By Miriam Raftery

November 6, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – East County Magazine has twice named Donna Tisdale our “Newsmaker of the Year” for her tireless efforts to battle massive energy projects and stand up for rural residents.  She also received the People’s Mic Award from KNSJ  Radio for her advocacy as a backcountry warrior.

But now the warrior is under attack by a series of articles (1) (2) (3) published by Voice of San Diego.  The articles criticize Tisdale and her nonprofit, Backcountry Against Dumps (BAD) for suits filed in Imperial County over desert solar projects. In essence, the series faults cash settlements paid to farmers and claims eight suits yielded no environmental benefits.

But now Tisdale is firing back in a detailed response that contends VOSD’s stories contain false statements  in a “misinformation campaign” she likens to Big Tobacco and Big Oil’s efforts to mislead the public.  “It is no coincidence that San Diego Gas & Electric’s (SDG&E’s) Mitch Mitchell is on the VOSD Board of Directors,” she observes, noting that BAD has challenged numerous SDG&E projects.  She denies personal financial gain alleged by VOSD (which presented zero evidence of such).  While the VOSD article addresses issues in 8 lawsuits not in San Diego County, BAD has filed three times that many (24), many of which did result in big wins for the environment in our region-- or developers backing off projects completely, facts that VOSD failed to report. 

Below is Tisdale’s rebuttal in full:

Next events: The town library – Nov. 18, holiday mixer Dec. 3

By Miriam Raftery

November 5, 2015 (La Mesa) – A packed crowd turned out at Johnny B’s restaurant in La Mesa last month for a mixer hosted by La Mesa Conversations.

Mayor Mark Arapostathis spoke on Oktoberfest,  which this year was scaled back to two days with fewer vendors but more emphasis on the festival’s German roots.  This Oktoberfest was run by the La Mesa Village Merchants Association, without the Chamber of Commerce. The Mayor addressed how Oktoberfest has changed through the years, reminiscing about past festivals and how the changes have impacted the community and local merchants.

A representantative from the merchants' group also have a preview of upcoming events including Christmas in the Village, a grand reopening of the downtown streets and the centennial legacy project unveiling.

For complete Calendar including Authors Events, go to www.SDWriteWay.org

This column is also published in the http://EastCountyMagazine.org. If you are from East County, I highly recommend that you check out the ECM for articles and the latest in what is happening in the East County.

East County News Service

November 5, 2015 (San Diego’s East County)—Shots fired from a dark SUV that pulled alongside a Lexus traveling east on I-8 at Los Coches Road in unincorporated El Cajon at 12:57 a.m., injuring the driver and passenger.   

The driver of the Lexus, a 43-year-old woman from Alpine, and her passenger, a 31-year-old man, were transported by ambulance to Sharp Memorial Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. 

East County News Service

November 3, 2015 (Dulzura) – Justin Dorson, a 26-year-old father of two, died Sunday morning after a motorcycle accident on State Route 94 near Dulzura.

November 4, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) - This is East County Magazine with a public service announcement from the County of San Diego.

The County’s Department of Environmental Health is warning that this week’s rainfall has brought urban runoff to beaches countywide.

East County News Service

November 4, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) - A draft list of demands from Republican candidates to media seeking to limit tough debate questions and other debate criteria has met with ridicule from late-night comics and the media. Now some campaigns are backing off the demands, with several candidates refusing to sign a letter with demands slated to be sent to media outlets. If media refused to comply, the  GOP slate threatened to yank debates or move them to a conservative forum.

Listen to Destination East County, also aired on KNSJ, by clicking the audio link.

East County News Service

November 5, 2015 (San Diego's East County) -- This week’s Destination East County includes guitar concerts, a Plantstravaganza, the Toast of East County featuring local wineries, the Ramona Art and Wine Festival, and a Punkin Chunkin contest!

Plus we’ll have previews of coming attractions including a  harmonica concert, Wrangler at Red Mountain Ranch dinner theatre, a storytelling celebration, and the Mother Goose Parade. Scroll down for details on these events and many more.

November 3, 2015 (San Diego's East County)-- East County Magazine's World Watch helps you be an informed citizen about important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a wide variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

• Budget deal includes Social Security, Medicare reforms (The Hill)
• “We need an energy miracle” (The Atlantic)
• Exxon sealed our fate: The campaign of misinformation and outright lies that ensured planetary disaster (Salon)
• Update: U.S. military ignored child rape since 2003 (Examiner)
• Paul Ryan elected House speaker (CNN)
• House GOP moves to impeach IRS chief (The Hill)
• Shrinking naval forces need boost (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• GDP growth slows as inventories fall (Marketplace)
• Largest U.S. banks face $120 billion shortfall under new rule (Reuters)
• Walgreen’s buying Rite-Aid for $9.4 billion in cash (CBS)

Presidential campaign:

• Trump? Carson? Rubio steals the debate show (Politico)
• AP Fact check: The Republican debaters and the facts (Associated Press)
• Is Democratic socialism the right path for America? (CNN)
• Ben Carson once again compares something to slavery, this time abortion (HuffPost)

WORLD

• Russian plane crash over Sinai: was there an explosion? (CNN)
• U.S. signals shift in Syria-Iraq campaign against Islamic State (BBC)
• Parliament vote could lead to EU freedom for Snowden (CS Monitor)
• Beit Hagai mother of eight slashed by terrorist near Gush Etzion junction (JPost)
• Watch: ISIS threatens Jews, Israel with 'big war' in second Hebrew video(JPost)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

East County News Service

Updated November 4, 2015 with reactions and Judge Pressman's final ruling.

November 3, 2015 (Alpine) –California’s 4^th district court of Appeal has handed down a ruling in favor of the Alpine Union School District and Alpine Taxpayers for Responsibility  against the Grossmont Union High School District– a ruling in apparent conflict with Superior Court Joel Pressman’s  most recent action.

The ruling comes just hours after Pressman announced a decision to throw out the lawsuit entirely (dismissing it with prejudice)  – reversing his earlier decision to set a December trial date and upholding his tentative ruling from last week.  In so doing, he contradicted his own earlier findings and instead, determined that Propositions H and U did not obligate the GUHSD to build a high school for Alpine.   

But the appellate court found just the opposite.The appellate court found the district violated its promise to build the Alpine High School and affirmed Pressman’s earlier order for the GUHSD to set aside bond moneys sufficient to build the school, pending full adjudication of the claim’s merits at trial.--a trial that may never occur, based on Pressman's latest action.

By Victiashea Matthews

November 1, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) - There are two different perspectives in the case of Ben Fields: one applauding his heroic efforts or two, condemning his deeds of violence.

A Word from Dan McAllister, San Diego County Treasurer/Tax Collector

November 2, 2015 (San Diego)--The season of giving has begun!  Annual secured property tax bills from our office were sent out in September.  So by now, all of you who are property owners should have received your annual secured bill.  This year, 2,269 additional bills were sent out – bringing the total to 986,858.  These secured bills will generate more than $5 billion for county operations to help our schools, our community colleges, our libraries, and so much more in our community.

East County News Service

October 31, 2015 (San Diego) – California Highway Patrol is seeking a second vehicle, a white Nissan Sport Utility Vehicle with damage to the right front fender and quarter panel. It was seen leaving the area of a fatal pedestrian crash on I-15 that occurred about 1:45 a.m. on October 28, when several motorists reported swerving to avoid a “mannequin” that turned out to be a woman’s body.