The people and events of 2023

In January readers learned of an East County judge who donated a kidney to the wife of a friend after a chance conversation.

“One night I was talking to a friend, Simon Gounder, and we were just talking. We have done a lot of work together. We worked in groups to provide clean drinking water in villages in Fiji. We have been on the board of Give Clean Water, based out of San Diego, which seeks to find clean filtered water in many areas of the world where they have problems with diarrhea and dysentery. We worked together on that, so we became very close friends.”

Lamborn said while talking with Gounder, they were talking about how their families were doing and he told him that his wife Angie was going through another year of dialysis and that it was a struggle because her kidneys were not functioning. Although he had worked with him for years, he had never met his wife.

“I said, ‘This must be the hand of God, because I just got tested for a friend of mine, a judge, and I was not a match. How about I keep testing and see if I am a match for Angie,’” he said. “He said that would be terrific, so for the last year through 2022, we went through a variety of tests to make sure that you are a good match for the recipient. We did all the tests. Talked to all the doctors and social workers, and at the end it was very good news. I was a match for her.”
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The County of San Diego in January and February started closing six state COVID-19 testing and treatment sites due to declining demand.
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A non-profit agency tackled two challenges at once by providing job training and addressing environmental needs, including El Cajon.

“The urban forestry sub-sector in San Diego County is in need of qualified entry-level applicants for existing job openings. Tree San Diego is leading in the effort to bolster workforce development and provide candidates different career pathways, matching them with job openings. The ‘green workforce’, people who are working to implement environmental solutions, is going to usher us into a more sustainable future. Treejectory+ opens the door to these opportunities,” said San Diego Project Manager James Berry.
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A group of Lemon Grove Lions Club members this year started spending three to five days a week covering up hundreds of graffiti tags in the city. They are informed about graffiti locations through a group of veterans who go out each morning to pick up trash, or when they drive through Lemon Grove and find graffiti themselves.

“We try to keep ahead of the game, and we are trying to make the kids creating graffiti unhappy by covering it up as soon as possible,” said Lemon Grove Lions Club President Ken Burke.
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In March 805 Beer released a documentary about El Cajon native Vicki Golden, a professional freestyle motocross rider.

“Vicki has spent her entire career as a trailblazer, considered by many to be the most successful woman on two wheels,” said Dustin Hinz, Firestone Walker Brewing Company Chief Marketing Officer. “The work she’s done for the sport of motocross, women, and future champions lives as a testament to her legacy. She’s an incredible talent, athlete, and human being and it was a privilege to tell her story. We are honored to have Vicki as part of the 805 Beer family and hope the world enjoys watching her story as much as we did making it.”
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On a Tuesday in April four members of the County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted for a resolution of no confidence for District 4 Supervisor Nathan Fletcher and called for his immediate resignation.

The vote came after Fletcher admitted to “personal mistakes” with a Metropolitan Transit employee, who was then fired and filed a lawsuit against Fletcher alleging sexual assault and harassment.

Fletcher knew the Metropolitan Transit employee through his role on the San Diego Association of Governments. To date, Fletcher denies the charges.

Monica Montgomery Steppe ultimately won a special election in November to replace Fletcher.
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Amanda Lees joined the city of La Mesa as Assistant City Manager.
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The Spring Valley Community Alliance, along with New Seasons Church, the Spring Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Spring Valley Day Planning Committee held its inaugural Spring Valley Day in April. The event featured a car show, art & craft fair, live entertainment, civic groups and organizations, local vendors, pony rides, first responder displays.
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In May canines and Santee school kids worked together to get the dogs ready for work as support dogs for people with special needs.

Terri Bozhor, CEO and founder of Momentum Tutoring in Santee said Recess with Rover was a new program that it started in December 2022 and the idea came from her cousin who worked with Love on a Leash and was telling her how they went out to different schools.

“It is wonderful to see the students have a sense of joy,” he said. “Certainly, in today’s society, many kids have anxiety and pets are well known to lower that anxiety. Given an opportunity to spend time with a dog, some of our students have not had the opportunity to even touch or pet a dog before, which I was very surprised.”
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Also in May the El Cajon youth rocketry team, the SkyScrapers from Vocational STEAM Works has qualified in the top 100 again, and now moves to compete at the National Finals on May 20 in Plains, Virginia.

Vocational STEAM Works Board member and team mentor John Pacente said the competition is a combination of both vocational and academic work, with the youth picking up the academic portion at school, and STEAM Works applies that education into a working rocket so they can actually get it in the air and compete.
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Travis Hammond, a Santee home brewer recently earned a Gold Medal at the 2023 45th National Homebrew Competition.
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The Otay Water District announced the winner of this year’s WaterSmart Landscape Contest, and “Nana’s Garden,” created by El Cajon resident Lois Scott, earned the title. Scott was recognized by the Otay Water District on July 5 with a certificate of recognition, a gift certificate to a local nursery of her choice, a yard sign, and other promotional items.
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The Grossmont Healthcare District awarded more than $1.3 million in community grants and sponsorship awards to 29 nonprofit organizations in Eastern San Diego County in recognition of National Nonprofit Day on Aug. 17.

Among the recipients were Grossmont Union High School District, receiving $227,500.
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San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan in September announced that 17 people were indicted by the San Diego County Grand Jury for their alleged role in a summertime attack on three men, culminating with an attempted murder suspect being driven back to the Hell’s Angel Clubhouse in El Cajon.
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Spring Valley’s Ted Womack, 32, travelled to Geneva in October to share his story of racism suffered at the hands of law enforcement in the United States.

“I’m 32 years old and I’ve been stopped more than 100 times by police in San Diego who racially profile me, search me, and threaten me with violence. That is not the future I want for my son.”