By Miriam Raftery

Photo, left: Ready San Diego

July 8, 2018 (Alpine)—The grim toll wrought by the 505-acre West Fire in Alpine has risen. With the wildfire now 92 percent contained and all evacuations lifted, reentry brought relief for some who found homes still standing, but heartache for others facing total devastation.

The fire destroyed at least 56 structures, including 34 homes, a business, and 21 other buildings including barns and sheds.  Another 15 homes were damaged, along with 5 outbuildings.

Merlyn Cochran, assistant manager at Baron’s Market, was at work  when the fire started. Neighbors Al and Sharon Haven told Cochran and her husband to “go get my mother-in-law, who is 96 years old and lives at our ranch, because the winds were shifting and blowing towards our ranch,” Cochran recalls.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo via Facebook

July 8, 2018 (Alpine) — An Alpine Fire Department crew, the first to arrive at the West Fire in Alpine on Friday, swiftly found themselves surrounded by flames and narrowly managed to escape.  The scorching flames were so hot that they melted tires on the fire engine, 10 news reports.

Update July 8, 2018 --  A Local Assistance Center (LAC) will open Monday, July 9th at the Alpine Library. County representatives & other organizations will be there to help impacted residents begin the rebuilding & recovery process. The LAC will operate 9am-6 pm, until further notice.

Source: County Emergency Services

Photo by Miriam Raftery

Update 8:30 p.m. -- Due to more accurate mapping Cal Fire reports the West Fire is now 504 acres. Firefighters continue to make excellent progress, as the fire is now 81% contained. Evacuation orders and road closures remain in effect throughout the night.

July 7, 2018 (Alpine) 6 p.m. --CAL FIRE San Diego announced that the following areas previously under evacuation order or warning for the West fire are now open to residents only:

• Palo Verde Ranch community to areas outside the fire perimeter
• Rancho Palo Verde community to areas outside the fire perimeter
• West of South Grade Road area
• West of the fire perimeter
• South of Alpine Boulevard between Peutz Valley Road and South Grade Road
• West of South Grade Road between Alpine Boulevard and Via Viejas Oeste
• West of Via Vejas Oeste between South Grade Road and Via Asoleado
• West of Via Asoleado between Via Viejas Oeste and Japatul Road 

The following areas remain under an evacuation order throughout the night and until further notice:

Judicial finding that Kalashos engaged in cyber-harassment, defamation and other intimidating actions comes within days of ECM reporter Paul Kruze filing a police complaint alleging that Councilman Kalasho threatened him with an attack dog and defamed him on social media.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Ben and Jessica Kalasho at  a Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce event, before the U.S. Patent and Trademark office forced them to change the name of the organization due to trademark infringement.

July 6, 2018 (El Cajon) – Superior Court Judge Timothy Taylor has issued a judgment granting a motion  filed by beauty pageant contestants and a taco shop owner against El Cajon Councilman Ben Kalasho and his wife, Jessica. The ruling allows documents and a supporting declaration  submitted by plaintiffs’ lawyers to be admitted as facts at trial and  most damning, orders evidence of the following admissions to be submitted  at trial as true facts--meaning the Kalashos cannot dispute the accuracy of these findings in court:

• Kalasho, his wife and their entities created fake nude photos of Miss Middle East pageant Queen Zhala Tawfiq and published them online “intending to cause and causing Ms. Tawfiq severe emotional distress.”
• Kalasho propositioned pageant contestant Paris Kargar, offering sex in exchange for assuring she won the 2016 Miss Middle East pageant. He made statements indicating her declining this proposition cost her a fair shot at the title.
• Kalasho whispered in Kargar’s ear, “You are so f*cking hot, I cannot take my eyes off you.” He also made comments about her breasts jiggling as she walked down the runway.
• Kalasho conducted one-on-one recorded interviews with 2016 contestants including Tawfiq and Karger, but destroyed these videos after the lawsuit in which Kargar contends she was harassed during her interview.
• Kalasho,his wife and his entities created multiple alias Facebook profiles used to make defamatory posts against Tres Taqueria, including fabricated poll results and false claims of food poisoning after the restaurant owner refused to post Kalasho campaign signs.
  

Update 5 p.m. The County has declared an emergency due to the fires: County proclaims a local emergency due to the fires:  http://www.sdcountyemergency.com/updates/county-proclaims-local-emergenc...   The Governor has also declared a state emergency in San DIego County moments ago: @JerryBrownGov declares state of emergency in San Diego County due to #WestFire https://bit.ly/2MPRlNi

Update 3:10 p.m.:  10 News, ECM's news partner, has provided a map of the #WestFire in Alpine.

Update 2:30 p.m. Fire is now 350 acres in Alpine and 0% contained.

Update 2:10 p.m. Lakeside Rodeo Grounds is open for large animal evacuations.

Update 1:50 p.m.  CHP has shut down I-8 east at Tavern Rd. The Tavern and Willows Rd. exits are also closed. Over 1,400 homes are without power in the Alpine area due to lines damaged by the fire; estimated restoration time is 4 p.m. per SDG&E.

Update 1:30 p.m.:  The #WestFire in Alpine is now 150 acres. Mandatory evacuations are underway. Homes are burning on Honey Hill Road.

