(CNS) - The family of slain Poway High School senior Chelsea King announced today the creation of a nonprofit agency to serve as a vehicle for their efforts to tighten laws that are supposed to protect the public from sex offenders.

The Chelsea’s Light Foundation will strive for legislative and law enforcement change in the name of the 17-year-old straight-A student, whose body was found in a shallow grave near Lake Hodges on March 2, five days after she went missing during a jogging outing in Rancho Bernardo.

A registered sex offender has been charge with sexually assaulting and murdering her.

With a “specific plan of action ... defined over the coming weeks and months,’’ the organization will “work in concert with California Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher to develop a path forward, beginning with California and subsequently the nation,’’ King family spokeswoman Sara Muller Fraunces said.

(CNS) - Volunteers handed out sunflowers to an overflow crowd of more than 6,000 mourners arriving at Poway High School Saturday to honor slain teenager Chelsea King, described by her principal as a "shining light" that the community must make sure is never extinguished.
 
    Family, friends, classmates and throngs of others sat beneath her giant image over the football stadium grandstand, as the sun beamed through cloudy skies.
 
    Poway High School Principal Scott Fisher, speaking from a stage festooned with sunflower bouquets, told the crowd the events in the two weeks since Chelsea's disappearance and the discovery of her body have filled the hearts of everyone at the school, and "millions who never had the privilege of knowing Chelsea."
 
  "While we mourn," Fisher said, "Chelsea's passing has strengthened the bonds of this community more than I could have ever imagined."

A Creek Road property owners’ long-standing dispute over alleged property rights recently prompted a $1.2 million claim for damages, which has been denied by the city.

George and Helen Wu, who own property next to City Councilwoman Betty Rexford, allege that Rexford and four top former and current city employees are responsible for a complicated dispute dating back to July 1999 regarding whether utilities on their property should be placed underground, and who should pay for the work. The Wus contend the work and its payment were required under an agreement between the city and the Corky McMillin company, which was building a residential subdivision down the road.

They also claim the city has “wrongfully prevented Claimants from grading and developing their property, even though the City Engineer signed the permit.”

As was the case in a 2007 civil lawsuit involving two other Rexford neighbors, the Wus, in their Feb. 11 claim, allege that Rexford “used her official status and position with the City of Poway to wrongfully interfere ...” with their project. However, the bulk of the allegations in the Wus’ claim center on the actions of others — most notably former City Manager Jim Bowersox — along with former City Attorney Steve Eckis, former City Attorney Tamara Smith and then-Assistant City Manager Penny Riley, who is now city manger.

(CNS) - A Saturday, March 27 public memorial is planned for Amber Dubois in Escondido High School's stadium.

The body of the 14-year-old girl, who was last seen walking to school on Feb. 13, 2009, was found March 6 about three miles north of state Route 76 near the Pala Casino.

A cause of death has not been established, but 30-year-old John Albert Gardner III, who has been charged in the slaying of 17-year-old Chelsea King, is being investigated in connection with her disappearance and death.

Amber is expected to be buried during a private ceremony in Escondido on March 26.

More than 6,000 people filled Poway High School's stadium for a memorial tribute to Chelsea Saturday. Among the crowd were Amber's parents, Moe Dubois and Carrie McGonigle.

The murder of 17-year-old Chelsea King at Rancho Bernardo Community Park has led to an increased interest in local self-defense classes.

In response, a number of groups are providing free safety workshops for teenagers and adults.

Free self-defense training classes geared toward teens and women will be held for the next four Sunday afternoons at Poway Kenpo Karate, 13246 Poway Road, in the Lively Shopping Center.
Owner Barry Barker said the two classes will be on March 14, 21, 27 and April 3. The sessions will begin at 2 and 5 p.m. Free monthly classes are planned beyond that point, Barker said.

Participants must be 13 years and older and minors must be accompanied by a parent or older sibling.