January 5, 2005 - Top Stories
This year’s Valley Center Citizen of the Year is Julie Stroh, a tireless worker and organizer whose passion is the high school, and making things better for the kids there.
“Everyone has their own mission field. Mine is the high school,” says Mrs. Stroh. “Whether it’s dance, drama, or athletics, or whatever extracurricular activities, helping programs run smoothly is what I like to do.”
That, of course, is the mission of the Valley Center High School Foundation, whose presidency this year Mrs. Stroh shares with Bob Polito.
When she learned she had been named Citizen of the Year by the Chamber, she said,
“I was overwhelmed. I thought, ‘Why me?’ I was shocked. Of course, it’s a great honor.”
She has been on the Foundation since its inception.
“The Foundation’s main focus has always been the financial support of the different programs, groups, clubs, even classroom programs,” says Mrs. Stroh.
The Foundation raises money through its golf tournament in the fall, the Jaguar Auction in April and other events such as sock hops. Of these, the biggest is the auction, which is also the biggest fund-raiser of the year in VC.
Mrs. Stroh is both a hands-on worker and a good delegator.
She realizes that she is working with some very capable people. “They are an integral part of the programs and ideas and they make them successful,” she says.
“You have to have people that you know can do their part and get their job done,” she says. “There are a few of those people who have just been a blessing to work with.”
When the high school first started, there were many “firsts” to be done, such as the first grad night, the first Homecoming and the fire bonfire.
Mrs. Stroh jumped in with both feet. She organized the first bonfire and the first grad night as well as the first ASB dances.
At first, it was because she had children in high school. However, her last boy, Trent, graduated in 2002. Her older boy, Troy, graduated in 2000.
“I continue to feel a passion, even though I don’t have kids in the school,” she says. “It’s a genuine passion, not just because of my kids.”
She adds, “You kind of establish a relationship. I feel that to be involved to the extent I was, and just drop it and bow out, would be wrong. We are getting capable people taking over, but there’s still a huge need there.
“I feel that high school is an important part of their life, and they have one chance to go through it. If you can make it enjoyable that helps the youth of of our future and the people who will later take care of us.”
Maybe she feels that way because she had such a good time in high school.
“I had a great time in high school,” she says. “I loved my years. They were good years. I want to be there to make sure that kids are treated fairly and be there to stick up for them.”
It has been estimated that Mrs. Stroh has been involved in raising $1 million over the years.
Mrs. Stroh was a high school P.E. teacher at San Pasqual High School for several years. She coached high school swimming and track in the late 1970s. She also taught a Sunday School class for over 20 years.
She was involved with the Teacher Parent Club when her kids were small. She served as vice president and organized fund-raisers such as the Beebuzzathon, See’s Candy drive, gift wrap sale, and the Washington DC trip.
She also helped organize the annual TPC breakfasts and lunches for the teachers.
“Being a former teacher I know what a treat it is to have a nice meal prepared, to sit back and be able to visit,” she says.
At the high school she still helps with athletics as a support person. She also organizes and obtains ads for the printed football program each fall.
She helps coach Mike Cummings with his invitational track meet in the spring.
People who don’t know Julie Stroh personally may know of her gourmet restaurant on wheels, Bistroh’s, run by her and her husband, Bryan.
They got into the restaurant and catering business after doing catering for a few friends’ weddings.
“Bryan and our boys are a huge support to me,” she says.
A couple of years ago Mrs. Stroh had an experience, that, she says, “enlightened me on service.”
Her father had a stroke. She and her husband and sons took care of him until he died on Jan. 4, 2003.
“We were all there. Taking care of him taught me about service on a real personal level, because it’s syour father. That took me into a whole different realization about values in life and how important family is.”
When 9/11 happened, Mrs. Stroh felt the need to help someone.
She called a local fire captain and got the name of several firefighter families in New York City who had lost husbands. She and her family took up a contribution and sent money to help a family that had four children.
It was, she said, “a neat thing to be able to help an actual family impacted by 9/11. It has been a neat, rewarding experience.”
