• Ballot Collection Center

The 2016 primary election is over, but did you ever wonder what happens to the ballots after they leave the polling place? 

Yeah, me neither... but I'm going to tell you anyway. 

At least about the way station between the polls and their final resting place.

Joseph Morabito with his Junior G-Man badge.

There was a call put out for workers at the collection center (the library) on election night. 

It came with a $50 stipend (as they called it) plus a handy-dandy commemorative pin... which to me was more like a temporary badge in the service of Uncle Sam.

In total, there were 8 people: 5 raw recruits, 2 leaders and 1 lieutenant (or, that's how I saw them/us).

Among my fellow grunts there were Cami, Chris, and three teen boys, the tallest being from the Melissa Melendez family.

Had to love being photo bombed by one of the lads.

We got to the staging area, Wildomar Library, at the appointed time → 19:45 (or in civilian lingo → 7:45pm).

We signed some paperwork, including W-9 forms (gotta report that windfall of fifty bucks you know), put on ID cards, affixed our badges... errrr, I mean our pins, took an oath, set up some traffic cones and caution tape, and then waited around for a little more than an hour for the first of 28 precincts to drop off their bounty.

There were various assignments 

We had two workers that stayed behind a table in the foyer of the library. Once the first red bag and ballot carton were logged in, no one was to venture past that table but them. Not even to powder one's nose.

The most valuable items being dropped off were the voted ballot carton(s) and corresponding red transport bag. Those had to be documented, made sure that the seals were not broken, and stowed to the side until eight precincts had checked in. 

From there, the precious cargo, from the eight precincts, would then be taken to a RSO squad car, cataloged and re-cataloged again (can never be too thorough), and then driven to their next destination. 

Mind you, these ballots had already been counted, but needed to be preserved in the case of a recount.

Other Jobs included, traffic control, logging (not 'trees'  —data), lugging, loading, and stacking. 

In addition to the ballots, things that were offloaded at the site included printers (which I couldn't figure out their purpose at the polls), and boxes of unused or damaged ballots. 

There were anywhere from 6 to 10 of these [sometimes] heavy boxes, per vehicle, that needed to be put into a U-Haul.

After the first few cars trickled in, the pace picked up and the work went quickly. Once there were four cars looking to drop off their election materials at the same time.

Just as predicted by the leaders of our group, several people had forgotten their printers and had to go back to get them. 

Imagine the looks on their faces, after already having put in a full day, thinking they were a few moments from an easy chair, just to have to go back to a closed building to retrieve said items. 

At a little after 11:00pm the last car came in. We quickly broke down our work area and bid each other adieu.

In 6 to 8 weeks it'll be Cha-Ching... payday!

It was good to see up close how we Americans take our elections seriously, and many painstaking efforts are put into place to insure fair results. 

From the people working the polls, dropping off the items or receiving them, it was obvious that they (we) were all proud to be doing their civic duty.

If you're interested in such work, drop an email to Stephen Perrotte.

Sperrott@co.riverside.ca.us

•        •        •

One added bonus to volunteering for this job was all the additional walking I did. Usually the evening hours have me logging TV time, not steps. 

My fitbit mates must have wondered how I amassed 23,000 steps in one day, with more than 10,000 of those coming after 7:30pm.

If doing laps around the parking lot during downtime is cheating, then I'm busted. 

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“A blind man knows he cannot see, and is glad to be led, though it be by a dog; but he that is blind in his understanding, which is the worst blindness of all, believes he sees as the best, and scorns a guide.” 

— Samuel Butler, 1835-1902

Wildomar Rap is neither guide nor dog, though some may beg to differ over the latter.

• Community Profile: Gracepoint Church 5&2 Program

I always love to share the good deeds of others. Today's Community Profile is about the Five and Two program at Gracepoint Church, also known as Wildomar Gracepoint Church of the Nazarene.

The HOPE truck being offloaded at Gracepoint Church.

I spoke with Pastor Wink Davis and Ministry Director Gay St. Yves, about the program that assists the needy with food and clothing.

Every second and fourth Saturday of the month they team up with HOPE to feed those in need. They get between 20 and 50 volunteers to help with the food distribution.

The food comes from a variety of sources

The "fresh rescue" portion comes from HOPE, as seen in the image below with boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables being offloaded. 

Eager hands help get the food ready for distribution.

If HOPE's supply is low, they dip into the church's pantry. 

They've also gotten food from various retailers like Albertson's, Vons, Trader Joe's, Costco and Panera Bread. The Mormon church has given them money to purchase goods from their store in the past. 

I asked how the community can participate by donating time or food. 

Gay told me, "We've had several people just show up with food that they've bought, and they come and tell us they want to donate, and we make sure that food goes out that day."

