May 25, 2005 - Top Stories
By LISA SHARP
Welcome fellow cowboys and cowgirls to Valley Center’s Western Days 2005. This year you should expect good food, friendly faces, a parade to knock your socks off and a rodeo-ing good time. And hopefully nice weather as well.
So strap on your boots and chaps and grab your hat, its time to head to Western Days.
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Sunday
Last Sunday afternoon officially kicked off Western Days when Brenda Kline was elected Honorary Mayor in an event sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and Kiwanis Club, which also included a classic car show, the Turtle Drop and several Old West shoot-outs. Meanwhile, at Aerie Park the Vaqueros Old Timers Show was in full swing.
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Friday
Friday night, the rodeo will commence to the east of Community Hall. At 5 p.m. the gates open with vendors, food and exhibits. You can mill around until the Grand Entry at 7.
At 7:15 the rodeo begins, so take your seat and prepare for an evening of Mutton Bustin’, Calf Roping, Bulls (1st set), Women’s Breakaway, Chute Dogging, Team Roping, Rainbow Riders, Broncs, Barrels and the second set of Bulls.
If all that doesn’t leave you saddle sore, the Rodeo Dance begins at 8 p.m. Hillbilly Noise invites you to kick back, relax and maybe take a spin around the dance floor. Or you could try your chances on the mechanical bull. This year it is at the Community Center, to the east of the stage, and open to all ages.
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Saturday
Rise and shine cowpokes! The Rotary Club’s annual Western Days pancake breakfast runs from 7 – 10 a.m. Held in the parking lot of the Old Town Center, in front of the pharmacy and the video store, the menu includes pancakes, Armstrong eggs, sausage, orange juice and coffee.
Adults pay $6.50 and kiddos 3-7 are $5. People buying tickets in advance will be able to go directly into the food line. You can pick those tickets up at Wallace Hardware, A-1 Irrigation, Rancho Valley Realty and California Bank and Trust. Or they can be bought at the breakfast if you don’t mind the line.
From 9 a.m. to noon., Valley Center Road is closed for the parade, which runs from Cole Grade down to Lilac.
The Western Days parade starts at 10 a.m. Gather ‘round the parade route and watch the ‘Fun in the Country’ parade wind its way through town.
When it is over make your way over to the Community Center for the festival. Open from 10 a.m. to midnight, the festival boasts a variety of vendors, food, exhibits, music, dancing and a carnival. Trophies and ribbons for the parade will be presented at 1:30 p.m.
Entry into the festival is $3 on Saturday for ages 11 and up and free to all on Sunday. But if you are wearing a smashing Western Days t-shirt, which can be purchased for $10, you can walk in for free. T-shirts are available at Community Pharmacy, Jag’s Diner, Casa Reveles, Papa Bear’s, Wallace Lumber, Bear Valley Farm Supply or The Valley Roadrunner.
Parking for the festival is available at the new VC Municipal Water District property across from the Community Center. The price of $2 buys you a spot from Boy Scout Troop 673. Half of the proceeds go to the troop and the other half to the Chamber.
The Homesteaders 4-H club serves up pit barbecue at the VC Community Hall from 11:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. or until the food runs out. Tickets are available from any Homesteader 4-H member, adults for $8 and kids for $5.
While meandering through the festival buying food, hats and who knows what else, ? snap your fingers to the country sounds of The Ranch Rockers.
The Western Days dance begins at 6 p.m. and the music of The Working Cowboy Band will fill the air. This band will take you into the night with the traditional sounds of Honky Tonk and Texas Swing.
The rodeo takes place during the festival as well. Gates open at 2 p.m. with a VIP dinner starting at 3. Tickets are available for $10 at Terry’s Hay & Grain, Krueger Realty, Escondido Cowgirlz and Hawthorne Country Store. At the gate they are $12 and buckaroos under 5 are get in free. Tickets for the VIP dinner are $35.
The grand entry is 4 p.m. and the rodeo begins at 4:15.
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Sunday
To cure your aching feet and lack of sleep, get up and head down to the Community Center for the Lions Club breakfast beginning at 7 a.m. Menu includes pancakes, French toast, bacon, sausage and eggs. This all-you-can-eat affair costs $5 for adults and $3 for kids.
Afterwards, head back down to the festival to learn crafts like Native American basket weaving and spinning. Watch the local school kids perform from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and see the deputy sheriff’s dog demonstration.
