Valedictorian Marrissa Baker and Salutatorian Ryan Young will lead the list of 323 VCHS seniors who will receive their diplomas this Thursday night at Jaguar Stadium.
They will also give student addresses using as their theme the graduating class motto is: “If Opportunity Doesn’t Knock, Build a Door.”
Keynote speakers will be faculty members Joel Vexler and Linda Saffiote.
The Chain Ceremony will be performed by Senior Class officers Mike Tweed, Francine Penny and Junior Class officers Kim Rances and Kelly Shinn.
Pomp and Circumstance will be performed by the VCHS Band. The National Anthem will be sung by the Senior Choir.
Principal Ken Clark will present the class to Supt. Jeff Mulford, for whom this will be the last year he accepts the class, since he is retiring in November.
School board trustees Henry Van Wyk and Patrick Simpson (president of the board) will present diplomas.
Special awards that will be given out Thursday night include: ASB President’s Award, Cooper Bachman; Most Inspirational Student, Kelly Stewart; Timberline Award, Carla Alvarez; School Service Award, Brooke Taylor; Outstanding Athletes, Kevin Callister and Kara Smith and Jaguar Award 2002, Cooper Bachman and Anna Hough.
The list of graduates (which we obtained on Monday and so is subject to change) are as follows:
Jennifer Acosta, Cara Ann Megan Adams, Jason William Adams, Amber Dawn Agent, Sheina Rodriga Aguilar, Sergio Almaraz, Carla Jeanette Alvarez, Casey Allen Anderson, Cory C. Arford, Jose Reymundo Arias, Larry Michael Arias, Juan Jesus Arista, Gabriela Arriola, Justin Jay Ash, Kyle Matthew Eisenberg-Asmus, Esteban Avila, Ana B. Ayard.
Cooper Reed Bachman, David Alexander Baker, Marrissa Leigh Baker, Luis Baltazar, Alondra Marina Barkhorn, Kendra Marie Bates, Marbelia Baza, Terral Thomas Ayson-Beanum, Andrew Mark Behneman, Benjamin O. Belland, Jenna Elizabeth Betschman, Ryan Adam Birtcher, Sara Mae Black, Steven G. Block, Shelby Lin Boberg, Gregor R. Bonin, Brian Christopher Bonney. Michael Cody Borgeson, Brenden Matthew Bourgeois, Donna Lynn Bowers, Jon Michael Bradley, Erin Lee Bratton, Christopher Alan Broomell, Christopher Allen Brown, Mary Louise Brown, Lisha Naomi Marisse Burdick, Kaitlyn Marie Burke, Christopher Neil Butner.
Corey Maitreyan Morris Cacananta, Veronica Calac, Kevin Richard Callister, Daniel Lee Calvert, Brieanne Denise Caney, Lindsey Elise Cannon, Chase Garrett Carney, Elizabeth Cerros, Rito Cisneros, Lacey Nichole Clemans, Leah Kay Cole, Erin Elizabeth Conger, Adam Contreras, Daniel Jr. Contreras, Michael Christopher Contreras, Tori Leigh Correiar, Jose Manuel Cortez, Virginia Cortez, Johnny Jr. Cowie, Justin Michael Crews, Jessica D. Crumley, Jobita C. Cruz Esqueda, Jennifer Marie Curley.
Spencer Jay Dale, Ambrocia Michelle Dankert, Ryan Darland, Benjamin Shelton Davee, Garret Charles Donovan, John Delaplane, Tommy Forbes Devers, Michelle Leanne DeWindt, Byron Patrick Duff, Thomas Patrick Duffy, Kelly Deanne Dunn, Shirley A. Duran.
