June 14, 2011 (San Diego) -- On Saturday, June 18 the Nile Sisters will be holding an open house from 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. in recognition of World Refugee Month. The Nile Sisters help refugee women in the San Diego area with the needs they have to get settled.
The cost is free, but donations are appreciated. The event will include cultural music, and Hors d'oeuvre from different ethnicities. African artifacts will also be available for purchase. Please RSVP to Sistersinitiative@sbcglobal.net.
June 14, 2011, The Keys Creek Lavender Farm will be holding high tea parties on three days in June on the 23rd, 24th, and the 25th. This very popular event sells out very quickly. The three June dates above have been added to accomodate requests already made.
June 13, 2011 (La Mesa) -- Take your family to dinner and at the same time support the fourth annual "Sustain La Mesa" Enviromental Festival and the "Our Planet, Our Home" K-12 Environmental Literacy and Art Contest, organized by the City of La Mesa's Environmental Sustainability Commission.
Print and bring the flyer to Souplantation, (9158 Fletcher Parkway, La Mesa 91942) between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and Souplantation will donate 20% of sales. (A printiable flyer can be downloaded from the Souplantation link here.)
June 13, 2011 (Cuyamaca)-- Cal-Fire and Cuyamaca Rancho State Park will be conducting prescribed burns on Park lands opposite the Paso Picacho campground on Tuesday and Wednesday, June 14 and 15.
June 13, 2011 (San Diego)--June 17 will mark forty years since President Richard Nixon, citing drug abuse as “public enemy No. 1”, officially declared a "war on drugs."Caroline Stewart, president of the board of directors at A New PATH, an organization founded by an East County mother, added, “We must treat drug use as a health issue. We need to use our resources to increase access to addiction treatment, rather than to warehouse people who use drugs or become addicted to drugs behind bars.”
June 13, 2011 (San Diego)--San Diego County Libraries announce a series of free special events at libraries throughout our region. Scroll down for a list of activities for adults, teens, tweens, kids and families -- ranging from cooking demonstrations to a bike rodeo.
Supervisor Jacob seeks records on “investigation” by CPUC
By Miriam Raftery
Video by Jim Pelley
June 12, 2011 (Imperial Valley) – Jim Pelley, an Ocotillo resident, was taking his son to school on June 7th when he passed by a Sunrise Powerlink construction project where a tower was on the ground in preparation to be lifted into place. “There was nobody directing traffic,” he told ECM in an exclusive interview, adding that his wife took photos on her cell phone.
About half an hour later, while driving back on the same road, he and his wife came upon the scene of a crash where SDG&E’s sky crane helicopter had inexplicably dropped a 15,000 pound tower. Pelley started shooting photos. “One of the guys said `Hey, we’d appreciate if you wouldn’t take pictures until we clean this mess up,” he recalled. When he refused to comply, Pelley said the employee held a hand up in front of his camera lens. “So I started shooting video,” he told ECM.
June 13, 2011 (Sacramento) – Starting July 1, 2011 new legislation will go into effect requiring homeowners to install carbon monoxide detectors in every California home; a move CAL FIRE officials say will save lives. “Carbon monoxide is a silent killer, each year claiming the lives of an average of 480 people,” said Acting State Fire Marshal Tonya Hoover. “And sending more than 20,000 people to emergency rooms across the nation.” Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless, odorless gas that is produced from heaters, fireplaces, furnaces and many types of appliances and cooking devices.
June 15, 2011 (San Diego) – A workshop on proposed redistricting will be this Thursday, June 16 from 6-8:30 p.m. at the City Heights Wellness Center, 4440 Wightman Street, #200 in City Heights.
Redistricting will determine California’s political boundaries for the next 10 years. California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission will draw district lines for the first time in California history for state Congressional, Senate, Assembly and Board of Equalization Districts. Latinos comprise nearly 40% of California’s population—and representatives from the Latino community want to make sure that redistricting will assure representation that reflects those numbers.
June 15, 2011 (El Cajon) – Laura Cyphert, a Cedar Fire survivor who co-founded the East County Community Action Coalition along with her husband, Milt, will provide an update on the legal battle against Sunrise Powerlink on Thursday, June 16 from 7-8:45 p.m.
June 12, 2011 (San Diego's East County) -- Navajo Starlings U12 took 1st place in the Gold Division at the Starlings San Diego County Championships for volleyball held at Alliant University. The team is comprised of 5th & 6th graders attending 10 different elementary and middle schools throughout the greater Navajo area.
The division had 14 teams, and the hard work put in by the girls over the course of the season paid off when the team took first in its pool to move into the gold division. They then won three matches to capture the title, including a very tough and competitive three game semi-final match against Santee. They led the entire way in taking a two game match against East Lake in the final.
