June 16, 2011 (Warner Springs) 5:25 p.m. –A female motorcyclist has been airlifted to Palomar Hospital with moderate injuries, Cal-Fire confirms. CHP's website indicates 10-20 motorcyclists at the scene, however CAL-Fire has clarified that only one was seriously injured. The crash occurred on State Route 79 at Chihuahua Road. The road is currently closed.
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June 16, 2011 (San Diego) The FAA has sent a written statement in response to an ECM inquiry for information on the two SDG&E Sunrise Powerlink towers dropped by a sky crane helicopter June 7 and June 10. The statement indicates a replacement helicopter has arrived in San Diego and will undergo tests Monday in Imperial County.
The FAA also indicates sky cranes are not certified to fly over occupied populated areas when carrying heavy loads. The spokesman, Ian Gregor, later clarified in an e-mail that "a lift could occur over a populated area if that were absolutely necessary. However, nobody unessential to the operation could be on the ground below while the lift took place, and the lift could not take place directly over homes."
Below is the statement in full received this afternoon from Gregor, public information manager at the FAA Pacific Division:
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June 15, 2011 (Blossom Valley) – A paraglider called for help after crashing into a mountainside and suffering a back injury in Blossom Valley on the evening of June 13th.
He was hoisted out via helicopter and taken to El Monte Park in Lakeside. Mercy Air then transported the injured man to a local hospital.
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June 15, 2011 (Ramona) – A female hiker was air lifted out of the Cedar Creek Falls area June 12 around 4 p.m. “She jumped from a rock and impacted the water, injuring her back,”said Deputy Tim Johnson with the Sheriff’s ASTREA helicopter unit.
The number of visitors to the waterfall has soared since the U.S. Forest Service completed a new trail earlier this month. “All these improvements just make it that much more attractive out there,” said Johnson, who offered this safety advice for visitors to this local Shangri-La. “Don’t jump off rocks that are elevated above the water, not knowing what’s under there. It’s common sense.”
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June 15, 2011 (San Diego County) -- After a series of public meetings that began in February, the County’s Redistricting Advisory Committee voted Monday to forward three proposed redistricting plans to the Board of Supervisors. The citizen’s committee was tasked with gathering public input and forwarding no more than three plans for the Board’s consideration. The Redistricting Advisory Committee finished that work and held its final meeting Monday.
The Board of Supervisors is expected to hear the committee’s proposed plans at its regular Board meeting at 9 a.m. on June 28.The Redistricting Advisory Committee’s three proposals can be viewed at the County’s redistricting website at www.sdcounty.ca.gov/redistricting. Once at the site, please choose “view/submit plan” from the left menu; then choose “view the latest proposed plans.”This will take you to the online viewer, where you can “Choose (a) Plan.”
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Local elementary school names wild owlets and wins their own owl nesting box with spycam!
June 14, 2011 (Lakeside) –The four owlets of Hoot and Holla, a mated pair of wild barn owls at The Water Conservation Garden, have fledged the nest (or taken their final flight into the wild) as of June 7, 2011. Unbeknownst to them, the owlets have been observed by a loyal group of fans 24-hours a day via a live infrared Owlcam at www.thegarden.org, since they were eggs laid by Holla in mid-February of this year.
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June 14, 2011 (Sacramento) –With the rise in gasoline prices, San Diego area and California motorists left the highways, and are riding the rails in record numbers over the past 12 months to ride two of California’s highly successful intercity passenger rail corridors, Caltrans has announced.
Led by the San Joaquin corridor, which serves the Central Valley, linking Los Angeles and Bakersfield with Sacramento and the Bay Area, California’s state supported intercity passenger rail corridors had banner years. Compared to May 2010, ridership on the San Joaquin, the nation’s fifth busiest rail corridor, shot up over 12 percent with a 19 percent increase in revenue.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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Facility Closed from State Route 56 to State Route 163
June 10, 2011 (San Diego) --Beginning Saturday, June 18, the Interstate 15 (I-15) Express Lanes will be closed for nine consecutive days from State Route 56 (SR 56) to State Route 163 (SR 163).
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June 10, 2011 (San Diego) – A coalition of organizations serving people in need hosted a forum on June 2 at the City Heights Center to voice sharp criticism of San Diego County Supervisors. The criticism stemmed from two new reports by the Center on Policy Initiatives titled San Diego County Revenues and Reserves and County Employees: Overworked and Undermined.
The first report compared California’s 12 largest counties and found that San Diego takes in less revenue and has amassed reserves of $2.2 billion while restricting safety net services amid a recession. The County has left millions of dollars in state and federal aid funds unclaimed even though there are many eligible local residents for programs such as food stamps, CalWorks and Medi-Cal.
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June 9, 2011 (Lakeside) – A driver is unconscious but breathing following a 100-mph crash into a tree on I-8 eastbound just east of Los Coches Road. The vehicle reportedly had a blow-out and lost control , according to the CHP webpage.
