By Henri Migala

September 12, 2022 (Lakeside) -  Families, neighbors and their supporters gathered in Lakeside on Blossom Valley Road to protest five sex offenders secretly placed in their neighborhood in the past couple of weeks.

In a story that happens all too frequently in East County, approximately 100 residents and community members expressed their surprise, fear and outrage at finding out that their quiet, family-friendly community was housing convicted sex offenders. Not one, or two, but five – all in one home.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Dave Jordan in 2012, courtesy of Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District

September 2, 2018 (El Cajon) – A Blossom Valley couple, David Wesley Jordan, 82, and his wife, Jean Adele Jordon, 83, died of gunshots to their heads in an apparent murder-suicide, the Medical Examiner’s office has concluded.

A physical therapist told Sheriff’s homicide investigators that upon arrival at the home on Toya Lane in unincorporated El Cajon at 8 a.m. Friday, a note was on the sliding glass door.  The therapist entered the home and found the couple’s bodies in the living room.  A revolver was in Jean Jordan’s hands.

David Jordan was a long-time football coach at Grossmont College, where he led the team to a statewide championship title in 2005 and won many honors for his coaching.

By Miriam Raftery

Updated December 31, 2014 with link to 10 News story and response from the County Animal Control Department.

December 29, 2014 (Blossom Valley) –For the second time in three years, a pit bull running loose has viciously attacked a horse and rider outside the same Blossom Valley residence.

“Me and my horse were attacked yesterday,” Stacey Russell told East County Magazine.  According to Russell, a bluish-gray pit bull dog seriously injured her horse outside 10937 Quail Canyon – the same address where a similar attack occurred in 2011.

By Cate Sacks

November 12, 2011 (Blossom Valley) -- News from Facebook, Therapy dog Howard has passed all the training to become a therapy or service dog. This boy is simply awesome. He is gentle, submissive and kind. I have never heard him bark, and he is happy just "being"..whether than means with the other dogs, people, children or just by himself. He is a young boy who has been rounded off to a year old. His body is that of a boxer but his look is that of a chesapeake bay retriever...an amazing combination that is hard to find. He sleeps quietly in his crate and learns quickly.  

By Miriam Raftery
Video by Billy Ortiz  https://www.facebook.com/LakesideCaliforniaHistory/videos/1389484353508/

There comes a time in life when a person may decide to take a chance—to do something wild, so daring that it challenges the spirit and nurtures the soul.

 Proposal that could halt Alpine high school construction will also be heard by board

July 11, 2011 (El Cajon) – The Boundary Committee for the Grossmont Union High School District has adopted recommendations for shifting high school boundaries throughout the distirct.  The recommendations will be presented Thursday, to the GUHSD Boardat 6 p.m. in the East County Regional Education Center, 924 East Main Street in El Cajon.

Lines will be changing across East County. For example, on Mt. Helix many students now in the Grossmont High School district are proposed to shift to Monte Vista, a school with a far poorer academic record, to ease overcrowding at Grossmont. In Blossom Valley, proposed new lines would similarly shift some students to a poorer performing school, in Lakeside sparking protests from parents.

May 27, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) – Two proposed options for new boundary lines in the Grossmont Union High School District will be presented by the District’s Boundary Committee at a public meeting on Thursday, June 2 from 6-8:30 p.m. at the Instructional Resource Classroom, 301 North Mollison Avenue in El Cajon.

One plan, Model 12, includes redrawn boundaries to include a 12th new high school planned in Alpine. An alternative plan, Model 9, provides a contingency in case the Alpine High School is not built and redraws boundaries for the District’s nine existing non-chartered high schools.

“This is a watershed meeting,” said Doug Deane, chairman of the committee. “If there are different viewpoints, people need to speak June 2 at our meeting….Every high school will be affected, whether or not there is a twelfth high school built.”

By Marilyn Gramse

March 3, 2011 (Blossom Valley) – On Monday, February 28, two equestrians were riding on the County designated trail on Quail Canyon. When they approached  a home in the 10,000 block of Quail Canyon, a pit bull dog and the owner came out to the equestrians. The pit bull began sniffing the horses, bit the rider, and attacked the horse--going for the throat. The horse, struggling for its life, began to circle, dumping the rider.

By Caleb Trainer
 

September 6, 2010 (Blossom Valley) – A man driving a white van with tinted rear windows attempted to kidnap a teen jogging in Blossom Valley yesterday around 5:15 p.m. The suspect, a white or Hispanic male, age 20-35, was wearing a Padres baseball cap. He reportedly tackled the  woman, 19, from behind and tried to drag her into the bushes, tearing her clothing.

“He lost his balance and fell down, which allowed her to escape,” Sergeant Brent Strahm at the San Diego Sheriff’s Department told East County Magazine.