LA MESA-SPRING VALLEY SCHOOLS TRUSTEE ELECTED AS CHAIR OF BLACK SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS/MEMBER OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS
La Mesa-Spring Valley Schools Vice-President Emma Turner appointed to leadership positions for the National School Boards Association during annual conference in Boston, MA. Source: La Mesa-Spring Valley Schools press release April 19, 2016 (La Mesa) – Emma Turner, Vice-President of the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District Board of Education, was elected to the position of Chair of the National Black Council (NBC) of National School Boards Association (NSBA) and also installed as a member of the Board of Directors of the NSBA at their annual conference on April 11, 2016 in Boston, Massachusetts. During the two-year term of office, Dr. Turner will be the leading educational advocate for providing a quality education for all African American students across the nation, as well as all students. Dr. Turner will also serve as a spokesperson for issues that impact the education of African American youth. Dr. Turner says she’s committed to ensuring that a quality education is accessible to all K-12 students in the form of college and career readiness. Dr. Turner has served on the Delegate Assembly and Board of Directors of the California School Boards Association; two terms as Pacific Region Director of the NBC; a member of the NSBA Federal Relations Network and Advocacy Team; and a member of the national nominating committee for the NSBA. Dr. Turner is a retired Naval Officer, having served 27 years on active duty.
LA POSTA OBSERVATORY DISH, USED IN APOLLO MOON MISISONS, DISMANTLED
By Miriam Raftery Photo: Creative commons by Editor Brad April 19, 2016 (Campo) – A quirky relic of East County’s past is now gone. Locals called the nest-shaped satellite dish the “Pterodactyl birdbath.” Officially, the 60-foot-wide radio-telescope was part of the La Posta Astro-Geophyisical Observatory run by the Naval Electronics Laboratory in Campo at the base of the Laguna Mountains in San Diego’s East County. Also known as the La Posta Microwave Space Relay Station, the observatory played a key role in Apollo space launches, providing ionospheric forecasting to predict solar activity that could hamper communications from the ground to the space capsules carrying the first astronauts to the moon. It measured environmental disturbances and provided solar radio mapping, also playing a role in development of a solar optical videometer for microwave research. A building below the dish housed a turbine-powered alternator to power the dish operation, since there was not enough power available then from the national grid. An operator controlled the dish by computer from inside the building, monitoring its movements by closed circuit television. In 1986, the observatory was officially decommissioned and the surrounding site converted for use as a Naval Weapons Training Facility, but the large satellite dish remained, an odd local landmark looming high for decades. In November of last year, dismantling of the satellite dish began and by early this year, it was gone, relegated to the pages of history and the memories of local residents. Tim Cass, a long-time East County resident, tipped us off to this fascinating bit of history, remarking wistfully, “Quite a site, gone from view.”
JUST IN TIME FOR EARTH DAY, HEAT BREAKS 137-YEAR RECORD IN SAN DIEGO
Records also shattered worldwide for third consecutive month East County News Service April 19, 2016 (San Diego) – As citizens around the world prepare to commemorate the 36th anniversary of Earth Day this week, signs of climate change are increasingly evident on a local and national scale. On Sunday, the National Weather Service reports that the temperature at Lindbergh Field in San Diego reached 84 degrees—breaking a 137-year record dating back to the pioneering era in 1879. Even hotter mid-April temperatures were recorded in El Cajon, where the heat wave reached 90 degrees. Temperatures have also been broken worldwide in January, February and March this year, each hotter than the same month the prior year. In addition, March was the 11th consecutive month to see a new record since agencies started tracking them in the 1800s, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports. Locally, however, residents can expect some relief from the unseasonable heat soon, with a cooling trend sweeping into the region and a chance of rain this weekend.
SUSPECT ARRESTED FOR BURNING MAN OUTSIDE OF RITE AID
By Liz Alper April 19, 2016 (San Diego) – A man who allegedly doused another man in gasoline or another flammable liquid and set him on fire in the parking lot of a Rite Aid on Sunday is now in custody, according to 10 News. Jose Ricardo Garibay, 26, was arrested Monday around 10:15 a.m. when his vehicle was stopped. He was arrested for having two outstanding misdemeanor warrants. Upon further investigation, he was determined to be the suspect in the fire and was charged with attempted murder in addition to his misdemeanors. ECM reported that 39-year-old Julio Caesar Edeza, a homeless man, was lured into a vehicle by Garibay at around 11:45 a.m. on Sunday in a Rite Aid parking lot on Euclid Ave., where he was set on fire.