June 12, 2011 (La Mesa) James Hartwell's big wish when he started physical therapy at the Challenge Center in La Mesa was to walk across the stage to be handed his diploma at his high school graduation at Mt. Carmel High School. For most seniors, this would be a done deal. But for Hartwell, who suffered a spinal cord injury in a motocross accident, and had to spen most of the last two years in a wheelchair, it seemed it might take a miracle.
Luckily, he found that miracle in a little white building in La Mesa that holds the Challenege Center.
June 12, 2011 (Spring Valley)-- The official groundbreaking of the Heartland Regional Fire and Public Safety Training Centerwas celebrated on June 8th. The goal of the new center is to develop a new phase of first responder training across the East County and beyond.
June 12, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) – Last week, as ECM reported, FEMA retracted its demand for Harris Fire survivor Veronica Lytle of Potrero to pay back disaster funds that FEMA had claimed were paid in error. Now FEMA informs ECM that 40 survivors of the 2007 California firestorms have been sent recoupment letters.
“FEMA received four appeals from applicants who were affected by disasters which occurred in San Diego County,” said a FEMA spokesperson who asked not to be named. “FEMA either rescinded or adjusted the amount identified for recoupment on three of the four appeals.”
June 12, 2011 (Ramona) – Yesterday morning, a warrant sweep in East County was conducted by the San Diego Sheriff’s Department Court Services Field Unit to apprehend suspects with outstanding felony and misdemeanor warrants. A total of 12 adults and one juvenile were arrested and 14 warrants were cleared.
June 11, 2011 (El Cajon) – Paipa’s Buffet restaurant has reopened in a new location within the Syucan Casino. The restaurant, which is entirely smoke-free, has been renovated with a new kitchen, seating for 320 people, more specialty food stations and new design elements.
June 11, 2011 (San Diego) – The average car emits 12,000 pounds of C02 pollution each year – the weight of an adult elephant! Metropolitan Transit Service and the San Diego Zoo have teamed up to urge San Diego County residents to leave their cars at home and ride public transit on national “Dump the Pump” Day this Wednesday, June 15.
June 11, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) – A brush fire that started near 12th and H Streets in Ramona charred two acres, but was swiftly extinguished. In addition, a spot fire burned a 30 x 30 foot section off Wildcat Canyon Road at the 10-mile marker in Lakeside this morning, Cal-Fire reports.
June 11, 2011 (La Mesa) -- The City of La Mesa has begun a four phase project to relocate existing overhead utilities (SDG&E, Cox, and AT&T lines) into underground conduits, repave the street, remove existing utility poles, and install new street lights on Normal Avenue from Lowell Street to Windsor Avenue.
June 11, 2011 (Mesa Verde) -- La Cuna de Aztlan Sacred Sites Protection Circle and the Colorado River Environmental Warriors invite the public to join in a protest June 18 that tribal members hope will help stop destruction of sacred Native American sites by approved desert solar power projects in California. Native Americans have raised concerns about numerous desert solar farms planned in the state, including a project in Imperial County that would bring power to San Diego. The June 18 protest is slated for Blythe, however, where construction is underway and ancient geoglyphs are reportedly being destroyed.
June 6, 2011 (San Pasqual) –Doff your shoes, kick up your heels and dive into a barrel of ripe grapes at Orfila Vineyards annual Grape Stomp on Saturday, August 27th. This popular event sells out early each year and includes a wine-tasting reception with hors-d’oeuvres, dinner buffet, live performance by Java Sounds featuring saxophonist Adrienne Nims, tractor rides, and grape stomping.
June 11, 2011 (Alpine) Lions tigers and Bears is a big cat and exotic animal rescue service. It will be celebrating Father's Day with a Tacos and Beer celebration.
There will be a taco cart with a server on the premises making fresh tacos. The tacos and beer will be served from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Margaritas can be purchased for $6.00 each. During the event, feel free to roam the grounds to see all of the amazing animals.
June 11, 2011 (La Mesa) -- The City of La Mesa, in partnership with the La Mesa Park and Recreation Foundation, San Diego County La Mesa Branch Library, Readers Inc., and Friends of the La Mesa Library, will co-host Reading in the Park on Sat., June 18 from 10:00 a.m. to Noon at CollierPark, 4401 Palm Avenue, La Mesa.
Hear children’s book authors give theatrical readings of their works and explain how their stories are created. Visit the craft table where kids can decorate a bookmark to take home. Everyone in the family can bring a gently used book to the event’s book exchange table and take home a fun new read. Guests can also sign up for La Mesa Library’s Summer Reading Program.