Heather Leigh ann Einer, Jonathan David Elkins, Luis Manuel Enriquez, Allen Lawson Esparza, Freddy Espino. Kristin Marie Farkas, Anastasia Lee Fiehler, Kristin Dawn Foster, Evan Robert Franck, Caylin Frinchaboy, Maria Elena Galvez, Hector Garcia, Irma Garcia, Joaquin Sandino Garcia, Leonard James Garcia, Nicholas Ryan Rufino Garcia, Adam Duane Geisler, Coral Anne Gilbert, Edwardo Gonzalez, Hector Gonzalez, Isabel D. Gonzalez, Jaime Gonzalez, Miguel Gonzalez, Tyler James Gonzalez, Brandon Gene Greene, Michael Greene, Jessica Lynn Grosvenor, Anthony Michael Grubb, Anthony Daniel Guiliano, Megan Guinn, Chad G. Gunter, Maria G. Gutierrez, Maria Veronica Gutierrez, Heather Dawn Halperin, Robert Skyler Harry, Justin Charles Hatcher, Daniel Trevor Hayes, Edi Hernandez Morales, Jacquelyn Marie Hernandez, Brittany Marie Heulitt, Sabrina Lynn Hicks, Sarah Louise Hines, Calen Ford Hochstetler, Ivan T. Hofmann, Rosana Inez Hofmann, Benjamin Arthur Holtz, Peter Alban Holtz, Anna Rose Hough, Christopher Mark Huffman, Michael Anthony Hunter, Marisol Hurtado, Brenda Elizabeth Ibarra, Anthony Alvin Illig, Brianna Marie Jeansonne.
Trisha Ann Kelly, Meghan Kennedy, Ryan Kennedy, Todd William Klein, Andrew Jonathan Kordik, Shawna Elizabeth Lane, David Latscha, Bryce Robert LaVine, April Marie Lawson, Paul Cruz Licon, Joseph Mathew Linton, Lizbeidy Llamas, Luke Daniel Lofton, Janelle Lynn Lojeske, Natalie Nicole Lopez, Timothy Raymond Loughlin, Sean Patrick Lovelace, Eladio Luis, Donald Keith Luke, Jacqueline Luna, Albert Ly, John Machado, Cassandra Lynn Maciejeski, Andrew Alexander Macovichuk, Oscar Madera, Donald Magante, Paulino Maldonado, Amelia Aurelie Marek, Steve Michael Martinez, Tiffany Alicia Martinez, April Marie McAndrews, Lindsey Ann McArthur, James Christopher McClain, Alexis Catharine McCollom,Shalom Rachel McCullough, Rauri Majid McGee, Alex M. Medina, Henry Mendiola, Laura Araceli Mendoza, Nicholas Jon Michaelson, Edward Michel, Paul Miranda, Erin Deanne Mjelde, Chelsea Ellen Danky Mock, Luis Mondragon, Jeffrey Ryan Montgomery, Rose Marie Montoya, Andre Eugene Morales, Saul Morales, Jared Travis Morasco, Garrett Morgan, Jesse Matthew Morgan, Melissa Ann Myers.
Jose Nava, Leonard Little Bull Nelson, Carly Christine Ness, Brandi Marie Nickerson, Roylynn Renee Nieto, Adelaide Ellen Nilsson, Margaret Nolan, Amy Northcutt, Shawna Lynn O’Banion, Angelica Ochoa, Andrew Thomas Og, Ana Olivares, Taylor Jean Oney, Augustine Orozco, Matthew Ormiston Palmer, Thomas Gilbert Paramo, Christie Nichole Patnode, Eduardo Pena, Francine Noelle Penney, Justin Cole Petersen, Kathryn Lynn Petry, Brittani Lei Pfeifer, Elliott Wade Pickering, Argenis Pinal, Cynthia Pinal, Travis Ryan Plash, Rebecca Poniktera, Erika Lynn Nicole Posenaer, Andrew Roy Pugh, Tiffany Lynn Quackenbush, Tollak Rafto, Luis Javier Ramirez, Brenda Alicia Rangel, Jose Luis Rangel, Ashley Anne Rattmann, Johnny Tyler Renquist, Juan Angel Reynoso, Adam William Rhodes, Joshua Lee Rico, Jorge Rizo, Stephanie Ann Rizzo, Matthew Robell, Andrea Robinson, Aaron Antonio Rodriguez, Dion Blaise Rodriguez, Laura Patricia Romero, Bree Ann Roney, Christopher Jackson Root, Samantha Jane Rosiar, Angelina Rebeca Rubio, Joanna Ruiz, Tanya Marie Ruiz, Kristalyne Laura Rush, Tristan Dean Rust, Brett William Ryan, Willa Jean Salgado, Ashley Dawn Salisbury, Sophia Alexandria Savino, Adam Joseph Schaldach, Angela Diane Schneider, Heather Martha Schoberg, Robert Mathias Schostag, Jennifer Lalena Sears, Kristine Cathi Serio, Ryan William Sheehy, Gray H. Sherman, Morgan Dana Silldorff, Justin Andrew Silvasy, Diana Griselda Simental, Sarah Emily Simmons, Christale Indira Marie Singh, Summer Ann Skelton, Ryan Anthony Skerl, Robert Paul Sloan, Amber Nichole Slocum, Alissa Kristine Smith, Kara Francis Smith, Suzanne Marie Snowden, Gines Eduardo Soriano, Matthew Thomas Spire, Joshua Kenneth Spoon, Kyle R. Sprague, Daniel James Stedman, Kelly Sean Stewart, Michael David Stewart II, Trenton William Stroh, Sara Yolanda Suarez, Shannon Marie Sullivan, Natasja Alexandria Swartz, Glenn Allen Swift, Holly Ann Sylvester.
