Podiatrist in Ramona, CA

The Knights of Columbus 27th annual Lenten Fish Fry begins Friday, Feb. 24 and continues every Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. through March 31.

The once-a-week feast will feature beer-battered fried Atlantic Cod or baked Atlantic Cod, French fries or mashed potatoes, rolls, coleslaw, tartar sauce, lemon wedges, coffee and punch.

Dinners will be held in the social center at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, 537 E St.

The event gives members of the community an opportunity to visit with friends and neighbors, said Knights of Columbus member Gary Paun.

“The social center is often packed with repeat guests who make it an annual tradition,” said Paun, adding that the dinners are open to the public. “It’s really a lot of fun and you get a lot of camaraderie with people you know in the community.”

Cost is $15 for two pieces of fish and the fixings. Clam chowder is available for $5, and soda and bottled water are available for $2. A four-piece dinner (the Carl) and a family meal (the Mike) are also available.

The fish fries help raise money for charities supported by the Knights of Columbus, including Ramona Pregnancy Care Clinic, Hearts and Hooves Therapy, and Ramona Food & Clothes Closet.

Fundraiser for Coast to Crest Trail completion set for Feb. 25

A fundraiser to support the Coast to Crest Trail completion will be hosted by the San Dieguito River Park and the Ramona Trails Association on Saturday, Feb. 25.

The event is set for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Cheers of Ramona, 2475 Main St.

The organizations are raising funds to construct missing gaps in the Coast to Crest Trail, which is planned for 71 miles total from Del Mar to Julian, said Shawna Anderson, executive director of the San Dieguito River Park Joint Powers Authority.

Anderson said 49 miles of the trail are completed but not contiguously. Construction of the 50^th mile is expected to get underway next year, she said.

Current fundraising efforts are focused on raising money to complete two gaps, one near Lake Sutherland and the other in San Pasqual Valley, Anderson said. About $2 million raised so far will go toward engineering and planning these two segments of trail, but additional funds will be needed to pay for the gaps’ construction, she said.

“Some of the segments are expensive to build and plan because there’s challenges with the terrain and there are environmentally sensitive areas,” Anderson said.

Board of Supervisors to consider adding stop signs in the Estates

The county Traffic Advisory Committee voted Jan. 27 to recommend that new stop signs be installed at six intersections in San Diego Country Estates.

The Board of Supervisors will consider the recommendation on May 24.

If approved by the supervisors, the county Department of Public Works will begin the process of designing and installing the six all-way stop intersections, said Benjamin Baker, assistant engineer with the Department of Public Works, Traffic Engineering and Loss Mitigation.

The six intersections are: Vista Ramona Road and Arena Way; Vista Ramona Road and Sargeant Road; Arena Way and Open View Road; Arena Way and Arena Drive; Arena Way and Gunn Stage Road; and Arena Drive and Del Amo Road.

The all-way stops would improve the safety of vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian traffic and provide a network of intersection controls for overall safety of road users in the community, according to a Traffic Advisory Committee staff report.

Several of the intersections have been the site of collisions in the past five years, the report stated. These were:

Water district waives fees for connecting granny flats to its water and sewer systems

Ramona Municipal Water District directors decided Feb. 14 to waive capacity fees for accessory dwelling units (ADU), also known as granny flats.

Director Jim Hickle said waiving the fees for ADUs encourages the addition of more affordable homes in the 800-square-foot to 1,200-square-foot range in Ramona.

Capacity fees are charged by the water district when homes connect to the district’s water and sewer systems. The fees for a typical single-family home are roughly $11,000 for water and $16,000 for sewer. Those fees formerly increased by a range of $8,000 to as much as $22,000 when a new single-family home was accompanied by a studio ADU, one-bedroom ADU, two-bedroom ADU or two complete ADUs.

The water district did not charge capacity fees when new ADUs were added to an existing single-family home, but were charged when the ADUs were added simultaneously with a new single-family home.

Last year, only one project was charged for capacity fees when an ADU was added without an existing single-family home in Ramona, according to a staff report. The majority of Ramona’s ADU projects, 19, were added to existing single-family homes and so were not charged capacity fees.

The directors voted 3-1 to waive the fee whether the ADU is added to an existing home or the ADU and home are built together.

Water District Director Gary Hurst opposed the waiver, saying the costs to connect ADUs to the water and sewer system will be shifted to existing residential and business customers.

“This imposes another subsidy, and it disproportionately affects businesses,” Hurst said. “I cannot support this.”

