La Mesa, CA – On April 17, Helix Water District Board of Directors presented awards to the winners of the eleventh annual High School Water Colors Photo Contest. This highly successful program has grown rapidly over the past few years and is designed to raise awareness of water issues within the high school community. Students compete for cash prizes, recognition, and publication of their work in the District’s reports, websites, and Facebook page. This year 136 extremely high quality entries from seven high schools within the District vied for awards.
Juried by professional photographers and Helix staff, winners were chosen in black and white, color, and Best of Show.
Throughout the summer, a rotating exhibit of winning and non-winning photos can be seen in the lobby of the Helix Administration Office, 7811 University Avenue, La Mesa, 91941. Public is welcome. Hours are between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Photos can also be seen on the Helix Water District’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/helixwater?ref=hl

Best of Show – Rand Al Urfali – CD With Water Drops

1st Place Color – Michael LeTouzic, – Liquid Metal

1st Place B&W – Chelce Blackwood – Dark Waters

ALPINE — Each year 8th graders from Joan MacQueen Middle School compose persuasive essays on a topic of their choice. The seven students that presented their essays
to the Kiwanis Club of Alpine at their regular weekly meeting, Saturday, Apr. 20 were chosen out of a pool of approximately 300 of their peers. Five anonymous judges in the audience gave each student
a score based on the following ten categories:

Thoughtful and challenging introduction;
Body language;
Voice projection and enunciation;
Knowledge of material;
Consistent eye contact with the audience;
Well organized material;
Thoughtful and challenging conclusion;
Energetic presentation;
Interesting content; and
The ability to stay within the allotted time of 3-4 minutes.

This years contestants and their topics were Sean McCann (Mental Illness), Dominic Garza (Censorship), Raynee Ludeke (Welfare),
Garrett Fletcher (Global Warming), John George (Body Image and the Media), Rebekah Meyer (Police in School), Michael Murphy (Cell Phones in Class),
and not able to be there to present her essay was Lauren Motter (Bullies).
While the votes were being tallied, Katie Quartuccio presented each contestant with a beautiful acknowledgement certificate from Senator Joel Anderson’s Office.

The 2013 winner of the Joan MacQueen Speech Contest was Dominic Garza.

Public speaking, as most would agree, ranks right up there with the fear of heights and the fear of snakes. We should consider all of this years participants winners for having
the ability and the courage to participate in this contest. Congratulations to the future leaders of our community!

From left: Stoney’s Kids President Odie Goward, Mr. East County Stoney Stone, Bonnie Stone-Davis and Gary Case

The Case family began a golf tournament 12 years ago in memory of their daughter Cheryl after she lost her battle with cancer.
This year Stoney’s Kids was one of the chosen non-profits by Cottonwood Assistant General Manager Christina Liska and Gary Case, Cheryl’s brother.
They believed that Cheryl would have truly loved Stoney’s Kids and the support they bring to kids in East County. After this years Golf Tournament at Cottonwood, Stoney’s Kids received an amazing donation of $5,000 from Gary Case on Thursday, Apr. 25. at their regular board meeting.
For more information on Stoney’s Kids visit www.stoneyskids.org

SAN DIEGO – April 23, 2013 – The California Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC) has declared the Ocotillo Wind Project area in Imperial Valley a sacred Native American site. The determination came yesterday afternoon following hours of testimony from Southern California tribes, impacted community members, conservation organizations and representatives from Imperial County and the project developer, Pattern Energy. The lead agency on the utility-scale wind energy development, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to appear at the hearing to defend its record.

Among those submitting testimony on behalf of the tribes were representatives from U.S. Congressmen Juan Vargas and Duncan Hunter, and California State Senator Joel Anderson.

Following hours of testimony, the Commission voted unanimously to declare the Ocotillo Wind Project area a sacred Native American site afforded protections under section 5097.9 of the California Public Resources Code, and asked for assistance on enforcement options from the California Attorney General’s office.

The Commission determined that the BLM failed to engage in federally-required meaningful consultation with affected tribes, and that the BLM’s development partner, Pattern Energy, failed to mitigate significant negative impacts on documented historic Native American cultural resources.

The Ocotillo Wind development project is located in the sensitive Ocotillo Desert in western Imperial County and includes 112 massive turbines, each with a blade sweep larger than a football field, and a height of 450 feet, which is taller than most skyscrapers in downtown San Diego.  The BLM’s own archeologists declared the project area a cultural resources “mega site.” Hundreds of significant Native American cultural resource sites have been documented, including cremation sites, petroglyphs, geoglyphs, ancient villages and prehistoric trails.

Viejas Tribal Chairman Anthony R. Pico commended the Commission for its careful deliberation and objective assessment of evidence submitted by all involved parties. “It is gratifying to finally get a fair and objective hearing, after years of having Native American concerns dismissed by the BLM and their development partner, Pattern Energy. While we support renewable energy, Ocotillo Wind is clearly the wrong project in the wrong location. We express our gratitude to Commission members for recognizing this travesty and we hope that their ruling helps prevent similar situations from occurring on future development sites.”

About the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians

The Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians is a sovereign Nation whose people have inhabited the Southern California and northern Mexico for tens of thousands of years. For more information on the history and current government of the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians visit www.viejasbandofkumeyaay.org.