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Get active in Solana Beach government SOLANA BEACH — The city of Solana Beach is currently seeking volunteers to fill 15 expiring positions on its five Citizen Commissions. The openings offer opportunities for Solana Beach residents to participate in their local government and have an influence on future policy and activity within the city. It is also the first step in serving on a city council legislative body. Applications are being accepted until Jan. 17 at City Hall, 635 S. Coast Highway 101. For more information, contact City Hall (858) 720-2400 or visit cityofsolanabeach.
Rats or gophers destroying your yard?
BARN OWL NEST BOXES Installed
DEC. 9, 2011
THE COAST NEWS
Goodbye Rodents!
Don’t poison, use nature’s pest control... Attract barn owls to your yard by installing an owl nesting box! As seen on Ustream
A nesting pair consumes up to 2,000 gophers, rats and mice per year!
www.barnowlboxes.com
AIR SUPERIORITY 760.445.2023
Friends of state beaches has new president By Tony Cagala
COAST CITIES — The Friends of Cardiff and Carlsbad State Beaches (FCCSB) has a new president in Bill Wisener. He’s been with the FCCSB almost since the nonprofit’s inception in 2009, starting as a volunteer. It was a way for him to get involved in the community. Wisener was urged by some of the board members to run for the presidency and after some convincing that it was the right thing to do, he accepted. Wisener will be bringing his management and organization skills to the position since being elected Nov. 17. The first two years have been spent digging the footings and putting in the shoring to build the foundation, he said. “Now, my job is to really finish the foundation off so that we can start putting walls up,” Wisener added. Wisener’s first act will be focusing on what projects and tasks the organization would like to do and how to accomplish them with their limited amount of resources. “When you have a nonprofit, pretty
New Friends of Cardiff and Carlsbad State Beaches President Bill Wisener, left, with founding board member Bill Mahoney. Photo by Tony Cagala
quickly, there’s much more to do than you have either money or volunteer resources to tackle,” he said. The immediate goals of the FCCSB are to solidify the administrative side of the organization and to bring value to the community and the campers who use Cardiff and Carlsbad State Beaches, including adding one more community-type event similar to their “Christmas in July” and “San Elijo Spooktacular” fundraising events, Wisener explained. “For us to be as meaningful as we would like to be to these two cities’ parks…we really need some company support or foundation support that we can utilize to be able to do some of the bigger projects that we would like to do,” Wisener said. One of the larger projects they would like to do is
to develop an entrance to the park near the “Magic Carpet Ride” statue and to make the entrance more welcoming to visitors. The FCCSB perceives itself as a bridge to building stronger ties between the local businesses and the local campers. For years and years, local businesses have wanted to be connected with these parks, said Bill Mahoney, founding board member of the FCCSB. “But to deal with the parks, they deal with the large California State system,” he said. The FCCSB now works with more than 50 local businesses. “It’s like the consummate locals helping locals,” Mahoney added. The San Elijo Park sees a visitation of about 800,000 to 850,000 people a year; Carlsbad has visitation of about 1.2 million people a year, according to
Mahoney “Merchants had no idea that we can have 300 to 400 check-ins a week at the (campground),” he added. There are about 100 members in the organization. It’s a real combination of people, Mahoney said. “Our last president of the group was just a real avid surfer that spent a lot of time here…all the way to people that just bring their families here, local business people have joined…it’s a little bit of everybody.” The FCCSB holds board meetings the last Thursday of every month, which are open to the public. “Some of our best participation has come from people from the public just walking in and seeing what we’re all about,” Mahoney said. For more information, email Bill Mahoney at bill@FCCSB.org, or visit FCCSB.org.
Youth sought for speech contest ENCINITAS — Entries are being accepted for the Encinitas Lion’s Club 75th annual Student Speaker Contest, sponsored by the California Lions of Multiple District 4, in January.The contest is open to any student in grades nine through 12 enrolled in any high school, charter school, private school,
home school or independent study. The purpose of the contest is to provide an opportunity for competitive public speaking among students. Each student who enters the contest must prepare a talk to be as close as possible to, but not over, 10 minutes, not less than five minutes delivery time. The topic for this year’s student speaker contest is “What Could the America of Yesterday Teach the America of Tomorrow?” The contest will be held
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from 2 to 4 p.m. Jan. 15 at The Encinitas Community Center, 1140 Oakcrest Park Dr. Students must pre-register with the Speaker Chairwoman Melaini Peet at Melaini.peet@unionbank.co m by submitting their name, address, high school, grade level and contact information (e-mail and/or phone number). Up to six students will be allowed to participate in the club-level contest based on the order of the receipt of their pre-registration information and the first six students who successfully complete the club-level contest will each receive a $25 prize and the first place winner will receive a $75 prize. The first place club-level winner will then be able to participate in the Zone, Region, District and Multiple District contests and ultimately have an opportunity to win more than $21,000 in scholarships and prizes. More information is available at studentspeaker.md4lions.org/.