June 7, 2006 - Top Stories

5th district election was hard fought, dirty

The dirtiest local election since Bill Horn first won his seat on the Board of Supervisors 11 years ago ended Tuesday, with campaign workers from both the Horn and Bruce Thompson campaigns figuratively covered with mud up to their elbows, awaiting the verdict of the voters in the Fifth District Supervisor’s race.

The campaign began innocuously enough, with two candidates seemingly from the same pea pod politically, and because of that fact, apparently compelled to get down and dirty towards the end.

At first, the Thompson campaign limited itself to criticizing Horn for the adult version of the old playground complaint “He doesn’t play well with other children.”

Thompson, who had served two terms in Sacramento as an assemblyman in the 1990s, was able to line up endorsements from Congressman Darrell Issa, ex-Congressman Ron Packard, Assemblyman Ray Haynes and Senator Dennis Hollingsworth. What he wasn’t able to do was secure endorsements on checks for more than a quarter of the amount that Horn raised.

That limited the kind of campaign Thompson could run to email broadsides to journalists crowing about how the underfunded grassroots effort was building. Later in the election this switched to recorded telephone messages to voters, a much less expensive tactic than mailers.

The campaign had shown the potential to get dirty early on when “anyone but Horn” political operatives, apparently with no connection to Thompson’s actual campaign, began fishing about for evidence of scandal in Horn’s personal life many months before Thompson announced his candidacy.

A story that surfaced in this newspaper and Channel 8 news about a purchase of a house that Horn made with his chief of staff, Joan Wonsley caused the floodgates to open up in all area newspapers. These stories tended to focus more on the rumored but never substantiated romantic involvement between Horn and Wonsley.

A month ago Horn was involved in a car accident in Borrego Springs. His staff made a clumsy attempt to hide the fact that he was attending a fund-raiser the night before. That fueled speculation that he had something to hide, when there was, in fact, nothing to hide.

The Thompson campaign quickly issued a statement expressing its sympathy for Horn and “his passenger” when there was in no such passenger. They found out soon that there was no passenger but never sent out a corrected statement.

Just a week later Horn was again in the news, this time without help from the Thompson campaign, when it was revealed that a longtime worker was living on his ranch without a legal septic system.

As the campaign came down to the final days, Horn’s preponderance of money made itself felt with numerous mailers.

In one mailer Thompson was accused of giving loans to Las Vegas showgirls as part of his position as the West Coast Director of the Small Business Administration. In fact, his office had approved a loan for a tanning salon in Las Vegas that may or may not have had showgirls as customers.

There were also $167,000 spent in allegedly illegal campaign mailers paid for by private parties supporting Horn, and which the Horn campaign disavowed knowing anything about.

Thompson’s campaign hit back near the end with a phone message to some area voters purporting to be from a former Horn aide.

This aide had several years ago accused Horn of creating a “toxic workplace” and had settled out of court with the County for $18,000.

Lost in all this smoke were issues of substance.

Both candidates issued as many statements as they could expressing their support for efforts to secure the Mexican border and their opposition to illegal immigration, although the Board of Supervisors has little or no power to actual address this issue.

Longtime observers of the local political scene speculate that long after the votes are counted that lawsuits will remain to be settled from both sides.

Fire season begins here

VC Fire Chief Kevin O’Leary spoke to The Roadrunner about his concerns for the fire season. “Our issue this year is the growth of the grasses,” said the chief. “People need to really cut the grasses. That has to be the emphasis this year.” But he warns to confine your cutting to early morning or late evening. Otherwise you risk a spark that could start the very fire you are trying to prevent.

“When the humidity gets below thirty percent, which is very easy to do, there is a real possibility of fire,” said the chief. The areas of town where the threat of fire is greatest continues to be the area west of Cole Grade Road and west of Valley Center Road, according to O’Leary. These areas were not burned in the Paradise Fire of 2003, which makes them prime burning areas this year.

“We aren’t expecting any major conflagration in the old Paradise area,” said O’Leary, “But that doesn’t mean that your home won’t be threatened by grass fires. You can certainly have isolated fires that can burn hundreds of acres.”

Firefighters do expect a high number of fires because of the large number of grasses, which were produced by the heavy rainfall last year. Historically, when that happens, it is followed by an active fire season. “When you have a drought you don’t have as many fires because you have less grass,” he said.

Although one person in the area was arrested and convicted of arson several months ago, the authorities believe that one or more arsonists are still out there, the chief said.

A fire that occurred a few weeks ago in Pauma Valley is viewed suspiciously, he noted, although there was no direct evidence of arson.

