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ESCONDIDO, SAN MARCOS, VISTA
VOL. 7, N0. 7
APRIL 1, 2022
VUSD takes deep dive on school bond
49th hopefuls spar over ballot designation By Stephen Wyer
REGION — 49th Congressional District candidate Brian Maryott has officially changed his ballot designation after a complaint filed by Republican primary challenger Supervisor Lisa Bartlett alleged the former San Juan Capistrano mayor misled voters about his professional employment status. Per documents published online by the California Secretary of State’s Office, Maryott changed his job title from “Certified Financial Planner” to “Businessman/Nonprofit Executive” for the June primary ballot. Maryott and Bartlett are vying to challenge incumbent Rep. Mike Levin (D-San Juan Capistrano) to represent the 49th District, which includes Vista, in Congress. In a statement issued Monday, Bartlett claimed state officials had forced Maryott to change his ballot designation as a result of a complaint her campaign had filed last week. “The decision by the Secretary of State to force Brian Maryott to change his ballot designation only further confirms what we already knew – Maryott is deliberately misleading voters and pretending to be someone he’s not,” Bartlett said in a statement. However, Maryott’s campaign strongly denied Bartlett’s allegations and said he voluntarily made the change as a result of issues unrelated to the complaint. “We recently and pro-actively amended our ballot title with the Secretary of State’s office, making a change unrelated to any threats from desperate candidates,” said Megan House, Maryott’s campaign manager, in a statement. “The CFP Board of Standards does not allow Certified Financial Planner professionals to advertise our credentials without the trademark, and the SecreTURN TO 49TH ON A7
By Jacqueline Covey
an additional 290 acres for cut eucalyptus production, which brings its total acreage to about 700 acres. (This is in sharp contrast to the average farm size of 4 acres in San Diego county, nearly 350 for the state and 440 nationwide.) “[We] continue to survive through innovation, diversity and a stubborn commitment to the principles of sustainability and hard work,” said Craig Kolodge, SPVS manager of business development and sustainability. The Frank Konyn Dairy is approaching business and stewardship a little differently. Typical soil in the area contains less than 1% organic matter. Organic matter is a major indicator in soil health. This small percentage of microbial livestock is
VISTA — Parents of one elementary school in the Vista Unified School District showed out for the first workshop in its bond reprioritization process. In a special VUSD Board of Education meeting last week, members began breaking down the needs and priorities of its Measure LL Facilities Bond. “Recently, like every school district, we have experienced dramatic cost associated with building,” Superintendent Matt Doyle said. “As a result of that, we need to revisit the list of projects and have conversations with the board about what we can fiscally accomplish given the fact that there is significant cost escalation.” Prior to the Wednesday, March 23, meeting, the board had already begun reconsidering its project list. One such move impacted the $17.2 million project to replace the portable classrooms at Beaumont Elementary School. Although knowing there would be backlash from the community, the board voted in February to pause the project citing multiple complexities with the site’s facilities and scope of the project. This decision, followed by other bond project amendments, helped lead the board to reconsider its facilities bond entirely. During the first of three hearings, four parents of students at Beaumont Elementary spoke out against the pause and called on the board to show up for their children. “I don’t even know why we are saying pause,” said one parent, Adriana Diaz, adding that, “It’s not okay that we’re telling our children that that is the kind of school you go to because of your socioeconomic status.” “We’re not telling them,” she said. “They
TURN TO DAIRY ON A8
TURN TO VUSD ON A5
CHOW NOW, BROWN COW: One of the hundreds of cows at Konyn Dairy Farms in the San Pasqual Valley of Escondido, which practices regenerative agriculture to build soil health that ultimately helps feed the herd. Photos by Jacqueline Covey
County’s last dairy farm Konyn Dairy Farms in Escondido stays afloat on milk, manure By Jacqueline Covey
ESCONDIDO — The last dairy farm in San Diego County nourishes its underground livestock just as much as its happy cows and heifers above. Where there were once more than 100 dairy operations in San Diego County, two remain on record, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. However, The Coast News confirmed that T D Dairy in Ramona is in the process of selling its herd — leaving the hundreds of cows at Frank Konyn Dairy as the last of their kind in the area. T D will continue to survive, though in other ways, showcasing an ability to pivot and adapt that is naturally grown in the farmers of San Diego County. In 1962, Holland-born Frank Konyn Sr. estab-
COW MANURE helped create a unique composting business, San Pasqual Valley Soils, that has become an integral part of the survival of Konyn Dairy Farms.
lished a dairy in the San Pasqual Valley of Escondido on 250 acres leased in an agricultural preserve through the City of San Diego. Now, decades later the Frank Konyn Dairy is long-standing, self-sustaining, and the last dairy
farm. It is one branch, along with Konyn Dairy Farms, San Pasqual Valley Soils (SPVS), under Frank Konyn Dairy Inc house. Since 1962, the farm plus dairy operation now consists of 300 acres of irrigated and dry-farmed forage. Recently it leased