RAINBOW OAKS POSTAL CENTER SHOWCASES KIDS' ART

The ROPC will be featuring a cute Bulletin board on one of their walls to showcase art from local students at Vallecitos School with hope that the community and parents will come and see how special and talented the students are and drop in to see what ROPC has to offer the community.

When we get our first group of art up it wiil be showcased for about 2 weeks and then be returned to the students along with a Certificate of Excellence . We also hope to get the teacher and classes photographed holding their certificates.  We will be starting with Kinder and working our way up.

Rainbow Postal Oaks Center:

Hours:9:00am to 6:00pm Mon thu Fri.

Sat 9:am to 2:00. 

• Packing and shipping
• Shipping supplies for sale
• If you want to do your own  packing we have all the supplies for sale. 
• We ship USPS, Fed Ex ground and Express.
• One pickup a day around 2:00 for USPS
• Laminating
• Notary service
• Copy services
• Fax service
• Mailboxes
• Internet rental. 

We do plan to add key services, color copies and much more in the future.

Deanna and Allen

If you have any questions you can reach us at (760) 731-6245  Fax (760)731-6246

A Sincere Thank You From Jerri to the Community

Thank you Jonnie, for your kind words.  It has been an emotionally exhausting

day, and a "thrilling" day as well....as all the supporters who were there today

will tell you. If I misspelled anyone's name, please help. If I left out anyone,

please add. I feel like I am "rambling" below....so many deserve recognition.

 

WE   WON !!

First, the Riverside Supervisor's meeting today.....where the final

vote was taken. I felt that we were on the "edge of our seats the

entire time the supervisors were discussing and debating the issues.

Aside from Supervisor Bob Buster, I couldn't get a "feel" for where

the others stood (except for Supervisor Benoit, who obviously loved

Granite.) Supervisor Buster made a point, several times, of bringing

up Rainbow as a community with "no help from the San Diego

County Supervisors, and "Who will protect Rainbow?" This is due, I

am positive, to the efforts of several members of the Rainbow

Planning Group who spoke at several of the meetings.

Supervisor Jeff Stone launched into a lengthy talk about all aspects

of the quarry which turned out to be a wonderful legacy to the many

opponents and ended with an emotional statement of why he was

voting "NO" on the project.  Benoit bored us with reasons the quarry

was necessary (straight out of Granite's "handbook") and voted "YES"

Supervisor Buster was a consistent, emotional "NO" as we expected.

Supervisor Ashley (I have forgotten his reasons now) voted "YES".

By the time it was Supervisor John Tavaglione's turn, I think everyone

was somewhere between scared and having a "meltdown" (At least,

I was.) The media was all over the place with their cameras, especially

in Gary Johnson's face (he sat immediately in front of me.)

After starting out his talk as if he were for the project, all of the

sudden Supervisor Tavaglione began talking about the reasons he

couldn't approve the quarry.  They took the vote. It was 3 to 2 against

the quarry and the crowd went CRAZY! People were all over the place;

hugging, crying, talking, congratulating, HAPPY! a media frenzy!

 

To Rainbow, and Fallbrook:

 

For all of you who either drove or carpooled to Riverside today, you

ALL made a difference. You made a difference at the first 3

Supervisor's meetings and you were the reason the Riverside Planning

Commissioners voted 4-1 to oppose the quarry.

Over the last 7 years, so many people in our communities have helped

in one way or the other:

The members of RCPG, RPOA, Bill Harding with the newsletter, Jonnie

Fox with her incredible Blog, "Rainbow Against the quarry", "Save Our

Southwest Hills", Duke and Jonell with the support of the "Rainbow

Oaks".

Remember when this all started over 6 years ago and we held several

passionate meetings at the Grange that brought hundreds of residents

out? Guess we "roasted" Granite.

There were a couple of meetings at FPUD as well.

You have put on your "orange" and gone to the "Living Signs, "Walkin'

Rallies", the "Run For the Hills", attended meetings all over both

counties, written letters, signed petitions, passed out fliers and put out

signs, and on and on and on......

Everyone deserves a piece of the "credit" for stopping this quarry.

 

It's over...now Pechanga can work on getting AB742 through the

legislature and protect this mountain forever.

