline that has been laid out by the recent City Council meeting, and emphasized the importance for constructing a new city hall by as soon as 2029. “That would be amazing if we could pull that off,” Humora said. “I think it’s doable.”

By Miriam Raftery

Image: On Facebook, a group seeking to recall GUHSD trustees posted a flyer calling tonight’s agenda items “frightful”, stating, “Here’s the tricks and not a treat in sight.”

October 9, 2025 (El Cajon, CA) – At its 6 p.m. meeting tonight, the Grossmont Union High School District board of trustees will consider adopting a policy to restrict by designating “no activity zones” outside of its meetings on public property where activities such as “picketing, leafletting, protest or other expressive activity” would be prohibited. The issue raises serious free speech and First Amendment rights issues.

The proposal would allow the Board or the Superintendent to establish the no activity zones, ostensibly to create a safe path of entry and exit, identified by markers such as cones or signs. However, it sets no size limit, potentially allowing the board to limit or ban free speech activities altogether outside buildings such as the Grossmont High School gymnasium where tonight’s meeting is being held and where for months, hundreds of teachers, students and parents have gathered outside to hold rallies, protests, picketing, signature gathering and other expressions of opposition to board policies such as mass firing of teachers and librarians.