Temecula Valley News

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March of Remembrance commemorates Holocaust victims, A-5

Brinn Tomlinson wins Shakespeare in the Vines scholarship, B-9

VALLEY

Growing blueberries for health and fun, B-2 PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID FALLBROOK, CA PERMIT #499

NEWS

May 2 – 8, 2014

A

Section

www.myvalleynews.com

Volume 14, Issue 18

Local

Supervisors approve funding for Wine Country sewer improvements Kim Harris Special to the Valley News In spite of concerns regarding funding, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors voted to approve the Temecula Valley Wine Country Interagency Funding Agreement between Riverside County and Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD) during a regular meeting held April 22. The move will allow for a budget adjustment in the county’s general fund and a loan from its workers’ compensation fund to allow for sewer improvements to the area. Motorists exit southbound I-15 via the newly opened French Valley Parkway offramp.

Temecula touts opening of first phase of freeway congestion-busting project

Tim O’Leary Staff Writer

remarks during the city’s ribboncutting ceremony. The first phase of the project, which was in the planning stages

see page A-3

Shane Gibson photos

for more than 12 years, is already credited with at easing gridlock

stall the final signs needed to open the new exit to southbound drivers. It was, Comerchero acknowlLocal officials last week took a edged, a proud moment for a city $28 million bite out of the Tem- that has spent more than $100 million to improve traffic safety and ecula tangle. The initial phase of the Temecula ease congestion in a crucial corValley interchange – the first of its ridor that falls under the jurisdickind to be built in western River- tion and funding responsibility of state and federal side County in agencies. years – formally “There aren’t many When the fuopened with a cities in this region ture segments quiet ceremony are completed, on April 24. The that have done freeway work sun-splashed improvements like this.” additional that will cost event showcased – Jeff Comerchero about $172 milthe latest in a lion, the longstring of major improvements over and along In- awaited interchange will dwarf any terstate 15 since Temecula became other public works project done by Temecula or Murrieta. It will also a city nearly 25 years ago. “There aren’t many cities in mark the thorniest bureaucratic this region that have done freeway knot that either city has unraveled. “This is a historic milestone improvements like this,” Temecula City Councilman Jeff Comerchero for Temecula,” Temecula Mayor mused as workers prepared to in- Maryann Edwards said in her brief

Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Comerchero speaks during the French Valley Parkway offramp ribbon cutting ceremony. Comerchero reminisced about the similarities with the opening of the Overland Dr. overpass in Temecula back in 1998.

WWII airplanes, skydivers star at French Valley Airport stopover

Taste of Temecula Valley offers diversity, honors students

see FREEWAY, page A-6

Health

Alcoholism is not exclusive to men In late 2013, television journalist Elizabeth Vargas, known for her work on the television news magazine “20/20,” as well as her role as anchor of ABC’s “World News Tonight,” made headlines of her own when she left that network’s popular morning show to seek treatment for alcoholism. The news came as a shock to many viewers, not only because Vargas was a successful professional who had risen to the top of her field but also because few people associate alcoholism with women. While the stereotype of an alcoholic may suggest an old man of failing health, women, even young women, can suffer from alcoholism.

see page B-8

Local Voluntary EMS subscription program sees success, saves station Kim Harris Special to the Valley News

From left, Matthew Schork (2nd place winner), Jeff Leavens, Paisley Courtesy photo Trent (3rd place winner), and Bobby McGinnis. A group of 10 skydivers led by Rich Piccirilli (second from bottom left) boarded the B-17 Flying Fortress where they jumped from the bomb compartment of the plane over the skydive center in Perris on Tuesday April 22, 2014.

Tim O’Leary Staff Writer A three-day visit by World War II airplanes recently attracted more than 1,000 people over a three-day span to French Valley Airport. The stopover was highlighted by a special sojourn that featured 10 local skydivers dropping out of the bomb bay of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. The skydiving group, coordinated by Rich Piccirilli, descended upon Perris Valley Airport on April 22 in conjunction with the 25th

see AIRPLANES, page A-4

Ina Kontaxis gets a close look of the bomb compartment in the belly of the B-17 Flying Fortress at French Valley Airport on Tuesday April 22, 2014. Shane Gibson photos

Alex Groves Staff Writer The courtyard area outside Temecula’s City Hall building was filled with the smell of food as multiple restaurants and wineries set up shop for a good cause. The fourth annual Taste of Temecula Valley Event ran from 11 a.m. through 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 26 and more than two dozen restaurants, six wineries and 10 microbreweries were giving out samples of their culinary creations. Guests could also dance and groove throughout the course of the day as local bands performed a number of hits from the ‘70s and ‘80s. The event’s proceeds went to benefit the Temecula Valley Excellence in Education Foundation (TVFEE), which provides minigrants to teachers at area schools who may not be able to complete

certain projects or get students necessary supplies without supplemental funding, according to Event Chair Mark Katan. Katan has been involved with the Taste of Temecula Valley festival since its very beginning. He was one of the people that devised the idea for it five years ago when the TVFEE members were trying to come up with a good fundraiser to benefit students. In that initial year that he devised the idea, he wasn’t able to get the support he needed to make it a reality, but he was able to the following year. Since that time the event has been going strong and growing, according to Katan. He said that one of the positives has been the ever-increasing variety in terms of food and beverage choices.

see TASTE, page A-7

Murrieta Fire Department’s EMS Subscription program is exceeding expectations according to department analysts. Currently, there are 8,500 subscribers to the program, far exceeding the initial projected numbers for first year enrollment. The program was designed to help offset declining tax revenues that fund the department.

see page A-3

thisweek

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