“Investigators are on the look out. They are looking at every single fire that we have in the Valley Center, Pauma, Rincon, Pala, Palomar and La Jolla area,” he said.

A few days before the fire season began locally, the issuing of burn permits was also suspended in the unincorporated areas of the county. Other restrictions apply: Use of campfires is restricted to within established campfire facilities located in established campgrounds open to the public. State rangers or other authorized agents of CDF may issue restricted temporary burning permits whenever it can be shown that burning or use of open fire is essential for reasons of public health, safety, or welfare.

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In announcing the start of fire season in most of Southern California’s counties the state’s top CDF officer, Ruben Grijalva, said, “The state has ample planes, fire retardant, fire engines and trained personnel to fight fires this season. We are fully prepared and ready to go."

He added, “Temperatures are rising, vegetation is drying out, and summer weather patterns have begun. There is always a tremendous potential for wildfire in California.”

The opening of fire season varies geographically throughout the state based upon weather conditions, fuel loads and increased fire activity. Unit chiefs respond to local conditions by hiring seasonal firefighters, increasing dispatching capabilities and staffing facilities on a 24-hour basis.

Chuck Maner, the San Diego Unit Chief, emphasized that fire prevention begins with the local property owner. “Every landowner should have removed or should be preparing to remove flammable vegetation from their property according to their local ordinances.”

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You can visit the County of San Diego Office of Emergency Services Web site at www.sdcounty.ca.gov/oes/ to get ideas and recommendations on how to prepare for a disaster. Contact your nearest CDF facility or visit the CDF website at www.fire.ca.gov for more information on fire safety.

Winners announced in Garden Club's beautification contests

First Place winner in the Spring Residential Improvement Project contest, a joint project of the garden club and The Roadrunner is the home of Mitch & Linda Gluckman (other winners are listed below).

All of the winners will be honored at the Dos Valles Garden Club’s annual picnic at Adams Park on June 13.

Civic Beautification
The garden club’s beautification committee each year recognizes one business and one public service organization in VC for outstanding landscaping efforts. “They have both contributed substantially to the community’s enjoyment by providing a beautiful environment in the public access areas of our town,” said Marianne Stone of the committee.

The effort began earlier this year when The Roadrunner publicized the event and the beautification committee passed out flyers to businesses and others along the major roads. This alerted them about the program early enough to allow sufficient time for landscaping. Members of the committee are Marianne Stone, Dick Kraus, Maggie Ferber and Lenny Passafiume.

St. Stephen’s Catholic Church, winner in the public service category, was dedicated in February. It has planted a majestic Canary Date Palm Tree that became the dramatic focal point of the newly emerging landscape. Surrounding patches of purple lavender, orange flowering succulents, climbing wisteria and day lilies rounded out the landscaping design.

The Corner Skillet has surrounded itself in an impeccably manicured and varied landscape design. It has a rich selection of floral groupings, splashes of spring colors and an array of various shrubs.

Spring Residential Improvement Project
The winners in this competition are:
First place, Mitch & Linda Gluckman
Second place, Joe & Deborah Dufour
Third place, Chester Elliot
Fourth place, Shelley Scarr

The Gluckmans, who live on Palomar Vista Drive, created a water-wise landscape around their new home. When they moved in there was nothing but dirt. They wanted their landscaping to reflect the early California style but still be functional.

Joe & Deborah Dufour, whose property is at the corner of Lilac & Old Castle, had a somewhat different problem to contend with. They took on three projects with the help of neighbors. The first was to clean out a stream bed and build a dam, and put in two landscaped hedges. The second was landscaping the roadside with purple plants such as lilacs, sages, ice plants and irises to complement nearby Lilac Elementary School. Third was to redo their flower beds in front of the house.

Chester Elliott used mostly drought resistant junipers and cacti for his landscaping. The project included trash removal, and creation of a privacy fence and the erection of a new flagpole. He also installed farm fencing. The property was originally homesteaded in 1912. At the time the Elliotts purchased in it 1982 it had very low value. The remodel began in 2003.

Shelley Scarr, whose home is on Callejo Feliz Terrace, put in a native, drought-resistant plants that were also appealing to hummingbirds. She installed an aluminum patio cover to reduce fire hazard, and a fenced off area for trash cans. She removed trash, a camper shell and brush and increased the split rail fencing. She also planted vegetable garden boxes and put in an upper level sitting area.

Prizes for this contest are: First place, $1000 cash and a $250 gift certificate from Grangetto’s; second place, $500 cash; third place, $250 cash and fourth place, $250 cash.

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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