Residents take offense at board member’s essay  ridiculing citizens as “farm animals”

By Miriam Raftery

April 2, 2013 (Julian) – The Julian Fire-Cuyamaca Fire Protection District’s Board will hold a special meet this Thursday, April 4 at 9 a.m. to discuss the proposal to turn over firefighting services to the County Fire Authority. The meeting will be held at the Julian Women’s Club. 2607 C Street.

At the last meeting, numerous residents rose to voice opposition to the plan and concerns that dissolving the volunteer fire department could lead to longer response times and decreased public safety.

City seeks new brewery/restaurant to takeover loan

April 2, 2013 (El Cajon)--After previous good faith attempts to continue operation, the El Cajon Brewing Company, which opened in October 2011 with hefty loans of public finds, has closed its doors as of April 1.

April 3, 2013 (La Mesa) -- Cindy Marten, newly appointed Superintendent of San Diego Unified School District, will be the featured speaker at the La Mesa-Foothills Democratic Club April 3rd meeting.  She will address challenges facing modern urban school districts like San Diego's.  San Diego Unified is struggling with a large budget deficit and is planning to sell off $50 million worth of its properties to help achieve a balance. Over 60% of the new funds coming from Proposition 30's tax increase is already committed to pay for overdue raises and other staff expenses.

Rather than holding a nationwide search, the School Board selected Marten as the unanimous choice for Superintendent.  This was a result of her accomplishments as principal of Central Elementary School in City Heights, where she oversaw a dramatic increase in test scores at Central Elementary, a school serving a community where nearly all families are low income and English-learners. 

April 3, 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:

U.S.

• New Visa Would Allow At Least 20,000 Low-Wage Workers To Come To U.S. (NPR)
• Expert: Recent Attacks On Justice Community 'Really Unprecedented' (NPR)
• IRS weighs changes to Obama healthcare investment tax rules (Reuters)
• Fracking’s latest scandal: earthquake swarms (Mother Jones)
• Want a U.S. visa? Got a spare $500,000? (American Public Media)
• Americans On Disability Play An Increasingly Important Role In The Economy (NPR)
• Obama administration moves ahead with sweeping rules requiring cleaner gasoline (Washington Post)

WORLD

• North Korea to restart nuclear reactor in weapons bid (Reuters)
• From The Stone Age To The Digital Age In One Big Leap (NPR)
• Why is the US shifting its missile defense out of Europe? (Christian Science Monitor)
• Vigilantes seize town in Mexico, arrest police (Christian Science Monitor)
• Pope washes women’s feet in break with church law (Yahoo! News)
• How potent are North Korea’s threats? (BBC)
• Al-Qaida linked group doubles size in Syria (Jerusalem Post)
• Putin flexes Russian military muscle in naval exercise (Reuters)
•  Banks score major win in private Libor suits (Reuters)

 Scroll down for excerpts and links to full stories.

April 2, 2013 (El Cajon, CA) -- On April 12 San Diego Las Hermanas will hold A Comedy Classic: A night of Friends and Laughter. The event will feature live entertainment, dinner and a live auction to raise funds for two non-profit charities, Fostering Opportunities-Dollars for Scholars, and Include Autism’s Community Coaching Center.

The evening promises to be extremely entertaining: Mike Pace is an Emmy nominee for HBO’s Comic Relief; Jeff Capri has appeared on Last Comic Standing and Ed McMahon’s Next Big Star; and Dave Burleigh’s voice impressions were showcased on America’s Got Talent. In an electrifying mixture of art and music, Stephen Fishwick will create an “Art Attack,” and his painting will be part of the evening’s live auction.

April 2, 2013 (El Cajon) –  “The Anatomy of Hate; A Dialogue to Hope,” an award-winning documentary film directed by Michael Ramsdell and focusing on individual and collective ideologies of hate will be shown during a free screening and Q&A with the director at 3:30 p.m. April 3, in Building 26, Room 220 at Grossmont College.

The 90-minute film follows the director’s six-year journey with groups like the white supremacists and Palestinian militants, as well as U.S. embedded troops in the Middle East. It is juxtaposed with interviews from leading experts in sociology, psychology and neurology to reveal both the emotional and biological factors that make everyone susceptible to acts and ideologies of hate. At the same time, this film posits, these are the very same traits that enable people to rise above the negativity.

April 2, 2013 (Flinn Springs) -- Find your way through a towering fragrant sweet pea maze at Summers Past Farms in Flinn Springs, celebrating this fragrant old –fashioned flower in its full glory. You will cut your own sweet pea bouquets during this event while they last. Bring the kids, walk through the maze and enjoy live music in the coffee bar areas or picnic on the grass.

View the maze from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.  Cutting bouquets starts at 11 a.m. Arrive early – these vanish quickly!  Cost is $3 per bouquet.  Sweet Pea Day activities continue until 3 p.m.

