May 29, 2013 05:59 PM PDT May 30, 2013 08:01 AM PDT FRENCH VALLEY: Trial of 'Marines by day, criminals by night' winding down FRENCH VALLEY: Trial of 'Marines by day, criminals by night' winding down The trial of 3 Marines accused of killing a sergeant and his wife in French Valley is winding down on details of torture and control STAN LIM/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Kevin Cox looks around the courtroom during in his trial on Tuesday, May 28, in Riverside. Cox is one of three former Marines on trial for murder in the death of a Marine sergeant and his wife in French Valley. 1For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/murrieta/murrieta-headlines-index/20130529-french-valley-trial-of-marines-by-day-criminals-by-night-winding-down.ece
May 21, 2013 06:29 PM PDT May 22, 2013 09:36 AM PDT MURRIETA: Principals on the move in school district MURRIETA: Principals on the move in school district CONTRIBUTED IMAGE/CONTRIBUTED IMAGE Brent Coley has been named interim principal at Alta Murrieta Attorney Elementary School in Murrieta Attorney for the 2013-14 school year. 1 Comments ( ) Several Murrieta Attorney schools will have new principals and several other administrators are moving to new assignments in 2013-14, Superintendent Pat Kelley announced Tuesday, May 21. Terry Picchiottino will become principal at Warm Springs Middle School. Picchiottino, who has been principal at Alta Murrieta Elementary School for nine years, replaces Mick Wager, who is moving to Vista Murrieta High School as its new principal. Brent Coley, an assistant principal at Shivela Middle School, will serve as interim principal of Alta Murrieta. Randy Rogers, the principal at Monte Vista Elementary, has been promoted to a post at the district office, where he will be director of human resources and purchasing director. Rogers replaces Chuck Jones, who is retiring at the end of the school year. Howard Dimler, an assistant principal at Vista Murrieta Attorney High School, will be interim principal at Monte Vista. Jennifer Randel, assistant principal at Buchanan Elementary School, has been promoted to interim principal at that school. She replaces Mike Lorimer, who requested a reassignment to an assistant principal's post for personal reasons. Lorimer will move to Shivela Middle School. Mark Pettingill also has been promoted and will move from Murrieta Valley High School, where he has been an assistant principal for six years, to Vista Murrieta High School where he will serve as deputy principal, replacing Dimler. All of the interim principals will serve in that capacity for the duration of the 2013-14 school year, district officials said in a news release. Parents at the affected schools will have an opportunity to meet each of the interim principals before the end of the current school year. During the second semester, a search process will be conducted to select permanent principals for Alta Murrieta, Buchanan and Monte Vista. Parents, faculty and staff will be asked to provide their input during the permanent principal selection process. With all the shuffling, the district has openings for an assistant principal at Buchanan and a dean of students at Murrieta Valley High School. Both positions will be filled from within, the news release said. Follow Michelle L. Klampe on Twitter: @MichelleKlampe and read the Inland Schools blog: blog.pe.com/schools Latest Headlines
May 20, 2013 04:37 PM PDT May 20, 2013 04:37 PM PDT MURRIETA: Controlled burn planned on Santa Rosa Plateau MURRIETA: Controlled burn planned on Santa Rosa Plateau Comments ( ) Prescribed burns are planned for Wednesday, May 22, and Thursday, May 23, on the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve west of Murrieta Attorney. Smoke from the burns may be visible across southwest Riverside County. The reserve will be closed both days and, if smoky conditions persist, Friday as well, Reserve Manager Carole Bell said. Fire officials plan to burn about 200 acres near Fault and Waterline roads, a news release said. The fires are conducted to eliminate invasive grass seed and to reduce non-native plants, such as artichoke thistle, on the Reserve, the release said. Follow Sarah Burge on 
