October 5, 2005 - Top Stories
A serial arsonist responsible for at least six local fires in recent weeks apparently lit once match too many and was arrested on Sunday.
A 22 year old VC man has been arrested on charges of arson.
Shane Daniel McClung, 22, was arrested on six counts of arson on Sunday, Oct. 2, and booked into San Diego County Jail.
Bail was set at $300,000. Over the past two weeks the North county areas of Rincon, Pauma and Pala have suffered a series of arson-caused brush fires.
Because this is an ongoing investigation, no further information is available at this time, but residents in the area who feel they have information relevant to this case or any other case are encouraged to contact CDF Fire Capt. Tom McPherson at (619) 590-3122.
A preliminary case is being prepared for arraignment on Wednesday.
* * *
It has been obvious that an arsonist or arsonists was at work in recent fires.
The hands of an arsonist, possibly more than one, could be seen in several fires over the past several weeks in various locations near Hwy 76 ranging from Pala to Rincon.
“We do have somebody setting fires, and we’re not sure how many,” CDF Battalion Chief Mike Neill told The Roadrunner in an interview last week. He is the CDF law enforcement officer for the area.
He ticked off about a dozen blazes in the last few weeks that are regarded as “suspicious.” That is, that were possibly, even likely, set by people.
They are in three distinct areas, including the area around Adams Drive and Citricado, an area near Aqua Tibia, including the entrance to Wilderness Gardens Preserve and the Rincon Reservation.
“I don’t know if you want to call it a serial arsonist,” said Neill, who said that the fires seem to have been started using different methods.
Usually a serial arsonist will adopt a method of starting fires that he likes and stick with it, said Neill.
The most recent blaze, Thursday afternoon, on the Rincon Reservation near the All Tribes Charter School, on Rock Road. It started about 1:07 p.m.
Just about an hour later another fire started near Rincon Ranch Road & South Mesa.
Three CDF investigators are now at work on the mystery.
The list of suspicious fires, when and where they happened, is appended below.
The “suspicious” fires are as follows:
8/21, 2:28 p.m., South Grade & Hwy 76.
8/28, 4:11 p.m., Pauma Valley, on Agua Tibia Road.
8/28, 4:38 p.m., Wilderness Gardens & Hwy 76.
8/28, 4:45, Hampton Road off Hwy 76.
9/8, 1:31 p.m. Rincon Ranch Road & Mesa Drive.
9/10, 7:55 p.m., Pauma Village Drive.
9/12, 2:17 p.m. Rincon Reservation on Golsh Road.
9/14, 1:12 p.m. Golsh Road & Cemetery Road, Rincon Reservation.
9/18, 7:35 p.m., Golsh Road & Tribal Road.
9/28, 1:44 p.m, North Lilac and McCormick Lane.
There have been a total of 30 fires in these three areas, although only the ones shown above have been listed as “suspicious.”
According to Neill this is a “very unusual” number of fires.
No Paradise Fire Connection
The first thing that might occur to many people is: It’s the Paradise Fires arsonist again!
However, Neill says that they doubt it is the same person.
He noted that the CDF has not closed the books on the Paradise Fire.
It has been stated by many people over the last two years that the Paradise Fire arsonist or arsonists are people who are commonly known on the reservation.
Neill said that is true. “There is an individual or two individuals that we suspect but can’t conclusively put at the scene.”
He noted that one report is untrue: that the 2003 fire began with a bonfire.
However, he added that CDF never closes the books on such cases.
Although the Rincon Reservation’s new fire station was built where the 2003 fire began, the CDF took aerial laser photos of the fire scene at the time, so there will always be a record.
The first phase of the Valley Center Road Widening Project finished on budget, however the second phase will be more costly than originally supposed.
According to Brendan McNabb, project manager, the lowest apparent bid (a CYA term that is used just in case it turns out that there’s something wrong with the bid) was higher than the Dept. of Public Works estimate.
“We got three bids,” McNabb told The Roadrunner Friday. “The apparent lowest bid was $34 million. Our estimate was $28 million.”
Rather than rebid the project, which might end up with an even higher bid, DPW will ask the Board of Supervisors this month to authorize them to seek additional funding, possibly from TransNet, a gasoline tax road funding source.
The apparent lowest bidder was the construction firm of Archer Western.
Asked why the bid was so high, McNabb said “The market is variable right now, because of fuel costs, also higher than expected concrete and asphalt prices. Since there’s a lot of both in this project that has an impact.”
Unhappy Water District
The VC Municipal Water District, which is replacing several miles of water main in conjunction with the road widening, was not happy with the higher-than-expected bid. Its portion of the road work is also included in the bid and was $4.8 million, compared to $3.5 million and $4.3 million for the other bidders.
