Since last we met, Escondido-San Marcos-Valley Center has been the scene of some wild time, criminally speaking and otherwise. A bittersweet tale at best, tragedy and crime, some deadly and others of the head-scratching variety have been in the news. Here are some of the highlights and — shall we say — lowlights of the last few weeks. 5-hour SD Sheriffs SWAT standoff starts with…
Every homeless person counts It happens every year. Interfaith Community Services gets a handle on the extent of homelessness in Escondido with its annual count of homeless people. The count is scheduled for 4 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 29 in the streets and shelters of Escondido. Volunteers are needed, according to agency officials. Called We All Count, the annual single-day event that provides…
Money, honey. Even as Escondido Union School District (EUSD) elementary and middle school teachers were griping about salaries 20 percent lower than they believe they should be, their high school counterparts were engaged in a heated dispute with their school board. over pay and pension funding. Elementary and middle school teachers, many dressed in powder blue EEEA (Escondido Elementary Educators Association) T-shirts packed the EUSD…
Local eateries have signed up by the baker’s dozen baker’s dozen for Escondido’s 3rd Annual Dine-Out Escondido! restaurant week Jan. 24 to Jan 30. It’s all happening in conjunction with Visit California’s annual “California Restaurant Month.” Twenty-eight restaurants have signed on as they turn Escondido into culinary town. New restaurants joining includeThe Wooden Spoon, Burger Bench, Hacienda de Vega, Cute Cakes, Sunny Side Kitchen, A…
The heck with football and basketball. The hardy boys of winter took to Valley Center Little League’s La Vine Field on Sunday, gloves and big league hopes in hand. “We’re just having fun, some pitching, some hitting, pretty much hanging out” said Dylan McFadden, a Valley Center High School sophomore, and second baseman, between hacks at the batting cage in the far northern reaches of…
Medical marijuana continued to be a hot button topic around Escondido and North County this month. Escondido City Council members, again, banned medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits while a proposed dispensary in unincorporated Escondido appeared headed for approval by San Diego County regulators. Escondido wasn’t along in banning dispensaries this month. Poway’s city council took the same actions as officials there said they needed…
Fox News 5 had a camera in the City Council Chambers at the Jan. 13 Escondido City Council meeting. I think they were probably there to cover Agenda Item 14 ORDINANCE 2016-01 AMENDING CHAPTER 33 AND DELETING CHAPTER 16F OF THE ESCONDIDO MUNICIPAL CODE PERTAINING TO COMMERCIAL MEDICAL CANNABIS (MARIJUANA) LAND USES AND BUSINESSES (AZ 15-0004), but I did not watch their news that night,…
Even as Escondido’s venerable Goodwill Industries Thrift Shop was being cleaned up after El Nino huffed and puffed and blew it’s roof down, donations kept coming. And Goodwill officials already were looking toward a grand re-opening celebration, the entire community invited. “We’re still accepting donations here,” said Beth Forsberg, Goodwill Industries of San Diego County vice president, retail and operations, standing in the shadows of…
Forget about basketball courts, the Escondido Union School District (EUSD) is playing its games this month at Vista Superior Court. Judge Richard Whitney in Department 21 may make his ruling at any time, but clearly nobody truly will be called a winner. In any event, without a settlement, the court dispute could last past Valentine’s Day, fittingly enough. With Whitney more like a school yard…
By Robert G. Lerner, Valley Center Historian The familiar gold statuette handed out at the Academy Awards ceremony is seldom seen on public view, but there will be a rare chance to get up close to Oscar during a one-month exhibition beginning Feb. 2 at the Valley Center History Museum. The show is called “And the Oscar Goes to…”. The Oscar on display was awarded in 1932 to…