El Cajon, CA
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Articles by Joe Naiman

County sells property in Santee for $19 million

A 30.63-acre parcel in Santee which had been declared surplus to the County of San Diego’s needs was sold for $19 million July 24.

Ahd Haddad was the high bidder for the property north of Mission Gorge Road, east of Riverview Parkway and west of Cottonwood Avenue. 

Following the bidding process, the county Board of Supervisors voted 4-0, with Dianne Jacob recovering from surgery, to approve the sale to Haddad for $19 million.

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CWA approves water service agreement with Sycuan

The San Diego County Water Authority approved a water service agreement with the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation.

The SDCWA approved the agreement on a July 26 board vote with no opposition and Padre Dam Municipal Water District general manager Doug Wilson, who is Padre Dam’s representative on the CWA board, recusing himself. 

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When achieving the objective is far more important than simply beating the competition

Mary York’s column in the July 19, 2018, East County California warrants not rebuttal but confirmation from a veteran colleague.

York became the editor of the Californian in February. She had previously been a sportswriter for the Californian and has also written for the Southwestern College and San Diego State University student newspapers.

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Spring Valley woman wins Del Mar’s hat contest

The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club has a hat contest on Opening Day, and this year’s grand prize winner was Spring Valley’s Leslie Monroy.

Monroy also took first place in the Most Outrageous category during the July 18 contest.

“I would have been happy with a ribbon,” she said. “I’m ecstatic to win it all. I was just excited to be in the hat competition, but I won it.”

The hat has horses made of lace. Even with the chicken wire base the hat weighs less than ten pounds. The hat took about three days for Monroy to make.

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Classic cars help close cultural gaps in community

In the days when we were growing up, there was a stereotype about Mexican-Americans having old lowrider Chevys. My friend was not dispelling a certain stereotype about Mexican-Americans – but that was a good thing.

We were at the Cajon Classic Cruise car show in Downtown El Cajon.

The irony is that stereotype brought us together; we white kids loved those old Chevys. Our ancestries were different, but our appreciation of old cars and motorcycles gave us something in common.

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Valdiviezo wins short go at Bulls Only XX

Jorge Valdiviezo won the short go and the $3,000 bonus at the Optimist Bulls Only Rodeo XX competition July 13-14 at the Lakeside Rodeo Grounds.

Valdiviezo, who is originally from the Baja California town of La Mision and now lives in San Antonio, Texas, complemented his 76-point ride in the second go-round with an 82-point score in the short go.

“I feel glad to be here,” Valdiviezo said.

Menifee cowboy Tommy Denny won the first go-round with a score of 76 points on Making Moves, who was provided by Porterville stock contractor Evan Matthews. 

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McNeil takes two of three Tuff Trucks races

The San Diego County Fair had three days of Open Tuff Trucks racing competition June 22-24, and El Cajon driver Jason McNeil won two of those races.

Each driver was given four runs on the Del Mar Arena course and the fastest run constituted the driver’s official time.

McNeil had a winning time of 34.59 seconds June 22 with Norco’s Sean Kepler placing second at 36.05 seconds.

The June 23 racing ended with McNeil having the fastest run of the day at 38.478 seconds and second-place Jacob Andrew of Wisconsin finishing the course in 38.812 seconds.

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Hoggard, Coover, Wright given CIF life passes

The CIF San Diego Section annually gives lifetime passes for distinguished services to coaches, administrators and others who are retiring from their position. The recipients of this year’s lifetime passes included Carlton Hoggard, Steve Coover and Randy Wright.

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Wrisley repeats Firefighter Demolition Derby win

What is now called the Firefighter Demolition Derby was held at Cajon Speedway for ten years before being revived in 2010 as part of the San Diego County Fair. No firefighter had won consecutive championships until this year, when Chris Wrisley of the Lemon Grove Fire Department added a June 2 victory to his 2017 championship.

“It’s an honor,” Wrisley said. “It’s never been done before.”

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County Water Authority proposes lower rate increases for 2019

A June 28 San Diego County Water Authority hearing will determine the SDCWA’s rates and charges for 2019, but the SDCWA is likely to have a lower rate increase than in past years.

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