Source: City of El Cajon

Photo: El Cajon, CC by SA

January 10, 2022 (El Cajon) -- The El Cajon City Council is hosting its fourth Redistricting Hearing on Saturday,  January 22 at 10:30 a.m. at El Cajon Valley High School, located at 1035 East Madison Avenue, in El Cajon. Redistricting is the process of adjusting City Council voting districts, following the US Census, to ensure that each district has roughly the same number of residents.

Update January 11, 2021:  CHP indicates a Honda Civic crossed the double yellow lines, colliding with a Chrysler Pacific minivan.  A 74-year old San Diego woman, a passenger in the minivan, died at the scene.  The minivan’s driver, a 46-year old woman, suffered moderate injuries.  The Honda driver, a 30-year-old woman, suffered major injuries; she is suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol but has not yet been charged, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

Update 4 p.m.  Dehesa Road will likely be obstructed for two hours, ECM has learned. 

By Miriam Raftery

January 9, 2021 (El Cajon) -- A head -on collision is blocking Dehesa Road in unincorporated El Cajon in both directions, about 500 feet west of Sloan Canyon Road. 

Two patients has been transported to Sharp Memorial hospital. 

Edwin Mathery, an eyewitness who lives nearby, told ECM that one of the vehicles is a white minivan.  

East County News Service

January 9, 2022 (Ramona) – Oasis Camel Dairy in Ramona has three Open Farm Day tour dates in January on Sunday the 16^th as well as Saturday January 22 and 29.

The tours run from 12 to 2 p.m.  In addition to the outdoor tour of the facility, the admission fee ($15, children 3 and under free) includes treats to feed camels and miniature sheep.

Camel rides are also available for an additional fee. You can also shop for gifts such as camel milk soaps, bath products and more.

By Miriam Raftery

Images via Stop Cottonwood Sand Mine

Update January 9: Due to a COVID surge the January 12 meeting has been cancelled. The virtual meeting on January 19 at 7 p.m. can be accessed at this link  https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/pds/ceqa/MUP-18-023.html or this link: https://bit/ly/CottonwoodSandMine or you can call (619) 343-2539 and provide conference ID number 972 237 701#.

December 28, 2021 (San Diego) – A Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) is now available on the controversial proposed Cottonwood Sand Mining project along the Sweetwater River on the Cottonwood Golf Club site. There are several opportunities for the public to weigh in, including an in-person meeting January 12 at Hillsdale Middle School in Rancho San Diego and an online/phone teleconference January 19. You can also submit comments via mail or email, which must be received by February 14 at 4 p.m.

The project at 2131 Willow Glen Road would extract around 6.4 million tons of sand over 10 years from 214.4 acres. The developer contends the sand is needed for construction and road building in our region, to avoid costly importing of sand.  

The project has drawn opposition from thousands of local residents concerned over harm to wildlife in the adjacent national wildlife preserve as well as impacts on residents including traffic, noise, and air quality.

"We will review the DEIR with diligence to see if any of the community concerns have been addressed," said StopCottonwoodSandMine.org Board Chair Elizabeth Urquhart. “Most importantly, although it's been a long wait since the project was proposed in 2018, the community needs to know it is now the right time to speak up and register concerns over the community impacts, despite this being the holiday season. We need our neighbors to understand we cannot sit still as we continue to voice our opposition. We ask residents to inform their friends and neighbors to sign up at our website. We need to all work together to inform the community and to ultimately stop this sand mine.” Their concerns are documented at  https://www.stopcottonwoodsandmine.com/

Below are details provided by the County’s Planning and Development Services Department on the DEIR and how you can make your voice heard. Be sure to reference the project name and number in your comments.

Exhibition of Norris’ photography will be displayed in February at the Parsonage Museum

By Helen Ofield

Photo credit: Mike Norris, by Ife Babatund

January 6, 2022 (Lemon Grove) -- The Lemon Grove Historical Society (LGHS) increased its talent pool, effective Jan. 1, 2022, by appointing Mike Norris Photographer-in Residence.  Norris joins Kathleen Strzelecki, Artist-in-Residence, and Robert Stuckey, Videographer-in-Residence, both well-known for their work in portraying and documenting American history. 

