• Congrats to Wildomar's Soccer Champs

Wildomar U12 Girls Team (under 12) wins the Tournament of Champions trophy for the first time.
I asked Coach Martin (Marty) Rodriguez a couple of questions about the team and the path to victory.

 WR  What's the name of the team?
 MR  The team is called United Academy. We are made up of girls from Wildomar and Lake Elsinore combined.

 WR  Tell us how this year started.
 MR  Our fantastic voyage started in September during our rec season, where the team went undefeated. That allowed me to fortunately become the head coach for All Stars. Then we had a tryout from all the teams, and picked the 14 girls to represent the United All Star U12 Girls Team.

 WR  How did the girls gel once the were picked for the United All Star U12 Girls Team?
 MR  The girls came together quickly, like they have been playing together for years. We went to the President's Tournament in Eastvale, Ca and played other teams from our district. The girls played awesome and had two shut out games and a tough loss due to a rain out, but they qualified with enough points to make it to The TOC Tourney in Palm Desert.

Front Row - Melodie Martinez, Brianna Gonzalez, Katherine Lemus, Aspen Broadbent, Jordan Rodriguez, Nina Flores, Addysin Martinez. Back Row - Selena Quinonez, Mya Gutierrez, Kaili Cleveland, Coach Marty Rodriguez, Julien Tongol, Christy Watkins, Viviana Contreras, Genesis Vargas, Assistant Coach Francisco Martinez.  Not pictured Team Mom Wednesday Rodriguez

▼                    ▼                    ▼

 WR  Tell me a little about the tournament.
 MR   In this tournament, they send the top 8 teams from the President Cup to play each other. Again, the team played unbelievable. They won the first game 3-0, second 2-0, and the third Tied 1-1, which meant by point system we made the Championship Game.
During that game the girls, played their hearts out. We were able to score in the first half and then shut them out the rest of the game to win 1-0.

 WR  Who are the key players on the team?
 MR   I can't say 'I had just a few girls stand out', because they all played great and stepped up when needed. Between both tournaments we only allowed 4 goals and had 5 shut out games out of 7 games.

 WR  Say a few words about the team and what it was like to be their coach.
 MR  These girls worked hard at practice and games and had unbelievable support from packed sidelines from family, friends, and other teammates from the league cheering for them. It has to go down as one of my greatest moments ever in my coaching career. I couldn't be any prouder of these girls.

Way to go team and coaches

CONGRATULATIONS!

•      •      • 

The ultimate victory in competition is derived from the inner satisfaction of knowing that you have done your best and that you have gotten the most out of what you had to give.
― Howard Cosell

If Wildomar Rap were a soccer ball, it wouldn't be under inflated.

• Parks Schedule 2015

Tonight was a Wildomar Parks Subcommittee Meeting. The two members of the committee are Council Member Marsha Swanson and Mayor Pro-Tem Bridgette Moore.

Lots of good information from the agenda and the public speakers. The agenda covered special events,  park rules and policies, and signage.

Here is the proposed schedule of special events for 2015. The firm list will come after the city council votes on it.

Also mentioned were two Astronomy Nights Aug 22nd and Sept 19th. 

Last year Wildomar had many good special events; start saving the dates now. 

•   •   •

The part of the meeting that dealt with park rules was fun and lively. When you get down to it, respectful people DON'T need rules, and disrespectful people couldn't care less.

Rules are here due to those that have no regard for others, and those people (to be read pejoratively) will only follow rules if there is an authority figure there forcing them to conform to community standards. If your ears are burning, then YES I'm talking to you.

The topic of flying drones was brought up. A person that lives near the park had a guy flying a camera equipped drone hovering near his backyard fence. He went over to the park and found a guy with a suitcase worth of computer equipment that controlled it.

I'm thinking that your right to fly your camera equipped drone, ends where my backyard begins.

The other rules were pretty stock and standard... though some of the wording led to some discussion.

Alcohol was discussed... can you imagine a kid's birthday with the adults kneedeep in a hops fueled bender? Glad that one got laughed out.

Also things like golfing in the park, along with archery, and "games of hazardous nature".

"Games of a hazardous nature" sure seems wide open for interpretation.

What does it take to be considered "Hazardous"?

A toddler being hit in the head with a frisbee, is that hazardous? Sure it was an accident, but seems "hazardous" at the same time... that could also apply to a baseball or a football that takes unpredictable bounces.

Parks aren't perfect, and there is a certain amount of shared responsibility when sharing a park with others. To paraphrase one public speaker, we don't want parks where about the only thing you can do is walk in and walk back out.

