“It’s going to bring a lot of people and money into Valley Center. We want to encourage local businesses and people to benefit,” says Shawneen Burdick, president of the VC Chamber of Commerce, about the upcoming San Diego North Amgen Tour of California that will pass through Valley Center, Pauma Valley and Palomar Mountain on Feb. 22. “Businesses need to think out of the box about selling!”
So… if some tourist is going to park in your parking lot anyway, you might as well collect a few bucks from ‘em!
Although they weren’t included in the loop during the planning stages—or really until about two weeks ago—VC businesses are trying to make up for lost time and make a little money off of the upcoming race, described as America’s version of the Tour De France.
Most of the race goes through Valley Center and Hwy 76 and up and down Palomar Mountain. Still only Rancho Bernardo and Escondido were included in the planning for the race.
When Sue Richmond, the Chamber’s secretary called the County, “They realized we were not in the loop, even though most of the race is taking place up here,” she said.
Fortunately, Fifth District Supervisor Bill Horn’s office has come to the rescue, providing his aide, Christi Knight, to help VC cope with the various challenges VC will face on that weekend.
Knight, who attended middle school in Valley Center and knows the community, told The Roadrunner, “The race is going to generate a lot of money and we want Valley Center to be included. Supervisor Horn sent me out to make sure of that.”
Mrs. Burdick, newly installed president of the Chamber, has started to attend planning meetings for the race.
Some merchants are already planning to serve some of the thousands of people expected to line our roadways.
Abe Boulos of Country Junction Deli told The Roadrunner: “I think I should take advantage of it! We are in the decision-making stages of deciding what to do.”
He said he might have a booth near the road to make sure that visitors know his deli is open—normally it’s closed on Sundays.
“That way people could be served easier and faster,” he said.
Many townspeople have noticed the county road signs that are going up on Cole Grade Road, Valley Center Road, North Lake Wohlford Road and Hwy 76 warning of closures. They have been calling and email us to find out exact times for road closures.
Unfortunately there aren’t exact times.
There will be “rolling road closures,” that will lead and follow the bicycle racers as they start at Lake Hodges and come up the grade. The race itself might only be in town as short time—as little as half an hour—although spectators will be here for several hours.
The Roadrunner will post the official road closure times from the County as soon as we have them. Check our Web site at www.valleycenter.com/
The run is subject to closure between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. About 11:40 a.m. the race will start near Lake Hodges in Rancho Bernardo. The race will last about four hours.
Mrs. Burdick described what she has discovered from attending the planning meetings.
“I was able to attend this week. It was very informative. What’s happening with them is they had representatives from Escondido and Rancho Bernardo where they are going to start it and finish it. They are putting a lot of things together for this. They expect one hundred and forty two credentialed press. It’s going to be very, very large.”
Mrs. Burdick wants to involve as many local businesses as possible, especially those along VC Road.
“So many people are going to attend and the race will probably only be here 30 minutes. So anyone who wants to come up here will have to do it in the morning. We have the opportunity of that audience during that time,” she said.
Not just businesses want to put VC’s best foot forward. VC High School Principal Ron McCowan is talking about selling hot dogs and hamburgers along the route and having the cheer leaders cheer and the band playing.
McCowan said, “We are still working with Christi from Bill Horn’s office and the Chamber on plans, although we don’t yet have anything set in stone. I will know by the end of the week.”
The Sheriff’s Dept. will definitely put on a bike safety demonstration that day—at a location to be announced.
The Chamber is also working with the County and the Parks & Rec. District about holding a community event at Adams Park, with vendors, food booths and possibly entertainment.
If you interested in participating, call Mrs. Burdick at 749-8472.
She emphasizes that there are many ways to take advantage of the opportunity.
“There’s all this space in between and there are going to be people who will need parking, water and food for the day,” she said. The possibilities are endless.
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The San Diego North Amgen Tour of California Web site features a variety of information about the race, including the best viewing spots and fun, free family-friendly activities for the race day. The Web site is updated daily, making it a great resource for up-to-date race information. You’ll find it at www.sandiegonorth.com/amgen/
Valley Center’s newest fire chief, Jeffrey Johnson, is a 28-year veteran in the fire service, who has been with Cal Fire for nearly 23 years.