June 11, 2011 (Ramona/Lakeside) On two different dates, there will be workshops to help people learn how to save money, improve soils, protect waterways, and grow healthy plants. In Ramona, the workshop will be at the Ramona Library on June 18th from 12:30-2:00 p.m. On June 25th the workshop will be from 3:00-4:30 p.m. at the Lakeside Polo Club.
Photos by Dennis Richardson June 10, 2011 (San Diego)—Just four days after its sky crane dropped a Sunrise Powerlink tower 200 feet, a second transmission line tower has toppled in the Imperial Valley.
Following last Monday’s accident, SDG&E promised in a press release that the company was “taking immediate steps…to investigate what occurred today in order to ensure that this does not happen again.”
But it did happen again. Today at 8 a.m., the Sun Bird Erickson Air Crane helicopter was placing the fifth of five towers near Plaster City when three of the helicopter’s four hooks released. Dangling by just one hook, the 15,000 pound tower was lowered to the ground and released, where it tipped over. Fourtunately, no one was injured in either incident. But residents of East County, where construction of Powerlink is also underway, are voicing concerns over safety of workers and the public.
June 10, 2011 (Mission Valley East) –Two men armed with a handgun robbed a woman in her home at 8301 Rio San Diego Drive. Her husband returned to the apartment and was confronted by the armed suspects. Running outside, he saw his wife and five-year-old son on the balcony.
The woman dropped the boy into her husband’s waiting arms, then leaped off the balcony to escape the home invasion robbers, according to SDPD officer David Stafford.
June 10, 2011 (San Diego) – The Tree of Life isn’t merely a movie. To call it an experience would be putting it mildly. It’s films like this that make me say, “This is why I go to the movies.” Only one other movie elicited such a response from me since I’ve been a film critic and it happened to be the best film of 2010: Gaspar Noe’s Enter the Void.
une 11, 2011 (Julian) -- Disaster Service Volunteers from across San Diego County will converge on the town of Julian Saturday morning to sharpen their skills during a “very realistic” 12-hour emergency response exercise.
June 13, 2011 (La Mesa) -- Take your family to dinner and at the same time support the fourth annual "Sustain La Mesa" Enviromental Festival and the "Our Planet, Our Home" K-12 Environmental Literacy and Art Contest, organized by the City of La Mesa's Environmental Sustainability Commission.
By Walter Davis
June 15, 2011 (San Diego) – A workshop on proposed redistricting will be this Thursday, June 16 from 6-8:30 p.m. at the City Heights Wellness Center, 4440 Wightman Street, #200 in City Heights. 
June 15, 2011 (El Cajon) – Laura Cyphert, a Cedar Fire survivor who co-founded the East County Community Action Coalition along with her husband, Milt, will provide an update on the legal battle against Sunrise Powerlink on Thursday, June 16 from 7-8:45 p.m.
June 12, 2011 (Spring Valley)-- The official groundbreaking of the Heartland Regional Fire and Public Safety Training Center
June 12, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) – Last week, as ECM reported, FEMA retracted its demand for Harris Fire survivor Veronica Lytle of Potrero to pay back disaster funds that FEMA had claimed were paid in error. Now FEMA informs ECM that 40 survivors of the 2007 California firestorms have been sent recoupment letters.
June 12, 2011 (Ramona) – Yesterday morning, a warrant sweep in East County was conducted by the San Diego Sheriff’s Department Court Services Field Unit to apprehend suspects with outstanding felony and misdemeanor warrants. A total of 12 adults and one juvenile were arrested and 14 warrants were cleared.
June 11, 2011 (San Diego) – The average car emits 12,000 pounds of C02 pollution each year – the weight of an adult elephant! Metropolitan Transit Service and the San Diego Zoo have teamed up to urge San Diego County residents to leave their cars at home and ride public transit on national “Dump the Pump” Day this Wednesday, June 15.
June 11, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) – A brush fire that started near 12th and H Streets in Ramona charred two acres, but was swiftly extinguished. In addition, a spot fire burned a 30 x 30 foot section off Wildcat Canyon Road at the 10-mile marker in Lakeside this morning, Cal-Fire reports.
June 10, 2011 (San Diego)—Just four days after its sky crane dropped a Sunrise Powerlink tower 200 feet, a second transmission line tower has toppled in the Imperial Valley. 
June 10, 2011 (Mission Valley East) –Two men armed with a handgun robbed a woman in her home at 8301 Rio San Diego Drive. Her husband returned to the apartment and was confronted by the armed suspects. Running outside, he saw his wife and five-year-old son on the balcony.
By Brian Lafferty
J
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