Valley Center Stories
It wasn't on the county planning commission's May 15 agenda, but Lilac Hills Ranch, a proposed subdivision near rural Valley Center, came up - just like it keeps coming back. ...
Those signature gatherers in front of Home Depot or Ralph’s are usually in it for the money. They might get $3 to $5 per signature. They may or may not ...
Valley Center farmers aren't alone when it comes to the high cost of water. But it could get lonelier and costlier if two neighboring water districts unyoke from the Water ...
"Find a good well.” That’s what Al Stehly, long-time North County avocado grower recommends, if you want to make a living nurturing what some folks call “green gold.” Stehly, who ...
Valley Center Stories
Around midnight, September 4, Joe Avila was alerted via his phone of a mountain lion lurking within their Valley Center property. “We added the Arlo Pro cameras in the orchard to see what was eating ...
On August 6, RE/MAX realtor Carmen Cifuentes posted Facebook photos of trash and debris she just discovered. “It was a huge dump on a property that we are selling,” she told me on August 16. ...
On June 17, Leslie G. saw photos of a stranded semi truck and trailer on the opposite side of the road by her Valley Center home. “The truck got stuck near Pala Loma Drive and ...
On June 20, at around 3:15 pm, Shirley saw white feathers scattered by the mailbox outside of her Valley Center farm. “Oh no!” she said herself, “one of my peacocks has been hit." She then ...
On April 30, Jessica Y. found a snake by her Valley Center house, picked it up, then snapped a selfie. Jessica, posted the photo on Facebook and captioned it: “Instead of killing gopher snakes: pick ...
On Saturday, March 16th, the San Diego Mountain Bike Association’s Ride the Rancho event gave cyclists a rare opportunity to explore a property where visitors are seldom permitted, Rancho Guejito. The ranch is an enormous ...
Orange tree owners from Valley Center and Escondido took to social media to vent about their fruit splitting. “What caused the spitting this year?” questioned one woman from Escondido on February 11. “My other citrus ...
In the last couple of weeks, the elusive “double rainbows” have been spotted throughout San Diego County. “It was surreal,” said Chris Mannerino, “On February 5, I saw it out of my new office and ...
“Could you let me off at Lilac Road?” That’s me, asking the driver of the 388 as we climb through the hills and orange orchards of Valley Center Road, northeast of Escondido. “Just in time,” ...
Jury selection continues Monday, March 19 in the much-delayed trial of David Leroy Lucero Jr., now 33, who is accused of murdering his mother eight years ago, in the home they shared in Valley Center. ...
A tow-truck driver and a pair of motorists getting help after experiencing a breakdown were able to thwart a carjacking attempt Thursday night (September 29) near Valley Center. According to sheriff's deputy Shawn Silva, two ...
Three weeks ago a pursuit began when Sheriff deputies spotted a black 2006 Audi A3 that had been reported stolen in Valley Center. Driver Brian Kleinfeldt, a career criminal, took off and started a 37-minute ...
A final hurrah was given for Irish indie-pop band Two Door Cinema Club, as they performed their last concert of 2016, stopping at Harrah’s Resort SoCal in San Diego for a set of mild madness ...
The Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians has added a brewery component to its gambling interests. The sovereign tribe owns the Harrah's casino on its reservation near Valley Center, and on November 5th it opened a ...
Of San Diego's 153 county, city, school, and special district races on the November 8 ballot, Pauma Valley’s Yuima Municipal Water’s 2nd district seat had one of the highest voter turnouts in the county — ...
Urban sprawl means big money these days in San Diego's North County, the once bucolic setting of pastoral ranches and organic food farms now set for uber-urbanization if voters approve proposition B on November's countywide ...
Of all the labels people look for when it comes to food, locally grown is number one, surveys find. But more than a decade after the county launched the San Diego Grown 365 label, few ...
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2013 inductees Heart performed about a dozen of their own songs over an hour-long show, including hits such as "Kick It Out," "Heartless," "Straight on," "These Dreams," "Crazy on ...
A young man arrested on suspicion of killing his mother more than five years ago and who has not yet heard any evidence presented against him is due in court on November 30. David Leroy ...
“The defendant has gotten away with his phony persona for years,” a prosecutor told the jury yesterday, November 18, in her opening statements in the trial of Robert Oldham Young, who is accused of taking ...
An environmental nonprofit has put San Diego County supervisor Bill Horn and his colleagues on the board on notice: follow the advice of the Fair Political Practices Commission and don't permit Horn's vote to weigh ...