“These amounts would indicated that there is a good probability that VCMWD would obtain a more favorable cost by bidding the project separately,” the district wrote, in a letter sent this week to Mohamad Fakhrriddine, deputy director of the county Dept. of Public Works.
“The County is requesting the district to enter into this construction contract without the benefit of a definitive public bidding process for our portion of the work. Our only comparison to justify the expenditure of public funds is the relationship of the incremental cost included in your low bids to our engineer’s estimate for the proposed work.”
Gen. Mgr. Gary Arant may recommend to his board going to a separate bid for what will be one of the largest projects in the recent history of the water district.
This could conceivably run up the costs for the County as well since its low bidder might then want to charge more for coordinating two separate but concurrent projects .
Fall Start Time
The start time for Phase two is still expected to be November or early December.
And then . . . expect your traveling lives to be changed significantly for the next three years.
McNabb said he expected phase two, which will take the road widening from about a mile below Banbury (not at Banbury as we erroneously reported last week) up to Cole Grade Road, will be a much harder project.
“You could call the first one a training exercise,” McNabb joked.
You’re invited to a community reception to welcome Dr. Lou Obermeyer, who will be taking over as superintendent of the Valley Center-Pauma Unified School District on Jan. 1, 2006.
The reception is Thursday, Oct. 13, 4-6 p.m.
The newly selected superintendent will be available to meet and greet those of you who can join her at the Valley Center High School’s Multi-Media Center (aka library).
This will allow her to transition into her new position more comfortably and provide you the opportunity to share with her your comments and concerns.
* * *
Dr. Obermeyer is presently the Superintendent of the Atwater Elementary School District in Atwater, California (in the Central Valley).
She assumed the position in 2003 after serving as Assistant Superintendent in the Perris Union High School District. She worked with the high school to strengthen academic programs and to create career pathways for students for college or the workforce.
Dr. Obermeyer has also worked at the Riverside County Office of Education, Temecula Valley Unified School District, and Alvord Unified School District for a total of 26 years in Riverside County.
Her doctorate is in educational management from the University of La Verne and she currently teaches in the doctoral program.
Dr. Obermeyer has been married to her husband Roger for 23 years.
They have two grown daughters and two grandchildren who live in the Riverside area.
In the early 1900s it took four hours by wagon to drive on what is now the VC grade to or from Escondido.
Today it can take four minutes, although if you do that you are driving way too fast!
To note this milestone in the mega project known as the Valley Center Road Widening, a ribbon cutting was held Thursday.
As with most such “photo op” events, it was attended by various government officials who gave little speeches congratulating themselves for the grade now being two lanes in either direction for much of its length.
They were led by Fifth District Supervisor Bill Horn, who introduced VIPs from the three tribes who contributed money to this phase of the widening: John Currier, chairman of Rincon; Robert Smith, chairman of Pala and John Osuna, vice chairman of Pauma.
Each spoke briefly about the great benefit that the road will bring to the community at large.
Planning Group Chairman Andy Washburn, who noted that he is often asked to represent the community of VC at events, noted that Valley Center has waited for this widening for over two decades.
“I’d like to thank the taxpayers whose money went into this project,” he said.
Escondido and Valley Center are connected communities in many ways he said. “There is a strong link. “We go to dine at 151 Grand and they come up to go to Papa Bear’s. We go to the California Center for the Arts and they go to Bates.”
He noted that the grade was once, long ago, the Pickwick Stage Line. On Sundays the stage would transport Valley Center’s high school students to Escondido where they would stay all week to go to school and return for the weekend.
The road was paved in the 1940s when it became part of the “Highway to the Stars,” the route of the 200 inch mirror as it was transported to the top of Palomar Mountain to the observatory.
Washburn also expressed “appreciation to our favorite son, Bill Horn, who kept the road in the spotlight.”
And in the spotlight it needed to be for many years, as Doug Isbell, recently retired as deputy director of the Dept. of Public Works, reminded The Roadrunner as Isbell, who didn’t speak Thursday, looked out over the highway.
“You know,” he said, “I always remember that cartoon that you guys published years ago that showed the various ‘completion’ dates of the road being marked through and postponed. That made a big impression on me when I saw it.”
Horn, who was once, long ago, a trustee on the Escondido High School District, said that years ago it was very common for high school students to die on the grade.
Now, with a barrier most of the length of the road, many lives will be saved, he said. “It will make folks a lot safer,” he said.
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
Copyright © 2005, Palomar Community Newspapers, dba Valley Roadrunner. All rights reserved. This content may not be archived, retransmitted, saved in a database, or used for any commercial purpose without the express written permission of the Valley Roadrunner.