 

FEBRUARY 16, 2012

 

Supervisors vote 3-2 against Liberty Quarry

RIVERSIDE - Riverside County supervisors today denied permits for a proposed 414-acre mine near Temecula that opponents argued would damage the environment and increase health risks, while proponents touted its job- creating potential and tax benefits.Board of Supervisors Chairman John Tavaglione cast the decisive vote in the 3-2 decision that followed three days of public testimony and nearly four hours of deliberations by the board concerning the Liberty Quarry.
"Based on the testimony, this project has too many uncertainties," Tavaglione said. "I cannot support this project."
Raucous cheers followed the supervisors' action, with several mine opponents loudly exclaiming "Thank you!"
Permits for the controversial quarry were denied by the county planning commission in a 4-1 vote last September. Commissioners cited concerns about elevated levels of silica dust and other pollutants, the permanent impact on area aesthetics, including nighttime lights, and the adverse effects on area wildlife as reasons for their opposition.
Watsonville-based Granite Construction, the quarry operator, appealed the planning commission's decision, leading to the board hearings.
Supervisor Jeff Stone, whose district encompasses the project zone, echoed the same worries expressed by commissioners in urging his colleagues today to reject the strip mine.
"All the planning commissioners struggled with competing interests," he said. "This is a tough decision, a tough vote ... But this project is incompatible (with the area)."
Supervisor Bob Buster joined Stone and Tavaglione in opposition, while Supervisors Marion Ashley and John Benoit voted in favor of the project.
Homeowner and environmental groups, along with all area Indian tribes, opposed it. Supporters included eight chambers of commerce within the county, along with officials from cities throughout the central and eastern county regions.
"I'm most swayed by our experience with strip mines in the Coachella Valley," Benoit said. "There's one visible from my neighborhood (in Bermuda Dunes) ... Never have I experienced or heard any complaints about air quality or noise from that quarry."
The former highway patrolman argued that having a mine in the southwest pocket of the county would significantly cut down on the volume of heavy, polluting gravel trucks crisscrossing the region to make deliveries.
During his presentation to the board on Tuesday, Granite's resources manager, Gary Johnson, said the mine plan had been "changed and improved" over the last seven years to satisfy most concerns.
"The county will be better off with, than without, this project," Johnson said, reiterating findings of the planning commission staff, as well as state and federal regulators, who concluded the quarry would be acceptable, provided certain mitigating measures were put in place.
Granite was seeking a 75-year operating window, during which it planned to remove five million of tons of construction-grade aggregate -- rock converted to asphalt, gravel and sand -- annually from escarpments just north of the boundary separating Riverside and San Diego counties, east of the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve and south of Temecula, adjacent to Interstate 15 and Rainbow Valley Boulevard.
"There are lots of uses for this property short of a mega-quarry," Buster said. "This county has a responsibility not to interfere with property rights, but also to scale and size projects appropriately. I don't see the need for a quarry this size, primarily designed to serve a distant marketplace in mid-San Diego County."
Stone called the environmental impact report that assessed the effects of the pit "incorrect," pointing to a "flawed" traffic mitigation analysis that's now more than five years old.
He said Granite's use of physicians with no connection to the immediate area to endorse the Liberty Quarry was suspect. One health expert was an epidemiologist from Canada.
More than 160 physicians voiced opposition to the project, joining others who expressed air quality concerns from blasting at the site and gravel trucks coming and going 24 hours a day, according to Stone.
The supervisor said wildlife would suffer from the constant stream of noise, and biology experiments conducted in the nearby preserve would be disrupted.
"The bottom line is, Riverside County has plenty of aggregate countywide (without this mine). San Diego County has plenty of aggregate countywide," Stone said.
He encouraged fellow supervisors to respect the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians' view of the quarry location as "sacred."
"This development would cut through the soul of our native American friends. That we would take away their most treasured site is unconscionable," Stone said.
According to Inland Empire economist John Husing, one of Granite's experts, the Liberty Quarry would have generated around $2.2 million in annual tax receipts for local governments, including the county, create more than 900 construction jobs in its first phase and thereafter support nearly 100 direct jobs.
Union interests backed the project for its potential to create blue- collar work in a county suffering what Husing described as a "construction industry depression."
But Stone noted that, thanks to the tribe's casino, the Pechanga employ close to 4,000 people locally.
Buster added that the prospective employment gains from the mine were nominal and that Granite was interested mainly in "market reach" for its product, not "increasing jobs."
"You hear a lot of claims and arguments made for big projects. You look back 10 years later, and it was all hogwash. You didn't need it. Everything is changed by the future," Buster said.