The Stroh family has also helped several local fire survivor families rebuild. Bryan has helped clear burned land and orchestrated demolition work to get several families back on track in rebuilding.
After 35 &1/2 years with the Valley Center MWD, Charles C. Dacus, Director of Field Operations and Facilities, will end a distinguished career at the district and in the California Water Community, by retiring on Friday, Jan. 21.
Dacus is one of the more recognizable public figures in Valley Center, tall and lanky and usually wearing a wide-brimmed white cowboy hat.
Following a five-year stint in the USMC ending in 1966, Dacus eventually found his way to the District in July of 1969, writing on his application that he “wished to get a job with a steady future.”
His first job was as an Equipment Serviceman I, which he freely admits meant that he cut a lot of weeds around reservoirs. Promoted to Field Inspector in 1973, Valve Tech in 1976, Construction Foremen in 1977, he was ultimately appointed Field Superintendent by then Gen. Mgr., John Hennigar in 1978.
When he took over operations, about 20 people were working under him. Today his department has 46 people, 2/3 of the total district staff.
Dacus’s almost meteoric rise was tied to many job performance references to hard work and leadership. But also at play was his commitment to training and education. Within a year after coming to the District, he had attended a 30-week course and received a certificate in Water Treatment and Quality Control in 1970, a Certificate in Supervision from Palomar College in 1973, and an AA Degree also from Palomar in 1977.
Over his career he attended almost 50 individual seminars and training programs on topics ranging from Trench Shoring, to Confined Spaces, to Peace Officer Training to Counter Terrorism in the Water and Wastewater Industry.
While pursuing his own professional development, he also assisted many others throughout the water community with their development.
He has served as an Advisor to the Palomar College Water Wastewater Program from 1989, served on a committee to the California Department of Health Services in developing the current Water and Wastewater Operator Certification Program, and developed the District's training and certification program which has been modeled throughout the water community.
Dacus is also noted for his industry leadership in workplace safety. He was recognized in 1988 by the ACWA -JPIA for the VCMWD Safety Center, and was later appointed to the ACWA-JPIA Safety Council in 1989. As the District's Safety Officer, he has fostered a safety environment which has resulted in 2,464 consecutive days without a "lost -time accident," and many awards and recognition for the District and its employees.
Paralleling his work in the water/wastewater industry, was and is his love for being a Cowboy. He and wife Robyn have been involved in many equestrian pursuits over the years.
They live in Temecula, where they have a horse training business, the Pen 3 Ranch. They find time to compete in team roping, team penning and ranch sorting. He has several trophies to prove his proficiency in these events.
In 1994, they were the American Team Pinning Association Champions. At one time they owned the Horse of the Year for the American Quarter Horse Assn. Chuck has also worked as Rodeo Announcer and Auctioneer, serving many local and statewide charity events.
Commenting about Dacus, Arant told The Roadrunner. “Let’s just say that in over 35 years of loyal service, Chuck made a deep mark on the District and the California water and wastewater community. He will be missed in many ways, and he leaves very large shoes, no, that would be boots, to fill.”
Chuck and his wife, Robyn, will be retiring to Texas.
You’ve heard the saying, “Fool’s names and fool’s faces, are often found in public places.”
Well, I’m here to present to you an entirely different category of people, or, as we in the journalism trade like to call them: “newsmakers.”
These people are doers. They are movers and shakers. They accomplish things. They not only talk the talk, they walk the walk.
Perhaps you’re not used to thinking of your friends and neighbors, or even yourself as potential “newsmakers” but in a town this size, nearly anyone could qualify.
This year The Roadrunner decided to inaugurate the Newsmaker Award. It goes to the person who has been in the news and, or, has accomplished a great deal for the community during the year 2004.
Think of it as being similar to Time’s Person of the Year Award.
It differs from the Chamber’s Citizen of the Year in that it recognizes a person for his or her contributions during the past year, and includes a wider umbrella of activities.
Nominations closed Dec. 31, 2004. The following nominees are being considered for Newsmaker of the Year. The winner will be announced in next week’s paper. The winner will be chosen by the staff and management of The Roadrunner.
