RED FLAG WARNING ISSUED FOR HIGH FIRE DANGER
East County Wildfire and Emergency Alerts October 8, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) — The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning for all of inland San Diego County as medium to strong Santa Winds bring very dry and windy weather to our region starting tonight through early Tuesday. Critical fire weather conditions are likely in parts of coastal foothills, valleys and mountain passes. Northeast winds of 25 to 35 miles per hour with gusts up to 55 miles per hour are forecast. This could bring power outages, broken tree limbs and debris on roadways as well as hazardous cross-winds for high-profile vehicles, so use caution if traveling. Humidity is forecast to drop as low as five percent, but moister conditions are expected starting Wednesday. A beach hazard statement has also been issued due to high surf and potentially strong rip tides expected. Check the National Weather Service’s detailed hazards page or weather.gov/sandiego for the latest watches/warnings.
SDSU WOMEN’S SOCCER AND FRESNO STATE END IN 1-1 2OT DRAW
Aztecs record second double-overtime tie this week Source: goaztecs.com Photo courtesy goaztecs.com October 8, 2017 (San Diego) – San Diego State for the second time in three days settled for a double-overtime draw, this time tying Fresno State, 1-1, Sunday afternoon at SDSU Sports Deck. The Aztecs are now 6-6-2 and 3-1-2 in the Mountain West, while the Bulldogs leave Montezuma Mesa with a 6-5-3 record (1-3-2 MW). The first half saw Fresno State control the action for a majority of the time, but not creating too much in the way of scoring chances. Peyton Cline had the top opportunity for Fresno State in the 22nd minute, which required SDSU goalkeeper Gabby English to dive to her left to make the routine save. As for the Aztecs, they took four shots with three coming off the foot of Mia Root. Two of the freshman’s shots were on target, but were non-threatening. The second half featured both teams looking to find a rhythm and the Aztecs were the first to make something happen when Root in the 61st minute fed Aliyah Utush, who stretched to put a foot on the ball from a yard out, but the ball ended up being just out of reach. The duo was at it four minutes later, this time Utush finding a streaking Root, who sprinted to the ball and kept her stride, knocking her shot past the onrushing Nicole Theroux. The 65th-minute goal was Root’s team-best sixth of the year. The assist, meanwhile, was Utush’s team-high fourth. Six minutes later, with SDSU controlling the pace, Chloe Frisch sent a rocket shot toward the right upper 90 of the cage, but she was just off the mark. Then in the 75th minute, Fresno State sent a free kick into the box where Marina Kerrache waited and put a shot on goal, which ended up being saved by English. The rebound, however, went back to Kerrache, who leaned in and headed the ball past English was three yards out. Both teams were in search of the equalizer for the next 15 minutes, but were unsuccessful as the game moved to overtime. Much like Friday’s tie with San Jose State, the Aztecs dictated the pace in both overtime periods, but came up empty on their four attempts. SDSU also enjoyed a flurry of corner kicks in the final 10 minutes that did not produce a winning sequence. For the game, Root led all players with six shots, including four on goal. Frisch and Utush each took two shots. English, meanwhile, had three stops. San Diego State finished the 110 minutes with 12 shots and five coming on net. The Bulldogs only took nine, but had four on goal. The Aztecs won the corner kick battle, 7-5. SDSU returns to action on Friday, Oct. 13 when it faces Colorado College in Colorado Springs. First tap is slated for 3 p.m. MT and will stream live on the Mountain West Network. Box
SDSU MEN’S SOCCER DROPS 2-0 DECISION AT OREGON STATE
Source: goaztecs.com Photo courtesy goaztecs.com October 8, 2017 (Corvallis, Ore.) – The San Diego State men’s soccer team suffered a 2-0 setback against Oregon State at Lorenz Field on Sunday. The Aztecs fall to 4-8-0 (0-4-0 Pac-12) on the season, while the Beavers notch their first conference win of the season and improve to 4-7-0 (1-2-0 Pac-12). The Beavers headed into the halftime break with a 1-0 lead in thanks to a 29th minute tally by Don Tchilao. 13:58 after play resumed for the second half, OSU extended that lead with Jordan Jones’ third goal of the year. AJ Vergara led the Aztecs in both shots, with four, and shots on goal, with two. One of the Aztecs best scoring chances came in the 84th minute, as Tevenn Roux’s chance at goal ricocheted off the post and out of danger. Less than three minutes later, the Aztecs presented another strong offensive threat as Dallin Cutler’s shot was on target, but cleared out of harm’s way by an OSU defender. SDSU posted a 16-12 shot advantage and showed a high sense of urgency in the game’s final nine minutes, taking six shots for a chance at a late comeback. Each team recorded five shots on goal, while Adam Allmaras recorded three saves in net for the Aztecs. SDSU has a weeklong break from game competition and will travel to UCLA (4-5-0, 1-2-0 Pac-12) next Sunday, Oct. 15, for a 5:00 p.m. contest at Drake Stadium in Los Angeles. Box