Cristina Tavarez, Brooke Christine Taylor, Jared Robert Thomas, Jason Mark Thompson, Kelly Marie Thornton, Beatriz Tinajero, Justin Tolman, Susan Lorraine Tustison, Michael Ray Tweed, Devin Nathaniel Tygett-Tuthill, Matthew David Tyler, Irma Adriana Urquieta, Marlene Valdez, Neil Vanderwoude, Hiram Vazquez, Blanca Janet Vera, Lauren Marie Vescera, Natalie Nicole Villalobos, Emmanuel Refujio Villasenor,.
Michael Sean Wasdyke, Scott James Wasdyke, Charlie Jason Weaver, Alise Julietta Welch, Dominick Welch, Derek Phillip Westrich, Jeremy James Whaley, David Taylor White, Ezekiel Joseph Williams, Sean Michael Williams, Michael Benjamin Wior, Jaime Christofferson Wollman, Curtis Woods, Elena Margarita Yorba, Megan Christina Young, Ryan Michael Young, William Palmer Young, Mary Ann Youngdale, Cody James Younkin, Erin Marie Zace, Matthew Scot Zajda, John Ramez Zakhariya, Jennifer Fawn Ziehl.
Elena Datsuk (foreign exchange student), Sabrina Maria Ginkel (foreign exchange student), Nicole Loschke (foreign exchange student), Leah Rachel Hipshman (not participating in graduation ceremony), Jeremy David Lindemann Maggi (not participating in graduation ceremony), Yvette Lee Hermann (not participating in graduation ceremony)
The community is invited to the ribbon-cutting and open house for the VC Sheriff’s substation June 27, 10 a.m.
Sheriff’s Lt. Maury Freitas, commander of the substation, will be master of ceremonies and Sheriff Bill Kolender will be guest of honor and Supervisor Bill Horn, who was a strong supporter of the new building, is also expected to attend.
Refreshments will be provided by Pastor Bill Trok and Ridgeview Church.
“If people can make it by they’ll be able to see our brand new substation,” Freitas told The Roadrunner.
The deputies have now completely moved in and the old cramped trailer is history. The only work that remains to be done is finishing up the back lot.
“We should be completed with everything by the day of the open house,” said Freitas.
Visitors will be conducted on a tour of the 6000 square foot facility.
Various groups in VC have been generous in their support of the deputies during this move-in. The VC Lions Club has donated a refrigerator and the VC Rotary Club donated a microwave. The school district will provide a sound system and folding chairs for the ribbon cutting.
By DAVID ROSS
VC planning group Monday heard from six of the seven candidates who filed for a vacancy on the board, including two former members of the group.
Candidates included Brian Bates, Phillip Geddes, George H. “Bud” Barnes, Noel Laue, Judy Silverman, Will Rogers and Oliver J. Smith.
Geddes served on the planning group, including several months as chairman of the board and is current chairman of the VC Design Review Board. Judy Silverman served on the planning group from 1991-95.
