Local election returns this week indicate that Valley Center people want a change, both on the VC planning group and the school board.
What direction that change should be was uncertain from the returns, which had still not been completely counted by the Registrar of Voters.
Voters also turned down, for the third time, an attempt by the VC Parks & Rec. district to get a permanent revenue stream along with the ability to buy more pieces of land around town for parks.
School Board
The election is too close to call for one seat on the school board, however, challenger Don Martin won a convincing first place with 3089, easily gaining one of the two seats up for grabs. The second seat is still uncertain although less so as the votes continue to be counted, with incumbent Wendy Zeugschmidt having 2790 votes to 2668 for Mike Morasco, with 2486 for incumbent Patrick Simpson and 881 for Dennis White.
The contest between Zeugschmidt, who is the current board president and Morasco, who served on the Escondido High School board several years ago, may be seen as a grudge match (see Mrs. Zeugschmidt’s letter, this week).
Planning Group
The planning group election offered mixed messages galore.
The raw results are as follows (top eight vote getters are in bold): Leon Schwartz, 2500; Elaine Nolan, 2497; Craig Johnson, 2336; Andy Washburn, 2331; Keith Simpson, 2239; Kristine Preston, 2161; Deborah Hofler, 2157; Frank Shoemaker, 2009; Don Richards, 1930; Sandy Smith, 1871; Jon Vick, 1820; Terry Van Koughnett, 1769; Richard Rudolf, 1698; Oliver Smith, 1695; Roger Ingraham, 1666; Carol Prime, 1637.
First of all was Leon Schwartz, businessman and landlord to several local businesses, but also newly installed president of the Optimist Club. Schwartz’s stated philosophy is staunchly pro-property rights.
Separated from the top spot by just three votes is popular teacher Elaine Nolan, who died a week and a half ago.
Third is Craig Johnson, who served on the planning group a decade ago as chairman, having won as part of the “Slate of Eight” of anti-sewer candidates.
This time he also ran as part of a slate (although he steadfastly refused to characterize it as such) that included Richards, Rudolf, Prime, Ingraham, Vick, and Preston. Although he won convincingly, his coattails only pulled Preston into the winner’s column.
Preston’s election, coming as it did a year after she was appointed by the planning group, only to have her appointment vetoed by Supervisor Bill Horn, could be seen as a rebuke to the supervisor by local voters. Note: Supervisors have no say whether elected planners take office.
Planning Group Chairman Sandy Smith, who has led the planning group during the previous year’s deliberations on GP2020, was not returned to office.
How to Fill Vacancy?
The election of Elaine Nolan, along with the fact that she has passed away, does not mean that the next available candidate gets the job. County Policy I-1, which governs planning group activities, states that in the event of a vacancy that the next available vote getter will get the job, unless the planning group’s bylines specify otherwise.
VC planning group’s bylaws, adopted this year, do state that vacancies will be filled by choosing from among those who apply for the job. The planning group’s recommendation is then passed on to Supervisor Bill Horn’s office, who in most cases (although not all) ratifies the planning group’s recommendation.
VC Municipal Water District Board
Incumbent Chuck Stone won in Valley Center Municipal Water District Board, Div. 4 with 779 votes compared to 674 for challenger Doug J. Ohara.
Parks & Rec. Board
Two seats were open on the VC parks & rec. board. Tom Litchfield was the highest vote getter with 2551; incumbent John M. Scibilia had 2520 with Earl Brown, 2071.
No on Prop. CC
The voters failed to pass Prop. CC, which would have raised taxes per parcel by $19/year.
The vote was 3480 yes (57.10%) and 2615 No (42.90%). Two thirds was required to pass.
Parks and Rec. Gen. Mgr. Joyce Johnson thanked the Yes on Prop. CC volunteers, led by Morgan Rogers.
“Because of all of you we really did have a great campaign. We couldn't have done anything more than we did. It was very professional and a lot of your time and effort went into it.
Noting that quite a few votes remained to be counted, Mrs. Johnson observed, “If we do finally lose, It was still a great effort. . . . Morgan, of course we’re disappointed we didn’t do better. However, you stepped up to the plate and did all that you could. You should be proud of yourself and your committee. VCPRD is grateful to all of you.”
