El Cajon

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El Cajon PD Geographic Probation Page http://elcajonpolice.org/Probation/index.html El Cajon PD Geographic Probation Page http://elcajonpolice.org/Probation/index.html
 +==Mother Goose Parade==
 +
 +===Duane 'Dog' Chapman has been nixed from the lineup in El Cajon's Mother Goose Parade===
 +
 +[[November 04, 2007]] EL CAJON - Duane "Dog" Chapman, the flamboyant, born-again bounty hunter in trouble recently for his use of the n-word, has been nixed from the lineup in El Cajon's Nov. 19 Mother Goose Parade.
 +
 +"It was mutually agreed between Duane "Dog" Chapman and the Mother Goose Parade Association that Dog would not participate in the parade this year. Dog did not want to cause any disturbances with the parade," according to statement from the city.
 +
 +The parade is primarily for children.
 +
 +The National Enquirer recently published a story, quoting Chapman using the n-word as he talked about his son's girlfriend.
 +
 +Chapman is an ex-con who did time in a Texas prison for a 1977 murder and later became a bounty hunter. He is probably best-known for nabbing Southern California date-rape suspect Andrew Luster, an heir to the Max Factor fortune, in Mexico in 2003.
 +
 +The arrest helped Chapman, now based in Hawaii, get a reality show on A&E.
 +
 +http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/11/04/news/sandiego/13_08_4211_3_07.txt
==links== ==links==

Revision as of 18:37, 4 November 2007

It's been a quiet week in El Cajon, my home town.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Cajon

Contents

East County Performing Arts Center

Curtain calls or curtain to fall for ECPAC?

October 25, 2007 The East County Performing Arts Center is a white elephant. There, the El Cajon City Council has said it.

Well, not in so many words exactly, but that was the tenor of the conversation as the council authorized David Cooksy, redevelopment and housing director, to recruit qualified companies interested in building a hotel next to the concert hall.

The council's collective advice to Cooksy was to give potential developers a clean slate, not limit them to a specific concept. Meaning, if someone wants to tear down the facility, build a new one with hotel rooms over it, let's talk. If someone believes demand for a hotel is lacking but a new theater and high-rise condos will work, well...

The realization may be slow in sinking in, but “white elephant” aptly describes the facility's status today. It is too big for some events, and lacks the ancillary rooms for others. ECPAC cannot handle the fly lot scenery for touring plays. It is ideal for concerts, but East County lacks the philanthropy base to underwrite major cultural events. And fading headliners – forget them, the casinos can pay exorbitant performance fees and use the events as loss leaders.

The talk about the facility is a turning point in El Cajon. Previously, the controversy has been over who manages the theater and the city's on again, off again approach to subsidizing it.

Currently, it is mostly off again. Off again at $85,000 or so for subsidy, $80,000 for utilities and untold amounts for repairs. But that is down $300,000 or more from last year.

Controversy still smolders over Art Beat Management, a Christian Community Theater affiliate, and whether the selection was done at less than arm's length. It will flare up in the future – probably about whether Art Beat is energetically marketing the facility. Art Beat's Paul Russell is proud of their booking figures. Yet, a lowered city subsidy will lead to a lower marketing budget and more kindling.

The city, under Cooksy, is about to vet groups willing to be private partners in transforming the site. A hotel next to, or above, the theater would provide catering services, meeting rooms and patrons. Determining the expertise and financial resources of interested parties is very important. The city previously got mixed up with a group that either did not have the hotel franchise rights it claimed or certainly did not have them long enough to cut a deal.

Fortunately for El Cajon, there's a role model to follow. Escondido and Marriott are further along in adding a hotel to the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. City Manager Kathi Henry may want to add a hot line to her Escondido counterpart.

Perhaps this is a good time to remember the purpose of a civic performance hall. The goal is not to fill it willy-nilly with any old events just to break even. (If break even is the goal, why bother having one?) The goal is not to subsidize restaurants with evening patrons, as worthwhile as that might seem. (If that were the only purpose, why not just cut them subsidy checks and be done with it?) No, the goal of a civic performance hall is to enrich our lives through the arts.