Barnes, who was not present, filed a resume. He has a real estate background and holds a broker’s license with Matthews & O’Donnell. He graduated from Stanford University with a degree in economics. He is a former member of the California Avocado Commission.
Candidates present spoke for five minutes about their hopes for a future VC and answered a list of prepared questions.
Brian Bates, a 2 1/2 year resident, lives near Paradise Mtn.
He spent 15 years in the bio-technology industry. Currently not employed, he stays home to home school his son. He is investigating starting a small farm. He serves on the roads subcommittee of the GP2020 Update and is a Red Cross volunteer.
Bates called “growth” the most important issue facing VC. “I would like to see it maintain its rural character. The direction it takes will partially be set by this group. Hopefully in 20 years, Valley Center will still be rural.”
Bates wants to see the plans for Valley Center Road adjusted from “the fast, fast lanes,” to a road slower and narrower.
Phillip Geddes is a 13 year resident who spent six years on the planning group, serving as both vice chairman and chairman. He resigned last spring because he thought he was going to sell his house. Now he plans to stay.
Geddes warned: “I’ve seen Hwy 76 change from lovely dappled fields into a choked up ribbon community with one shopping center over another. I really believe that kind of ribbon growth can take place here. It should be fought.”
Geddes favors a shopping center in VC, because he feels that “commercial mixed development is essential to the core of VC.”
But that development should fit the regional character, laid down by the 1990 VC general plan, he said.
He criticized that plan for “going off the rails with the establishment of two acre minimum lot sizes. I still think that density and open space is an absolutely vital consideration. The rural character we talk about in VC is in the past.”
He said VC “definitely needs a wide road coming up over the hill.. It has to have a center divider. I think The Dept. of Public Works knows a lot more about road building than I do.”
Oliver J. Smith, a VC resident for a year, has two acres of orange trees on Sunset.
“I came to Valley Center for the people and the environment and because I didn't want someone looking over my shoulder,” he said.
While change is inevitable, he said, “uncontrolled growth is not. You can move it towards some well-thought out goals. Right now I don’t see that happening. Basically this board is powerless.
“Valley Center Road is not under the control of Valley Center. We can try to have some influence, but the bottom line is that they (the County and State) are going to do what they are gong to do.”
Smith envisions a time in 20 years when Valley Center is “home directed, when we will have a say where things go, and where we put the country town.”
Builders can’t be kept out, he said, but they should be given attainable goals that the community agrees on.
Will Rogers, who has lived in VC since 1988, is past chairman of the I-15 Corridor Design Review Committee.
“I see a great change coming to Valley Center. I’m also an landscape architect. I have many years of planning experience to contribute to this board,” he said.
He added, “If we don’t take a good hard look at the language in GP 2020 we are making a mistake. Words like ‘may’ and ‘should’ don't carry much weight.”
He advocated pressing Valley Center’s case before the Board of Supervisors at every opportunity.
Judy Silverman owns ten acres on Cobb Way. The biggest issue she sees facing Valley Center is growth and keeping Valley Center Rural. “I guess I have a middle of the road policy.”
While favoring the current plan to widen VC Road, she said other connector roads are needed to link the main roads.
The strongest aspect of the current community plan is that the people who wrote it in 1990, “wanted to keep the town agricultural. Its greatest weakness is that it too strongly concentrated on having a sewer because that was where we thought we were going to have the growth.”
Noel Laue, a master glass artist in VC told the group, “ I love the back country and feel we need to participate and help see that the unavoidable development still manages to keep what we all love about Valley Center.”
Laue, who has worked with glass for 25 years, said, “I feel my involvement as an artist would benefit the group with another perspective.”
The biggest issue facing VC, he said, “is development. It is important to develop in a way that all of us will be happy with that. Hearing everybody’s viewpoint and putting all those concepts together is what I think is most important.”
In the next 20 years Laue wants to see not only development but the continuation of agriculture.
“The strongest thing in the plan is that there is community involvement. The weakest thing is that there is not enough community involvement. People should not only have a say but should feel they are part of what is happening.”
Next month the planning group will vote on the candidates, and, if they don’t get deadlocked, will pick one of them.