Gay continued, "They can also donate [by] giving to HOPE, that also helps us out. We're working on our own 501c3 so that we can become our own entity and then they would be able to donate directly to us."

Fruits and veggies before they are put into smaller bundles.

"If people want to volunteer their time all they have to do is show up on the second and fourth Saturday, and we will put them to work." 

You don't have to be a member of their church to volunteer. You don't have to be a member of any church for that matter... and it's also a great way for high-schoolers to get their community service hours in.

Gay went on, "A lot of the people that are working today, are people that also get boxes [of food]. So they've seen us working and they ask, "can we help?""

If you'd like to donate, either time, money or food, you can also make arrangements ahead of time. That would be done through the church. 

They have a dedicated Facebook page for the 5&2 program, and for those that don't do Facebook, you can reach them at info@gracept.org. 

Link to 5&2 facebook page

A look at the lineup of boxes ready to go to needy people.

I learned that they also accept clothing donations.

Instead of dropping of your old clothes in one of those metal bins, operated by out-of-towners, consider donating your old clothes to a local charity instead.

They prefer that you would drop them off during business hours, which are Monday thru Friday (closed Thursday) 9:00am to 4:00pm-ish. If those hours don't work for you, just contact them and I'm sure they'd be happy to work with you.

Two different donation boxes, within 100 feet of each other in the Stater Bros parking lot, that are operated by people far out of town. 

☺

Contact info

• Address: 21400 Canyon Dr, Wildomar, CA 92595
• Phone:(951) 674-4481
• info@gracept.org

Link to Church Facebook Page

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A little rule, a little sway, 

A sunbeam in a winter's day, 

Is all the proud and mighty have. 

Between the cradle and the grave.

— John Dyer, 1699–1757

Wildomar Rap walks the walk and has a fitbit to prove every step.

• Health and Fitness Fair/ALS-ONE 5K Recap

Despite promises of high temps, the inaugural Wildomar ALS-ONE 5K was a huge success... as it wrapped up before the real heat came around.

A look at the crowd at about 7:45am.

Check in time was to start at 7:30am, and I thought I'd be the early bird, getting there ten minutes before that, just to find that the parking lot was already more than half full, and the line (even for preregistered participants) was more than twenty minutes deep.

There were about 200 registered runners for this event. 

There was a DJ, about 20 display booths, bounce houses, face painting, a Strong Board demonstration and a Kettle Bell demonstration.

It was a great day, and I'm already looking forward to the 2nd annual Wildomar ALS-ONE 5k.

Below are some images caught by intrepid Wildomar Rap photographer, Grace Morabito.

Start of the race.

Assistant City Manager, Dan York (in red shirt), cheering on Mayor Bridgette Moore (waving).

Top female finisher, 4th overall, Avina Avielle just eight years old from Wildomar with a 21:29 time.

Top three male finishers. First place is on the right, second is in the middle and third is on the left.

A photo of  team Team Kellster, named for John Kelly with ALS.

Erin Hartley's uncle, John Kelly, her inspiration for the 5K.

To get more background on the 5K, and a map of the course that was run, please read the blog about it at this link: 

THIS LINK

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The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself – the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us – that’s where it’s at.

— Jesse Owens, 1913-1980

Wildomar Rap would never bronze a gold medal.

• Planning Commission Meeting June 2016

Only one real bit of business on the agenda for the June 1st planning commission meeting. Baxter Village, which at one time was known as Baxter Crossing (under a previous developer). 

In brief, The project, as it is currently configured, is comprised of 70,000sf of commercial retail. With four sit down restaurants included in the mix. The northwest portion has 66 single family homes and on the northeast part of the project will be 204 apartments that go up to three stories. 

To know more of the specifics of Baxter Village, check out the January 2015 blog about it at the following link. (click the image)

link to previous blog... just click it.

The Project still has many hurdles to go and years before anyone will be calling that area home, or going to one of the proposed eateries. 

However, there is a hot button topic tied to this project.

The Brown House

If you've ever traveled west on Baxter from the freeway, you know it as the old haunted house that sits behind chain link fencing in a field near some eucalyptus trees.

The Brown House has been sitting in this location for ten years.

First and foremost you need to know that this is NOT a city issue. It's between the Wildomar Historical Society and Strata Equity Group (owners of the land).

When the house was originally moved, it was slated to be in a development known as Baxter Crossing, but the recession hit and the land has changed hands since then.

Link to a July 2015 blog about the Brown House

During the planning commission meeting this subject took up the largest chunk of time. It was mentioned in the staff report, Strata's presentation, the public comments and discussed by the commissioners.

I've uploaded several videos with complete comments (links are below), and will cherry pick out for print, the parts that made my ears perk up. 

First up is a snippet from planning director Matt Bassi and planning manager Mark Teague.

This project is in no way proposing to demolish the Brown House or do anything with it. It's not really part of the project description, although it's on the site so we did want to address it.

