November 22, 2006 - Top Stories
Everyone knows that two people died in the Paradise Fire of 2003. If not for Kevin O'Leary, there would have a been a third victim.
O'Leary, chief of the Valley Center Fire Dept., will be awarded the Governor's Medal of Valor Dec. 5 in a ceremony in Sacramento.
He is being awarded the medal, the highest medal given by the State of California, for rescuing an elderly woman from a burning house on North Lake Wohlford in the morning of Oct. 26, 2003.
On Thursday night, just as the VC Fire Protection District board meeting began, board Pres. Mel Schuler announced the awarding of the medal.
"I have the pleasure of announcing something that I feel is one of the most important things to announce since I've been on this board for eleven years."
He noted that he found out about the award quite by accident from a letter that had been sent to O'Leary and which was forwarded to Schuler without O'Leary knowing about it.
"He never mentioned it to any of us," said Schuler.
He led the audience, which included most of the firefighters of the district, in a standing ovation for the chief.
O'Leary prefers not to talk about the incident, however, The Roadrunner was able to get a copy of the report submitted on his action by CDF Division Chief Bill Clayton, who was the first incident commander of the Paradise Fire.
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At approximately 0800 hours on October 26, 2003, Battalion Chief O'Leary drove through the firestorm that had developed in the Paradise Creek drainage. The fire was spreading into the North Lake Wohlford Road area and many homes were now involved. All available fire engines were involved in protecting the area surrounding fire station 73 and attempting to initiate rescues and treat burn victims. Two young men wearing only shorts were found running down North Lake Wohlford Road in front of the Valley View Casino. They stated that an elderly woman was still inside a partially involved dwelling at 27800 block of North Lake Wohlford Road. They could not get her to leave. They indicated that the 100 gallon propane tank was on fire and they could not go back.
Chief O'Leary placed the two men into his vehicle for protection, donned his breathing apparatus and ran to the home about 1/8 of a mile away. The propane tank next to the attached garage was venting and on fire and had spread to the garage and throughout the attic.
He entered the home and a search was made of the entire dwelling with no occupant found.
As the fire conditions inside the dwelling deteriorated, Chief O'Leary found all exits involved with fire. He was able to climb out and exit a bedroom window seconds before the roof collapsed and the dwelling became fully involved. As he ran around the back of the home, he found that the elderly female occupant had left her home and was now attempting to free her many pinned up dogs. He convinced her to leave only after releasing all the remaining dogs and he carried her to his vehicle.
Chief O'Leary drove her and the two men to the Valley View Casino parking lot for temporary safety inside the casino.
The elementary school program that teaches young children about farming by encouraging them to get their fingers dirty has won a high honor from the California School Boards Assn.
The Gang Ranch ag program and Valley Center Pauma Unified School District in San Diego County will be honored in the 27th Annual Golden Bell Awards program of the California School Boards Assn.
The award was won in the School-to-Career category for the Gang Ranch Agricultural Program under the direction of Cathey Anderson.
Supt. Lou Obermeyer told The Roadrunner, “It is an honor to earn a Golden Bell award and the Gang Ranch Ag Program is most deserving of this award. One of the requirements for the award is showing the sustainability of the program. We've had this innovative program in operation since 1994 and our students have had the opportunity to experience ‘hands-on’ learning activities for years.”
Dr. Obermeyer added, “We've been extremely lucky to have the support from our community and local service clubs to sustain this fine program! I’m proud of our teachers and administrators and congratulate them on this achievement!”
The Golden Bell Awards will be presented at a special ceremony during CSBA’s Awards Luncheon at the San Francisco Marriott Hotel, on Saturday, Dec. 2, from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.
The event is held in conjunction with the California School Boards Assn’s Annual Education Conference.
The “Gang Ranch” is a 16 acre parcel in the middle of three elementary schools in Valley Center.
The school district established a K-5 school farm on the site in 1993 for 1200 students.
The purpose of the Gang Ranch is to allow the students to use a more hands-on approach to learning to enhance their educational experience and to achieve mastery in the core subject matter.
