Year in Review: A look back at Ramona in 2025

Deaths on state Route 67

On July 18, five people were killed after three vehicles collided on state Route 67 in Poway, sparking a half-acre brush fire, sheriff’s officials said.

The crash happened just after 12:30 p.m. at the highway intersection with Iron Mountain Drive, sheriff’s officials said. Deputies arrived to find one of the vehicles had crashed into a ravine, starting the fire.

It was one of the four accidents on SR-67 in Ramona and Poway in 10 days that led to eight deaths – and the latest reminder of why residents and community officials had been lobbying Caltrans for years to make safety improvements on the highway. 

“Our lives are forever changed,” said Robin Joy Maxson, chair of the Ramona Community Planning Group’s State Routes Subcommittee and a member of the SANDAG Board of Directors, representing the unincorporated areas, about the accidents. 

“When ‘dread’ becomes the overwhelming feeling we experience while driving Highway 67 — it is time to take action. It is up to all of us to demand the change our lives deserve,” she said. 

Local law enforcement agencies announced after the accidents that they were working together to increase safety on the highway by stepping up patrols and cracking down on traffic violations.

Caltrans officials noted the $60 million in improvements made to SR-67 from Highland Valley/Dye roads in Ramona to Mapleview Street in Lakeside and nearby communities in the past 10 years. These have included the installation of plastic barriers called “channelizers,” adding high-friction surface treatments and installing signs and guardrails.

At an Aug. 7 Planning Group meeting, Caltrans Public Affairs Manager Steve Welborn said his office has fielded several calls and emails about the fatal collisions.

“I don’t have words to make up for the loss of life, but we are continuing to improve SR-67,” he said.

In March, Caltrans presented the Planning Group with three alternatives for more improvements to increase safety, relieve congestion and improve evacuation routes in case of a wildfire — including one that would include widening the highway to four lanes.

The draft plans for the stretch of the highway from Highland Valley/Dye to Mapleview were created in a partnership with Caltrans District 11 as the lead agency, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), the Federal Highway Administration and consultants, officials said.

The SR-67 Highway Improvements Project is now being studied, officials said. Several studies are happening simultaneously, which will result in a Draft Environmental Report. Design is slated for late 2027.

Local eyesore meets the wrecking ball

The demolition of a graffiti-riddled building that had been at the center of a 20-year redevelopment battle was big news in Ramona.

On July 23, bulldozers plowed through the 2,500-square-foot structure at 1703 Main St. to remove what many in town have called an eyesore, and at worst, “The Crackhouse.”

Steve Powell of Woodcrest Homes, the co-owner of the property who spent 16 years getting the site ready for redevelopment, called the event a “groundbreaking in reverse.”

“It’s worthy of a celebration to bring this building down,” Powell said. “Now we have a site that can be developed in one of the best locations.”

Formerly occupied by the Ramona Home Video and Rags to Riches thrift store along with other small businesses, the building had been vacant for more than two decades, he said.

Powell said he tried for years to develop the 2.25-acre parcel that included the building but was stymied by environmental concerns about vernal pools and endangered fairy shrimp on the property.

He said in July that about 1 acre of the property was available for development after he and his team assisted a group of biologists, engineers, surveyors, lawyers and contractors in creating an onsite restoration preserve for the vernal pools. He also arranged a boundary adjustment on the property to separate the preserve on the back lot.

Two murdered in R-Town: Pastor Felipe Ascensio and Cal Fire Cap. Rebecca ‘Becky’ Moradi

When sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a shooting on Sept. 7 at a home on Eighth Street, they found a man suffering from a gunshot wound.

That man was the Rev. Felipe Ascensio, pastor at Templo Monte Horeb for 10 years. Ascensio died at the scene.

His niece, Gabriela Ledezma, had a hard time believing that the 40-year-old father of two who she described as outgoing and giving to everyone he met, had been killed. 

“The kind of person he was, no one could have hated him,” Ledezma said. “I still do not believe it yet.”

Ascensio is survived by his wife, Abigail, their son, Issac and daughter, Vanna.

Joel Martin Dukes III, a 22-year-old Ramona man, was arrested in connection with Ascencio’s shooting death on Sept. 8, officials said.

