By Miriam Raftery

It's official!  The holiday season has begun, heralded in by special events across East County.

Over 100,000 people turned out to watch the 2008 Mother Goose Parade on Sunday, which had a "Heroes of Might and Magic" theme.   Dazzling floats, giant balloons,  equestrians, marching bands, 50 celebrities plus heroes ranging from fictional Star Wars characters to real-life firefighters appeared in this year's parade.  Entertainment include singing, dancing, clowns, rappin' rollerskaters, high-stepping horses and a brigade of trashcan drummers. 

See our exclusive video highlights:

Beck Family Rollers

Iceskating at Viejas ice rink

Mother Goose float, Mother goose Parade, El Cajon 2008

Cox Cable's Happy Holidays float, Mother Goose Parade 2008

Fun in the Sun float, Mother Goose Parade 2008

Car doing wheelies, Mother Goose Parade 2008

They've got rhythm! Kid drummers at Mother goose Parade 2008

Horse-drawn wagon at Mother Goose Parade 2008

Gratitude for Hard Times

By Penelope Young Andrade LCSW

Are you grateful for hard times?  Although you may welcome reminders to be grateful, you probably don’t strive to be grateful FOR hard times themselves.  If you’re like most of us, hard times are something you wish would pass as fast as possible. The problem is that hard times are usually your best teachers and provide profound gifts. Giving thanks for dark times is often a prerequisite for receiving these blessings.

ECM has searched high and low to find the most under-reported important national and state news stories that may impact you or your family.  Here are our picks:

Read on for some surprising details: 

homeless sleeping next to the U.S.S. Midway aircraft carrier museum, Downtown San Diego

With all the vehicles on the streets of America sporting those little yellow “Support
Our Troops,” ribbons, it is truly ironic that we have more than 200,000
veterans who are homeless.  But not many Americans realize it. 

Mark Schulze and Patty Mooney, of Crystal Pyramid Productions, a San Diego
video production company, shot footage at the 20th anniversary of Stand Down
in 2007 for the Veterans Administration (VA).  Stand Down is a three-day
event that allows homeless veterans to come in off the streets for a shower,
hot meals and a change of clothing. 

By Miriam Raftery

November 17, 2008 (San Diego) -- The twelfth Annual Africa Trade and Business Conference sponsored by Water For Children Africa will be held November 21-23, 2008. 

Inspired after a visit to Africa with her mother, El Cajon resident Vickie Butcher founded the nonprofit organization to create infrastructure for bringing clean, safe water and medical supplies to help children in rural African villages.

By Miriam Raftery

November 17, 2008 (El Cajon) — The mother of all East County festivals
takes place this Sunday, November 23rd.  The Mother Goose Parade in downtown
El Cajon is the largest parade in San Diego County and the biggest parade of
its kind west of the Mississippi.  This
year, parade organizers have assembled a dazzling array of 50 celebrity participants
led by grand marshals Tori Spelling (star of Tori and Dean Inn Love and Beverly
Hills 90210), KayCee Stroh of High School Musical fame, and Padres
first basement Adrian Gonzales. 

Story and photos by Gayle Early

Amanda Costa and Erin Lannon of SDSUÕs Enviro-Business Society

November
12, 2008 (SAN DIEGO) — “Hey,
you’re going the wrong way!” Amanda Costa, former co-president
of SDSU’s Enviro-Business Society called out to students streaming down
Aztec Center steps. A “green-career forum” was about to start,
where the Society, also known as “Club
e3,” would spill information on the top ten cities to find green
jobs, salaries, and info on how to “put green in your pocket.” About
15 vendors, including businesses and nonprofits, lined the causeway below to
discuss specific eco-opportunities and internships, all part of Society’s
eco-job faire at SDSU campus. ECM was there to check out a few of
the tables.

SDG&E
will host a series of fire preparedness community meetings on November 17,
18 and 19 in Valley Center, Alpine and Pine Valley to discuss its proposal
to shut-off power during high fire-risk periods. 

By Miriam Raftery

East County Chamber of Commerce President Mike Cully (left) and membership director Regina Williamson (right) present new member plaque to ECM Editor Miriam Raftery and Marketing Director Leon Thompson.

Mike Cully, president of the East County Chamber of Commerce, was at Election
Central in Golden  Hall downtown as the announcement was made that Barack
Obama had won the presidency. “Drivers were honking horns. There was
so much enthusiasm,” he recalled, adding that Obama’s ability to
inspire people to work together “espouses what it means to be an American.”  Noting
that the stock market rallied up 300 points upon news of the presidential race
outcome, he observed that Obama’s victory “instills hope in people—and
hope is more tangible than you can imagine.  It’s what drives America--and
it’s what drives business.”

