By Briana Gomez

December 6, 2018 (El Cajon) -- The annual El Cajon Multicultural Festival and non-profit fair at Eje Elementary School in El Cajon last month hosted an array of organizations dedicated to welcoming new immigrants into the community. 

December 6, 2018 (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

• La Mesa Farmer’s Market gets six month extension for new downtown location (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• La Mesa looking to regulate scooters, dockless bikes (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Former head of veterans charity co-founded by the elder Duncan Hunter convicted of federal crimes (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Craft beer makes an entrance in El Cajon (East County Californian)

STATE

• Democrats’ spending list needs to be ‘whittled down,’ Gavin Newsom says (Sacramento Bee)
• Top state utility regulator intervened in cost study for expanded energy grid, records show (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Number of missing in California's deadliest wildfire drops to 25 (Reuters)

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

County denies request for health impacts of turbines, even as more are proposed

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: New proposed turbines would be much taller and produce more energy than these older Kumeyaay Wind turbines, also broadening the areas that could be impacted by noise, vibrations, and electromagnetic interefence with devices such as cell phones

December 6, 2018 (Campo) –Tonight, the Bureau of Indian Affairs will hold a scoping meeting on a notice to prepare n environmental impact statement for a proposal to build 60 wind turbines up to 586 feet tall (taller than the highest skyscraper in San Diego) on the Campo Indian reservation. The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at the Campo Tribal Hall, 36190 Church Road (BIA 10) at highway 94 in Campo.  Written comments can also be submitted by December 21^st. Find details at www.CampoWind.com.

The new Campo Wind project is proposed for most Campo reservation ridgelines from north of I-8 to the U.S./Mexico border, each 4 megawatts.  Neighbors and the Boulevard Planning Group have raised concerns over the large turbines including noise, sleep disruption, health impacts and lost property values.   View flyer.

Minutes of the Boulevard Planning Group meeting from November 1, 2018 reveal numerous residents’ complaints about problems reportedly associated with similarly large-scale wind turbines recently installed at the Tule Wind project in McCain  Valley as well as turbines at the Kumeyaay Wind facility in Campo. Those complaints range from noise and vibrations to interference with cell phone service, a vital concern in an area prone to wildfires where communication is critical.

By Miriam Raftery

December 6, 2018 (Lemon Grove) — A man jumped over the county of a Jack-in-the-Box at 7979 Broadway Avenue in Lemon Grove shortly after 2 p.m. yesterday, thenpointed a black pistol at customers and employees, demanding cash.

The suspect is described as black, about 6 ft. 2 in heightwith medium to heavy build, wearing a baseball cap, red flannel shirt, grey hooded sweatshirt with hood pulled up, black gloves, white pants, and a white bandana covering his face.

By Miriam Raftery

December 4, 2018 (La Mesa) – Residents are raising objections over a proposal by the state to open a parole office at the base of Mt. Helix next to the Brigantine Restaurant in a mostly residential neighborhood near Grossmont High School.

The city of La Mesa received notification in a letter dated November 5^th from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Division of Adult Parole Operations about plans to lease a building at 9400 Grossmont Summit Drive for use as a parole office. The facility would have 65 staff members, including 52 parole agents meeting with potentially hundreds of parolees a month who served time in state prisons for serious crimes. The building has only 41 parking spaces, according to the city.

A petition opposing the project has been started online at https://www.change.org/p/mr-steve-lamirand-stop-adult-parole-operations-from-opening-in-mt-helix-la-mesa.  So far, 186 people have signed. An analysis (p. 1, p. 2) created by project opponent Daniel Boethin, a real estate consultant at Trifold Properties claims the site is incompatible with allowed uses under current zoning, is incompatible with surrounding residential and business uses, and would endanger minors due to the close proximity to schools.

East County News Service

December 5, 2018 (San Diego) – 2014 Veteran of the Year for the 71^st District of San Diego and Award-winning Author Karolyn Smith announced that her nonprofit, 3 Paws Up, has teamed up with Rady’s Children’s Hospital and will attend this year’s Rady’s ”Holiday Toy Drop Off” event on December 14^th from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. With a gracious donation from the Julian Arts Guild, 3 Paws Up will be donating 25 copies of “Sophia the Bionic Cat” to Rady’s kids.

