Fallbrook Stories
The Santa Margarita River Trails are managed by the newly merged Live Oak Coalition and the Fallbrook Trails Council. Through an agreement with the Fallbrook Public Utility District, which owns the property, the nonprofit group …
Bill Cosby on Monday (December 14) filed a countersuit in federal court in Massachusetts, claiming that seven women who have accused him of drugging and sexually exploiting them are guilty of "malicious, opportunistic, and false …
Sheriff’s deputies have not solved the mystery of who killed Larry Robinson, the guitarist remembered for his decades of local shows and legions of guitar students. He was murdered in a Temecula music store two …
A judge in North County sentenced two people to life in prison without possibility of parole on November 19. Louis Ray Perez, 49, and Dorothy Grace Marie Maraglino, 40, were both declared guilty of the …
Fallbrook Brewing Company has plans to open a new bar and restaurant in the friendly village it's named for. Dubbed Firehouse Que and Brew, the new business will serve beer, wine and barbecue at 1019 …
Monserate Mountain Preserve, located in San Diego’s North County, is the second largest of 11 preserves within the 2700-acre Fallbrook Land Conservancy. The preserve began with an acquisition of 225 acres in 2000; more acreage …
On September 10, a Fallbrook neighborhood was woken up by a SWAT-like operation that included closed-down streets and a bashed-down door. “They had two fire trucks, two Marine tanks, and a SWAT team van,” says …
Water users in Rainbow and Bonsall finally feel like they’ve defeated a Goliath. A yearlong battle has ended, thwarting a takeover by the Fallbrook Public Utility District of the mostly agricultural Rainbow Municipal Water District. …
A jury of nine women and three men was seated this morning, September 10, for the trial of three people accused of murdering Brittany Dawn Killgore in April of 2012. Jury selection began with a …
While a military brat living on Camp Pendleton, I kicked off my high school career going to Fallbrook HS (go Warriors!). I took that 45-minute bus ride every day for a couple of years and …
Sheriff Gill Bore has pointed to a nasty bite wound sustained by deputy Jeremy Banks as sufficient grounds for Banks' decision to deploy his taser while seeking to handcuff a resistant runaway Fallbrook teenager. Both …
The Medical Board of California has filed a second complaint against Falbrook's Anthony Steven Bianchi, M.D., who practices obstetrics and gynecology. According to an accusation filed May 5, Bianchi had been seeing a patient since …
When Fallbrook Hospital closed in December, it was kind of an “I-told-you-so” moment for Nathan Kaufman, a San Diego–based expert who has a 35-year career consulting over 80 hospital districts nationwide. Of Fallbrook’s demise, Kaufman …
Charles Ray Merritt, now 58, denies killing Joseph McStay, 40, wife Summer McStay, 43, and their two sons, 4-year-old Giovanni, and 3-year-old Joseph Jr. in 2010. Defendant Merritt and Joseph McStay were partners in a …
Last year, on the morning of May 14, humidity levels were down to 5 percent, morning beach temperatures already up into the high 80s, and strong Santa Ana winds were blowing from the east. Over …
Residents of Rainbow and Bonsall feel threatened by what they say is a hostile takeover attempt of their water district by the Fallbrook Public Utility District. The mostly agricultural community of Rainbow, east of Fallbrook …
Fallbrook gang member Christopher Flores was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 30 years to life plus another 20 years in state prison on Monday, December 1. The total years were compounded because of …
This month, property owners in the county’s semi-rural areas are receiving their annual $150 bill for the state’s “Fire Prevention Fee.” Since the per-parcel fee was enacted in 2011, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association has …
Fifty-three-year-old Katherine Ann Heinzel, a former cop who was convicted of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, is due in San Diego Superior Court again on Monday, November 24. Heinzel is said to have been a …
The Red Eye Saloon in Fallbrook followed the trend of many local nightspots when it stopped hiring live bands two months ago. But right next door, a new kind of music venue has sprung up, …
A 20-year-old Fallbrook gangster was sentenced to life in prison, plus 25 years, in San Diego Superior Court on November 7. Judge Blaine Bowman spoke to Sergio Huerta Ramirez, telling him to notice that none …
Louis Ray Perez, 48, Dorothy Gracemarie Maraglino, 39, and Jessica Lynn Lopez, 27, were all in court on Friday, October 10. The defendants deny all accusations pertaining to the kidnapping, torturing, and murder of a …
With the Fallbrook Hospital facing a loss of $6 million that is growing at a clip of $500,000 a month, the directors of Fallbrook Healthcare District voted on Wednesday, October 8, to pull the plug …
Four neighbors testified that they heard gunshots at about 8 a.m. the morning of February 11, 2014, in a quiet residential area of Fallbrook. One of the 911 calls was played in court on September …
When I first met Chuck and Jaime McLaughlin, the owners of Fallbrook Brewing Company (136 North Main Avenue, Fallbrook), I thought they were a sweet couple with a lot of heart. They were still building …