Most of that time has been in Riverside County, working for Cal Fire and the Riverside County Fire Dept. He also ran inmate fire crews for eight years.
There was an opportunity to be promoted from being a fire station captain to a battalion chief and he jumped at the chance. He’s been at the job here now for several weeks.
VC’s new fire chief lives in Corona with his wife of 22 years, Lynn, and two high school age boys, a senior and sophomore.
He will be familiarizing himself with the community in the upcoming weeks and months.
“Learning the area is the main part and getting to know the folks that are assigned to the fire station,” he said, adding, “The uniqueness of the assignment is due to the fire protection district, which operates similar to a city council.”
One issue that he has had to jump right into is to help the fire district with the planning for a potential new fire station at the district’s property on White Star Lane.
The Roadrunner asked the chief to speculate about how bad the upcoming fire season will be.
“It’s been my experience that fire seasons are fairly active after a fairly decent amount of rain due to the grass crop which tends to spread our fires more quickly.”
He noted that in the just completed low humidity, high temperature period of the last few days that Cal Fire added additional staffers to fire apparatuses and to the two county helicopters.
“We constantly monitor the weather and conditions so that we don’t get caught unprepared. This was our third additional staffing since I’ve been down here,” he said.
He added that there are several areas of concern for fires, including the areas that burned in the Poomacha fire of 2007.
“Those areas are still susceptible to a large fire.” But the area of largest concern continues to be the Moosa Creek and Lilac areas where there is brush that hasn’t burned in a hundred years.
Johnson noted that the brush growth in that area is more dense than the area of the Poomacha and Witch Creek fires.
He added that the rainfall for this period is no lower than normal—so we are facing a potentially dangerous fire season.
“Certainly the concern we have this year is the potential for another drought year,” he said.
The chief says that his biggest concern is for residents to recognize and maintain fire safe zones around their homes. “To have working smoke detectors in their house for the protection of their family. To be prepared should a major disaster happen by having an evacuation plan and emergency rations in the event of an earthquake or fire catches them out away from their home,” he says. “Regardless of whether you are trapped on the roadway broken down you will be happy to have emergency rations and a flashlight.”
“My number one goal each week is not to be boring,” says Senior Pastor Gunnar Hanson, of the Valley Baptist Church.
The church, which just a couple of years ago was down to 14 members, has undergone a renaissance under its young new pastor, who arrived 18 months ago, and has brought the membership up to 80 members.
The church has been in the community since 1947. It was once behind Fat Ivor’s and moved to its current location at Cole Grade Road & Miller, in the early 90s.
When Pastor Hanson first learned of the church around April of 2007, the congregation had dwindled to about 14.
The congregation realized the church was going under. The First Baptist Church of Mira Mesa stepped forward to help get them started again.
They helped fund Hanson to move to Valley Center.
“When I arrived here with my wife, Anna, and our two-year-old daughter, Grace, we brought the average age of the church to about seventy eight!” the 34-year-old Hanson quips.
Hanson is an ex-Navy Seal who was in the service for 12 years. Before he left the Navy he decided to become a minister. When he left he became involved in starting churches from scratch. The church he “planted” was in 2004, where he was an associate pastor.
“I felt it was time to move on. We had explored other options from Africa to the Gaslamp in San Diego to Tucson, Arizona.”
Hanson has a BA in Biblical Studies and a masters of divinity from Southern California Seminary and is pursuing a doctorate from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City.
Today the church’s average attendance is 66 people although it has a membership of 80.
The style of preaching is totally different from before. Hanson attributes the growth of the church to this factor.
“I’m not a traditional type of preacher,” he says. “I believe that the Bible is an exciting book. I try to preach in an exciting and relevant manner with the use of stories and practical applications, for real life.”
Traditional music has been replaced with a more contemporary style of hymns mixed with contemporary music, led by the worship pastor, Rick Houston.
Before, says Hanson, the church was inwardly focused. “I have a community focused philosophy.” This has meant that Hanson, and, by extension, his church have become more involved with the community.
