Graduates march to the strains of Pomp and Circumstance Friday night prior to getting their diplomas.
Cathey Anderson loves to get her hands dirty, especially when alongside children, teaching them about the wonders of agriculture in their school garden.
The now-retired teacher, who in 2004 received the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom Outstanding Educator of the Year award, spent most of her career at the VC Elementary Lower School. She continues to work with students in local school gardens.
She is known and loved for her passion for agriculture and bringing out the best in students through gardening. In recognition of her dedication and hard work to promote agriculture to the next generation, the San Diego County Farm Bureau recently presented Anderson with its 2009 Friend of Agriculture award.
“The farming community has always been the hero of my life, and it has been a privilege to feel like I’ve represented them positively in some small way,” said Mrs. Anderson. “To watch children flourish and feel empowered by their activities on the school farm or garden is incredibly gratifying and rewarding. Lives are changed for many who would not otherwise enjoy the traditional educational setting.”
Valley Center High School Principal Ron McCowan announced at Friday night’s graduation that the school is now ranked on Newsweek magazine’s list of Top American High Schools.
VCHS is ranked among the top 6% of public high schools in the United States.
Schools are ranked according to a ratio devised by Newsweek: the number of Advanced Placement tests taken by all students at a school in 2008 divided by the number of graduating seniors. Valley Center’s ratio is 1.28, which ranks the school at number 1,216 among the top 1,500 schools in the country.
To read more and to see the complete list, visit http://www.newsweek.com/id/201160.
Ann’s School of Dance recently gave a dance recital entitled “Once Upon a Time,” based on well-known fairy tales. (See story, A8).
The VC Municipal Water District (VCMWD) Monday sent Accretive Investments Inc. a warning to stop saying that a 1,900 home development that the group is promoting for along I-15 would have access to water and sewer services.
“…we would ask you and your representatives to refrain immediately about making inaccurate and ill-founded conclusions and public statements about our facilities,” its Gen. Mgr. Gary Arant wrote in a letter this week.
At Monday’s board meeting Gen. Mgr. Gary Arant told directors, “These folks have never talked to me.”
Accretive claims that its engineer, Dexter Engineering did speak to a water district engineer. Accretive’s spokesman, Jim Bartell, says that whoever gave Arant his information was misquoting the development company.
Arant noted that at Wednesday’s open house, held at Circle R Country Club that the Accretive Group’s representatives and presentations referred to the Lower Moosa Canyon Reclamation Facility as being “underutilized” and available to serve the proposed development, which, Arant noted, is referred to locally as “Hornsville,” after Bill Horn because of the Fifth District supervisor’s efforts to get it placed on the General Plan Update (GPU) last year.
“Moosa is not underutilized,” said Arant. “These Accretive folks are making assertions about wastewater that are incorrect. They are saying that their sewer service will be provided by Moosa. That is incorrect.”
In the letter Arant sent to Simon Malk of Accretive (also available on our Web site) he wrote, “…it has come to my attention that either you or your representatives are making unauthorized and inaccurate representations about the district’s facilities. To be specific, according to the individuals present at the June 10, 2009 Open House conducted for your proposed project, Accretive representatives stated that “Moosa was an underutilized facility” and there were “4,000 EDUs (equivalent dwelling units) of unused capacity at Moosa.”
The letter continues, “Since we have no record of you or your representatives ever contacting our Engineering Department to discuss our ability to service your proposed development, we have no idea as to how you reached these inaccurate judgments about the level of utilization of, or capacity available at the Lower Moosa Canyon Water Reclamation Facility.”
Bartell says, “That is a misquote. Whoever gave Arant that quote was wrong. What we said was that the district is operating at .6 million gallons per day plant and that if they were to expand to full capacity they could go to 1 million gpd. Those numbers are based on discussions between our engineer, Dexter Engineering and staff at the water district.”
However the application to DPLU does state that VCMWD will provide sewer service via the Moosa plant.
“Sewer service will also be provided by VCMWD. Wastewater from the project site will be conveyed via a new gravity sewer main to Moosa Creek wastewater treatment facility (SIC) …the facility is authorized to treat up to 1.0 mgd but is providing secondary treatment for approximately .33 mgd at this time. Reclaimed water will be available for reuse,” says the application.
That is wrong, says Arant. The wastewater treatment capacity is already committed to the existing service area and there is no extra capacity available. “There would be no place to put the reclaimed water. It would have to go back on their project for irrigation disposal.”
Although the Accretive proposal has been nicknamed “Hornsville” its actual name, as of June 12—when Accretive filed request for an initial consultant meeting (ICM) with the Department of Planning & Land Use (DPLU) prior to requesting a major use permit—is Valley Center Sustainable Community (VCSC) (see a copy of the application on our Web site www.valleycenter.com).
Accretive owns or has options for up to 400 acres. It says that the area could sustain up to 1,900 housing units, surrounding a “small, neighborhood serving commercial area,” a park, elementary school and multipurpose building, although Bartell emphasized to The Roadrunner this week that nothing is set in stone—and that the 1,900 units is just something the company is suggesting would be a good number for that area.
“This starts the process,” said Bartell. “We don’t know yet how many houses we are going to propose for the four hundred acres. We know that based on years of processing that the project parameters will change based on our outreach to the community. It’s not an expectation but a starting point.”
The Accretive Group held an open house on Wednesday, attended by a few dozen residents.
The low-key presentation included a video and several storyboards showing the surrounding area, the current land zoning, and discussing the area’s ability to provide housing.
At the open house, R. Randy Goodson, principal for Accretive, stressed that the group plans to develop its plans after consulting with the Valley Center community.
Its application to the County says the same. “No design work has been undertaken at this time, as it is the intent of the applicant to develop a concept plan through discussions with the Valley Center community.”