May 17, 2013 05:03 PM PDT May 19, 2013 03:19 PM PDT MURRIETA: Farm-to-market grocery store a 'hybrid marketplace' MURRIETA: Farm-to-market grocery store a 'hybrid marketplace' Roxanne Schleuniger Produce goes directly from Clinton Keith Farm to The Farmstead store. 1 WEBLINK THE FARMSTEAD, MURRIETA Melissa Webb had heard the buzz about Murrieta Attorney's new independent grocery store and was ready to bite. During her first trip to The Farmstead Market at the corner of Kalmia Street and Jefferson Avenue, she filled her shopping cart with cut-to-order meats, aged Italian cheese, a package of dried cantaloupe pieces, a salad and a head of cheddar cauliflower. "There's such a great assortment," marveled Webb, 46, who teaches online writing at a charter school. "Everything I heard about this place is true." That's music to the ears of Craig and Roxanne Schleuniger, the husband-and-wife founders and owners of the shop they opened last October and based on an unusual business model. They call it a "hybrid marketplace," a cross between a natural/organic Whole Foods and a traditional grocery where you can find 20 varieties of homemade sausages, 200 artisan cheeses, 160 spices, locally sourced tortillas, salsas and barbecue sauces as well as Lunchables, Gold Medal flour and Coke. "We wanted to make sure we're well-rounded and carry traditional products, too," said Roxanne, 57. Farmstead sells more than 10,000 items, including freshly-made sushi, pizza by the slice, Canadian lobster, local, grass-fed beef, Himalayan pink sea salt and free-range chickens that are air-chilled instead of ice-bathed. In front, a blackboard greets customers with 10 reasons to buy local, right next to the coffee and juice bar. In back, customers can eat at picnic tables next to planter beds built from reused concrete filled with herbs, carrots, cabbage and other vegetables. "It's to showcase our products and serve as an educational venue for school tours," Craig Schleuniger said. "If you want to shop at Food for Less, this isn't your store," said Roxanne. "Murrieta Attorney has a high education base and appreciates high-quality food, so sales are steadily increasing." The Schleunigers said Farmstead was born of necessity when doctors diagnosed their son Eric, now 13, with Type I juvenile diabetes and celiac disease, an intolerance for gluten. His health depended on a diet of "frees" — gluten-free, nitrate-free, hormone-free, preservative-free and antibiotic-free products — and whole foods, which his parents scrambled to find. Their solution was to launch a market stocked with the freshest, best and healthiest items. They didn't have to look far for the ideal location: They gutted and remodeled the empty, 89,000-square-foot building at 41516 Kalmia Street in the Olivewood Retail Center. It was Roxanne's dental clinic before she moved her practice to another location and then retired in 2002. The Schleunigers, who met at Loyola Marymount University, have been married 40 years and Murrieta Attorney residents since 1984. "I had my children late," said Roxanne, whose older son Ben is 17. "I wanted to spend more time with them." Craig, 61, with decades of farming experience under his belt, had worked as an agricultural consultant, helping strawberry growers in Mexico with soil, insect and disease problems. Searching for startup ideas, he and Roxanne loved the small farm-to-store groceries they visited in Northern California, particularly Mill Valley. The Schleunigers believe that Farmstead is the only full-service farm-to-market in Southern California with its own butcher shop, scratch deli, olive and antipasto bar, fine wines, spirits and micro-beers, gluten-free items and wide assortment of regional products. In fact, 10 percent of its produce — including the cheddar cauliflower, 
May 22, 2013 03:37 PM PDT May 22, 2013 11:06 PM PDT MURRIETA: Students get hands-on lessons in advanced science MURRIETA: Students get hands-on lessons in advanced science 
FRANK BELLINO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER A fourth-grader from Mails Elementary participates in a fire demonstration during AP Chemistry class at Vista Murrieta High School in Murrieta Attorney, May 22, 2013. For safety's sake only children who's parents were in attendance 
May 17, 2013 07:59 PM PDT May 17, 2013 08:19 PM PDT MURRIETA: Marine to stand trial on torture charge MURRIETA: Marine to stand trial on torture charge Gunnery Sgt. Anthony Rollins, 33, is accused of beating his girlfriend Dec.1, leaving her with skull fractures and amnesia, authorities said SARAH BURGE/CONTRIBUTED IMAGE Anthony Rollins, 33, of Murrieta Attorney, sits in court Friday, May 17, during his preliminary hearing at the Southwest Justice Center in French Valley. He is charged with torture and domestic violence. 