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Story and photos by Liz Alper

September 19, 2018 (El Cajon) - ECM Sports is taking a break from football for a bit (don’t worry; it’ll be back on Friday live from West Hills!) and covering some lady sports, starting with field hockey.  Tonight, we traveled to El Cajon Valley, where the Lady Braves are struggling so far at 0-3.  They hosted Chaparral High from Temecula tonight in a home-at-home contest.

Salute and Cheers To Firefighters!

By Fire Chief Sam DiGiovanna

September 19, 2018 (San Diego) - September is National Wine Awareness Month and wine has become so vital to California that it deserves a whole month. “Last year we saw the devastation from wildfires in Sonoma and Napa and fires are still burning dangerously close in many areas throughout the state, reminds Fire Chief Sam DiGiovanna. We are far from being out of the woods as we have yet to experience our Santa Ana’s, Sundowners and Diablo winds.”

By Miriam Raftery

September 18, 2018 (Lakeside) – Five candidates are running for the Lakeside Fire Protection District Board.  Three are incumbents:   Robert Robeson, a retired Cal Fire assistant chief, Mike Haworth, a retired fire division chief, Peter Liebig, a retired firefighter/paramedic. Two are challengers:  fire captain Tim Robles and volunteer emergency responder Ron Kasper.

East County Magazine sent questionnaires to all five, and three responded (Robeson, Haworth and Kasper).   Below are their responses (published in the order received), plus links to their ballot statements.

By Dave Patterson, Ramona

September 19, 2018 (Ramona) -- The US war spending, now approaching $1 Trillion annually, (1) directly impacts how we pay for schools, Medicare, Medicaid, social services and our poor and elderly (7).  We at the San Diego Veterans For Peace take the position that the resultant $22 Trillion national debt (2) created by lavish spending on war making is pitched as a good thing at the Miramar Air Show.  War made palatable with glorious pageantry and emotional thrills that can’t be topped.  This is why we ask the public to just stay home.

September 19, 2018 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Cancers ‘rising around the world’ (BBC)
• Americans eating less meat: Johns Hopkins survey (NBC 7)
• Why 'BPA Free' May Not Mean a Plastic Product Is Safe (National Geographic)
• Seniors and low-dose aspirin (Jewish World Review)
• Whole Fat Dairy: It Does a Body Good* (Reason)

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• The Moon Is Electric—Especially When It's Full (National Geographic)
• Record Breaking Magnetic Field 50 Million Times Stronger Than Earth’s Created by Scientists (Newsweek)
• R.I.P. Beetle: After 70 years, VW’s iconic car will officially die in 2019  (CNET)

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

East County News Service

“Myself, I’m one of the generations.  My mother is one of the generations, wandering out there in alcoholism, and death, and murder and domestic violence, and thinking there’s no way out…like I tell my grandchildren, ‘You don’t have to walk the road of alchcolism and addiction. I walked that road. I took all those beatings for you guys. You don’t have to walk that road.’” -Verna Bartlett, Ph.D. Native American Elder and sexual abuse survivor.

September 17, 2018 (Alpine) -- For American Indian people interested in healing addictions, social and family relations, as well as other physical and emotional illness that infect native communities, and are resistant to Western healing programs, a conference entitled, “Calling upon the Warrior Spirit, inspired by our Creator, to Heal Historical Trauma among Native America through Indigenous Wisdom,” will offer presentations and ceremonies from the indigenous perspective.

Council grapples with rental bicycle problems, commends volunteer Kathy Pillman for founding group that has cleaned up 6 tons of trash

By Paul Kruze, Contributing Editor

September 14, 2018 (El Cajon) – Citizens who attended Tuesday’s El Cajon City Council meeting once again saw a circus-like performance in which the public spoke out over the clownish antics of Councilmember Ben Kalasho.

Fact check: Kendrick mailer on Kalasho “fraud and sex scandals” is true.

Kalasho removes social media post accusing him of stalking opponent's home -- after being served with federal lawsuit for removing critical posts and violating First Amendment.

By Miriam Raftery

September 15, 2018 (El Cajon) – Redistricting has pitted Councilmembers Gary Kendrick and Ben Kalasho against each other in what’s shaping up to be one of the most contentious election battles in East County’s history.   

A mailer from Kendrick’s campaign warns voters, “Judge ruled against Ben Kalasho in fraud and sex scandals.”  No, that’s not fake news.  The flyer contains actual headlines and excerpts from East County Magazine and the San Diego Union-Tribune documenting the numerous legal findings, allegations and scandals involving Kalasho.

By Ken Stone

Reprinted by Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo:  Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times and The Washington Post, will speak at 7 p.m. Oct. 2 at SDSU’s Montezuma Hall. Photo via SDSU

September 15, 2018 (San Diego) - Daniel Ellsberg, the famed leaker of the Pentagon Papers in the early 1970s, is set to speak at San Diego State University next month. For that you might thank a renowned leaker of early 2010.

By Miriam Raftery

September 17, 2018 (San Diego’s East County) - California Highway Patrol officers will be riding on school buses this Friday, September 21st to catch drivers who fail to stop when a bus flashes red lights and/or extends a stop arm. The enforcement operation will take place in unincorporated areas of East County.

By Miriam Raftery, Editor, East County Magazine

September 15, 2018 (Julian) – Is Julian losing its roots?  The historic gold rush town has dropped its Apple Days, a tradition dating back more than a century, replacing it with a season of other harvest celebrations.

By Sam Warren, past president of the San Diego Writers and Editors Guild (copyright 2018)

"Publication – is the auction of the mind of man."  —Emily Dickinson

September 14, 2018 (San Diego) – Upcoming activities include the Southern California Writers Conference, author appearances,  plus classes for authors and reporters.

CLICK TO SCROLL DOWN FOR A LIST OF BOOK EVENTS.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo left by Eric Metz

September 14, 2018 (Ramona) – Artist Chuck McPherson personally delivered his magnificent painting of Cedar Creek Falls to the lucky auction winner, Cindy Fuchser, at Lenora Winery in Ramona.  McPherson live-painted the artwork during East County Fest to benefit East County Magazine and the East County Wildfire and Emergency Alerts.

By Miriam Raftery

Hear our interview with Councilman Bill Baber on marijuana measures, originally aired on KNSJ radio, by clicking the audio link

September 13, 2018 (La Mesa) --The La Mesa City Council has approved by a 5-0 vote a ballot measure, Proposition V, which would allow the city to put a business excise tax on cannabis businesses in  La Mesa.  The tax, if approved, would be paid by the businesses, not consumers. The city’s finance departments estimate that the measure could raise $1.5 to $2 million per year.

“As a separate matter, we’re working on an adult use ordinance that would bring the opportunity for adult use businesses to come alongside medicinal,”  reveals Councilman Bill Baber in an interview with ECM on KNSJ Radio.  He envisions allowing dispensaries already complying with medical marijuana sales requirements to be the first to carry recreational cannabis.