As for "Signage" it was regarding the wording that will be put on rules signs that will be at the park. Unless these kinds of signs, with rules, are new or something... I don't remember ever seeing any in any park I went to when I was growing up (though I did see those types of signs at public swimming pools). If they were there, I didn't even notice them.

Point being, signs have no real meaning to kids that have parents that don't teach them respect for others. So rules signs are basically something for kids to tag since they won't be reading them, much less being concerned about how their actions will negatively affect others. The other kids already know right from wrong and won't need to read them either.

A look at what the signs will look like. Including the non emergency number to report problems.

Also mentioned was the development of a skate park on the north side of Corydon at Lake Elsinore's Serenity Park. Construction is to begin this year, and there's talk of a bicycle area too.

•      •      • 

Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.
― Dalai Lama XIV

Wildomar Rap loves wine and cheese, just not cheesy whining!

• Wildomar Planning Commissioner Victim of Road Rage Assault

On Saturday afternoon January 24, 2015, Wildomar planning commissioner, Bobby Swann, was the victim of road rage in Menifee. Take a look at his first person account of the incident below.

• • •

After the incident, when the police were there, the perp shouted to Swann as he was being arrested:

"Please don't press charges, I've never been in trouble before, I've never done anything like this before, I just snapped."

Sorry pal, but you should have thought about that before you crowbarred the man.

At that point Swann said to the cop, "He could have killed me", and the cop agreed.

The perp also admitted that he took the metal rod out, because it was exactly where Swann said it would be in the truck, but he said he didn't use it. Just holding the metal rod while he punched Swann? Yeah Right! 

Hmmm... punched? Wow, that guy must pack a wallop since Swann ended up with a concussion. 

Bobby had to do a citizens arrest since he was the only witness. They were cuffing him as Swann was leaving the scene.

At first, like a typical guy, Swann tried to walk it off after rubbing some dirt on it. He had many people telling him to go to the emergency room, but he scoffed. Thing is, about quarter till nine he started getting neck pains and he decided it best to be safe than sorry.

The CAT scan showed that he was in the normal range for everything, so there was no danger of anything more severe happening.

Doubling down on the worthiness of his man card, Swann was back to work the next day. The rumor is that he rubbed an aspirin on the bump and carried on as usual.

•      •      • 

Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one.
—Benjamin Franklin

Wildomar Rap turned the other cheek once...[dramatic pause] ONCE!

• Planning Commission Meeting: Walmart

Let's jump to the end... all the three items on the agenda passed 4-0. Commissioner Bidwell wasn't in attendance. Next stop is in front of the full City Council... not sure if that's the next meeting or not at this point.

Walmart had a full team that started at the foyer, with many easels holding various poster sized images.

There were 31 public speaker slips filled out, though most chose not to speak. Those people were in support of the project. There were no people there to speak against the project. Though many concerns were raised.

Chief among the concerns were drainage issues, whether Walmart will be utilizing reclaimed water for irrigation, light pollution, due diligence, police and fire services, being able to attract more big box stores, shame on the same old people filing lawsuits, road construction and traffic.

Click to see the video of these remarks.

There were no real fireworks, though the evening did start with another of Ray Johnson's hilarious document dumps. Thing is, Walmart doesn't even know that guy exists. Walmart has bigger fish to fry than that minnow. They have a group that follows them around from project to project and that's the legal hurdle they'll be looking to overcome.

A look at the rare Ray Johnson minnow.

I was expecting more hoopla, there was even a cop on duty to keep the rabble-rousers at bay... but none showed up. There was an overflow crowd, with about fifteen people listening from the hallway.

I had to chuckle when Walmart's attorney stood up and said they had been collecting "supporter cards" and that they've received 785 cards in support and only 10 against. Come on now... that is flat out silly. I've been running a poll, and out of 74 current votes, 39 are against it, while 35 are for it. I'm sure it's not accurate, but it's not any worse than Walmart's skewed stats on it.

Click to go to poll

City Engineer Dan York answered a question about when the road improvements would be done. He said that all the improvements will be done before the store opens, but I interpret that as they won't be finishing the roads until right before the doors of Walmart open.

The commissioners all made some points.

Commissioner Gary Brown asked about the closing of the existing store on Grape St. The answer he got was that it will close after the Wildomar store is opened and the Wildomar location is slated to open before the new Walmart that is planned for Lake Elsinore.

Commissioner Bobby Swann said he had questions... until Dan York answered them all. Also earlier in the meeting Bobby Swann asked about the Ray Johnson letter, here's a link to that part of the video.