The Ramona Unified School District curriculum committee had a day-long lesson Jan. 25 on the state’s content standards, framework and Education Code to prepare them for reviewing the “U.S. History” textbook for accuracy and what they determine is political bias.

The History/Social Science Ad Hoc Committee’s role is to recommend a textbook to the Ramona district’s Board of Education. The board will then consider the book to replace “The Americans” textbook that has been used by teachers in the district since it was adopted in 2005.

The book is being updated to give students access to information about recent historical events, said Leslie Wilson, Ramona Unified assistant superintendent of education services.

Trustee Daryn Drum, a committee member, told the 13 school board members, teachers, administrators and community residents serving on the committee that the textbook review process is intended to give students the tools to help them form their own opinions.

“When our kids walk out the door, we’re already moving them in a direction politically in subtle ways,” said Drum, who is a parent to a sixth-grader, senior and graduate. “That’s not our job to give students a political slant, but to give them the tools and facts to make their own political decisions.”

Matthew Hayes, a history-social science coordinator for the San Diego County Office of Education, led the discussions and hands-on exercises to familiarize the group with the state’s educational resources.

The content standards define the knowledge, concepts and skills that students should acquire at each grade level, Hayes said. The framework, written in 1998, guides educators on how to implement the standards as they design and teach their courses. The Education Code consists of laws directly related to California’s kindergarten through grade 12 public schools.

The three areas are integrated. For example, Hayes said the Education Code requires that all students have equal access to standards-aligned instructional materials.

U.S. history courses are taught in the third through fifth grades in addition to eighth and 11th grades. The committee’s focus is on instructional materials for 11th-graders who learn about history from the 1880s to modern times.

“There are things occurring at the close of the 20th century that impact our world and kids need to talk about these things,” Hayes said.

To illustrate how teachers translate standards into instruction, Hayes showed the group a picture titled, “Graduating Class of Santa Ana High School in 1942.” Some of the students in the photograph were wearing military uniforms. The group discussed how the picture related to WWII and themes such as patriotism and feelings of pride.

Then committee members considered to what extent Americans felt obligated to enter WWII — similar to the way students would grapple with historical issues during their lessons, Hayes said. The point was to evaluate how a piece of evidence can raise historical questions or show different perspectives from a certain time period.

After that lesson, Hayes said teachers often elaborate on textbooks by assigning students to read related documents or watch a video. The textbooks themselves sometimes offer additional resources to help students dig deeper into the topic, too, he said.

Committee member Robin Brainard, a Ramona High School social science teacher and department chair, said she tells students at the beginning of a school year that textbooks are not the “golden nugget,” or complete resource. Supplemental materials such as documents, videos, podcasts and Google searches are used to develop their historic knowledge, she said.

“I tell students to recognize there are different resources out there,” Brainard said. “Like a stew, there are lots of different ingredients and that should be part of their rich learning. I tell them, ‘How you feel today may not be the same as the way you feel at age 25 or when you become a parent or grandparent, because life changes and you can change.’”

Later in the meeting, committee members became familiar with the content standards by selecting themes from the standards’ grade-level description. The selected themes were “educated citizenry,” “U.S. as a world power,” “U.S. as a model for other nations,” and “equal rights.”

“We’ll look at these four themes as we read through the standards,” Hayes told the committee members. “It’s a strategy to help read through long text and keep you focused.”

Committee member Raul Barron, a Ramona High teacher, said he likes to make historical connections to what is happening in the world today to help students understand how history is relevant to their lives.

His takeaway from the meeting was that a textbook and other resources could be used as tools to help students understand and synthesize the content of what they are learning. He said it’s “daunting yet invigorating” to use his knowledge and skill as a teacher to disseminate information.

“We need to reach these kids,” said Barron, adding that teachers have to figure out the best strategies for informing students. “We have to have trust among stakeholders — board members, teachers, the community — because we’re doing it for the kids, for them to be good citizens.”

Brainard said finding ways to support English language learners and students with individualized education programs (IEPs) will be an important part of the historical content review process, too.

Wilson, the district’s assistant superintendent of education services, said the district expects the History/Social Science Ad Hoc Committee will have at least two more meetings, possibly three, although the meetings have not been scheduled yet.

The district is in the midst of arranging a training session with the “U.S. History” textbook publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Wilson said. Once the training is approved, a date will be scheduled for the next committee meeting, she said.

Wilson noted that the process of incorporating new instructional materials could be lengthy, beginning with the school board’s approval followed by a trial period of “piloting” the book in the classroom, then collecting supplemental learning materials that engage students to fill the gaps.

“It’s a long process when you’re talking about introducing curriculum and learning materials,” she said.