He is grateful for the help that other community churches have provided, especially Ridgeview Church.
“Bill Trok [pastor of Ridgeview] has been very helpful in getting me dialed in with the community. He got me going through the Sheriff’s Chaplaincy and he really helped me get a lay of the understanding of the culture in Valley Center,” says Hanson
Understanding Valley Center’s community orientation didn’t come naturally. “You have to get yourself involved in the community to appreciate that. Many people who find themselves isolated do so because they are not involved,” he says.
Hanson almost immediately volunteered for the Valley Center Cemetery Board after he saw a notice in The Roadrunner pointing out the “grave need” for people to step forward. He has been on the board now for 18 months.
But during the fall of 2007 he received his “baptism of fire.”
“The fires were an awesome opportunity to see the community at its finest,” he recalls. “I was able to meet a ton of people through the fires as sheriff’s chaplain. That’s where my love of the community developed. You could see how the community cared for each other and loved each other in a way that doesn’t happen in the city.”
Hanson is originally from La Mesa, and attended Grossmont High School. He enlisted in the Navy right out of school. He was stationed in Coronado for 12 years.
About eight years into his career he became a Christian after “getting in trouble with the Sheriff’s Dept.,” he recalls. That led to his conversion.
Around 2001 he started Bible college while on active duty and deployed to the Middle East.
During his last two years in the Navy he completed his schooling and served as an unpaid pastor before being discharged in 2005—when he became a fulltime pastor.
Valley Baptist is his first full time senior pastorship.
The church property includes two parcels near the corner of Miller & Cole Grade Road. So there is plenty of room for expansion. The existing sanctuary holds about 100 people maximum.
“My aim is to have a positive impact in Valley Center for Christ. I foresee that we will have to build a new sanctuary at the current rate,” he says.
He expects to add a second service by Easter.
“My goal is to teach the Bible faithfully in a relevant way so that people are affected in a tangible way. There are a lot of needs in the community. There’s lots of ways for the church to be involved in the community if it chooses to do so.”
He adds, “And as long as I’m here the choice will be to get involved with the community.”
The congregation has several community outreaches.
They have an Hispanic outreach.
Sunday School is taught by Joel Kooyers. His wife, Judy leads a women’s bible study that meets Tuesday mornings.
The church plans to have what Hanson calls, “a special blessing,” on the second Wednesday of the month.
On Feb. 11, 7 p.m. they will show the movie Fireproof. There will be free popcorn and refreshments with free pizza at 6 p.m.
It is a real movie experience on a big screen, licensed by the film’s distributor. The community is invited.
March’s movie will be Amazing Grace, the story of William Wilberforce. All of the movies will be family-friendly.
The church is also in the beginning stages of planning a mission trip to Mongolia.
According to Pastor Hanson, “We have friends with the New Tribes Missions ministry. I’m hoping to plan a missions trip that would be open to to church and community in 2010 and 2011.”
He adds, “Overall I want the community to know that I’m here to serve the community and be a blessing. In many ways I feel that I came to Valley Center as something of a missionary in that I had lived in San Diego all my life and knew nothing about this kind of life.”
He and his wife have taken to that life with gusto.
“I love it. We bought our house in January of 2008. We plan on staying here a long, long time. I now have chickens, cats and dogs. I’ve thrown myself completely into country living. I do think it’s a great place to raise my family and daughter. Anna is expecting a child in August.”
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For more information about Valley Baptist Church, visit them at 30053 Miller Road, mail them at P.O. 158 VC, 92082, call them at 749-2653 or visit their Web site at www.vcbaptist.org/
The Valley Center-Pauma music boosters will present the 12th annual Jazz Benefit Concert on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 6 p.m., at the Maxine Theater.
The concert features the San Diego Jazz All Stars. This band brings together some of the top 18 jazz musicians from San Diego to Los Angeles, many of whom are music educators and teachers, including VC’s own Jeff & Laralee Beck, and Christopher Hollyday.
The evening begins with the award-winning middle and high school jazz bands and the high school jazz and advanced choirs. Tickets are $5 apiece.
