January 26, 2005 - Top Stories
The California Highway Patrol has been given a grant of about $200,000 to cut down on DUI related deaths and injuries on Valley Center Road.
The effort has been dubbed the Valley Center Corridor Safety Project.
The one time federal grant is for calendar year 2005. It includes $40,000 for allied agencies, such as the Escondido Police Dept.
Expect to see signs going up along VC Road informing motorists that increased enforcement is happening. Expect to see DUI inspection checkpoints set up along VC Road.
A kick-off of this effort, complete with a press conference and a bevy of local appointed and elected officials, will occur on Feb. 9, 11 a.m., at a location to be announced.
Since the opening of several casinos in the area, traffic has increased on Valley Center Road.
According to Capt. Dave Webb, who commands all CHP units in the Oceanside Area (which includes VC, Pauma and Palomar Mountain), “Once the casinos started opening, we noticed a huge increase in the traffic.”
Webb led the first meeting of the Valley Center Corridor Project Task Force, which met Friday at Harrah’s Casino.
Webb noted that the state’s CHP forces are still at the same level that they were in 1982.
In 2001, the number of deaths related to driving under the influence were three, with eight injuries. In 2002, there was one fatality and 13 DUI related injuries. In 2003 there were no fatalities, but 11 DUI related injuries.
The goal is to cut that number by some percentage (the exact percentage has not yet been determined). The goal is not more arrests, but an actual decrease in DUI-related injuries and deaths.
A previous effort cut the number of DUI-related deaths and injuries on the I-5 corridor by 35%. Studies show that one year efforts such as this have a residual effect for several years. Authorities then rely on local officials and the public to continue efforts to keep the DUI figures down.
During the next 12 months the CHP, in cooperation with many other agencies will use a variety of strategies to fight DUI, including more enforcement, more inspections, increased public awareness and education.
The project’s budget includes an additional 2,860 of overtime hours for officers and 157 overtime hours for sergeants.
Although the primary focus of the effort is Valley Center Road, there will be some “spillover” onto Hwy 76. That two lane road has also seen traffic double or triple in the last few years. Oceanside took over patrolling Hwy 76 from the Temecula CHP office 18 months ago.
Commenting on the numbers of DUIs on VC Road, Webb observed, “Although the raw numbers aren’t real high out here, it is high for the number of cars that are driving.”
There are about 23,000 daily trips on VC Road each day. That number is expected to go up to 43,000 a day.
Members of the task force include representatives from the VC Sheriff’s substation, Escondido Police Dept., Supervisor Bill Horn’s office, San Diego County Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), The Roadrunner, the County’s Traffic Advisory Committee, VC-P Unified School District, Al Stehly, a local grower, Larry Glavinic of the VC Planning Group, CHP Officer Tom Kerns, public information officer; and CHP Officer George Salas. There were also representatives of Harrah’s Casino.
The task force plans to hold three more quarterly meetings.
According to Salas, about 25% of the drivers stopped in this area are driving unregistered vehicles. He said that one of the best recent laws that went into effect had given the CHP the authority to impound these vehicles.
Sgt. Ed Wells, representing the Sheriff’s Dept., said that most of the DUI arrests his officers make are of out-of-towners.
Any public awareness campaign will have to include information targeted towards visitors, he said.
During Friday’s meeting there was discussion of the efforts that Harrah’s makes to cut down on DUIs by giving free non-alcoholic drinks and the chance to win prizes to designated drivers.
The task force is anxious to hear your views on what should be done to cut down on DUIs in our area. Contact Tom Kerns, at 757-1675 or email him at tkerns@chp.ca.gov
The Roach family has requested that Congressman Darrell Issa (R-49th District) help them in getting a federal Grand Jury to look into the Paradise Fire that cost them one daughter and extensively burned another.
In the letter the Roaches wrote: “The ongoing investigation is dragging on, and we believe that we are still in danger from the arsonist who is still running free on the Rincon Reservation, and by the massive build-up of facilities on the reservation without adequate fire protection.
“We are asking you as our elected federal representative , to call for the formation of a federal grand jury to investigate both of these issues, and to help all of our neighbors here around the Rincon Reservation get some answers and some closure to this disaster, and hopefully prevent a future problem with the arson fires coming from Rincon.”
According to John Roach, the congressman’s response was quick.
“He called me back the next day and we spent 20 minutes on the phone,” Roach told The Roadrunner. “He was very receptive.”
According to Roach, Issa said he would request an official report on the progress of the investigation by the California Dept. of Forestry.
Frederick Hill, the congressman’s press secretary, told The Roadrunner, “Mr. Roach and Congressman Issa did have a conversation and our office has agreed to open up a case file. We are researching into how we can best help.”
The family has so far been unsuccessful in suing either the Rincon tribe, where the fire began, or Harrah’s Entertainment, which, the Roaches contend, is partially responsible for the tribe not having an adequate fire department at the time of the fire.
A judge ruled that the tribe cannot be sued because it has sovereign immunity, such as a state or the federal government possess. Such immunity can only be waived if the tribe chooses to do so.
“We’re still talking with Rincon,” said Roach. “There hasn’t been any positive progress.”
