By Janis Mork

February 25, 2013 (El Cajon)- Last Saturday was a celebration of community gardens in El Cajon where the public was invited to different garden events around El Cajon. At the IRC-Kaiser community garden at 203 Travelodge Drive, Anne Barron, community garden coordinator from the International Rescue Committee, gave the public a complete tour of the garden.  Still in the production stage, the garden is set to open in mid-March.

March 1, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) – It wasn’t a Valentine that the San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors voted on February 14 to deliver to CEO Scott Alevy.  Facing a budget crunch, the inland region’s largest Chamber voted to eliminate its full-time paid CEO position, relieving Alevy of his duties.

“Both Scott Alevy and the Chamber are on soild ground,” acting President and Chief Executive Officer Becky Burgstiner told Chamber members at a First Friday breakfast this morning in the La Mesa Community Center. 

She announced that Board Chairman Marcel Becker will be taking the leadership helm as soon as he is fully recovered from surgery  in a couple of weeks.  Becker is also Chair of JCI Metals in Lemon Grove.

February 28, 2013 (Ramona) – Construction is now complete on Palomar Health’s Ramona Ambulatory Care Center, a new $4.5 million satellite clinic in Ramona.  When open to the community in March 2013, the 7,600-square-foot, single-story outpatient medical clinic built on approximately an acre of land will expand the healthcare services for the Ramona community.

March 1, 2013 (La Mesa) --Former Helix High School football star Alex Smith has been traded by the San Francisco 49ers to the Kansas City Chiefs, Patch.com reports.

Smith was replaced by San Francisco after missing several games due to a concussion.  Prior to his injury, he was the third top-ranked quarterback in the National Football League (NFL).

February 28, 2013 (San Diego’s East County)--ECM 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:

NATIONAL

• Supreme Court Makes It Harder To Challenge Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (NPR)
• Cap Cod community considers taking down wind turbines after illness, noise (Fox)
• Needy families can apply for pet food stamps through donation-based program(ABC News 5)
• Threat of sequestration looms as deadline approaches (CBS)
• Justices asked to void marriage law provision (U-T San Diego)
• Cash-Strapped Postal Service To Launch A New Clothing Line (NPR)
• The true size of the National Debt (Washington Post)
• Mom takes on smart meters over privacy, security and health (Jewish World Health)
• Those terrible first few minutes: Revisiting active shooter protocols for schools (FBI Bulletin)
• iDoctor: Could a smart phone be the future of medicine?  (NBC)

WORLD

• Mexico's 'Crisis Of Disappearance': Families Seek Answers  (NPR)
• UK convicts 3 Islamists for plotting another 9/11 (Jerusalem Post)
• Heritage sites of national significance under threat from wind farms (British Telegraph)
• For Taliban victims, Pakistani peace talks feel like betrayal (Christian Science Monitor)
• Bulgarian government resigns amid growing protests (Reuters)
• Sunspots: Huge and growing fast, says NASA (Christian Science Monitor)
• 'Gazans seek elections as Hamas support declines' (Jerusalem Post)

Read more for excerpts and links to full stories.

February 28, 2013--(San Diego’s East County)--East County Roundup highlights top stories of interest to East County and San Diego’s inland regions, published in other media. This week’s top “Roundup” headlines include:

LOCAL

• All 12 major donors to Prop U school board campaign won contracts (Patch.com)
• Collier Park Master Plan Threatens La Mesa’s Historic Spring House (La Mesa Patch)
• SD Unified names new superintendent (10 News)
• Security breach: Are you safe on SD trains and trolleys? (KPBS)
• License plate recognition has its eyes on you (CityBeat)
• Filner, Goldsmith clash over hotel tax funds (SD Transcript)
• Team 10 Troubleshooter investigates criminals who cut off GPS monitoring devices (10 News)

STATE

• Californians get big part of $46 billion mortgage settlement (Sacramento Bee)
• "Amazon tax" payoff starts to arrive in some U.S. states (Reuters)
• Bluefin tuna caught off California still radioactive two years after Fukushima (Huffington Post)
• Jerry Brown fast tracks review of Riverside solar energy project (Sacramento Bee)

Read more for excerpts and links to full stories.

