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| 26 July 2000 - The East County Californian Electric bills have residents all charged up SANTEE – All I can say is, "KILL-O-WATT ME." I know that when I opened my SDG&E bill for this month, I immediately used the bill to fan myself so I could cool off. My bill went from the usual $80-something to $140. And sorry to say I can't just refuse to pay my bill as Sen. Steve Peace recommended because I already pay late. Last week at a forum to discuss this "electric shock," the senator commented that he had to get after one of his three sons for losing one of the cell phones. His son, no dummy, and quick to comment as most kids are, said, "At least I didn't screw up everyone's electric bill." The overall consensus with people I spoke with around town was that they're paying the bill or paying half. Others are doing plenty of "grill-cooking." Vicki Wangenstein had her plan of action in place, "Pay half (of the bill) … all I can do. Cut back on the pool pump, turn the waterbeds down. I have no central air…. start cooking on the Coleman stove and use fluorescent lights." Mike Newell said he's fortunate that he can afford to pay his bill. But what really bugged him was the comment from an Arizona executive in the power industry regarding the high bills: "There are winners and there are losers, and right now we're the winners." Newell said he found that comment to be absurd. Newell had other information he wants to make sure local residents know about. On Monday, July 31, at 6 p.m. it's the first meeting for the Santee Substance Abuse Prevention Team. The meeting will be held at the Board of Education at 9625 Cuyamaca Street. There will be anywhere from 12 to 20 people participating on this board and the focus will be to deter youths from the use of alcohol, tobacco, under age drinking and drug usage. This is an issue that seriously needs to be addressed in Santee (as in other communities) because it exists. Which leads me to the following opinion: I believe that Deputy District Attorney Hector Jimenez finally has a "hate crime" he can work on and that's the incident that happened in Carmel Valley with the seven youths who are accused of beating elderly migrant workers. This is unlike the "hate crime" he worked on Santee with the beating of the black marine at a Memorial Day party. In my opinion, that incident occurred because of people, especially minors, consuming excessive alcohol. According to court documents, they were already on a second keg of beer. I believe more people needed to be held accountable for that dreadful night and that the issue was alcohol. It was because of alcohol that the aggressive behavior occurred on both sides – that of the Santee residents and the Marines. This incident, which placed a dark mark on Santee and the community, will be a hard one to erase. Finally I'll get a chance to attend one of the Rio Seco Concerts. The last one will be Thursday, July 27 at 6 p.m. I'll be the one using the SDG&E bill as a fan because I'm sure it'll still be hot outside at that time. Also, this concert will be the kick-off for the AJ & Ryan Memorial Benefit. These were the youths killed in a motor home fire off of I-8 in Alpine last year. The golf tournament will be on Sunday, July 30, at Carlton Oaks Country Club. Early last Friday morning, the city council met in closed session to discuss the appointment of a city manager. Although details can't be disclosed at this time, it's obviously one of two things. They have found a person for the city manager position, or they met to gripe that paying $10,000 a month to George Tockstein needs to stop and a replacement MUST be found. This item is on consent for Wednesday night's council meeting and hopefully it'll be the right "speedy" decision. The speed humps on Pebble Beach are gone; however, stop signs will be in there. Cypress Lakes Way, Greenbrook Way and Griffith Park Way at Pebble Beach Drive will become all-way stops, the speed limit will be set at 25 miles per hour. That's this week! See you all Thursday at the comcert. E-mail? Nisosa@pacbell.net. Article Snapshot (32K) |
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