A confidential source says San Diego County district attorney Bonnie Dumanis has determined that the Escondido police officer involved in the shooting death of an alleged informant will not face criminal charges. The City of …
January 23, 2011
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Stories by Craig Vansant
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Escondido Police Cleared of Culpability in Jennifer Favreau’s Shooting Death?
Escondido City Council Told Homeless Center Inadequate
At the Escondido City Council meeting of January 12, Thomas Armstrong complained that conditions at the Salvation Army's new homeless shelter on Metcalf Street were "deplorable." "The Salvation Army is not totally to blame," he …
January 13, 2011
Slashed Girl Delivered to Palomar Hospital
Patients at Palomar Hospital were stunned on January 7 at 1:00 a.m.: a dark-haired girl about 16 years old — pale and on the verge of collapse — staggered into the emergency room with a …
January 11, 2011
Escondido’s Water Rates to Rise
A forum to explain water-rate hikes in the City of Escondido was held on January 6. Raftelis Financial Consultants conducted a rate study of the five-year plan: a typical family bill should decrease slightly in …
January 8, 2011
Vista Permits a Second Tattoo Shop
The Vista Planning Commission granted a special-use permit on January 4, allowing a tattoo shop to open near Thibodo Road and Watson Way. The establishment will be one of two tattoo parlors allowed in Vista...until …
January 4, 2011
SDG&E’s Escondido Transformer Fire Nontoxic?
A massive cloud of black smoke that loomed above the Escondido Auto Park on December 22 was due to a transformer fire at SDG&E’s substation on Enterprise Street. The fire started at approximately 12:15 p.m. …
December 25, 2010
Escondido Bomb Scare
A half hour before the Escondido City Council meeting of December 15 was set to begin, two police officer stormed the council chambers looking for a bomb. According to a witness, the officers pulled right …
December 16, 2010
Escondido City Council Makes Way for New Ballpark
At the Escondido City Council meeting on November 17, the council voted unanimously to purchase property located at 2120 Harmony Grove Road for use as a public-works yard. The cost will be $6,050,000 plus escrow …
November 18, 2010
Burglaries at Mountain Shadows Mobile Home Park in Escondido
In the second week of November, two units at Mountain Shadows Mobile Home Park were burglarized while residents were gone during the day. According to the manager for the park, only one street was targeted. …
November 16, 2010
Angry Customer Breaks Door in Vista
On November 7 at about 9:30 p.m., a customer broke the glass on the front door of the Circle K store on the corner of Shadowridge Drive and Watson Way in Vista. According to a …
November 9, 2010
Escondido City Employees Association Addresses Pay Cut with Council
At an Escondido City Council meeting on October 27, an attorney for the Escondido City Employees Association declared an impasse and urged councilmembers to send their negotiators "back to the table." Regarding recent budget cuts, …
October 28, 2010
Coalition of Escondido Mobile/Manufactured Home Voters Activates
At the Escondido Downtown Street Faire on October 17, the Coalition of Escondido Mobile/Manufactured Home Voters was giving away free T-shirts to anyone who was willing to wear them for an hour or two. "Had …
October 19, 2010
Escondido’s California Center for the Arts to Employ Roman de Salvo for “Grape Maze”
On October 13, the Escondido City Council authorized a payment from the City’s public art fund to allow an art project to be constructed in the California Center for the Arts Escondido Museum courtyard. According …
October 14, 2010
Ambulances Carry Away Two Senior Citizens From Richard Dreyfuss Appearance
On October 9 at about 11 a.m., two ambulances arrived at the San Diego County Library in Encinitas after two senior citizens — who were attending a speech given by actor Richard Dreyfuss — became …
October 10, 2010
Protestors Descend on San Diego Humane Society
On October 3, about 40 members of the San Diego Animal Defense Team gathered in front of San Diego Humane Society and SPCA to protest. According to the Animal Defense Team website, the demonstration was …
October 5, 2010
Loose Dog in Lakeside Gets Shot by Deputy
On September 20 at 7:40 a.m., a Lakeside dog was shot and wounded when he growled and charged at a sheriff’s deputy who was responding to a hazard complaint. According to Sgt. Brent Strahm with …
September 22, 2010
Escondido Mobile Home Park Residents Rely on Water from Hose
"Bring your own bucket," the notice said, and residents of Mountain Shadows Mobile Home Park got angry. For five days in mid-September, no water came from faucets and no toilets could be flushed due to …
September 19, 2010
Transient Lived in Escondido Garden Shed
For several nights in August, a perplexed resident of Mountain Shadows Mobile Home Park in Escondido heard voices coming from her next-door neighbor’s coach. Whether she was out on her back porch or lying in …
September 15, 2010
Carlsbad Teen Staggers into Traffic, Then Rescued
At around 9:00 p.m. on September 6, a delivery driver for the Pizza Hut on Cannon Road stopped for a girl who stepped off the curb against a red light. She was in her late …
September 8, 2010
Van Doorn to Defeat Horn?