CONTROLLED BURN TODAY NEAR PINE VALLEY
East County News Service April 19, 2016 (Pine Valley) — CALFIRE, in cooperation with Corte Madera Ranch, will be conducting a prescribed burn approximately 5 miles south of Pine Valley today. Burning of standing vegetation will occur on approximately 45 acres as part of CALFIRE’s Vegetation Management Program (VMP). Ignition will occur at approximately 8:00 AM and smoke may be visible throughout the County.
SYCUAN CASINO ANNOUNCES EXCLUSIVE PADRES MEMBERSHIP CARD
Card announced during opening series Press Release April 19, 2016 (El Cajon) – Sycuan Casino recently announced an exciting new level of partnership with the San Diego Padres. Coinciding with their home opener, the casino rolled out a Padres version of its Club Sycuan membership card, a first of its kind program for Major League Baseball. The card, available to all sports fans and casino patrons alike, will allow guests to enjoy exclusive Padres benefits like 10% off future individual game tickets as well as opportunities to win fun VIP experiences and items like batting practice or playing catch on the field, a pre-game tour of Petco Park, VIP game seats and autographed Padres memorabilia. Sycuan Casino’s general manager, John Dinius, appeared on Fox Sports San Diego’s pre-game show this week to help announce the new membership card. “We’re really excited about this extension of our partnership with the San Diego Padres,” said Dinius to Fox Sport San Diego’s Mike Pomeranz. “We have some special discounts and great opportunities for special events and promotions which includes batting practice with some of the players and even a potential to experience one of the games in the owner’s suite. [The card has] some great benefits and it’s the first in MLB history so we’re very proud of this.” Guests over the age of 18 interested in receiving a free membership can simply visit the Club Sycuan guest service desk at Sycuan Casino, present a valid ID and mention the Padres card. The membership also allows guests to earn casino benefits and rewards based on their slot, table game, poker or bingo play. Guests can earn dining and gift shop discounts, FREEplay offers, invitations to VIP events and more. For additional information about the Padres Club Sycuan card or Sycuan Casino, visit Sycuan.com. For additional information visit www.Sycuan.com
IT’S A BIRD! IT’S A PLANE! NO, IT’S A SUPERHERO VIDEO CONTEST!
California Coast Credit Union launches social media video contest to benefit local schools East County News Service April 19, 2016 (San Diego) – California Coast Credit Union, the oldest financial institution based in San Diego, with over $2 billion in assets, has launched a superhero-themed video contest to help raise money for local schools. The Superhero Video Contest runs from April 1 to July 31 and contestants can win up to $1,500 for a school of their choice located in San Diego or Riverside County, plus $1,500 for themselves. California Coast Credit Union is challenging members and non-members alike to create a brief video (2 minutes or less) about a super experience they had with California Coast Credit Union. The experience could be anything from saving big with an awesome loan rate, a great in-person interaction at one of Cal Coast’s 20+ local branches, or how Cal Coast helps local charities like Rady Children’s Hospital and the San Diego Humane Society. To enter, contestants submit their video on the Cal Coast Facebook page, and then share it with family and friends to garner votes. Votes will be tallied at the end of each contest period and the contestant with the most votes during each contest period wins a cash prize, plus a matching cash prize for the school of their choice. Entries will be accepted April 1 through June 30. All entries received by June 30 go on to the Grand Prize round in July. Contestants will compete for $500 each month in April, May and June and a $1,000 Grand Prize in July. To add to the excitement, all Cal Coast branches have superhero “Selfie Stations” complete with props (Pow! Zap! Boom!) so visitors can join in the fun. Cal Coast also has a Hero Photo Gallery on Facebook showcasing our members and the community interacting with Cal Coast superheroes. For more details and Official Contest Rules, please visit Cal Coast’s Facebook page atwww.facebook.com/CalCoastCU and click on the “Superhero Video Contest” tab. Established by a handful of San Diego teachers in 1929, the nonprofit California Coast Credit Union is the oldest financial institution based in San Diego. Its founders’ guiding principal is “people helping people.” For more information, visit calcoastcu.org or call (877) 495-1600.
