Editorial: “Thumbs” for March
THUMBS UP
to the three educators who on March 20 were named “Teachers of the Year” in the Poway Unified School District: Kerry Araiza of Pomerado Elementary, Heather Smith of Willow Grove Elementary and Jay Posteraro of Mesa Verde Middle School. The three will next be considered for countywide honors.
THUMBS UP
to San Diego County officials for recently launching a new Sex Offender Email Notification System. It gives automated email alerts about sex offenders listed on the Megan’s Law website. Joining the system is free and information on more than one area or ZIP code can be requested.
The tool helps parents keep track of some potential threats and reminds them they need to be ever-vigilant and to keep lines of communication open with their children, especially since 80 to 90 percent of sex offenses against children are committed by people who know them and their families, not strangers. Sign up at www.SanDiegoCountySexOffenders.com.
THUMBS DOWN
to what seems to be a growing trend of community pageants such as Miss Poway and Miss Rancho Bernardo relaxing residency requirements. Something’s not right when a young woman from, say, Rancho Penasquitos is crowned Miss Poway or a Poway teen wins the Miss RB title. Pageant organizers say it’s becoming increasingly difficult to attract a full field of hopefuls from their communities. Maybe the lack of interest is reflective of a changing society, where being a “queen” has lost some of its appeal. That’s a shame, but times do change.
THUMBS (AND BOTTOMS) UP
to the Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary Club for coming up with the idea of hosting an April 14 beer festival to raise money for five deserving nonprofit groups. San Diego County has become “the” craft beer hot spot in the country and the Rotary event will spotlight several popular North County breweries. Details at www.rbsunrise.org.
THUMBS UP
to Poway High School softball coach Jim Bennet for achieving his 200th win last month. He started as the freshman coach in 1995 and reached the 200-win mark in just over 10 years. He is also the girls varsity golf coach and the junior varsity basketball coach.
THUMBS UP
to Maranatha Christian High School and its eight students who created a carbon monoxide sensor that was launched into space last month so astronauts aboard the International Space Station can test it for 30 days. The data will be sent back to the students for analysis. The project required countless hours of commitment by the teens, who started working on it last summer. Many of the skills required to create, design and build the sensor were college-level and beyond.
THUMBS UP
to all the residents who over the past four decades supported, advocated for and made possible the Rancho Bernardo Library. The branch opened on March 26, 1973 in a former Avco sales office in Westwood. It moved into two much larger facilities, most recently in June 1996 when the 22,750-square-foot library opened at 17110 Bernardo Center Drive. It is the third-busiest of San Diego Public Library system’s 36 facilities.
THUMBS UP
to the 580 readers who completed our Readers’ Choice survey form online. Results will be announced next week.
