Local News

Rose Salgado, who helped steer the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians through many years of growth and was a force for community betterment, passed away on May 14. She was 65. Rose was the youngest of six children born to Ernest Salgado Sr. and Fidelia Juarez Salgado. She, like her father and her siblings, was raised on the Soboba Reservation. She graduated from San Jacinto High School and attended the University of California, Riverside.

Our Hemet/San Jacinto Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma (DKG) did a terrific job making Jared Boxes again this year for the seriously ill kids at Loma Linda Children’s Hospital. Jared Boxes (shoeboxsized) are filled with small toys, books, socks, Nerf Balls, crayons, pens (and other child-oriented things too numerous to mention), to keep the kids engaged and active while they endure long and tedious tests, exams, chemo, and other stressful procedures. (Look online for more information on ways you can help make Jared Boxes for children in your local area hospitals.) This year the DKG teachers made 84 boxes! The value of each box ranges from $25 to $35/box, and they are donated by both the active and the retired teachers who belong to DKG.

It never ceases to amaze me how one story can lead to another. A few weeks ago, I wrote about a local coffee shop that changed its name to The Destination Smokehouse and Eatery, expecting that to be the whole story. But it wasn’t. A previous meeting in a barbershop with the owner led to a more widespread story.

With an open invitation to anyone that wanted to attend, Soboba’s Youth Council, in collaboration with its Parks and Recreation Department, organized a gathering in support of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women’s Day on May 5.

Just when you think you’ve seen and heard everything, something pops up out of nowhere to prove you wrong. That happened to me when I talked to a young man Monday afternoon, a senior graduating from Tahquitz High School in Hemet. His name is Adrien Hanes, an eighteen-year-old from Hemet.