1 WEBLINK RELATED: Murrieta Attorney cell-phone pocket-dial records evidence of assault A judge held a Marine to answer on domestic violence and torture charges Friday, May 17, after listening to a disturbing voicemail from a cell-phone "pocket dial" that recorded evidence of an assault on the defendant's girlfriend. Gunnery Sgt. Anthony Rollins, 33, who was arrested in February, has pleaded not guilty and is being held with bail set at $5 million. Testifying during Rollins' preliminary hearing at the Southwest Justice Center in French Valley, Leah Elmquist, 30, said she suffered skull fractures, amnesia, bleeding on the brain and hearing loss and that she can't remember the Dec. 1 attack. On the witness stand, Elmquist, who is 5-foot-1 and weighs 94 pounds, averted her eyes from Rollins, who was sitting across the courtroom in shackles and orange jail clothes. "I remember him cutting the heads off the teddy bears that he had given me," she said, describing a brief memory as she lay in bed that night. At one point, she said, she recalls lying on the floor in pain. "My head hurt and I couldn't move and I was sick," she said. Elmquist woke up the morning of Dec. 1, vomiting with a severe headache. She had spent the evening out with friends during which Rollins had sent her a vulgar, angry text message. Rollins told her she had gotten drunk and fallen down the stairs. Despite the severity of her injuries, she didn't receive medical care until Dec. 3. After days in bed, she asked Rollins to take her to a hospital. Elmquist said she began to suspect Rollins had assaulted her, but she was in extreme pain and not thinking clearly for weeks because of her injuries. "I felt very embarrassed and stupid that I didn't know what happened," she said. On Dec. 15, her mother took Elmquist and her 7-year-old daughter to stay with her in Nebraska for about six weeks while she recovered. Elmquist discovered the Dec. 1 voicemail from Rollins on her cell phone while she was there. Though it confirmed her suspicions, she didn't immediately call the police. "I was scared of reporting it, and that nothing would happen," she testified, starting to cry. Elmquist said she had called the police when Rollins abused her in the past, but nothing came of it. "He would just spend a few days in jail and come home," she said. Elmquist said she feared he might hurt her more. Once, she said, Rollins hit her in the face with a remote control, breaking a tooth. She finally went to Murrieta Attorney police Feb. 2. Elmquist, who had been in the Navy for 10 years, said she listened to an inspirational talk about domestic violence and was realizing the full effect of her injuries — she couldn't do her work and had to drop out of classes at UCR. "It felt like he had taken a lot of things from me," she said. When police arrested Rollins Feb. 26, they confronted him with the voicemail, in which Elmquist can be heard screaming and crying. He gave several explanations. Initially, Det. John Therien testified, Rollins said they were having rough sex. Later, he said, it was an argument in which he was trying to convince Elmquist not to drive while drunk. Follow Sarah Burge on Twitter @sarahkburge or online at blog.pe.com/crime-blotter Latest Headlines
May 21, 2013 08:55 AM PDT May 22, 2013 10:13 AM PDT MURRIETA: Pipe rupture creates sinkhole, prompts water shutoff MURRIETA: Pipe rupture creates sinkhole, prompts water shutoff FRANK BELLINO/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Work crews with the Rancho California Water District work to repair and shore up a large sink hole on California Oaks Rd caused by a broken water main in Murrieta Attorney, May 21, 2013. 1 VIDEO: Water service to briefly shut down Sinkhole opens in Murrieta Attorney Several businesses were without water Tuesday, May 21, after a water main broke on California Oaks Road in Murrieta Attorney, creating a 15- by 20-foot sinkhole that shut down the westbound lanes. The break was reported about 3:30 a.m. just west of Jackson Avenue, police said. When police and firefighters arrived, the street was flooding and the water had already opened up a sinkhole, Sgt. Jim Gruwell said. There was also buckling in the asphalt near Monroe Avenue. City crews and Rancho California Water District workers diverted and shut off the water, Gruwell said. Meggan Valencia, a spokeswoman for the water district, said Tuesday morning that about 40 residential customers and quite a few businesses were without water. Service was expected to be restored Tuesday evening. Water district officials said customers in the area should expect to see brown water throughout the day. Crews are flushing the pipes to remove the sediment stirred up by the rupture. Valencia said the 24-inch-diameter steel pipe that corroded and ruptured was about 15 years old. Normally, she said, such pipes should have a 40-year lifespan. "It can just happen sometimes," Valencia said. Valencia said a water-pressure alarm alerted water district officials to the rupture. Though police officials said the westbound lane closures could last several days, Valencia said district officials expected to reopen one westbound lane Tuesday night. She said the water district is responsible for repairing the water main as well as the street. Westbound traffic was diverted around the construction area Tuesday using one of the eastbound lanes but traffic was congested and city officials urged motorists to avoid the area. Chris Kuljis, 56, and his son, Ian, 16, didn't let that stop them from checking out Murrieta Attorney's main attraction of the day. "We came to see the sinkhole," the father said, as a backhoe dug up the street nearby. He said they heard the sinkhole was huge but they arrived to find, to their amusement, that it had less vehicle-swallowing potential than rumored. "It's still a small town," he said with a laugh. The water shutoff that resulted from the rupture, however, was no joke. Several businesses had to turn customers away for lack of water, including California Oaks Car Wash, L.A. Fitness and restaurants in and around the Albertson's shopping center. "We can't open. We can't do anything," said Julie Lee, owner of Jade Chinese Cuisine. "I should have taken the day off." This is at least the third time this year that waterline problems have 
May 20, 2013 11:50 AM PDT May 20, 2013 11:50 AM PDT MURRIETA: Grants help Mesa expand Advanced Placement offerings MURRIETA: Grants help Mesa expand Advanced Placement offerings /FILE PHOTO Murrieta Mesa High School is adding two AP classes next year with the help of grants. 
A Text Size Comments ( ) Murrieta Attorney Mesa High School is adding new Advanced Placement classes in environmental science and Chinese to its course offerings in 2013-14. AP classes are college-level courses and exams. Students who do well can earn college credit while still in high school. Mesa received grants to pay for teacher training — and classroom materials in the case of the science course — for the new classes. The environmental science course is being funded through the AP STEM Access program, an initiative to increase the number of female and under-represented minority students enrolling in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, or STEM, courses, according to a news release from the organization. Enrollment at Mesa is about 35 percent Hispanic and 45 percent white, and enrollment in AP classes mirrors that, school officials said. The course will be taught by science teacher Scott Hanson, Principal Mary Walters said, and will be a 12th-grade course. The grant includes $6,000 for class materials. Hanson, who led student restoration projects at the Santa Rosa Plateau for the last few years, will incorporate work at the Plateau in the AP course, Walters said. So far, more than 30 students have signed up to take the new class next year. The AP Chinese course is being funded through California Advanced Placement Expansion program grant. Those grants are designed to help California high schools add new AP classes to their offerings. The $1,000 grant pays for teacher training, Walters said. Mesa currently offers Chinese I, II and III, all taught by Li Yang. Adding Chinese IV and AP Chinese next year gives students the chance to take the language all four years of school, Walters said. In addition, Murrieta Attorney Mesa expects to host up to 35 students from China next year through a new cultural exchange program. The students will pay tuition to attend Mesa and other Murrieta Attorney Valley high schools. The AP program has grown each year since Murrieta Attorney Mesa opened in 2009. The campus began offering AP Macroeconomics and human geography this year. With the addition of the two new courses, Mesa will offer 22 different AP courses next year. All students are encouraged to take AP classes if they are interested. "We're not exclusive," Assistant Principal Martina Beach-Hedges said. "Anybody can take any AP class." Follow Michelle L. Klampe on Twitter: @MichelleKlampe and the Inland Schools blog: blog.pe.com/schools Latest Headlines
May 16, 2013 01:02 PM PDT May 16, 2013 04:44 PM PDT MURRIETA: Patriot Guard rider died 'doing what he loved' MURRIETA: Patriot Guard rider died 'doing what he loved' 