El Cajon needs to remind itself of this goal from time to time. The trouble is, a city government on a path toward $4.8 million in red ink – maybe $6 million if the Heartland Foundation Building debacle escalates – is hardly inclined to hear the words, “subsidize the arts.”

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071025/news_lz2ed25top.html

Decaying arts center closed as city weighs repair costs

August 14, 2007 EL CAJON – The East County Performing Arts Center has been temporarily shuttered after chunks of plaster fell from the ceiling, renewing concerns from city officials about the troubled venue's future. No one was injured when the pieces fell last month. El Cajon officials conducted a floor-to-ceiling inspection afterward and determined that more than $2.8 million worth of work is needed. Some repairs are so urgent that the city-owned theater has been closed and shows have been rescheduled.

Today, the City Council will consider spending $230,000 to fix the most pressing problems, including $60,000 for interim ceiling repairs and $95,000 for stage-rigging equipment.

The expense comes a month after El Cajon slashed its subsidy to Art Beat Management, the nonprofit group running the theater, because the city is facing a $3.8 million structural deficit. The council approved $100,000 for theater operations but doesn't yet know where the money will come from.

City Manager Kathi Henry said the theater has become “a money pit.” Mayor Mark Lewis acknowledged the problems.

“We cannot keep dumping money into a facility that is going to increase the costs to us year in and year out,” he said.

The city budget is still tight, but Henry and others say they're expecting about $300,000 from the theater's former manager, the Arts Center Foundation. That money could go toward the emergency repairs and operations, but the dollars aren't guaranteed.

City officials and an attorney for the foundation say the money has been in a foundation account but will be turned over to the city. It's mostly ticket revenue taken in as the foundation turned over control of the theater to the city.

Art Beat Management, a division of Christian Community Theater, took over the center in December 2005.

The 1,142-seat venue has a long and difficult history. It's more than 30 years old and showing its age. It's too small to host conferences and seminars and too big to sell out most performances, the bulk of which are staged by community organizations.

Even city officials acknowledge the needs seem never-ending. El Cajon has spent about $130,000 on capital improvements since Art Beat took over, but that doesn't include subsidies for operations or utilities – or the money the city spent in other years.

“We need to make a decision at this point,” Henry said yesterday. “Does the city continue spending on the venue at the expense of other city services?”

During its meeting today, the council also is to decide whether to put out a “request for qualifications” to redevelop the site. The city is hoping a developer will come forward with ideas.

Lewis wants a hotel, a restaurant and other activity on the property.

As for the falling plaster, Henry said annual inspections of the building didn't include a look at the ceiling. The pieces came from five panels fastened to the ceiling and covered with plaster. In some spots, the ceiling is more than 30 feet from the ground.

“We were fortunate that it happened between performances,” Henry said.

The biggest chunk – about 3 feet in diameter – fell July 11, said Melissa Hill, Art Beat's director of operations. The city inspected the center July 30 and it was closed the next day. The venue had been slated to close for regular maintenance between Aug. 20 and Sept. 7.

Paul Russell, Art Beat's executive director, said all but one group rescheduled their performances, resulting in a loss of about $15,000 in rental revenue.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070814-9999-1m14ecpac.html

'Enough,' El Cajon says of deal with nonprofit

December 29, 2006

EL CAJON – A brown stucco office building sits on a busy street in the middle of the city. Inside are the quiet, cluttered headquarters of the Heartland Foundation, a nonprofit that seven years ago embarked on a novel plan.

The building at 1068 Broadway was supposed to be the hub of the foundation's Project Destination, an expansive job-training center that connects people to community colleges, internships and new careers.

Yet visitors won't find any mention of Project Destination on the building's directory. The brochures, when Heartland volunteers can find them, are outdated. There is no reception area for drop-ins.

