Groundbreaking ceremony held for Poway Veterans Park

After years of dreaming about a place to honor local veterans, a
ground-breaking ceremony was held Monday at just such a site — the
future Poway Veterans Park on Midland Road.

During the ceremony, Poway City Councilman Jim Cunningham said, “I
know that many of the vets are still thinking, ‘I’ll believe it when I
see it,’ but it’s going to happen.”

He applauded representatives from the Poway chapters of Veterans of
Foreign Wars, American Legion, Navy Fleet Reserve Association and the
Elks for their dedication and determination in sticking to their goal.

The dream to have a dedicated site began about 15 years ago, said Ed Harmon, past president of the local American Legion.

Fund set up to help PUSD parents pay bus fees

The Poway Unified School District Foundation is rolling out a
new fund to save the regular education bus program from being eliminated
this fall.

Money from the fund, being called Transport All Kids Everyday
(TAKE), will be used to help supplement bus pass fees for families
unable to make the payment of $575 for the school year.
In May, the
school board approved bumping up fees by $136 from the rate of $439 to
help cover the cost of running the transportation system.

That plan, set by the board, hinges on getting 2,800, or about 85
percent of riders’ families, to pay the new bus pass rate, said Chuck
Lord, president of the drivers’ union, Service Employees International
Union.

As of Tuesday afternoon, fees for 1,320 passes had been paid, with
roughly 50 percent of families opting for a deferred payment plan that
requires them to pay $315 by Monday Aug. 2 and $260 by Nov. 1, said Dawn
Everly, coordinator of the bus pass fees.

Poway patrol recognized for Chelsea King efforts

The Poway Senior Volunteer Patrol will be receiving a
meritorious unit award on Aug. 31 from the San Diego County Sheriff’s
Department, the first of its kind for the all-volunteer group.

The award ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. in the Bob Hope Theater
at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar during the Sheriff’s annual
presentations.

“We understand that it’s for our ‘teamwork and extraordinary’
efforts in searching for Chelsea King, the Poway High teen who was
murdered Feb. 25 on a trail in Rancho Bernardo,” said SVP’s
administrator, Frank Laughton.

Laughton said that the SVP, which is a volunteer group associated
with the Sheriff’s Department, never dropped one of its regular patrols
during the search for Chelsea.

Some pulled double shifts to pitch in at the search site in RB, he added.

Poway checkpoint yields nine arrests

Poway-based sheriff’s deputies arrested five suspected impaired drivers
in Poway during a weekend DUI and driver safety checkpoint on Poway
Road, just south of Espola Road.

Deputies also made three arrests
for drug possession and one arrest for possession of a weapon.

The
checkpoint, manned from Saturday night until 2:30 a.m. Sunday by 15
Poway deputies, was one of several scheduled randomly throughout the
year, according to Deputy Mark Tally from that station.

About 34
of the 617 drivers who passed through the checkpoint were directed to
the secondary area for further evaluation, he said.

Deputies
issues two citations for those driving with a suspended license; four
citations for unlicensed drivers; two citations for provisional license
violations; three citations for drivers who did not have their driver’s
license with them; and one citation to a passenger in possession of an
open container of alcohol.

Campaign will raise money for Poway Days parade, picnic

Sue Herndon and Sharon Cafagna are putting together their
calling lists to attract sponsors for the 2010 Poway Days Heritage
Parade and Old-Fashioned Picnic.

Don’t be surprised if they come a callin’, knockin’ or e-mailin’,
because they are passionate about infusing a love for their community
into Poway Days, which kicks off with the parade and picnic on Saturday,
Sept. 18

Considered a combined event, the duo is volunteering to help raise
$30,000 to underwrite the activities.

This will be the 46th year for the parade, which almost vanished
last year, until Sabrina Butler rallied others to breathe life into it.

She established the nonprofit Poway Community Association and
organized volunteers to assist with all the planning, calling and
logistics of putting together a parade.

“She was amazing,” Herndon, a local Realtor said. “She started in
July and it was ready to go in September.”

Herndon jumped in because she always loved the parade and could not
think of Poway without it, she said.

New Poway businesses opening

A handful of Poway businesses — from a chain drug store to an
energy-efficient manufacturing center — are scheduling grand openings in
the next few weeks.

A new Walgreens Drug Store will have opening festivities the first
week of August at 13364 Poway Road, on the corner of Poway and Community
roads, according to a store manager Jack Stratton.