Commissioner Stan Smith made good points about this project when he said that "Walmart didn't create the demand, they just are responding to the demand... Without commercial retail sales, Wildomar will not have the necessary funds to make needed improvements or increase public safety."

I also like Chairman Veronica Langworthy's inquiry about access to the Shell station from Walmart. Good point Veronica, I sure hope that Shell station is smart enough to play ball and think about what will bring them more customers, and not how to horse trade themselves into a corner that ends up cutting off much needed access for them after the raised median is put in on Bundy Canyon.

Below are some video links to the meeting.

First link is for the presentation of the project by City Planner Matt Bassi, and Mark Teague.

The video below is where the public comments can be seen. I edited out where Alfredo Garcia was reading out names of those that filled out speaker slips, but didn't want to speak.

The last video is where you'll see the commissioners discuss the project. Also where Dan York answers many questions about it.

================

UPDATE

================

After some discussion, of a way to get from Walmart to the Shell station in the comments below, Kenny Mayes brought it to my attention that in the plans, there is a place in the designs for such access where Sellers leads into the proposed Walmart. 

See the image below, the red circle showing the linkage between Walmart and Shell. I'm assuming the plans are correct, so I'm not sure why it was ever a topic. I'll have to ask for clarification when this comes before the city council.

•      •      • 

Nobody forces you to work at Wal-Mart. Start your own business! Sell something to Wal-Mart!
—Kevin O'Leary

Wildomar Rap is not a low price leader.

• Grove Park

Grove Park is a proposed MUPA (multiuse project) located on Clinton Keith and Yamas Drive.

The plan is to have 50,000sf of Office & Commercial/Retail (about 4.8 acres of the site). A park that is 1.8 acres, an Oak Preserve that is about 1.3 acres, on the "north site" and 162 apartments (735sf-1,281sf per unit stacked three high) on about 7 acres on the "south site".

There's is no need to get too deep into the specifics at this point. We're at a very early stage here. They will be needing to complete an EIR and it will be well after Summer before this project gets to the Planning Commission.

If you have questions or concerns about this project you can contact City Planner Matt Bassi.

Matthew Bassi Planning Director
Phone: 951-677-7751  x 213
Email: mbassi@cityofwildomar.org

You have a couple of more days to get your statements in if you want them to be part of the EIR.

There were 6 public speakers.  Speaking about things ranging from trails, max occupancy rules, roads, drainage, whether the park will be a city park or a private park, Clinton Keith widening, and when I spoke I mentioned the apartments. I was wondering if they were going to be overpriced like the ones that are currently here in town, or something affordable that the local youth might be able to afford.

Matt Bassi answered my query by saying something like, 'Most likely the prices will be set by the market. The apartments at Oak Springs Ranch has had to reduce their prices and are still only at 50% occupancy.'

I've been to Oak Springs Ranch and the apartments are nice... but they are STILL only apartments... and they are STILL in our humble little Wildomar... not Irvine.

Stay tuned... more on this as the year unfolds.

 •      •      • 

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.
—Albert Camus

Wildomar Rap is here to report what's going on in town, throw in some opinion along the way, with the occasional bit of humor, and a few barbs when appropriate.

• Pool Shark... Who Me?

Have you ever played "Scotch Doubles" in pool before? I hadn't, and I have to say it's far better than the traditional game of doubles I'd played growing up. You remember where there are two teams of two, and you alternate turns?

The difference here is that when player one of team A sinks a ball, the it's now player two's turn instead of player one running the table. It makes it where you are shooting more frequently and it also prevents a particularly good player from running the table.

Also, I like the "ball-in-hand" rule after a scratch. You don't take a ball out as a penalty and you can put the cue ball ANYWHERE on the table. Not just behind the line (aka in the kitchen).


The event was a fundraiser put on by the Wildomar Chamber of Commerce. It was held at Pins N' Pockets which is in Lake Elsinore, near the casino and across Mission Trail from Annie's restaurant.

For the entry fee, the participants were guaranteed at least two rounds of best 2 out of 3 pool competition, some pizza and soft drinks and a gift bag. The winners of the tournament got a trophy and a fleece pullover from Rincon Casino.

The inclusive times were from 10am to 3pm though many teams were out by lunch. I got there at 10am and practiced a couple of games with Gary Brown. I couldn't hit a single ball into a pocket, other than the cue ball that is. It wasn't looking good for me, even though as a young teen we had a pool table and I used to sort of know how to play.

