Photo by Kim Hamilton

Update 5 p.m.:  The fire has reached 100 acres and is burning uphill and into the Otay Truck Trail area, closer to homes. Smoke is visible from Highway 94.

Update from Cal-Fire at 4:40 p.m.:   CAL FIRE is on scene of a 7 acre vegetation fire along the US/Mexico Border near Alta Road and Tin Can Hill (TB Map 1352 C3).  Currently we have 17 engines, 6 fire crews, 4 airtankers, 2 helicopters, 1 bulldozer, 3 water tenders and 2 chief officers either on scene or enroute.

The fire was dispatched at 4:14 and the fire originated in Mexico.  No structures are threatened.

May 22, 2013 (Otay) – Firefighters are battling a fast-spreading brush fire that started at Alta Road and Via De La Amistad in the east Otay area south of Otay Lakes.   The fire has  charred at least seven acres and has potential to burn 300, IPN reports.

There are currently no structure threats.  On flank has slowed but the other side is “taking off” per IPN.   Six hand crews and ten type-3 engines have been requested by the incident commander.

May 22, 2013 (Lakeside) – The Victorian Roses Ladies Riding Society presents their Wild West Casino Night 2 on June 1, 2013 at the Lakeside Rodeo Grounds, Lakeside, CA from 6-10 pm. It benefits Saving Horses Inc., a San Diego horse rescue charity.

Ticket price is $20/person & includes $200 in play chips. Beer or wine glasses are $20 each and come with 5 free drink tickets. Raffles, silent auction, door prizes, roulette, black jack, craps & poker tables.

Live music by the Honky Tonk Kings, food available for purchase by Descanso Junction Restaurant & Catering.

May 22, 2013 (La Mesa) – The Grossmont Healthcare District’s Dr. William C. Herrick Community Health Care Library, 9001 Wakarusa St. in La Mesa, will host a free senior discussion group presentation on “Alternatives to Google: Finding Health Information Online,” from 10 to 11 a.m. today. The public is invited to attend, and RSVP is not required. The speaker will be Kathy Quinn, library director of the Herrick Library.

Quinn, with 21 years of experience as a librarian and researcher, will share tips on how to find reliable, accurate and trustworthy information on the Internet about your health. The presentation will include a demonstration of the links to health information available on the Herrick Library website. Handouts on how to evaluate health websites and reliable sites to search will be provided.

May 22, 2013 (Descanso) – The Medical Examiner has determined that Robert Sean Gibbons died of natural causes  from a heart attack related to coronary artery disease.   The body of Gibbons, 46, was found by firefighters who responded to a fire at his trailer, which was fully engulfed in flames.

May 21, 2013 (Lakeside) – KSON radio will be at the Lakeside Park and Ride at Highway 67 and Mapleview tomorrow from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. collecting donations to help tornado victims in Moore, Oklahoma. 

Local residents are invited to drive through and drop off cash donations.  Everyone who donates will also be entered in a contest to win two tickets to Taylor Swift’s sold-out concert August 15.

Company had flood of violations, including providing unsafe drinking water and illegally selling water to SDG&E and other contractors

By Miriam Raftery

May 20, 2013 (Live Oak Springs) – Chief Administrative Law Judge Karen V. Clopton with the California Public Utilites Commission has issued a decision recommending that  owners of Live Oak Springs Water Company be fined $1 million for violations that have put public health at risk.  The CPUC proposal would  ask the Superior Court to appoint a receiver to take possession of the property , including the bankrupt Live Oak Springs resort, and operate the water system.

“Nazar Najor, the controversial owner, has been selling water to large construction projects without authorization from his small regulated water district that is meant to serve Live Oak Springs ratepayers,” said Donna Tisdale, chair of the Boulevard Planning Group.

By Miriam Raftery

May 20, 2013 (Ocotillo) – Federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel has granted a motion filed by citizens’ groups to remand a lawsuit over the Ocotillo Express Wind Facility from federal court back to state court.

Plaintiffs Donna Tisdale, Protect Our Communities Foundation and Backcountry Against Dumps hailed the decision.

“Since Ocotillo Express operation started in late 2012, residents complain of adverse impacts from noise, vibrations, electrical interference, shadow flicker and light pollution. People, pets and wildlife are suffering while the project’s wind production is far less than advertised,” a press release issued by plaintiffs states.