Heartland bought the building with $1.3 million in federal money borrowed from El Cajon. Last month, the City Council voted to declare the loan in default and foreclose on the building after years of making loan payments that Heartland should have made but didn't.

As of October, the nonprofit paid less than $12,000 toward the loan while El Cajon has contributed nearly $1 million. The city has been paying down the debt with its limited share of Community Development Block Grants, money that could have been used to aid some of El Cajon's poorest residents.

Heartland now owes nearly $2.2 million for the loan, unpaid interest and late charges, said David Cooksy, the city's director of housing and redevelopment. The city plans to recoup the money by selling the Broadway building, but there's no telling when.

It's clear the nonprofit was overly optimistic when it applied for the loan in 1999. Less than two years old at the time, the foundation wooed the city with promises it couldn't fulfill, and the City Council was quick to believe them.

What the foundation claims to have delivered – help to 2,000 residents countywide – is difficult to verify.

“They looked good on paper, like a lot of other projects look good on paper, and sometimes it doesn't pan out,” said El Cajon Mayor Mark Lewis.

The mayor, quoted as a supporter in Project Destination's brochures, now says, “We don't even know if they're doing what they're supposed to be doing.”

'We bought into it'

The outstanding loan payments do not affect the city's budget. But the loan payments have taken away from the federal grant money that the city receives annually to revitalize neighborhoods, spark economic development or improve community facilities and services for low-and moderate-income residents. El Cajon receives about $1.2 million a year in Community Development Block Grant funds, Cooksy said.

“The council determined enough is enough,” Cooksy said. “We've done what we can. They've (Heartland) created a lot of jobs but the financial requirement to keep the program up and running is depleting money for other CDBG programs.”

Lewis, the only person still on the council who voted for the project in 1999, said Heartland's concept was so impressive that the majority of the council backed a nonprofit with virtually no track record and no proven fundraising ability.

“We bought into it at the time,” the mayor said.

Mark Hanson, Heartland's president and founder, said today's Project Destination may be different from the original vision. Still, he said, it has helped 2,000 people, about 20 percent of them from El Cajon.

He said Project Destination offers career and apprenticeship preparation, a community technology center, job training and placement. It has a second location in San Diego.

Hanson has filed monthly progress reports with the city listing those served. But El Cajon provides little oversight. The San Diego Union-Tribune reviewed the reports, obtained through a public records request, but the city redacted names and Social Security numbers for privacy reasons.

Heartland officials said they had the best intentions but were overwhelmed by the scope of renovations needed at the Broadway building. The nonprofit pinned its plans on a grant in excess of $300,000 that never came through. There was no Plan B for funding.

Yet Heartland's detailed proposals to the city seven years ago confidently claimed that Project Destination would reap more than $1 million in profits each year and plow the money back into the program.

“We did our best given the situation,” Hanson said.

Ideal on paper

When Heartland took its proposal to the city in 1999, city staff, which often makes recommendations on whether projects should move forward or need more work, didn't take a position on the loan application. “We didn't know a lot about this group, so we thought the council really needed to make this decision,” said Community Development Director Jim Griffin, whose department oversaw the distribution of CDBG money in 1999.

The council agreed to secure a $1.3 million loan on Heartland's behalf from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The money would be used to buy and renovate the two-story office building and provide some start-up money for a wide-reaching vocational center that would partner with the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District and local businesses.

In return, Heartland would handle all upgrades and rent offices to businesses supporting its mission. There would be enough money to make loan payments to the city and turn a profit, organizers promised.

The council approved the plan in a split vote. City leaders say Project Destination sounded ideal on paper, and Heartland offered up a slew of local business leaders who pledged to make the program a success.

Yet some who wrote letters of support had little to do with the program after the loan was received.

Buddy Wilkerson, Heartland's executive director at the time, said he gave up his position when it became clear there was no funding for the dental hygiene school and other programs he wanted.

“I think everybody had real good intentions,” Wilkerson said. “It would have worked” if the $300,000 grant had come through.