This year the event includes a Backstage Party event in the black Box at the Maxine. Beginning at 5 p.m., there will be appetizers, entertainment and mingling with other music aficionados until the concert commences. The Backstage Party pass costs $10 per person.
Concert and Backstage Party ticket packages are $15 at the door. Purchase your ticket package for $12.50 by Feb. 6 and save $2.50 per package. Concert tickets are free for Gold Level booster members. All proceeds from the concert will go to the Valley Center-Pauma Music Boosters.
The music boosters support the children and teachers involved in orchestras, choirs and bands at all of the Valley Center schools.
Buy presale ticket packages at CJ Deli or online at vcmusicboosters.org. After Feb. 6 concert tickets are $5 and Backstage Party tickets are $10, available at the Maxine box office. For more information go to vcmusicboosters.org.
The merchants of the Old Town Center are working together to bring in new customers and deal with the challenges of major road work right outside their doors.
Under that cooperative effort the center is experiencing something of a rebirth.
The center at the corner of Cole Grade Road & VC Road used to be called Gridley Square when John Gridley built it in the 1950s.
According to owner Martha Bozulich, who has owned the center since the 1960s, Gridley is still alive and in his 90s and still carries paper on that center as well as several other properties in town. He’s living in Oregon.
“I think we have a very balanced group of tenants,” says Mrs. Bozulich.
“One of the most popular places is the deli and then we have a number of other services,” she says, naming several of them. “The cat hospital [A Cat’s View Veterinary Hospital] is especially going to be useful for the community because it’s one of the few facilities that really focuses on the needs and problems of people who have cats—and the cats themselves.”
The facility has a live camera system that allows owners who leave their kitties over the weekend or over the holiday to watch them via the Internet.
At the same time veterinarian Nancy Matthews, DVM can watch the cats that are in the hospital all night long and listen to them.
Mrs. Bozulich added, “It’s really a state-of-the-art facility!”
Right next to the cat hospital is the strictly equine veterinary facility owned by Matt Matthews and Matthews Veterinary Services.
Since Dr. Matthews goes to serve his equine patients, the office provides a convenient place where customers can pick up medicines, buy what they need and schedule appointments.
“It’s a very friendly community and we are really enjoying being here and enjoying our neighbors,” Nancy Matthews told The Roadrunner.
“The center is a great place to be! You can walk right to the deli. Everyone is welcoming and easy to get alone with.” Find out more by visiting their Web site at www.equinevet.org/
Tom Williams, who has reopened Video Playhouse after several months absence, has heard that before.
“I know that my customers are glad that we are back after being gone eight months. I hear it all the time,” he says.
He’s happy to see the center fully occupied. “That’s a nice thing in this economy. We’re all just trying to make it through this rough patch.”
The video store is just a little bit smaller than it was before. “It’s the same only smaller. We now carry mostly new releases although I have been buying a lot of older titles that I sold off. We also carry the new high definition Blue Ray format,” he says.
Of the center, Williams says, “It’s a good little group that we have here now. Some of us have downsized and some of us have grown but we have a lot of traffic.”
Mrs. Bozulich also praised the new service offered by Mena’s Yarn.
Mena's Yarn has been in the center now for a little over a year and she provides a great selection of yarns as well as classes to help you create your stylish wrap or a a pair of mittens to keep your hand warm in the winter. The colors and textures of the fabric are fantastic, fun and funky.
Owner Pamela Lance enjoys spending time with the individuals who visit her classes for knitting, crochet and more.She added, “It’s wonderful to have the video playhouse back. It’s a wonderful service and open seven days a week!” she says.
Bob Wisecarver, who has owned Community Pharmacy for 13 years, has been a solid tenant of the center during that time.
“He’s a wonderful pharmacist,” says Mrs. Bozulich. “He has that personal touch and gives great advice to the people who fill their prescriptions with him.”
Wisecarver noted that in such uncertain times a merchant has to go out of his way to provide a good service—and to let people know where to find you.
That has often been challenging during the road work and during the series of burglaries that have hit some of the businesses there.
