News Briefs

Small fire causes moderate damage to Vacation Dr. home

A small fire which appeared to be the result of an unattended burning cigarette, caused minor damage to a house on Vacation Drive.

City Manager Chris Mann at the City of Canyon Lake reported a small residential structure fire occurred Friday morning. At 11:39 a.m., units from Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire at 22178 Vacation Dr. Units arrived on scene to find smoke coming from the rear of a 2,800 sq ft two-story residence.

The fire was quickly contained to a portion of the upstairs balcony and master bedroom. The smoke damage was limited to a portion of the 2nd story and moderate fire damage to the master bedroom. One of the homeowners received minor smoke inhalation, but refused medical treatment. The suspected cause of the fire is a cigarette which was left burning on the balcony outside of the master bedroom.

City of Canyon Lake Code Enforcement Officer Fred Lopez was on duty and responded to the scene. No structural damage was observed, just a burned-out electrical outlet outside and smoke/water damage inside.

The owner disconnected power to the master bedroom, was advised to not occupy that room until it could be repaired, and was directed to contact the City’s Building and Safety Department for permits.

Boy Scout looking for donations

All Boy Scouts applying for the coveted Eagle Scout Award are required to complete an Eagle Project that benefits the community. Canyon Lake Boy Scout Blake Dalton is entering the final phase of his pursuit of the Eagle Award with a project that will result in building a significant food donation box for the H.O.P.E. Food Pantry.

Also part of the process for completing an Eagle Project is raising the funds to complete it. Blake is hoping to obtain enough funds to build the box from a garage sale that will take place at 22636 Pin Tail Drive in Canyon Lake on Sept. 19 and 20 from 8:00 a.m. to noon.

He is now soliciting items to sell at the garage sale and is hoping Canyon Lake residents will donate items to be sold (he is asking donors to not bring clothes or “junk”). Donations will be accepted at the same location as the garage sale on Sept. 18.

The idea to build the box for the food pantry came when Blake became aware that because of the limited hours the pantry was open, donations were not being received or were being dropped off and left in the open. Blake hopes this box he is constructing as part of his Eagle Project will resolve this issue and will help those in need in the Lake Elsinore area.

Blake is a senior at Temescal Canyon High School and has been active in local Troop 2011. He has served in his troop as Senior Patrol Leader, Patrol Leader and other positions.

Family Matters holding pasta fundraiser to raise club funds

Christmas is one of the highlight times of the year for the Canyon Lake Family Matters Club. During a typical year, the club holds events that produce funds which are used for philanthropic donations and to put on free events, including a Santa Letter Program where Canyon Lake kids receive letters from Santa and treats.

With the club not being able to hold its regular events because of COVID-19 restrictions, it is turning to fundraisers to obtain the funds it will need to put on the Santa Letter Program.

“We are raising money for our Christmas/Santa Letter Program in hopes to still be able to do it this year,” the club’s Shawna Bowen said. “We are needing your help in reaching our fundraising goal.”

Selling Fun Pasta is the fundraiser the Family Matters Club is conducting in September. Fun Pasta is healthy fun pasta shaped like the holidays, sports, collegiate team logos and more. The Fun Pasta colorful brochure and its website show a wide variety of products that will appeal to everyone, Shawna said.

“Please share the fundraiser website and help support our fundraising efforts,” she said. “Many thanks for helping us reach our goal.”

Purchases can be made at www.funpastafundraising.com/shop/canyon-lake-family-matters-club or by emailing the club at info@familymattersclub.org for more information. There is free shipping on orders over $55 and all products are made in the USA in small batches for freshness and quality. Orders can be made until Sept. 30.

The Santa Letter Program the club hopes to continue this year is open to kids under the age of 18 who submit a letter and wish list to Santa in care of the Family Matters Club. Children who submit their letter receive a letter back from Santa and a special treat to leave out on Christmas Eve.

Langes celebrate 50th anniversary

Mary and Jim Lange will mark their 50th wedding anniversary Sept. 19, but the celebrating has already begun.

“We booked a trip to Napili Bay in Maui for the whole family for the celebration, but COVID-19 cancelled the trip,” Jim said. “However our boys took the reins and rented a large house in Mission Beach, San Diego. The family celebration was awesome! We’ll try again for Maui next year.”

After meeting in Torrance on Thanksgiving 1969, they were married in 1970 at St Jerome’s Church in Westchester, CA.

Mary and Jim spent 44 years in Huntington Beach and raised their family of three sons there. Jim worked 41 years as a field engineer for IBM Corp and Mary was a part-time registered dental assistant.

They moved to Canyon Lake in April 2014 and have been enjoying lake life in their retirement years, Jim said.

East Gate “stopsicles” to test strikes

The Canyon Lake POA is experimenting with a new approach to averting barrier gate arm strikes when the arms are down. The nickname, stopsicles has caught on as a name for these experimental arms with a raised stop sign attached.

There is a good reason for these experimental devices to exist at that location. In the past year, there have been 135 gate arm strikes at the East Gate. It is nearly impossible for lifted trucks, motor homes, utility trucks, taller vehicles, delivery vehicles, etc. to see the standard gate arms when they are in the down position. Adding a raised stop sign is a simple solution which allows these taller vehicles to see that the arm is down.

Adding to the driver confusion at East Gate, is the fact that two of the gate arm motors are mounted on the same island, and often, when the arm next to the drivers lane is in the upright position, drivers get confused and think that their barrier arm has also been raised, when it has not.

There have been gate arm strikes at every gate, but the vast majority occur in the middle and oversize lanes at the East Gate. These new signs need to pivot to not break. The islands between the lanes at the East Gate are only about a foot wide. If each lane had two foot-tall rigid signs sticking out horizontally, the next tall vehicle would just break them off when they drove through the lane.

The association is experimenting with at least three versions of this simple experimental device. These types of devices do not exist anywhere on the market, so the POA had to invent something.

They sure seem to be working. Since they have been installed, there has been only one incident.

The goal of the experiment is to reduce damage to member vehicles and damage to POA property.

More than 250,000 cars and trucks pass through the three gates every month.