Their suit against Harrah’s in federal court was set aside, until, the judge said, they had exhausted all other avenues.
The advantage of an investigation by a federal grand jury is that it would have the power to subpoena tribal government members.
Many say that the name(s) of those who set the fire is an open secret in the Rincon community. Several months ago when Roach was a guest on the Rick Roberts radio show someone called in and mentioned a name that the person alleged was responsible for the blaze.
Meantime, Allyson, who was burned extensively over much of her body and required much reconstructive surgery and therapy, has returned to classes at Palomar College.
She’s taking two classes right now: American Indian studies and U.S. History. She wants to be a Spanish interpreter, according to her dad.
Somewhere in Valley Center is the labor of love of VC resident Deborah Reeves-Stewart, who recently published the book at her own expense of images that she wants to share.
The book adopts the unusual format of a scrapbook. According to Reeves-Stewart, “This is a scrapbook celebrating Valley Center. Largely photographic in nature, I also included miscellaneous articles and bits of information that relate to the history of, and life in Valley Center.
“As one flips through these pages, there will be photos of the familiar (Perhaps even your own street sign, home or garden) and the photos that invite the viewer to identify where, as in “Somewhere in Valley Center.”
Many of you will recall that Reeves-Stewart was the widow of Steve Reeves, the famous star of the “Sand & Sandal” epics of the 1950s and 60s, where he played heroes such as Hercules and Samson. The scrapbook includes a few pictures of the late star, but not many.
It’s mainly a tribute to “the place”
As she writes, “If you’re not familiar with our town, this group of images, clippings, facts and points of interest may be helpful.If you know and love Valley Center already, I hope you find pleasure in the local scenes, postcards, businesses, photos of our local flora and fauna, etc. that I assembled and now share.”
She adds, “Before we change our town and area more than it’s already changed, I wanted to record part of Valley Center, now.”
The book is available at Terry’s Hay & Grain and at the VC History Museum.
Or you can contact Deborah Reeves-Stewart at:
9960 W. Lilac Road,
Escondido, CA 92026-5301 or call her at 751-1105.
It is published by Regent Press of Oakland, California.
In a corner of Mother’s Kitchen, a rustic restaurant on top of Palomar Mountain, there’s a flag folded inside a container and mounted in a place of honor.
The flag is a gift from a big burly, tough U.S. Marine sergeant who is described by one of the waitresses at the cafe as “a teddy bear.”
The flag was carried into battle in Iraq by Staff Sgt. Eric Nolan, USMC, during his last tour of duty, which ended in October. He expects to return for another six month tour in the near future.
He presented the flag to the restaurant as a gesture of gratitude to them for sending boxes of their delicious cookies to Sgt. Nolan and his buddies while they were stationed in Baghdad.
Before his first posting to the Middle East Nolan, who is a frequent motorcycle rider on the Palomar Mountain grade, became a regular visitor to the restaurant.
He mentioned that he was going to be going to Iraq, and they asked him what they could do for him.
“Send some of those wonderful cookies!” was his immediate response. They sent over a dozen boxes of cookies and “care packages” that included other goodies and letters from folks in the areas.
Sgt. Nolan carried the flag in his pack and had it certified by his commanding officer as having been on a mission. Nolan’s unit, which he said he’d prefer not to mention, routinely carries out house to house searches for insurgents.
Such gifts are very welcome to the soldiers, said Nolan. “A lot of the young marines don’t have families, so when something like this is sent to them, it’s very uplifting.”
Nolan, who is not a career military man, had served in the Marines before the Iraq war and had gotten out. When he became convinced that the U.S. would soon be in a war again with Iraq, he joined so he could be part of it.
“It’s amazing what we are doing over there,” he said. “We are getting food, water, medical treatment and medicine to people who haven’t had such things in thirty years.”
He describes the situation there as being “like the Wild West,” and says that while there are a lot of people who will want to participate in the election, that there will be many who will be prevented by force from doing so.”
You can see Sgt. Nolan on almost any good weekend on the Mountain when dozens of “Ninja riders” pit their skills against the twists and curves of the South and East grades. He estimates that about 25% of those riding their bikes up and down the mountain are currently in the military and a lot of the riders used to be.
The waitress at Mother’s Kitchen, Anandamayi, said, “He’s is obviously tough, but he is such a sweetheart. He brings along a truck so that he can help the other guys who break down.” She grinned at him. “Look how red he’s getting! He’s really kind. It has made a lot of us change our minds about military people.”
Nolan wishes that the media that covers the Iraq war would change its collective minds about military people. He supports the war: “What I’m doing is just and right.”
He said he has seen incidents where Marines killed insurgents in a pitched battle turned into a “military commits atrocities” story 12 hours later by CNN.
“If you don’t support the agenda of the military, that’s fine, but don’t turn your back on the eighteen year old who joined the military for four years to escape a dead end way of life or came from an abusive home,” he said.
He added, “The guys you see running down the street of Fallujah are eighteen and twenty year olds. They are the heroes. They are doing the things we see heroes do in the movies.”
The Valley Roadrunner
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Website: www.valleycenter.com
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