—Planning Director, Matt Bassi

We evaluated [the Brown house] against the thresholds in the CEQA guidelines for historic structures, and it seems pretty clear that... it didn't rise to the level of significance for CEQA.

—Planning Manager, Mark Teague

Public Comments came next

Ken Mayes was first to speak.

This flawed report shows that this house has no proven historical significance, along with it being owned by a disorganization that has no means to restore it. It needs to go the way of the Wildomar Hotel; dismantled, packed on a train, and shipped elsewhere.

Kristan Lloyd got borrowed time from three people, for a total of 12 minutes. She presented a slide show and I caught most of it with the video camera.

I'm not going to transcribe her time at the podium, that's what the video link is for, but I do have a couple of pull quotes. One being a nice thought, but a bit out from left field in my eyes.

It's right in the middle of the project. It is a gathering place where local artisans can come, people can come and learn about Wildomar. It can also be used as a community space. 

  —Kristan Lloyd

It's also a place for people to gather on a front porch. We could have evening events there where we could listen to old radio programs and share the history [of the house].    

—Kristan Lloyd

I have a question here. How big is this spot in the Baxter Village project going to be? 

It doesn't look big enough for "events" that very many people could attend. 

As far as the "old radio programs" go, I love listening to those programs. My Wi-Fi radio has two presets to stations dedicated to such things, but I'm a bit of an oddball when it comes to such things. I've met very few people under 50 that even know what they are, much less actually have heard any.

The idea got my imagination into gear, so I made a video of what that might look like in the future. I'm sure that no one will take a lighthearted video the wrong way... right?

With that bit of fun out of the way, please watch the video below to get the full scope of what the Wildomar Historical Society has in mind.

Vice Chair Stan Smith made some very interesting comments about the house. Considering that he actually knew David A. Brown (Dave to him), I think his words should be given serious consideration.

What you might consider in this little plaza, in this center, perhaps build a skeleton of the water tower. use some of the wood from the  existing water tower, some of the wood from the house and you can build a replica of the water tower and it won't be expensive. Don't spend hundreds of thousands of dollars restoring a house that has no significance.
   

—Vice Chair Stan Smith

Last of the videos is Commissioner John Lloyd, husband of Kristan Lloyd. 

The actual main building, that was first built back in 1886, is a solid structure. It would need to have a lot of work done on it, there's no doubt. The interior would have to be completely refurbished.

At first I was not at all impressed with the house just from driving by, but when you actually get inside and look around, it's solid, it's a good solid structure that could be refurbished. Where the funds come for that —I have no idea.
 

—Commissioner John Lloyd

Brown House Commentary

I like the idea of a Wildomar Heritage Museum/Visitors Center, especially at the proposed location. I just don't know how practical it is to try and restore an old building, especially one that has not had proper upkeep for the last 10+ years, attempting to bring it up to all the modern codes when building a replica would be a much easier way to go, and probably cheaper too.

Nothing can happen without money, and the Brown House would take serious money to make look good enough to be the centerpiece of a new development. 

This is one of those moments where you either deliver or walk off the stage. A conservative estimate to make this building worthy of being a centerpiece in Baxter Village is one million dollars, though I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be far more than that in the end. 

If, by some miracle, it turned out to be less. The donated monies could be returned or used as future maintenance funds for the Wildomar Historical Society.

If at least the lion's share of that sum can't be amassed within a reasonable time frame, say 18 months, then it would only be fair to pare back the plans, or scuttle them altogether.

•        •        • 

Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.

— Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013

Wildomar Rap and Molly would have been a great old time radio program, as would have been The Great Wildomar-Rappersleeves.

• EVMWD Rate News

Drought Surcharges Could Come Off Starting June 1, 2016

The EVMWD board will consider removing surcharges at the next board meeting June 9th, 4pm.

Last week I heard some rumblings regarding the drought surcharges that we've been paying since last year, about to be removed from our bills. 

So I asked the elected water official in my area, George Cambero, about it. He asked if I'd like to sit in on their next meeting where it was going to be discussed. 

The meeting lasted about 90 mins, and after it was over I asked Director of Legislative and Community Affair, Greg Morrison, to answer some questions about some of the things I heard.

 WR  Can you give me some background on why the drought surcharge was necessary in the first place?

 GM  If the board approves staff's recommendation next Thursday, June 9th, surcharges will be removed. The reason for the surcharges was to recover revenue lost because of less water use. We have a twenty-five year plan. We were going down that twenty-five year plan/road and the governor said, "No, you're going to take a hard right turn and reduce your use."

 WR  Why would that matter to the average rate paying Wildomartini?

 GM  We have issued dept, we have built projects,  et cetera, that have payments on them, based on a certain amount of revenues. When the governor said, in essence, you're going to reduce that by 25%, in our case 28%, as far as water use is concerned, we needed to maintain that revenue stream. The surcharge was to help maintain that. 

