By Miriam Raftery

October 18, 2013– Former Congressional candidate Ray Lutz of El Cajon was arrested in November 2011 for attempting to register voters at the Civic Cente Plaza downtown.  This week, Lutz announced he has entered into a settlement with the City in which his arrest record will be expunged and the City will agree not to arrest people in the future for peaceful political activity in public spaces of private property.

"Our goal was to send a clear message and require that the city admit they were wrong. This is about as close to an admission of guilt you can get from the city. We want to make sure this never happens again,” said Lutz.

October 18, 2013 (Ramona) – Bella Noble, A 5-year-old Ramona girl has died of injuries sustained when her mother, 42, accidentally backed over the child. The tragedy happened at 5:20 p.m. yesterday in the family's driveway on Carnation Road in Ramona, when the mother was backing her Chevrolet Astro van out to visit a friend. 

According to the CHP, the child ran behind the vehicle.

“The mother lost sight of her daughter and felt a bump at the rear of her vehicle and realized she may have struck her child.  Not realizing she had run over her daughter, she pulled forward and struck her child a second time,” said CHP Officer Tommy Doerr.

story courtesy Grossmont College

October 17, 2013 (El Cajon) -- With a statewide earthquake drill known as the "Great California Shakeout" planned for 10:17 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 17, panelists in Grossmont College's Griffin Center told students last week, where to expect earthquakes to repeatedly happen, how to best be prepared for them, and what it is like to experience their devastation.  Many of these tips are included in the story below.

The panel was a precursor to the Oct. 17 drill in which students, faculty and staff will be advised that in the event that they are inside a building during a real earthquake, they should drop to the floor, get under and hold onto a desk or a table, and cover their heads to prevent materials shaken loose from falling on them.  The Oct. 17 drill will last approximately two minutes after which normal classroom activities will resume.

The San Diego State University Transit Center was shut down and the Adams Humanities building was evacuated at 9:45 a.m. due to fire alarms sounding. Trolleys where shut down going both directions between Grantville & 70th Street.  Substitute buses where put in place. The alarms where triggered by fumes being released by a leaking battery inside one of SDSU’s trolley operating rooms.

 By Nadin Abbott

 October 14, 2013 (San Diego) Reports are coming in from the Philippines that the southern island of Bohol was hit with a magnitude 7.2 earthquake this evening, according to the United States Geological Service.  At least 20 people have died, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council.

According to Earthquake report, this was a shallow earthquake, which has caused building collapse, including the main church in Bohol, with Mindanao affected as well. USGS has a notice that due to the shut down, operation are at a minimum.

By Miriam Raftery

October 11, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) – If you leave a loaded gun where a child can access it, you’ll be committing a crime in California. If you store a loaded gun where someone prohibited from owning a gun has access and injures someone, you'll be guilty of criminal storage.  These are among nearly a dozen new gun laws signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown.

If you own a long gun, you’ll need to earn a safety certificate under a bill authored by Senator Marty Block (D-San Diego).

Pscyhotherapists will be required to report a serious threat of violence made by a patient against any specific victims to police within 24 hours. Police must notify the California Justice Department within a day after getting the report. The bill seeks to prevent a tragedy such as the Aurora, Colorado theater massacre; the shooter had threatened violence to his psychiatrist but doctor-patient confidentiality law prohibited the psychiatrist from notifying police.  A patient who threatens a psychotherapist will be banned from owning a gun for five years (currently the limit is six months). 

By Miriam Raftery

October 10, 2013 (Julian) – Working in frigid weather amid blowing snow, sleet and high winds, a team of rescue units located a missing plane shortly after midnight in the Volcan Mountain Wilderness Preserve.  

The male pilot and a female passenger were found dead inside the plane, along with their dog. The plane crashed onto a rugged, steep hillside approximately half a mile from a road near the top of Volcan Mountain. ECM news partner reports that Andrew Thulin of San Diego, Robbie Rose and their poodle were on board.

October 9, 2013 (El Cajon ) – At 7:46 p.m. tonight, Domingues Salvador, 67, boarded a trolley at 352 South Marshall Avenue in El Cajon after becoming separated from his spouse at the trolley station.  Domingues has Alzheimer’s disease, speaks Spanish, and only knows his name.  He has no identification or money.

He is Hispanic with white hair and brown eyes.  He is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 140 pounds.  He was wearing a black jacket and sky blue pants.

(stock photo)

October 9, 2013 (Julian) – As searchers comb Volcan Mountain for a missing airplane tonight, thunderstorms have knocked the University of California’s hpwren atop the mountain offline—perhaps permanently, ECM has learned.

“This site was badly hit by lightning,” the webcam website states.  “The Volcan cameras may be outfor good, as we checked and they did not power back up after main power was restored. We can check them out further once we get them off the tower, but we have no hardware budget to repair or replace them any more.”

October 9, 2013 (Spring Valley ) –Sheriff’s investigators along with federal agents have determined that a fire at Santa Sophia Church last night was intentionally set.  A reward of up to $1,000 is offered for information leading to arrest of the arsonist.

The fire was reported around 7:57 p.m. last night in the church at 9800 San Juan Street in the Casa De Oro neighborhood of Spring Valley.   Cal Fire/San Miguel Fire district crews were on the scene in three minutes with  five engines and 20 firefighters, who extinguished the blaze within 10 minutes.  

Sweeping measure also applies to other laws that violate Constitution or state law

By Miriam Raftery

October 7, 2013 (Sacramento) – In a rare show of bipartisanship, Governor Brown has signed into a law a bill that passed the Legislature almost unanimously.  The measure makes California the third state to nullify provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) allowing indefinite detention of citizens.

However California’s law goes farther, banning state cooperation with federal authorities on enforcement of any federal law that violates the U.S. Constitution, the California Constitution or California law.  The bill also prohibits use of state funds for such purposes.

October 5, 2013 (San Diego's East County) -- Supervisor Jacob is looking for civic-minded District 2 residents to serve on a wide variety of citizen boards and advisory panels across East County. To apply and for additional information see the links at the bottom.

Update 4:20 p.m. - Winds have subsided and SDG&E has restored power to all but two customers in the Descanso/Green Valley area.

By Miriam Raftery

October 5, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) – San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) has shut down power to 87 customers.  The company’s website states, “An outage has been initiated to protect public safety.”  A red flag alert and high wind warning are in effect.

"I remain extremely concerned that shutting off power jeopardizes the safety of communities and the availability of water for residents and firefighters. SDG&E has the statutory authority to cut off power only if there is an imminent threat to public safety," Supervisor Dianne Jacob posted on her Facebook page.

By Miriam Raftery

October 3, 2013 (Sacramento)—Many juveniles who were tried as adults and imprisoned before their 18^th birthdays will be able to ask for parole after serving 15 to 25 years, depending on the severity of their crime.  The measure, Senate Bill 260, was signed into law in September by Governor Jerry Brown.

In San Diego, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis has sought to try even very young juveniles for murder, notably a 10-year-old Lakeside boy accused of fatally stabbing a 12-year-old playmate. (A judge later found that child unfit to stand trial and sentenced him to a treatment facility.)

By Nadin Abbott

Photos Tom Abbott

October 2, 2012 (San Diego) — The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) held two meetings on October 2 at the Bahr Shrine Auditorium in Kearny Mesa. The first session had about 50 members of the public attending, ratepayers who came from all over Southern California, including San Diego’s East County.

The common theme from residents, expressed well by Carol Jahnkow from Encinitas, was, “Why should rate payers pay for Southern California Edison (SCE) and San Diego Gas and Electric’s (SDG&E) mistakes?”