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Boxholder Rancho Santa Fe CA 92067
SECTION B
ECRWSS
Volume 31 Number 2
Providing The Ranch with Three Decades of Quality Journalism
PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID RSF, CA PERMIT 26
Sept. 29, 2011
History textbook free of bias, state claims BY MARSHA SUTTON SENIOR EDUCATION WRITER A complaint objecting to the representation of Islam in the seventh-grade history textbook in use by the San Dieguito Union High School District was rejected Sept. 1 by the California Department of Education, after the CDE sent the complaint to the textbook’s publishers for review. Thomas Adams, director of the standards, curriculum frameworks, and instructional resources division of the CDE, notified SDUHSD superintendent Ken Noah that the publishers of “World History – Medieval to Early Modern Times” – published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston – reviewed the objections point by point and determined that changes were not needed. “The publisher responded at length to the allegations of inaccuracy included in the complaint,” Adams wrote to Noah. “After reviewing the contents of the original criticisms and the publisher’s response, we have determined that there is no need to change current materials.” “We’re disappointed, [but] it’s not unexpected,” said Michael Hayutin who, with colleagues Linda Sax and James Freedman, filed the initial complaint. “They’re hardly going to admit that they have errors.” Noah received the complaint last December and forwarded it to the CDE in March 2011. Hayutin, Sax and Freedman asserted that the textbook portrayed Islam inaccurately or incompletely and, in a 21page report that Hayutin said took nearly a year to write, citSee TEXTBOOK,
page
25
Lawsuit reveals possible suspect in suspicious death BY JOE TASH CONTRIBUTOR Documents filed in a lawsuit over nearly $3 million in life insurance policies held by a North County veterinarian who died last year under suspicious circumstances reveal his widow is a potential suspect in the murder investigation by San Diego County sheriff’s detectives. Through the court documents, the widow, Pamela Stonebreaker, denied any involvement in her husband’s death. Dr. Robert Stonebreaker, 53, was found dead in the driveway of a Rancho Santa Fe home on Jan. 17, 2010. The night before, California Highway Patrol officers had found Stonebreaker’s Porsche Carrera a short distance away from where his body was discov-
ered, after it has plunged off Paseo Delicias into a gully. The CHP officers found no driver present, or any sign that someone had been injured, and had the car towed. At first, authorities believed Stonebreaker, who was well-known in North County because of his Del Mar Animal and Bird Hospital and FreeFlight exotic bird sanctuary, had died from injuries he suffered in the car crash. But an autopsy determined his death was caused by head injuries inconsistent with a traffic collision, and the case was ruled a homicide. Stonebreaker’s widow, Pamela Stonebreaker, sued three life insurance companies in March, seeking payment of $2,775,000 in proceeds from life insurance See LAWSUIT, page 22
Dazzling Art of Fashion The spectacular Country Friends 56th Annual Art of Fashion Runway Show was held Sept. 22 at The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe. The Country Friends once again partnered with South Coast Plaza to bring the luncheon, fashion show, boutique shopping and wine tasting to Rancho Santa Fe. (Top left) Genta Luddy, Nicole Mikles, Lily Jarvis, Becca Craig; (Top right) Lee Goldberg. (Bottom) Unique styles hit the runway. See pages 20 and 24 for more. Photos/Jon Clark