Behind the Front Page: Teen center gets alarm system

By Maureen Robertson

FAIR WARNING—Arriba Teen Center vandals have fair warning: The recently installed alarm system beeps inside and outside the buildings at 1710 Montecito Road, can be heard by neighbors, and alerts the sheriff’s department, which responds and then contacts key teen center volunteers.

The alarm has motion sensors and protects all the buildings in the complex that once housed Ramona Community School. The system is a gift from Marvin Brehan, owner of Quality Security Company, an El Cajon firm.

Brehan has donated to Ramona before, a fact that has Kim Lasley, teen center director, saying, “my gosh, he doesn’t even live here and he does this.”

Brehan said he’s been doing business in the Ramona area for 15 years and “it’s a natural fit to help the people here as much as we can. We try to do whatever we can whenever we can.”

He worked on the alarm system at the same location when it was the fire recovery center after the 2007 Witch wildfire, and he’s given money to Ramona High School for prom tickets so students unable to afford tickets could go to the prom.

Lasley is hopeful the alarm system stops the rash of vandalism this summer at the center and the community park that sits on the same property.