“The danger is that consumers will be required to pay for an expensive gas-fired plant they don’t’ need now or in the future.” – The Utility Reform Network

By Miriam Raftery

February 24, 2013 (San Diego) – Why is the San Diego County Taxpayers Association (SDCTA) pushing for a fossil fuel power plant that many authoritative sources indicate is not needed and will prove costly to taxpayers?

In a letter sent February 20, 2013 to the California Public Utilities Commission, Lani Lutar, president and chief executive officer of the SDTCA, urged the Commission to postpone a decision on the Quail Brush gas-fired power plant near Mission Trails Regional Park, until after the California Energy Commission has completed its examination of the project. 

February 28, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) – A head-on collision has shut down eastbound Highway 94 at Peaceful Valley Ranch Road.   Westbound 94 is now reopened.

February 27, 2013 (San Diego's East County)--Want to learn how to identify signs of wildlife on the trail?  Join a Mission Trials Regional Park guide and tracking team member on the first Saturday of each month, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., for an adventure in wildlife tracking.

Learn the art of discovering signs left behind by resident creatures during two fun-filled hours of “dirt time.” These free tracking walks meet out in front of the Visitor Center and are suitable for the whole family.

February 27, 2013 (El Cajon) – SWAT team officers used tear gas to end a six-hour standoff and arrest Ennis Staten, 37, a domestic violence suspect who allegedly battered his wife, then threatened to kill himself and stab officers. 

El Cajon Police officers responded to a report of domestic violence at 353 Dominguez in El Cajon last night at 11:04 p.m. last night (Feb. 26), where a woman told them her husband had struck her repeatedly. Officers found her outside the apartment, suffering from facial injuries. She was transported to a hospital for treatment.

10News video

February 27, 2013 (La Mesa) -- La Mesa Community Services is accepting enrollments now for the fall session that begins the week of November 5. Enrichment classes are for ages one year through adult.         

New youth classes offered: Chess Challenge, 10andUnder Tennis, Speed and Agility Training, and Tumbling. Other exciting enrichment programs offered include: Acting, Art, Dance, Gymnastics, Fencing, Ice Skating, Small Friends Enrichment Programs, Tiny Sports, and World of Rhythm.

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

February 28 (Thursday, 7:30 pm) — Warwick's will host Co-editor of Patagonia's The Footprint Chronicles, Vincent Stanley, who will discuss and sign The Responsible Company. This event is free and open to the public. In order to be signed, The Responsible Company must be purchased from Warwick's.

February 27, 2013 (Palomar) --If you see smoke across San Diego's north inland areas, don't worry. The Cleveland National Forest is conducting burning operations this week on the northeastern side of Palomar Mountain along the Aguanga Ridge/Palomar Divide Road this week.  The Forest Service is burning fuels that have been piled as a result of fuel treatments in the area.

By Miriam Raftery

February 26, 2013 (San Diego's  East County) -- A colorful chapter from East County's past may soon come rumbling back.

Ernest Dahlman, chief executive officer of Pacific Imperial Railroad, has announced that he has signed a 99-year-lease with the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway Company. He is raising funds to restore and operate tracks on the Desert Line to run through mountains and deserts in San Diego, Imperial County and Baja, Mexico. 

Dahlman hopes to link the freight line up with trolley and train lines in San Diego, as well as a transcontinental railway route to the East.

The route through East County includes the rugged Carrizo Gorge.  An amazing feat to complete, the line was dubbed the “impossible railroad” by engineers when it was first proposed.

February 26, 2013 (San Diego)-- As one of 6,000 homeless or unaccompanied youths in the San Diego Unified School District, Jorge Palacios could have easily dropped out of school.  But he didn’t.  Now, his determination to graduate and move on to a college education was rewarded when he received keys to a newly refurbished vehicle from Caliber Collision’s Recycled Rides program last Friday.  

Caliber Collision’s Recycled Rides program partners with insurance companies to donate refurbished vehicles to individuals and service organizations in need.  Jorge’s new vehicle was donated by Esurance and refurbished by Caliber Collision associates who volunteered personal time to repair the car and solicit donations from local businesses to help with expenses such as gas and insurance.