---

RIVERSIDE - Riverside County supervisors today denied permits for a proposed mine near Temecula that opponents argued would damage the environment and increase health risks, while proponents touted its job- creating potential and tax benefits.
Board of Supervisors Chairman John Tavaglione cast the decisive vote in the 3-2 decision that followed three days of public testimony and nearly four hours of deliberations by the board.
"Based on the testimony, this project has too many uncertainties," Tavaglione said. "I cannot support this project." Raucous cheers followed the supervisors' action, with several mine opponents loudly exclaiming "Thank you!" Permits for the controversial Liberty Quarry were denied by the county planning commission in a 4-1 vote last September. Commissioners cited concerns about elevated levels of silica dust and other pollutants, the permanent impact on area aesthetics, including nighttime lights, and the adverse effects on area wildlife as reasons for their opposition.
Supervisor Jeff Stone, whose district encompasses the project zone, echoed the same worries in urging his colleagues today to reject the strip mine.
"All the planning commissioners struggled with competing interests," he said. "This is a tough decision, a tough vote ... But this project is incompatible (with the area)." Supervisor Bob Buster joined Stone and Tavaglione in opposition, while Supervisors Marion Ashley and John Benoit voted in favor of the project.

Communities Against Pala Raceway Noise

Communities Against Pala Raceway Noise

Update:  February 13, 2012

During our community meeting on January 21, 2012, it was decided that two further meetings would be held.

• Tom Casey, Bud Swanson and Mila Bonner would meet with Ryan Ouellette to further discuss the noise issue.
• Eli Vedagiri, Sheridan Traner and Dee DiPietro would meet with Shasta Gaughen, Environmental Director, Pala Band of Mission Indians with to see how the tribe could assist in reaching resolution.

Meeting with Ryan Ouellette

Tom Casey and Bud Swanson met with Ryan Ouellette on February 4, 2012 and the main discussion points included:

1.    Configuration of the track to improve noise transference

2.    Importing clay material to better support berms which can absorb noise

3.    Obvious track noise violators

4.    Muffler inserts and muffler packing. Noise reduction.

5.    Track noise monitoring equipment. Recognizing and flagging violators

6.    Noise cancellation equipment

7.    No more national events

8.    Pledge for a good neighbor policy from Pala Raceway

9.    Formulation of Noise Committee 

However, on Wednesday 2/8, it was discovered by Mr. Linn (our attorney) that Mr. Ouellette’s corporation had indeed filed bankruptcy (proceedings announced on 1/21) and the statements he made on Saturday 2/4 about future operations at the Raceway were perhaps without authority the company moving forward.  The raceway is now either owned or headed by Chuck Perrault. 

Meeting with Shasta Gaughen, Environmental Director, Pala Band of Mission Indians

Eli Vedagiri, Sheridan Traner and Dee DiPietro met with Shasta Gaughen on February 10, 2012.  The communities affected by the noise from Pala Raceway requested assistance from the Pala Band of Mission Indians, as raceway lease holder and a good neighbor, for reaching the following community positions:

1.    Community Relations

The communities affected by the noise at Pala Raceway believe that the raceway and the surrounding communities can co-exist peacefully.

§  A good neighbor policy is implicit and expected by the communities surrounding Pala Raceway. We would like information both about the new entity that owns the raceway and what the Pala Band of Mission Indians will include contractually in the lease or permit going forward to help ensure the community positions are achieved.

§  A commitment to an establishment of a committee that includes representatives from the communities affected by raceway noise, Mr. Perrault of Pala Raceway and the Pala Band of Mission Indians by no later than April 1, 2012.

NOTE:  A MEETING IS TARGETED FOR MID-MARCH AT THIS TIME AND MS. GAUGHEN IS FACILITATING SCHEDULING.

2.    Noise from Riders

The communities affected by the noise at Pala Raceway believe that, if the 96dB level were enforced, a significant reduction in the noise levels could be achieved.

• A commitment to both a timeframe for implementation and monitoring protocol for track noise monitoring.
• A commitment to a timeframe for implementation, production plan for muffler inserts and procedure for how noise violators would be handled on a go-forward basis. 
• A guarantee that National Events not return to Pala Raceway.  Furthermore, we would like a guarantee that no other types of events that generate noise, such “monster truck” rallies, will be held at the raceway.

3.    Structural Noise Mitigation

The communities affected by the noise at Pala Raceway feel that, although the raceway has made some improvement to the track configuration, further commitments are needed.

