May 18, 2005 - Top Stories
House Speaker “Tip” O’Neill once famously said that “All politics is local.” Nowhere is that more true than on Indian reservations, where it might be added, “All politics is family.”
On Sunday in the climax to a battle about who and who is not a member of the tribe, the San Pasqual Indian Reservation voted to recall its longtime Chairman Allen Lawson, Secretary-Treasurer Angela Martinez-McNeal and Councilman Dave Toler.
The exact numbers of the election were not available to the press, although Jim Quisquis, who is in charge of the tribe’s enrollment and election committee, said that 181 tribal members were eligible to vote, and of that number, 150 voted. Voting occurred by secret ballot.
Quisquis, who heads the three member enrollment committee, commented, “I think it’s a perfect demonstration of the democratic process in our tribal government.”
On Monday Allen Lawson, who had been elected to two year terms since 1998 told The Roadrunner, “I have no comment on that,” when asked his reaction to the results of the election. However, the fact that he answered his phone “Chairman Lawson,” may indicate that he thinks the fight is not over.
Lawson and the others recalled had opposed the enrollment of 212 new members to the 300-member tribe and had (according to some news sources) refused to recognize the legality of the vote that ratified them as members. The vote occurred at a meeting of the tribal council on April 10 that the three recalled officers didn’t attend.
The recall happened after petitions were passed by three members of the tribe and signed by 30% of those eligible to vote and submitted to the Regional Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.l
From that point until the election on Sunday Lawson and the other two officers were placed on administrative leave and locked out of their offices.
Although Sheriff’s deputies were prepared for trouble at the reservation on Sunday, there were no problems, according to Sheriff’s Lt. Sean Gerrity, commander of the VC substation. There had been an incident a few days previous where some tribal members blocked an entrance to the tribal hall with a bulldozer.
Lawson has been one of the highest regarded tribal chairmen in the state. In December he was elected vice chairman of CNIGA (California Nations Indian Gaming Assn.), the 62 member association of gaming tribes.
Cara Ouellete, a freshman at VC High School, was crowned Rodeo Queen 2005 Friday night before an audience of about 150, many of them in Western style boots and hats.
Stepping over but never down, retiring queen Mackenzie Cayford, with her stunning handmade Western suede gown tightened at the waist with her 2004 winning silver Montana buckle, with crowning tiara and sash, led the ceremonies as she passed her crown to the new queen.
Miss Cayford opened with a speech summing up her incredible year as Rodeo Queen and how she has been transformed through it all.
She has broadened her horizons outside of Valley Center with her position and is currently running for another “reining” position in the Poway Rodeo.
Her two princesses, Emily Richardson and Rachael Kelly were also present with their 2004 sashes, buckles and cowgirl regalia.
Cara Ouellette wore a big smile when she was awarded the position of this year’s queen. The two runner-ups, Sara Stridsberg, Princess # 1 and Alexis Boles, Princess # 2, were equally enthusiastic.
The four judges were brought in from different areas of professionalism.
Dr. Steven Colburn, a large animal veterinarian, is a graduate of UC Davis who heads a large practice serving Fallbrook, Bonsall, San Marcos and Valley Center.
His clients include the famous Vessels Stallion Farm where he is in charge of veterinary reproduction.
Theresa Coelho is famous for her world champion horses from her TLC Ranch in Valley Center. She’s been showing horses since 1995 with two World Champion Appaloosa Stallions and Peppy San Badger/Doc mare. She combines her love of horses with her real estate business.
Janice Hochstetler is a licensed psychotherapist and a public speaker throughout the country in clinical psychology. She has guest lectured at Biola University, Talbot Theological Seminary and for the U.S. Army. She has been a coach in Valley Center with the 4-H and its many projects and is completing her third year as Band Booster President. She and her husband are avid horse people that enjoy trails, cow sorting and penning.
Jennifer Swenson is a professional horse trainer, teaching for the past 12 years. Flying J Paints is her training name. She specializes in reining, barrel racing, western pleasure, and novice / amateur teams. She attended college at Cal Poly Pomona, majoring in Veterinary Science, with an office in the college’s Rodeo Team. She also was Miss Norco Pro-Rodeo Queen in 1998 and competed in larger pageants afterwards. Currently a 4-H leader she enjoys all aspects of horsemanship.
The Valley Center Rodeo Queen Committee, composed of five local working women, like so many that are volunteering their time, were able to get a bit more creative in the second year.
Sponsorships were formed and fund-raisers that returned to the club enough capital to put on a great awards dinner and dance; complete with music by GIG Entertainment, a catered dinner and lots of prizes for the Queen & her Court.
This year’s queen won a $500 scholarship and a $1,000 bond, a custom-made Western Show Saddle and an inscribed silver Montana hat tiara and buckle. Other prizes included a basket of donated gifts from local businesses and flowers from Grand Avenue Florist.
Runner-ups were given $150 cash prizes and the winner in top sales, Cara, was also awarded a $200 cash prize.
The “Cake Lady,” Cindy Chapman provided a beautiful hand-made cake in a rodeo style.
The theme this year was pink and black.
The winning Court is looking forward to working their year together and making it fun.
By LISA SHARP
Hold onto your cowboy boots folks, this year’s Western Days Parade is going to leave you dancing in the streets.
The 2005 parade has several notable differences from last year: For the past few years Sandra Farmer held the reins as parade chairman.
She enlisted the volunteers and organized the entry forms, parade order and road closures. This year brings in some new blood. Terry Holmes accepted the nomination as the 2005 parade chairman.
