MVUSD holds first Special Olympics at Murrieta Mesa High School, B-1
High fashion makes its way to Temecula for Fashion Week 2017, C-1
VALLEY
NEWS
A
Section
Your Best Source for Local News & Advertising
Serving Temecula , Murrieta , L ake E lsinore , M enifee , Wildomar , H emet, San Jacinto and the surrounding communities May 26 – June 1, 2017
www.myvalleynews.com
Local
San Jacinto marijuana ordinance moves forward
Volume 17, Issue 21
Murrieta mulls move to by-district elections, holds first of 4 public hearings
Tony Ault TAULT@REEDERMEDIA.COM
After many hours in workshops and public hearings San Jacinto City Council moved ahead toward the strict regulation of commercial marijuana cultivation in designated light industrial areas of the city Tuesday, May 16. see page A-3
Business
Hemet Valley Mall celebrates remodeling completion Tony Ault TAULT@REEDERMEDIA.COM
“It’s a good fit,” Hemet Valley Mall owner Matthew Strauss said, after cutting the ribbon to celebrate the completion of a $5 million remodeling of the mall May 20. see page B-4
INDEX
Murrieta city Attorney Leslie Devaney fields a question from the dais during the May 16 city council meeting.
Kim Harris VALLEYEDITOR@REEDERMEDIA.COM
Murrieta City Council, along with a group of citizens, expressed their displeasure at being forced to consider a move to by-district elections thanks to the threat of a lawsuit by the legal firm of Shenkman & Hughes.
In a letter received by the city in March, Attorney Kevin Shenkman claims the city’s current voting system dilutes the ability of Latinos – considered a protected class – to elect city council candidates of their choosing and by doing so violates the California Voting Rights Act. In his letter, Shenkman demands that the city transition
from at-large to district-based city council elections and threatens legal action if that demand is not met. Murrieta isn’t the first city to be threatened by the Malibu-based law firm. Temecula is also considering making the move. Wildomar and Hemet both switched from at-large to by district elections after receiving the threatening letters which
Kim Harris photo
Shenkman & Hughes appear to be sending to all California cities using an at-large election system. Currently 55 cities, 145 school districts, 20 community college districts, one county board of supervisors and eight water and other special districts are contemplating
see HEARING, page A-3
Local ........................................ A-1 Sports ...................................... B-1 Business ................................... B-3 Education................................. B-5 Health ...................................... B-6 Entertainment................. C-1, C-7 Dining ...................................... C-2 Wine Country.......................... C-4
14-year-old Temecula filmmaker, director climbing to advertising stardom Tony Ault TAULT@REEDERMEDIA.COM
Calendar of Events.................. C-6 Real Estate .............................. D-1 Home & Garden...................... D-1 Pets........................................... D-5 Business Directory.................. D-5 Opinion ................................... D-6 Blotter....................................... D-6
VALLEY NEWS
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID HEMET, CA PERMIT #234
Classifieds................................ D-7
“Lights. Camera. Action!” Everyone who hears these words thinks of an intensely focused, experienced, older white-bearded director sitting on a movie set overseeing actors and his film crew. Yet that imaginative picture fizzles when you see 14-year-old Amelia Conway of Temecula standing next to a film crew equipped with the latest Arri movie camera, overhead speakers and her adult crew, directing a commercial, with well-known NASCAR drivers. Today her latest directing treatment and acting effort may be seen during commercial breaks in the NASCAR auto races “Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series” that debuted April 28 on Fox and Fox Sports 1 television. It is a 30-second ad she directed and acted in
titled “Tutelage.” The advertising campaign she was hired to direct is part of the NASCAR’s Acceleration Nation that engages the next generation of NASCAR fans by creating fun, entertaining and educational ways for children to interact with the sport. How did this rising young advertising star come to be admired and hired by the youth-focused production agency Adolescent Content that produced the latest NASCAR commercial? Amelia, who now lives in Temecula, was born by innovative and imaginative parents in Venice Beach and has never been a stranger to the whirlwind business of filmmaking. She has traveled from coast-to-coast with her family and her favorite cats. Loving to sing and act ever since
see DIRECTOR, page A-4
Young commercial advertising director Amelia Conway, 14, from Temecula directs adult camera crew in making the NASCAR “Tutelage” video for Fox and Fox Sports 1 television’s “Monster NASCAR courtesy photo Energy NASCAR Cup Series.”
Charity fulfills another wish in Tonya Petchel Half-Marathon Paul Bandong PBANDONG@REEDERMEDIA.COM
As the sun rose over the rolling hills and vineyards at the picturesque Twelve Oaks property across from Lake Skinner in Temecula’s Wine Country, 126 runners prepared for races in memory of a wife and mother who loved to run, Tonya Petchel. The Tonya Petchel Memorial Half-Marathon Trail Run was part of a wish fulfillment by Charity for Charity, a nonprofit organization that fulfills the wishes of local residents with special needs due to life-threatening illness or traumatic injury. Tonya died from liver cancer less than two weeks before the Stars of the Valley event that celebrates
see CHARITY, page A-6
Volunteers and runners “Get Set” for the start of the Tonya Petchel Memorial Half-Marathon and Charity for Charity Fun Run Event, May 13, at Twelve Oaks property in Temecula Wine Country. Paul Bandong photo