On June 3, John Van Doorn, a candidate hoping to unseat District 5 county supervisor Bill Horn, held an American flag and waved at cars from an Interstate 15 overpass in Escondido. While red-faced and …
June 3, 2010
Real Plugger
On March 19 at about 6 p.m., an auto-theft suspect led Escondido police officers on a chase in which gunfire struck four police cars and the car of a passerby. According to a press release, …
March 21, 2010
Moth Captured
The California Department of Food and Agriculture says the first “light brown apple moth” (Epiphyas postvittana) to appear in San Diego has been trapped in a Bonsall lemon grove. According to a press release, residents …
March 11, 2010
RATT Roundup
As a result of “Operation Hotel California,” a six-month-long investigation, the San Diego County Grand Jury has indicted 51 defendants on charges of auto theft, selling stolen vehicles, sale of controlled substances, carjacking, residential burglary, …
March 9, 2010
Nightmare Over?
When Craig Johnson moved to Valley Center in 1978, he could see only seven lights from the ridge on Chaparral Terrace. "Now there are hundreds," he said. On March 5, he and about 100 other …
March 6, 2010
UCSD and TB Now
The San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency is working with UCSD to provide tuberculosis testing to students and faculty who may have been exposed to a student who has been diagnosed with the …
March 4, 2010
Scratched and Jailed
Sheriff's deputies arrested a Spring Valley rape suspect on February 27 in the 500 block of Palomar Street in Chula Vista. According to a press release issued by detective Pete Carrillo, the sheriff's station in …
March 2, 2010
Mental Help
The San Diego Superior Court has launched a new Behavioral Health Court, similar to Drug Court. The purpose of the program is to break the cycle of incarceration for San Diego's mentally ill by providing …
February 26, 2010
Thanks, Nosy Neighbor
A nosy neighbor was responsible for the capture of two parolees who were committing a burglary on February 22, according to a sheriff's department press release. At about 2:30 p.m., a San Marcos resident saw …
February 23, 2010
Heinous Hike
A panicked father was reunited with his son after the young man became lost approximately one mile from the eastern end of Palo Verde Lake in Alpine, according to a press release by the San …
February 20, 2010
Attractive and Suffering
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...” In her 12th and final state of the city address, Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler quoted Charles Dickens's Tale of Two Cities to describe …
February 13, 2010
Zapped
Because he pointed a green laser at a police helicopter, a San Diego man was sentenced to eight months in state prison on February 8. In a press release, district attorney Bonnie Dumanis announced that …
February 11, 2010
More Than a Catfight
On February 6, two women were arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and battery at the Jumping Turtle Bar and Grill in San Marcos. According to a sheriff's department press release, deputies responded to …
February 9, 2010
Cable, Lions, Air Are Options
At the February 3 Escondido City Council meeting, the council directed the budget subcommittee to consider the possibility of using $17 million worth of reserves in order to avoid closing the performing arts center, the …
February 6, 2010
Sell It to the Jury
In an effort to make reporting for jury duty more enjoyable, the San Diego Superior Court has implemented a program that allows jurors to access wireless internet in the court's jury lounge at no charge. …
February 2, 2010
Restless Residents
In a meeting at Escondido City Hall on January 26, planning commissioners voted 3-2 to deny a request allowing an auto-services development to be built on a corner near the intersection of Brotherton Road and …
January 30, 2010
They Preyed on Their Neighbors
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 …
January 28, 2010
Reservation Drugs
On January 21 at about 9 p.m., sheriff's deputies arrested a resident of the San Pasqual Reservation after a traffic stop led to the discovery of numerous types of illegal narcotics and drug paraphernalia that …
January 24, 2010
Morning Swarm
On January 14, officers from the San Diego North County Regional Gang Task Force, the Carlsbad and Oceanside Police Departments, the San Diego County Probation Department, and the FBI awakened documented gang members at 6 …
January 16, 2010
Teens 'n' Guns
On Tuesday, January 4, at about 11:00 p.m., El Cajon police took three young men into custody for felony vandalism. An officer reportedly became suspicious of the teens’ passenger-side window being rolled down on such …
January 7, 2010
Help Is a Ping Away
Last week, sheriff's deputies rescued two surveyors who’d become lost while working on a Stewart Canyon landfill project. On December 30, James Plunkett, 30, and Jason Wold, 25, were placing markers in the area when, …
January 1, 2010
Tag — You're It
According to a sheriff's press release, deputies arrested a prolific graffiti tagger at his Vista home on December 28. The 16-year-old suspect was booked into the San Diego Juvenile Detention Facility on 232 counts of …
December 31, 2009