Tom Bumgardner, the volunteer of volunteers, the man that other volunteers call when they need help, was honored for his many volunteer works at Saturday night’s Valley Center Chamber of Commerce installation banquet at the Escondido Country Club.
Last year’s Citizen of the Year, Dan Thornton, noted Bumgardner’s accomplishments on the VC Western Days Committee, as an officer of the Chamber, and as a board member of the Deer Springs Fire Protection District Board and the parks and rec district.
Supervisor Bill Horn presented Bumgardner with a plaque chronicling his contributions and declaring Jan. 17 as “Tom Bumgardner Day.”
“Enjoy it,” the supervisor quipped, “because you only have a few hours left until midnight.”
He was also given awards by State Senator Dennis Hollingsworth’s representative Verne Lauritzen and by Chamber Pres. Nicky Lovejoy.
Jim Dorscel, in his first year as the annual event’s Master of Ceremonies, led presenters through an evening of recognizing local folks for their contributions, and finally installing the new officers of the Chamber.
Kim Laventure was awarded plaques by Horn and Lauritzen and Lovejoy for being Honorary Mayor.
Eric Jockinsen, president of the VC Parks & Rec board presented the district’s Volunteer of the Year award to Steve Aspell, president of the VC Little League. Aspell was praised for his work keeping the ballfields looking nice.
Plaques were awarded to the California Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF), Sheriff’s substation, VC fire department, VC Community Church, Ridgeview Church, St. Stephen’s Catholic Church, St. Frances Episcopal Church for their work during and after the Paradise fire.
The Ambassadors, the ‘worker bees” of the Chamber, were sworn in for the coming year. This group meets monthly to plan events and brainstorm how the Chamber can more effectively help its members. They are: Nicky Lovejoy, Ann Godwin, Donna Jorgensen, Keith De Tellem, Jana Limon, Paula Haskell, Suzie Durant, Tiffany Lopez, Maria Gutierrez, Kim Laventure and Jan Hjort.
Officers and directors installed were President, Nicky Lovejoy; Vice President, Tom Bumgardner; Secretary, Kim Laventure; Treasurer, Pam Smith; Past President, Ann Godwin; directors Jim Dorschel, Brenda Kline, Erwin O. Jones, J.R. Peters, Donna Jorgensen, Ed Swauger and Robert Wisecarver.
One hundred and seventy maximum FEMA grants were awarded in San Diego County, with the highest number, 34, awarded in Valley Center, as a result of last fall’s fires.
Terry Van Koughnett who has led the Interfaith Community Services’s Fire Collaboration efforts to find homes for families displaced by the Paradise Fire, and who has been named chairman of the Paradise Fire Relief Committee, reports that although the deadline for FEMA registration has passed, FEMA has not abandoned the fire victims. If there are mitigating circumstances, claims can still be filed, and the right to appeal a FEMA decision is 60 days after the notification.
If you’re not sure, contact FEMA and let them decide. Specific questions about FEMA can be answered by the Young Lawyers’ Division of the American Bar Assn. at 1-800-310-7029, or visit the FEMA website at www.fema.gov, or the California wildfire pages at www.fema.gov/news/event.fema?id-2543
Van Koughnett told The Roadrunner, “It’s really incredible how much help is available and will continue to be available to fire victims. No one will be left out in the cold. Volunteer agencies will be providing counseling, construction advice, labor and help with construction costs, and the County will handle debris removal.”
The County of San Diego Access & Crisis Line is 1-800-479-3339. This service provides crisis intervention, mental health referrals, and information about community resources. This line is available 24/7 and can direct you to resources such as the Wildfire Recovery Project outreach workers.
The FEMA Voluntary Agency Liaison Unit is available to check references. Contact Charles Craig at 626-431-3846.
The most important thing to be aware of is fraud. There are people who are victimizing the fire victims. They appear to be offering help in what may be legal acts but which in reality result in additional financial hardship to those already suffering.
