By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Councilman Ernie Ewin  at the La Mesa railway depot, during kickoff of the city's 2012  Centennial.

January 3, 2024 (La Mesa) -- Former La Mesa City Councilman Ernest “Ernie” Ewin died December 28, 2023 at age 76 in Utah from complications of vascular dementia.  Ewin served 18 years on the City Council, previously serving on the city’s planning commission, and held many other civic leadership positions, contributing to East County communities in the fields of education, healthcare, and more.

Ewin represents the City on the Metropolitan Transit Board (MTS), where he has chaired the audit committee. He chaired the Metro Waste Water Joint Powers Authority and served as Executive Director of the Grossmont College Foundation’ board of directors and as donor relations specialist for the Foundation for Grossmont & Cuyamaca Colleges. In addition, he was Chairman of the Prop G Grossmont Healthcare District's Independent Oversight Committee and served on the board of the East County Visitors’ Bureau.

 He was also  a founding member of the San Diego Trolley Board of Directors, past member of the County of San Diego Finance Review Panel, past Chairman of the San Diego County Organization Assessment Panel, and past Chairman of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca District's Prop R Citizens' Bond Oversight Committee. He also chaired a volunteer finance committee for the city’s 2012 Centennial celebration.

By  Pennell Paugh

January 3, 2024 (San Diego) – Odyssey's End  is the tenth book in the Rick Cahill series by local author Matt Coyle.  Private investigator Rick Cahill lives in the San Diego region and as in the series’ other books, he takes the reader on real streets and neighborhoods.in  He accepts a lost-person assignment from a man he knows is a killer. The murderer is also connected to others from Rick’s dark past. Immediately, Rick’s life and those of his family members are threatened.

Here’s a sample of writing from the book:

I hadn’t seen Peter Stone in five years. Not since the night he saved my life. When he’d wielded a shotgun with deadly efficiency. Five years before that, he’d tried to kill me with a handgun. Maybe I wouldn’t have been so lucky the first time if he’d had a shotgun.

Stone had changed a lot since the night he’d blown away two assassins in his lair up in the hills above La Jolla.

By Miriam Raftery

January 2, 2024 (El Cajon) – Tow truck driver Dale Alan Pumphrey, 63, of El Cajon was struck and  killed on New Year’s Eve while working to remove a stranded vehicle on State Route 125 north of Jamacha Road.

Pumphrey was the owner of DAP & Sons Towing, according to his son, Nicholas Ordille, who has set up a fundraiser at GoFundMe to help Pumphrey’s wife, Shelley. According to the post, Pumphrey was the sole provider for his family; his widow is a cancer survivor currently in the hospital to have a toe removed due to complications of diabetes.

“My dad was one that really put everything he had into his family, “ his son says.”He would give you the last couple dollars he had, shirt off his back, couch to sleep on when needed. .. He is My Hero and role model that was taken from us too soon.”

Float features iconic wildlife from the San Diego Zoo that have inspired generations to care for and protect wildlife

January 1, 2024 (Pasadena) - Today San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance participated in the 135th Rose Parade® presented by Honda with a float celebrating the San Diego Zoo’s 107-year history. The float themed “It Began With a Roar” depicted iconic wildlife from the Zoo, including Rex the lion, whose mighty roar sparked a dream more than a century ago and inspired the world-renowned San Diego Zoo.