TICKETS NOW ON SALE!

Saturday, August 25th 

6-10 p.m. (VIP reception at 5:30 p.m.)

Mission Trails Regional Park Visitor Center

One Father Junipero Serra Trail, San Diego

It’s the party of a decade!

East County Magazine invites you to join us at East County Fest, our 10^th anniversary celebration!  Proceeds benefit our East County Wildfire & Emergency Alerts and our award-winning community news reporting.

Festivities include: Foods and wines from the best restaurants and wineries in East County, wonderful artists, artisans, authors, athletes, communitiy leaders, live music and entertainment, raffle, auction, stargazing, guest speakers, a look back at the last 10 years and forward to the future!

Tables and individual tickets are available, plus there’s a VIP reception.  Buy a table or a VIP reception ticket and get our free “Best of East County” cookbook on a souvenir thumb drive as thanks, plus preferred parking, auction preview, gourmet goodies and more. VIP party is catered by Bekker's Catering.

EARLY BIRD TICKETS BEFORE AUGUST 16 (prices will rise by $10 a ticket after Aug. 16)

Individual tickets: $65 ($60 for sustaining donors and dining club members) or for $20 extra add VIP reception ($85 total).

Tables: $480 ($60 a person) or $680  ($80 a person) with the VIP reception. 

This event is for age 21 and up.

CLICK ARROWS BELOW TO VIEW AND CHOOSE ALL PRICE OPTIONS.

  For all the delicious details, click "read more" and scroll down.

By Suzanne Potter, Public News Service

Photo:  Disneyland and Universal Studios are among the large companies that benefit from California's Prop 13, paying pre-1978 tax rates on some of their properties. (Wikimedia Commons)

August 17, 2018 (Sacramento) - Backers of commercial property tax reform have just submitted 860,000 signatures to county registrars for an initiative on the November 2020 ballot. 

By Miriam Raftery

August 17, 2018 (San Diego) – Language expert, author, columnist and radio personality Richard Lederer will be a special guest at our East County Fest 10-year anniversary party of the decade on Saturday night, August 25. (Tickets are going fast! Get tickets and learn more.)

In addition to speaking and signing copies of his latest books, Lederer has generously donated two special auction prizes – an entertaining and educational appearance by Lederer for your group, and a poker lesson by Lederer, whose skills enabled his two children to become world and national poker champions.

Lederer is the author of 50 books about language, history, and humor, including his best-selling Anguished English series and his current books, Amazing Words, Lederer on Language, and The Joy of Names. He is a founding co-host of “A Way With Words” on KPBS.

Dr. Lederer’s syndicated column, “Lederer on Language,” appears in newspapers and magazines throughout the United States, including the San Diego Union-Tribune. He has been named International Punster of the Year and Toastmasters International’s Golden Gavel winner.

By Tracy DeFore, County of San Diego Communications Office

August 15, 2018 (San Diego) - Hankering for a hound, pondering a purr monster or craving a Chihuahua?

If the idea of adopting a pet has ever crossed your mind, now is the time to do it. As part of the annual Clear the Shelters Day, County Animal Services is waiving adoption fees for all dogs, cats and rabbits on Saturday, Aug. 18.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo from San Diego Fire Dept.: Metro Arson Strike Team investigates fire scene.

August 14, 2018 (San Pasqual Valley) – The Metro Arson Strike team has reversed an earlier announcement and now believes yesterday's Cloverdale Fire in the San Pasqual Valley was not caused by arson, but instead by a rimless tire that threw off sparks, causing multilple ignition points, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

This is the third fire to occur in the San Pasqual area in the past couple of weeks, though authorities have not yet announced causes of the earlier San Pasqual and Rangeland fires, which burned 240 and 250 acres respectively.

The Cloverdale Fire, under unified command of Cal Fire and San Diego Fire Department, started mid-afternoon and quickly scorched 100 acres. Today it is 65% contained and evacuations have been lifted.

 
By Miriam Raftery

August 11, 2018 (Boulevard) -- Terra-Gen's proposed Torrey Wind project (with up to 30 giant turbines each up to 586 tall and 4.2 megawatts) in Boulevard is moving through the planning process quickly. Boulevard Planning Group Chair Donna Tisdale is asking all who have concerns or information to share on impacts of wind turbines to come to a public scoping meeting  August 23 at 6 p.m. in the new Cal-Fire/County Fire Station at 40080 Ribbonwood Road, Boulevard.