CONCERT MUSIC FROM STAGE AND SCREEN
By Jaime Mirman April 19, 2016 (San Diego) — The San Diego Concert Band presented an impressive 27th Annual Spring Celebration Concert, Music From Stage and Screen last April 5th at the Joan B. Kroc performing Arts Theatre. The purely instrumental pieces were mostly an ambitious and showy display of cinematographic power that the Band delivered in all its glory, under the compelling magical baton of Roy Anthony, Jr. The engaging guest vocalist was Barbara Allen, originally from the UK who has played the lead roles in productions such as “My Fair Lady,” “The Pirates of Penzance,” and “The Sound of Music.” The program opened with An Epic Fanfare, a brief and rousing piece by Julie Ann Giroux, an American composer of orchestral, choral, chamber and numerous band works. Thunder and Blazes, by the Czech composer Julius Fučik, dates from 1897. Written to be played at standard march tempo, it became a bombastic and fun “screamer march” for circuses, at a much faster tempo. The arrangement is by J.S Seredy. Selections from “Chicago” by John Kander, arranged by Ted Ricketts. We heard “All That Jazz,” “Cell Block Tango,” “Roxie,” and “We Both Reached for the Gun.” The conductor recreated here the intense jazz and ragtime pieces bringing us back to the decade of the twenties. The Broadway revival holds the record as the longest-running American musical in Broadway history. Out of Africa by John Barry, arranged by Johan de Meij. The conductor Roy Anthony Jr. dedicated this selection to his wife Cathi. He handled the luscious arrangement, with broad instrumentation to enfold a fragrant musical presentation My Fair Medley is an adaptation, by band member Adam T. Pezdek, of “My Fair Lady,” the musical by Frederick Loewe and Alan J. Lerner. Solo vocalist Barbara Allen provided an artful interpretation of “Wouldn’t it be Lovely,” “Show Me,” and “I Could Have Danced all Night” by employing an assortment of colors in her voice, impeccable diction and effective use of vibrato. Mr. Pezdek’s imaginative use of the piccolo obbligato in the last piece became a welcome addition to the singer’s interpretation. Symphonic Dances from “Fiddler on the Roof” by Jerry Bock, arranged by Ira Hearshen, included “Tradition,” “Wedding Dance,” “Perchick and Hodel Dance,” “Chava Sequence,” “To Life,” and “Dance.” The production won nine Tony Awards, and the Band transmitted irrepressible rhythmic vitality to the songs and dances of joy and despair, of celebration and pathos that Jerry Bock composed utilizing the Jewish modal scales. Star Wars Medley by John Williams, arranged by James H. Burden. Roy Anthony Jr. and the San Diego Concert Band took us on a cosmic voyage, full of adventure in constellations of sound. Members of the 501st Legion made a daring appearance skillfully disguised as characters of the Star Wars movies. May the “Farce” keep on being with you! Raiders March by John Williams, arranged by Paul Lavender. From the classic 1981 movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark” we enjoyed being taken back 45 years. The canonic themes were brilliantly displayed by the trumpets and horns sections, followed by the clarinets and flutes. Four Dances From “West Side Story” by Leonard Bernstein, arranged by Ian Polster, included “Scherzo,” “Mambo,” “Cha-cha,” and “Cool.” The superb Bernstein music started with dissonant chords that became a whirlwind of violent and complex Latin rhythms. The instrumentation emphasized a changing palette, coupling contrasting colors like tuba with flutes and piccolo–altogether a brilliant tour de force for Mr. Anthony Jr. and the San Diego Concert Band. Barbara Allen, the featured soloist offered her interpretation of Grizabella: The Glamour Cat by Andrew Lloyd Weber and T.S. Eliot, arranged by Adam T. Pezdek, followed by her showpiece performance, Poor Wandering One by Arthur S. Sullivan and W. S. Gilbert, also arranged by Adam T. Pezdek. From the comic opera “The Pirates of Penzance”, this virtuoso aria written in waltz tempo was the perfect vehicle for Mrs. Allen to display her talent, technique and musicianship as a lyric soprano. Her agility, projection and capacity to reach the highest notes of her register electrified the audience. Mr. Anthony provided her at all times with a closely watched accompaniment, with flexibility for the slightest adjustments of tempi with the Band. Silverado by Bruce Broughton, arranged by Randol Bass generated a musical display of bravery. The encore, My Favorite Things by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, was a delightful Barbara Allen rendition. Jaime Mirman graduated as the first French Horn Master in Music from the National University of Mexico. He has played in Mexico at the National Symphony Orchestra and the Symphonic Band of the Ministry of Public Education, as well as chamber music, teaching and arranging.