The college district backed Heartland's concept in the beginning. It offered computer classes at the Broadway building until 2002, said district spokeswoman Dana Quittner, but it was never affiliated with Project Destination.

Yet the building still has a sign for the Grossmont College Business & Technology Institute out front. A mention of the district as a community partner in Project Destination's brochure is a “misrepresentation of a nonexistent relationship,” Quittner said.

Recouping the money

Hanson, who has led Heartland since 2002, said he and many others have worked hard without pay. Heartland and Project Destination are run by volunteers, he said. Hanson said he worried about taking the loan in 1999 and voted against the idea as a board member. He said he talked up the program to the city because the board wanted to move forward.

“Nobody said, 'We guarantee we are going to get all this money,' ” Hanson said.

But no one at Project Destination warned the city the grants might not come through either, according to city documents.

The Broadway building is finally fully occupied with 13 tenants, including Heartland, Hanson said. He estimates Heartland has paid for about $1 million in upgrades, including carpet, paint, air conditioning and fire code compliance.

“It was a dream and an idea and once the building sells, it's a win-win,” Hanson said.

The city is banking on eventually recouping its money. While Heartland holds the deed to the property, the city holds a note on it, meaning the city would be repaid before Heartland receives money from a sale.

Heartland is trying to sell the building now. Hanson said he has three offers. If El Cajon forecloses before the building is sold, the city will probably take over the sale.

City officials said it's likely such an agreement between the city and a nonprofit would be handled differently now. This is the only arrangement of its kind in El Cajon.

Councilman Dick Ramos, who along with Councilman Bob McClellan voted against the plan in 1999, said he hopes the building sells soon.

“It currently is a mess but it remains to be seen what's going to happen,” Ramos said. “I think we'll be able to get most, if not all, of our money back.”

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20061229/news_7m29destin.html

Christo Fascists on the City Council

El Cajon mixing religion into government

October 18, 2007

Regarding El Cajon City Council's advocation of religion in government:

The United States Constitution with its Bill of Rights outlines the rights and protections of citizens from the government. The Constitution protects the citizens against the abuse of power of the government. The government is restricted by the Constitution on how it can exercise power of citizens.

Those of us who care to can argue all day long about the separation of church and state. Each of us can pull out our lists of quotes from long dead people about the intentions of our country's founders. Fortunately, for each of us, the Constitution empowers the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution and how imposed laws conflict with it. With the collective experience and education, the Supreme Court has concluded time and time again that the government cannot aid one or any religions or make a preference over another. In addition, the court clearly defines the restrictions of the government on its attempts to enforce a belief or disbelief in any religion.

The Constitution reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

In its interpretation of the Constitution, the court has found that there is a separation of church and state. That doesn't mean we can't have God in our hearts when performing our duties as government officials. No one is taking your God away from you. It means that the government cannot discriminate against those who don't believe in a specific religion. It simply means the government is restricted in its dealings with citizens when it pertains to religion.

The individual members of the El Cajon City Council are citizens when they are not sitting as the council. Citizen Bob McClellan has the right to speak about religion. Of course, citizen McClellan has the absolute protected right to be ignorant of history and to advocate Christianity in government and to proselytize until Jesus returns. Absolutely, no one is trying to take those rights from him.

While in a meeting of the council, however, he is part of the government. Contrary to the assertions McClellan made from his council seat on the dais at the Oct. 9 meeting, he does not have the right to speak about religion from his seat. When McClellan does so, he is speaking as the El Cajon City Council (the government) that the separation of church and state is a myth and that our founding fathers intended religion to be in the government. Unfortunately for him, by doing these things from his council seat or speaking to the press as a council member, McClellan is violating his oath of office by not protecting and defending the Constitution. The others on the council are just as guilty for allowing it.

While I'm not happy with the current leanings of the Supreme Court, I certainly wouldn't unilaterally decide that it is wrong and just do what I pleased. Per our United States Constitution, the government has restrictions that our El Cajon City Council doesn't honor.