By Miriam Raftery

November  2008
(San Diego) — Public officials and backcountry residents leveled
harsh criticism at SG&E during a public meeting of the California Public
Utilities Commission (CPUC) convened in San Diego on October 14 to discuss
causes of the 2007 wildfires and how to prevent future conflagrations.  Speaker
after speaker blasted SDG&E’s proposal to cut power to 45,000 homes
during high fire risk conditions and urged commissioners to take action to
prevent future fires.  (Citizens with information for the CPUC may send
an e-mail to sd2007fires@cpuc.ca.gov.)

By Richard Noel

Orfila employee Dolores Castaneda pours a generous taste for Shari Zollo (right) of Vista, who enjoyed the festivities with Barbara Deuel and Drea Zollo Bush (both of Oceanside).

“Oh yes, it’s Eighties night!”

For all those who still wear their sunglasses at night, you could have worn
them to Orfila Vineyards’ tasting room as the crew kept the doors open
late on October 23rd for a special evening of uncorked fun.  With a 1980s
music theme, wine club members and other visitors enjoyed listening to blasts
from the past while sipping the Escondido winery’s latest hits.  Tasting
room manager Benjamin Wier put together what may be the first of many more
late-night events to come, and pulled it off with the flair of a high school
reunion. 

La Mesa Council holds hearing Nov. 5 on proposal to erect cell phone tower in Lake Murray area

By Miriam Raftery

When Mom asked me to look into possible health hazards posed by cell phone panel antennas that a church in her neighborhood wants to put up, I expected to find reassuring facts to allay Mom’s concerns.  Instead, I found deeply disturbing data that makes me wonder why the public is not being informed about health risks—and why our government seems intent on covering up troubling truths.

Why does a County with 4,261 square miles have only 1 early voting place? Two San Diego Assemblymembers call for changes after ECM inquiry

By Miriam Raftery

Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña vowed to take action in Sacramento to require that San Diego have more early voting locations to avoid long lines in the future.

November 2, 2008 (San Diego) — San Diego County stretches 65 miles from north to south, and 86 miles from east to west, covering 4,261 square miles. We are the sixth largest County in America, with a population over 3.1 million people. So why do we only have one early voting location, at the Registrar of Voters office, which is a two-hour drive from some portions of the County? And why must people wait four or more hours to vote once they arrive?

Links to top stories in other publications on East County issues

POWERLINK GETS PUMMELED

ECM Editor’s note:  The CPUC decision leaves the door open for a southern route to be built, which would impact East County communities near the border, so stay tuned.

Voice of San Diego (November 1, 2008) — San Diego Gas & Electric's proposed $1.2 billion Sunrise Powerlink will not be built through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.



The California Public Utilities Commission, the state regulatory agency that decides whether the power line should be built or not, issued draft rulings Friday that give the five-member commission two options to consider when deciding the Sunrise Powerlink's fate in December: Don't build it at all, or build it around the park — on the condition that SDG&E guarantee it delivers renewable energy to San Diego.

DROUGHT, BEETLES KILLING FORESTS

More than 10,000 oaks in S.D. County affected

San Diego Union-Tribune (October 25, 2008 ) — Bugs and diseases are killing trees at an alarming rate across the West, from the spruce forests of Alaska to the oak woodlands near the San Diego-Tijuana border.

Several scientists said the growing threat appears linked to global warming. That means tree mortality is likely to rise in places as the continent warms, potentially altering landscapes in ways that increase erosion, fan wildfires and diminish the biodiversity of Western forests.

A SLOW STRUGGLE

Only 9 percent of homes that were destroyed in blazes have been rebuilt

San Diego Union-Tribune (October 21, 2008 ) — Mary Wagner and her family are among the lucky ones. Although they lost their home in Rancho Bernardo in the wildfires that started a year ago today, they navigated insurance claims and building permits with little trouble and will be moving into a new, bigger house before Christmas.

“We couldn’t have been more fortunate,” she said. “The house looks a lot different, but it’s beautiful.”

By the Rev. Michael C. Boblett

Editor’s Note: Proposition 8 seeks to overturn the legality of same-sex
marriages in California.

I
believe that Proposition 8 is a perfect example of an important fault line
dividing the conservative movement in America today.  On one side of this
line are people like me, fiscal conservatives who prefer a government
that does not seek to legislate private morality.  On the other side are
those who seek, whether they admit this or not, to turn this republic into
a theocracy.