April 10, 2015 (San Diego's East County) - The County of San Diego, Department of Environmental Health (DEH) has issued a Boil Water Order and Public Notification for the Rancho Santa Teresa Mutual Water Company located at 25056 Rancho Santa Teresa Drive, Ramona, CA 92065 effective immediately.  The water system serves 37 residential connections.

By Miriam Raftery

April 9, 2015 (Manzanita Reservation)—For the past 18 years, Leroy Joseph Elliott has served as Chairman of the Manzanita Band of the Kumeyaay Nation.  A respected leader and elder in the Native American community who led efforts to revive cultural traditions, Chairman Elliott passed away on March 18, 2015.

Born on April 18, 1943 to John Elliott and Adelina Aswayo at the Soboda Indian Hospital in Riverside County, Elliott was raised on the Manzanita Indian reservation in East County and attended Mountain Empire High School.  He served as a firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service and as Assistant Fire Chief of the Campo Reservation Fire Department.    

According to California Indian Education, Elliott was the last fluent speaker of the Kumeyaay language at Manzanita.  He dedicated himself to preserving and teaching the Kumeyaay language to his people, advocating for continuance of the language, traditions, cultures and beliefs.   He led efforts to revive bird songs, traditions passed down through thousands of years of Kumeyaay history, preserving them for future generations.

Ambulance responses in our region raise alarms:  Part IV in a series

By Miriam Raftery

April 6, 2015 (San Diego’s East County)—San Diego County’s contract with its new ambulance provider for East County, Mercy,  requires that response times be less than 30 minutes 90% of the time in rural areas and 10 minutes in urban areas.  That’s too long if you’ve had a heart attack or other major trauma. 

When we inquired about response times, County staff advised us that in 2014, the County Fire Authority (ie Cal Fire) had a better response time than the requirement, averaging just over 10 minutes, while the former ambulance provider, AMR, average about 14 minutes. (Read more)

East County News Service

April 8, 2015 (San Diego)—Federal income taxes are due on April 15^th. But millions of taxpayers trying to get questions answered from the Internal Revenue Service are finding frustration instead.

Bomber was "radicalized"watching videos by a San Diego imam

By Miriam Raftery

April 8, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) --A jury has found Dzhokhar Tsarnaev guilty on all 30 counts related to the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013. Tsarnev could face the death penalty for the crimes, which killed three and wounded 264 other victims, the Boston Globe reports.

East County News Service

April 4, 2015 (San Diego) – Super-skinny models will no longer be strutting the fashion runways in Paris. On Friday, France, a leader in the fashion industry, passed a new law that bans anorexic models. The measure also imposes fines and prison time for fashion houses or agents who employ underweight models.

By Miriam Raftery

April 3, 2015 (El Cajon) – In response to reports of multiple sexual harassment  and sexual misconduct claims against the El Cajon Police department through the years, we asked City Manager Doug Williford how many women are on the police force, including management. We also asked what policies have been put in place that aim to prevent sexual harassment.

Williford sent our request to Jim Lynch, director of human resources for the City of El Cajon. Lynch provided this response:

East County News Service

Photo courtesy ECM news partner 10 News

April 3, 2015 (Spring Valley) – A fire in Spring Valley destroyed two homes early Friday morning, displacing 10 residents.

April 3, 2015 (Potrero) – Steve Kowit, well-known poet, author, teacher and Potrero resident, passed away this morning following heart surgery  Kowit taught at Southwestern College and San Diego State University, mentored many, and inspired a generation of local writers through his teaching, readings and writings.

He was distinguished by his many awards for poetry, which include the National Endowment Fellowship in Poetry, two Pushcart Prizes, the Atlanta Review Poetry Prize, the Ouroboros Book Award, the 2006 Tampa Review Poetry Prize, and most recently the San Diego Theodore Geisel Award.

By Miriam Raftery

April 1, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – Unfortunately, this isn’t an April Fool’s joke. The Sierra snowpack is “the worst in a century,” according to Jeff Anderson, snow surveyor for the U.S. Conservation Source.

East County News Service

March 31, 2015(San Diego) – SDG&E has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to use unmanned drones to conduct aerial inspections of its gas and electrical facilities in rural East County.

State’s own defense lawyers could do the job for $30 to $65 an hour

By Miriam Raftery

March 30, 2015 (San Diego)—As we reported last week, the California Public Utilities Commission’s Chairman, Michael Picker, unilaterally authorized the PUC to pay a criminal defense firm to mount a defense for the PUC’s former chairman, Michael Peevey and others  who are the targets of both state and federal investigations. Picker initially authored $49,000 and then bumped it up to $5.2 million – a 100-fold increase.

By Miriam Raftery

March 28, 2015 (Ramona)—A 4-year-old boy drowned in a swimming pool March 21^st at a neighbor’s home in Ramona.

East County News Service

March 27, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) --  A body believed to be that of a missing 18-year-old San Diego State University student has been found in Lake Murray.

March 28, 2015 (San Diego) – University of California San Diego campus police ask the public’s help to locate Wilton Mak, a 22-year-old UCSD student who has been missing since last Sunday, March 22^nd.