June 8, 2013 (Julian) – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released its proposal this week to remove Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves across most of the country. Only the Mexican gray wolf, a subspecies of which only about 75 exist in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico, would retain federal protections. Without federal protections, states can decide whether to protect wolves or remove or reduce populations that begin to establish.

“This proposal is bad news for wolves still on the path to recovery, including in California,” says Patrick Valentino, director of California wolf recovery efforts for the California Wolf Center in Julian, a nonprofit wildlife conservation, education and research center that has been working to reestablish gray wolves to their native habitat. “Wolves have a long way to go before they are fully restored to their crucial role on the landscape.”

By Miriam Raftery

June 6, 2013 (Campo) – On Sunday,  June 9, the Campo Band of Mission Indians’ general council ( tribal members age 18 and over) will be asked to vote on whether to approve or reject  Invenergy’s Shu’luuk Wind Energy project proposed to be built on the reservation, according to a meeting notice and agenda obtained by ECM.   

ECM has also obtained a letter sent by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to Robert Eben, Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Riverside. The EPA letter raises serious concerns over the project’s Draft Enviornmental Impact Statement (DEIR), concluding that there is “Insufficient information” on impacts of three project versions and that health impacts of noise and low-frequency sound on nearby residents have been ignored.

June 1, 2013 (San Diego) –Access to information from truthful, unbiased media are cornerstones to democracy.  As KNSJ prepares to launch its public, nonprofit radio station transmitting from Descanso in East County, you’re invited to a forum on media justice hosted by Activist San Diego.

East County Magazine editor Miriam Raftery will be among the panelists at the forum on Monday, June 17 at 7 p.m.  at the Joyce Beers Community Center on Vermont Street (one block north of University Avenue across from Trader Joe's). 

Joseph Pulitzer  observed  back in 1883 that the media “should always fight for progress and reform, never tolerate injustice or corruption, always fight demagogues of all parties, never belong to any party, always oppose privilege classes and public plunderers, never lack sympathy with the poor, always remain devoted to the public welfare, never be satisfied with merely printing news, always be drastically independent, never be afraid to attack wrong, whether by predatory plutocracy or predatory poverty.”

But today, the major broadcast media and many print publications are owned by the very same corporations over which media should serve as watchdogs--and they have are far from impartial . Six corporations control the vast majority of our airways and more.  Consider this:

By Sholeh Sisson

June 5, 2013 (Ocotillo Wells) -- Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the Desert Protective Council (DPC) filed a legal action May 21, 2013 to stop open riding in the Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area (SVRA). If successful this action would end ORV "open riding" beyond designated trails and require the state park to implement strategies to protect the park's habitats and archaeological resources.

The park, located in east San Diego county, allows off-road driving on all 85,000 acres except for a few fenced and protected areas.

“SB 33 is being used by wealthy absentee landowners, foreign corporations, and investor-owned San Diego Gas & Electric to industrialize over 10,000 acres of our predominantly low-income and highly fire-prone rural community of Boulevard.” -- Donna Tisdale, chair of the Boulevard Planning Group

By Miriam Raftery

June 3, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) – SB 33, a bill that could force voters to pay for big energy projects through bond measures even if the majority of voters don't approve such projects,  is moving forward in the state legislature. The bill has passed the State Senate and is set for hearing June 12 in the Assembly Local Government Committee. It could have a big impact in East County communities such as  Boulevard, where big energy companies have engaged in a stealth campaign to stick voters with the bill for projects they don't want.

Federal Funding Could Give 40 More Veterans A Place to Call Home

June 3, 2013 (San Diego) – Some 40 more homeless veterans in San Diego County will gain a roof over their heads after the federal government announced it would award $332,731 to the County’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).

June 2, 2013 (La Mesa) – The Helix Water District board will present its preliminary 2013-14 budget at a workshop June 4 from 9 a.m. to noon. View budget. here.

On June 5 at 3 p.m., the finance directors will present draft water rates and a proposed Proposition 218 notice set to be mailed to ratepayers June 27.  Water rates will be discussed at 6 p.m. on June 5.  A workshop to discuss the draft water rates and Proposition 218 notice is also set for June 19 at 6 p.m. at the Helix Water District Boardroom.

By Miriam Raftery

“Through the years that we had known you,  you had been a blessing to know. How sweet and kind you are to all our family. We will cherish every moment and memories we had with you. We love and miss you and you will never be forgotten.” – sign beside the road, where Michelle St. Clair was fatally burned

May 30, 2013 (Lakeside) – Beside the scorched earth where Michele St. Clair was found severely burned during a brush fire on May 12,  her friends have created a makeshift memorial . Flowers, crosses,  ragged stuffed toys and a hand-lettered sign on cardboard reveal how she touched the lives of those who came to know her, before succumbing to her injuries on May 16.

St. Clair, a Navy veteran who by all accounts worked hard, refused to take handouts, and was not an alcoholic or an addict when she died.

By Miriam Raftery

May 29, 2013 (Lakeside) – Clad in pajamas, Karen Goodman broke down in tears as she told me her story  today. 

We met with her at the request of Walter Choate, an advocate for the homeless who told us that without immediate help, this bedridden woman who relies on a caregiver to survive could be homeless by Friday--and lose all of her belongings as well.

May 27, 2013 (Lakeside) – Helix Water District’s Johnstown Tank, located in Lake Jennings Park Estates off Harritt Road, Lakeside, is currently undergoing complete interior and exterior recoating. Work began on Monday, May 13, 2013. The project will take approximately six months to complete.

The viewshed for this tank includes a large area along the I-8 corridor west of the Lake Jennings Park Road exit.

Residents in the area should be aware of increased traffic, elevated noise levels, and a visual change to the tank’s surface.

May 24, 2013 (Ramona)--The County Department of Animal Services (DAS) is investigating the death of a horse and is caring for another ten horses seized from an owner in Ramona late yesterday afternoon.      

DAS was called to Ramona Monday after a group of horses was found loose on Highway 78 Monday. CHP and CALFIRE returned them to a nearby property, and DAS began monitoring a herd of 30 horses at the location, noting that the animals lacked food and water. CALFIRE supplied some water, but the conditions prompted DAS to post a notice advising the horses’ owner the animals were subject to seizure.

Concerned neighbors also provided some feed to the horses, but based on the conditions officers found during a check yesterday, DAS seized all of the animals on the property.

May 23, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) – Portions of land in and around Oceanside were added to California’s Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) quarantine this week after inspections turned up four apple moths.

California’s “interior” quarantine has grown to 6,000 acres in 19 counties across the state for the apple moth, a destructive agricultural pest that eats and damages more than 250 types of crops.

The County of San Diego’s Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures (AWM) has scheduled a meeting to talk to local growers from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday, May 24, at the Fallbrook Community Center Auditorium at 341 Heald Lane in Fallbrook. Officials from the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the United States Department of Agriculture will be at the meetings and available to answer questions.

May 22, 2013 (San Diego's East County) --As warm weather returns, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is reminding the public to be rattlesnake safe.

All of California is snake country. Much like bats, rattlesnakes are often misunderstood. They play an important role in the ecosystem by keeping rodent populations under control.

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.