For more information, visit www.summerspastfarms.com

San Diego clean energy lender FIGTREE provides up-front funding for businesses to finance energy, water savings

Photos provided by FIGTREE and SunUpEnergy

April 2, 2013 (San Diego) – Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing is alive and well in California despite last month’s surprise 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling.  The Court ruled that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) was within its rights as a ‘conservator’ of mortgages held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in issuing a ruling against PACE, effectively putting the brakes on residential PACE financing for homeowners across the U.S..

Despite that setback, adoption of commercial PACE programs is continuing, reports commercial PACE provider FIGTREE Energy Financing of San Diego. FIGTREE is the first company in California to successfully raise private capital for commercial PACE projects via a multi-jurisdictional bond issue.

By Marsha Kay Seff

April 1, 2013 (San Diego)--Caring for your parents is tough enough under any circumstances.  Without a good night’s sleep, caregiving is an almost impossible task. 

Being sleep-deprived not only drains energy but can drastically affect your health, mood and daily functioning.  Adequate rest is vital to being able to handle your life, your family’s and your parents’.

Doctors say there are several things you can do to improve your sleep. Tell that to my “sleep center,” which never worked very well and went on permanent disability while I was caring for my parents. 

April 1, 2013 (Campo) – The Pacific Southwest Railway Museum will be hosting a gala gourmet food and wine tasting event April 20 from noon until 5 p.m. to celebrate its 52 years of service and education, along with the Chefs de Cuisine. The event will be held in the Museum’s Display Building, amidst the historic railroad trains and artifacts.  The Museum is located off Highway 94 in Campo.

April 1, 2013—East County Magazine has the exclusive scoop on astounding major stories breaking today.

• ECM acquires surveillance drone reporter
• Backcountry towns secede to form new county, create ultimate wildlife preserve
• Coming attractions: Amusement park, movie studio to replace Grossmont Center
• San Diegans plan party for "do or die final battle"
• Anonymous donor buys Julian-Cuyamaca Fire District
• Jamul Indians to build casino in Jacumba Hot Springs
• Spotlight El Cajon: F St. Performing Arts Center unveiled

Is truth stranger than fiction? You decide. Be sure to click this hot link  to view these stories in our extra-special April 1st edition. (Trust us, you won't want to miss this news!)  Then click "read more" to open each story and get the full scoop.

April 1, 2013 (Arkansas) – No, this is not an April Fool's joke. Thousands of gallons of tar sands oil, a gritty, toxic and flammable mixture, is flowing through the streets in a residential neighborhood of Mayflower, Arkansas after rupture of an Exxon-Mobil pipeline. The spill has also flooded backyards and threatens to spill into a lake.

Media has been reportedly largely blocked from access to the site, so residents have posted their own photos and videos online of the site, which has now forced evacaution of homeowners amid a massive cleanup effort. The spill highlights concerns over potential contamination from the controversial Keystone XL pipieline, which is proposed to pump tar sands oil from Canada across the U.S. Midwest south to the Gulf coast.

By Miriam Raftery

March 30, 2013 (Julian) – Julian Cuyamaca Fire Protection District’s Acting Battalion Chief Cris Cornette has sent a resignation letter to the Board. In his letter, he faults the Board for not fighting to prevent a County takeover of the all-volunteer Department. 

Now in a message posted on the Julian Connection, Cornette calls on community residents to attend Thursday’s Board meeting and “demand the immediate removal of ALL board members.”  He adds that he would be willing to “step up to bat” and serve as a board member if asked--or return as Captain, but only if the current Board is replaced.

March 31, 2013 (El Cajon) – On March 28, 2013 at about 4:50 p.m. two men went to the El Cajon Animal Shelter located at 1275 N. Marshall and engaged one of the shelter attendants in a conversation. While there, the two men were looking at two dogs in separate kennels. The men had additional questions about the dogs and the attendant referred them to the shelter's office. The attendant then went to another portion of the shelter where she could no longer see the men. A short time later it was discovered the dogs the men were looking at had been taken from their kennels and were missing. The men could not be located.

By Miriam Raftery

March 29, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) – The Centers for Disease Control yesterday issued a press release warning that cases of Valley Fever (Coccidioidomycosis), a fungal respiratory disease, have risen sharply across the southwest including California.  Cases rose nearly ten-fold from 2,265 in 1998 to over 22,000 in 2011 in southwestern states.

California now accounts for 25% all cases, trailing only Arizona, which has 70% of cases.   The fungus occurs naturally in dry soils of the southwest and is spread through the air when people inhale the spores. Outbreaks have occurred following wildfires and those in occupations exposed to dust are at higher risk, such as construction workers, archaeologists, farm workers and Border Patrol agents.