LA MESA CHAMBER ADOPTS 24 HOME-BOUND SENIORS FOR THE HOLIDAYS
By Mary England, La Mesa Chamber October 8, 2017 (La Mesa) – The La Mesa Chamber believes that being a good community leader includes assisting those in need. Each year we assist La Mesa homebound seniors and this year we shall assist 24 wonderful seniors – 20 women and 4 men. We collect items to make their holidays bright and meaningful. We suggest canned soups, canned vegetables, lotions, soaps, socks, breakfast cereals, tissues, beans, rice, canned vegetables pens, pads of paper, bottles of liquid hand soap, lotions, gift cards in any denomination from local stores, slipper socks or any items you believe will put a smile on their faces. The deadline to receive the gifts for our seniors is Thursday, November 30th. Deliver them to the Chamber office at 8080 La Mesa Blvd., Suite 212 or next door to Fran Smith in Suite 214 Monday – Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. If you need to coordinate our picking up items, contact Mary England 619- 251-7730. We ask that if you wish to donate items from your pantry, please check the expiration date to make sure the date on those items has not expired.
READER’S EDITORIAL: HUNTER’S RECKLESS DISREGARD FOR LIFE
By Tom Iarossi October 8, 2017 (San Diego) — As an Army veteran and constituent of Rep. Duncan Hunter (CA-50), I was shocked by Hunter’s recent calls for preemptive war with North Korea. I spent twenty-seven years in uniformed service to my country, and I expect a combat veteran like him to be far more cautious about committing us to actions that we all know would result in the death of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of innocent civilians. It would also put tens of thousands of Americans in uniform in mortal danger. Rep. Hunter’s flip statements suggest the U.S. could hide our 35,000 military personnel in South Korea underground during a first strike. Then, he believes we could successfully invade the hermit nation using conventional warfare. But any military man should know that the minute we start moving our troops south, away from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the North Koreans would launch a horrific attack. Half of South Korea’s population lives within 35 miles of the border. The Pentagon believes North Korea’s 8,000-piece conventional artillery, arrayed along the DMZ, is capable of an immediate, devastating barrage on South Korea’s capital, Seoul. Even without using nuclear weapons, that would kill 20,000 civilians per day. Our ally Japan, with 100 million people, is also in striking range of North Korean missiles. That Hunter would advocate such a sacrifice for others is shameful. It does not represent American values. The United States claims a higher moral ground and we pride ourselves on our international leadership. We protect our allies as we would protect ourselves. It’s the Golden Rule of our foreign policy. North Korea obviously poses a terrible threat that requires everything in our toolbox, from diplomacy to agriculture to technology and yes, military action. But military action must be used only as the last possible resort, when every other method has been exhausted. Yet Hunter made his latest reckless comments, mocking diplomacy as “talking, talking, talking”, as our Secretary of State was in Beijing persuading the Chinese to increase sanctions. War is too lethal and too lasting in its effects to be considered lightly. Hunter’s rush to war should cause every constituent to question his judgment and to hold him accountable for his provocative words. “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” Those words, from The Art Of War, were written over two thousand years ago by the Chinese military strategist and philosopher Sun Tzu. His work is considered so brilliant that it is used to this day in the advanced training schools of the US armed forces. Maybe Duncan Hunter should read it and stop embarrassing the 50th District with his extreme, and extremely dangerous, talk. The views in this editorial reflect the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine. To submit an editorial for consideration, contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org.