KAREN MARIE OTTER, El Cajon

I applaud McClellan for expressing his right to freedom of speech regarding the Lord Jesus Christ. I think most Christians like myself are tired of being shouted down, ridiculed and told we can't have Christmas scenes, etc. They use the excuse of separation of church and state, being politically correct, fear of offending someone, or any other excuse.

RON SEES, Santee

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071018/news_lz2e18letters.html

Recounting history on church, state

So it's unanimous. El Cajon Councilman Bob McClellan's claim that the nation's founders intended ours to be a Christian nation was flatly rejected in every letter published on Oct. 4 (“Purge council meetings of 'religious moments' ”). It's important not because it calls out Councilman McClellan's distortion of well-documented history, but because of the light it shines on the almost certain protestations from Christians who accuse of religious persecution.

The Founders were clear: The Constitution guarantees your right to practice whatever religion you want, or no religion at all. It neither assures nor denies any religious foundation for this country. But most of all, Thomas Jefferson, in his Danbury letter, and elsewhere, clarified the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment: “I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state.”

Stay tuned for the uproar.

DAVID SALOW, Escondido

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071011/news_lz1e11lets.html

Councilman still sharing his beliefs

Public comment time becomes new pulpit

October 10, 2007 A warning from the city attorney has pushed “Bob's Constitutional Moments” off the El Cajon City Council agenda, but Bob McClellan is still sharing his religious beliefs during meetings.

Last month, the four-term councilman started adding “Bob's Constitutional Moments” to the agenda, using quotes from early Americans to argue that the nation's founders didn't want a separation of church and state. McClellan's “moments” were removed from the agenda after the city attorney sent a confidential memo to the council last week. At yesterday's meeting, McClellan instead spoke during the public comment portion.

After citizens had their turn speaking, McClellan, an evangelical Christian, talked about the importance of religious freedom and said removing religion from government “is a detriment to our society.” He never mentioned “Bob's Constitutional Moments” and gave no reason for the change in the agenda.

In a three-page memo dated Oct. 3, City Attorney Morgan Foley recommended that the city “discontinue agenda items allowing council members a forum to express his or her opinions and beliefs on United States Constitutional issues.”

Although some cities begin their meetings with prayer, they are usually careful not to endorse one religion over another.

Allowing McClellan to opine on religion, Foley wrote, “increases the risk that the City will be embroiled in long, protracted, and expensive litigation over the allegation that the City Council is 'establishing' Christianity as an accepted official religion of the City of El Cajon.”

If the council wants to bring back “moments,” the matter should be discussed during a council meeting. Otherwise, the memo says, McClellan can voice his opinions during the public comment portion.

In El Cajon, speakers are given three minutes and must speak at the podium. McClellan adhered to the time constraints, but spoke from his seat – against Foley's advice.

The memo says McClellan should “be required to leave his seat on the dais and stand at the podium in order to send the clear message that his comments express opinions of his own and not necessarily those of the entire City Council, or the City of El Cajon.”

By law, legislative bodies must set aside time during every meeting to allow the public to talk about issues that are not on the agenda.

It is unusual for elected officials to speak during public comment but there is nothing in the Ralph M. Brown Act, the state's open meeting law, that prevents it, said Terry Franke, general counsel for Californians Aware, an organization that advocates for open government.

“If the council wants to indulge its members, to give them a kind of bully pulpit for simply saying anything . . . it's their time to waste,” Franke said.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071010/news_1m10moment.html

Purge council meetings of 'religious moments'

Regarding “Councilman takes 'moment' for Christianity at meetings,” Sept. 27, A-1:

El Cajon Councilman Bob McClellan has taken it upon himself to teach us, as your reporter put it, that “the nation's founders didn't want a separation of church and state – especially when it came to Christianity.” “People need to be informed about our true history,” McClellan says.

Write us The San Diego Union-Tribune welcomes letters to the editor. Because of the number of letters received, and to allow as many readers as possible to be published, it is the policy of the newspaper to publish no more than one letter from the same author within 90 days. Letters may be edited. It is also our policy to publish letters supporting or opposing a particular issue in a ratio reflecting the number received on each side.

