Santee Stories
Heymatt: Driving north on the 125 into Santee, I see mounds of something covered with white plastic. They’re on the west side of the freeway. They look like grave sites and there are dozens of …
Ed Bed discovers the French side of Santee.
At approximately 3:00 a.m. on Tuesday, January 22, a possible car arson occurred in the Santana Village Shopping Center in Santee. The car was in the parking lot behind the Subway sandwich shop and across …
A Santee family of four was burned out of their Poinciana Drive home Tuesday, January 15, by a two-alarm fire that destroyed much of the house's interior. A firefighter and a civilian suffered minor injuries …
Seeking a bargain on Disneyland Hopper Tickets, Kim posted a want ad on Craigslist. Now the young woman from North County is telling others, through a subsequent ad, doing so may not be a good …
One of the foothills at the north end of Santee seems to be sprouting large Easter eggs. Just off the road and up the hill from the 10000 block of Healy Way, five large boulders …
Lacey J’s, Santee’s country-music mainstay, closes its doors.
At 10:30 a.m. on July 21, a 79-year-old pilot from Gillespie Field, in his home-built airplane, experienced an engine problem. He realized that he was not going to make it back to Gillespie Field so …
Less crowded, unique and beautiful wildlands make this a good place to explore.
Santee Lakes Regional Park, a waterfowl haven that started out as a wastewater treatment facility.
Marion M. Lopez was picked up on a warrant sweep on February 23, 2011, and found herself in Las Colinas women’s detention facility in Santee. It was the 42-year-old’s third time in jail. On the …
South ParkWednesday, February 168:45 p.m. The sign painted on the building reads Delicious Food, Great Beer, Philanthropy, but I won’t notice this until I leave. For now, I dart from my car into South Park …
Four young teens reported being robbed at knifepoint near Santee’s Town Center Community Park East on Sunday, April 10, at approximately 4:45 p.m. Within minutes, four sheriff’s deputies responded, along with a sheriff’s helicopter overhead. …
On Friday, December 17, at approximately 3:00 pm a fire started in the fallow field at the center of Santee. The fire was on the southern side of the San Diego River nearer Magnolia Boulevard. …
A Delta II rocket carried the Thales Alenia Space-Italia COSMO-SkyMed Satellite southbound over the Pacific, past San Diego, at 7:20 p.m. on November 5. The rocket, launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base (north of Santa …
A Santee company has been trying since 2008 to buy a chunk of land along the north bank of the San Diego River. The property is situated on a little finger of eastern San Diego …
Membership: 400 Pastor: Gene Beezer Born: Punxsutawney, PA Formation: Bachelor’s, Houghton College, NY Ordained: 48 Years San Diego Reader: Can you think of a time when you gave a sermon which flopped? Pastor Beezer: I …
Near Town Center in Santee at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 8, witnesses in the area reported hearing a loud “boom” coming from the grassy field east of the recently opened Town Center Community …
Two of inland San Diego County’s most important east-west highways, Scripps-Poway Parkway and the Tierrasanta-to-Santee stretch of the Highway 52 Freeway, have been designed to carry bicycle as well as auto traffic. They can be …
A suspected burglar was arrested after a random tandem bike ride in El Cajon on April 22. The 35-year-old parolee allegedly marketed the stolen bicycle on Craigslist after the owners reported it stolen from a …
In an early-morning warrant sweep on January 28, about 60 detectives and county sheriff’s deputies assisted in arresting eight suspects in connection with a series of burglaries that have occurred in Santee, Lakeside, and unincorporated …
At noon on September 17, a customer attempted to purchase two packages of cigarettes at the Circle K store on Mast Boulevard. The customer's 50-dollar bill was tested for counterfeit three different ways by the …
An incredible example of the sheriffs’ firefighting capability took place Friday afternoon, August 21, when a lightning strike ignited a wildfire on the hill just north of Magnolia Avenue. Within minutes after the fire was …
Friends Christian Fellowship meets in a Santee office park suite artfully converted into a cozy chapel. Several times a year, they set up outreaches across the 67 at Shadow Hills Park. “One time,” said Pastor …
On Monday, March 23, law-enforcement officials at the Santee sheriff's station on Cuyamaca Street were forced to evacuate their building in response to a credible bomb threat. Shortly after 2 p.m., an unidentified man had …
On March 3, the phrase “look what the cat dragged in” took on a whole new meaning for one Santee resident, whose pet cat brought home a dead bat. The cat’s owner promptly contacted the …
