Local News |
May 21st, 2009 |
Vallecitos Water District Declares Stage Two Drought
Customers Asked to Conserve
The Vallecitos Water District has declared a Stage 2 drought level, prompting mandatory water-use restrictions for all Vallecitos customers. In response to the dry winter seasons during the past two years and the judicial pumping restriction to the region, reservoir levels have been severely drained forcing San Diego County Water Authority to cut supplies to its 24 members, including Vallecitos. This will result in a supply reduction to Vallecitos customers of approximately 10 percent.
Starting July 1, 2009, Vallecitos will alter rates as well as enact Level 2 of its Drought Ordinance to lower water demand so it falls in line with the allocation cut by Vallecitos’ water wholesaler. As detailed in Vallecitos’ Board-approved ordinance, the mandatory conservation actions for Level 2 are listed below.
Mandatory Conservation Actions for Level 2 Drought
Residential and commercial landscape irrigation will be limited to no more than three days per week (not assigned days), and no more than once a week from November through May. (Excludes commercial growers and nurseries).
Irrigation using sprinklers will be limited to no more than 10 minutes per watering station per day. (Systems using water-efficient devices are excluded).
Stop washing down pavements, including sidewalks, driveways, parking lots, tennis courts or patios.
Prevent water waste associated with inefficient landscape irrigation, as well as flows onto non-targeted areas such as nearby properties, hardscapes, or roadways.
Irrigate only before 10 am and after 6 pm.
Use a hand-held hose equipped with a positive shut-off nozzle or bucket to irrigate landscapes not connected to an automatic system.
Stop operation of ornamental fountains, unless re-circulated water is used.
Wash vehicles using a bucket and hand-held hose with positive shut-off nozzle, mobile high pressure/low volume wash system or at a commercial site that re-circulates water onsite.
Serve and refill water in restaurants only upon request.
Offer guests of commercial lodging the option of not laundering towels and linens daily.
Repair all water leaks within 72 hours of notification by the Vallecitos Water District.
Use recycled or non-potable water for construction purposes when available.
For more information on the drought restrictions, please contact Vallecitos’ Conservation Office at (760) 744-0460 or go to www.vwd.org.
Suspected DUI/Illegal Immigrant Held
Rigaberto Nicholas, police say, appears to have had too much to drink. That is what police believe caused this 20 year old to lead police on a chase before finally stopping after hitting two cars and a block wall this past Saturday evening.
Nicholas has not only been jailed on a variety of charges but is on an immigration hold because he is believe to be an illegal immigrant. Nicholas was reportedly veering down the Valley Center grade when the police gave chase when he failed to yield for a traffic stop. He was ineligible for bail due to a hold placed on him by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to jail logs.
Killings of Four Americans in Tijuana Sow Fear
The slayings of four young Americans in Tijuana sowed fear in Southern California on Friday as Mexican prosecutors tried to determine whether the youths were involved in the country's violent drug trade or innocent victims of a brutal crime. The victims, two men and two women in their teens and early 20s, said they were headed for a night of partying across the border only to be found strangled, stabbed and beaten a few days later.
Mexican officials are investigating whether any of the four San Diego-area victims had ties to the drug trade, after a toxicology report tested positive for cocaine on the body of Brianna Hernandez, who was either 18 or 19.
Another victim, Oscar Jorge Garcia, 23, was apprehended in the San Diego area in January 2008 with six illegal immigrants in the car, but never charged in the case, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lauren Mack said.
The parents of 20-year-old victim Carmen Jimena Ramos Chavez on Friday described a vibrant Chula Vista High graduate who worked at an amusement park for children and planned to become a hair stylist.
"She was a happy girl, with a desire to explore the world," said her father, Rogelio Ramos Camano, of Chula Vista. "Young people are like that. They think nothing will happen. I was like that, too."
Mexican prosecutors said the victims had been bound and tortured — common tactics by Mexican drug gangs — before being left in a van in a dusty slum on the outskirts of Tijuana. Jose Manuel Yepiz, a spokesman for the Baja California state prosecutor's office, said investigators were examining a threatening letter to one of the victims from a jail inmate in San Diego. Prosecutors said they had ruled out the possibility that the killings were a case of drug gangs targeting tourists.
Tijuana, which sits across the border from San Diego, has a reputation as one of Mexico's most violent border cities. Authorities said 843 people were slain there in 2008, many in drug-related violence. Since taking office in December 2006, President Felipe Calderon has sent more than 45,000 soldiers to combat drug cartels in the country whose turf battles have killed more than 10,750 people over the last two-and-a-half years. Violence had diminished in Tijuana in recent months, only to pick up a few weeks ago with seven police officers killed in brazen attacks on one day.
Victor Clark, a professor at San Diego State University's Center for Latin American Studies, said criminal ties with any one of the Americans could have spelled disaster for the group. "Maybe they broke the rules, which means death when dealing with Mexico's drug cartels," said Clark, a Tijuana resident and native. "And they dragged their friends down with them."
