PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID RANCHO SANTA FE, CA PERMIT NO. 53
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RANCHO SFNEWS
.com THE RANCH’S BEST SOURCE FOR LOCAL NEWS
VOL. 7, NO. 3
FEB. 11, 2011
Patrol chief: crime is down
THISWEEK SPLASH DOGS The Del Mar Fairgrounds hosted a pet show for animal lovers of all stripes from B1 around the area
By Patty McCormac
COMING SOON
The school board has plans in place to give students a new soccer field by the time school A3 starts in the fall
HELPING HANDS The Friends of San Pasqual Academy help foster children succeed in B4 school
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TWO SECTIONS, 40 PAGES
Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . A5 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . B16 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . B18 Consumer Reports . . . . . A7 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . B14 Crime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A6 Frugal Living . . . . . . . . B3 Hit the Road . . . . . . . . . B2 Hot Off The Block . . . . . . A8 Lick the Plate . . . . . . . . B4 Local Roots . . . . . . . . . . A9 Machel’s Ranch . . . . . . A14 Odd Files . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4 Pet of the Week . . . . . . . B2 Ranch History . . . . . . . . .B6 Ranch Profile . . . . . . . . .B4 Second Opinion . . . . . . . B5 Small Talk . . . . . . . . . . . B1 Taste of Wine . . . . . . . . . A8 Who’s News? . . . . . . . . . A7
HOW TO REACH US (760) 436-9737 CALENDARS SECTION: calendar@coastnewsgroup.com COMMUNITY NEWS: community@coastnewsgroup.com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: letters@coastnewsgroup.com
MODEL STUDENT Trenton Potenziani uses a model of a rocket to make his own. Photo by Patty McCormac
Group offers after-school ‘Xcite’-ment By Patty McCormac
RANCHO SANTA FE — Who knew! Lengths of PVC pipe, duct tape and empty water bottles can be turned into stomp rockets, that go, well ... very high. A group of students from R. Roger Rowe School learned just how to make it happen during an afterschool program called ClubXcite, where they are members of the Mechanical Builders and Robotics Club.
On Jan. 31, 12 students came to the Rancho Santa Fe Community Center for the activity. The older children used hacksaws to cut the pipe into the proper lengths.Then, they all received instruction on how to construct the launch pad and make the rocket, all from the pipe, duct tape and a few pieces of cardboard. “I’m going to name my rocket Blue Lightening,” second-grader Charlie Johnson
said. When they finished with the construction phase, they went out to the blacktop and launched their rockets by stomping on the water bottle. It was impressive to the children and to bystanders. Alex Johnson, mother of Charlotte, said she loves the program. “Last week they made catapults. They use them to launch marshmallows around the house,” she said with a
laugh. She added that she liked the idea that the children were having fun while learning. Indeed on this day, they learned a little about aero dynamics. “When a child can build something with their own hands, it gives them confidence in their own abilities,” Chelsea Heller, program TURN TO GROUP ON A18
Nonresident golf club memberships on agenda By Patty McCormac
RANCHO SANTA FE — The issue of offering nonresident associate golf club memberships to former Covenant members will be on the agenda of the Association meeting Feb. 17. “We decided to notify the entire membership of the Rancho Santa Fe Covenant, because it is a community asset and we wanted them to
have the opportunity for input,” said Director Roxanna Foxx after the Jan. 20 meeting, where the issue was hotly debated. Anyone with an opinion is invited to voice it at the meeting at 9 a.m. at the Association’s boardroom. Those in favor of the golf club’s proposal said they wish to retain their friends and fellow golfers who supported the
club for years, but have been forced by circumstance to sell their property and move away. The year-to-year memberships would help pump up the flagging number of club members, which have dropped by 12 percent during the past few years. Steve Nordstrom, general manager, said at least 100 members have been lost in the past five years and that fewer members are signing up.
Those on the other side are members who argued against the proposal, telling the Association that many people who are not members of the club may not learn about the proposal until it was too late so they would be unable to make a decision about it. Also they warned the Association it was on a slippery slope of diluting the value of regular memberships.
Bill Gaylord Gaylord-Hansen Team Chairman’s Club Member
Sam Hansen Gaylord-Hansen Team
858.776.6830 cell bill.gaylord@bankofamerica.com
858.442.1232 cell sam.hansen@bankofamerica.com
9095 Rio San Diego Drive, Suite 100 San Diego, CA 92108
9095 Rio San Diego Drive, Suite 100 San Diego, CA 92108
RANCHO SANTA FE — Crime is down overall within the Covenant of Rancho Santa Fe, Patrol Chief Matt Wellhouser told the Association at its Feb. 3 meeting. “As you may recall, we have been working to reduce crime in the village area,” he said. “In 2008, we experienced 25 (crimes). That number dropped to 11 in 2009 and last year it was nine.” He said two of the crimes were robberies. In one case Bank of America was robbed. “The suspects were arrested right after that by sheriff’s deputies,” he said. The other robbery took place at a home. Of the five major crime types, burglary and grand theft showed a decrease. There were 17 burglaries, which is a decrease of 24 cases from last year. Of the 17 burglaries, five involved vehicles, six were commercial and six were residential. The commercial burglaries were at businesses in the village and construction sites. Wellhouser said alarm calls accounted for 18 percent of all the calls handled by the patrol. They responded to 620 alarms compared to 632 in 2009. “Three were actual burglaries, the rest were false in nature,” he said. For the calendar year 2010, the patrol responded to 3,308 calls for service. This is an increase of 34 calls from 2009, he said. There was one homicide. In January 2010, the body of Dr. Robert Stonebreaker, a Del Mar veterinarian, was found in Rancho Santa Fe. The case is still under investigation by the sheriff’s department. On the upswing are traffic collisions. “Traffic collisions TURN TO CRIME ON A18
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