Nominees are:
Michelle Schied, Diane Conaway, Terry & Mimi Van Koughnett, for their work helping fire survivors back into housing and rebuilding their lives.
Sherman Finger, for his successful efforts to raise money for the high school theater.
Mackenzie Cayford, for carrying out her role as the first Valley Center Rodeo Queen with aplomb.
Herb Schaffer, for his attempts to bring a shopping center to Valley Center.
Sandy Smith, Larry Glavinic and Lael Montogmery for their work on the VC planning group and General Plan 2020.
The VCHS Jaguars football team, for their enormously successful season.
Coach Rob Gilster of the championship Jaguars.
The owners of Jag’s Diner, for making the opening of a new restaurant a community event.
Hector Carrillo, whose kick won the CIF Division Championship.
We continue with our review of 2004.
APRIL
The water board and the VC parks board agreed to a lease that would let the parks district develop Turner Lake, the water district’s white elephant reservoir.
Under considerable pressure from the community, the County Dept. of Public Works agreed to make the K-rail divider on the “luge” part of Valley Center Road permanent.
Thomas Ray Barron, a lifelong Vista resident, was testing his luck at Valley View casino Wednesday when he slid a $20 bill into a Wheel of Fortune dollar slot machine and won a $1,608,985 jackpot.
It took a year of planning, but Valley Center resident Michael Duplessis donned a real suit of armor and mounted an armored charger to propose to his lady love, Heather Wasson.
MAY
Mackenzie Cayford was crowned Valley Center’s first ever Rodeo Queen.
The Jazz at the Park fund-raiser at Pikake Gardens brought out nearly 200 guests and raised about $20,550 for the high school theater.
The first blasting on the Valley Center Road widening project began.
Valley Center’s special districts were facing losing substantial revenues from their property taxes in order to bail out the politicians in Sacramento.
Workers began laying the foundation for Fat Ivor’s restaurant to rise from the ashes of a fire that destroyed the landmark.
Weather forecasters announced cautiously that there were indications that an “El Niño” weather phenomenon, which usually means heavier than normal rainfall for San Diego County, may be forming later in the summer of 2004 in the southern Pacific Ocean (turned out later that they were right!).
Valley Center’s annual celebration of Western Days went off without a hitch, as usual. Parade grand marshals were VC firefighter Pat Taylor, Allyson Roach a survivor of the Paradise fire, and Sheriff’s deputy Alvin Vasquez.
JUNE
Mission San Antonio de Pala dedicated a new $2 million building at the mission’s annual Corpus Christi fiesta.
The additional space will help Pala Mission, the last remaining California Mission that still operates as it was built to do (including operating a mission school), continue to serve its parishioners.
The VC planning group at a special meeting blocked efforts to cut back on the size of the Village Square shopping center by Weston. A 5-6 vote of the 12 person board showed there was no majority support on the board for limiting the center to 100,000 sq. feet.
Jim & Gwen Crawshaw and partner Rick Peterson prepared to see their dream of a diner that caters to fans of the high school Jaguars taking shape before their eyes. The soon-to-open diner planned to serve traditional American fare, including such old time favorites as pizza, burgers and hot dogs.
Lifelong VC resident Brandon Cesmat was honored with San Diego’s highest book award for his love song to his native Southern California. He won the San Diego Book Award for poetry for his book of poetry, Driven Into the Shade.
Ten VCHS seniors missed walking in their class’s graduation ceremony because they took part in a prank that, in part, destroyed several trees on the high school. They were also required to pay for having the trees restored and the damages repaired.
Governor Schwarzenegger wore a ceremonial blanket as he signed ground-breaking new compacts with five state gaming tribes including two from this area, Pala and Pauma. The new agreements removed the 2,000 slot machine limits for those tribes. In return, the Indians financed a bond that will give $1 billion to the state’s transportation budget.
Spurred by memories of the previous year’s fire deveastation, the VC Fire Protection District board moved steadily towards adopting a weed abatement ordinance
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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