To be considered for publication, a letter must include an address, daytime phone number and, if faxed or mailed, be signed. It may be sent to Letters Editor, The San Diego Union-Tribune, Post Office Box 120191, San Diego, CA 92112-0191, faxed to (619) 260-5081 or e-mailed to letters@uniontrib.com. Letters submitted may be used in print or in digital form in any publication or service authorized by the Union-Tribune Publishing Co.

Yes, they do need to be informed – so that McClellan can't bamboozle them with his biased and bogus “constitutional moments.”

Our true history, as expressed in Article 1 of the Bill of Rights and by many of our Founding Fathers themselves, is one of staunch secularism.

To James Madison, the “fruits” of Christianity were “superstition, bigotry and persecution.” “Lighthouses are more useful than churches,” said Benjamin Franklin. “This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it,” said John Adams. “Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man,” said Thomas Jefferson, who also called on us to “fix reason firmly in her seat” and “question with boldness even the existence of a God.”

If, as McClellan asserts, “the problem in this nation” is “that we're trying to eliminate religious activity, especially Christian, in our public lives,” then that “problem” was created, quite intentionally, by the very men who McClellan mistakenly believes wanted to meld church and state.

“The fact that the United States was not founded as a Christian nation,” writes Richard Dawkins in “The God Delusion,” “was early stated in the terms of a treaty with Tripoli, drafted in 1796 under George Washington and signed by John Adams in 1797.” That treaty begins with these words: “As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion...”

That is America's true and admirable history – keeping church and state safely apart so the former will never usurp the powers of the latter.

CHARLES HARRINGTON ELSTER, San Diego

I don't know where McClellan got his information on the founding fathers, but he had better read again. The reason they left England was to avoid religious persecution!

I am sick and tired of these so-called religious Evangelists. It is bad enough we have them on TV milking people for their gain, and preaching 2,000 years of lies. Only 1 percent of the people could read and write in Jesus' time, and they created and changed what they wanted in the Bible, old and new. The libraries in Alexandria and Byzantium were burned by these Christians to hide the truth. Some 32,000 volumes were burned in the square in Spain to hide the truth, let alone half of the population that was killed in the name of Christ. More people have been killed in religious wars than all world wars put together.

I suggest that people open their eyes and read Anthony Freke and Peter Gandy's book, “The Laughing Jesus” and Charles Guignebert's “Jesus” and “The Vatican Condemned.” These books have all been heavily documented and researched.

Instead of getting out of the Dark Ages, we are going back.

I deplore the fact that you put this individual on the front page of the newspaper. I would love to see him on a panel show with Timothy Freke, Peter Gandy and a few other authors who have researched the truth.

JOHN COCHANES, San Ysidro

Bob McClellan's “moments” during City Council meetings are clearly unconstitutional. The article says “no one has challenged the legality of them” before, but I, for one, will now. I hope others follow.

And Mayor Mark Lewis says, “Until they elect all heathens we're going to sneak a prayer in once in a while.” So he thinks that anyone who isn't for prayer at a government meeting is a “heathen”? Nice. To hell with his non-Christian constituents, I guess.

J.B. REYNOLDS, La Mesa

Separation of church and state has always been a cornerstone of the democratic political systems of our nation.

In the past few decades, there have been concerted efforts to either blur or destroy that line. McClellan's “Bob's Constitutional Moments” are a perfect example of such attempts.

Using only material that supports his particular agenda, he ignores historical facts and writings that completely refute what he says.

McClellan, as a private citizen, has every right to pursue his religious beliefs. McClellan, as an elected official of the city of El Cajon, does not.

He has brought ridicule upon our city and certainly hurt the “Cosmopolitan City” image that we have been trying to project.

JIM WILLIAMS, Santee

http://cfx.signonsandiego.com/news/op-ed/letters/20071004-9999-lz2e4letters.html

El Cajon yanks religious programs off city channel

video220.jpg
The opening of an El Cajon city DVD (top) showed God government. Below, it was morphed into good government.