Rogers commented, “This is very disappointing considering the needs of our Parks & Recreation and the merits of Prop CC. Perhaps we will try again in 2006. We put in a great effort to inform the community and I don't know what else we could have done. I believe we are fighting against a growing conservative philosophy in this country of ‘no new taxes’ that has extended to our local level. This is very unfortunate since Prop CC, while still a tax, would have been a great investment in our community.
“Our Parks & Recreation District still needs our support to meet their current and growing needs. Please reflect on our efforts and think about how we might do things differently should we take up this effort again in the future. My first thought is that we needed to start even sooner than we did,” Rogers said.
Local artist and WWII veteran Don Schloat is one of the war veterans honored at a month long exhibit at the Escondido Art Assn.
Schloat’s work of art is a grim one, a statue entitled Palawan POW: Decapitation. It commemorates the December 1944 Palawan massacre. The statue on display is a painted clay statue that was used as the model for a larger bronze that is now on display at the Bataan Memorial Military Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Schloat, himself a POW for three and half years in the Phillipines, personally knew many of the men who were killed in the Palawan massacre. The incident occurred 60 years ago next month.
The Palawan massacre was the spark that caused the U.S. Army to mount a daring raid behind enemy lines in January, 1945, to rescue over 500 POWs, the last survivors of the Bataan Death March.
The current exhibit at the Escondido Art Assn. has the look and feel of a war museum, what with its collection of photos, drawings and paintings, most of them from the WWII era, although with representations from most of America’s recent combat missions.
The exhibit was open to anyone who wanted to share their experiences serving their country.
The exhibit will continue until Nov. 27. A reception will be held No.v 13, 4-7 p.m. A short introduction will be followed by dinner.
The gallery is located at 121 W. Grant Ave., Escondido. Call 489-0338.
Elaine Nolan was a big woman. Most of it was heart.
When she unexpectedly died on Oct. 28 at the age of 56, she left three children that she had successfully raised, and an aged mother that those children have sworn to stay together to care for. She also left hundreds of surrogate “children” students, many of them “at risk” and adults who had decided to go back to school to finish their high school diplomas.
She also left many people, including a number who had only known her a few months, yet who described her as “one of my best friends,” or even “my best friend.”
Many of those whose hearts were touched by her life during her short four-year career teaching at the Valley Center Adult School and Oak Glen High School, a few hundred anyway, showed up Saturday for her funeral. This demonstrated just how much her no nonsense attitude to life, her positive can do way of looking at things, had inspired them to find the best in themselves.
Elaine Nolan did not have an easy time of it. She raised her two daughters, Shannon and Molly, and son, Kevin, pretty much by herself. These children Craig Adams, a close friend and fellow teacher who spoke at her funeral described as, “some of the best students I have ever known.”
She also cared for her mother Irene pretty much by herself, and later with the help of her children. But she never gave in and she never gave up.
Her favorite poem, The Victor, by C.W. Longenecker, expressed her view of life:
If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don’t.
If you like to win but think you can’t,
it’s almost a cinch you won’t.
If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost.
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow’s will.
It’s all in the state of mind.
If you think you are outclassed, you are.
You’ve got to think high to rise.
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
you can ever win a prize.
Life’s battles don’t always go
to the stronger or faster man.
But sooner or later, the man who wins
is the man who thinks he can.
Late in life she decided that she wanted to be a teacher. If teachers are people who pass on their life’s experiences, then Elaine was eminently qualified.
She had done lots of things. She worked in Disneyland as a young woman, and delighted to relay how she was one of the first people to ride on the Pirates of the Caribbean. Typical of her self-deprecating kind of humor, the boat on that first ride sank. She owned a liquor store. She raised snails. You know, the kind that snooty, gastronomical types dip in butter and garlic and call escargot. She worked for several years as the receptionist at The Roadrunner.
In the 2000 census she ventured out into Valley Center’s hinterland to locate some of the hard to find residents.
She had a degree in English literature, and while it never seemed to have much to do with the jobs that she held, it certainly gave her an unique perspective on life— As well as an eloquent way of putting things. But plain speaking was at the heart of her eloquence.