SDSU FOOTBALL RUNS OVER THE REBELS 41-10; BECOME BOWL ELIGIBLE
Like our sports coverage? Donate to help support ECM’s sports section! Type in “Sports” as your donation! Follow @ECMagSports on Twitter for live sports coverage and stories! Story by Liz Alper Photo courtesy goaztecs.com October 7, 2017 (Las Vegas) – In the wake of the tragic Las Vegas shootings, the Aztecs and UNLV Rebels hoped to brighten everyone’s spirits with an exciting Mountain West game. Unfortunately for the Rebels, the Aztecs had winning on their minds, tragedy or no tragedy. SDSU was calmly making their typical first quarter march down the field to the end zone and everything was going fine until senior running back Rashaad Penny coughed up the ball at the one yard line. Luckily, UNLV couldn’t string together a drive, so the Aztecs got the ball back and made their way downfield again, where junior kicker John Baron II kicked a field goal to put the Aztecs up by three. The Rebels encountered a similar situation on their next drive and freshman kicker Daniel Gutierrez was there to knot it up and the first quarter ended with the two squads tied up at 3-3. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Christian Chapman hadn’t been doing so well passing through the air, so he decided to redeem himself on the ground by making some moves and running it in for an SDSU touchdown in the second. Sophomore running back Juwan Washington ran for 34 yards on the sweep to pick up another score. UNLV kept it a game with the redshirt freshman quarterback Armani Rogers’ on-point pass to Helix High School grad and La Mesa native Kendal Keys in the end zone. Baron added an insurance field goal and the Aztecs went to the locker room up 20-10. Whatever Rocky Long said about the running game in the locker room, it worked. Penny strung together a drive filled with beautiful long runs in the third and it led to another Aztecs touchdown. SDSU led 27-10 after three. Penny waltzed into the end zone at the goal line in the fourth for his second touchdown of the night and redshirt freshman backup running back Chase Jasmin punched in one more and while it wasn’t a completely well-deserved win or a well-executed game, especially for Chapman, SDSU came away with a 41-10 victory to move to 6-0 on the season. Next up, the Aztecs return home to SDCCU Stadium to host Boise State next Saturday. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. Box Postgame notes Postgame quotes
TOAST OF EAST COUNTY: SAVOR THE FLAVORS OCT. 22
By Miriam Raftery October 8, 2017 (El Cajon) – The San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce will present this year’s “A Toast to East County” on Sunday, October 22 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the El Cajon Elks Lodge 1812 (1400 E. Washington Ave., El Cajon). The event ($35 in advance or $45 at the door) includes wine tasting, craft beer samples, restaurant tastings, honey and cheese, olive oil and more –plus live music, giveaways and Trailblazer Awards presented by Maness Vineyards. A souvenir wine glass and wine toast is included with your ticket. For tickets, all (619)440-6161. Find more information at www.EastCountyChamber.org.
READER’S EDITORIAL: GUN CONTROL IS NEEDED
By Joe Bialek October 8, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) – This letter is in response to the articles covering the recent shooting in Las Vegas. The second amendment of the United States Constitution states: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Obviously the need for a state militia has been replaced by the National Guard and Coast Guard whereby trained military personnel are entrusted with the defense of this country against domestic enemies. Their weapons are tightly controlled and safeguarded. The only two reasons for a citizen to own a firearm are for hunting or defense of the household from intruders. In either case, ownership of a handgun, shotgun or rifle is more than adequate to satisfy these purposes. There is absolutely no need for any U.S. civilian to own any weapon more powerful or sophisticated than these. Accordingly, all handguns, shotguns and rifles must be licensed and registered to the degree necessary to match weapon to owner at the click of a computer key. Furthermore, we must guarantee that the mentally ill do not gain access to them under any circumstances. Finally, if we had prohibited the purchase of more sophisticated weapons, several innocent victims would not have died or been harmed at shopping malls, college campuses, Congressional meetings, churches and now concerts. We asa country must deal with this issue immediately lest our society fall back to the days when everyone carried a holster. The opinions voiced in this editorial are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine. To submit an editorial for consideration, contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org.