By Kathy Carpenter

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By Liz Alper

Videos courtesy goaztecs.com

For videos of Brian Dutcher's, Parker Houston and Kyahva Tenzino’s and Jeremy Hemsley and Devin Watson's portion of the press conference, click “read more” and scroll down.

December 4, 2018 (San Diego) - San Diego State football will be playing in the Frisco Bowl on December 19 against Ohio.  Yesterday, coach Rocky Long and juniors Parker Houston and Kyahva Tenzino sat down with the media.  Head men's basketball coach Brian Dutcher and senior guards Jeremy Hemsley and Devin Watson also joined the football representatives to preview their matchup with crosstown foe USD tomorrow night.

East County News Service

December 4, 2018 (Washington D.C.) – Over 250 people nationwide have fallen ill from salmonella tied to ground beef, including 66 cases in California, the Centers for Disease Control reports.  Over 12 million pounds of ground beef have been recalled, all packaged between July 26 and Sept.7, but health officials warn that some products may still be in consumers’ freezers.

Following an October recall, a second recall issued this week adds another 5 million pounds of potentially tainted products. The tainted beef was sold at major retailers including Walmart, Sam’s Club, Sprouts, Ralph’s, Food 4 Less and others.  View the retailer list here. 

By Ana Nita

December 4, 2018 (Blossom Valley) -- “When I came down to feed in the morning, I heard this horse, Gretchen, banging on the door and she never does that,” said Marilyn Gramse of El Cajon. She found Gretchen, one of three horses she is boarding at her ranch, tied up inside her stall. “I walked over there and went, oh, my God, she had this rope tied around her right rear leg pulling up and the rope coming around her neck and coming back around by her foot and her tail was up, tied, and attached to one of the bars.” 

East County News Service 

December 4, 2018 (Santee) -- C.W. Driver Companies, a prominent builder serving California since 1919, recently broke ground on County of San Diego’s new Assessor, Recorder, County Clerk (ARCC) office in Santee. The building will be the nation’s first zero net energy archive facility and will maintain strict temperature and humidity conditions to preserve delicate archive materials properly. The single-story, 25,000-square-foot structure will be home to the East County Branch Office and Archives.

East County News Service

December 3, 2018 (El Cajon) -- Kaiser Permanente Southern California announced a $6 million, five-year Community Mental Health and Wellness Initiative with an immediate Local Partnership Grant (LPG) grant allocation of $1.28 million to combat and improve access to mental health services. The initial grant allocation is funding a group of two-year grants to support 16 nonprofit community partners working to improve mental health and wellness in under-resourced Southern California communities. 

Source: Pala Band of Mission Indians

December 3, 2018 (Pala) -- The Pala Band of Mission Indians has filed suit in federal court against an array of pharmaceutical companies and drug distributors seeking to hold the companies accountable for the devastating effects prescription opioids have had on the tribe.

East County News Service

December 3, 2018 (Poway) — The San Diego Academy of Horsemanship is announcing availability of its after school program. The program provides safe, educational and physically challenging activities for school-aged children in grades K-12 between the hours of 1:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. By providing a variety of ranch and equestrian activities and academic mentoring, the program offers enriched, relaxing, fun experiences. 

East County News Service

December 2, 2018 (San Diego’s East County) -- The holiday season in East County has many fun and festive events coming up, including the Alpine Parade of Lights and Snow Festival, La Mesa’s Holiday in the Village, Breakfast with Santa in Alpine, San Diego Festival Chorus & Orchestra’s Christmas concert, an Enchanted Village in Spring Valley, North Pole Limited train rides in Campo, outdoor ice skating at Viejas and more.

Plus, there are some non-holiday happenings this season including concerts by such stellar performers as Fleetwood Mac, LeAnn Rimes, Barry Manilow, Tony Orlando and the Kingston Trio, a radio production of It’s a Wonderful Life, and a comedy  appearance by Trevor Noah.

So scroll down for all of these events and more!