October 25, 2006 EL CAJON – Until recently, viewers clicking on El Cajon's government access channel might have seen statistics linking the rise in teen pregnancy to the ban on school prayer, and heard lines such as, “God makes it clear that the purpose of government is to reward the righteous and to punish the wicked.” That's what Raymond Lutz found one night while watching TV.

Lutz's complaints prompted the city manager to yank the programming from Channel 24, but the debate continues over what is appropriate for a government channel.

Lutz, president of the East County Democratic Club, said the videos skew history. He wants the City Council to air another viewpoint, such as a film about the separation of church and state.

Most council members said they would have to review new material before allowing it on Channel 24, even though most haven't seen all, if any, of the five programs pulled.

They include “The Role of Pastors & Christians in Civil Government” and “America's Godly Heritage,” which intertwine lessons in American history with Bible scriptures.

The videos, and the request that they be shown, came from Councilman Bob McClellan in 2002. They aired regularly until Lutz's complaint.

“I think its important for people to understand the history of our nation,” said McClellan, who rejects the separation of church and state.

“There is no separation. If you read the First Amendment, you'd understand that. It doesn't say anything about separation of church and state.”

The videos are produced by Texas-based WallBuilders.

The group was founded by David Barton and is focused on “presenting America's forgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on the moral, religious, and constitutional foundation on which America was built,” according to its Web site.

Last year, Barton was named one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in America by Time magazine. He is politically active, having worked for years as vice chairman of the Republican Party of Texas.

Lutz said the videos promote religion, which violates city policy.

Three of the five council members – McClellan, Gary Kendrick and Mayor Mark Lewis – said the videos are based on historical documents.

Key point

A key point of the videos is to connect Christianity to government. In the opening of one called “Keys to Good Government According to the Founding Fathers,” Barton says America has been blessed by God. “Ironically, in a nation once distinguished for its faith and made great by its people of faith, public expressions of that traditional faith are now viewed as a threat to government,” Barton says. “This is nowhere more evident than in our courts.”

In the video, Barton links a rise in teen pregnancy, divorce and violent crime to the 1962 U.S. Supreme Court ban on sectarian prayer in public schools.

Lutz is proposing a slew of changes for how Channel 24 is run.

He asked that his plan be part of yesterday's City Council agenda, but was denied. Lutz and three others still attended to voice their objections during the public comment portion of the meeting.

“This is the only kind of video they've had for four years,” Lutz said. “There haven't been any other points of view on. None.”

At least one watchdog group says the material doesn't belong on city-controlled TV.

Barry Lynn, executive director of Washington, D.C.-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the videos are better suited to public-access television.

“It's bad government to adopt this very controversial view of Barton's and then put it on a channel that seems to be dedicated to official government programs,” Lynn said.

Barton's supporters have pushed for his videos to be shown in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, Lynn said, but he has “never heard of an actual city or county that has officially been running this on a government access channel.”

70,000 documents

Barton, who describes himself as a historian and educator, said his programs are based on the more than 70,000 historic documents and texts he has acquired over the years. “We document heavily and we challenge (critics) to disprove us,” Barton said in an interview.

City Manager Kathi Henry said the final decision on whether to show the videos lies with the council, which is expected to discuss it later this year.

Henry, city manager since 2004, said she watched at least one of the five videos. Whether they are educational is debatable, she said. Henry decided they were inappropriate after receiving Lutz's complaint.

“It looked pretty clear to me that it didn't fit the guidelines,” she said.

No taxpayer dollars were spent to air them, Henry said, but Lutz is skeptical.

The city pays El Cajon-based Video Technics about $25,000 a year to record council and school board meetings, post city events and play tapes or DVDs.

The city extended the company's contract at least once, in 2003, to allow videos – including those from WallBuilders – to be shown.

The council agreed to show the videos in 2002. Councilwoman Jillian Hanson-Cox had not yet been elected.