Family members and friends declined to talk about how the shooting might have occurred.

But Raquel Tomas, who has attended the Hispanic Christian church services at 969 Main St. since 2019, said church members had gathered at Dukes’ family’s house on Eighth Street on Sept. 7 to cook meals that are sold at the church on Sunday nights.  

Dukes’ family were members of the church, Ledezma said. The shooting took place at their house, she said.

About 250 people attended a Celebration of Life for Ascencio at the Ramona rodeo grounds on Sept. 19. The ceremony featured speeches by about a dozen local pastors. A burial service followed at the nearby Nuevo Memory Gardens.

Dozens of people lined up along Main Street on March 16 as the Memorial Ride in honor of the late Cal Fire Captain Rebecca “Becky” Marodi made its way through Ramona.

The procession organized by the San Diego Litas, an all-female motorcycle collective of which Marodi was a member, traveled from Hillcrest in downtown San Diego through Ramona to Wynola.

Marodi, 49, was stabbed to death on Feb. 17 at her home on Rancho Villa Road in Ramona. Sheriff’s detectives said they were investigating the homicide as a possible domestic violence case, officials said. A warrant was released for her spouse, Yolanda Olejniczak Marodi.

Rebecca Marodi had worked for Cal Fire for more than 30 years in Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties. She began as a volunteer firefighter in Moreno Valley in 1993 and moved up the ladder, becoming a captain in 2022.

On March 22, Mexican authorities arrested Yolanda Marodi after a five-week, bi-national manhunt near a hotel in the Ferrocarril neighborhood of Mexicali.

According to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, the 53-year-old was arraigned on March 25 and booked on suspicion of murder. She pleaded not guilty at the hearing. If convicted, she faces 25 years to life in prison.

“This is a very tragic state of intimate partner violence,” Deputy District Attorney Maura Duffey said after the hearing. “The victim was a beloved member of the Cal Fire community, and I know that this loss is being felt in that community.”

U.S. Rep introduces bill to honor boxing legend

Dan Summers will always remember Aug. 18.

That’s the day he was at the Ramona MMA Center with other local and national officials as U.S. Rep Darrell Issa announced that he was introducing a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives to have the Ramona Post Office renamed as the Archie Moore Post Office Building.

Summers — a Ramona Unified School District trustee — has been lobbying for over a year to get recognition for Moore for his long professional boxing career — with 220 fights and 186 wins — in addition to his service to the Any Boy Can program, which he founded in 1957 to help keep young men off drugs and out of gangs.

“The reason the Post Office is being named in honor of Archie Moore is because he did get knocked down and he got up,” Issa said at the news conference. “He helped youths who got knocked down and got back up. This is an honor for Archie Moore and his family, today and in the future.”

Summers said he appreciated Issa’s efforts to recognize a “great athlete and a great American.” He said he also wants to see a statue and mural of Moore, who lived in Ramona for a time, at the Post Office, he said.

“He chose Ramona as his training site where he trained a young Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) and also trained George Foreman,” Summers said of the boxer, who passed away in 1998 at age 84.

The Planning Group, school district, Ramona Municipal Water District, Ramona Chamber of Commerce, Ramona Town Hall Association, Ramona MMA Center and The Gym fitness center have all endorsed the name change.

Moore’s children, Billy Moore and J’Marie Moore, thanked the crowd for their support. Billy Moore continues to guide youths through boxing at the Any Body Can Youth Foundation in San Diego.

Ramona High School gets a new principal

Mike Giaime, assistant principal at Del Norte High for five years, became the new principal at Ramona High School on July 1.

Giaime, who was chosen from among more than 10 candidates, replaced the retiring Antoinette Rodriguez.

Giaime, 49, is a seasoned educator with 25 years of experience at the Poway Unified School District. The Rancho Bernardo resident of 23 years has a background in administration, athletics and instructional leadership.

“I’ve always had an affinity for the Ramona community and admired its hard-working people,” said Giaime, who has two daughters with his wife, Jennifer Giame. “My wife grew up in Fallbrook, and Fallbrook and Ramona are very similar communities. I felt it was a good fit and a good opportunity.”

Ramona Unified trustees unanimously approved his hiring on April 22.