READER’S EDITORIAL: FIREARMS POLICY COALITION OPPOSES PROPOSED BANS ON SEMI-AUTOMATIC FIREARMS AND ACCESORIES, INCLUDING “BUMP FIRE” STOCKS
Source: Firearms Policy Coalition October 7, 2017 (San Diego) — Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) has issued the following statement concerning calls for new bans and regulations on firearms and firearm accessories: In depraved acts of self-centered posturing, politicians who do not respect our Constitution are leveraging the recent tragedy in Las Vegas to push for more unconstitutional bans and restrictions on common, semi-automatic firearms, ammunition, and accessories. These important Second Amendment-protected instruments are possessed and responsibly used for lawful purposes by millions of Americans across our great nation. Just like modern blogs and websites are protected by the First Amendment, and the right against unreasonable searches and seizures applies to iPhones, too, are modern sporting firearms like AR-15s and their appurtenances. History shows that gun control is a one-way ratchet, with so-called “compromises” resulting only in more laws that affect law-abiding people and fewer ways to exercise Second Amendment rights. American gun control has always been rooted in racism, classism, and applying unjust force to unpopular minorities. FPC opposes all restrictions on the acquisition, possession, carry, and use of common, semi-automatic firearms, ammunition, and accessories by law-abiding people. All unconstitutional laws are unjust, illegitimate, and offensive to the rule of law—even if they are enacted in response to a very real tragedy. Law-abiding gun owners will not be bullied by killers or politicians, nor will we give up individual liberties at the shrill cries of Marxist Democrats or unprincipled Republicans, wealthy Hollywood elitists, the alt-left news media, or billionaire-backed Astroturf groups. Responsible policy is made by first respecting constitutional boundaries, and then by methodically addressing a problem with thoughtful analysis and unemotional information. Whatever the conversation our country might have about the evils found in human nature, the answers will not be found in additional emotion-driven gun control regulations. FPC calls on House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and every member of Congress to do the job they were elected to do and pass important legislation to protect and advance Second Amendment rights without further obstruction or delay. Firearms Policy Coalition (www.firearmspolicy.org) is a 501(c)4 grassroots nonprofit organization. FPC’s mission is to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, especially the fundamental, individual Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. The opinions voiced in this editorial are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine. To submit an editorial for consideration, contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org.