Photos:  #WestFire in Alpine, by Robert Scheid

View video:https://www.facebook.com/robert.scheid.35/videos/1024052857719513/

July 6, 2018 (San Diego's East County) -- Two brush fires have burned at least one structure each in Dulzura and Apine.  The #StructureFire at State Route 94 and Community Rd. in Dulzura has charred over 10 acres per Cal Fire and prompted 144 evacuation notices to be issued per County Emergency Services.  NBC 7 has film of a structure in flames.

In Alpine, the #WestFire started south of I-8, west of Willows, and is burning toawrd mobile homes, an eyewitness at the scene advises ECM. It is now estimated at 10-15 acres per Cleveland National Forest which confirms structures are threatened. A Fox TV video shows at least one structure already burning.  A DC 10 has been requested.

Robert Scheid, an eyewitness at the scene, says the fire in Alpine is burning toward mobile homes and that some flames are as tall as power poles.

By Miriam Raftery

July 6, 2018 (El Cajon) -- Food donations are urgently needed at the Salvation Army in El Cajon, where supplies are at a “critical low point” after an annual holiday food drive fell far short.

Donations of canned, boxed or other nonperishable food items can be dropped off at the Salvation Army facility at 1011 East Main Street from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, the organization states on Facebook. For details, call (619) 440-4683. Financial donations are also welcome.

If the supplies are not promptly replenished within 30 days, the nonprofit will be forced to use funds to buy food items to feed the hungry, reducing money available for other important needs, an agency spokesperson has stated, NBC 7 reported.

By Eric Bartl

ECM Editor Miriam Raftery also contributed to this report

July 3, 2018 (El Cajon) -- Over a hundred people marched down Main Street through downtown El Cajon Saturday, June 30, joining the chorus of “Families Belong Together” protesters from cities across the nation.

Their chants, “families belong together” and “let the children go," received affirmations from passersby. Drivers honked their horns. Workers from restaurants and barber shops stuck their heads through their front doors greeting the march with waves and thumbs up.

Source:  U.S. Forest Service

July 3, 2018 (Ramona) - An emergency closure order has been implemented for Three Sisters and Cedar Creek Falls, effective Thursday, July 5 through Monday, July 9, due to the anticipated heat wave and considerable public health and safety concerns involved..

Despite having committed no crime, some asylum seekers have been kept in windowless cells for over a year, never allowed outside even a single day

By Miriam Raftery

July 2, 2018 (Washington D.C.) – People who ask for asylum when they arrive at the U.S. border after fleeing violence and persecution have committed no crime, unlike people who cross the border illegally. Yet the Trump administration has been imprisoning asylum seekers for over a year, even after they passed background checks, were found likely to receive asylum, and in some cases, even after a court granted them asylum but the administration was appealing the cases.

By Ken Stone and Chris Stone

Reprinted with permission from Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo:  Families marched together downtown against the Trump Administration’s immigration policy. Photo by Chris Stone

July 2, 2018 (San Diego) - Sandra Delgadillo of Roseville, marching downtown Saturday while visiting her father, repeatedly called out “the children are crying.”

Jessica Kane of La Mesa had her children wearing what resembled the reflective solar blankets given to migrant children at shelters after being separated from their parents.

East County News Service

July 1, 2018 (La Mesa) - Thousands of La Mesans found a surprise in their mailbox last month with the arrival of a new community newspaper, La Mesa Village News.

La Mesa Village News is the latest of 30 hyper-local community direct mail newspapers launched by San Diego publishing house Local Umbrella Media. Local Umbrella, since the acquisition in 2015 of North Park News (which has been in existence since the 1990’s).

East County News Service

Photo via Lakeside Fire Department on Twitter

July 1, 2018 (Lakeside) – A paraglider pilot stranded on the face of El Cajon Mountain (also known as El Capitan) in Lakeside today suffered minor to moderate injuries. 

San Diego Sheriff’s Copter 11 made a hoist rescue, flying the injured pilot down to El Monte Park. There, firefighter-paramedics from Lakeside Fire Department provided treatment and transported the paraglider to a local trauma center.

East County News Service

June 30, 2018 (Santee) – After dousing a brush fire that charred about 500 square feet near Santee Lakes this afternoon, firefighters found a body at the scene.

The blaze was reported around 2:10 p.m. in the 9300 block of Fanita Parkway, Sheriff’s Lt. Rich Williams said, Patch.com reports.

The Medical Examiner is working to try and identify the decease. No description has been provided. Authorities are investigating the cause of both the death and the fire, but it is not yet known whether foul play was involved.

By Miriam Raftery

June 29, 2018 (Rancho San Diego) –Carter Yarborough, 48, a Valhalla High School cross country and track coach, was killed Sunday morning when his motorcycle struck a Sheriff’s vehicle that had pulled into his lane after a left turn on South Coast highway in Encinitas, Patch.com reports.

A memorial Mile in his memory will be held tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Valhalla.  Team members, alumni, and friends are invited to participate in the walk of remembrance.

By Miriam Raftery

June 27, 2018 (San Diego) – San Diego’s County Board of Supervisors has unanimously approved a budget of over $6 billion budget for the new fiscal year starting July 1^st, an increase of 8.4 percent over last year.