October 26, 2013 (San Diego's East County) – The Sheriff’s Department is looking for witnesses with information on an accident that occurred around 9:48 this morning involving two vehicles that collided, causing a bicyclist to also be struck and severely injured.

Deputies reported that the two vehicles were involved in a dispute over right-of-way where State Route 67 merges from two lanes to a single lane at Poway Road. As the two vehicles merged, the passenger side of a Volvo S 60 collided with the driver’s side of a Dodge Ram 3500.  After the collision, the Dodge Ram veered right, striking a bicyclist traveling northbound in a marked bicycle lane.

October 25, 2013 (El Cajon) – El Cajon Mayor Mark Lewis has resigned, effective immediately.  In his resignation letter, the Mayor  cited health reasons, including cancer, a dislocated shoulder and a minor stroke in 2010. “Unfortunately at times, this has caused me some difficulties in clearly communication my thoughts, including during the recent interviews  that have caused understandable concern,” he wrote, adding that he is stepping down to avoid further concerns by citizens and to “allow our City Council and community o move forward in their work to make this City the finest place it can be.”

He added, “I deeply love our town and have given a major portion of my adult life to its wellbeing and, so, this is a bittersweet moment for me."

October 23, 2013 (Alpine) – Four people sustained life-threatening major injuries in a rollover accident on westbound I-8 at East Willows Road in Alpine at 11:50 a.m. on October 21.   None were properly restrained in seat belts, according to CHP officer Kevin Pearlstein.

According to the CHP, a 28-year-old woman from Campo was driving a 2001 Ford Explorer westbound at about 70 miles per hour when her vehicle drifted onto the dirt center divide and rolled out.  A 2-year-old girl was ejected from the vehicle.  She was transported to Children’s Hospital.

October 22, 2013 (Borrego Springs) – A big-rig truck driver lost control entering a curve on Montezuma Valley Road and overturned, crashing through a guard rail and plunging down an embankment at 6:15 this morning.  The driver, 28, and his 18-month-old son were extricated from the wreckage and airlifted to the Borrego Springs Airport, where Mercy Air flew them to Riverside General Hospital.

The driver, who is from Coachella, sustained minor injuries to his knee and back.  His young son sustained a broken leg.

October 21, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) – Two scoping meetings are planned this week in Julian and Alpine  for the public to obtain information and voice views on a proposal by San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)  that includes Cleveland National Forest lands.  SDG&E wants to combine over 70 existing special use permits for electric facilities in the forest into one Master Special Use Permit.  In addition, SDG&E wants to replace some power lines and distribution liens both inside and outside the forest  including fire hardening, relocation and undergrounding of certain facilities.

Areas impacted include the vicinity of Descanso, Campo, Pauma Valley, Santa Ysabel, and Warner Springs.

By Miriam Raftery

October 18, 2013– Former Congressional candidate Ray Lutz of El Cajon was arrested in November 2011 for attempting to register voters at the Civic Cente Plaza downtown.  This week, Lutz announced he has entered into a settlement with the City in which his arrest record will be expunged and the City will agree not to arrest people in the future for peaceful political activity in public spaces of private property.

"Our goal was to send a clear message and require that the city admit they were wrong. This is about as close to an admission of guilt you can get from the city. We want to make sure this never happens again,” said Lutz.

October 18, 2013 (Ramona) – Bella Noble, A 5-year-old Ramona girl has died of injuries sustained when her mother, 42, accidentally backed over the child. The tragedy happened at 5:20 p.m. yesterday in the family's driveway on Carnation Road in Ramona, when the mother was backing her Chevrolet Astro van out to visit a friend. 

According to the CHP, the child ran behind the vehicle.

“The mother lost sight of her daughter and felt a bump at the rear of her vehicle and realized she may have struck her child.  Not realizing she had run over her daughter, she pulled forward and struck her child a second time,” said CHP Officer Tommy Doerr.

story courtesy Grossmont College

October 17, 2013 (El Cajon) -- With a statewide earthquake drill known as the "Great California Shakeout" planned for 10:17 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 17, panelists in Grossmont College's Griffin Center told students last week, where to expect earthquakes to repeatedly happen, how to best be prepared for them, and what it is like to experience their devastation.  Many of these tips are included in the story below.