“These turbines could be twice as powerful and about 100 feet taller than the Tule Wind turbines installed on public recreation land next door,” says Tisdale. “Bigger turbines can churn out much more noise and low frequency vibrations and potential electrical pollution over greater distances that can trigger psychical and emotional stress and the body's fight or flight instinct in people and animals. Turbines have reportedly been deemed nuisances in some legal and administrative proceedings around the world, with some families abandoning their homes and other homes bought out by developers over noise impacts and related litigation.”

By Paul Kruze, Contributing Editor

Photo: Bessmon "Ben" Kalasho, August 2015

August 9, 2018 (El Cajon)--An exclusive investigation by East County Magazine has uncovered a criminal case in which El Cajon Councilman Bessmon “Ben” Kalasho pled guilty to two counts of workers’ compensation fraud in October 2015 (court case #MD094871).

Kalasho was on probation for his crimes, both misdemeanors, when he ran for and won his seat on the City Council in 2016. He remains on probation until October 1, 2018.

Kalasho has pulled papers to run for El Cajon City Council again in November.   

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Source:  San Diego Sheriff's Department

August 9, 2018 (Ramona) -  It has been a record-breaking hot summer in San Diego County.  With temperatures hitting triple digits in our backcountry areas, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, the U.S. Forest Service, CAL FIRE San Diego and other agencies have been busy rescuing hikers who didn't prepare for the heat and sometimes treacherous terrain.  

By Miriam Raftery

August 9, 2018 (Washington D.C.) – U.S. District Judge John Bates issued a ruling last week order the Trump administration to fully restore the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.  The program protects many young immigrants who came here as children from deportation.

Trump announced plans to shut down the program and his administration has stopped accepting applications or processing renewals. But the judge ruled Trump’s rationale for dropping DACA, a program created during the Obama administration, did not pass legal muster.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Richard Edwords, an Alpine resident driving a water tender truck: at the Mendocino Complex Fire, where bulldozers  have been cutting fire breaks

Update: An earlier version of this article stated that the Mendocino Complex fire is the second largest in our state's history.  With more acreage burned tonight, it is now the largest.

August 6, 2018 (San Diego) – Across California, 36 wildfires are currently burning. View map and incident reports. Currently the only one in San Diego County, the #CasnerFire in Ramona, is 75% contained at 14 acres, with no structures lost.  A 1,000 brush fire on Camp Pendleton has been extinguished.  But elsewhere in the state, explosive fires are burning, claiming lives and property.

The #MendocinoComplexFire is now the second largest in California history, where 283,000 acres have burned after the Ranch and River fires joined forces, Reuters reports tonight.

Evacuations are ordered in Orange County, where the #HolyFire that started in Cleveland National Forest has scorched 1,200 acres, burning one structure and causing one injury, the Orange County Register reports tonight.

By Miriam Raftery and Paul Kruze

August 6, 2018 (El Cajon) – The legal spiderweb entangling El Cajon Councilman Bessmon "Ben" Kalasho and his wife, Jessica, has become even stickier. Superior Court Judge Timothy Taylor has issued an order granting a motion by plaintiff Lina Charry, deeming admitted the contents of requests for admissions to which the defendants repeatedly failed to respond.

By Miriam Raftery

August 5, 2018 (Lakeside) – Deb Carney Carlson is an administrator for the Brush Fire Partyline, donating her time to post fire alerts to keep others safe. Now her daughter, Tara, is fighting for her life – and needs help from the public.

By Miriam Raftery, East County Magazine Editor

August 5, 2018 (El Cajon) - Councilman Ben Kalasho’s attacks on First Amendment freedom of the press has drawn national attention.  

The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, which tracks attacks on journalists’ First Amendment rights in the United States, has published an article on our reporter Paul Kruze’s police complaint against El Cajon Councilman Ben Kalasho accusing Kalasho of threatening Kruze with atrained attack dog. 

East County News Service

August 4, 2018 (San Diego) -- The Settlement Agreement for issues and costs related to the closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) is final after San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE) and other parties notified the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) that they accept the CPUC’s request to remove a provision that would have funded university-conducted greenhouse gas research. 

By Miriam Raftery 

August 4, 2018 (San Diego’s East County) - Excessively hot weather is likely for next week with the hottest conditions Monday and Tuesday. The climate outlook includes the likelihood for above normal temperatures continuing through the middle of August. Elevated fire weather risk will also continue to be a concern, the National Weather Service reports.