“We’re very excited about bringing Mr. Giaime on board and we are deeply indebted to Mrs. Rodriguez for her 31 years of commitment to Ramona staff, students and families,” district Superintendent Brian Thurman said.

After Del Norte High opened in 2009, Giaime became the school’s first athletic director and built its athletic program from the ground up. He brought experience in sports as a former football, baseball and basketball player at Mt. Carmel High and college athlete.

When he transitioned to the role of assistant principal at Del Norte High in 2020, he shared responsibility for overseeing roughly 2,600 students in grades 9-12, he said. He also assisted in supervising $22.5 million in building expansion projects, including seven science and social science classrooms, repainting the entire school, adding three turf fields, and installing low-energy, low-impact lighting on the baseball, softball and lower practice fields.

He also founded a Nighthawk Tutoring free tutoring program, led an Anti-Racism Equity Task Force and served on the North County Conference COVID-19 task force for safe athletic program resumption, he said. 

Church has big plans for Ramona

North Coast Church announced in May that it was moving ahead with plans to build a 20,330-square-foot campus on 9 acres formerly owned by Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church in Ramona.

The main buildings proposed by the church include a nearly 6,000-square-foot sanctuary, 4,500-square-foot fellowship hall, and 9,400 square feet of administration and classroom space, said Steve Powell, president of Woodcrest Homes Real Estate Ventures of Ramona, a consultant on the project.

The prime property on the western gateway to town at state Route 67 and Highland Valley Road is recognizable by the Welcome to Ramona sign.

“It’s exciting and nice to see something coming to fruition on that corner that has just been sitting there,” Powell said.

The Ramona Community Planning Group on May 1 unanimously approved a minor deviation that allows changes to Spirit of Joy’s original major use permit for their church project at the site, which fell through in 2021.

The deviation allows the proposed church campus to be upgraded from 19,300 square feet to 20,330 square feet, Powell said. Both proposals are similar and include the construction of a sanctuary, fellowship hall, administration office, classrooms, maintenance building and parking lot, Powell said.

Jamie Looney of Vista-based Unite Pacific, also a consultant on the North Coast Church project, said the Planning Group’s approval was “fantastic.”

North Coast Church currently holds services at Ramona High School. The church also has multiple campuses in Mexico and Southern California, including in Rancho Bernardo, San Marcos, Escondido, Vista and Carlsbad.

Current plans call for developing the Ramona campus in a “modern barn aesthetic” that is consistent with the rural nature of Ramona, Looney said.

“We wanted to have the buildings identifiable behind the Welcome to Ramona sign and wanted them to reflect the sentiments of the community,” said Looney, who has also been a consultant for the church on transitioning its Carlsbad, Fallbrook and San Marcos campuses from temporary to more permanent locations.

Although Looney and Powell did not identify when construction could start, Looney said proponents are optimistic the county will be receptive to the church’s plans.

He declined to say how much the church paid for the property.

Social issues become spiritual for Ramona churches

St. Mary’s-in-the-Valley Episcopal Church is looking at plans to provide affordable housing on vacant land near their Ramona sanctuary.

The church is considering 2.5 acres at the corner of 11th Street and San Vicente Road, which was used as a community garden for more than a decade until it closed in late May, said the Rev. Hannah Wilder of St. Mary’s.

Having a large area of unused property presented opportunities, Wilder said. 

“We believe that land is sacred and we want to steward it in a way that reflects the values of our faith – which is hospitality, justice and care for the most vulnerable,” she said in July. “Affordable housing is not just a social issue, it’s a spiritual issue because as Christians we are called to help our neighbors.”

The Bishop Committee, comprised of St. Mary’s parishioners who meet monthly to make decisions much like a nonprofit board, voted unanimously in June to move forward with studying affordable housing options, she said.

Church leaders are looking at the opportunity to provide housing for anyone in the community – young couples, families, seniors and workers – who can’t afford a median-priced home in Ramona.

Wilder said they have heard concerns that local residents are priced out of homes in the area, some costing $800,000 or more.

“We have been listening to people, connecting with neighbors and understanding the housing needs, that’s why we’re starting this,” she said. “We want to make this financially and practically sound before we move forward so we’re doing studies now.”