 WR  What does the removal of the drought surcharge mean, and NOT mean, to rate payers?

 GM  The drought surcharge was applied to every tier. Even our customers that are staying within their water budget; tier one and two. They were still getting penalized with that surcharge. That's being removed. It's a literal monetary savings.

 WR  How about the "What does it NOT mean?" part?

 GM  That was my point [during the board meeting], we're loosening the belt, so you can go back to some semblance of normal, but don't go hog wild. You shouldn't ever water down your driveway, you should always wash your car with an automatic shutoff [nozzle]. It's basic common sense. 

 WR  When does this go into effect?

 GM  Once the board votes on it, it'll be in effect June 1st. Customers won't see it until July 1st on their bill.

 WR  How about Drought Penalties?

 GM  Those are on people that still waste water above their water budget.  We have four tiers. One and two are your water budget, three and four are those that go outside their water budget.  

There still is a drought emergency declared by the governor, we have the ability to assign an additional dollar amount on top of that for tiers three and four.

 WR  When might the drought stage 3a drop?

 GM  (after a bit of hesitation) I'd need a crystal ball for that one. The governor said, "The drought has waned," but he also said, "the drought's not over," and Southern California did not get the rain that Northern California did. That's why he (Gov Brown) was very cautious in his announcement.

There are still restrictions on water use, just not as severe and now without the drought surcharges. Be looking for more information in your next bill.

A bit of welcomed news for homeowners in the Woodmoor area 

 WR  During the meeting, the Wildomar area called Woodmoor was mentioned, can you tell me about it?

 GM  It's a CFD and we had the ability to refinance it at a lower interest rate. Each property owner will see that savings on their property tax bill.

At this point Bob Hartwig, Assistant General Manager of Administrative Services, got the precise figures for me.

A savings of $388 per year per parcel.

•        •        •

Don't blame the mirror if you don't like the look on your face.

— Nikolai Gogol, 1809-1852

Wildomar Rap has been CFD free since its inception.

• Memorial Day 2016

A beautiful morning in Wildomar, with blue skies and perfect temps for the 2016 Memorial Day event. There were several hundred people in attendance.

A look at various flags representing the different branches of the military positioned well behind the stage.

It started with the flag raising as a bugler played, then the pledge of allegiance, an invocation, followed by an orchestral version of The Star Spangled Banner.

The Pledge of Allegiance led by Baptist Boys Battalion.

Next was a recitation of the exploits of General John Brown from the Civil War (interesting fellow - though he fought for the wrong side), followed with singing by a men's choir.

Men's Choir singing with a Fallen Soldier Battle Cross in front of the stage.

We heard a moving story by Tim Nichols entitled An Apology To World War II Veterans, about a young, mid-1970s soldier on leave in Vienna. An old man  approaching him, and calling him "noble" for the acts of American Soldiers during WWII.

(click this link to read the story)

I've been to this event twice now, and my favorite part is where the living veterans come to the front, many with great difficulty, and then tell a little about themselves.

In response to "How many enlisted before you got married?"

One man, Dave Lower, entered the  US Army Air Corps in February of 1942 (you can see him in the short video below). 

It was an inspiring day, and one where sunglasses came in handy... not so much to shield the eyes from the sun, but to keep others from seeing a person's watery eyes. 

If you were in attendance, and have a heartbeat, you were moved too.

There was a bit of audience participation, and one question was asked, "Do we have a wife that had a child while your husband was deployed overseas?"

Only one hand went up, and the woman's daughter had been born in November of 1947, which is just a few months after my mother —and a two weeks after my father, were born. Those kinds of things really bring it close to home.

Below is a video of a girl's choir singing "The Price of Freedom".

Mayor Pro-Tem Tim Walker and Mayor Bridgette Moore were in attendance and acknowledged from the podium. It was nice to see Tim out there, he's still on the DL as he heals from a recent surgery.

Mayor Pro-Tem Tim Walker and Mayor Bridgette Moore.

I happened to be sitting in the front row when a vet came up and was looking for a seat. I invited him to sit next to me and we chatted a bit. 

He was wearing a hat and shirt that indicated that he was a Vietnam Vet, though he jokingly told me he had fought in the Civil War, and he'd recently been hobbled by a surgery, but he still attended the ceremony. 

I didn't get his last name, but his name is Chris, and if I didn't properly thank him for his service, I'd like to do that now. ☺

Chris as he was telling the crowd about his service.

•        •        •

We do not what we ought,
What we ought not, we do,
And lean upon the thought
That Chance will bring us through.

— Empedocles, 490BC-430BC

Wildomar Rap wants to thank those that have defended the USA throughout our history, be they volunteers or conscripts.