After nearly three years of meeting at various schoolrooms around town, Ridgeview Church has a permanent home for its 225 families.
According to Pastor Bill Trok, the church closed escrow two weeks ago for the sanctuary and land that was formerly occupied by Horizon Christian Fellowship and before that by Grandview Church.
The 3.5 acre site on North Lake Wohlford, immediately south of the VC Middle School, which includes a church and an educational building, sold for $550,000.
“Horizon gave us a screaming deal on the property,” Trok told The Roadrunner. “We believe that we are about the same purposes. Everyone felt like it was a win for them and a win for us and we are very, very grateful for the generous terms that they gave us.”
Ridgeview started looking for land a year ago but found that Valley Center is a seller’s market.
“We’re very encouraged by being able to get into a property, which is over 16,000 square feet, which includes a sanctuary and a hall underneath,” said Trok.
Not to mention one of the best vistas in town. The church has a magnificent view of Hellhole Canyon, which is the view that gave Grandview Church its name.
“Our name is very apropos now [Ridgeview, not Hellhole]. There’re a lot of things that we feel are very providential about the whole deal,” said Trok.
The congregation had been renting from the school district for two and a half years, since the church formed here.
Pastor Trok expects to see a dramatic increase in the types and quality of programs that the church offers.
“Programming-wise we are going to be able to offer a lot more to the people in the church and to the community. We already have an AA meeting on Friday nights at 6:30 p.m. and we’re in the planning stages for a preschool possibly as early as this fall.
“Just in terms of the quality of all of our programming will go up because we can control the environment. We are especially excited about our ability to be able to minister to the junior high school and senior high school students. We feel like we offer a quality children’s program. The children’s and adult education programs we offer will particularly benefit.”
Ridgeview Church meets at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays. Call 751-9891 or visit their website at ridgeviewchurch.org.
You can learn how to react to a local disaster at a series of classes offered this next week by the American Red Cross.
The first few hours after a disaster are the most critical, whether it’s a natural disaster, or in these days of heightened security, terror related.
However, the most pressing possible disaster facing Valley Center and the backcountry is the danger of fire.
San Diego County is at its driest in more than a century. Fire danger runs extremely high. Back in May the level of moisture in plants was what is normally found in September.
You can learn how to shelter your neighbors during those first few hours at a Red Cross sponsored series on how to shelter your neighbors during a disaster.
The first class is called Introduction to Disaster Services. It will be held Tuesday, June 18, 6:30-9:30 p.m. in Valley Center Middle School.
You must take it before you can take the next two courses:
Mass Care: An Overview, which will be held in Valley Center Middle School on Saturday, June 22, 9 a.m. - noon.
Shelter Operations, which will be held at VCMS on Saturday, June 22, 1-4 p.m.
The classes are being held in cooperation with Valley Center Fire Protection District and Battalion VII, California Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Call 760-745-3221 to enroll.
The VC water board June 17 will hold a hearing on increasing fees on new meters between 42%-45% depending on the size of the meter.
If directors adopt the new charges, they will go into effect 60 days later.
The proposed new charges are as follows:
The fee for a three quarter inch (3/4”) meter will go from $1252 to $1800.
Fee for a one inch meter will go from $2128 to $3060.
Fees for a 1.5 inch meter will go from $4132 to $5940.
Meter capacity fees for a two inch meter will go from $6636 to $9540.
Fees for a three inch meter will go from $12,520 to $18,000.
According to VC Municipal Water District Gen. Mgr. Gary Arant, the increased meter capacity fees are needed to generate $15 million for facilities needed to serve new development.
Existing water customers will pay nothing extra. The fee only applies to installing a new meter on previously undeveloped land. Even upsizing an existing meter will not be subject to this charge, although it will be subject to purchasing a new meter.
Today there are 8240 meters in the water district. At build-out the number of meters is expected to be 8774, based on the recently adopted district Master Plan said Arant.
The Valley Roadrunner
P.O.B. 1529, Valley Center, CA 92082
Tel. 760.749.1112 Fax 760.749.1688
Website: www.valleycenter.com
Email: editor@valleycenter.com
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