The draft environmental impact report (DEIR) for the Interstate 5/State Route 56 connectors project will be released on Friday, May 18. Public input is encouraged and must be sent in by July 2 on the alternatives to make the missing connections between westbound SR-56 and northbound I-5, and southbound I-5 and eastbound SR-56.

The EIR will be available for online viewing at keepsandiegomoving.com and a hard copy will be available at the Carmel Valley Library. A public meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 13, at Del Mar Hills Academy from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Looking at the timeline, Caltrans I-5 Corridor Director Allan Kosup said Caltrans expects to make its decision on the preferred alternative by late 2012. The final EIR would be released in late 2013, with project construction targeted for 2020-2030 if any build option is selected.

“I don’t see this moving ahead until I-5 is widened in this stretch and right now it’s targeted for the 2020-2030 time frame,” Kosup said.

Kosup said that this is the last chance to do the connections here because once the widening project occurs, it will be too cost-prohibitive and expensive to go back and retrofit for some kind of linkage of 5 and 56.

“We’re trying to incorporate into the I-5 project, that’s really the urgency to make a decision on what (the connection) should look like,” Kosup said.

The project’s steering committee met on Tuesday for a “Cliff’s Notes” version of the DEIR findings, the group’s first meeting in almost two years. Very little has changed about the five alternatives that are studied in the document: The no-build option; a direct connector; the auxiliary lane alternative; the hybrid alternative; and the hybrid with flyover connecting east-bound Carmel Valley Road to eastbound SR-56 and the northbound portion of the direct connector.

Kosup said the goal is to develop a project that is sensitive to the community and the environment while addressing local congestion, cut-through traffic and regional connections.

“The DEIR helps us find if the benefit of the project is worth the cost and the impacts,” Kosup said. “There are no perfect alternatives, none perform the best in all the areas. We have to find the balance.”

The DEIR includes nearly 20 technical reports on key issues of congestion relief, noise, visual impacts, right of way, environment and cost-effectiveness. Kosup said that the DEIR is “deluged” with traffic information.

In initial findings, the DEIR reports that in all the alternatives but no-build, the freeway pulls about 9,000 trips out of city streets in the westbound 56 commute in the morning hours. The direct connector pulls about 12,000 trips off the city streets in the eastbound direction during the evening commute, while the same benefits aren’t seen with other alternatives.

In addition to relieving local congestion, the DEIR shows the impacts of the alternatives in travel times.

The report also looks at the “significant” proposed noise abatement program, with sound walls and the possibility of using a new type of pavement to reduce noise. The report also includes options for the Portofino Drive neighborhood above I-5 to attempt to minimize the impacts of the direct connector alternative and attempt to leave it better by increasing the usable space of yards and landscaping.

“If that alternative is selected, we definitely want to sit down with the community and figure out how to best do things,” Kosup said.

In all options the Del Mar Heights bridge will be replaced, so the report also looks at potential improvements to the bridge with bike and pedestrian lanes and plantings.

For more information or to view or download the DEIR, visit keepsandiegomoving.com.

Camp Pendleton Young Marines will be the honor guard. State Senator Mark Wyland will be the guest speaker, as well as Solana Beach Mayor Joe Kellejian and Randy Treadway, Post Commander for VFW Post 5431.

The Santa Fe Christian School Band will perform patriotic songs. A special “Doves from Heaven” release will be provided by Joe and Leslie Irwin. The Veteran’s Memorial wall, which honors the service of all Solana Beach Veterans of Foreign Wars, will be available for viewing. Docents from the Civic and Historical Society will be on hand to conduct tours of the Historical Museum. Light refreshments will be served. The event is free of charge and open to the public. For more information, please call 858-720-2453.

Fred Schenk

San Diego law firm Casey Gerry Schenk Francavilla Blatt & Penfield, LLP, has been appointed by U.S.  District Court Judge Anita Brody to serve on the Plaintiffs Steering Committee which is overseeing national MDL litigation against the National Football League (NFL) alleging that multiple concussions can lead to long-term brain injuries. Casey Gerry is one of only nine law firms in the nation – and the only one in San Diego – serving on the leadership committee.