Additionally, the business applications of the projects provide students with exposure to real world applications that bridge the upper grade level math, science and agricultural class offerings in middle and high school.
The CSBA Golden Bell Awards program promotes excellence in education by recognizing outstanding programs in school districts and county offices of education throughout California.
The Golden Bell Awards reflect the depth and breadth of the education programs necessary to address students’ changing needs. The goal of this awards program is to contribute to the development and evaluation of curriculum, instruction and support services.
This is the second time that the Gang Ranch has won a Golden Bell for the school district.
In the 1980s the program, then part of the middle school, won a Golden Bell for teacher Keith Klundt.
CSBA is a nonprofit association representing more than 1,000 K-12 school districts and county offices of education throughout California.
Valley View Casino is opening its brand new, six-story parking garage to guests on Wednesday, Nov. 22 and is marking the event with a ribbon cutting ceremony, and a Q&A breakfast with casino development leaders.
The ribbon cutting will be at 9 a.m.
The garage will add 1200 new parking spaces to the casino, which is currently undergoing a major expansion to increase its dining, gaming and event space.
The gala event will include Joe Navarro, President/CEO, San Pasqual Casino Development Group; Bruce Howard, General Manager, Valley View Casino; members of the San Pasqual Casino Development Group Committee; San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians Business Committee and casino management, team members and guests.
The new parking garage is the first milestone of Valley View Casino’s $114 million expansion project which includes adding over 60,000 square feet of increased gaming and dining space, along with five new restaurants, three new bars, a special events center and increased slots and table games.
The first phase of the casino’s expansion, including a new steakhouse and lounge and special events center is scheduled for a grand opening in spring 2007.
The remainder of the expansion is scheduled for completion in fall of 2007.
Nov. 13, 12 Dos Valles Garden Club “Ladies of the Garden” (the Calendar Girls) presented a $3,000 check to the Middle School Ag Farm. This was from profits of the 2006 calendar. Shirley Skinner, Calendar Chairman, gave the check to ag teachers, Cathy Anderson, Marisa Green, Camille Martineau and Principal Chris Sommer. Some students also attended.
Water customers in Valley Center will be required to limit usage to household consumption for nearly two weeks starting Sunday.
The shutdown will be from Nov. 26–Dec. 7.
Valley Center Municipal Water District Gen. Mgr. Gary Arant told The Roadrunner this week: “All of our measures are in place and we are focused on getting the word out to our customers.
“Our field staff will be patrolling on the weekend and reminding our customers about the supply conditions.
“We are expecting the same level of excellent cooperation from our customers that we experienced in February.”
He added, “While we are hoping for some cooler weather during the shut-down, but we approaching this as if we will be experiencing less than optimum weather conditions.”
The district’s supplier, the Metropolitan Water District, will stop delivering water to perform work at the Skinner Treatment Plant in Riverside County and to do maintenance and inspection on the aqueducts.
Although the VC water district will top off all of its reservoirs before the shutdown, water will only be available for domestic use and fire protection.
YOU CAN’T WATER YOUR LAWN during this period. You can take showers and wash and perform other household water uses. There is also no agricultural irrigation allowed during this period.
The district will use automatic dialing to advise all of its customers. It will also make personal calls to the 200 largest customers and to golf courses and nurseries.
It will post illuminated message boards along the roads to advise residents of the situation.
The district will activate its Emergency Operations Center, and crews will patrol from 5 a.m. –7:30 a.m. and 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. daily to ensure compliance.
Questions? Call 749-1600.
Help us bring some holiday cheer into the lives of those who need it most.
The school district has provided us with the ages of 70 more boys and girls who could really use some Holiday Cheer.
To help bring a gift that hopefully brightens the lives of these children, The Roadrunner Staff is again setting up a Giving Tree in our office.
Hometown residents are welcome to assist by stopping by to get information to purchase a holiday gift for one of the children.
We would need all gifts wrapped and returned before Dec. 8 so we can be sure they are delivered before Christmas.
Please call The Roadrunner staff at 749-1112 with any questions.
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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