Now this is an aca-amazing announcement.

Rebel Wilson and Ramona Agruma are engaged. The Pitch Perfect star shared the news by posting some photos from their engagement to Instagram Feb. 19.

As seen in the pics, Rebel gave Ramona a stunning engagement ring during a trip to Disneyland. After popping the question, the now-engaged couple posed in front of the castle sporting matching pink and white sweaters surrounded by pink, white and yellow rose petals.

"We said YES!" Rebel wrote. "Thank you @tiffanyandco for the stunning ring and to [Disney CEO] Bob Iger and the incredible team at Disneyland @disneyweddings for pulling off this magical surprise!"

Not only did Rebel share photos from their engagement shoot, but she also shared looks into the moments leading up to it on her IG Story the same day, including a pic of the two enjoying churros together at the park and a snap of herself smiling with the ring box a few days before the proposal.

photosRebel Wilson and Girlfriend Ramona Agruma's European Vacation

The couple's engagement at Disneyland is very fitting, as Rebel referenced Disney when she made her relationship with Ramona IG official in June. At the time, she shared a pic of them together with the caption, "I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince… but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess. #loveislove."

From that point on, the pair have continued to share glimpses into their romance, such as a romantic trip to Turkey and a getaway to Aspen. Those looks into their love story also include photos from Rebel's baby shower hosted by Ramona. The Pitch Perfect star announced in November that she had welcomed daughter Royce Lillian by surrogate.

Samir Hussein/Getty Images for Atlantis The Royal

Since the little one's arrival, both Ramona and Rebel have opened up about having Royce in their lives.

"You hold the baby and cut the umbilical cord and literally from that moment on, it was just amazing and so emotional," Rebel told Today Dec. 15. "It's really challenging. I have this big international career and I'm the breadwinner of my family—I like to think. So it's really challenging too, like, ‘Well, now how do I do all the things and be a great mother and great partner and all of that?'"

While Rebel noted navigating parenthood and career is a journey, Ramona recently shared that Royce has shifted her own focus.

"You start thinking about someone else instead of yourself," Ramona said in a Nov. 16 appearance on The Morning Show. "Priorities change, when you think like, ‘Oh I wish I would go have a massage or something'. Like no, I just want to spend time with her and be at home."

Look up! The last time the newly discovered green comet known as ZTF passed by earth, Neanderthals were roaming the land.

SAN DIEGO, CA — A rare green comet not seen since the ice age will make its closest pass by the Earth Wednesday, and it may be visible to the naked eye, astronomers say.

Comet ZTF won't be this close again for another 50,000 years, if at all, according to NASA scientists. It will be a mere 26 million miles away Wednesday night.

"Excitingly, the comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), which last passed through the inner solar system around 50,000 years ago, will be at its brightest during this time and may even be visible to the naked eye under the right conditions," according to Space.com. "The comet should be observable for days as it approaches our planet and then recedes on its way to the outer solar system."

The comet looks like a glowing ball with a green tail streaking across the sky.

The comet, which had never been seen by human eyes before last year, was discovered by California Institute of Technology scientists in the spring. It's made up of ice with a gas tail, containing compounds that give it its green hue by reflecting light, according to NASA scientists.

Find out what's happening in Santeewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Scientists are confident in their orbital calculations putting the comet's last swing through the solar system's planetary neighborhood at 50,000 years ago. But they don't know how close it came to Earth or whether it was even visible to the Neanderthals, said Chodas, director of the Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

When it returns, though, is tougher to judge.

Every time the comet skirts the sun and planets, their gravitational tugs alter the iceball’s path ever so slightly, leading to major course changes over time. Another wild card: jets of dust and gas streaming off the comet as it heats up near the sun.

“We don’t really know exactly how much they are pushing this comet around,” Chodas said.

The comet — a time capsule from the emerging solar system 4.5 billion years ago — came from what’s known as the Oort Cloud well beyond Pluto. This deep-freeze haven for comets is believed to stretch more than one-quarter of the way to the next star.

While comet ZTF originated in our solar system, we can't be sure it will stay there, Chodas said. If it gets booted out of the solar system, it will never return, he added.

Don’t fret if you miss it.

“In the comet business, you just wait for the next one because there are dozens of these," Chodas said. "And the next one might be bigger, might be brighter, might be closer.”

The comet is flying through the edge of our solar system and could exit our solar system never to return.

“While it currently appears to be on a ‘gone forever’ path, it is also likely that it will shift onto a returning orbit in the tens-of-millions of years range, thanks to the extra gravitational tugs from the planets,” Geoff Mathews, an astronomy instructor at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills told The San Francisco Chronicle.

