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ing program secured their own permanent housing in the past 12 months, according to Anglea. The Winter Haven Shelter was just expanded to offer services year round. Another center in Escondido is set to open its doors in a month, the Hawthorne Veteran and Family Resource Center. Once finished, the Hawthorne center will house 32 beds for homeless people recovering from hospital stays. Of the 32 beds, 20 will be reserved for veterans. The success rate for the Recuperative Care Program is also high. More than 70 percent of those enrolled in it overcame homelessness once finishing the program.
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PTSD. According to Tilley-Grajek, thousands of veterans are also struggling from TBI among other disabilities. “Most staggering is that 22 veterans commit suicide each day,” she said. “Due to such a significant backlog of veterans in need of ser-
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with their “Tap Thursdays.” Four local brews go for just $8 every Thursday. Before I fell in love with wine and founded TASTE OF WINE in 2005, I co-founded and managed the Encinitas Oktoberfest, now in its 20th year, for the Encinitas Chamber of Commerce and “Mr. Encinitas” Edgar Engert. I ran the first 10 years and it was a fun run of Authentic German Bavarian culture that I was happy to be a part of. This year it’s Sept. 20 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Mountain Vista Drive and El Camino Real. Some 200 vendors, food, beer, wine and soft drinks, live Oompah Pah music and games will keep you coming back for more. Ballast Point beer will be there for your tasting pleasure, as well as others. Details online at en-
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Caltrans wants to do,” Kern said. “Caltrans will try to solve the problem. It may not be one the neighborhood likes.” Lowery said there is also the widening of I-5 to consider, which has started in San Diego and is moving north. He added construction of the ramp moving traffic from Route 78 to northbound Interstate 5 could not be done until interstate lanes are added. He said he asked Caltrans and SANDAG for a timeline of when freeway construction will begin in Oceanside and has not gotten an answer. “They say they don’t have any idea,” Lowery
T HE C OAST NEWS - I NLAND E DITION In Oceanside, Interfaith members focus some of their efforts on at-risk youth through the Transitional Youth Academy. Teenagers are given one-on-one academic mentoring and have the opportunity to intern and learn job skills. Director of External Affairs at AT&T, John Osborne was on-hand to donate $120,000 to the program because, he said, it works. “The AT&T Foundation looks for programs that are successful and particularly likes to fund those programs that can be replicated at other nearby institutions,” Osborne said. Over the past two years, the foundation has spent $300,000 to replicate the Interfaith program at Oceanside High School and bring it to El Camino High
School. Interfaith receives the majority of its funding from government grants and contracts and charitable gifts. At the annual report Wednesday, community leaders and members discussed areas in which they’d like to see Interfaith focus on in the coming year. A representative from Brother Benno’s said they’d like to see the detox program re-open for homeless people struggling with addiction because there are no detox centers in the region. The biggest obstacle in opening a detox facility is finding and funding a building. Other community suggestions included traveling social workers and increased collaborations between faith-based organizations.
vice dogs, K9 Guardians was formed to team more service dogs with more veterans. There is no cost to the veteran.” Since the nonprofit’s inception, K9 Guardians has already placed two of its dogs with someone in need. Currently, they have five teams in training. “Our goal is to place 22 our first year to coincide
with ‘22 A Day,’ the number of veterans that commit suicide every day,” she said. “Our mission is to reach out and save lives.” To learn more about K9 Guardians including volunteer opportunities, financial support and guest speaking engagements, visit k9guardians.org, call (844) 594-8273, or email fetch@k9guardians.org.
cinitasoktoberfest.com. WINE BYTES The second annual Newport Beach Wine and Food Festival is planned for Oct. 2 through Oct. 4 with some of the nation’s biggest chefs exhibiting their individual talents while spotlighting Orange County’s best restaurants, wine experts and wineries from 1 to 5 p.m. Over 30 restaurants will keep you sampling their best along with cooking demonstrations. Sit in on elite wine panels, with over 200 world-renowned wines tasted, even rare “cult” wines. Live jazz music is promised. This event is brought to you by Southern Wine & Spirits. All events and pricing can be found at newportwineandfood.com. Call (888) 511-FEST. La Gran Terraza at the USD Hahn University Center has its Wine and Dine events going. Wine paired dinners with Chateau Ste. Michelle Sept. 22, Antinori
Oct. 6, Gaja Winery Oct. 13. Cost is $50. Call (619) 8498205 for RSVP and times. Vigilucci’s in Leucadia presents Pairings Prevail Sept. 15 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Cost is $20 for this sensory experience of wine and food. Call (760) 8028402. RSVP with limited seating. South Coast Winery Resort and Spa in Temecula invites you to the Blessing of the Wines, Grape Stomp and Harvest Festival, Sept. 20, from 4 to 7 p.m. Dine and dance, live music, exciting prizes for stomp competition. $55 general admission; wine club price is $50. For tickets visit: store. wineresort.com.
said. “I definitely have no idea.” Lowery concluded his presentation with the forecast that freeway buildout, which may take 10 years, would likely only hold traffic growth for two to three years, and then other solutions would be needed. “We won’t be moving at all on freeways with 12 lanes and interchanges,” Lowery said. “It’s a 10-year answer to a 100-year problem.” He suggested investment in robust transit development to address traffic congestion. He said it’s important to also improve bus, rail, pedestrian and bike travel. This is not the last discussion on the issue. Bledsoe said she feels
Lowery provided insight on the topic that has more questions than answers. She added the chamber would probably invite a speaker from Caltrans or SANDAG to give an update in the middle of next year, when the project is further along. “At this stage of the game they don’t have all the answers, and shouldn’t be expected to,” Bledsoe said. “I hope we see some solution in the next couple of years. The city has a lot of tourism, and beautiful beaches, we need to be able to move people effectively.” The Oceanside Chamber of Commerce meets the first Thursday of each month at 928 N. Coast Highway.