The panel was a precursor to the Oct. 17 drill in which students, faculty and staff will be advised that in the event that they are inside a building during a real earthquake, they should drop to the floor, get under and hold onto a desk or a table, and cover their heads to prevent materials shaken loose from falling on them.  The Oct. 17 drill will last approximately two minutes after which normal classroom activities will resume.

The San Diego State University Transit Center was shut down and the Adams Humanities building was evacuated at 9:45 a.m. due to fire alarms sounding. Trolleys where shut down going both directions between Grantville & 70th Street.  Substitute buses where put in place. The alarms where triggered by fumes being released by a leaking battery inside one of SDSU’s trolley operating rooms.

 By Nadin Abbott

 October 14, 2013 (San Diego) Reports are coming in from the Philippines that the southern island of Bohol was hit with a magnitude 7.2 earthquake this evening, according to the United States Geological Service.  At least 20 people have died, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council.

According to Earthquake report, this was a shallow earthquake, which has caused building collapse, including the main church in Bohol, with Mindanao affected as well. USGS has a notice that due to the shut down, operation are at a minimum.

By Miriam Raftery

October 11, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) – If you leave a loaded gun where a child can access it, you’ll be committing a crime in California. If you store a loaded gun where someone prohibited from owning a gun has access and injures someone, you'll be guilty of criminal storage.  These are among nearly a dozen new gun laws signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown.

If you own a long gun, you’ll need to earn a safety certificate under a bill authored by Senator Marty Block (D-San Diego).

Pscyhotherapists will be required to report a serious threat of violence made by a patient against any specific victims to police within 24 hours. Police must notify the California Justice Department within a day after getting the report. The bill seeks to prevent a tragedy such as the Aurora, Colorado theater massacre; the shooter had threatened violence to his psychiatrist but doctor-patient confidentiality law prohibited the psychiatrist from notifying police.  A patient who threatens a psychotherapist will be banned from owning a gun for five years (currently the limit is six months). 

By Miriam Raftery

October 10, 2013 (Julian) – Working in frigid weather amid blowing snow, sleet and high winds, a team of rescue units located a missing plane shortly after midnight in the Volcan Mountain Wilderness Preserve.  

The male pilot and a female passenger were found dead inside the plane, along with their dog. The plane crashed onto a rugged, steep hillside approximately half a mile from a road near the top of Volcan Mountain. ECM news partner reports that Andrew Thulin of San Diego, Robbie Rose and their poodle were on board.

October 9, 2013 (El Cajon ) – At 7:46 p.m. tonight, Domingues Salvador, 67, boarded a trolley at 352 South Marshall Avenue in El Cajon after becoming separated from his spouse at the trolley station.  Domingues has Alzheimer’s disease, speaks Spanish, and only knows his name.  He has no identification or money.

He is Hispanic with white hair and brown eyes.  He is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 140 pounds.  He was wearing a black jacket and sky blue pants.

(stock photo)

October 9, 2013 (Julian) – As searchers comb Volcan Mountain for a missing airplane tonight, thunderstorms have knocked the University of California’s hpwren atop the mountain offline—perhaps permanently, ECM has learned.

“This site was badly hit by lightning,” the webcam website states.  “The Volcan cameras may be outfor good, as we checked and they did not power back up after main power was restored. We can check them out further once we get them off the tower, but we have no hardware budget to repair or replace them any more.”

October 9, 2013 (Spring Valley ) –Sheriff’s investigators along with federal agents have determined that a fire at Santa Sophia Church last night was intentionally set.  A reward of up to $1,000 is offered for information leading to arrest of the arsonist.

The fire was reported around 7:57 p.m. last night in the church at 9800 San Juan Street in the Casa De Oro neighborhood of Spring Valley.   Cal Fire/San Miguel Fire district crews were on the scene in three minutes with  five engines and 20 firefighters, who extinguished the blaze within 10 minutes.