Council differences

McClellan, an evangelical Christian, disagrees with Henry's decision to pull the videos. McClellan sometimes shows the videos during talks he gives on American history, and he has staffed a booth for WallBuilders at Christian Coalition events. Councilman Dick Ramos said he objected to the videos from the start but was outnumbered on the council. Ramos said he only would support a neutral presentation of American history on Channel 24.

Lewis and Kendrick said they have seen some of the programs and defended their content. Both said they want to hear from the city attorney before deciding whether to continue airing them.

Ramos is Catholic. Lewis said he is a born-again Christian, and Kendrick calls himself an evangelical.

“From what I saw, it was a fair and accurate portrayal of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights,” Lewis said. “If you don't agree, just turn the channel.”

Kendrick said viewing the videos is no different than taking a college history class.

“Anything that doesn't profess hatred should be allowed some time on government access,” he said.

Lutz's complaint came a little more than a month before the Nov. 7 election, which includes runs by Lewis and Kendrick. Lutz denied any connection.

“If I would have known about this earlier, I would have brought this up earlier,” he said.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20061025/news_7m25ecvideo.html

El Cajon mayor not taking race for granted

Lewis has money edge against two challengers

September 30, 2006 EL CAJON – Mayor Mark Lewis has the power of incumbency and a pile of money to spend in the race to lead East County's largest city for the next four years.

His challengers, former El Cajon Councilman Charles Santos and current El Cajon Planning Commission chairman Tom Black, know it won't be easy to unseat him.

Santos, who lost his seat to Councilwoman Jillian Hanson-Cox in the 2004 election, said residents encouraged him to enter the race. “I would not run if I didn't think I had a good chance to win,” Santos said. He's hoping to sway residents unhappy with some of the council's recent decisions, particularly its support of a proposed Home Depot east of the city.

Black, the other challenger, has served on numerous city commissions and civic organizations and last year launched El Cajon's first video and film festival. He said he isn't raising any money and plans to spend little. He knows he's a longshot.

“I'm up against big bucks and the vote is split with Santos in the race,” Black said. “I am going to hang in there because I do want to be mayor someday.”

Lewis said he's running on his record and highlighting the changes in El Cajon during his eight years at the helm, including ongoing downtown revitalization and a voter-approved sales tax measure that will fund a new public safety building and a new animal shelter.

“I think (voters) have seen changes for the good in El Cajon,” Lewis said.

But he's not counting out his opponents.

“I feel good, but I'm not going to sit back on my laurels, either,” he said.

That's obvious, considering Lewis collected more than $36,000 in donations during the first half of the year. Santos, who didn't announce his candidacy until mid-August, has about $5,000. Black says he will only spend about $3,000 of his own money.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060930/news_2m30mayor.html

Police Department

The El Cajon Police Department http://elcajonpolice.org/

El Cajon PD Geographic Probation Page http://elcajonpolice.org/Probation/index.html

Mother Goose Parade

Duane 'Dog' Chapman has been nixed from the lineup in El Cajon's Mother Goose Parade

November 04, 2007 EL CAJON - Duane "Dog" Chapman, the flamboyant, born-again bounty hunter in trouble recently for his use of the n-word, has been nixed from the lineup in El Cajon's Nov. 19 Mother Goose Parade.

"It was mutually agreed between Duane "Dog" Chapman and the Mother Goose Parade Association that Dog would not participate in the parade this year. Dog did not want to cause any disturbances with the parade," according to statement from the city.

The parade is primarily for children.

The National Enquirer recently published a story, quoting Chapman using the n-word as he talked about his son's girlfriend.

Chapman is an ex-con who did time in a Texas prison for a 1977 murder and later became a bounty hunter. He is probably best-known for nabbing Southern California date-rape suspect Andrew Luster, an heir to the Max Factor fortune, in Mexico in 2003.

The arrest helped Chapman, now based in Hawaii, get a reality show on A&E.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/11/04/news/sandiego/13_08_4211_3_07.txt

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