Holmes is no amateur; she was a parade volunteer in 2003 and 2004. However, even with her experience coming in, she says she wasn’t prepared for this. “I’m a little bit blind [coming into this]. All of the volunteers [herself included] have full-time jobs so it has been hard. It has been a lot of coordination and phone calls and tracking,” said Holmes.
“But it has also been fun and I have really enjoyed the people helping this year. Anything I have ever asked them to do has been done.”
Another big difference is the addition of music. Last year the parade was without music altogether and Holmes decided that would have to change. “This year we are having the high school marching band and the jazz band,” she said.
Part of the reason the marching band did not participate last year was the cost of dry-cleaning their uniforms afterwards.
Thanks to Tom Bumgardner, Chamber of Commerce president, dry cleaning bills won’t be a factor this year. The Chamber is donating Western Days t-shirts for the band to wear in the parade.
This year’s parade theme is ‘Fun in the country’ and fun is exactly what it will be. Holmes was set on keeping the parade light hearted and the nomination of the grand marshal matched up with that.
“I thought it was neat that they picked [Rob Gilster] as grand marshal. The football team did really well this year and they deserve to be recognized,” said Holmes.
Since it is an honor for the team as well, Gilster will lead the way, followed by the football team, an ASB float and surrounded by the marching band. “We kind of wanted to keep it to the community this year and I wanted to keep Gilster and the football team all together,” she said.
The Sheriff’s Dept. is taking control of traffic this year instead of the California Highway Patrol. Holmes hopes this will help with traffic flow, as they will be more familiar with the area and able to give better directions.
As crunch time arrives and her head is swimming with line-ups and late entries, Holmes is excited that the end is in sight.
“I love Western Days and have really good memories from the past ones. We have been going since before you had someone in charge of the parade. We just joined in from the sides,” she said. “And once we hit Western days, the parade will be over and I can relax!”
* * *
The parade begins at 10 a.m. and usually lasts about two hours. Once it is over, make your way over to the Valley Center Community Center for the festivities. Trophies for the parade route will be awarded at 1:30 p.m. at VC Community Hall bandstand.
This year there will be parking, with assistance by the Boy Scouts in the field across from the community hall for $2.
Staging areas for the parade participants are as follows:
Gate 1 - (Equestrian) form at the Gang Ranch on Cole Grade Road.
Gate 2 - (Autos – classes 20-25) form at the County road Department on Cole Grade.
Gate 3 - (No equestrian, autos 1-19 and 26-29) form at the school bus road on the north side of Valley Center Road and East of Cole Grade.
Gate 4 - (Shriners) form on the south side of Cole Grade off Valley Center Road.
Road Closures
From 9 a.m. until the end of the parade the following is closed to traffic. Valley Center Road from Cole Grade to Lilac. All streets, private roads and driveways along the parade will be closed as well. Other major roads will experience soft closures such as Woods Valley, Betsworth, Lilac and Fruitvale.
Suggested Detours:
Northbound – Woods Valley east (right) from Valley Center Road to Lake Wohlford. Then north (left) on Lake Wohlford to Valley Center Road. West (left) on Valley Center Road to Mac Tan. Mac Tan north (right) to Fruitvale. Fruitvale west (left) to Cole Grade, north (right) on Cole Grade which will connect with Highway 76 in Pauma Valley.
Southbound – Cole Grade to Fruitvale, east (left) on Fruitvale to Mac Tan. Mac Tan south (right) to Valley Center Road. Valley Center Road east (left) to Lake Wohlford. Lake Wohlford south (right) to Woods Valley. Woods Valley right (right) to Valley Center Road or continue down Lake Wohlford past the Lake intersection of Valley Center Road at the bottom of the grade.
By KENNY GOLDBERG
It’s amazing what a little hard work, persistence, and political action will accomplish.
Just ask members of the Friends of Hellhole Canyon Open Space Preserve. The Valley Center group has just pulled off what many said couldn’t be done.
Through a combination of grants, contributions, and personal loans, the organization has purchased a 150-acre parcel of privately owned land called the Brown property. On Friday May 20th, the group will convey the land to San Diego County, so that Valley Center’s only open space preserve can be expanded.
“It hasn’t been an easy process,” said Rick Landavazo, president of Friends of Hellhole Canyon. His group negotiated a $50,000 option to buy the land four years ago, from a property owner who was interested in preserving it in its natural, undeveloped state.
Landavazo and other board members made personal loans to cover the initial costs. They thought they could get contributions from environmental foundations to help finance the deal, valued at $450,000. “But right after we made the commitment, the stock market crashed, and foundations were cutting back their budgets for land acquisitions,” he said.
So Landavazo and other board members had to get creative.
They got the San Diego Foundation to make a small donation to help the group develop a fund-raising campaign. They solicited contributions from the public. And then a committee of board members applied for several grants from government agencies.
One of the grants was approved for $230,000”, said Landavazo. “But then the governor eliminated the grant from the state budget.”
Friends of Hellhole and other conservancy groups launched a major letter writing campaign. The funds were ultimately restored.
San Diego County matched another grant and kicked in some extra funds, thanks to the support of Supervisor Bill Horn.
Horn will be on hand to celebrate the addition of the Brown property to the Hellhole Canyon Open Space Preserve this Friday. The public is invited to attend the festivities at the Preserve staging area. Things will get underway at 11 a.m..
Landavazo says Hellhole has always been a special place for hikers, horseback riders, and nature lovers. “Now it will be even better with the addition of 150 acres of pristine land.”
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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