Anza Events Calendar, A-2
AVCS presents its rendition of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’, A-7
Woman who lost 109 pounds shares her experience, B-8
ANZA VALLEY
OUTLOOK
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WITH CONTENT FROM
January 9 – 15, 2015
www.anzavalleyoutlook.com
Local
Riverside County’s new assessor-county clerk-recorder takes office
Section Volume 15, Issue 2
Southwest Riverside sees ice and snow in recording-setting winter storm
Peter Aldana, Riverside County’s newly elected assessor-county clerk-recorder, took office earlier than anticipated on Saturday, Dec. 27. see page A-3
Local
California State Parks 2015 Annual Pass Program brings back favorites old and new It’s not common to see snow sweep down into the valley like this.
In January 2015, the Department of California State Parks Annual Park Pass Program is bringing back the popular “Golden Poppy” Pass and introducing the new Tahoe Area Regional Pass. see page A-8
Jodi Thomas AVO Area Manager The past week in Anza has given the phrase ‘Cold as Ice’ new meaning. It has been a long time since it has been this cold in the valley at night and in the day as well.
For the first time in a long time, it snowed all the way down into Temecula and even Lake Elsinore, making the snow storm of Dec. 30, 2014, one for the record books. All across the southland, even in SoCal beach cities, the night time temps have dipped down to freez-
Michelle Hunt photo
ing. The talk around town is that the morning after the snow, Dec. 31, it was 6 degrees outside. The temperatures more recently have been between 16 and 21 degrees in the morning, depending on where in Anza Valley a person lives.
Home & Garden
Jojoba Hills – ‘Keeping the Dream Alive’
Damage control in the winter garden
Jodi Thomas AVO Area Manager
Linda McDonald-Cash Landscape Designer Hello, fellow gardeners! We really got to experience Mother Nature in action last week didn’t, we? Depending on what you have growing in your garden, you may have sustained some damage, so what I’d like to talk about this week is how to minimize that for the rest of the winter and also how to possibly “salvage” the plants that did sustain damage.
Anza Valley Outlook
see page B-1
The local Hardware Store in Anza has been inundated with those needing to fix frozen and busted pipes. There are even reports of wells freezing in well houses overnight, leaving residents
see SNOW, page A-4
Part two of the Anza Valley Outlook’s chat with park founders The Jojoba Hills saga is an example of an exemplary group of volunteers, most of whom are now in their 80s and 90s. They were part of a generation that would not take “no,” as the final answer. Instead, they worked together with one local contractor, Michael Machado, at the helm to find a way to create what now is heralded as one of the premier SoCal Co-op RV Parks in California, if not the Nation. Jojoba Hills is well known for its community, amenities, design and livability. This RV Park was cut out of what was deemed an impossible task, due to the area’s steep and sandy topography. What resulted was an unusual one of a kind storm water runoff design that has handled what nature has thrown at it, keeping the parks soil and storm water runoff on the premises for two decades. The system was design by Machado’s team and is considered an engineering wonder. As Machado tells it, many young engineers come to visit Jojoba Hills to this day to learn about Jojoba’s
Pictured is one of six ponds in the storm water runoff system.
amazing Storm Water Runoff Containment system. The ‘Founders Chat’ continues as their stories are shared. Before Jojoba Hills, the group purchased a different piece of property
When stories unfold often they unfold out of order and that is how I first learned about the original property that the Escapee (SKP for short) RV Club’s Chapter 13 group purchased on Sage road. I was told that no matter how much they courted the neighbors who
Jodi Thomas photo
lived around the sage property, the neighbors would not give their permission for an RV park to be built there. It was sold and that is when they purchased the defunct RV Park that became Jojoba Hills.
see JOJOBA, page A-6
Valley Gospel Chapel children put on rendition of ‘The Grinch Who Stole Christmas’ Jodi Thomas AVO Area Manager Valley Gospel Chapel (VGC) was overflowing with friends and family who came to watch the children put on their rendition of “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” in December. The children’s director and helpers transformed the children and the church stage into Wholand, a place where a grumpy, faithless, green and hairy Grinch goes to steal the Who’s Christmas. He is jealous of what the Who’s have: Cozy homes, family, joy and faith. He desperately wants to destroy what he thinks is most The VGC Children Church Players.
Jodi Thomas photo
see GRINCH, page A-5