Free Community Event with Chili Cook Off, Vendor Booths & Entertainment

October  6, 2013 (Lakeside) – The Lakeside Chamber of Commerce will host its first annual Beans, Beers & Business Fair on Saturday, October 12^th from 10am to 5pm at the Lakeside Rodeo Grounds. This free event will be packed with vendor booths, entertainment from local schools and churches, a craft beer garden and an “amateur” chili cook off complete with awards and cash prizes.   For more information or to reserve a vendor booth, please go to www.lakesidechamber.org.

By Miriam Raftery

September 30, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) – Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Spears and San Diego Police Officer Michael DeWitt risked their lives to save two deputies who were shot and wounded by a child molestation suspect in Lakeside last September.  The deputies, Ali Perez and Craig Johnson, both survived thanks to their colleagues’ heroism.

On Thursday, Governor Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris presented the Medal of Valor – California’s highest law enforcement award – to Deputy Spears and Officer DeWitt for their courage above and beyond the call of duty.

September 15, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) – The East County Economic Development Council (ECEDC) will host a bus tour of East County to learn about business opportunities, existing and future plans in the cities of El Cajon, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, Santee, and the communities of Alpine, Lakeside, Rancho San Diego, and Spring Valley. The tour will be held on Wednesday, September 25.  Those interested in attending must register by Friday, September 20. 

September 10, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) – Combine kids’ love of electronics with the outdoors, throw in some prizes and an online nature journal and just like that, you have them outside discovering the beauty of nature.

That’s the concept behind TRACK Trails, a new system that County Parks and Recreation is bringing to California and the west coast for the first time.

The grand opening for the trails system took place at San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve in Cardiff on Saturday.

“While we are celebrating the grand opening of this TRACK Trails system here in Cardiff, families can also take their children to Lindo Lake and Louis Stelzer County Parks in Lakeside to see this new way of discovering the outdoors,” said County Supervisor Dave Roberts. “They can use smart phones right on the trail to log on to a website and mark their progress in a nature journal to win prizes or wait until they get back home to get online.”

August 20, 2013 (Lakeside) – The 43rd Annual Barona Powwow will be held August 30 through September 1 at Barona Baseball Field, on the Barona Indian Reservation in Lakeside. The Powwow begins on Friday at 6 p.m. with Gourd Dancing followed by the Grand Entry at 7 p.m.  Saturday and Sunday will feature Gourd Dancing at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. and the Grand Entry at 7 p.m. each day.

August 17, 2013 (Lakeside) -- The Santee Sheriff's Station will host a community forum in Lakeside on Tuesday, August 27 at 7 p.m.  The event will be held in the Lakeside Community Center, 9841 Vine Street, Lakeside.  The Sheriff's Department wants to hear your concerns about public safety and your ideas for creting an action plan for safer communities.

Hear from Captain Lisa Miller, Sheriff's deputies, crime prevention specialists, Lakeside Fire Department, County Animal Control, Commuinties Against Substance Abuse (CASA), and the Lakeside Planning Group.

August 10, 2013 (Lakeside) -- A nationwide search for missing Lakeside teenager Hannah Anderson, 16, and her suspected abductor, James Lee DiMaggio, is over. Late this afternoon, Hannah was rescued and FBI agents shot and killed DiMaggio at Morehead Lake, Idaho after an arrest attempt, San Diego Sheriff Bill Gore announced.

“We want to thank the public for looking out for Hannah and Ethan Anderson during the Amber Alert and calling in your tips to law enforcement,” Sheriff Gore said.

By Miriam Raftery

August 1, 2013 (Lakeside) – Lakeside resident Dennis Richardson was shocked to find a gift-wrapped box outside his home left around 1:20 a.m. on Tuesday,  July 30 with a hand-scrawled threat reading “Someone’s gonna get beat with my bat!”  He called the Sheriff, who dispatched a Bomb-Arson team to blow up the box as a suspicious device. 

After the explosion, they found a dead rabbit in the box with a red ribbon tied around its neck. Surveillance video showed four male suspects in light-colored clothing—and they left behind clues, including a shoebox for men’s athletic shoes, size 13, white Active Performance Succeed- manufactured by Champion and sold locally at Target.  A video of the suspects has been posted on the Lakeside Eucalyptus Hills Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eucalyptus-Hills-in-Lakeside-California-92040/157660207604891

Richardson, whose photos and stories have been featured in ECM, said of the threat, “I react and take it serious…This is a federal offense—making terroristic threats.”  He has offered a $200 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspects. 