• A guarantee that side-by-sides or Quads do not return to the track.
• A commitment to a timeframe for berm enhancement.
• A commitment to research feasibility including cost and relative effectiveness of further noise mitigation technology.  The community would like a timeframe for completion of the research and a voice in determining if the technology should be adopted by Pala Raceway.

We will send out another update subsequent to the March/April meeting.

POSTON FAMILY WEBSITE & NEEDS

Dear Community:

As noted below, this wonderful website has been set up on behalf of the Poston Family to help keep everyone updated.  It is also a great way to help in any way you can and those ways/needs will be posted by the admin of the site.  I have posted the information regarding Gift Cards there as well.  Please click this site and simply add your name, email and a password and you will be in the site. Your information may remind private if you choose.  This is an efficient way to give the same information to all of the Pastors' family's friends and community from Rainbow to global reaches.  

Graciously,

Jonnie Fox Flanagan

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Marissa Uhler <rissa.renee@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Feb 5, 2012 at 9:09 PM
Subject: [LHH] Loving the Poston Family
To: Jonnie Flanigin <Jonniefox@gmail.com>

Thank you for contacting us to sign up to help the Poston family! We are using this website as a tool to contact all the wonderful volunteers who would like to serve the Poston family and manage the tasks as they become needed. All you need to do is sign in and create a password and then you will become a member. Hopefully this site will be very user friendly; if you should have any questions or would like to be removed from this website, please do not hesitate to contact one of the coordinators. We are here to help you in any way we can. Thank you to all of you who have so generously donated of your time and resources. God Bless each of you!

PRESS ENTERPRISE ARTICLE - 2/5/12

Press-Enterprise Editorial:  Re-site quarry

THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE The Press Enterprise

Published: 05 February 2012 01:00 AM

The proposed Liberty Quarry near Temecula is a case of a promising project in the wrong location. The quarry proponents have not made a convincing case that the potential benefits of the mine in this spot outweigh the drawbacks to the nearby region. So Riverside County supervisors should uphold the Planning Commission’s rejection of the quarry plans.

Granite Construction Company proposes to put a 135-acre mine on a 414-acre site south of Temecula and west of Interstate 15, just north of the San Diego County line. The Liberty Quarry would produce aggregate, a type of rock used in construction materials such as cement and asphalt. But neighbors of the proposed mine site, including the city of Temecula and the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, adamantly oppose the project.

The county Planning Commission rejected the quarry proposal last year after five public hearings and nearly 52 hours of testimony. The company appealed that decision to the Board of Supervisors, which could make a decision on the issue on Monday.

Opposing the quarry location is not an easy call. The Press-Enterprise editorial board generally supports business growth and grasps the need for a sufficient source of building materials. The editorial board met with a range of stakeholders in the issue, and understands the concerns on all sides. And much of the discussion is a debate between dueling expert testimony that offers contradictory analyses of the need for and effects of the quarry.

On balance, however, the arguments for the quarry are insufficient to justify a hilltop site surrounded by a tribal reservation, an ecological preserve and a city of more than 101,000 people. Nor should anyone be comfortable with the prospect of a sensitive swath of Riverside County shouldering the burdens of a mine that mainly would serveSan Diego County needs: Granite says two-thirds of the materials from the quarry would go to construction south of the county line.

The demand for necessary building materials does not offer a convincing justification for the proposed site. The region will need more sources of aggregate in the future, but just how much and how soon is a subject of dispute. Granite and Temecula officials, for example, offer competing analyses of the immediacy and need. But even a pressing shortage does not mean that the proposed quarry site is the right solution. The long-term projections assume no other new sources open up, which seems unlikely. And the Temecula location is hardly the only spot in the region where such rock exists.

Nor are the potential economic benefits of the quarry persuasive. The quarry’s study points to a more than $200 million boost to the economy from the project by 2021, and hundreds of millions in new government revenue over the 75-year life of the mine. Yet a competing study says the quarry will result in a cumulative $3.6 billion cost to the region over the next 50 years — leaving residents to guess at which figure is right.

Jobs also are not a reason to push ahead with the current plan. Granite says the quarry will create 99 jobs on site and another 178 related jobs elsewhere. Jobs are welcome, given the region’s high unemployment levels. But there is no guarantee those would be new jobs, and not workers shifted from elsewhere. Nor is there any certainty those would go to local residents.

Riverside County should not chase business away, certainly. But the need for jobs and commerce should not mean abandoning careful planning. Quarries are necessary operations for a growing region — but only if the site makes sense.