Testimony began on July 17 in a trial for a man who admits being a street hood for the Varrio Fallbrook Locos gang. Some witnesses have been so fearful that they suffered almost complete memory …
Legal proceedings against a 63-year-old woman accused of reloading her five-shot revolver twice to finish killing her son-in-law were put on hold today, July 8. The attorney for Cynthia Kaye Cdebaca asked for the case …
Motorists along Highway 76 between Bonsall and I-15 are happy to see that the final six-mile phase of the Highway 76 widening project has begun. Last week, crews started clearing out heavy brush and trees …
Membership: 1200 Pastor: Mark Johnson Age: 46 Born: Minneapolis, MI Formation: Lutheran Bible Institute, Anaheim; Concordia University, Irvine; Lutheran Seminary, St. Paul Years Ordained: 17 San Diego Reader: What is your favorite subject on which …
A prosecutor said a 63-year-old grandmother reloaded her five-shot revolver twice and fired 15 rounds at her son-in-law, killing him in the home they shared in Fallbrook last week. The prosecutor spoke on February 18 …
Current Owner: Rita Gregory Listing Price: $5,750,000 Beds: 8 | Baths: 10 The small, mostly agricultural town of Rainbow, population 1832, sits at the northernmost point of San Diego County along the border of Riverside. …
After a memorial service in Laguna Nigel, about 100 family members, friends, and those who never knew Fallbrook’s McStay family, showed up at the San Clemente Pier for a memorial paddle-out on January 4. The …
Dorothy Maraglino, a 38-year-old woman from Fallbrook who is currently charged with kidnap, torture, and murder, said, “I’m prepared to represent myself” in San Diego Superior Court on December 18, 2013. Maraglino made the statement …
Three Escondido residents were arrested yesterday (October 9) in connection with a string of “smash-and-grab” robberies taking place at the trailhead of the Monserate Mountain Preserve in Fallbrook between September 19 and October 4. Bryan …
The San Diego Sheriff’s Department is looking for information that might lead them to the individuals behind several marijuana farming operations unearthed over the last week. Between September 24 and 25, deputies on the Narcotics …
I’m not a frequenter of the unincorporated town of Fallbrook and, hence, was unaware of the weekly exodus that occurs when its residents pick up and head out in search of good times, Friday through …
Interviews with Pala tribe members who are at odds since Indian gaming was made legal in California.
As San Diego County’s due date for paying the first installment of property taxes loomed on December 10, an additional $150 tax bill began arriving in property owners’ mailboxes. The new per-parcel tax, sent to …
Jim Engelke, owner of Fallbrook Olive Oil, bought an avocado grove in east Fallbrook eight years ago. With the North American Free Trade Agreement allowing the importation of avocados from south of the border and …
With the intent of creating consistency for local businesses during a floundering economy, Vince Ross, president of the Fallbrook Revitalization Council, has commissioned a study to determine the viability of developing a business improvement district …
The year Robert Cruz Ramos turned 15, he was shot in the head, according to his sister and his public defender. He started drinking “to forget everything,” and he started smoking marijuana daily. Around that …
Since the first avocado trees were planted in 1912, Fallbrook’s avocado industry’s been thriving. The Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce estimates annual sales near $26 million. However, due to water-access issues, the size of the average …
On Saturday afternoon, April 28, 12-year-old Jenna Blevens attended the Fallbrook Flower Show with her 74-year-old grandmother Eva Raines. “It’s a tradition,” said Raines, who has brought her granddaughter to the event for the past …
A North County icon disappeared for a short time on Saturday, April 7. Named after the Loch Ness Monster, Nessy Burger has been around since 1989, contained in a little roadside trailer on the west …
A 43-year-old Fallbrook man was brought before a judge on November 30 and charged with strangling to death his ex-girlfriend on the eve of her birthday, November 23. Michael David Robles pleaded not guilty and …
Forty-nine-year-old Leopaldo Lopez pleaded guilty to felony vandalism October 21 for reportedly cutting the emergency brake cable on a truck that was parked at the curb in front of a home in Fallbrook two weeks …
My last visit to Fallbrook Winery was in 2006; longtime restaurateur Ed Moore had invited me up to listen in on a blending session for the winery’s 2004 Merlot. But one blend led to another, …
Bill Warrren sounds as if he has seen too many Dos Equis' commercials when he says that he is the "most interesting man in San Diego...if not the world." Warren talks of Navassa, the Guano-filled …
Fallbrook sheriff's deputies have reason to believe they interrupted a robbery attempt on the morning of March 19. They responded to a radio call of a suspicious white female wearing a wig near the Fallbrook …
A Fallbrook sheriff's deputy who encountered two people on a street corner discovered stolen items and burglary tools on March 16. Deputy Andrew Brumfield stopped to question Vanessa Paredez, 27, as she stood outside of …