“That’s why the merchants of the center are doing different things to promote the center. You have to go out of your way to help each other. That has been my feeling.
“We all talk and try to think of different ways to help each other to advertise and promote the center,” he says.
He also complimented the Bozuliches for being accommodating in letting the businesses move around within the center until they found the optimal square footage.
“I think it’s great that they have let us move around,” he says.
One of the merchants who experimented with different square footages until he got it right was Tirso Ruiz, owner of the Sports Closet and the Box Office, which are next to each other.
“First I doubled my square footage and then brought it down to 1,250 square feet.” That turned out to be a Goldilocks size, i.e. “just right.”
“I’m real happy with the the way the center has turned out,” Ruiz told The Roadrunner.
“There’s always people coming into the shop. We’ve got the Video Playhouse now so we still have traffic from that. The veterinarian has a beautiful facility. I think the center is the best that it’s ever been. Everybody gets along real well. With our Box Office we have a really nice diversity of shops.”
The Box Office offers packing, shipping via UPS and Fedex, mail box rentals and banners, copies and Faxes.
The Sports Closet sells equipment mainly for youth sports, baseball and soccer. It does embroidery and silkscreen—not only for sports, but also company logos and schools.
It’s open M-F, 9 a.m. -5:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 10-1 p.m.
Mrs. Bozulich explained that as owners they have made a number of improvements to the center. This includes adding a 20-year roof to the center, covering it with a material similar to styrofoam, six inches deep.
This not only protects the roof but provides lots of insulation to the tenants.
They also installed a new septic system recently.
The center also has two entrances on Valley Center Road now, something that it has wanted for a long time.
“That’s a wonderful thing,” she says.
Abe Boulos, owner of Country Junction, has tripled the square footage of his restaurant during the changes at the center.
“We are all working together to have a healthy business environment,” he says. “I take the attitude that if I do well the next door neighbor will do well.
“It goes back to how each individual can serve the community and serve it well. If I have succuss I share it with others. It all helps to create a healthy Valley Center.
The deli is open M-Saturday 7 a.m.- 7 p.m. and closed Sundays.
By DAVID ROSS
It was a scene that must have conjured up vivid images of personal horror Saturday night when local veterinarian Dr. Matt Matthews treated a mini-horse that was savagely attacked by a pack of four pit bulls near the San Pasqual Indian Reservation (see story, A7).
It certainly brought back some of that horror to his wife, Dr. Nancy Matthews, who on Monday told The Roadrunner, “It could have been a child.”
Dr. Matthews, who, readers may recall, underwent her own brutal attack by two large dogs a few years ago, wants to set up an organization to hold the authorities accountable and encourage dog owner responsibility and accountability. She and her two boys were attacked when they were out walking in the daytime. She managed to draw the dogs away from her children, but suffered very traumatic injuries of her own.
She is of the opinion, and I would have to agree, that the county’s Animal Control, or as they call it now, Animal Services, isn’t doing enough to protect residents from wandering packs of dogs.
She says that when the people whose horse was attacked Saturday were told by Animal Services, “thank you,” and that they would get back to them.
OK, that’s hearsay
She is working to set up a community meeting between local residents and John Carlson, the county official who heads Animal Services for North County.
Besides promoting dog owner responsibility, she also wants to educate at risk populations and help victims of severe dog mauling.
According to Dr. Matthews, “Dogs, especially dogs allowed to roam and ‘pack-up’ that attack livestock, are the ones that then go on to attack humans. Their first choice are those small, or weakened in some way , such as by age…so, just like the wolf packs, or rather pack hunters, the first prey are the young, the old, or the injured. It is no coincidence that children and the elderly account for most severe dog mauling every year right here in the United States. I witnessed it first hand when the dog lunged PAST me onto where my little boy, Heath, was standing. Prey.”
Check next week’s paper for more on Dr. Matthews’s idea.
The Valley Roadrunner
P.O.B. 1529, Valley Center, CA 92082
Tel. 760.749.1112 Fax 760.749.1688
Website: www.valleycenter.com
Email: editor@valleycenter.com
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