The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with the upbeat musings of Moon Dance and The Joe Vegas Band.
At 6 p.m. we say goodbye to Western Days for another year. Pack back up your western wear for another 363 days and reminisce about the good times that were had.
Last week the Board of Supervisors voted to give commercial zoning to Bates Nut Farm, however county planners are still holding over the family business’s head the possibility of requiring special use permits.
The motion was made by Fifth District Supervisor Bill Horn as part of about four pages of motions regarding supervisor’s changes to General Plan 2020.
According to Horn’s office, the Bates family had asked for C-4 commercial zoning. Horn’s motion, which was approved by the board, directed planning staff to work with the property owners to come up with appropriate zoning for the area.
Whether that motion actually gives commercial zoning to Bates, or just asks county staff to work with Bates is unclear to some.
Sherrie Bates Ness is under the impression that it gives C-4 commercial zoning to the family business that has sold fruit and nuts and other products at its retail operation on Woods Valley Road for several decades.
Mrs. Ness told The Roadrunner on Friday that while the Bates family is happy to get the commercial zoning that it sought, and which county planning staffers opposed, that staff is still attempting to saddle the 40 year old business with requirements that it operate under a major use permit.
The permit would be required for some of the events that Bates annually and semi-annually puts on, such as its arts and craft fairs.
Being forced to apply for such permits to do what it has done for many years could be an onerous financial hardship on the family business, she said.
“We are absolutely delighted at the support that the community has given us on this issue,” said Mrs. Ness. People will often stop her on the street and ask what they can do to help, she said.
The votes were taken as part of the supervisors’ review of commercial and industrial land use for the Valley Center Community Plan.
The Bates family had asked for a commercial designation, although its operation is outside of the town center village, where the County and the VC planning group wants to keep commercial development.
Since 1975, Bates Nut Farm has operated under a Use Permit. When the Use Permit was issued, the property had an A70 (Limited Agriculture) zoning, although a portion of the property's zoning has since changed to C40 (Rural Commercial).
On Thursday Allen Lawson was in Sacramento, carrying out the duties of vice-chairman of CNIGA (California Nations Indian Gaming Assn.), and still legal chairman of the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians.
How is this possible, since he and two other officers of the tribe were recalled on Sunday, May 15?
The answer is that the legality of that recall and of the action that admitted 212 new members to the rolls is being questioned by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the ultimate authority on matters having to do with Indian tribes.
Meantime there’s a recall movement against the vice-chairman, Rudy Contreras, who was purportedly put in charge by the recall of Lawson.
It’s difficult to find out what is actually happening on the reservation because no one will officially talk about it.
Lawson, when asked Tuesday if things were back to normal and if he was back in his office, said he never left.
He added that he won’t comment on the internal politics of the tribe, which he said and his council feels are no one’s business but the tribe.
Jim Fletcher, Superintendent of the regional office of the BIA told The Roadrunner Wednesday that his office sent a letter to the San Pasqual Tribe questioning the legality of the recall election.
“In the interim we still recognize the existing council as the tribal government. Lawson is the legal leader until we can make a determination on the petition,” said Fletcher.
He added that the bureau had also determined that the tribe did not follow the tribal constitution at the April 10 meeting when it admitted 212 members.
The constituion requires that new members must be at least 1/8 ancestry of the tribe (not just 1/8 Indian, but 1/8 of that particular tribe) to be admitted.
Fletcher says that it has not yet been given a list of the new members, and has no way as yet of determining whether they were admitted to the tribe according to the rules.
The regional agency’s ruling is already being challenged to the BIA's Sacramento office, and from there it could be challenged to Washington D.C.
Of course, the politics of who is a member of the tribe is ultimately the politics of money and power. Whoever is a member is able to get benefits of the tribe, the most obvious being some of the profits from the casino that San Pasqual owns and operates: Valley View.
These sorts of disputes over who and who is not a member of the tribe are very common in Indian Country, especially among tribes that operate casinos.
One member of the tribe, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Roadrunner that the recall against Lawson had been a power play by a family that was trying to get more of its members on the rolls in order to take over the tribe.
Supervisor Bill Horn and Mary Anne Brown, whose family has sold a large piece of property that makes Hellhole Canyon Preserve complete, cut a ribbon Friday reopening the preserve.
The Valley Roadrunner
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Website: www.valleycenter.com
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