Allied Waste Services, the national waste hauler that operates the City of San Diego’s Sycamore Landfill off State Route 52 at Mast Boulevard near Santee, is ramping up its campaign to expand the facility. Neighbors …
I never wanted to move to Scripps Ranch — not with its swarming real-estate agents and white-bread, attend-the-church-of-your-choice ethos, its compliant shrubs, its matrons in SUVs, that whole lifeless suburban drone. And where the hell …
A pretty country quilt lay across an old four-poster bed on the stage at Pathways Community Church. The bed had been there throughout the church’s “Sexual Revolution” series — in which “revolution” was defined as …
I got an invite to a party in Santee. I was told there'd be a band called Mudwolf playing in the back yard. I figured, hey, I love Steppenwolf...and Wolfmother. Odds are I'll like this …
In my neighborhood, each driveway is pretty much a snapshot of the next on Halloween. Snapping fires rise from washtubs turned firepits or new Target-purchased varieties. Smiling folks in sweatshirts stand or sit around the …
Every election season, my father sinks a wire-framed campaign sign into the strip of grass between his sidewalk and the street. Every election season, an unseen enemy steals it. Dad replaces the sign. The enemy …
The first drive-in theater I snuck into in San Diego was also the first one built here, the Midway, on the northwest corner of Mission Bay Drive and Sports Arena Boulevard. It was December 1979, …
Hey, Matt: In the summer my thermometer in the open sun reads 110 to 120 degrees while the news reports 90 to 100. How do they get such low readings? Do they put their thermometers …
My day got off to a bad start. As a volunteer for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, I was asked to help set up a play set for a child in Santee. I'm useless at things like …
"People thought [my becoming a pastor] was bogus," said Pastor Stan Miller. "They said, 'He's lost his marbles' and 'He's flipped out.' It angered the media. They vilified me. Most of this came from my …
A cool coastal breeze, worming its way up through Mission Gorge, ruffles the mirrorlike surfaces of the seven Santee Lakes, and sets cottonwood leaves aflutter. A damp, wholly agreeable odor permeates the wooded shorelines. Does …
"If moshing begins, the concert ends right there," says Aliah Lieras, recreation program supervisor with the City of Santee. "If the bands aren't supportive of the rule, they won't be asked back. Our staff tech …
The 1194-foot mountain dubbed "Kwaay Paay" in Mission Trails Regional Park managed to escape the flames that swept through nearly half of the park's area in October 2003. The welcome if spotty precipitation we've received …
Magnolia Mulvaney's 8861 North Magnolia Avenue, Santee 619-448-8550 It's the kind of bar where blondes are proud of their dark roots and men are proud of their too-tight jeans. There's a restaurant and banquet room, …
Vortex Engineering 9201 Isaac Road, Santee www.vortexengineering.com 619-258-9660 "They also did the lift on my boat," says Lou-Lou, sportsman to the max. He's got two motorbikes now, a Honda VTR 996 "crotch rocket" and a …
Clemens Granite Works 10527 Prospect Avenue, Santee 619-449-0670 Family-owned and operated since 1933, owner Frankie Clemens insists on only pure stone and marble (ordered from as nearby as Gopher Canyon and as far away as …
Oak Canyon, tucked into a relatively pristine corner of Mission Trails Regional Park just west of Santee, has come alive with a thin stream of gurgling water, owing to the recent decent (if not quite …
From July of 2000 to April 2001, a new kind of crime wave hit San Diego County. Boiled down to penal-code labeling -- 211 for armed robbery, 459 for burglary -- the crimes weren't anything …
San Diego Aerospace Museum Hangar 335 Kenney Street, Santee 619-258-1221 This Atlas Missile 2-E is East County's premier anachronism. Its flanks jut up 80 or 90 feet from the low-rise industrial buildings along Gillespie Field's …
Institute for Creation Research 10946 Woodside Avenue North, Santee 619-448-0900, ext. 6011 This free "museum of science and history" (open 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday) will "take you on a journey through time!" according …
GTM Discount General Store 7663 Broadway, Lemon Grove 619-460-2990 716 16th Street, Downtown 619-234-7122 8967 Carlton Hills Boulevard, Santee 619-499-4953 350 Cypress Lane, El Cajon 619-441-8183 Parking is sometimes at a premium in front of …
RCP Block and Brick 8240 Broadway, Lemon Grove Other locations in Santee, Chula Vista, and Escondido 619-460-9101 Fred, of the 50-year-old RCP (It stands for "Revolutionized Concrete Products"), says dropping a 2-1/2-inch deep layer of …
The Valley House 10767 Woodside Avenue, Santee 619-562-7878 "Back in Iowa they call it 'pork tenderloin,' " explains Dave Hayes, Valley House's owner. "I called it the 'Iowa Porker,' because nobody here knew what 'Pork …