By Mike Allen

October 28, 2022 (Santee) - Tim McDermott has seen the good times and the bad times overseeing budgets for the city of Santee over the past 21 years, and now he’s presumably enjoying the best of times in retirement.

By Jake Christie

October 28, 2022 (Spring Valley) -- At its September 13 special meeting, the Valle de Oro Community Planning Group took action on the Pre-final Campo Road Corridor Revitalization Specific Plan to dramatically reconfigure the area, as well as proposed changes to a forthcoming pickleball club. Planners also heard a presentation on Senate Bill 9, a nine-month-old law that allows homeowners to do duplex lot splits more easily.  The meeting itself was held in the multipurpose room of the Hillsdale Middle School on Brabham Street due to Labor Day.

By Miriam Raftery

October 28, 2022 (San Francisco) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s 82-year-old husband, Paul, was brutally assaulted by a hammer-wielding attacker at the couple’s San Francisco home early Friday morning.

Police have confirmed that the intruder shouted “Where is Nancy?” not realizing that the Speaker was not in town.

Paul Pelosi managed to dial 911 and kept the line open, allowing a 911 operator to hear the exchange and dispatch police.

Officers arrived in time to witness the elderly Pelosi struggling with the assailant, who bashed Paul Pelosi in the head before police officers wrestled him to the ground.

East County News Service

October 25, 2022 (Jamul) – The pilot who died when his experimental plane crashed on Lyons Peak in Jamul on October 4 has been identified as Craig Houston Cornford, 57, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner.

East County News Service

Photo: CC via Bing

October 24, 2022 (San Diego) -- The San Diego County Department of Environmental Health and Quality (DEHQ) has issued the following beach management actions for Monday, October 24, 2022 including closures of some beaches and an advisory for another due to raw sewage from Tijuana that may cause illness.

By Rebecca Jefferis Williamson

Photos courtesy of Julia Young  (pictured left)

 Oct. 20, 2022 (San Diego’s East County)  – East County resident Julia Young, a project manager for a logistics organization, has a hobby.  She’s a horror actor -- with experience, via attending and acting, going back to Knott's Scary Farm, the Dos Picos Park in Ramona, to this year’s Scareventures called Fright Nights at Alesmith  in Mira Mesa. Young grew up in Santee and still lives in the East County. 

In an interview with East County Magazine, she provided behind-the-scenes details on how she scared up such an unusual sideline.  

 Q. How did it come about for you to become a horror actor?

A. My first haunted maze was in the early ‘80s at Knott's Scary Farm. Each year I went, I fell more in love with it. I was fascinated by the scenery, the actors, the fun being scared. 

October 14, 2022 (El Cajon) – Vivian "Viv" Yubeta-Jackson passed away on September 24, 2022.  The East County native was bset known as a professor of forensic sciences at National University and as a Naval Criminal Investigative Services (NCIS) crime scene investigator, as well as a beloved wife, mother and grandmother.

Born in El Cajon, CA, on January 2, 1956, Vivian Yubeta graduated in 1974, married her El Cajon Valley High School sweetheart, Kerry Jackson (1956-2007) and attended college while raising two sons.

East County News Service

October 14, 2022 (El Cajon) – Supervisor Joel Anderson will host a forum open to the public on El Cajon homelessness on Saturday, October 22 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at Grossmont College.  This forum will inform you of the impacts of homelessness in El Cajon and existing, collaborative efforts to address it. In addition, El Cajon’s leadership, including the Mayor, City Councilmembers, City Manager, and Police Chief, have been invited to discuss how the County can help address homelessness in El Cajon.

East County News Service

October 10, 2022 (Spring Valley) – Alena “Gracie” Mitchem, a 15-year-old Spring Valley teen missing since September 22, was found yesterday by the San Diego County Sheriff department and is safe. Her family has been notified, according to a media release issued today by the Sheriff.

“Due to the sensitive nature of the investigation, as well as the fact that this incident involves a minor, this is all the information that can be released at this time,” says Lieutenant Kevin Ralph at the Sheriff’s Major Crimes division.

The Sheriff’s media statement adds, “The Sheriff's Department would like to thank the public and the media for their assistance. We also want to thank our partner law enforcement agencies for their help in this case.”

President also calls for review of cannabis classification, possible removal as Schedule 1 controlled substance

By Miriam Raftery

October 9, 2022 (Washington D.C.) – President Joe Biden on October 6 issued a proclamation pardoning thousands of people convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal. 

By Shiloh Ireland

Photo:  girl and her parents

October 9, 2022 (El Cajon) – On October 2^nd, another peaceful protest was held next to a sex offender’s home at 9107 Sesi Lane, where sex offenders have been placed. At this time, the six offenders housed have been reduced to four, as two moved to another part of East County.

Update Nov. 15, 2022:  A federal appeals court has blocked the student loan forgiveness plan.  The Biden Administration is likely to appeal the decision.

By Miriam Raftery

October 7, 2022 (San Diego) – Congressman Darrell Issa has been sharply critical of President Joe Biden for cancelling a small percentage (10-20%) of student loan debts. But Greene Properties in Vista, for which Issa is listed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), pocketed $151,313 in federal loan forgiveness on a Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) loan during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The company’s website had since gone dark, offline for at least the past several weeks.

East County News Service

File photo by Miriam Raftery

October 6, 2022 (San Diego) – If you’re looking for a weekend dip at the beach, be sure to take a look at the count’s list of beach closures, warnings and advisories which include beaches from the international border north as far as La Jolla, though not every shoreline is impacted.  The San Diego County Department of Environmental Health and Quality (DEHQ) has issued the following beach management actions for Thursday, October 6, 2022:

SR-78 reduced to one lane with one-way traffic control

East County News Service

October 6, 2022 (Ramona) - Maintenance crews continue brush removal efforts on a 4-mile stretch of State Route 78 (SR-78) from Ramona Highlands Road to State Route 67 in Ramona from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Friday, Oct. 14, according to Caltrans. Crews will reduce SR-78 to one lane—one mile at a time—to minimize the impact to commuter traffic.

Jones’s Senate Bill 1421 on homelessness also signed into law

East County News Service

October 6, 2022 (San Francisco) – Governor Gavin Newsom, Senator Brian W. Jones (R-Santee) and several other legislators held a bill signing ceremony in San Francisco at a senior community under construction earlier this week to announce enactment of several housing and homelessness-related measures.