“The industry standard is one firefighter for every 1,000 in population. San Miguel is currently operating with one firefighter for every 5,400 taxpayers.”  - Alan Laatsch, president,  Firefighters Local 1434
May 27, 2010 (Spring Valley) – Facing a $1.6 million deficit, San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection District’s Board tonight considered a proposal to lay off three firefighters, eliminate the Administrative Division Chief position and demote several officials.  But after hearing moving testimony from firefighters, fire and accident victims, and others in the community, the Board voted unanimously to reject the recommendation and consider other options.

Among the most moving testimony came from Doug de Brauwere, a father with young children. “I’ll be the first firefighter to be laid off,” he testified, his voice choked with emotion. “I spent 10 years serving my country; a year and a half of that was in Iraq.”

May 27, 2010 (Sacramento) – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Senate and Assembly Democratic leaders have proposed three separate budgets with drastically different approaches to closing a $20 billion gap.  Should California completely eliminate safety nets for children, poor families and the elderly? 

That's what the Governor has proposed -- and what Republican leaders in both houses support. Or should corporate tax breaks be delayed to help balance the budget, as Senate Democrats propose?  Or should a compromise measure from Senate Assembly leaders, that includes both cuts and a tax on oil companies, plus outsourcing management of bottle bill revenues, be considered?  

Those are among the touch choices facing state legislators.  

The 7th Annual Golf Classic, sponsored by the Santee Chamber of Commerce and the Santee School District Foundation, will be held on Tuesday, June 29, 2010, at the Carlton Oaks Country Club. Tee time is at 12:00 p.m.

The funds from this event are used to provide resources for the visual and performing arts and technology for students in the Santee School District.

By Miriam Raftery

May 24, 2010 - The Final Project Modification Report has been released for Sunrise Powerlink, showing the final route and any changes/modifications made to the project. View the report: http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/environment/info/aspen/sunrise/toc-pmr.htm.

The East County Community Action Coalition has organized an effort among opponents of the project to request that the Sunrise Powerlink CEQA/NEPA process be reopened to address issues that were not covered or not adequately covered in the original Environmental Impact Report (EIR/EIS).

Nothing but the Truth!

By Will Power

May 25, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – Earlier this month, the U.S. Stock Market burped big-time, sending blue-chips down to pennies a share for several minutes, while computers throughout the world strained to keep up. Within hours, millions of paper losses and gains were recorded, and then the market stabilized. Nobody knows what caused the sudden shock. But the profits and losses were substantial, and in fact many of the trades are now being nullified by the SEC. The trades are being voided because they were outside parameters set up by the SEC. You can hear the howls of pain from brokers in Tierra Del Fuego.

May 25, 2010 (San Diego) -- The new San Diego County Library Acoustic Showcase offers a wonderful variety of some of San Diego's very best singer/songwriters, folk music performers and story tellers.

These concerts are FREE to the community and include locations in East County.  The following are upcoming concerts for June 2010.

UTILITY ALSO PRESENTS ITS ENERGY RESOURCE PLAN FOR OUR REGION AT ECEDC COMMUNITY LEADERS SPOTLIGHT

May 25, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has announced that the company will bring the world’s largest heavy-lifting helicopter in the world to our region to construct Sunrise Powerlink, which SDG&E hopes to begin constructing this summer. “It can also be used for firefighting—and it can bring up to 2,500 gallons of water,” said Michael R. Niggli, president and chief operating officer of SDG&E. By contrast, the largest firefighting helicopter previously in San Diego had a capacity of 300 gallons, he said.

Niggli made the remarks during the East County Economic Development Council’s Community Leaders Spotlight at Cuyamaca College in Rancho San Diego yesterday.  The company's executives also presented business and education leaders with its plans for economic revitalization and sustainable energy that SDG&E indicated will benefit East  County. 

Times have changed since La Mesa became a city in 1912--the year the Titanic sunk, Teddy Roosevelt ran as a Bull Moose, and silent movies were the hot pop culture crazes.

May 24, 2010 (La Mesa) – The jewel of the hills will be a century old in 2012—and city leaders are gearing up to celebrate La Mesa’s history and culture through exhibits, education venues, institutional presentations and community events. (Get ready to party hearty!)

How much do you know about La Mesa's history and how times have changed in the past 100 years?

May 24, 2010 (Washington D.C.) -  Congressman Duncan Hunter praised a not guilty verdict in the case of Navy SEAL Matthew McCabe, who faced court-martial for allegedly beating Iraqi detainee Ahmed Hashim Abed and lying to investigators.

Abed was arrested in September in Iraq for allegedly orchestrating the 2004 murders of four U.S. contractors working for Blackwater USA in Falluja. The contractors' burned bodies were later hung from a bridge, triggering the siege of Falluja.

Conservative group's candidates found not qualified for judicial positions by County Bar

May 24, 2010 (San Diego) – Judicial races are rarely headline news. But an organization called “Better Courts Now” founded by the late Don Hamer, an East County pastor, has lined up a slate of right-wing candidates to challenge four incumbent judges.

The group’s website states that judges should be accountable, uphold the law and make fair, impartial decisions—yet does not cite a single instance in which the incumbents failed on any specific point. (Better Courts Now notes that doing so would violate Canon 5 of the California Code of Judicial Ethics, which prohibits judicial candidates from leveling specific criticisms against opponents.) 

Better Courts Now’s candidates were not found qualified for the positions they seek by the County Bar Association.  In response, Better Courts Now has accused the Bar of "blatant political bias" and noted that Larry Stanwood Johnson, chair of the Bar's Certified Family Law Specialists Committee, has solicited donations from Committee members for the incumbent judges.  

Police seek 2 suspects in a black SUV

May 24, 2010 (San Diego) – A 25-year-old man was shot in a home invasion robbery last night at 6937 Saranac Street in a college-area neighborhood east of San Diego State University. According to San Diego Police Department, the man heard knocking or banging on his front door. He opened to find a robber armed with a gun. The thief and at least one accomplice pushed the victim to the ground and fired one round into his chest, then robbed the victim and two roommates of wallets and cash.