Frank Mangio is a renowned wine connoisseur certified by Wine Spectator. He is one of the leading wine commentators on the web. View and link up with his columns at tasteofwinetv.com, and reach him at mangiompc@aol.com. Follow him on Facebook.
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tion in 1994. But in the late 1970s or early ‘80s, Rincon and Librarian Kris Jorgensen aren’t sure, a stray cat wandered into the library at the county center and became the unofficial mascot. Prudence was his name, and he became beloved by the staff. He was fed and cared for and due to his infectious personality, a painting of Prudence hangs in the library. In 1981, though, a lot was purchased on Eucalyptus Avenue for $160,000 and in 1994 the current 30,000 squarefoot facility opened. “There is a picture of him (Prudence) sitting on this open encyclopedia,” Jorgensen said. In the past several years, however, Rincon has taken an aggressive approach to keeping the
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Although Texas A&M is her class’s official school, Bentz said she also talks about other colleges and universities to let her students know there are many options, depending on what they want to study. School Counselor Heidi Mejia said many Monte
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the river. The grant will help fund the construction of 2,965-foot addition that will advance the current path east from Jimmy Durante to the Old Grand Avenue Bridge viewpoint and bring the scenic loop trail one step closer to a future connection at the Crest Canyon segment. The total project cost is estimated to be $475,000, which includes design, entitlements and easement acquisition, environmental review and mitigation and construction. About 65 percent of the funding has been committed through a $150,000
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elated and ecstatic about the outcome. “The money is specifically used for air quality improvements and we
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has been called a “scientific fraud” by area activists and allied engineers, including former Republican state Sen. Sam Blakeslee. Said David Jay Weisman, head of the San Luis Obispo-based Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility, “The NRC seems to always accept anything PG&E tells them.” PG&E is far from unique in its favorable treatment from that commission. The NRC has
SEPT. 11, 2015 library relevant and engaged with the community. Currently, she said, the library has an average of 24,000 to 25,000 customers per month. She has instituted numerous programs outside of what many would consider the function of a library. In addition to homework, reading and education programs, Rincon has created and been pitched ideas such as Zumba, music, fitness, citizenship classes, developing programming for adults with disabilities, serving summer meals to children who rely on school lunches during each semester and much more. She said the role of libraries have changed over the past decade with the growing influence of technology making it easier to find books. As a result, Rincon, who came to the Vista branch in 2012, said libraries must be proactive to survive.
“If libraries don’t evolve with the times, they’ll disappear,” she added. “We host the most programs in the county and have the largest footprint. It has become more of a community hub, not just to check out books but some sort of service.” In addition, the Friends of the Vista Library, an all-volunteer group average about $35,000 per year in donations to the library. And in the race to 1 million in total circulation last year, Jorgensen, several of the staff and even San Diego County Library Director Jose Aponte shaved mohawks into their heads in the final push to reach the milestone. “We were at like 900,000 the previous year,” Jorgensen said. “We put our hair on the line and bunch of us did. We pushed, and pushed and pushed and we made it on the final day.”
Vista students come from families in which no one before has gone to college and no one really talks about it as part of their future. “We’re planting the seeds so, if they’re not hearing that message at home, they’re getting the message here, and we’re setting that expectation high,” Mejia said. “They’re
hearing what college is like so they can make it their dream.” Realistically, not every student who goes through Monte Vista will wind up going to college, Smith said, but at least they’ll know the opportunity is there. “We’re just promoting that culture,” Smith said. “Every child deserves to know about university.”
county grant provided through District 3 Supervisor Dave Roberts; $73,000 in private donations and $54,500 in grants received by the conservancy; and $35,000 from Del Mar, including a $5,000 grant from the Friends of the San Dieguito River Valley. “This is the first donation San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy has been awarded by the Zable Foundation and we are very pleased to be partnering with them on the project,” Boaz said. To create additional opportunities to engage with trails, REI stores are partnering with nonprofit organizations to host or promote volunteer events for National Public Lands Day Sept. 26.
REI, the conservancy and Del Mar are sponsoring a cleanup event from 9 to 11 a.m. that day at River Path Del Mar. Volunteers are needed to clear vegetation and debris in preparation for the construction of the extension project. Participants will receive free REI Stewards T-shirts while supplies last. Volunteers should wear closed-toe shoes, bring a reusable water bottle and gardening or work gloves if they have them. Visit the city website at delmar.ca.us for more information or to register. Donations are still being sought to close a $162,500 funding gap for the extension project.
couldn’t be happier,” he said. The latest proposal from Schlesinger is to build 270 homes with lot sizes ranging from 7,000 to 16,000 square feet. A representative of
Stuck in the Rough, Dick Daniels said the company is “currently selecting a homebuilder who will handle community outreach, processing and entitling the 270-home land plan.”
never denied a license request for an atomic power plant from any utility. “The NRC is a rubber stamp for the utilities,” Weisman said. In fact, the commission has “accepted” PG&E’s seismic study, but also gave itself 18 months to examine the report and then issue a final ruling on Diablo Canyon’s earthquake safety. All of which means that anyone unhappy with the pattern of utility favoritism at the PUC can expect little or no comfort
and support from any federal commission. The patterns of behavior by FERC and the NRC are similar enough to what the PUC did for decades without any legal challenge that these two agencies also should get careful and constant observation to ensure against continued outright favoritism of the big utilities. Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. For more Elias columns, visit californiafocus.net