Locals toast Wine & a Bite B-1
Tips for protecting pets July 4 C-2
It’s time for swimming lessons D-1
Village News Fallbrook & Bonsall
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June 29, 2017
FPUD rejects extension of Western Rivers Conservancy escrow
D e L u z , R a i n b ow, C a m p P e ndl e t o n , Pa l a ,
Volume 21, Issue 25
Fallbrook Food Pantry feels squeeze
Margaret and Tim O’Leary Special to the Village News The Fallbrook Food Pantry, which marked its 25th anniversary last year, is adept at squeezing and stretching as it serves the region’s needy residents. Squeezed into a cramped, nondescript location, the nonprofit group has built an outsized reputation by stretching its lean budget and tapping a deep well of volunteers and community support. “I am amazed at how much this organization does with so little,” said Vi DuPre, treasurer of the group’s board of directors. “It’s unbelievable.” The group has carved out a key role among the patchwork of nonprofits that scramble for scarce funds and volunteers as they struggle to serve the Fallbrook, De Luz, Rainbow and Bonsall areas. It provides a crucial service – helping to keep hunger at bay for more than 3,000 qualified families that struggle to make ends meet. “There’s a huge need,” said Dale Mitchell, board president. The cash-strapped group serves a sprawling, economically-diverse
Joe Naiman Village News Correspondent
Escrow will not close on the sale of 1,384 acres of land along the Santa Margarita River owned by the Fallbrook Public Utility District (FPUD). A 3-2 FPUD board vote June 26 rejected a motion to extend the escrow agreement with Western Rivers Conservancy for 90 days. Don McDougal and Jennifer DeMeo voted in favor of the extension while Milt Davies, Al Gebhart, and Charley Wolk voted against the extension. “The total 18-month period will end this Friday, June 30,” said FPUD general manager Brian Brady. In September 2015 FPUD’s board approved a sale agreement of the property to Western Rivers Conservancy for $9,975,000. The purchase and sale agreement stipulated an escrow closing date of December 31, 2016, unless Western Rivers Conservancy chose to increase the deposit and extend escrow to June 30, 2017. In the late 1940s the FPUD board decided to pursue building a dam on the Santa Margarita River, and the district purchased the 1,384acre property with plans to use the land for the dam. Issues involving Camp Pendleton water rights needed to be resolved at higher government levels, and by the time that occurred environmental and
The Fallbrook Food Pantry relies on volunteers to help it serve the area’s hungry. The Pantry marked its 25th anniversary last year
Courtesy photo
Announcements �������������������������A-2 Business ���������������������������������������B-7 Business Directory ���������������������B-6 Classifieds ������������������������������������B-4 Dining & Food ������������������������������B-5 Education.......................................D-4 Entertainment ������������������������������D-6 Health & Fitness ��������������������������B-2 Home & Garden �������������������������C-2 Legals.............................................B-6 Obituaries ���������������������������������None Opinion �����������������������������������������A-5 Real Estate �����������������������������������C-2 Sheriff’s Log ���������������������������������A-5 Sports.............................................D-1 Wine................................................D-5
Tom Ferrall Staff Writer
health services for 16 applicant
Behavioral Health, Inc. to build
physical activity needs, the district
accounting for a 35 percent increase – or $224,413 more – in public health services over the last year. The no-cost health services will benefit about 75,000 lowand fixed-income patients facing the area’s top health concerns, including cancer, diabetes and hypertension. The voter-approved special district collects roughly $1.6 million annually to cover health care provider shortages, uninsured Californians, lowincome patients and underserved populations. Since the closure of the
district could offer greater health service coverage for the district’s communities of Bonsall, De Luz, Fallbrook and Rainbow. “In addition to combating our top health concerns, Fallbrook Regional Health District identified through local emergency calls that our citizens experience a high rate of falls, which is the leading cause of death through injury to Americans over 65,” said Bobbi Palmer, Executive Director of FRHD. “Through coordinated efforts with our health and emergency partners, we now refer fall victims
this year to our senior and disabled service providers to better serve our community.” In addition to contractual services, FRHD directly operates health programs including the Community Collaborative Health & Wellness Committee, Community Resources Directory, Healthcare Heroes, Woman of Wellness (WOW), Wellness Walks, and North County Community Collaborative Health Initiative. For fiscal year 2017-2018, the FRHD awarded community
There’s no reason to get nervous or hot under the collar if an inspector from CAL FIRE comes knocking at the door. The official is there to help. CAL FIRE is currently conducting Defensible Space Inspections in Fallbrook to help homeowners understand the importance of defensible space, which is the buffer between a home and the vegetation (grass, trees, shrubs) that surrounds it. The buffer is created when property