Firm partner and Carmel Valley resident Frederick Schenk will represent the firm on the Steering Committee, which is charged with overseeing pre-trial discovery; coordinating, submitting and arguing pre-trial motions; deposing and examining witnesses; introducing evidence at hearings; and negotiating stipulations and settlements with defendants. Also playing a role is partner and Carmel Valley resident Robert Francavilla, who will serve on the medicine and science sub-committee, which will retain experts and research the medical and scientific literature to help identify the relationship between playing football and developing head injuries.

According to Schenk, the lawsuits, which earlier this year were ordered to be consolidated in a Philadelphia federal court, are focused on compelling the NFL to provide medical monitoring for cumulative head trauma for former players who are – or could in the future be – victims of the repetitive traumatic brain injury they sustained while playing in the league. “The league has known for years of the inherent dangers of multiple blows to the head, but delayed sharing their knowledge with the players,” Schenk said.

Robert Francavilla

Added Francavilla, who has worked on numerous personal injury cases involving serious head injuries, “we believe it is the NFL’s duty to warn the players of the dangers, to protect them on the field and to educate them about the immediate and long-term effects of concussions.”

The relationship between concussions and subsequent emotional distress has been documented in numerous studies, and these findings have resulted in more than 1,700 players filing suit since 2011 including the most recent on May 3 in the US District Federal Court in Georgia. Fueling the litigation – as well as renewed focus on the consequences of multiple concussions – is the tragic suicide of former San Diego Charger’s football player Junior Seau, although it is yet to be medically determined whether he suffered the kind of head injuries that have led to depression and dementia.

All of the lawsuits contend the league has not done enough to educate players or to protect them from concussions and multiple blows to the heads. The former players also allege that the league failed to care for them afterwards.

About Casey Gerry
Celebrating more than 65 years in San Diego, Casey Gerry was established in 1947, and is the oldest plaintiffs’ law firm in San Diego. The firm’s 14 attorneys practice in numerous areas, including asbestos, personal injury, product liability and pharmaceutical litigation. Located in the Banker’s Hill neighborhood of San Diego, the firm also has a satellite office in Carlsbad, Calif. For more information, call (619) 238-1811 or visit  www.caseygerry.com.

The featured speaker for this year’s Memorial Day Service is Lt. Col. Larry G. Brown, USMC. He is currently assigned to Third Marine Air Wing, MCAS Miramar. Larry, his wife, and two daughters are active members of St. Peter’s.

Please contact the church office at 858-755-1616 as soon as possible if you would like to include the name of a deceased military member, so that they may be remembered and prayed for during this important service. St. Peter’s Del Mar is located at 334 14th St. in Del Mar Village, one block east of Highway 101.

The Coastal Communities Concert Band is holding a particularly special performance on May 20, which will celebrate the work of longtime band member and Del Mar resident Bruce Warnock, 93.

The award-winning band, directed by Dr. Robert Fleming, will perform Warnock’s original “Del March,” written about San Diego’s Hotel Del, Fleming said. Warnock has played trumpet in the band for nearly 25 years, but now suffers from a post-polio condition. The band will also perform a piece called “Dirty Dish Rag,” also written by Warnock.

Warnock said his musical career dates back to the 1920s in Chicago, where he grew up. He said he remembers riding the streetcar when he was 9 to play at the Paul Rader’s Tabernacle Orchestra on the far north side of Chicago. He also tried out for the Major Bowes Amateur Hour in New York at a young age and continued traveling the country for two years, playing in cities from coast to coast. He traveled by bus and made $35 per week.

Warnock taught public school music for 15 years in Illinois and Michigan, and moved to San Diego to become a real estate broker.

The performance will take place at 2 p.m. at the Carlsbad Community Church, located at the corner of Jefferson and Pine Streets in Carlsbad. The cost is $15 for general admission and $12 for seniors and students. For purchases in advance, contact Kris Sims at (760) 436-6137. Information is available at www.cccband.com.

CCA Envision Cinema students Hunter Peterson and Josh Masters will have films screened at the LA Film Festival this year, as well as this weekend’s film festival at CCA.