Southpaw Gary Brown, looking down his stick at the cue ball, with his game face on, and his sunglasses in the cool position.

So the tourney got underway, I was paired with Ryan Sundholm, an APA member that knew his way around a billiards table. We lost the first match in two games. Then we lost the first game of the next round when I hit a the eight ball in while there were still about 12 balls left on the table.

It wasn't looking too good at that point, but we won the next two games, and then won all the remaining matches to get to the finals. We lost the first game with all our striped balls still on the table. Then I chunked several shots in a row and it was looking bleak. I remarked to my partner, "Looks like I'm sucking up all the luck left in the tank with those shots."

But he just smiled and said something like, "Let's just get through this game and get to the rubber match."

Pretty tall order when they only had three balls left on the table and we had five, but we got on a tear, and I even knocked the eight ball in to secure the win. The final game was a seesaw, but the other team scratched when all we had left was the eight ball, and with the ball-in-hand rule, it was a gimme that Ryan sunk with confidence.

On the left are the runners up, with the red trophies. On the right are the winners, Ryan Sundholm and Joseph Morabito.

Much thanks to the players from Riverside APA. They made it a fun outing. I didn't have a partner to start with, so they assigned me to Ryan Sundholm. Which, as it turns out, is the better way to do it. Had I gone with a friend, it would have been fun, but most likely over by lunch.

Afterwards I was told about a Tuesday night league... I think it's a league... in Canyon Lake and asked if I'd like to participate. That was nice to hear for sure, but I was playing way over my head today, so I thanked them but declined. I did tell them that I'd pass the message along. They especially are looking for female players to participate.

If you're interested in such, give Kimberly Pankonin a shout out at either her facebook page or Riverside APA's website.

 •      •      • 

The game is 90% mental. The other half is physical. 
—Yogi Berra 

We at Wildomar Rap have sunk the eight ball on the break exactly once, at 15 years of age, in the basement of a great Uncle, while on a trip to New Mexico. On that same trip, I also knocked the cue ball clear off the table and into a batch of my uncle's homemade wine... ahhh the memories.

• As The FaceBook Drama Turns

Time for another installment of Needless FaceBook Drama in li'l ol' WillyMar.

As some of you know, I write a blog called Wildomar Rap. Aren't I the master of the obvious? :)

I started writing this blog in 2013 only a few weeks after saying, "only a great fool would write a local blog..." uh oh... if the shoe fits I must be Cinderella.

For those that have seen most of my blogs you know that I recap as much of what goes on in Wildomar as I can, at least the things that I'm aware of. A lot of focus is on City Hall, City Council meetings, Planning Commission meetings, citywide events, more localized events, Parks, local businesses like DeJong's Dairy, community profiles like the one on Ashley Fox, last year's City Council elections and the like.

I would never have taken on such an endeavor had it not been for the local Wildomar FaceBook pages, and getting to know many members of our community. However, I being of the Aspergers persuasion, I tend to be too honest and see things in black and white at first blush... and by June of 2014 I chose to disengage from those sites since I have a difficult time understanding people's attempts at subtle sarcasm. Though I miss the Wildomar FaceBook pages at times, I do NOT miss the silly drama that goes on there.

Good fences make good neighbors, and FaceBook tends to remove the fences. Then we start to see more of our neighbors than we want to. Then the veneer of  new "friendships" we've made start to show wear and tear quickly.

Many people, most people, keep it in check and go with the flow, not taking any of it seriously. It's just a diversion... as it should be. Yet others make it their avocation, and end up making a mess of things for themselves and others.

Though I left those groups, my wife Grace has remained in them. She likes to post links to my blogs... and I like it that she does since it gives more people a chance to see them. All goes well when she posts the links at the various groups in question except for one called WILDOMAR FRIENDS AND COMMUNITY (WFAC).

Without getting into the minutia, I met the owner of that group back in 2013. He lives around the corner from me and I had many pleasant encounters with him. One time he had troubles at the local vet and I went down there when he put out a call for help. Another time, on a hot August night, we both made a midnight walk around Windsong with our dogs, and he pointed out to me where several infamous Wildomarians lived. A few days later I gave him a bag of homegrown grapes.

All was well until one Friday night when some FaceBook drama got underway. He was going after Martha Bridges based on something she had said at The Patch. I thought it was unfair and actually defended her, as did the assistant admin of that group Michelle Swann. Before that night was over, he'd blocked me and had quit that group.

I suggest that is the real rub of why he won't allow reference to Wildomar Rap in his group. He says this blog is controversial... ok, I'll accept that. But who is it controversial to? Those that sue the city and don't like me pointing out how detrimental they are to us all?