Take precautions and be on the look out for financial scams and con artists. If you are being asked improper questions, asked to show personal financial documents or are being aggressively pursued by those offering help, check references.
When FEMA first response activities were ended on Jan. 9, the continuing activities were handed over to the volunteer coordination organization San Diego/Imperial Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster (SD/IVOAD) who established the Disaster Recovery Coalition (DRC). The DRC has in turn partnered with and coordinated local volunteer agencies.
In Valley Center, the Paradise Fire Relief Committee has been established by the DRC. The committee chairman is Terry Van Koughnett. The committee is made up of local volunteers and organizations. Member groups of the DRC include Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, Jewish Family Services, Lutheran Disaster Recovery, and many more.
The fiscal agent for the DRC is the United Way. The budget for this three year rebuilding project is $36 million. The money will go toward the construction material and will be combined with professional services and volunteer labor.
An example of the volunteer groups that are here helping is an Amish Mennonite group from Ohio that has been providing services in the county.
Last week recovery assessment teams from the Lutheran Disaster Recovery services visited all areas of San Diego County, including Valley Center.
Many families were contacted and the results of the assessment will be evaluated next week. This will allow the proper resources to be directed to take care of the unmet needs of the victims. The DRC will be coordinating the efforts of all the volunteers in San Diego County.
You can contact Terry or Mimi Van Koughnett at 751-8692 for more information. Visit their website at www.paradisefire.com for a directory of services available to fire victims.
Contractors for the VC Road widening have nearly completed reinstalling k-rails to separate northbound from southbound traffic on the area commonly referred to as “The Luge.”
Day Work
In between Jan. 11-24 Yeager Skanska Inc., the contractor, is scheduled to:
• Complete the installation of temporary k-rail that has been installed between northbound and southbound traffic
• Shift southbound traffic to the center lane
• Install additional temporary k-rail between the new southbound lane and the work area on the west side of Valley Center Road
• Install additional traffic control devices
Future Day Work
Once the temporary k-rail is completely installed and traffic control is set-up, the contractor is scheduled to begin excavation on the west side and build embankment fill on the east side of Valley Center Road.
Future Night Work
The contractor is scheduled to begin hauling dirt across the road from west to east at night.
History of the Project
In November 2003, the County of San Diego Department of Public Works began major roadwork on a six-mile section of Valley Center Road from the City of Escondido to Cole Grade Road in order to increase its safety, capacity and efficiency.
The work will be done in two phases under separate contracts. This $33 million project will include the following road improvements:
• Widening and realigning the road
• Adding a center median, bike lanes and graded parkways
• Adding a concrete sidewalk along portions of the road through town
Work Hours
This project is approved for construction hours both during the day and at night. The contractor is required to comply with noise level restrictions at all times and notify nearby residents of planned nighttime work.
General work hours are as follows, however the contractor may work 24 hours a day:
Day hours: Monday – Friday, 6:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m
Night hours: Sunday – Thursday, 8:30 p.m. – 5 a.m.
Valley Center Road South
Traffic control:
One lane of traffic for each direction along Valley Center Road will be open for a majority of the Phase 1 construction, however traffic may be completely stopped to allow trucks to cross the road.
Traffic breaks may occur to maintain traffic control devices and perform minor road repairs.
Delays should be expected when traveling within the work zone. Occasional lane closures will occur at night to allow for storm drain construction and installation and maintenance of traffic control devices.
Remember to allow extra time to travel in this area and to observe the posted speed limit of 40 mph throughout the construction zone to maintain safety and to avoid double penalty traffic fines.
“The Artistic Touch” Studio produces Murals, Decorative Paintings, Trompe l’oeil, Stained Glass, Mosaics, Faux Finishes, and Hand Painted Furniture.
Patricia Lynn McConnell has been working as an artist since high school receiving an art scholarship from Vista High School.
