One of the musical guests entertaining visitors to Western Days 2003 will be Country Western vocalist Rick Robledo and his Working Cowboy Band, which will perform Saturday May 24, 7 p.m. - 1 a.m.
The band has been a favorite at Western Days since 1996. Last year they teamed up with the Buckshots to provide a taste of Western Swing music.
This year they will play alone.
The Working Cowboy Band plays traditional country music influenced by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard.
Members of the band include Gerry Walker on steel guitar (backup vocals), Dave Preston on bass guitar, Tom Rogers on drums (backup vocals), Paul Castellano on fiddle, and Alex Watts on lead guitar.
These five musicians are led by Rick Robledo, whose compelling presence and rich baritone form the heartbeat of the group.
Robledo’s parents were from Texas and their love of country music was the strongest influence in his musical development.
As a boy near the Palomar Riders Arena in Vista, Robledo developed a life-long love for horses and rodeo. This became intertwined with his music. He was a competitor in team penning and team sortings and then stepped from horseback to stage to perform with his band.He often competed in rodeos and performed on stage the same day.
In 1996 he formed the nucleus of The Working Cowboy Band and recorded for an independently produced CD: Lost in the Shuffle, for which he was nominated for the Golden Music Award for Country Album of the Year.
He has also been nominated as New Male Vocalist of the Year, Male Rising Star and Country Artist of the Year.
A native of California, Robledo’s life began in Oceanside, where he was raised by parents who were avid fans of country western music, which came from their Texas backgrounds.
By the age of 9, young Rick was determined to play the guitar and his parents presented him with one for Christmas. By the time that holiday rolled around again, he was playing Buck Owens songs.
During junior high he and a group of classmates put together a band for the school talent show and won first place.
By now Robledo has performed with several major bands in the United States.
He is also a “working cowboy,” like the name of his band suggests.
He often joins friends on their ranch to work cattle and has also worked cattle ranches in Wyoming and Montana, where he also sings with local bands.
His favorite songs are Silver Wings by Merle Haggard and That’s the Way Love Goes by Lefty Frizzell.
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The Western Days entertainment committee has scheduled three days of Country Western and Bluegrass music for the weekend of the festival.
The first band scheduled to perform is The Shake Band, from 7:30 p.m.-midnight on Friday, May 23 They will perform both rock and country music.
The committee is still working on filling the afternoon slot on Saturday..
The Working Cowboy Band will fill the 7 p.m. - 1 p.m. slot on Saturday.
The next live entertainment will be from noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday, May 25, which will feature a bluegrass festival comprised of musicians from three bands playing interchangeably for six hours.
The names of the bands (all San Diego groups) are the Les & Louann Preston Band, Full Deck, and Virtual Strangers.
The last band, Ranch Rockers, will perform from 7 p.m. - midnight on Sunday, May 25. This band plays top 40’s country western and is also a San Diego area band.
The Board of Supervisors Tuesday voted to allocate $125,000 for the Valley Center High School’s Performing Arts Center.
The $125,000 from Community Projects Budget (0265) to Valley Center-Pauma unified School District toward the development of a proposed Performing Arts Center at 31322 Cole Grade Road, Valley Center.
Each supervisor is given $2 million annually to distribute as he sees fit within his district.
Fifth District Supervisor Bill Horn told The Roadrunner, “I’m pleased to be able to participate in the funding for the Performing Arts Center. It will be a wonderful asset for the VC community.”
VC-Pauma Unified School District Supt. Karen Jobe commented, “We are thrilled with the contribution the supervisor has made possible for us. We look forward to his being able to do his State of North County address in the very near future from this theater.”
Total cash donations to date for the theater are $240,000. In addition there is a pledge from the Staples Foundation for $225,000 plus this week’s pledge from Bill Horn's office plus the $125,000 plus the Jeanne Wright Legacy - (undetermined amount) brings the total to $590,000.
As the Red Cross volunteer was described (but not named) at an awards dinner two Saturdays ago, VC’s Chris Manning kept leaning over to her husband Dick and whispering: “That person has a lot in common with me!”
Shortly before the name was announced, Dick leaned over and said, “I think it is you!”
According to witnesses, she walked up to accept her award “with honest surprise” on her face.
“I’m still overwhelmed,” says Mrs. Manning who was given the Cabrillo Award, the highest honor for a Red Cross volunteer in San Diego and Imperial Counties.
She began volunteering with the Red Cross just before the Harmony Grove fires in 1996. Her primary focus has been Family Services, where trained caseworkers assist disaster clients one-on-one to help get their lives back together after a disaster.
According to Gayle Falkenthal a spokesman for the Red Cross, “People like Chris are the heart and soul of the Red Cross. She is the one there for a family left homeless by a fire in the middle of the night. She is the one recruiting and training new volunteers. She is the one here day after day working on ways to improve our service delivery. We couldn't afford to pay someone with the level of expertise Chris gives to us. She’s a joy to work with, has endless energy and a positive attitude that won’t quit.”