The comet has been visible for months and can still be seen into mid-February for anyone who misses it Wednesday.

To see the green comet before it streaks back into the distant cosmos, look into the night sky towards the northeast after 9 p.m. Wednesday.

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) appeared above the North Star Tuesday and will make its way to Ursa Major and the Big Dipper by Thursday. Stargazing apps like SkyView Lite can pinpoint the constellations for those who aren't sure where to look.

The skies above San Diego are forecast to be mostly clear Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. Stargazers, ideally, would find an isolated location away from city lights as much as possible.

Nearby, Los Angeles's Griffith Observatory director spoke on how to see the comet best.

“It’s sort of like searching for some endangered species, and then it pops into view,” said E.C. Krupp, director at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles told The Spokesman-Review. “That really is a charmer of an experience.”

Viewers should be able to see it with the naked eye, but binoculars or telescopes will make it easier to see the tail.

“Comets are notoriously unpredictable, but if this one continues its current trend in brightness, it’ll be easy to spot with binoculars, and it’s just possible it could become visible to the unaided eye under dark skies,” according to NASA.

And if you miss it Wednesday, you can try for a couple more weeks before it's gone. Even then, it's not the only comet in the sky.

“Fortunately, our solar system was very messy when it formed planets 4.5 billion years ago, so there will be many more comets for us to see,” Mathews told the Chronicle.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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The polling places once located in garages and community centers throughout San Diego are being replaced by larger, regional vote centers this fall.

November marks San Diego’s first general election using vote centers, a California election model that offers fewer locations but longer hours and more voting options.

The system launched officially with the June primary election, but San Diego had adopted elements of it, including universal mail ballots and regional polling places, earlier during the pandemic.

Fifteen California counties, including Los Angeles and Orange counties, have previously switched to the vote center model, and 11 more including San Diego are transitioning to the system this year.

Under the new system, all registered voters automatically receive a mail ballot they can mail back or return to an official drop-off location or a vote center.

The majority of San Diegans already cast their ballots by mail, and officials said the vote center system makes that option permanently available to every registered voter in the county.

There are more than 1.9 million registered voters in San Diego, and even before the pandemic, about 80 percent of voters cast their ballots by mail. During the November 2020 presidential election, about 87 percent cast ballots by mail, and in this year’s June primary that jumped to 93 percent, according to figures from the county registrar of voters.

Oct. 10, 2022

Where to vote

Voters in Ramona who prefer to cast their ballots in person in town can vote at one of two vote centers on Election Day or over the weekend preceding it, and at one center during the week prior.

The new centers replace neighborhood polling places, and add additional days to cast in-person ballots.

Here are the voting centers for Ramona:

James Dukes Elementary School - Multipurpose Center, 24908 Abalar Way, open Saturday, Nov. 5 to Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 8

Ramona Branch Library Community Room, 1275 Main St., open Saturday , open Oct. 29 to Nov. 8

Ramona Unified School District, Wilson Gym, 720 9th St., open Nov. 5 to 8

All vote centers will be available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Nov. 8. On Election Day, all vote centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

For more information about where to vote in other areas in San Diego County, visit the Registrar of Voters website.

How it works

Under the previous system, each voter was assigned a local polling place, and had to vote provisionally in order to cast their ballot at a different one. Now, voters can go to any center in the county, where workers will use an electronic poll book with a roster of all registered voters.

The electronic pollbook matches each voter to the ballot that shows the correct races for their address, accessing one of 796 local ballot configurations for this election, San Diego County Registrar Cynthia Paes said.

“That just says these are the unique districts that make up your precinct,” Paes said. “Once they put in that code, it’s going to pull down one of those 700-plus ballot types ... The code is entered into the ballot-marking device, which is separate from everything else.”

Voters use a ballot-marking device, which is not connected to the internet or any other digital system, to fill out their ballots. The machine then prints a paper ballot that records their choices, and that is submitted to the ballot box.

As an alternative, voters can fill out their mail ballots at home or at the vote center and place them in the ballot box on site.

Vote centers also can provide replacement ballots, language interpretation, translated materials and same-day registration.

Any eligible voters who missed the deadline to register can complete the registration form and enter a provisional ballot on the spot, Paes said. The registrar will then validate the registration and count the ballot.

“It’s got your ballot in five languages,” Paes said. “You can bring it up in Spanish, Filipino, Vietnamese and Chinese. It has an audio ballot. If you’re blind, you can mark your ballot independently, on your own, using that device. And then you print out your official ballot, which has your selections printed on the ballot.”