She attended Palomar College and received Associates of Arts Degree and later went on to San Diego State University to receive B.A. and Master’s Degree in Fine Arts and related technologies.
She was one of the first women to be accepted into the Master’s program and to have the first one-woman show outside of the University. She also taught Adult Education classes-drawing, while finishing her last year of college and she received a lifetime teaching credential in 1976 -- the last year California issued that type of credential. McConnell also had the privilege of showing her art work in the Miss Escondido pageant (which she won in 1972) and in the Miss California Pageant in Santa Cruz that same year.
In 1977 she moved to Michigan where she did her first mural for a restaurant called, “Copper Penny.” She then moved to Montana in 1978 and opened a gallery named “Art Eclectic.” This gallery soon became much sought after as Patricia helped many new artists establish themselves and move on to larger galleries in the southwest and Jackson Hole. The gallery was located in the downtown Sheraton Hotel, the largest and tallest building in 1980.
McConnell was contacted by the owner and architect of that hotel to produce six major windows in the hotel. There was a 30 foot skylight designed for the top floor restaurant called the “Lucky Diamond.” A large stained glass window was also designed for the entrance to the restaurant. The window was featured on the cover of the restaurant menu.
Other windows represented the history of Montana, depicting river boats, pioneer scenes, horse-pulled stagecoaches, oxen and wagons, early settlers to the area and a steam railroad train. It took all of one year to complete the project. The windows can still be seen at the hotel today. This major undertaking was published in a newsletter to all the Sheraton hotels all over the world, thus a very serious artist produced works in Idaho, Montana, Virginia, and California.
While mcConnell ran her gallery and produced works of glass she also was the editor and publisher of a newly-formed Billings, MT Magazine which was produced to help newcomers find local art galleries and businesses in town. She was also a freelance writer who researched unusual stories for an oil magazine during the late 70s. Art Eclectic Gallery was often published in the prestigious Southwest Art Magazine and in a local Billings, MT newspaper.
California always called, however, and a longing to move back became a goal of reviving past roots in Escondido. In 1984, she settled in San Marcos, California all the while slowly developing a clientele for art glass and murals.
Today she is very busy with a full-time business, specializing in stained glass, murals, mosaics and hand stencils. She has completed major works for both commercial and residential purposes, everything being one-of-a-kind.
“A reason I am an artist is because when I hear back from my clients that my art work gives them so much endless pleasure, the reward is beyond monetary. For example, a stained glass job I finished two years ago for a doctor and his wife was their most treasured item in their newly and very expensive remodel. They said they would sit in that room and just watch the colors reflect and refract as the sun went down in the West over the ocean.”
“Art is the part of a person’s soul and without it our world would most certainly be lifeless and without personal expression of what God has loaned to us -- earth,” says the artist.
McConnell lives in Valley Center with her son and daughter, four llamas, a horse, two dogs and numerous barnyard animals where inspirations are never-ending.
At the moment her latest and largest glass mural can be seen (work in progress) at the Countryside Veterinarian Hospital on Cole Grade Road across from the library. This piece has taken six months to complete due to the complexity and the elements such as heat, cold and fires have disrupted the progress. It will be completed by Jan. 29, 2004. The design took several months to take shape and the technical aspects will take even longer. All glass is pre-cut at the artist’s home studio and then transferred to the site.
She painted another recent large-scale mural on two large bedroom walls at the Michael Crews home for he and Kelly’s daughter, Sky. Sky wanted mermaids, dolphins and some animated puffins to adorn her walls. Painting large-scale murals requires the artist to “feel” the landscape as if one could walk into a depicted scene and become part of the mural.
For example, the large oak tree McConnell painted at the VC History Museum created a magical essence as the paint is transparent when painted on glass windows.
She has many portfolios filled with photos of unusual and artistic creations she has joyfully produced for clients throughout the United States for the last 25 years. Contact “The Artistic Touch” Studio at (760) 751-2329.
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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