The application describes the ultimate development as being, “a complete community, where people can live, shop for daily goods and services, learn and recreate. In addition, the project could serve as a model for sustainable development by incorporating conservation design principles…”
VCSC, say the applicants, “would improve the character of Valley Center as it builds out by providing an alternative location from that contemplated by the GPU to accommodate future mandated housing within the county.”
It would also, according to Bartell, allow the Valley Center community to shift density from the Villages area along VC Road, to along I-15.
“The nineteen hundred represents the number of units that would be shifted from the current town center, to eliminate all of the road failures. If you shift that density to the west corridor all of the roads work. It’s a number we came up with that would make all the roads work.”
Marion Grace Lee, a longtime resident of Valley Center, died of natural causes June 10 in Escondido. She was 101 years old.
Mrs. Lee was born to Edward & Mary Williams Jan. 4, 1908 in Iowa Falls, Iowa. She met and eventually married Harold Franklin Lee on April 17, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois. Two years later the couple moved to Arcadia, California and bore two children: Robert Harold and Marilyn Elaine.
Mrs. Lee worked for Gilmore Oil Company in 1936 in the payroll department, working with that firm through its acquisition by Mobil Oil and eventually becoming the executive payroll and accounting clerk for the company. She retired from Mobil in 1968.
In 1962, the Lees purchased a nine acre parcel in Valley Center and planted it with orange trees later that year. The couple eventually retired to the grove they had started, building a permanent house on the property in 1969 and moving in that June. In the same year they moved to their new home, the Lees joined both the Valley Center Community Church and the Dos Valles Garden Club.
The couple was selected by the Valley Center Chamber of Commerce as joint Citizens of the Year in 1971. In addition to her community service, Mrs. Lee served as treasurer for Valley Center Community Church from 1978–1997. After the death of her husband in 1981, she managed to care for the grove by herself until her son Robert and daughter-in-law Kathy moved onto the property in 1988 and assisted her with grove care.
For health reasons, in 2003 Mrs. Lee moved to Las Villas del Norte in Escondido, where she lived until her peaceful passing June 10, 2009.
Mrs. Lee will be remembered by her family and friends for her many activities and charitable duties, including her years of square dancing with the Promenaders, her love for gardening and flowers and her active role as a state certified flower show judge for the Southern California Judges Council. For years she was often seen either walking at a brisk pace enjoying the outdoors or zipping along in her little yellow Chevy pickup throughout the community. Even when she was well into her 90s, Mrs. Lee was an active senior, completing a 13-mile hike with her grandson Dave across Daley Ranch in Escondido.
Mrs. Lee was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 54 years, Harold F. Lee (1981), and her daughter, Marilyn E. Orillion (2008).
Survivors include her son Robert (Kathy) Lee of Valley Center; three grandsons: Michael Lee, Chuck McCament and Dave McCament; six great-grandchildren and nine great-great-grandchildren.
Visitation for family and friends is scheduled for Wednesday, June 17 from 4–8 p.m. at Alhiser-Comer Mortuary, 225 S. Broadway in Escondido. Graveside services will be offered on Thursday, June 18, 11 a.m. at Valley Center Cemetery, 28953 Miller Road in Valley Center. Pastor John Sale of Valley Center Community Church will be officiating.
Donations in Mrs. Lee’s memory may be made to either the Betty Gilliam Scholarship Fund c/o Dos Valles Garden Club, POB 123, Valley Center, 92082 or to the Valley Center Community Church Youth Group, 29105 Valley Center Rd., Valley Center, 92082.
Alhiser-Comer Mortuary is handling the arrangements.
Alice! in Wonderland, a production of Valley Center Community Theater, opens this Friday at the Maxine Theatre. Performances are: June 19, 20 and 21. Show times are: June 19 and 20 at 7 p.m. Matinee performances are on Saturday, June 20 and Sunday, June 21 at 3 p.m.
Alice! is the Lewis Carroll classic about the little girl who falls down the rabbit hole and finds herself in all sorts of adventures in Wonderland.
CAST
Alice – Julie Burlington, Alice’s Sister/Narrator-Rachel Van Koughnett, Herald/Narrator-Laura Dangel, Red Queen-Katie Burlington, White Queen-Tana Davis, Red King-John Coulombe, White King/Judge-James Cline, Mad Hatter-Tyler Jiles, March Hare-Francisco Moncado, Dormouse-Shelby Becker, Tweedle Dee-Kalani Fetrow, Tweedle Dum-Mindy Paul, Humpty Dumpty-Kris McCarrick, Cheshire Cat- Kristen Collins, Caterpillar-Riley McCarrick, White Rabbit-Samantha Balona, Tiger Lily-Julia Tenchavez.
Wonderland Ensemble-Alta Dickinson, Alyssa LeFevre, Ashley Herzler, Bianca Bilotta, Brianna Bilotta, Charlotte McCarrick, Michelle Allen, Michelle Ortiz, Michelle Van Koughnett, Sevan Soghomonian, Tayler Pennell, Ashleigh Bauer, Averi Fetrow, Isabella Boleda, Kira Achipov, Mary Slaven, Michelle Macklin, Rebecca Anderson, Samara Salaheddine, and Satya Davis.
Tickets are available for purchase online at www.maxine.vcpusd.net for $12 (plus credit card service charge). You may buy tickets the day of the show at the Maxine box office, one hour before show time. They are also available at the Desert Rose and the Sports Closet (Valley Center) for $10 until June 18.
This show is fun and appropriate for ages 3-93.
For ticket questions, call Amy Archipov at 760- 525-6905 or email her at archipov@aol.com.
In a feature that begins on B1 we update you on the latest at VC’s recreational jewel, Adams Park Pool.
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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