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June 9, 2011 (Alpine) - Alpine Community Network reports that an Alpine resident has informed ACN of a mountain lion siting in broad daylight. According to ACN director Angela Brookshire, ""I received an email this morning from an Alpine Resident who told me that on their way to work at Sycuan Casino at approximately 6:50 a.m. they spotted a Mountain Lion at the corner of Tavern Rd. and Dehesa Rd. in Alpine."
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June 8, 2011 (La Mesa) – Helix Water District’s Board of Directors voted 4-1 to approve a preliminary water rate study that would impose new rate hikes starting November 1st. The Board will weigh approval of a final rate study on June 15th that would impose new rate increase starting November 1st.
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June 8, 2011 (El Cajon)--A driver traveling eastbound on Rea Avenue shortly before 3 p.m. today hit the gas instead of the brake. Her vehicle plowed through a round center median, launched through a temporary ramp and fence, then over a deep trench before landing in a construction site near El Cajon’s City Hall.
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June 8, 2011 (San Diego) – A full rescue response is underway on southbound I-15 at Friars Road, where a multi-vehicle collision has occurred including one vehicle overturned on the center divider with a person trapped inside.
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June 7, 2011 (San Diego) -- San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has announced that its air crane helicopter was involved in an accident today during construction activities for Sunrise Powerlink in the Imperial Valley. The Powerlink high-voltage transmission line is also under construction through several communities in East County.
“This morning a section of a transmission tower carried by the helicopter fell approximately 200- feet to the ground outside SDG&E’s Plaster City Construction Yard near the shoulder of the Evan Hewes Highway,” a media statement released by the company indicated. View a photo of the crash.
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June 7, 2011 (El Cajon) -- Vintage objects from the archives of the El Cajon Historical Society not being used in the Knox House Museum or in public exhibits are being released for sale. This collection of post-Civil War through 1960s artifacts is available at Lynn Endicott’s Silvercreek Fine Arts Gallery at 120 East Main Street in El Cajon’s newly renovated redevelopment area for one month, beginning at 10 a.m. on June 17th.
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June 6, 2011 (San Diego) –A woman who died after being struck at a City Heights bus stop yesterday has been identified as Vanessa Mae Shane, 25, of El Cajon. She was seated at a bus stop in the 4800 block of University Avenue near Euclid when the driver of the PT cruiser lost control and drove onto the sidewalk.
Shane resided with her parents in El Cajon. Her 4-year-old son, Elijah, and boyfriend David Abilez, were also transported to area hospitals with serious injuries.
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June 6, 2011 (Poway) -- A 57-year-old driver was rescued today after he lost control of his vehicle on Kirkham Way and plummeted 360 feet down into a valley.
Poway Sheriff’s deputies responded to the crash around 8:12 a.m. and found the black Mercedes, which was upright in the canyon despite hurtling downhill for hundreds of feet. A helicopter air-lifted the survivor and sole occupant out of the valley; he was then transported by ambulance to Palomar Medical Center, the Sheriff’s office reports.
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June 6, 2011 (San Diego) – San Diego City Council has voted 7-1 to approve a budget that will eliminate brown-outs at city fire stations starting July 1, also restoring funds for libraries and city parks.
After staff projected that reserve accounts will have more money than estimated earlier, several proposals were made to utilize the new-found surplus. Council adopted an amendment proposed by Councilmember Marti Emerald to restore eight fire engines that have been shut down for over a year. Brownouts have been blamed for at least one death, a toddler who choked to death waiting on a fire engine with paramedics to arrive from a distant location while a station a block away was closed.
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June 6, 2011 (El Cajon) -- A draft of Padre Dam's Urban Water Management Plan is now available for public comment and review. To view a copy of the plan click on the link in above or visitwww.padredam.org. Padre Dam will hold a public hearing to accept comments on our 2010 Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP) on June 17 at 3:30pm. To comment and ask questions in advance of the public hearing, please contact Mike Uhrhammer atmuhrhammer@padre.orgor call 619-258-4613.
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June 6, 2011 (El Cajon) -- Just before 10:00 a.m. this morning Heartland Fire & Rescue, serving the City of El Cajon, responded to reports of an apartment fire at 525 East Camden Avenue in El Cajon. As crews arrived smoke was coming from a second floor apartment. El Cajon fire crews, assisted by firefighters from the San Miguel Fire District, had the fire knocked down in about ten minutes. Quick action kept the fire from reaching neighboring apartment units. The exact cause of the fire is still being investigated, but it appears to have started in or around the clothes dryer area located in the middle of the apartment.
Damage has been estimated at $15,000 to the apartment and its contents. There was some smoke damage to an adjoining apartment. The family was at home at the time of the fire and were able to escape safely. The family will be staying with relatives. There were no injuries reported.
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June 5, 2011 (Ramona) – A two-year-old child has died at a local hospital after rescuers pulled the toddler from a murky pond in the 1800 block of Cedar Street in Ramona.
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June 4, 2011 (Otay) – One person is dead and two others injured following a collision on Otay Lakes Road today, the Deerhorn Valley Antler reports. A blue Ford F-150 truck struck a motorcycle near the glider port, causing a shut down of Otay Lakes Road at Highway 94.
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