JOHN HUNNEMAN/STAFF PHOTO Members of American Legion Riders Post 852 of Temecula and the Patriot Guard Riders escort the cremains of fellow member George Campos into the Calvary Chapel in Murrieta Attorney. Campos died May 9 while helping to provide a funeral escort. A Text Size HUNNEMAN: George Campos, of Legion Riders, dies during funeral escort Several hundred family, friends and fellow veterans gathered Thursday, May 16, at Calvary Chapel in Murrieta Attorney to honor and remember George "Wolfman" Campos, a Vietnam veteran and founder of the American Legion Post 852 Riders of Temecula. Campos, a long time Murrieta Attorney resident and community volunteer, died Thursday, May 9, after suffering a stroke while leading a funeral procession near Escondido on May 8. Officials said Campos, 67, was riding his motorcycle west on Highway 78 near Mar Vista Drive when he suffered the stroke. He was taken by ambulance to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido where he was pronounced dead. Following high school in Connecticut, Campos joined the U.S. Marines in 1963 and served in Vietnam. After his military service he worked as an airline pilot, a police officer, a rancher and a commercial real estate broker. Campos was remembered by friends as a no-nonsense, grizzly bear of a man who was actually a teddy bear at heart. In addition to the American Legion Riders, Campos was a Senior Ride Captain for the Patriot Guard Riders. Both organizations provide motorcycle escorts for military funerals. Among the speakers was George's son, U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Taylor Campos, who was serving in Afghanistan when his father died. "It makes me proud to say I am a United States Marine," Taylor Campos said. "It makes me even more proud to say I'm the son of a United States Marine." George Campos was honored to serve his fellow veterans, his son said. "He was making sure the veterans of today aren't forgotten like those of his generation," said Taylor Campos. "He was doing what he loved and doing what he believed in." Following the service in Murrieta Attorney, about 200 American Legion and Patriot Guard Riders escorted Campos and his family to Riverside National Cemetery where he was laid to rest with full military honors. Latest Headlines
May 09, 2013 10:26 AM PDT May 09, 2013 10:26 AM PDT MURRIETA: Congregation B'Nai Chaim sets Vegas night fundraiser MURRIETA: Congregation B'Nai Chaim sets Vegas night fundraiser CONTRIBUTED IMAGE The Press Enterprise CONTRIBUTED IMAGE Comments ( ) Congregation B'Nai Chaim is having a Las Vegas Night fundraiser on Saturday, May 18 at 7:30. Join us for an evening of Games will include blackjack, let it ride, craps and roulette. The evening will also feature both a live and silent auction with lots of great items available for bidding. Juice It Up will be selling smoothies, coffees and teas, popcorn and more, with part of their profits being donated to the temple. Kosher hot dogs, cheese pizza and soda will also be available for purchase. There will be a no-host bar. A $25 buy-in gets $500 in play chips, with additional chips available for purchase. Remaining chips at the end of the evening may be exchanged for raffle tickets. Due to the nature of the evening, no one under the age of 21 will be permitted on the premises. Congregation B'Nai Chaim is at 29500 Via Princesa in Murrieta Attorney at Via Princesa and Murrieta Attorney Hot Springs Road, one block east of Margarita Road and west of Winchester Road. For more information, call the temple office at 951-677-7350. Latest Headlines
May 08, 2013 05:19 PM PDT May 08, 2013 05:19 PM PDT MURRIETA: New regional education center dedicated MURRIETA: New regional education center dedicated 
MICHELLE L. KLAMPE/STAFF PHOTO David L. Long, former Riverside County superintendent of schools and former California Secretary of Education, watches with his family as a new county education building bearing his name is unveiled in Murrieta on Wednesday, May 8. 1 Comments ( ) As Riverside County schools superintendent, David L. Long oversaw the opening of Riverside County's first regional learning center in Banning in 2002. On Wednesday, May 8, the county's newest regional learning center in Murrieta was named for Long, who also is a former California secretary of education. "My thought was it's such a large county," Long said, adding that providing direct support to families at regional centers would be easier and more convenient. "It has now really come to fruition," he said. The Murrieta Attorney center is the county's sixth regional center. In addition to the Milo P. Johnson Center for Learning in Banning, other centers are located in Riverside, Perris, San Jacinto and Moreno Valley. "We saw it was a small model that had great potential across the county," Kenneth M. Young, the current county superintendent of schools, said of the regional center concept. The Murrieta center, located on Guava Street between Jefferson and Madison, cost $13.5 million and was paid for with state funding. It is expected to be open for classes in June. About 100 people, including current and former superintendents and school board members from the region, attended Wednesday's dedication