As our community begins to come out of a dazed state of disbelief over the senseless death of Chelsea King, there is a growing sense that “something” needs to be done.
   Based on what we know so far, laws and procedures pertaining to sex offenders need to be thoroughly examined and strengthened. Fortunately, preliminary steps are being taken to do just that.
   John Gardner III, a convicted sex offender, sits in a downtown jail, accused of raping and murdering King, a 17-year-old Poway High School student. He is also accused of assaulting a college student in December in the same Rancho Bernardo park where King began her final jog on Feb. 25. Meanwhile, Escondido police are saying that Gardner, who lived for two years in that city, is “a focus” in their investigation into the 2009 death of 14-year-old Amber Dubois, whose body was found Saturday in a remote region of Pala. She disappeared one morning while walking to school.

   The following are just a few of the recent hits and misses that affect the Ramona community.
   HIT: The Ramona Village Design Group as they continue to work on finishing the village design plan. The completion of this plan will help provide a blueprint for Ramona’s future.
   MISS: County transportation impact fees (TIF) that continue to slow down or even eliminate building projects including the Palomar Pomerado Health Center which has had financial and management problems as well and still has not broken ground even though the property was purchased four years ago.
   HIT: The Ramona Community Library, which after a slight delay has broken ground and looks to be on track to hit its targeted opening.

   After Further Review ... One reason sports are universally popular is that they provide a reliable contest of the attributes that people wish they had—the courage of confrontation.  Call it guts. The ability to summon extraordinary effort toward a goal. Call it will. A passionate respect for rules of the game. Call it honor. 
Sports is Guts, Will and Honor, in ACTION.
   As I watched the 2010 Winter Olympics, those words kept resounding in my head. How do you lay your body on that luge, after knowing and watching the Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili  crash to his death in a practice run prior to the Olympic opening? Guts is the answer. The courage to face confrontation. In this scenario:  confronting the luge run.
   In snowboarding cross, I watched Seth Wescott edge out Canada’s Mike Robertson at the wire after being seeded 19th out of the 32 riders—as they call snowboarders—and closing an “impossible gap” during the race. Call that will.

 The sheriff’s department is becoming a lot more transparent (might be because there is an election on the horizon). Whatever the reason, it’s a good thing for Ramona. As with any law enforcement group, they have their critics. But now with The Ramona Citizen’s Advisory Group there will be a direct communication line of our community’s concerns to the sheriff’s Ramona Substation. Lt. Duncan Fraser stated “this is your group” and it will be up to the advisory group to set its own agenda, not the sheriff’s department. Which plain and simple means, if you have a question, suggestion or a concern, you should be able to get an answer.
   The advisory group needs to be focused and decide on a mission statement that defines the goals and what they want to accomplish. Now that there is an advisory group established, the hard work starts. The group must stay on task and not lose direction. They must be responsive to the community’s concerns and they must hold the sheriff’s department accountable.

   Life has gotten complicated. It seems everything we do has so many layers that I feel like I’m getting ready to go outside in the middle of winter in South Dakota. We check our e-mail, voicemail, Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites. We text instead of talk. What’s happened to simple communication between people and the pleasure of enjoying someone’s company face to face.
   Valentine’s Day used to be a day where lovers would express their love for one another with a simple card with a nice verse that expresses your feelings, flowers, candy, maybe dinner and or a movie. These options still remain today, but the simpleness is gone. Valentine’s Day is now a mega commercial spending event.

 For President Obama, it’s time to take off the training wheels and the teetering back and forth and start moving straight ahead to get things done. Obama’s confidence rating has dropped from a high of 74 percent when he was elected to just over 50 percent now. Democrats and Republicans alike are angry and frustrated. Obama’s first year in office has been marred with the ongoing health care debate, the continued loss of jobs (over 3 million in the past year), soaring federal deficit ($1 trillion higher), the loss of Democratic leaders (deciding not to run for re-election) not to mention the upset victory of the Republican candidate in the Massachusetts Senate race, and the near terrorist disaster on Christmas Day.

   The situation in Haiti has moved from rescue to recovery, and the need for assistance is even greater.  As volunteers/workers continue to pick through the rubble from the earthquake that leveled large portions of the tiny country of Haiti, killing perhaps 200,000 people, injuring many more and orphaning tens of thousands of children, many of us in San Diego County were complaining about too much rain falling too quickly last week. In Haiti, water is the most precious commodity available right now.
  We complain about the high unemployment rate in San Diego County. In Haiti, there are very few offices and factories standing.
   We worry about coming down with the H1N1 flu bug. In Haiti, death has become so prevalent that survivors rub toothpaste under their noses to block out the smell.

 Arnold got it right. The current health care reform bill is “health care to nowhere.” He also got most of it right with his recent state of the state address and the proposed $500 million job training/new jobs program. Creating new jobs, as long as they are not state employee jobs, needs to be the priority. But if we don’t have jobs, what good is spending money on job training. All focus/monies should be put to providing a stimulus to the private sector to develop jobs. Private industry is very capable of training their own employees. From paid internships, to tax savings, to supplementing wages for hiring of new employees, this is where the $500 million should be spent to get more people working and spending. Over the past 10 years California state employees have increased dramatically along with reduced services and a huge debt. With that track record, to spend more money on programs that will increase state employees is a very bad idea.

 The Barona Noise & Pollution Action Committee is disappointed that the feds have not done something about “increased noise and dust pollution” coming from the Barona Oaks MX track. Word from the Southern California agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs says it has no jurisdiction over the maintenance and operation of the track—it’s up to the Barona Band of Indians and the U.S. attorney cannot do anything without the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The operators of the track have made several modifications to help minimize the noise and dust and appear to be within the EPA guidelines. Bottom line—all that will be done, has been done. The fact that the track was established at the same time as the Country Estates, and that homeowners are given a general discloser regarding the existence of the track will make it virtually impossible to have any additional action taken.