East County News Service

January 5, 2022 (San Diego’s East County) – Jay Steiger took a New Year’s morning hike to the top of Cuyamaca Peak, the second highest peak in East County. He sent in this beautiful image, with patches of snow still clinging to trees along the trail.

By Miriam Raftery

January 5, 2022 (Santee) – Martin Andara, 68, of Santee was killed on Saturday after he was pushed into the path of a train at the Old Town Transit Center. According to San Diego Police, Andara had just gotten off a southbound trolley when another passenger shoved him off the platform without provocation, then fled on foot.

Andara was struck by the train and died at the scene.

East County Wildfire & Emergency Alerts

January 4, 2022 (Alpine) – The driver of a blue Peterbuilt truck towing a double-axle flatbed Fontaine trailer was killed in an accident this afternoon on I-8 east of Dunbar Lane in Alpine.  All but one lane remains closed and a SIG Alert has been issued due to traffic delays of an hour or more.

According to Officer Travis Garrow with the California Highway Patrol, the as yet unidentified man applied the brakes and a load of steel sheet pile beams shifted forward, penetrating the back of the truck and impaling the driver.

By Karen Pearlman

December 31, 2021 (La Mesa) -- Ron Brady was the founder of a high profile construction company, but it was the practice of philanthropy over the course of many decades that helped him develop some of his closest community ties.

A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Brady took over his father's business, the lath and plastering contracting firm E.F. Brady that started in 1946, and turned it into a successful construction business known as the Brady Companies. The Brady companies were instrumental in developing much of San Diego County, Los Angeles County and parts of Northern California. The companies specialize in drywall, plaster and lath that are geared toward major commercial projects.

Over the course of his lifetime, he and his wife, Mary Alice, gave away hundreds of thousands of dollars to different organizations, from Sharp Grossmont Hospital to the East County YMCA to the Boys and Girls Clubs of East County.

Photo, left: Learjet crash victims Tina Ward, Julian Bugaj, Laurie Gentz and Douglas Grande, clockwise from bottom. Photo via Oceanside Firefighters Association 3736 Facebook

By Rebecca Jefferis Williamson

Dec. 30, 2021 (El Cajon) -- Two flight nurses and two pilots have been identified as those lost in the Learjet 35A plane crash that occurred Dec. 27 in the Bostonia neighborhood of El Cajon.  

The plane was owned by Aeromedevac Air Ambulance. Tina Ward, Julian Bugaj, Laurie Gentz, and Douglas Grande, the Aeromedevac flight crew N88OZ, all perished in the crash.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Screenshot from video posted by 10 News, an ECM news partner

Update December 28, 2021: The FAA reports that four people were on board the plane.

December 27, 2021 (El Cajon) -- A Lear jet owned by Med Jet LLC, an air ambulance company, crashed at 7:15 p.m. tonight at Pepper Drive and North Mollison Avenue in the Bostonia area of El Cajon.  The pilot and any passengers aboard the 10-seat plane are presumed dead following multiple explosions.  There are no reports of fatalities on the ground, ECM news partner Times of San Diego reports.

The crash spewed fiery wreckage across the neighborhood, damaged a vehicle and knocked out power to around 2,500 customers of SDG&E, the utility website indicates. Power is expected to be restored by 6 a.m. tomorrow. Traffic signals are also out in the vicinity.

By Miriam Raftery

December 26, 2021 (San Diego’s East County) – Heavy snowfall is forecast Monday, along with wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour in San Diego’s mountain areas.  Snow is forecast to blanket local mountain communities including Pine Valley and Julian. Above 4,500 feet, four to eight inches of snow are forecast, with up to 16 inches above 6,500 feet at the highest peaks in San Bernadino and Riverside counties. 

East County News Service

December 23, 2021 (Santee) – Each year, residents in an area dubbed “Starlight Circle” decorate their homes elaborately for the holidays, drawing thousands of visitors.

By Elijah McKee

December 21, 2021 (El Cajon) — The El Cajon City Council tackled several County-level issues at its recent meeting on December 14.  

First, City Manager Graham Mitchell spoke about a rare opportunity to temporarily over-staff the police department with 10 new officers drawn laterally from other nearby agencies, in an effort to save the city money over the next three years. 

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, as many as 160 San Diego police officers may be facing termination in light of the city’s vaccine mandate. Meanwhile, El Cajon does not currently have such a mandate.