August 1, 2013 (Lakeside) – Summertime, and the living is easy. Fish are jumpin’, as the song goes.  Now you can try your hand at some summertime fishing after dark at Lake Jennings. The park is open for night fishing every Friday and Saturday night now through Labor Day at the end of August.

The largest fish caught at the lake is a whopping 68-pound catfish back in October2004.  The record Largemouth Bass weighed in at 17 pounds, 2 ounches, caught at Siesta Point in 2005.

With temperatures soaring to triple digits this summer, night fishing offers a cool option for anglers of all ages.  The lake also has picnicking, hiking, boating and camping.

Last year was one of the worst on record for West Nile virus across the United States, but not here, where the County of San Diego has taken aggressive steps to control mosquitoes that can spread the disease. Just two San Diegans have been diagnosed locally with West Nile virus in the last three years: one did not become ill, the other became infected while visiting Imperial County.

However, more than 5,000 people got sick and 286 died nationwide from the disease in 2012. County officials said local residents should remember to protect themselves.

By Nadin Abbott

Photos and videos by Billy Ortiz

View video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFyIKMWlzdE&feature=youtu.be

 July 2, 2013 (Lakeside)—Firefighters from Heartland Fire, the U.S. Forestry Service, Cal-Fire and Lakeside Fire Department have attained 50% containment of a brush fire that consumed at least 110 acres Lakeside as of this evening.  The fire began along El Monte Road in light, flashy fuels this afternoon and burned portions of El Cajon Mountain (El Capitan).

View a video by Billy Ortiz of water flowing into Lindo Lakes.

View an earlier video of stilts in low water. 

View a Facebook page created by Ortiz with photos of wildlife at Lindo Lakes.

June 22, 2013 (Lakeside) – Migratory shorebirds at risk for nesting areas drying out will be saved, thanks to an inquiry from Lakeside resident Billy Ortiz, a volunteer with the Lakeside River Park Conservancy. 

“I am happy to inform that as of June 21, 2013 San Diego County Parks and Recreation is pumping fresh water into Lindo Park Lake’s East basin,” Ortiz informed ECM today. The decision is a result of a request made in late May by Ortiz, also an ECM photographer and publicity chair of the Lakeside Hisotrical Society.

By Miriam Raftery

“Through the years that we had known you,  you had been a blessing to know. How sweet and kind you are to all our family. We will cherish every moment and memories we had with you. We love and miss you and you will never be forgotten.” – sign beside the road, where Michelle St. Clair was fatally burned

May 30, 2013 (Lakeside) – Beside the scorched earth where Michele St. Clair was found severely burned during a brush fire on May 12,  her friends have created a makeshift memorial . Flowers, crosses,  ragged stuffed toys and a hand-lettered sign on cardboard reveal how she touched the lives of those who came to know her, before succumbing to her injuries on May 16.

St. Clair, a Navy veteran who by all accounts worked hard, refused to take handouts, and was not an alcoholic or an addict when she died.

May 27, 2013 (Lakeside) – Helix Water District’s Johnstown Tank, located in Lake Jennings Park Estates off Harritt Road, Lakeside, is currently undergoing complete interior and exterior recoating. Work began on Monday, May 13, 2013. The project will take approximately six months to complete.

The viewshed for this tank includes a large area along the I-8 corridor west of the Lake Jennings Park Road exit.

Residents in the area should be aware of increased traffic, elevated noise levels, and a visual change to the tank’s surface.

May 22, 2013 (Lakeside) – The Victorian Roses Ladies Riding Society presents their Wild West Casino Night 2 on June 1, 2013 at the Lakeside Rodeo Grounds, Lakeside, CA from 6-10 pm. It benefits Saving Horses Inc., a San Diego horse rescue charity.

Ticket price is $20/person & includes $200 in play chips. Beer or wine glasses are $20 each and come with 5 free drink tickets. Raffles, silent auction, door prizes, roulette, black jack, craps & poker tables.

Live music by the Honky Tonk Kings, food available for purchase by Descanso Junction Restaurant & Catering.