see GRANTS, page A-7
see CAL FIRE, page A-4
One local mom’s nightmare after daughter is victim of sex trafficking Julie Reeder Publisher
Village News
see PANTRY, page A-8
FRHD increases affordable public health services grants CAL FIRE FA L L B R O O K – A t i t s Fallbrook Hospital, the district for in-home assessments upon conducts regular board meeting June 14, carried about $200,000 in annual first incident to reduce risk of Defensible Space the Fallbrook Regional Health costs to maintain the building as catastrophic injury,” Palmer District (FRHD) board approved it sought a buyer. With the sale continued. “To support those fall Inspections $858,721.35 in affordable public of the property to Crestwood and trip assessments, as well as
see EXTENSION, page A-7 agencies providing 21 programs, the Fallbrook Healing Center, the stepped up with greater support
thisweek
50¢ Sales tax included at news stand
Editor’s note: The names of those involved have been changed to protect the innocent. Recruitment into Child Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSEC) is happening at San Diego County high schools. According to a National Institute of Justice study* conversations were held with 140 County School administrators and staff from 20 schools in North County, South County, East County and Central San Diego. All schools confirmed that recruitment was happening on their campuses. If you’re a parent, there are few things scarier or more heart-breaking than finding out your daughter or son is the victim in the dangerous dark underworld of sex trafficking and prostitution. It’s not just a problem outside the country, or in big cities, it is a huge problem, even for good families, locally. While children in the child welfare system are targeted, there are many beautiful girls from nice, middle class families who get lured and tricked into this deadly lifestyle. So, who is a target? First of all, anyone with access to social media. Sgt. Matt Blumenthal from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department of Human Trafficking Task Force had this to say, “Social media is one of the greatest tools traffickers use to find, exploit, and turn young girls away from their families to the prostitution life.
Whether it be through exploitation of the youth with naked photos, hidden communication with girls behind their parent’s backs, or slowly gaining their trust over time, the social media sites are a hot bed of recruitment. It is extremely rampant.” Do nice girls from good families get caught in this? “Some of the recruited girls do come from foster homes or juvenile hall, or are runaways and displaced youth. I’m sure many of them have been documented in one way or another in the Child Welfare Services system. On the other hand, some of the trafficked girls come from ‘normal’ lives and families too,” he said. A Polaris study “The Typology of Modern Slavery Defining Sex and Labor Trafficking in the United
Thinkstock/ NinaMalyna photo States” describes the recruitment of young people. “Recruitment Victims may be tricked into a situation through fraudulent job offers, such as fake modeling contracts. Traffickers may also recruit victims by pretending to have a romantic interest in the victim or falsely promising that they can provide shelter, financial support or other benefits.” Locally, one activist has heard of instances where parties are used to recruit or outright kidnap young people. Drugs may be a factor in this tactic as well. This is one mom’s nightmare. “Social media had just become a very popular thing when our daughter was a junior in high school. Her phone was given to her to stay in touch with friends and family, and in case of an emergency, she could
contact us immediately,” explained Nancy. “Never in our lifetime did we ever think that the phone would open a door to the most evil people who are out there just waiting to prey on our children. Everything had seemed to be going well with my daughter’s life. She had plenty of friends, just graduated from high school, and had a family who truly supported her in every way. “During summer, right after graduation, my daughter was invited to stay with some family for a few weeks. While she was there, she was in touch with someone she met online, someone who posed as a friend, who made her feel special and feel like he could not live without her, that he was truly falling in love with her,” she continued. “He made promises of how happy he would make her, buying her top of the line exotic cars, and purchasing designer clothing and accessories for her. They would travel the world and live happily ever after.” Nancy’s daughter did not share her conversations with her parents or the fact that she was speaking with someone she had met online. “Afterwards, we found out this person was in contact with my daughter almost 24/7,” Nancy said. “The text messages were constant. If it wasn’t him texting her, it was a ‘friend’ of his telling her she should come and meet him in person, and the sooner the better. Our daughter was brainwashed. She fell
see VICTIM, page A-6