Backcountry residents burned up over latest tactic to grab land before court cases on Powerlink are heard

March 8, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – Aiming to begin construction on Sunrise Powerlink this summer, San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) is going to court to seek eminent domain powers to force landowners to turn over as many as 80 properties to the utility for construction of the controversial high-voltage power line. The tactic has sparked outrage among many East County residents.

March 7, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – Three serious accidents have been reported this afternoon in East County, including a head-on collision and possible fatality on Wildcat Canyon Road and an overturned vehicle on fire on State Route 67.

PUBLIC MEMORIAL SET FOR CHELSEA KING MARCH 13

Suspect may also be linked to Amber Dubois disappearance

March 2, 2010 (Rancho Bernardo) – A body has been found by authorities in a shallow grave near the water’s edge at Lake Hodges. In a press conference at 4 p.m. today, Sheriff Bill Gore said, “There is a strong likelihood that we have found Chelsea.” Poway High School honor student Chelsea King went missing while jogging around Lake Hodges.

February 28, 2010 (Poway) – John Albert Gardner III, 30, a registered sex offender, was arrested at 4:30 p.m. today by the San Diego County Sheriff’s fugitive task force.

February 28, 2010 – Eight people were injured, two with major trauma, in a major accident at Glencoe and Jamacha at 11:15 p.m. last night. Earlier in the day, at 4:40 p.m., a head-on collision at Highway 94 and Steele Canyon Road injured multiple patients, including several with serious injuries, Incident Page Network reported. In yet a third incident, a collision at Avocado and Challenger boulevards in La Mesa injured six people.

Japan also rattled by 7.0 quake today

February 27, 2010 – A powerful earthquake struck Chile off the coast of Maule during the night. The U.S. Geological Survey has upgraded the quake to 8.8.  A tsunami warning has been issued for coastal areas in Chile and Peru; a nine-foot tsunami wave has been reported.

Questions raised over early handling of case; no major search mounted for weeks after Jeep SUV found disabled 22 miles off-road in remote desert locale

“Thanksgiving weekend is the busiest of the year. Tens of thousands of people were in the desert…It’s likely someone would have come across him. If it was at night and he was on foot, someone could have given him a ride.” -- Detective Patrick Yates

By Miriam Raftery

February 25, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) - Grounded for stealing his stepfather's motorcycle and going joyriding November 20th in a Riverside County park, 16-year-old Mickey Guidry (also called Mike or Mikey) took his parents’ blue Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV on Thanksgiving to join friends who were camping at 5454 Split Mountain Road in Ocotillo Wells. He left camp at 3 p.m. on Friday, November 27th—and hasn’t been seen since. Now ECM has learned that this wasn't the first time the teen has gone missing. Sheriff officials are treating the case as a runaway.

But the boy's mother, Missy Perucca, believes her son made it out of the desert alive and may now be living elsewhere--and hopes he didn't meet with foul play.  "I just hope someone somewhere knows something and reports it to the police so we can finally have a direction to go in," she said. 

February 23, 2010 (Julian) - A 20,000 boulder has rolled off a mountain and is blocking Highway 78 east of Wynola Road and is blocking the highway, CHP reports. In addition, I-5 is blocked at B Street with traffic diversion in place due to a fatality rollover which occurred at 8:40 a.m.  

February 21, 2010 (Dulzura) The San Diego Sheriff Department’s Search and Rescue Unit was activated this morning to search for six hikers who failed to return home last night. The group has been located and airlifted out after rushing waters left them trapped, East County Magazine has been informed by a spokesperson with the San Diego Sheriff’s Department.

By Miriam Raftery

February 18, 2010 (La Mesa) – By a unanimous vote, the Helix Water Board voted yesterday to disband an ad hoc committee on rate increases after several citizens objected on grounds that the process was not transparent.

“Your ad hoc committee has two board members on it,” Josan Feathers, a registered civil engineer, observed. “So when the ad hoc committee brings its recommendations to the Board , it only needs one more vote.”

February 17, 2010 (Spring Valley) Tina Marie Jordan, 51, was found dead in the apartment she shared with a boyfriend at a sober living facility at 10030 Juan Street in Spring Valley. On February 14, the apartment manager went to check on her after not seeing her all day.

February 17, 2010 (San Diego's East County) --- Early last Sunday morning, a magnitude (M)4.5 earthquake along with subsequent aftershocks struck Baja California, Mexico.  It was felt in East County and as far north as Oceanside. 

Although we experience these temblors often, it is beneficial to know what to do if we find ourselves inside a building while at work, enjoying a meal at a restaurant, taking in the latest blockbuster movie at the theatre, or cheering on our favorite team in the stadium.

February 16, 2010 (San Diego) San Diego-California Attorney General Edmund G. "Jerryy" Brown Jr. announced last week that Mary Louise Wilson, 54, of San Diego, has been sentenced to 19 years and 4 months in prison for attempting to "kill or seriously injure" nursing home residents by setting fires at the facilities, including nursing homes in El Cajon and National City.

Her sentence marks the longest prison term that anyone convicted by the Attorney General's Office has received in an elder abuse case.