Note: If you can't open the .wav file below, try the MP3 version here:

May 24, 2013 (San Diego's East County) -- We've added more to our "sneak preview" audio of our show. This is just a small portion of the great content we've got lined up on our East County Magazine radio show. Check it out! https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/sites/eastcountymagazine.org/files/au...

Underwrite our show to support community radio and be heard across our region. Initial test signals for the new KNSJ station broadcasting in Descanso have been heard as far away as downtown San Diego, by up to a million listeners!  Our show will air in prime-time drive time.  Contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org or call 619-698-7617.

Update May 19: Smith has been found safe in San Ysidro.

May 18, 2013 (Lemon Grove) -- The San Diego Sheriff’s Department is searching for a missing person at risk.  James Edward Smith of Lemon Grove is on medication for dementia and is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s.  Smith, 66, was last seen driving his 2006 Silver Chrysler 300 four-door sedan with CA license plate 5XLV296.

Smith is described by authorioties as black, 5 feet 11 inches tall, 207 pounds, bald, with brown eyes and a mustache.  He was last seen wearing a tan and brown jacket, baggy blue jeans, and a tan baseball cap.

He was last seen leaving Willy's Electronics on Mercury Street in San Diego on May 16 at 02:55 p.m., alone in his vehicle. He may have been heading to Harbor Freight supply in Chula Vista. He never arrived at the supply store, and never arrived home in the 1800 block of El Prado Ave, Lemon Grove.

May 18, 2013 (Spring Valley) – A 69-year-old Spring Valley man has been arrested in connection with the vicious beating of a dog. An officer with the County of San Diego Department of Animal Services (DAS) has arrested 69-year-old Charles Dudley on May 14. A neighbor called DAS saying he witnessed the beating in Dudley’s backyard on the 3500 block of Bentley Drive a day earlier.

The Animal Control Officer who responded to the scene found a two-year-old female Miniature Pinscher barely breathing in the backyard and rushed the eight-pound animal to an emergency veterinary hospital. Despite emergency care, the dog succumbed to its injuries overnight. A necropsy will be performed on the body to determine the exact cause of death.

Governor's May Budget Revise Increases Spending on Developmental Centers; People with Developmental Disabilities Urge the Governor to Stop “Taxpayer Supported Abuse”

May 18, 2013 (Sacramento) – People with developmental disabilities and their advocates are speaking out in reaction to Governor Brown's May Budget Revise, and his decision to spend even more taxpayer dollars on a system that has been repeatedly cited for abusing people with developmental disabilities:

“As a California taxpayer I’m outraged, and as a person with a developmental disability I’m repulsed,” said advocate Kiara Hedglin. “It’s unconscionable for the Governor to increase spending on a system that abuses people with developmental disabilities.   It’s time for these archaic centers to close and for people with developmental disabilities to receive the quality care they deserve in home-like settings.”

By Sholeh Sisson 

May 17 2013 (San Diego)-- On May 15, the San Diego Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an ordinance waiving building permit and plan review fees for disabled veterans who need home modifications to accommodate their disabilities.

"We are always looking for ways to improve the lives of those who risk their lives to protect our country," said Supervisor Dianne Jacob, who introduced the measure along with Supervisor Bill Horn.

History of turbine/blade manufacturer Siemens is riddled with bribery, corruption, and other scandals

An East County Magazine special investigative report

By Miriam Raftery

Sierra Robinson, Sholeh Sisson and Jim Pelley also contributed to this report

May 16, 2013 (Ocotillo)—One day after San Diego Supervisors ignored residents’ safety concerns and approved a wind ordinance that would open much of East County to industrial wind turbines, a wind turbine at the Ocotillo Express Wind Energy facility hurled off an 11-ton blade. The blade, manufactured by Siemens, landed on a trail used by off-road vehicles.   The accident has shut down the wind facility pending investigation into the cause. View video shot by Ocotillo resident Jim Pelley:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7bpbQXfFOk

An investigation by East County Magazine reveals a dark history of serious safety hazards involving Siemens’ wind products as well as a corporate past that includes guilty pleas to corruption on a global scale, including accusations of bribery and other serious charges in at least 20 nations. 

Siemens contracted with Pattern Energy, a company with its own checkered corporate past, as ECM has previously reported, to build the controversial project on public land managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Ocotillo and paid for with taxpayer subsidies.  Pattern's corporate predecessor also built the Kumeyaay Wind project in Campo, which blew apart in 2010, whirling blade parts over the area. All 75 blades on all 25 turbines had to be replaced; the project was off-line for months.