Stratton said that the store will open with what will become daily
hours — 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. — on Tuesday, Aug. 3. A two-day grand
opening with giveaways will follow on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 6 and 7.

A lot of people have stopped by the store during the final phase of
construction, curious about when it will open, Stratton said.

The store occupies the spot where Golden State Gasoline Station,
Poway Smog Check and Western Mower & Engine, as well as a
do-it-yourself car wash, once stood.

Poway man an attempted murder suspect

Two
men — one from Poway, another from San Diego — were arrested Thursday
night for
allegedly attacking a 24-year-old Desert Hot Springs man in his home.

Christopher
Paul Caldwell, 19, was arrested at his home in the 13000 block of Hesta
Street in
Poway, while Juan “Johnny” Zamora, 20, was arrested in the 4400 block of
Imperial Avenue in San Diego.

Both
were booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, Caldwell was
also booked on suspicion of
attempted murder.

The
victim, who was reportedly asleep at the time of the assault just before
midnight on Tuesday, had injuries to his face, head and upper body,
according
to a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department spokesman.

New PUSD superintendent: ‘We’ve cut as far as we can’

John Collins, Poway Unified’s new superintendent, is settling into his
new role and even newer surroundings in the district’s renovated Carmel
Mountain Ranch headquarters.

As of July 1, he has replaced former superintendent Don Phillips,
who retired after serving the district for nine years.

That date also marks the official opening of the district’s new,
$9.5 million 54,460-square-foot headquarters at 15250 Avenue of Science,
where many departments will now be housed under the same roof.

“My previous office will probably be used as a closet,” Collins
said. “The huge plus is that the district will now be saving almost
$500,000 a year by not renting space in Sabre Springs.”

Collins said that he feels confident in his new role, thanks to
Phillips ultimately delegating much of the day-to-day routines,
including the “business side of the district” to Collins.

About five years ago, the district could not fill the role of an
associate superintendent of business and that’s when Phillips approached
Collins about becoming a deputy superintendent.

“He wanted me to learn about the business side of the house,”
Collins said.

Poway set for ‘Old-Fashioned Fourth’

Locals will have several ways to celebrate the Fourth of July in Poway.

The city’s annual Old-Fashioned Fourth will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
on Sunday, July 4 in Old Poway Park, 14134 Midland Road. Admission is
free.

The event epitomizes the wholesome activities of yesteryear, said
Recreation Supervisor Dave Richards.

“We have arts and crafts for kids, old-fashioned games, train rides on
the Baldwin steam engine (at a nominal price), an ice cream social and
other treats,”
Richards said.

PUSD employees choose new union

Poway Unified office
workers, health technicians and other employees have voted to form a new
union
— the Poway School Employees Association — to replace the Poway chapter
of the
California School Employees Association.

The majority of union voters
who cast mail ballots between May 26 and June 21 selected the new group
to
represent them, said Kathy Meyer
with the new union’s election
committee.

The official tally was 416
votes (56 percent) for the new union, PSEA; 294 votes (40 percent) for
remaining with the CSEA; and 29 votes (4 percent) for no representation.

The ballots were tabulated
Tuesday (June 22) in the Glendale office of the Sacramento-based Public
Employment Relations Board, according to PERB official Les Chisholm.

PERB is an administrative agency
that oversees the collective bargaining statutes covering employees of
California’s public schools and other groups, Chisholm said.

The vote will now have to be
certified by CSEA in San Diego, he said.

In March, a group of CSEA
members within the Poway chapter, disgruntled with their representation,
broke
away with the intent to form a new union.

“We are thrilled that our
co-workers saw through CSEA’s attempt to divide us and voted by such a
large
margin for local control, lower dues and better representation,” said
Meyer, a
health technician at Del Norte High School.

“Our dispute all along has
been with CSEA, not with our co-workers,” she added.

Members of the PSEA
organizing committee will meet this week to begin drafting new bylaws
for
members to approve, organizing a negotiating team and setting up an
election
for new officers.

PSEA is the only union that
has not finalized negotiations with the district regarding rollback and
other
employment issues, due in large part to the impending formation of the
new
union.

Dianne Kodadek, former CSEA
president of the Poway chapter, said, “CSEA and the district should
respect our
choice and agree to immediate certification of PSEA as our union.”

The current agreement
between PUSD and CSEA expires on June 30, Kodadek said.

CSEA officials were not
available for comment Tuesday after the outcome of the vote was
announced.