St. Mary’s leaders are working with Jessica Ripper, a mission real estate portfolio manager with the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego. One idea they are considering is a three-story apartment complex with one- and two-bedroom units.

Ripper said she helps congregations that are looking to develop underutilized properties. Some churches choose to build affordable homes while others may decide to build child care centers or schools, she said.

“Basically, when they’re looking at the different options in front of them, the way we ask congregations to look at these opportunities, is to think about ‘How does it advance your ministry?’ and ‘How does a congregation respond to an unmet community need?’” Ripper said.

Ripper said she has helped churches throughout the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego – which spans more than 40 churches in San Diego, Imperial and Riverside counties in addition to Yuma, Ariz. – understand their most feasible and realistic options along with land use and zoning laws.

Four Ramona churches joined forces in August to offer teens a “radically welcoming” program that provides them a place to belong.

First Congregational Church of Ramona, St. Mary’s-in-the-Valley Episcopal, Ramona United Methodist and Spirit of Joy Lutheran churches are calling the effort the Ramona Youth Collaborative.

The Rev. Hannah Wilder, pastor at St. Mary’s-in-the-Valley, said the pastors of the four churches want to give youths in grades 6 to 12 an environment where they feel welcome — even if they don’t fit neatly into the boxes society expects. Teens who may be questioning their identity or are feeling out of place can join the collaborative, Wilder said.

“At its core, the collaborative is about giving every young person in the community a place to belong just as they are,” she said. “In a town like Ramona where youths sometimes feel like they have to hide who they are, we are creating a space where they feel they are seen, valued and matter.”

Weekly trips to the beach had already started under the guidance of Ray Swavely, the program’s director. The El Cajon resident was hired by the group of pastors and started his new job on Easter, April 20.

Swavely has been volunteering with youths since he was a student at Valhalla High School in El Cajon, where he graduated in 2010. He has also worked with young people at Foothills United Methodist Church in La Mesa and at Chula Vista United Methodist Church.

He spent much of his time organizing the Ramona program and starting a website for an official launch on Aug. 3. The meetings are held 4 to 6 p.m. Sundays at First Congregational Church, at 404 Eighth St. Participants can read the Bible together, discuss its meaning, play games and build a community with each other, he said.

“The collaborative is something I feel passionate about because it’s four denominations coming together,” said Swavely, 31. “The whole goal is to find a way to make an impact on the children in the community of Ramona. It will be a faith pillar in the community and a fully welcoming place for anyone in the Ramona community to come to.”

Cal Fire upgrading Ramona Air Base

A $12 million construction project that began on Aug. 1 at Cal Fire’s Ramona Air Attack Base is designed to accommodate a new C-130H air tanker, officials said.

The eight- to 12-month project at Ramona Airport will include demolition and reconstruction of the base’s aging tarmac and fire-retardant reloading bays, said Cal Fire San Diego spokesman Mike Cornette.

The project will not only enhance efficiency, but will support the increased size and operational requirements of the C-130H, he said.

Built in 1957, the Ramona base houses one air attack platform and two S-2T air tankers. The new C-130H tanker will dramatically enhance the agency’s wildfire response capabilities in Southern California, officials said

The tankers can deliver about 4,000 gallons of fire retardant, as opposed to the S-2Ts, which can deliver 1,200 gallons. Cal Fire officials have said they can also fly longer, and don’t need to land and refuel as often as their smaller counterparts.

During construction, the plant will be out of operation, officials stated, which requires adjustments to firefighting air operations. Cal Fire has several strategies to ensure uninterrupted air response, according to officials.

The Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base in Riverside County will be used as the nearest fire-retardant reloading facility. A temporary reloading base at Brown Field Municipal Airport in San Diego County will be activated during extended attack wildland fires, or at the discretion of Cal Fire leadership.

Additionally, the two air tankers assigned to the Ramona base will remain fully loaded and available at Ramona to ensure a rapid aerial response in San Diego County.

“Aircraft will remain in Ramona while the tarmac is being replaced,” Cornette said. “If we have a fire, we will send four aircraft instead of two, and we also have a robust helicopter capability.”

Once the Ramona base is upgraded and the C-130H is fully operational, the aircraft will be available for both regional and statewide wildfire response, Cornette said.