Appraiser says average loss in home values is 25 percent

By Billie Jo Jannen
For East County Magazine

January 28, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) --East County residents who oppose a growing collection of industrial wind turbines proposed near rural residences have discovered that they have much in common with wind farm neighbors in the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Japan, Canada and other parts of the United States. Residents who have lived near windmills for years are now publicizing impacts to health and property values.

In fact, a standing-room-only crowd got an earful on those impacts last Wednesday, when experts from Illinois and Canada discussed them at the Boulevard Fire Station.

January 27, 2011 (Deerhorn Valley) – Daniel Alphonse Ignosci, a retired San Diego Fire Department captain and long-time resident of Deerhorn Valley, died January 7, 2011 at age 70.

January 28, 2011 (Lakeside) 5:25 p.m.–CHP is en route to a serious motorcycle accident on Highway 67 at Willow Road. According to a caller who reported the accident at 5:20 p.m., the motorcyclist was engaged in reckless driving, CHP’s incident page reports. The motorcyclist flew into the air and rolled, witnesses reported.

January 27, 2011 (San Diego) – A high wind warning has been issued for San Diego County’s mountain areas through 2 p.m. today. Northeast winds from 20-30 mph with gusts from 50-60 mph are expected in and below mountain passes. A wind advisory has been issued for the rest of the county.

January 26, 2011 (Casa De Oro)--San Miguel Fire Department responded to a motor home fire yesterday just after 2 p.m. in the 9800 block of Estrella Drive.  Firefighters found the older model vehicle fully engulfed in flames that sent up a thick cloud of black smoke that could be seen for miles away. Witnesses reported hearing an explosion during the fire; early indications suggest a propane tank blew up.

January 26, 2011 (La Presa) - Witnesses say the driver of a high performance sports car was traveling in excess of 100 miles per hour when he lost control, rolled several times and hit hitting a utility pole in the 900 block of Gillespie Drive, San Miguel Fire District's Leonard Villareal reports. The impact snapped the utility pole, dropping the power lines and knocked the vehicle back on its driver’s side door. The vehicle hit with such force the passenger was pinned inside.

Viejas Chairman Pico, Congressman Duncan Hunter and Supervisor Jacob to speak at groundbreaking event honoring Alpine veterans

January 25, 2011 (Alpine)--What started as a dream is becoming a reality. The Wall of Honor is ready to start construction at the Alpine Community Center at 9 a.m. on January 29--and you can have a chance to be one of the first to move ground in honor of our veterans. A Labor of Love will start construction and give community members an opportunity to pitch in the effort to build a lasting memorial for area veterans.

January 24, 2011 (Scripps Ranch) – Gusty winds toppled a 100-foot-high eucalyptus tree in Hoyt Park, crashing it down upon a home owned by Art and Terri Moreau on Canyon Lake Drive in Scripps Ranch. Although the massive tree crushed the home’s roof and damaged a kitchen and bedroom, fortunately no one was injured.

January 24, 2011 (Borrego Springs) –Bambi Lynn Woodson, 53, was killed Saturday, January 22 at 8:45 a.m. in a rollover accident on Highway 78 in Borrego Springs, the San Diego Medical Examiner reports.

January 23, 2011 (Fallbrook) – East County Magazine writer Will Schwent seeks the public’s help to locate his brother, John Allen Schwent. “He was last known to be living in the Fallbrook area,” Will Schwent said. “He has alcohol and mental problems, but his family is anxious to know if he is even alive.

The family has not heard from the missing man for over two years. He was last seen during a visit with his sister in San Marcos.  Family members initially believed he’d gone into hiding while paying off a court debt, but have become oncerned after so much time has gone by with no contact.

January 20, 2011 (La Mesa) – Police confiscated an arsenal of weapons from the home of David Schreiner, whose phone call to police about a shooting at Helix High School promoted authorities to secure the campus January 14th. Search warrant records obtained by ECM news partner 10 News indicate that authorities seized 40 rifles, pistols, shotguns and muskets as well as six knives, a dagger, a tomahawk, a hatchet, a machete, a leather sap, and a camouflage ballistic vest.

January 19, 2011 (San Diego's East County) -- Motorists traveling on Mission Gorge Road to southbound State Route 125 in Santee will lose one lane for the next four weeks, Cal-Trans has announced.  Southbound traffic will be directed along a shoulder to the future 52/125 southbound onramp starting Thursday morning at 5 a.m.

January 17, 2010 (Poway) – Ramona resident Cynthia Clay, founder of Clay’s Canine Sidekicks and Leashes for Leaving, died Christmas night, December 25th, one day before her 58th birthday.

“Cyndy, while seriously disabled herself, created and managed over the years two service dog training groups,” said Hope Goodwin, a client who owns a service dog obtained through Clay. “I believe that Cyndy's training group is the only one in the U.S. that teaches the disabled how to train their own Service Dogs,” she said of the two-year program.

Case to be moved to San Diego

January 16, 2011 (San Diego) – Larry Burns, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court’s Southern District in San Diego, has been assigned to preside over the case of Jarod Lee Loughner, the accused gunman in last week’s Arizona massacre. Loughner is accused of shooting 19 people in Tucson, Arizona, killing six. The dead include Arizona’s chief federal judge John Roll and a nine-year old girl. The injured include Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot through the brain.

Update 9 p.m.: The victim was a 67-year old Caucasian man from Valley Center, the San Diego Medical Examiner's office reports.  His name has not been released pending next of kin.

January 16, 2011 (Anza-Borrego) – A fatality accident involving a trailer and a motorcycle has shut down Highway 78 just east of Scissors Crossing in the Anza Borrego Desert State Park, California Highway Patrol reports. The accident was reported at 11:41 a.m. and the road closure occurred at 12:04 p.m.