Relatives said the victims were familiar with both sides of the border and navigating the area's bilingual culture — but may have taken their safety for granted. Ramos said he had often told his daughter, who was born in Tijuana but raised from a young age in the U.S., that Tijuana was too dangerous, and she assured him she was always careful. But Ramos said he didn't offer any warnings as his daughter got ready to go out with her friend Brianna on May 7, even as he watched a news program about killings in Tijuana on Mexican television.
"I think God put that out there so I would do something, but I didn't dare," he said in Spanish, shaking his head, recalling how they were already primped and ready to go.
U.S. tourists, already warned by the U.S. State Department to be cautious in Mexico because foreign bystanders have been killed, now appear even less likely to visit once-popular destinations like Tijuana.
"I'm not going to T.J. unless it's absolutely necessary," Amelia Lopez, a friend of a victim told television station San Diego 6. "Before, you know, you go to eat or have a good time or shopping. Nothing like that."
Former School Principal Who Admitted Molestation Sentenced to 12 Years
Robert Melvin Goode Jr., age 60, pleaded guilty in March to one count of continuous sexual abuse of a minor and one count of forcible lewd acts upon a child. Goode was sentenced to 12 years in prison Monday after admitting he molested a girl for several years.
“Twelve years is a fair sentence, sir,” Judge Daniel Goldstein told Goode. “You caused irreparable harm to a young girl.”
Prosecutors said they sought a settlement so the girl would not have to testify. The alleged abuse began when the girl was eight and continued for six years.
Goode was a senior administrator at Classical Academy in Escondido, Classical Academy High School in Escondido and Coastal Academy in Oceanside. From 1983 to 1994 he was the principal at Tri-City Christian School, a high school in Vista.
Oceanside Beachfront Condo Gutted by Fire
Early Monday morning renters of a beachfront condo in Oceanside awakened to the sound of smoke alarms, according to fire officials. It was about 2:20am when the call came into the Oceanside Fire Department. Units responded to the North Coast Village complex on North Pacific Street near Breakwater Way. After evacuating the building, the woman used her cell phone to call 911.
Firefighters from both Oceanside and Carlsbad responded and found the unit fully involved. A second alarm was called at 2:27 a.m. About 38 firefighters responded. The fire was under control in about 15 minutes.
One condo was gutted by the fire and five other units suffered smoke or water damage. None of those were occupied. The family staying in the damaged unit was moved to another condo in the complex, Dunham said.
No one was injured. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Palomar Observatory Not Thrilled with Carlsbad Street Light Plan
The Carlsbad City Council hoped to save $400,000 a year by switching to different streetlights, thereby saving electricity. Not so fast, says the Palomar Observatory. That plan just might make it tough for our astronomers to see the stars and discover new planets. The city is considering replacing its high-pressure sodium streetlights, which have an orange-pinkish hue, with induction lights, which use less energy but produce white light. The move will not only save money but also reduce the city's carbon emissions, said Tom Moore, a superintendent in the public works department.
“Streetlights are about a quarter of the city's carbon (emissions), and this is a way to reduce (that) by about half,” Moore said.
The City Council discussed the proposal at its meeting this past Tuesday. City staff estimates that the switch will cut Carlsbad's $600,000 annual electric bill for streetlights by $290,000, and save $100,000 in annual maintenance because the new lights have warranties that last longer.
City staff estimates that the switch will cut Carlsbad's $600,000 annual electric bill for streetlights by $290,000, and save $100,000 in annual maintenance because the new lights have warranties that last longer.
A spokesman for Palomar Observatory, which is owned by the California Institute of Technology, said he's not familiar with the exact type of lights the city is considering, but white lights generally make it more difficult for astronomers viewing the heavens from atop Palomar Mountain, 30 miles from Oceanside.
“I don't know what the new lighting fixtures will look like or how bright they are, but white lights are not friendly to research astronomers for a variety of reasons,” said Scott Kardel, public affairs coordinator for the observatory.
For many years, the observatory has been advocating the use of low-pressure sodium lamps, which glow amber, because the narrow-spectrum light they produce can be easily filtered out by the observatory. The city's high-pressure lights are not as good for astronomers, Kardel said, but are a compromise from white lights.
He said the mountaintop observatory's large telescopes scan and photograph objects in deep space. Much of the work involves fragmenting the light emissions from these objects into various colors of the spectrum to reveal their composition, temperature, speed and direction. Light from nearby cities interferes with that. Kardel said if the new streetlights aren't too bright and don't direct their beams skyward, they may not be as troublesome as the older streetlights.
“Hopefully, they'll be fully shielded,” Kardel added, saying he'll look at some of the lights before Tuesday's meeting.
Moore said an advantage to induction lights is that though they glow white, they can appear brighter than amber lights, even though they're putting out less light. That means the city can use less electricity and reduce light pollution.
“We consider it will be better for them (astronomers) because of less glare, less wattage and cutoff luminaires,” devices that prevent the bulbs from directing light upward, Moore said.
According to a city report, the changeover will cost about $3 million, about half of which will be covered by federal grants and incentives from San Diego Gas & Electric Co. The city will apply for a loan from the California Energy Commission to pay the rest.
The city is pushing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in several ways. Recently, it unveiled a plan to generate hydroelectricity by tapping pressure in pipes that carry water from an aqueduct to a city reservoir.
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