SAN DIEGO FESTIVAL CHORUS & ORCHESTRA PERFORMS ITS “SPRING SERENADE” FROM BEETHOVEN TO BROADWAY APRIL 24
East County News Service February 19, 2016 (San Diego)–The East County based Chorus of 80 with 48 piece symphony orchestra is celebrating its 15th season performing choral masterworks and popular music in a beautiful venue to audiences of up to 1200 people. This spring concert includes Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasy” from the Ninth Symphony. Rarely performed, this magnificent piece includes 6 soloists from the San Diego Opera and well-known San Diego concert pianist Sylvia Hartman. Dvorak’s powerful “Psalm 49” is next. This was the composer of the “New World Symphony” with its famous “Going Home” theme. Then we perform “100 Years of Broadway” from Irving Berlin and Richard Rodgers to Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Here are the concert details: Sunday April 24 from 3-5 pm. College Avenue Baptist Church 4747 College Avenue San Diego 92115 Adults $17, Seniors & Students $15, Children under 12 years $5, Military with ID FREE. Ten or more tickets $12 each. Tickets at the door $17. Advance sale call 619-977-3181 or buy tickets online at www.sandiegofestivalchorus.org. See and hear more online at www.sandiegofestivalchorus.org.
SAND MINING PROJECT APPLICANT SUBMITS REVISIONS TO PROPOSAL FOR LAKESIDE’S EL MONTE VALLEY
East County News Service April 18, 2016 (Lakeside) – The developer who seeks to build a sand mine the scenic El Monte Valley in Lakeside that is overwhelmingly opposed by residents has submitted a scoping letter to the County of San Diego with significant changes to the proposed project. Click here to view the full document.The developer is El Monte Nature Preserve LLC, but residents of the valley say the project would destroy the natural habitat for its duration, not preserve the environment. The region is a designated County scenic view corridor and home to many equestrian-based businesses as well as residents who moved there for the rural lifestyle and tranquility. The new proposal reduces the amount of sand to be extracted from 12 million cubic yards (18 million tons) to 7 million cubic yards (10.3 million tons). But it increases the acreage size from 199 acres to 230 acres, impacting an even broader area. Instead of 15 years, the new proposal calls for a 12 year project, plus the same 4 years for restoration as the original plan. The depth has been reduced from 90 feet to 30-35 feet. The original project called for creation of a 110-acre lake and creation of a riparian nature preserve after the project’s completion, since the groundwater elevation is estimated to be 40-50 feet below grade. That plan would have included 534,000 of backfill to fill three pits excavated as part of grading for a previously approved golf course that was never built. The new revised plan, by contrast, would create merely a water feature if the El Capitan Reservoir should fill and release water via a spillway, recharging the aquifer and surfacing within the excavation. Operations would shift to a dredging operation if that occurs. Opponents have set up a website, Preserve Our El Monte (POEM). An e-mail from POEM states, “This is still a bad project. Bad for the ground water, bad for the residents and bad for the community. We should all feel very empowered by this change. All of our comments changed this project to something slightly less damaging…..keep writing letters, keep looking at the POEM Facebook page. Keep spreading the word. If we all work together we will drive this project into the ground.” Neighbors’ concerns include a steady stream of trucks hauling sand on narrow roads in front of residences, noise, and impacts to air quality and ground quality. Health is also an issue, since potentially lethal Valley Fever spores have occurred in the soils of El Monte Valley. The next step will be a draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR).