Mira Mesa College

DEL MAR: County fair employs 1800 workers

The Del Mar Fair Grounds employs about 1,800 people during the four weeks of the San Diego County Fair, and for many North County residents, the seasonal opportunity provides a much-needed economic and social payoff.

Hiring for the fair begins in January, but the bulk of the positions are filled in April for jobs that run through June and July. Positions include ambassadors, ticket-takers, sellers, exhibit workers, traffic and parking workers as well as a variety of others.

This is the 11th year working at the fair for guest services supervisor Gail Tompkins of Solana Beach and her husband, she said Thursday.

Her children all grew up with seasonal jobs at the fair, Tomkins said, and attending the fair has been a family tradition for 30 years.

Guest Services is the first department to open and the last one to close, Tompkins said. She enjoys the work, she added, which involves handling a large variety of issues on a daily basis.

"I love the fair," she said. "Everything about it is fun and exciting, with all of the music, lights and good food."

Chris Ruge is the operator of an amusement ride called the Slingshot, which he said can fire two adults side-by-side about 150 feet straight into the air at 100 mph.

"I load 'em, pack 'em and ship 'em off," he said

Aside from pressing the button, Ruge said, his job is to make riders feel comfortable and at ease, a feat he said he accomplishes by telling corny jokes.

"It's quite an adrenaline rush," Ruge said of the ride. "It's like sitting in a rocket ship."

Natasha Bogdanoff said that normally she would be attending the fair as a guest, but this year the recent high school graduate from Mira Mesa is working to earn money for shopping and, if there's any left over, perhaps college.

The 18-year-old, who plans to attend nursing school in the fall, said that the fair experience is very different this year because she's not spending the entire day walking with friends, eating and enjoying the rides.

"But that doesn't bother me," Bogdanoff said. "I'm earning money and gaining valuable experience, which will serve me well in the long run."

Jaime Mendoza, livestock coordinator at the fair for the past 11 years, said he is particularly happy to be back this year because the number of animals has increased from about 500 in 2010 to well over 650 this year.

The livestock display is an important part of the fair's tradition, he said, and just about all visitors to the annual event stop by the livestock barn to see the animals.

Green Party Watch » Blog Archive » Dr. Kent Mesplay on GreenStream ...

WASHINGTON, DC — The Green Party’s online livestream show ‘GreenStream’ will feature Dr. Kent P. Mesplay, the party’s first announced presidential candidate for 2012 Monday evening, June 13, 9:00 pm ET, 6:00 pm PT. Native American, Biological Engineering Scientist and Green Party leader Dr. Mesplay will focus on the key issues he plans to bring to his Green Power to The People, including liberating America from the Corporationists, Sustainability equals Security and Civil Rights for All, including native peoples and immigrants. He writes he is running for so many of the common people he’s met and that “Through its Future-Focus, the Green Party embodies tribal wisdom: consider the seventh generation in our thoughts and actions, in our decisions.”

Along with discussion, the one-hour show will present Green news, interviews, video clips, and viewer participation.

Kent was born and raised by Lutheran missionary parents in Papua New Guinea. After returning to America for his high school years he graduated Valedictorian from Mira Mesa High School in 1980. In college, he studied Western and non-Western medicine, earning a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University and he obtained an undergrad degree in Engineering from Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, California. After graduate school, Kent worked at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, in Long Beach, California, before moving to La Mesa and teaching mathematics in the Grossmont Union High School District. He currently works as an Air Quality Inspector at the Air Pollution Control District, in San Diego. Kent ran for the Green Party presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008 and ran for the GP nomination for Senate in California in 2006. His Green Power to the People campaign is nationwide, cross-cultural and inclusive of all The People.

Starlene Rankin and Craig Seeman of the Green Party’s Media Committee have coordinated and hosted previous shows which covered various topics including including Wisconsin Green Party actions against Gov. Scott Walker’s outrages, Green responses to the Bin Laden assasination, Aftermath of the BP Ecodisaster in the Gulf and Rachel Treichler on the harmful process of Hydrofracking.

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PLEASE EMBED LINK WHERE YOU CAN

Wow. Really impressed so far (listening to the interview). “[if you spend time growing your own food, then you have to spend less buying power to get food, and then don't have to spend as much time working for money]” – exactly my point. We need to continue to work politically, but when we think our political action is the end-all-be-all of solving the world’s problems we fail to solve them.

Mira Mesa

Frommer's San Diego 2011

Insiders' Guide to San Diego

Mitigated negative declaration for the Mira Mesa / Miramar College transit center

Asian American art, 1850-1970