READER’S EDITORIAL: WHY AN EMPLOYER SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO EXCLUDE BIRTH CONTROL FROM HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS BASED ON RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
By Joel A. Harrison, PhD, MPH October 7, 2017 (San Diego) – According to an article in the San Diego Union-Tribune, “The Trump administration on Friday moved to roll back the federal requirement for employers to include birth control coverage in their health insurance plans, vastly expanding exemptions for those that cite moral or religious objections (Robert Pear. “Birth Control Mandate Rolled Back”, October 7, 2017, page A1). People believe that health insurance is a bonus offered by employers. Not true! To understand this, one has to understand both the history of employer-based health insurance and what a pay/wage packet is. History of Employer-Provided Health Insurance “In 1943 the War Labor Board, which had one year earlier introduced wage and price controls, ruled that contributions to insurance and pension funds did not count as wages. In a war economy with labor shortages, employer contributions for employee health benefits became a means of maneuvering around wage controls (Field, 1993). Following the War “unions began a push for employer provision and funding of health and other benefits (ibid).” Non-unionized employers in order to compete for employees also began offering health insurance. As has been reported many times over the past years as the costs of health insurance have gone up, salary increases have either decreased and/or plans have been purchased with higher copays and deductibles (Bosworth, 2014; Desilver (2014).. Health plans offered through employers do have advantages: The larger the number of employees, balancing younger/healthier and older, the less expensive and, often, more comprehensive the plans are. “A further important boost to these programs came in 1954 when the Internal Revenue Code made it clear that employers’ contributions for health benefit plans were generally tax deductible as a business expense and were to be excluded from employees’ taxable income” (Field, 1993). Pay/Wage Packet A Pay/Wage Packet is the total compensation that any employee receives (Cambridge English Dictionary. Pay Package; Webster). A simple idealized example should illustrate this. Imagine an employer decides to hire one additional employee. The employer evaluates how much revenue this additional employee will bring in, how much of this they want as profit, with the remaining the amount to cover the new employee. Obviously, the employer will try to maximize their profit and offer the least to the employee given the current market availability of potential employees. So, let’s assume that the max amount, after subtracting the minimum profit acceptable, is $50,000 per year. From this, there are mandatory “taxes,” e.g. FICA (Social Security), Medicare, Worker’s Compensation Insurance, Unemployment Insurance, etc. Just to make things simple, let’s assume these amount to $10,000 per year. So, we have $40,000 left. The employer can simply pay the employee the total amount or offer health insurance, perhaps also, a retirement plan. To keep things simple, let’s assume they offer only health insurance. This costs $10,000 per year, so the actual money remaining for salary is $30,000 per year. Again, as has been reported many times over the past years as the costs of health insurance has gone up, salary increases have either decreased or plans have been purchased with higher copays and deductibles. Keep in mind that the fact that employers pay part of FICA, part of Medicare, and often the lion’s share of health insurance, while the employee’s also pay a part, is just a mirage to give the impression that the employer is “contributing” above the employee’s earned wage/salary packet.. To repeat, all comes from the employee’s wage/salary packet. In fact, it would be much more honest if the entire amount of mandated “taxes” were just deducted from the employee’s salary with adjustments to ensure taxes don’t become higher. Self-employed people do pay the total FICA and Medicare taxes. So, as I wrote in a previous OpEd for East County Magazine (Harrison, 2013), how is it different if the employer purchases a group health insurance policy vs the employee purchasing an individual policy? Both are paid from the employee’s pay/salary packet. In fact, if one were to use an absurd slippery slope argument, what would stop an employer from reducing an employee’s salary if they simply purchased birth control out of pocket? After all, wouldn’t this also pose problems for an employer if this went against their religious beliefs since the money ultimately comes from the employer. And if we again use a slippery slope argument, what would stop an employer who is a Jehovah Witness from excluding blood transfusions from an employee’s health insurance policy? Or an employer who is antivaccination excluding vaccines? Or how about a Jewish employer forbidding employees from bringing ham sandwiches to work? The bottom line is that unless employers have the right to treat employees differently based on their religious preference, since health insurance is paid through the employees wage/salary packet, regardless of the myth that it is a “bonus” provided by the employer, then for the government to allow employers to exclude birth control is to further the interests of the employers religion over employees moral and religious choices. If this isn’t a violation of the 1st Amendment, then I don’t know what would be. Is the 1st Amendment Just a Beautiful Myth? A while back, I wrote another OpEd published by East County Magazine about the Mount Soledad Cross Controversy (Harrison, 2014). Apparently, one can circumvent the 1st Amendment by simply selling a small parcel of government land to private parties. In this case, a military cemetery. So, what’s to stop selling a 20’ by 20’ parcel of land in Balboa Park to private parties so they can erect religious symbols? Or, how about the White House lawn? During Colonial times, various colonies had established churches, among other things, collecting taxes on their behalf. Various forms of discrimination were practiced against those not adhering to the established churches (American Bar Association. Debating Church-State Relationships), thus, came about the 1st Amendment. Unfortunately, prior to the 14th Amendment, the Bill of Rights applied mainly to the Federal government so that the States