Mrs. Manning is a leader in the area within the National American Red Cross disaster response system known as “Disaster Services Human Resources” or DSHR.
The DSHR system allows the American Red Cross to respond with trained personnel to disasters big and small, deploying workers across the country when needed.
Mrs. Manning has been sent to six disaster responses outside San Diego County including two in New York City following 9/11, where she spent six weeks.
She is the appointed “Disaster Action Team” Chairperson for the Disaster Services Committee. She is also assigned as San Diego County’s Disaster Duty Officer or Disaster Staff on Call at least once a month.
She frequently responds to single family fires in the North County on scene any time of day or night.
Last year she assisted in the Pines Fires in Julian and Ranchita, an experience she described as “three very hard weeks of helping those families begin the process of putting their lives together.”
She was also a leader in responding to the Reiss Hotel Fire in downtown San Diego, last July that displaced 50 people.
Closer to home, she assisted victims of the Corral Liquor Store fire. She was the first Red Cross volunteer on scene. Her team set up the feeding of the firefighters and the people who were displaced. Ironically, that food was provided by Fat Ivor’s, which itself burned down a few weeks later.
She is not paid, although she spends more than 40 hours a week at her “job.” “I’m paid with the look on someone’s face who was glad that Red Cross was there,” she says.
She racks up over 100 miles round trip to work at Red Cross Chapter headquarters in Hillcrest, working a full-time schedule as a volunteer in addition to her non-business hour disaster relief assignments.
As disaster duty officer she is on call if there is a disaster.
Last Friday, for example, she called out the DAT to respond to a vehicle that ran into a house in San Marcos.
Because their house had a big hole in it, and they were without power the family had to be put up in a hotel.
During the week she goes to headquarters often to assist in developing new DAT members and getting them onboard and trained and excited about what the Red Cross’s mission.
She is pretty excited about her job. “I just completely enjoy it and the reason I can do it is that I have a completely supportive family. My husband, my children and my stepchildren are my biggest supporters. Because they are there for me I’m able to be there for other people.”
Why does she do what she does? “After 9-11 and after the troubles that the San Diego Chapter went through, I could see that I was needed here in San Diego to transition to what we have now, which is a very strong disaster department. While I love going on national assignments I felt my place was here to help the chapter. I’m very excited to have new CEO Ronne Froman and Jerry Sanders, the new board member,” she said. NOTE: The local chapter had an interim CEO for ten months.
She adds, “What we need now is to develop a bigger base of volunteers to help in the every day disasters that happen. There’s a disaster every 36 hours in San Diego and Imperial counties.”
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Two other Valley Center residents are volunteers for the Red Cross. Debra Fisk is a disaster team leader and Shawneen Burdick has been working with members of her church to get them trained.
Just call Tom Williams the Reluctant Candidate.
“I was drafted without my knowledge,” says Williams, who is the proprietor of Video Playhouse here in town.
He missed a meeting of the Kiwanis Club and the next thing that he knew he was the club’s candidate for Honorary Mayor, with all of the attendant glory and perks that go with it.
“I went to the next meeting to protest but by then it was too late,” he says.
If, against his wishes, Williams is elected, he promises, “not to impede anyone’s life. I will never vote for an incumbent, so I will vote for myself; however I promise that this is the only office I will ever run for.”
Although he is a reluctant candidate, Williams is getting into the spirit of the race, and, in a pot shot at one of his rivals, declares, “I won’t shroud myself in the flag or religion, as some other candidates, who will remain nameless, (Lori), have done.”
No Kiwanis fund-raisers are scheduled, but Williams is holding a sale of previously-viewed VHS films and he plans to give a percentage of that to the campaign, plus a nickel from every video rental.
“So far, we’ve collected $500,” says the candidate.
Look for future announcements of fund-raisers, says Williams, who is getting all of his advice from the Three Wise Campaign Managers (shown in the photo on Page A1).
“They may come up with something,” he says.
If you’d like to do your part to elect a Kiwanian Honorary Mayor, just call Call 749-0515.
The Board of Supervisors will hold the first of what will probably be several hearings on General Plan 2020 on May 21.
This meeting was originally scheduled to be held May 7, but County Counsel requested more time to review it.
The meeting will begin what may be the last act in a process that began almost two years ago over all of the unincorporated communities of San Diego County.
The process has included hundreds of committee and subcommittee meetings, including dozens of such meetings in Valley Center.
DPLU staff will be asking the supervisors for direction, acceptance of the map and framework as a work in progress. In other words, they will ask the board if they are going in the right direction.
The first day of hearings will be devoted to presentations by staffers of the County Dept. of Planning and Land Use, headed by Ivan Holler, the senior planner in charge of the process, and probably also including Larry Pryor, the director of DPLU.
