By Miriam Raftery

October 27, 2019 (Santee) – The Fredricks family of Santee has grown a whopper of a pumpkin, tipping the scales at 1,531 pounds.  The giant gourd is the largest ever grown in San Diego County, according to Sarah Fredricks. 

It took second place at the Pumpkin Competition weigh-off at the Irvine Railroad Park on September 21, however, missing the all-time Southern California record by just two pounds. (The largest in Southern California was grown by Chris Dunn and weighed in at 1,533 pounds. The biggest statewide was entered by Ruben Frias of Napa, who won with a 1,758 pound pumpkin.)

“I have grown giant pumpkins on and off since 2001,” says Jim Fredricks, who grew the giant gourd along with his wife, Sarah, and their boys, Andrew, 5, and Joshua, 8.

By Mike Allen

Photo: Renewable  energy sources; Creative commons via N.A.

October 10, 2019 (Santee) -- Santee is having second thoughts about joining a joint powers authority with several North County cities to obtain more electrical power from renewable sources.

The proposed entity is a community choice aggregation program for the cities, giving them the ability to buy more power from sources such as solar and wind. Local utility San Diego Gas & Electric would continue to deliver and maintain transmission lines and billing operations, but the CCA would be responsible for buying all power.

By Mike Allen

September 19, 2019 (Santee) -- Santee and Carlsbad would seem to be strange bedfellows, given their geographical locations and the latter being twice the size in population. But the cities are moving closer to joining forces to form a new entity to purchase more of their power from renewable sources starting in 2021.

By Miriam Raftery

August 28, 2019 (Santee) - International touring musician Mean Mary (James) will be performing in Santee on September 21 at 7 p.m. in the Summit UU Fellowship (8778 Cottonwood Ave.). Known internationally for her lightning-fast fingers and raw, unmistakable vocal sound (The Amplifier calls it “sexy, vulnerable and yet as powerful as any man’s.”), Mean Mary’s songs travel the genres of roots, bluegrass, blues, and folk rock—story songs, fast songs, sad songs, songs to make your feet tap.

By Miriam Raftery

August 1, 2019 (Santee) – Off Broadway Live Theatre in Santee will present a live musical play, “Roadshow,” on Sunday Sept. 29 at 3 p.m.   The performance follows a roadshow as singers barnstorm across the country to win a record deal.

By Miriam Raftery

July 15, 2019 (Santee) – Fanita Ranch, the controversial master-planned development proposed in Santee, is seeking to drum up community support through pop-up ads targeting East County residents on the Internet.  This reporter had one of the ads pop up while paying an online solitaire game.

The ad claims that Fanita Ranch can “improve traffic” including adding westbound and eastbound lanes as well as a high-capacity onramp at Mast Blvd.  The ad clicks open to the website https://fanitaranch.com/improvingtraffic. But project opponents take issue with the advertising’s claims.  

East County News Service

July 5, 2019 (Santee) – San Jose musician Joe Ferrara will perform a concert on Sunday, July 21 from 2-4 p.m. at the Summit Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (8778 Cottonwood Ave.) in Santee.

Santee Chamber of Commerce celebrates with family-friendly fun, craft beer and the honoring of military members 

East County News Service

May 20, 2019 (Santee) -- Join more than 30,000 visitors at the Santee Street Fair and Craft Beer Festival on Saturday, May 25 at Town Center Parkway and Riverview Parkway in Santee.  The Street Fair is celebrating its 11th year and offers family-friendly games, live music and entertainment, over 300 various food and vendor booths, artists, carnival rides, a kid’s zone and more. The Craft Beer Festival is back for its sixth year and will feature award-winning craft beer samples from local breweries and beyond. The street fair starts at 10:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. and the Craft Beer Festival starts at 11:30 am to 5:30 p.m.

Updated with corrected figures for El Cajon, where homelessness rose and a higher percentage are without shelter than last year.

By Miriam Raftery

May 2, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) – For the second year in a row, the annual Point-in-Time homeless count for 2019 found a 6% drop in the number of homeless people living on the streets and in shelters across San Diego County.  The count found a 1% increase in those who are sheltered and a 10% decrease in those left unsheltered.