April 11, 2012 (El Cajon) – Dan Hughes, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, will be the guest speaker at the April 17 meeting of The Cajon Valley Republican Women Federated.  The meeting will be held at the Pancake House, 1000 North 2nd Street, El Cajon at 7:00 a.m.

 Update April 11, 2012 3 p.m. - The missing boy has been found and is safe, Monica Zech, spokesperson for El Cajon, has informed ECM.  

April 9, 2012 (La Mesa) – The San Miguel Fire Protection District will host a community meeting from 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. on April 17 at Foothills United Methodist Church, 4031 Avocado Blvd., La Mesa.  The meeting will provide residents a State of the District presentation and discuss the Request for Proposal submission from CAL FIRE for the outsourcing of the district’s fire protection. 

April 8, 2012 (Palomar) – It seems fitting that on Easter Sunday, we got word of a modern-day resurrection.

Rick Barclay chairs a foundation that’s been striving to save Palomar State Park from permanent closure in July, drawing help from many of our readers to fill the budget gap.  Today, he sent East County Magazine the following message of hope: 

April 6,2012 (San Diego) –California Highway Patrol has issued a SIG ALERT on I-8 eastbound at College Avenue due to a multi-vehicle pile-up  involving six to eight vehicles.  Alternate routes are advised for what is expected to be a long-term cleanup.

April 6, 2012 (San Diego) – Late Wednesday night, two teenagers were killed and three others seriously injured in a high speed rollover crash on eastbound state Route 52 at Convoy Street. The accident was reported at 11:46 p.m., according to California Highway Patrol.

Witnesses told the CHP that a 2001 Volvo S40 and a 1999 VW Passat were racing each other at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour when the Passat lost control and flipped over. There were five people in the Passat and three in the Volvo, all returning from a bonfire at a beach in La Jolla.

County, City, School and Church Partner to Make Vision a Reality

April 4, 2012 (San Carlos) – San Carlos has its first community garden at Springall Academy, a school serving K-12 students with special needs throughout San Diego County.  The school, in partnership with San Carlos United Methodist Church, developed and will operate and maintain the garden.  The garden, located at 6460 Boulder Lake Ave., San Diego, is one of two community gardens on San Diego Unified School District sites and represents an agreement between the district and the community to jointly use the plots for growing fresh fruits and vegetables.

 ECM stands by our story-and offers additional details. 

By Miriam Raftery

April 2, 2012 (San Diego’s East County) – A representative of Covert Canyon and Marc Halcon has contacted East County Magazine to contend that our March 5, 2012 article titled “Residents react to news of pig killings at military site in Alpine” contained “false, defamatory statements.” 

Our editor, publisher and attorney have carefully reviewed this claim. Our story was researched thoroughly, fully vetted, and we stand by our story, with the following clarifications of details.

By Megan McGlamery

April 1, 2012  -- Concerns are growing across the nation over the number of birds, particularly eagles, that are losing their lives. Now, as the number of wind energy projects grows, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service is preparing to issue “take” permits that will make it legal for wind energy companies to kill eagles with no consequences.

The move comes as San Diego County Supervisors are poised to consider a wind energy project for East County as well as a proposed wind ordinance that would make it easier for industrial-scale wind projects to be built here.