WFAC has more than 2600 members in his group, yet he doesn't want them to have easy access to timely news that comes in Wildomar Rap. Hey, I get that. It's his ball, and he can pick it up and take it home with him whenever he wants to. He gets to make the rules, no matter how inconsistent and slanted they become.

So that brings us to today. The thread is included below, current up till the last time my wife looked at it. After she had left it for a few moments, Sheila Urlaub, one of the two Admins at Wildomar's other main FaceBook group, had posted a comment in support of Wildomar Rap.

"...we allow it [Wildomar Rap] on wildomar group and that difference of opinion is not divisive."

In a matter of moments the entire thread was gone, and Sheila was blocked from that group.

And you wonder why I continue to eschew the local FaceBook groups?

I've never done a "Hey Like My Page" campaign. If you want to like it, so that you can be informed of things going on here, then by all means, like it. But I have never been one to go in for fake internet stats, and I don't see the point in a ton of fake likes. At this point, without ever asking for people to "like" it, it's slowly climbed to over 230 likes. Thanks to those of you that are interested.

Though I don't use the local groups myself anymore, I can suggest the two that I'm aware of, though there are probably a dozen more out there too.

First is one simply known as Wildomar that has about 1500 members, including many of the city officials (here's the link).

The second is called Wildomar Neighbors, with only about 150 members and many of those are in the first one (here's the link).

I'm sure that WFAC serves a great purpose, but I can't see the point of it since every other thread seems to get deleted once it starts to get "controversial" and any good thread ALWAYS goes that way. It's the nature of the beast.

So what was the point of this blog? Well, another of my Aspie traits is a highly tuned sense of right and wrong/fairness. When I was told that Sheila Urlaub was removed from that group because of defending this blog, after finishing rolling my eyes and shaking my head, I thought it shouldn't simply fly under the radar. She is a good and fair person that anyone would be glad to have as a friend.

"Oh no" she speaks her mind and won't back down when she's in the right or you are dodging basic questions about a subject you brought up. Such a crime these days, and especially in that group.

Without further ado...

==============================
UPDATE 2.0
==============================

Someone's image was in the screen capture and I was asked to remove it. So that I don't have to do this more than once, I pixelated all the rest of the faces and names too. This really becoming a boring topic... glad so many are so easily entertained.

==============================

UPDATE 4.0

==============================

Ok, so now I was told that the image I used was mean. I'm not in any of the threads, but was told that by using a very famous, and easy to find image of a kid making a silly face, I was defaming people with Down's Syndrome. The lengths people will go to try and make a point. People, that is flat out silly, but I'm not here to throw gas on the embers. I've now switched the image to a very banal drawing of a girl. Let's hope that's the end of it.

Next my wife will be wanting to be blurred, pixelated or changed to one of the Disney Princesses I'll bet.

This came after several links to blogs had been deleted over the past week plus. Topics like Baxter Village, the recent Greenwaste Cleanup event, and an update about Walmart. As you can see from those that posted, they didn't want to have the links censored. They wanted to decide for themselves if the content was too controversial or not.

I'm sure that my wife will get tossed out of that group after this blog gets uploaded. C'est la vie.

===================================

UPDATES 1.0

===================================

It's just been learned that Sheila Urlaub wasn't permanently banned, just givin a three day "time out".

But, as expected, Grace Morabito was banned from his group... and also personally blocked by him. Atta boy Mr. 44 year old, way to show her, and I bet that'll keep any of the rest of your flock at WFAC from daring to talk back to you too.

===================================

UPDATES 3.0

===================================

I've grown tired of this topic and now the comments are going to moderation, which means that most likely they'll never see the light of day so save it. Also, Because I've had people tell me what a bad guy I am... I'll post a screenshot I had a year ago to show that my blogs WERE permissible, and that there was a friendship, of sorts, between WR and WFAC.

You'll notice that the first of WR blogs that were posted to WFAC were NOT posted by me, and a de facto invite to post more was established.

You'll see that I was in the group, for about a week, before I had to hit the eject button. I remember what it was about... a friend of mine was having his very good name dragged through the mud by none other than the founder of WFAC... again, without cause or justification.

 •      •      • 

Conflict is drama, and how people deal with conflict shows you the kind of people they are. 
- Stephen Moyer

Microwave popcorn is never served by Wildomar Rap. It's either in a pan on the stove the way it's supposed to be, or we go without. Same goes for that air pop stuff too.