As one of her closest friends, who spoke at her funeral Saturday put it, (and put the somber crowd into stitches), “she called a turd a turd.”
That ability came in handy when she began teaching students that are sometimes called “at risk,” and adults looking for a second chance.
She dealt with these often cynical, rough and hardened kids with a humor and toughness that won their grudging respect. Because she was tough herself they didn’t intimidate her. She wouldn’t give them an inch if they tried to take advantage of her. Sometimes her method of expressing herself departed from the politically correct. That was sometimes needed to get their attention. But they knew that she cared and would always go the extra mile for them.
Often when they had been absent from class, she would get on the phone and advise: “Get your butt back here!”
She always encouraged people to work hard for what they wanted to do. Adams related how supportive she was of his decision to leave a successful business career to pursue something he had always wanted to do: be a high school teacher.
“She is the one who gave me courage to go for my teaching credential stating, ‘It would be an awful waste of talent if you didn't,’ ” he recalled.
She relied on that plain spoken honesty and rock solid foundation in her faith the last few years of her life, when she went to the hospital so many times that she almost looked upon it as an annual event.
Each time visitors would find her in the hospital room they would be greeted by a wide sunny smile, her rumbling falstaffian laugh and a hearty, “Howdy stranger,” or something equally upbeat.
She was a woman of occasionally unexpected enthusiasms. Many friends were flabbergasted to discover that she had been working on getting her pilot’s license when she died. Another of her enthusiasms was “road trips,” particularly to Oregon where she was from. She was born in Tillamook on April 10, 1948.
She also enjoyed painting, gardening and music.
She fought against a weight problem that inexorably encroached upon her quality of life. Yet, even so, her death was a total shock to those who knew her.
One of the last things that she did in life was to run for political office, for the VC planning group.
As one friend observed, “she probably would have thought it was a hoot that she got more votes than anyone else.”
Many voters who knew her personally, when they were in the voting booth, and knew that she had died, decided to “give one for Elaine.” At last count she had over 2000 votes.
And, as that same person observed, “she probably would have really shaken up that bunch if she had taken office.”
* * *
Services were held Saturday at McLeod Mortuary Chapel, and, as stated, attended by hundreds. Officiating was the Rev. Richard Huls.
Survivors include mother, Irene Baumgartner, of VC, son, Kevin Nolan, of VC; daughters, Shannon and Molly Nolan, of VC and sister Marilyn (and husband, Rex) Shirk of Santa Monica.
A memorial fund for the Nolan children has been set up c/o Ohara’s Pub, 150 N. Glasell, Orange, CA 92866. Craig Adams at VC High School is also collecting donations and forwarding them to the children.
Owners of property in the Country Town take note: You have until Dec. 1 to comment on changes in density and land use being proposed by the County for the center of town.
Large maps for these proposals have been released and are available at the Valley Center Room at the library. They are detailed enough that you should be able to identify your parcel.
The County Dept. of Planning & Land Use and the VC Planning Group at Saturday’s workshop continued to focus on refining the Villages area, taking the study down to the parcel level.
This is all part of the ongoing General Plan 2020 process, which had earlier designated land use densities for the outlying parts of Valley Center. The Villages, which include both nodes of the existing Country Town, was saved until the end of the process.
The planners at Saturday’s workshop also refined the designations for commercial/industrial use outside of the village areas.
If, after reviewing the map, you would like to request a change to your parcel, submit your request to Bob Citrano at 5201 Ruffin Road, Suite B, San Diego, CA 92123-1666 or email him at robert.citrano@sdcounty.ca.gov . Your request must be received no later than Dec. 1 and should include your name, the parcel’s APN, and your requested designation.
According to Planning Group Chairman Sandy Smith, the VCCPG GP 2020 Subcommittee will meet on Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. in the Middle School to finish discussions and recommendations of all commercial / industrial designations outside of the Village boundaries.
Another meeting has been scheduled for December 8 at 7 p.m., location to be announced, to begin reviewing the requests for changes within the Village boundaries.
The full Planning Group is scheduled to finalize the map at a special meeting in January 2005.
The Valley Roadrunner
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Tel. 760.749.1112 Fax 760.749.1688
Website: www.valleycenter.com
Email: editor@valleycenter.com
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