Canyon Crest Academy’s Envision Cinema conservatory is capping off an extremely successful year with its sixth annual Film Festival, to be held this Saturday, May 19, at 7 p.m. More than 20 films will be screened, all a length of five minutes or less, featuring several comedies, dramas, a “spaghetti western,” sci-fi, documentaries and even two films featuring hand-drawn animation.

“These kids are doing great work,” said visual arts teacher Mark Raines. “It should be a really good show.”

The festival will crown winners in each category and the audience will get to select the audience choice winner.

As a lucky bonus, the festival will feature two student films that were selected to be a part of the 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival in the Future Filmmakers category, screened on June 16 and June 23 at LA Live. Senior Hunter Peterson and sophomore Josh Masters are only the second and third CCA students to achieve such an honor with their films, “Binary” and “Whither From Above.”

“It’s really a big deal,” said Raines. “I’m so proud of these guys because it’s one of the largest film festivals in the country and the student work is phenomenal. We’re definitely producing that kind of work at CCA and the festival saw that.”

In addition to CCA’s recognition at the LA Film Festival, six CCA films have been nominated for the San Diego County Board of Education’s iVIE Film Festival in broadcast journalism, nonfiction film and Raines’ own video in the classroom about his experience in Haiti after the earthquake in 2010.

Winners will be announced in June.

Josh’s LA Film Festival-recognized movie, “Whither From Above,” is about a student who has a dream that aliens are talking to him and the next day a UFO comes to get him at school. Richard Liu, Alvin Lin and Justin Bartell also worked on the film.

“I wanted it to be something that was unique visually, with a ‘wow factor’ to it,” said Josh. “I wanted to have fun and create something wild and crazy and cool.”

Mission accomplished on the “wow” factor as Raines said the first time he watched the film in class, seeing a UFO hovering over the CCA campus, he was blown away.

Josh made the film in a regular film class last year before joining Envision conservatory this year, which was the reason he made the choice to attend CCA.

“It’s amazing being able to pursue your interests and have the freedom to do it,” said Josh.

Hunter’s film is called “Binary” and is combination of science fiction and a “feel good film,” with a little nod to his favorite childhood movie “Short Circuit.” He received help on the film from Alexander Powell, Alvin Lin, Blake Johnston and Matt Britt.

“It’s probably one of my favorites that I’ve ever done, I’m very proud of it,” Hunter said.

Starring the young Malachy Martinez, it is about a boy who finds a mysterious box that prints an endless stream of binary paper. The boy and the machine figure out a way to communicate with each other in a very sweet, moving story.

Peterson has come a long way from where he started in the film conservatory when he was into effects-driven things. Now he’d rather build something for the set, like the “Binary” box than have an animated one.

“What I learned this year, I’ll stick with for the rest of my life: That it’s better to do something in production not in post,” said Hunter, who will attend USC in the fall, hoping to be in university’s film school by 2013.

A total of eight film conservatory seniors are graduating this year, the first group that Raines has had all four years and the majority have been admitted into some great film schools and programs.

“They’re a stellar group,” Raines said.

This year’s film conservatory was helped by having two amazing guest artists: Destin Daniel Cretton and Brad Kester. Cretton’s film “Short Term 12” played Sundance in 2009 and won the US Jury Prize. His first feature film, “I Am Not A Hipster,” premiered at Sundance this year.

Kester was an assistant director on “Short Term 12” and a second unit director on “I Am Not a Hipster.”

The guest artists provide a unique, “real-world” education for the students and are fully funded by parent donations.

“It’s getting harder and harder to retain them,” Raines said of the guest artists. “There’s a need for more donations and help.”

Fundraisers like the film festival help give the program the boost it needs.

The students also work very hard to fundraise for their guest artists, putting on the Mini Cine fest earlier in the year and selling various artwork, raising a total of $6,000.

“It gives them a sense of ownership of the program,” Raines said. “They’re saying ‘We value the guest artists a lot and this is our contribution and we’d love it if you’d partner with us.’”

Tickets to the Film Festival are $10 for adults and $5 for students, with all monies going toward Envision film. Donations can also be made online at canyoncrestfoundation.org/donate-online. Donations should be designated to “video/film.”