Santee Hosts Major Girls' Soccer Tournament

Some of the country’s top young female soccer players will be showing their skills for college recruiters this weekend  at Town Center Community Park.

The “College Showcase”  tournament features hundreds of girls from ages 14 to 17 who play for teams from the West Coast Futbol Club, a professionally run youth soccer program based in Orange County.

The games are being scouted by coaches from dozens of NCAA Division I colleges, including Stanford, Harvard, University of Michigan, Notre Dame  and University of Florida.   

The West Coast Futbol Club has 45 competitive youth boys and girls teams playing in the Southern California Developmental Soccer League, which is aimed at grooming players to compete at the college and professional levels.

The College Showcase games, which started Thursday and will continue through Dec. 1, are being played at Town Center Community Park as well as Balboa Stadium, UCSD and the Arco Olympic Training Center.

Santee to Have Skywatch, Special Holiday Patrols

Sheriff's Department "Skywatch" apparatus

Sheriff's deputies in patrol cars, on bicycles and peering from above in the portable "Skywatch" tower will be trying to put a lid on crime in Santee over the holidays.

The Community Oriented Policing  and Problem Solving (COPS) unit will initiate a high-visibility patrol today (Nov. 27) at the Santee trolley station. 

The first of three special bicycle patrols will begin Thursday, Nov. 29 and return on Dec. 20 and Dec. 27.

The same crime-fighting unit will be patrolling the Santee Swap Meet the first two weekends in December.

The department will deploy its highly visible Skywatch surveillance unit on Dec. 5 at the El Cajon Walmart at 13487 Camino Canada. 

The Skywatch unit, which looks like a guard tower mounted on a cherry picker, is designed to deter would-be thieves from burglarizing vehicles or snatching packages from unaware shoppers.

The bullet-proof  tower is equipped with a high-resolution surveillance camera that can capture video of  suspicious persons prowling cars in shopping center parking lots. The camera can zoom in on vehicle license plates and, using night-vision technology, can also detect weapons and other suspicious items hidden in bags or pockets.

Skywatch will be in Santee on Dec. 12 at Trolley Square, 9884 Mission Gorge Road, and again on Dec. 21 at the Santee Walmart, 170 Town Center Parkway.

Deputies from the Santee station will also conduct DUI saturation patrols on Friday and Saturday nights throughout the holidays at various locations. Special sweeps are also planned to target minors attempting to buy alcohol and those in violation of curfew laws.

Click here to read crime prevention tips posted on the Sheriff’s Department website.

Black Friday Deal on Santee Winter Rec Classes

Registration is now open for the city of Santee winter recreation programs and to kick off the holiday weekend, the normal transaction fee will be waived for those who sign up online from Black Friday, Nov. 23 through Cyber Monday, Nov. 26.

In addition, the city is offering special online discounts for selected winter classes including: Adult Belly Dancing, Spiral Fit Yoga, Adult Golf, Teen Chefs-Cooking, Creepy Crawlers Art, Early Education including Tiny Tykes, Playtime Pals, Kindergartners in Training, Youth Tennis, and specific Dance N Cheer and Pop Stars Music Theater classes.
 
Santee’s Recreation Division offers classes that appeal to everyone from moms to toddlers to senior citizens.

Busy moms who want a little alone time can enjoy a workout at the new Zumba aerobic dance class, or get some down time doing Pilates or yoga.

For kids, a full lineup of enrichment classes is offered, such as Introduction to Music, karate, and homework clinics.

We’ve also designed a variety of courses that appeal to adolescents and teens, including a Friday night guitar jam for ages 10 to  17, cooking classes for ages 11 to 15, and driver education for ages 14 to 18.

Most classes begin the week of Jan. 14.

You can register online now by clicking here or click on the “REC” logo at www.ci.santee.ca.us or in person at Santee City Hall, Building 6, 10601 Magnolia Avenue starting November 26. For more information call (619) 258-4100 ext. 222.

Urban Corps Removing Invasive Plant from River

Crews from the San Diego Urban Corps have been working over the past month to remove a non-native invasive plant called water primrose from the San Diego River.

Although the yellow flowers and green leaves of the water primrose (Ludwigia hexapetala) seem harmless, this native of South America grows in thick mats that slow the river’s flow, reduce the water’s dissolved oxygen level and raise the water temperature. The vine-like plant also provides excellent habitat for mosquito larvae.

The Urban Corps crew, which has focused on removing water primrose along the Mission Creek/Mast Park section of the river, will be working through early December.

Urban Corps is a locally based nonprofit organization that provides a high school education and job training to at-risk youth and disadvantaged young adults from ages 18 to 25.

The primrose removal will hopefully result in fewer mosquitoes buzzing the neighborhoods along the river next summer.

The project was made possible by a grant of nearly $50,000 from the County Department of Environmental Health, Vector Control Division.

Job Hunters Flood Santee Civic Center

More than 500 people turned up today at the Santee Civic Center meeting room complex to apply for jobs at the soon-to-open In-N-Out Burger restaurant at 9412 Mission Gorge Road.

Crystal Gomez and Andrew Trosper greeted job hunters

Officials of the Irvine-based restaurant chain said approximately 1,700 people had applied online, but they are still required to show up for an interview to be considered for employment.

Interviews at the company’s hiring fair will resume Friday, Nov. 16 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Civic Center meeting rooms are at 10601 Magnolia Avenue in Santee.

Starting pay  is $10 per hour and both full-time and part-time employees are eligible for health insurance and other benefits.

Videos Offer Advice on Internet Predators

Photo Illustration
 

The city of Santee has posted two videos on its YouTube channel that offer advice on keeping children safe from internet predators.  One video is tailored for parents, while the other is directed at teens.

The videos include compelling first-person testimony from a teen who was kidnapped and tortured by a man who wooed her on the Internet. They also provide common sense advice for kids and parents on using caution while on the Internet.

“Please talk to your kids before a child predator does,” San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore says in the video.

You can access the parent video by clicking here.

You can access the teen video by clicking  here.

Santee's Bird of the Month

Western blue bird

November’s  Bird of the Month is a western blue bird taken at Town Center Community Park. (click on pic to enlarge)

Santee is a exceptional place for birding because of the variety of habitats found here. Raptors, flycatchers and songbirds of many varieties can be seen in the riparian zone along the San Diego River.

The chaparral and coastal sage scrub habitat common to the hills surrounding Santee are home to native species such as the California gnatcatcher, scrub jay, and the state bird, the California quail.

Many species of migratory ducks, including colorful wood ducks, can be found at the 180-acre Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve.

If you have tack-sharp photo of a bird taken in the city of Santee, email it to the Community Services Department at trodgers@ci.santee.ca.us and we'll post the best pic at the end of the month along with your name in the Santee Review, our online newsletter.