It will also include presentations by the chairmen or representatives of the various planning groups in the County.
Larry Glavinic, chairman of the VC planning group, told The Roadrunner that it’s unlikely that public input will be heard that first day.
The next day of hearings, probably on June 11, will likely include a period when the public can comment on the process.
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The Country Town area of Valley Center has been separated from the GP2020 process to the extent that a special workshop on the subject will be held on June 7, time and location to be announced.
By DAVID ROSS
The VC Municipal Water District will spend $46,500 in the upcoming fiscal year to assess the water system’s vulnerability to terrorist attacks.
But don’t expect to find a copy of the vulnerability assessment at your local library.
The assessment will be a confidential document that will be discussed by directors during closed session.
“We don’t want to prepare a report telling anyone how to break into our system,” Bill Jeffrey, director of finance, told water directors at their April 21 meeting.
This secrecy is allowed under a recent amendment to the Brown Act, which makes such information privileged and exempt from the Public Information Act.
The assessment is required of all public agencies by the federal government, as part of the nation’s response to 9-11.
Budget Review
The district has begun its preliminary review of the budget, which must be adopted in June.
It is anticipated that water sales will be the same as this year, 42,500 acre feet.
Although Newcastle’s Disease and the Mexican fruit fly are factors in local agriculture, the number of water meters is still growing.
About 390 new meters are expected, roughly a 5% increase. The number of residential meter is expected to grow 3%. They will include fire hydrants, which will mean an increase in maintenance, said Jeffrey.
According to Jeffrey, staff is recommending a “very aggressive” capital improvement program. This may require some rate hikes to finance it, he said.
The administration will request two new positions:
• Water systems Tech III to run SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) program. SCADA has not yet been adopted district wide, but a pilot program on three reservoirs is in place.
A SCADA system consists of a central SCADA master system, a communications network, RTUs ( Remote Telemetry Units and field instrumentation. It will allow staff to remotely monitor pump stations and reservoirs with video cameras and give them commands.
SCADA would monitor 80 sites. Total cost would be $4 million.
“It’s a very exciting project. The benefits are outstanding. The costs are outstanding,” commented VCMWD Gen.Mgr Gary Arant.
If the SCADA system is deferred that position above will be postponed also.
• Engineering Technician III, for capital projects.
Each of these two new positions would be paid $67,000 which includes benefits.
A cost of living increase for all employees of 4% is also anticipated.
Energy prices are expected to go up, said Jeffrey, who noted that “Natural gas prices have been inching upward the last six months.”
Natural gas prices contribute about $100 per acre foot to the price of moving water.
Currently the price is around 11.6 cents per kilowatt, but several hearings are under way to raise rates.
Unlike residential and small business power rates, the water district’s rates are not capped. They rise with the market.
Nevertheless, said Jeffrey, for the moment staff believes the current pumping charge is adequate.
Among other capital expenditures that must be done eventually, although some may be deferred to subsequent years:
• Cole grade pipeline replacement, $500,000.
• Electronic document management, $75, 000.
• Nelson Way Pipeline Replacement, $645,000.
• PRV (Pressure Reducing Valve) and large meter upgrades, $380,000.
• Hillcrest Drive Main replacement, an additional $75,000. They had already budgeted $80,000
• Charlan Road pipeline replacement (This was originally part of VC Road main pipeline replacement) $75,000. The existing pipeline is 6 inch. The GP 2020 map currently under consideration shows a four time increase in density. “A six inch main isn’t sufficient for that much density,” said Patric Jewell, district engineer.
• GIS system, $240,000.
• Rodriquez Road pipeline replacement: $585,000.
• Lilac Road pipeline replacement, $575,000.
• VC Road East to casino, design, $200,000.
• Meadows Reservoir, NO. 2, $1 million. The district is seeing a steady increase in demand. They can’t take the existing reservoir out of service long enough to re-coat it, so they need an additional one. The price includes design and environmental.
• Couser Way, pipeline replacement, $100,000.
• Couser Pump Station, $75,000.
• Merry Ferry PRV upgrade, $90,000.
Unspecified Pipeline Replacement, $250,000. Director Merle Aleshire previously referred to this as a “slush fund.” Jewell said “I prefer to call it an ‘opportunity fund.’ ”
• VC Pump Station Pump Station Vale Upgrade, $100,000.
• VC pump station replacement of gas line, $130,000.
• Rainbow pump and motor replacement, $65,000.
• Electric panel replacement at McNally, $35,000.
• Roof replacements, Betsworth, $30,000
• Ladder safety systems, $7,000.
Board President Gary Broomell asked staff to prioritize this list.
“Each and every one of these projects is a necessary project, and will have to be done at some point, either this year or next year or thereafter,” said Arant.
All are part of the $65 million in improvements and replacements identified in the district’s master plan
All are part of $65 million identified in the master plan.
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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