POWAY
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2014
INSIDE
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50 cents (includes tax) | Vol. 61, ISSUE 29
'Christmas in the Park' is Saturday BY EMILY SORENSEN
• Holiday gift suggestions from our advertisers. B23-26 • Maienschein only GOP panel chair. A2
COMMUNITY
Old Poway Park’s free traditional holiday celebration of Christmas in the Park returns 3:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13. This event has everything from Christmas carols to a visit from the big man in red himself, Santa. This year, getting to and from the event will be even easier with free shuttles provided by the city. Rather than fighting for parking, take one of the two shuttles to and from the park for a painless visit to the park. The first shuttle will be at the Po-
way City Hall Parking Lot, 13325 Civic Center Drive, and the second will be at Poway Adult School, 13626 Twin Peaks Road. Shuttles will begin running at 3 p.m. and will do their final run from the park at 9 p.m. Once you’re at Christmas in the Park, there’s a wide variety of fun holiday events to see and do. From 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. horse-drawn hayrides will be going down Midland Road. In the park itself, you can visit a petting zoo hosted by the Poway High School FFA and 4-H clubs, have your face painted, make fun Christmas-themed crafts, ride the train for
a nominal fee and much more. The museum and the Nelson House will be open for the event, with a station to write letters to Santa alongside the Nelson House porch. The community Christmas tree will be lit at 5:15 p.m., and at 5:30 p.m. Santa and Mrs. Claus will arrive on the 1907 Baldwin Steam Train to Santa’s Village, where they will be available for photos, which has an additional cost of $5. Live musical and dancing entertainment will be going on in the gazebo and on the green park stage throughout the event. Performing throughout
the day in the gazebo beginning at 3:30 p.m. are various groups including The Ornamentals, square dancers, the New West Ballet, the Tierra Bonita Elementar y School Choir, Christmas Belles, the Poway High School Die Lieders choir and the Dickens Carolers. Performing throughout the day on the green park stage, starting at 3:30 p.m., are Kids Sing, the Full Measure Carolers, Dance to Evolve, Amazing Dana the Magician, storyteller Marilyn McPhee, Cathy Felker Puppet Productions and Juvy Jazz. SEE PARK, Page A5
New school board majority takes office BY STEVE DREYER
• Veterans art on display in Rancho Bernardo. B1 • Post office bracing for big holiday rush. B3
BUSINESS
• Attorney offers help with trusts. A6
SPORTS
• Dalton Soffer leads Titan basketball team B29 into new season.
EVENTS
A new era in Poway Unified School District leadership began Monday night with the swearing in of three newly-elected board members. Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff, Charles Sellers and T.J. Zane took the oath of office administered by district Supt. John Collins in front of a room full of district employees, family members, high school students and interested members of the public. The trio, all Rancho Penasquitos residents, were elected Nov. 4. They replaced retiring 20-year board member Penny Ranftle and ousted incumbents Todd Gutschow and Marc Davis. All three are Poway residents. The newcomers join 18-year board member Andy Patapow and Kimberley Beatty, who has served two years. Patapow lives in Poway while Beatty is a Sabre Springs resident. The new composition of the board means that for the first time in the district’s history a majority of members of the school board reside outside of Poway. A few moments later Beatty was elected president of the board on a 4-1 vote. Patapow opposed her selection after having first nominated O’Connor-Ratcliff for
PUSD Supt. John Collins, left, administers the oath of office to new board members Michelle O'Connor-Ratcliff, Charles Sellers and T.J. Zane at the start of Monday night's meeting. Photo by Steve Dreyer the position. He failed to get a second to his motion. O’Connor-Ratcliff was then elected vice-resident and Patapow was named board clerk. Asked Tuesday about his actions, Patapow said he nominated O’Connor-Ratcliff because she received the most votes in the election and placed first in every voting precinct. He said he opposed making Beatty
the president because “I felt that Michelle would do a better job with the board.” Patapow added that he will be retiring from the board when his current term ends in 2016. In prepared remarks offered at the star t of the meeting, Beatty extensively praised the three outgoing board members and said “the community has done well” by electing the new
members, all of whom, she noted, have children attending district schools. “To our community who wonders (or worries) about this transition, I want you to know that our roots are deep,” she said. “Our foundation is solid and the state of our district is strong.” Once settled into their seats, the new board members wasted little time establishing that they intend
DON HIGGINSON STEPS ASIDE TUESDAY
Era ends with mayor's final meeting Higginson said he was one of about two-dozen community members considered by business committee. He, lthough the meeting occurred 28 years ago, Don Linda Brannon and Carl Kruse got their nod from the votHigginson remembers the exact day and location ers that fall. of a event that changed the course of his life. On Tuesday night Higginson will participate in his final “May 12, 1986 at the Mexicocina Restaurant,” council meeting, calling the meeting to order and then Poway’s outgoing mayor said recently. “John Mullin and watching as Councilman Steve Vaus is sworn in to replace Dick Lyles took me to lunch.” him as Poway’s elected mayor. Vaus collected about 55 The two were representing the city’s business commu- percent of the votes last month to defeat Higginson. There nity and were recruitwill be a break in the meeting for ing candidates to run coffee and cake, then Vaus will asfor the City Council that sume the mayor’s chair and Higfall. The existing council ginson will be free to begin the was seen by business innext chapter of his life. terests as not being parWith him will go nearly three ticularly friendly to their decades of political institutional concerns. knowledge stretching back to Higginson, who had “The City in the Country’s” early moved to Poway as a boy days after incorporation in 1980. and graduated from PoNext in line in seniority is Jim way High and Brigham Cunningham, who has served six Young University, was years. a young attorney getThose early days, Higginson ting his professional life said, were filled with efforts to started. close the “humongous breach” “I volunteered in the between the city and its business Reagan-Bush campaign community and then deal with a in 1980 and found it recession that nearly stopped the semi-magical working under-construction Poway Busiin a campaign,” he reness Park in its tracks. called. “I’d been out of “One of the first things we did law school for a couple was form a business advisor y of years and my wife and committee to bring the two sides I decided to stay in Potogether,” Higginson said.” After way and raised our boys a while “at least we had a speakPOWAY MAYOR DON HIGGINSON SEE MAYOR, Page A5 here.”
BY STEVE DREYER
• Enjoy 'MohaviSoul' Saturday at Poway Library. B18
ALSO • Calendar • Crime Log • Editorial • FACEs • Homes • Marketplace • Obituaries • Seniors • Vacation photos
B8 B4 B14 B10 B27 B33 B9 B16 B12
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to pay close attention to the district’s business. A staff recommendation that the district begin the process of exploring what to do with two vacant districtowned parcels generated extensive discussion among the board members, with both Beatty and O’ConnorRatcliff saying they would be inclined to oppose the surplus land being sold. SEE PUSD, Page A5
COUNCIL EXPLORING OPTIONS TO FILL SEAT BY STEVE DREYER City Council members on Tuesday night will start the process of finding someone to complete the final two years of Councilman Steve Vaus’s term. Vaus will be sworn in Tuesday night as the city’s new mayor, having defeated Don Higginson on Nov. 4. The council has the option of filling the seat either by election or through appointment. If the appointment route is taken, the decision must be made by Feb. 13, according to City Clerk Sheila Cobian. If the council decides to hold an election, Cobian estimates that one done in May using mailed ballots would cost the city between $140,000 and $200,000. A special election on June 2 would cost between $280,000 and $350,000, she said. Early indications are that the council is not interested SEE REPLACE, Page A5
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