This week in The Alpine Sun

Lead Stories

Shooting incidents not related to border volunteers
People are getting hurt on the border but there seems little means of determining whether the incidents are related to border watchers who have been patrolling the area between Campo and and the Imperial County line.

Road vision includes no cars on Alpine Boulevard
A one-way loop or a truncated Alpine Boulevard are among the many ideas that are being discussed by Alpine residents and county staff as the GP 2020 road networking process moves along. Many options are being reviewed to help ease traffic and aide connectivity in town. 

Alpine man lauded prior to receiving 30 months in postal fraud
An Alpine man was sentenced Monday to 30 months in federal prison for stealing $430,000 in postal money orders while he worked for the U.S. Postal Service as a manager.

Descanso woman’s trial in hit and run death set for July 19
A Descanso woman charged with hit and run in the death of a bicyclist on Japatul Road was given a Sept. 19 trial date on Wednesday, July 20. 

Author shares errors to help others 
By her own admission, Carlette Anderson of Alpine had led a life that was completely dysfunctional. “But,” she says, “It’s normal to be dysfunctional.” She maintains that Dys is from the Greek meaning, bad, ill or difficult, while function means performance. “Learning to change the dysfunctional elements in your life and become abnormal is what is difficult,” she says.
 
Storms ignite concerns of fire and flood
Lightning strikes in various areas in the East County and Back Country were the cause of numerous brush fires over the weekend. According to California Forestry Department officials, there were 1,600 lightning strikes around the county between 5 p.m. Friday evening and 5 a.m. Saturday morning.

Local teachers are in the running for San Diego ‘teacher of the year’
Two local teachers are among 45 of San Diego county’s top educators vying for San Diego County Teacher of the Year honors, Saturday, Oct. 8 during the 15th Annual Cox Presents: A Salute to Teachers.

Descanso methodist church welcomes new pastor, fresh from tropics
Chapel of the Hills methodist church is welcoming a new pastor – and one so well-traveled as to be a breath of tropical air.

Resident leopard gets new home at Alpine sanctuary
After a year of waiting and watching, Conga, the abandoned baby leopard rescued in June 2004 by Lions Tigers and Bears, moved into a new living habitat at the sanctuary in Alpine.


Columns/Opinion

While You Were Sleeping with Nancy Slaff: Veterans of Foreign Wars: Collateral damage in the Border War?

Class Action with Chuck Taylor: Tragedy and tribulation on the home stretch  

Spiritual Sunrise with Merry Murray: Heal your inner child of the past 

My Turn with Miguel Rosario: Coalition calls for border
demonstrators to be respectful

My Turn with Jay La Suer: Assemblyman checks up on Border Watch


Sports

East County ball players are San Diego section elite
Santana and West Hills. Granite HIlls and Valhalla. Together the elite of East County helped comprise the elite of the San Diego Section this past high school softball season. Some players on these teams are destined to go on to play at the collegiate level, some of them excelling. A select few could even advance to one day play for the United States national team.

Smith signs with San Francisco 49ers for $24 million
Helix High School graduate Alex Smith, the NFL’s No. 1 draft pick, has 24 million reasons to smile after signing a six-year contract with the San Francisco 49ers on Monday, July 25.