Resources for Rebuilding...

I heard about this event (San Diego Rebuilds) on the radio, and it sounds very useful -- especially the expertise and advice that will be available. It's a one-day affair in Escondido, but I suspect that if you're rebuilding, it would be well worth your time to attend:

Here is why this event is so important

Lessons learned during the Cedar Fire

Many fire victims were unfamiliar and unprepared to deal with the rebuilding process. Many became easy prey for unscrupulous, sleazy contractors. It was well documented that several were “revictimized” at the hands of these crooks; making absurdly low estimates, taking large deposits and then disappearing, poor workmanship, delays, etc. Others were stalled in the bureaucracy of the city’s building departments costing them precious time and money from their insurance settlements. Much of this aggravation could have been prevented with some help.

It is our intent to get all the players in one room— A one-stop shop if you will, where the 2007 victims can come and get honest assistance and opportunities to meet local building officials, licensing board, attorneys, tax and lending professionals, verified (licensed, insurance, comp, bonded) contractors, architects, estimators and other suppliers.

The organizer of this event was being interviewed by Roger Hedgecock (who is himself involved in the event to some extent). It sounds like this is completely a volunteer effort -- there is no cost to this event (either for fire victims or for the contractors and architects, etc.), so this is not an attempt to make some money from our neighbor's pain. From the interview, I gathered that the main goal of this event was to make it easy for people rebuilding to get all of the information they need, and (perhaps especially) to check out the vendors present so you know they are not going to rip you off.

Cross-posted from Jamul Fire Help.

Cow Rescue...

A cow in a culvert, somewhere near Jamul (along 94). Rescued by the San Diego Human Society…

JAMUL, Calif. -- Thanks to a specialty rescue crew and some beefy equipment, Violet the cow is no longer stuck livestock.

The brown-and-white bovine, who had wandered away from her owners' Jamul home overnight, got spooked, bolted and slipped into a concrete culvert when a highway patrol officer approached her alongside state Route 94 about 9:30 a.m. Monday, according to the San Diego Humane Society.

It took a volunteer crisis team that works with the animal-welfare agency about two hours to hook the roughly 1,700-pound cow to a harness rig and haul her out of the ditch with a crane, said Candice Ely of the SDHS.


A veterinarian then looked her over and determined that she was unscathed by her misadventure, Eley said.

Violet normally is pastured in Campo, but her owners had brought her to their rural home so they could care for an eye infection she had developed, Eley added.