ARTICLES

Battle of San Pasqual

CATHOLIC PARENTS THWARTED BY COUNTY SUPERVISORS

In the January 28 issue of the The Southern Cross, the diocese of San Diego announced plans to move Uni High School from its current location in Linda Vista, across the street from the University of San Diego, to Carmel Valley. According to the article, "an extensive survey and broad consultation led to the conclusion that rather than build a new high school on State Highway 56, Catholic families in Central San Diego will be even better served than in the past by the development of Uni High School which is not possible where it is located now but will be possible at the new location."

The Uni move, however, does not end the years-long quest to establish a second Catholic high school to serve residents in the northernmost portions of San Diego County. Beginning during Bishop Leo Maher's tenure, efforts continue to be made to establish a school within the "real" North County, due to a feeling amongst many North County Catholics that the Uni move will not serve either Central San Diego or North County residents well.

About 12 years ago, Doctors Arthur Stehly and Charles S. Smith established St. Thomas Aquinas school, but because the school was not under diocesan direction, it folded within a couple of years, according to an Escondido resident familiar with its history. The same resident expressed hope that the Sierra Madre Academy, currently operating in San Marcos, may someday grow to include a high school. Most recently, a group of North County Catholics, including Peter LaVelle and Deacon Ken Finn of Escondido, have endeavored to purchase the San Pasqual Adventist Academy, a boarding school in San Pasqual Valley, about four miles east of the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

The history of the San Pasqual academy dates back to 1898, when it was home to a small elementary school. Later, in the late 1940s, the property was deeded by owner Irvin Georgeson to the Seventh Day Adventist Church, of which he was a member. At the time, a verbal agreement was made between Georgeson and the church that the property would be used solely by Christian institutions for the purposes of education. According to Elton Georgeson of Ramona, grandson of Irvin Georgeson, "My grandparents made the Seventh Day Adventists a good deal on the property, just for that purpose."

True to the Georgeson family's intentions, the Seventh Day Adventist church used the property for just that purpose, for many years. From 1949 until 1997, the church ran a boarding school with a peak enrollment of over 300 students. The school's amenities include classrooms, dormitories, a worship facility, gymnasium, and cafeteria. Three businesses--a bindery, an egg ranch, and Spackers Packaging and Assembly Industries--also operated on the site.

Declining enrollments caused the academy to close in June 1997. An unsuccessful attempt was made later that year by alumni to raise sufficient funds to save the school. When their attempts to raise enough funds to meet operating expenses failed, the Southeastern California Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, official owners, put the property on the market.

Even before the property was officially put on the market, several unsolicited offers were received. In a June 1998 article in the San Diego Union Tribune, conference superintendent Charles McKinstry said that he was surprised by the level of interest in the property, for which the minimum acceptable bid was $15.5 million. Many of the bidders, he added, were Christian groups wanting to operate a school or training center at the site--including LaVelle's group of Catholic businessmen. Another was the County of San Diego.

In June, 1998, following a closed-door session of the County Board of Supervisors, the County of San Diego placed a bid on the San Pasqual Academy. According to the same San Diego Union Tribune article, the County's desire to acquire the property had little to do with perpetuating its use as a Christian educational facility. Instead, the article said, "County officials think the 238-acre site would be a wonderful location for a North County juvenile facility and perhaps an emergency shelter for neglected and abused youths."

The County's desire to acquire the property for this purpose may have something to do with a successful lawsuit waged against it in 1990 by the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, over concerns about overcrowding at Juvenile Hall. In 1998, the ACLU again threatened to sue to County for overcrowding at its existing juvenile detention facility.

The County's June bid was unsuccessful. It lost to an Encinitas businessman, Stephen Oles, who reportedly wanted to use the property as a retreat center for missionaries just returning from overseas assignments. A few months later, in September, 1998, Oles was indicted by a federal grand jury in Huntington, West Virginia, on wire fraud and other charges. As a result, the Seventh-day Adventist church dropped negotiations with him, and the property again became available.

Again, bids were accepted on the property--and this time, the County of San Diego won. Following a second closed-door session on October 13, the County gave $500,000 of taxpayer funds to the Seventh-Day Adventist church to hold the property for 18 months while environmental impact studies are conducted and a master plan developed.

The County's winning bid came as a surprise to LaVelle, Finn and others, who learned of the results of the bidding from reading an article in the San Diego Union-Tribune in December. They also did not realize that the Seventh-Day Adventists were willing to accept a retainer on the property.

Speaking before the County Board of Supervisors on January 12, Deacon Finn asked, "Is it ethical or is it illegal to take a half-million dollar speculation, to put it on a piece of property to tie it up for a year, and then hope to try to do some rezoning, some ordinances--but if that fails, then half million dollars of taxpayers' money goes out the window?"

Finn further stated, "I realize that this was done in a closed-door, executive session, but my understanding is that if you make a decision in (a closed-door session), and then you go and you notify the public and then you come back and vote on it, that would be the normal procedure--and that wasn't done. So, as a taxpayer, I ask 'Why?' "

Jack Miller, head of the County's General Services office, is responsible for real estate negotiations for the County of San Diego. John Cross, deputy director of the GSA, explained to News Notes that the results of closed meetings are available to the public, if the public so requests. "We checked all the deeds on the property back into the 1940s," said Cross, "but could not find any stipulations regarding the intended use of the property."

The Brown Act is legislation for the state of California that governs, among other things, the means by which closed-door sessions--and the decisions made in them--are supposed to be announced to the general public. The Brown Act states that closed-door sessions are permitted for real estate negotiations. However, such sessions must be announced prior to their being held, and the results must afterward be made available to the public for voting. The agendizing of such sessions is performed by the County Clerk's office.

Jan Bryson, secretary to County Board Clerk Thomas Pastruszka, said that closed-door sessions may be agendized on Fridays, for the following Tuesday or Wednesday. The agenda is posted within the County Administration Building on Pacific Highway and is also distributed to the Planning Commission, other agencies, and posted on the Internet. Despite a constant on-site media presence, however, agendas are not necessarily published in any of the County's major newspapers.

News Notes contacted Charles McKinstry, superintendent of schools for the Southeastern California Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, to ask if he was aware of the desire of the Georgeson family regarding the intended use of the academy property. Through his receptionist, McKinstry refused comment, but added that if there were any document containing such a stipulation, he would be very interested in seeing it.

According to Robert Duncan of County Supervisor Pam Slater's office, the County's plans for the property are not definite. However, in her televised State of the County speech in January, Slater mentioned plans for a new juvenile facility, though she did not specifically state that the San Pasqual Academy is the intended location.

Reacting to these developments, Elton Georgeson said, "I don't know of any paperwork that states in writing my grandfather's intentions (for the San Pasqual property.) But I do remember my family often speaking of how the property would always be used for Christian education. Back then, verbal agreements were sufficient, and a man's word was as good as his bond. My grandparents didn't think anything like this would ever happen."