In 1972, folkie Joel Rafael planted roots in Valley Center, where he built a home studio, Lilac Sound. In 2000, he signed to Jackson Browne’s Inside Recordings label, which in April of this year released ...
Alfred Louis "Bobby" Vassallo, perpetrator of telecom scams, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison in federal court in the Central District of California on August 24. The onetime La Jollan had ...
The scene at Nopalito Farm & Hopyard’s mid-June grand-opening party in Valley Center was something straight out of a Geico ad-exec’s wildest dreams. Cute-couple band the Dawsons played on a stage hosted by Grampadrew’s Flim ...
A 76-year-old Valley Center man pleaded guilty to making a false bomb report and was sentenced earlier this month, on June 2. Frits Versteegh received probation, according to prosecutor Cal Logan, who said it was ...
An attorney for the Valley Center man who is accused of practicing medicine without a license and defrauding cancer sufferers of thousands of dollars for fake cures asked a judge to suppress certain evidence at ...
Fashion Week San Diego hosted its spring showcase at Harrah’s Casino on Saturday, March 14. Attendees were given a sneak peek of styles from 25 different designers whose designs will walk the runway next fall ...
An elderly Valley Center man accused of threatening to bomb SDG&E trucks was briefly in court this morning, December 12. Frits Versteegh, 75, pleaded not guilty to making a false bomb report, charged as a ...
Deputies say they arrested 75-year-old Frits Versteegh late on December 4, after he reportedly sent a bomb threat by email to a news station’s website. In a press release, a San Diego County sheriff’s spokesman ...
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 ...
On November 5, Robert Oldham Young of Valley Center was ordered to face six felony charges, including practicing medicine without a license and grand theft by fraud at the end of a three-week preliminary hearing. ...
Hike Kumeyaay Trail through oak woodlands and chaparral strewn with boulders and beautiful views of Lake Wohlford.
After a court hearing on September 19, it was concluded that 29-year-old David Leroy Lucero, arrested on suspicion of killing his mother more than four years ago, should be confined to a psychiatric hospital. “The ...
There are many bright blooms and small, pale pumpkins underneath the broad leaves of the pumpkin plants on the 100-acre Bates Nut Farm in August. On a recent weekend, a man who identified himself as ...
Anybody entering a casino is taking their chances to some extent. This luck-pressing should not extend to patrons looking for a quality beverage. Such is the thinking behind Corked, a new bar at the recently ...
Last September, I introduced readers to Valley Center’s first brewery, Valley Center Brewery. At the time, the family-run operation was in the midst of its very humble beginnings, but they’ve been busy in their northerly ...
Michelle Ortega said Richard Murillo showed her the gun when he met her down by the front gate of her property on the San Pasqual Indian Reservation in Valley Center. It was after 11 o’clock ...
Even locals with the slightest grasp of the craft beer movement can see how widespread it is within San Diego County. Breweries and brewpubs are opening up all over the place, pushing the geographic borders ...
It doesn't take traveling to remote or exotic places to escape the distractions of the outside world, I've found. In California, regardless of denomination, dharma travel is big business. Whether 50-room or single-room hermitages, expansive ...
This hike includes trails beneath an old oak canopy, morteros, open meadows, two creeks, and a small pond with a stone weir.
Interviews with Pala tribe members who are at odds since Indian gaming was made legal in California.
Rundown of bicyclists who’ve been caught doping and the Tour of California bike race.
Spring is the season that warms the heart of any gardener. You hold hope and a dream in your hand with each seed you plant. Hope for tomatoes, red and juicy, fresh vegetables, fine herbs, ...
On June 4, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department unveiled a new “automatic license plate reader car” that will be based out of the department’s Valley Center substation. “This car has the ability to read ...
Farmers regulate the markets in San Bernardino. In San Diego it's a free-for-all.
Hellhole Canyon Open Space Preserve east of Valley Center is a valuable resource for wildlife, hikers, and equestrians, with running water, a scenic canyon, and spring wildflowers. It is a place to learn about the ...
A few weeks ago, Hank, a businessman in his 50s, invited about 30 people out to his rural estate in Valley Center to take part in the slaughtering of two large pigs. “My conclusion from ...
If you listen, carefully, you can hear the rattles under the house, beneath the bathroom floor. You disturb that snake, every time you set foot in the bathroom. Unnerving, the babysitter called it. Rodent control ...