East County News Service

January 12, 2022 (La Mesa) – The East County Homeless Task Force has announced a Zoom meeting this Friday, January 14 at 1 p.m. regarding Home Start’s work on The Lodge, a former motel on University Avenue in La Mesa repurposed to provide housing and services for transition-age youths.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo via County of San Diego

January 11, 2022 (San Diego) -- San Diego County Supervisors today voted 3-2 to enact a new ordinance to set standards for safe storage of firearms and to put restrictions on “ghost guns” in unincorporated areas.

Do-it-yourself ghost guns are homemade and untraceable, due to a lack of serial numbers. Thus they can evade federal and state requirements, such as background checks required to purchase firearms.

Sheriff’s deputies confiscated 212 ghost guns last year – nearly six times more than the 36 ghost guns seized in 2019, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

Source: San Diego Humane Society

January 11, 2022 (La Mesa) — Tonight, members of the La Mesa City Council voted unanimously to approve a contract with San Diego Humane Society (SDHS) to become the City’s animal services provider. San Diego Humane Society has been providing sheltering and medical care for La Mesa’s animals at its El Cajon Campus since October 2020. With this new contract, which goes into effect immediately, SDHS will provide Humane Law Enforcement (animal control) and licensing services as well.

In addition to all the specialized programs San Diego Humane Society offers, such as the Kitten Nursery, Behavior Center, Pilar & Chuck Bahde Center for Shelter Medicine, Bahde Wildlife Center, Community Support Services and community education, residents in La Mesa will see an added benefit with extended animal control and dispatch hours. Residents can call 619-299-7012 (press 1 for Humane Law Enforcement Dispatch) or visit http://www.sdhumane.org  for more information about San Diego Humane Society’s services.

East County News Service 

“The SAFE Act will bring transparency to the secretive ‘Hide the Predator’ game the Department of State Hospitals has played when releasing SVPs into communities” –Senator Brian Jones

January 11, 2022 (San Diego’s East County) -- State Senator Brian W. Jones (R-Santee), Senator Ben Hueso (D-San Diego) and Assemblyman Jim Cooper (D-Elk Grove) have introduced the “Sexually Violent Predator Accountability, Fairness, and Enforcement Act” (SAFE Act).  The measure aims to prevent the state from continuing to try to secretly dump Sexually Violent Predators (SVPs) in East and North San Diego County, as well as other unsuspecting communities throughout the state.

East County News Service

January 11, 2022 (San Diego) -- In honor of the #BettyWhiteChallenge that has been gaining momentum on social media, San Diego Humane Society is taking a different approach on the challenge by waiving adoption fees for all adult animals through Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022.  In honor of what would have been Betty White’s 100th birthday, the organization hopes to find homes for 100 animals by Jan. 17, 2022. 

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.  

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.

Story and photos by Karen Pearlman 

January 8, 2022 (Lake Morena) – For more than two years, Lake Morena Village area water users have been drinking bottled water because of formidable nitrate levels in the region’s wells, the main source of water for drinking in the rural San Diego county burg. 

In September 2019, the county issued a do-not-drink order for about 125 customers of the Lake Morena Views Mutual Water Company, one of the two main water suppliers in the area.  The state recently approved grant funds to eliminate the contamination, but the process moves slowly – meaning frustrated residents may be without potable tap water for another two to three years.

“I am wondering what the effects will be on all of us in time to come. How can it take over two years to fix the issue?” asks Claudia Millerbragg, a Lake Morena Village residents in rural Campo. She says shareholders are not given enough information, adding,  “Because we are in an underserved community no one really seems to care. Can you imagine this happening in La Jolla?"

East County News Service; Times of San Diego contributed to this report

Photo by Miriam Raftery

January 6, 2022 (San Diego) – Staunch labor advocate Lorena Gonzalez on Monday announced her resignation from the California state Assembly to accept a job as leader of the  California Labor Federation.  Her resignation took effect yesterday; her new position begins in July.

 By Miriam Raftery and Rebeca Jefferis Williamson

Images: Public Domain

Jan. 5, 2022 (Washington, D.C.)  --  January 6, 2021 will be commemorated in the nation’s history books  as the date when thousands stormed the U.S. Capitol while the US Senate was preparing to certify the electoral count from the November 3, 2020, election. Five people died during the violent insurrection and 140 police officers were injured, ABC News reported. 

In a speech today, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland stated, “The actions we have taken thus far will not be our last.” He added, “"Those involved must be held accountable, and there is no higher priority for us at the Department of Justice."

"The Justice Department remains committed to holding all January 6 perpetrators --at any level--accountable under law, whether they were present that day, or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy. We will follow the facts wherever they lead."

East County News Service

January 4, 2022 (Washington D.C.) – As the anniversary of the violent capitol insurrection last January 6 approaches, federal authorities seek public help to find a suspect who planted two pipe bombs near the Democratic and Republican national committee headquarters in Washington D.C. the night before. A $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person(s) responsible for planting the bombs is being offered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)  and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). 

Between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 5, surveillance cameras indicate the suspect planted the bombs while wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt, face mask, gloves, and a pair of black and light grey Nike Air Max Speed Turf shoes with a yellow logo.

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.