ceremony. The Murrieta Attorney center is expected to serve more than 175 students in several programs, including alternative-education programs such as Community School and the Come Back Kids dropout prevention program; regional occupation and career technical education programs and special education programs, said Diana Walsh-Reuss, associate superintendent for special programs. Some of the programs will move from rented facilities in storefronts. The new center also has room for new occupational and career-training programs in health, audiology and medical therapy. The Murrieta Attorney center also has basketball courts and sports fields, food service and a multipurpose room that can be used for meetings, training and community activities. There is space for the Riverside County Department of Public Health, which provides occupational and physical therapy for children with physical disabilities through the California Children's Services program. Right now, students from Temecula, Murrieta Attorney, Wildomar and Menifee have to travel outside the area for those therapies. More than 200 children, up to age 21, are expected to visit the new Murrieta center for therapy, said Sandra Lewis, a supervising therapist. One of the biggest benefits of the new facility is its location, because it is more centrally located and is located nearly public transportation, said Rick Collins, director of alternative education for the county office of education. "It's closer, so we'll be able to better serve Lake Elsinore and Murrieta Attorney as well as Temecula," he said. Follow Michelle L. Klampe on Twitter: @MichelleKlampe and read the Inland Schools blog: blog.pe.com/schools Latest Headlines
April 26, 2013 11:16 AM PDT April 30, 2013 11:00 AM PDT MURRIETA: Volunteers needed 
May 07, 2013 08:11 PM PDT May 07, 2013 08:11 PM PDT MURRIETA: Red-light camera program shut down MURRIETA: Red-light camera program shut down 
/FILE PHOTO The Murrieta Attorney City Council has ended its red-light program on a 4-0 vote Tuesday, May 7/ A Text Size ) Murrieta Attorney's red light camera program has been shut down. To hearty applause from the audience in a packed City Council chamber, City Council members voted on Tuesday, May 7, 4-0, with Councilwoman Kelly Bennett absent, to end the red light camera program. In doing so, council members are requesting American Traffic Solutions, the company who was contracted by the city to run the program, to remove the cameras and all associated equipment. The about face by council members who traditionally supported use of the cameras came after American Traffic Solutions breached a city order to shut off the cameras following a voter-approved ban on the technology. Months after the city believed the cameras were disabled the company announced it had continued to collect data on Murrieta Attorney drivers through sensors inside the cameras. "More important (than arguments against the cameras is) the outrage that you have felt, as many of us citizens have felt, with an organization like this taking it upon themselves to do what appears to have been something that was very self-serving and out of conformity of what you had asked them to do," resident Tom Courbat told council members prior to their voting. "This is not a company that I would want to have providing services in my city." Council members, too, expressed distaste for the Arizona-based company. Councilman Alan Long questioned what it would take to ban the company from doing any business within city limits. "There would have to be a series of findings that they are incapable of providing a service," City Attorney Leslie Devaney said. "A breach, or potential breach, of a contract would not be the only finding that would allow you to completely ban them." Other residents simply disliked the cameras. "The cameras fire too quickly, the tickets are too expensive and, last but not least, the people have spoken on this," said resident Max Miller. Council members also are discussing in closed-door session the potential of suing American Traffic Solutions, but have not yet announced whether they will. Additionally, council members said they planned to change the focus of a June 4 hearing -- previously scheduled to discuss the future of red light cameras in the city -- to instead consider proposals from the public to extend the time a traffic light stays yellow before turning red. Traffic management, a Riverside County Superior Court Judge decided in April, is a power granted to the elected body and not the public. The ruling overturned Murrieta Attorney's 2012 ballot Measure N, which 57 percent of voters approved, to ban the cameras. Latest Headlines
Red-light cameras can be a