By Miriam Raftery

November 30, 2022 (La Mesa)  -- A $1,000 reward is offered for information leading to an arrest in the case of Cassidy Hopwood, an El Cajon teen who went missing in February. Her body was found March 13 behind a business in the 7900 block of El Cajon Blvd. in La Mesa, but she was not identified until November. 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Robert Gehr: A homeless person sleeps in a tent on Main Street in downtown El Cajon.

November 24, 2022 (El Cajon) –  El Cajon’s grant application to purchase property to build a homeless shelter has been rejected by the County. According to El Cajon City Manager Graham Mitchell, County staff informed him that  the grant was rejected because “the City did not own the property that was being proposed for the shelter – in other words, the City did not own the property that the grant was intended to purchase.”

Mitchell, in an email sent to El Cajon’s Mayor and City Council, said he told County staff in a pre-grant question and answer session that the city intended to apply for a grant to buy land for a shelter.  “The response was that the city should still apply and explain how the site will be obtained,” he wrote.  “During their follow-p questions of the City’s grant application, they asked for an update and we indicated that an appraisal was on its way and that the formal offer was about to be made.”

The application was made through the County’s Capital Emergency Housing Solutions Grant Program, for which Supervisor Joel Anderson had urged East County cities including El Cajon to apply.

Source:  City of El Cajon

November 21, 2022 (El Cajon) - The City of El Cajon has been recognized as a Top Workplace in San Diego for 2022. The award comes solely from employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey. The survey measures organizational culture, empowerment of staff to meet customer needs, an environment of innovation, and employee engagement.

By Robert Gehr

November 15, 2022 (El Cajon) -- The driver of a white compact vehicle lost control early this morning around 6 a.m. while making a left turn from West Park Avenue onto southbound Magnolia Avenue. It crashed into a sign after jumping over the curb. Consequently the tall Knox House Museum sign was knocked down from its foundation and appeared to be broken into two pieces. 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Anthony Carnevale, Jolyana Jirjees and Jo Medina-Alegria will serve in CVUSD areas 1, 2 and 3.

November 11, 2022 (El Cajon) – In a surprising upset, Cajon Valley Union School District’s board chair Tamara Otero is losing her reelection bid to challenger Anthony Carnevale, a businessman.  Carnevale has 61.37% of the votes, while Otero has 33.63%, according to the San Diego Registrar of Voters.

Otero and Carnevale, both conservatives, ran in trustee area 1.

In area 2, an open seat due to Trustee Jill Barto not seeking reelection, Jolyana Jirjees was the only candidate running and has been appointed by the board to fill the vacancy.

Trustee Jo Medina-Alegria ran unopposed for her reelection in area 3.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells and La Mesa Mayor Mark Araposthis are winning their reelection bids

November 8, 2022 (San Diego’s East County) – Early results after polls closed tonight indicate incumbents heading for reelection in La Mesa, El Cajon and Lemon Grove.

The power of incumbency proved stronger than partisan politics. Though city races are nonpartisan, political parties endorsed candidates and expended resources walking precincts to campaign for their parties' choices. But incumbents in both parties hold solid leads, though Democrats appear likely to pick up a seat in both the La Mesa and Lemon Grove Council races, following the retirement of Republican incumbents.

El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells, a Republican, has a solid 71.25% of the votes tallied so far; his opponent, realtor Arnie Levine, a Democrat, has 28.75%. The Mayor ran on a track record of boosting revenues through bringing in new hotels and reopening the performing arts center, while Levine criticized Mayor Wells’ defiance of public health business shutdown mandates duringthe pandemic. El Cajon Councilman Gary Kendrick ran unopposed, drawing 100% of the votes.  But El Cajon’s Measure P which the Mayor supports, to increase the city sales tax to a penny per dollar, is losing 58% to 42%.

East County News Service

November 4, 2022 (El Cajon) – Robert Gehr snapped these photos and videos of firefighters in action, extinguishing a car fire in the 100 block of Wells Avenue in El Cajon around 7 a.m. today. 

East County News Service

November 2, 2022 (Rancho San Diego) – The Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College in Rancho San Diego invites you to its Fall Garden Festival and annual plant sale on Saturday, November 5 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

East County News Service

Photo: CC via Bing

October 31, 2022 (El Cajon) -- EDCO’s FREE Paper Shredding, Electronic Waste and Mulch Giveaway Event is coming up on November 5 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the El Cajon police department’s parking lot, 100 Civic Center Way in El Cajon. This event is for El Cajon residents only.

By Christianne McCormick

October 21, 2022 (El Cajon) – Colorful tiny homes now occupy a formerly vacant lot at Meridian Baptist Church in El Cajon. Built by the nonprofit Amikas, the tiny homes were completed last month and will soon serve as safe, temporary havens for women and children experiencing homelessness.

Pastor Ronald Slade, who is also serves as a board member for Amikas, explained the lot’s recent history to East County Magazine (ECM). “We were just growing tumbleweeds on this lot. The unofficial nickname for the congregation was ‘tumbleweed village,’” he recalled.

East County News Service

October 19, 2022 (El Cajon) - El Cajon Police today announce the arrest of Obaida Saad Ramadhan of El Cajon for the August 19 murder of Jasiah White. White was shot multiple times in an outdoor parking lot at 441 Dominguez.

October 14, 2022 (El Cajon) – Vivian "Viv" Yubeta-Jackson passed away on September 24, 2022.  The East County native was bset known as a professor of forensic sciences at National University and as a Naval Criminal Investigative Services (NCIS) crime scene investigator, as well as a beloved wife, mother and grandmother.

Born in El Cajon, CA, on January 2, 1956, Vivian Yubeta graduated in 1974, married her El Cajon Valley High School sweetheart, Kerry Jackson (1956-2007) and attended college while raising two sons.

By Shiloh Ireland

Photo:  girl and her parents

October 9, 2022 (El Cajon) – On October 2^nd, another peaceful protest was held next to a sex offender’s home at 9107 Sesi Lane, where sex offenders have been placed. At this time, the six offenders housed have been reduced to four, as two moved to another part of East County.

By Christianne McCormick

October 2, 2022 (San Diego’s East County) -- Many family-friendly Halloween events are popping up throughout East County and will be available all throughout the month of October. 

Festivities include a spooky campover, costume contests for people and pets, a haunted train ride, pumpkin patches and corn mazes, a haunted amusement park, a fall celebration, safe trick-or-treating for children at a local shopping mall, and Haunt Fest, a family-friendly Halloween festival. 

By Miriam Raftery

View full interview, recorded for the East County Magazine Radio Show on KNSJ, by clicking image at left

September 21, 2022 (El Cajon) – El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells has served as Mayor for nine years, and on the City Council and  Planning Commission before that.  A healthcare professional, he brings a unique perspective to issues such as homelessness. He’s running for eelection and this week, sat down for an exclusive interview in which he discussed his accomplishments, key challenges facing the city, and his goals if reelected. He also spoke out on the city’s conflicts with the county over a homeless motel voucher program.

He says his commitment is to "trying to do what’s right" while" listening to everyone's point of view."