The Friendly Face behind the Counter

 Jeanne Peoples, a Human Resources Assistant, staffs the front counter at DHR's County Operations Center office.

Hers is among the first faces visitors see when they arrive at the Department of Human Resources.

Jeanne Peoples, a Human Resources Assistant, offers each a warm greeting and strives to help anyone who needs it.

It’s not unusual for Peoples, who has served in this position since 1997, to make several phone calls to assist someone who is lost or give a job seeker a copy of her own handmade, six-page job resource list. It’s obvious she loves what she does.

“It’s like making tons and tons of friends,” Peoples said of her job.

Peoples has won so many customer service awards through the County’s Serving Everyone with Excellence program that last year she received a Lifetime Achievement award. The program recognizes employees who provide outstanding service, interacting with courtesy, promptness, attention to detail and respect.

Peoples is the third and final County employee to be spotlighted this month, National Ethics Awareness Month, as part of a series on employees living the County’s core values of integrity, responsible stewardship of resources and commitment to excellence every day. The County’s Statement of Values details them.

Peoples is not one to seek praise. She’d prefer to not talk about herself. She doesn’t think she is doing anything particularly special, said her supervisor, Lisa McAvoy, Human Resources Support Supervisor.  Her customer service skills just come naturally, McAvoy said.

“I know if Jeanne is up at the front counter, I don’t have to worry about it,” McAvoy said. “She deals with things in such a wonderful manner. It’s her instinct to know what to do.”

Peoples almost didn’t end up in this job. Initially she interviewed for a different position at the County. She’d worked in several customer service jobs: at an insurance company and for a veterinarian. But she was up for a non-customer service job. It didn’t take her interviewer long to figure out that Peoples would be good at a front counter, interacting with the public.

What doesn’t Peoples do? Make promises she can’t keep, said Eric Martens, an Office Assistant for DHR’s Loss Prevention division. The two sit directly next to each other in the front lobby of DHR’s County Operations Center office. They work like co-pilots, he said, touching base first thing every morning on what’s ahead and helping each other through the challenges and unexpected issues that make each day different.

Peoples is reliable both with customers and co-workers, he said. Everyone knows she is going to do what she says she will do.

Her goal is simple: make sure her customers leave with more than they came for.

One of the keys, she said, is listening carefully to them to understand their needs. She works to resolve their needs or refer them to someone who can.

The other day a man approached the front counter saying he was there to fix an employee’s computer. The only problem was he didn’t know who he was there to help.

Peoples and Marten called several divisions in DHR to try to track down the employee with the broken computer. They left messages wherever they called and continued calling until they found the employee in need of the repairs.

Every day, Peoples takes calls from people trying unsuccessfully to reach other employees in DHR. She doesn’t just send them to voice mail or take a message. She locates the employee, takes down the caller’s name and number and offers to personally hand the message to the employee or get back to the caller with a status update.

It’s the same with the many job seekers who approach the front counter looking for work.

If they haven’t already checked the County’s online job postings, Peoples shows them how to do so.   Some know little to nothing about how to use a computer, so she starts with the basics.

“They go from frustrated to happy and that’s a nice feeling,” she said.

Job seekers may need to continue searching, and she offers them additional resources. Peoples hands them a job and training resource list that she created on her own. It lists hundreds of websites with job postings. She said she likes to be able to help them in any way she can.

Sometimes, job seekers push her for specific, even confidential, information about the hiring process or their chances. Peoples responds politely, saying she doesn’t have access to that information.

Customers remember her.

Peoples said she’s been approached by customers out in the public who remember her. They thank her for her help.

One time a man approached the front counter 10 years after she had helped him. When he saw her, he remarked, “you’re still here, good.”

Among the qualities her co-workers said they appreciate most about Peoples is the great attitude she has toward her job.

They describe her as a delight to be around.

At the root of it all? Peoples just plain adores what she does.

“It is a wonderful feeling to go to work every day and love what I do,” she said.

Blazing Trails for Babies

 Yessenia Simpi's son, Luis Alfonso, weighed only 1 lb, 15 oz. when he was born. The March of Dimes funds research to help premature babies and promote newborn health.

Whether you walk on the County’s team, donate to a participating co-worker or organize a fundraiser, your support of the March of Dimes make a difference in the community.

But do you know what the nonprofit does? Or where the money it raises goes? 

The 75-year-old organization has a long and distinguished history of working to improve the health of mothers and babies--and being at the forefront in doing so. Turns out, the March of Dimes has funded some of the biggest medical advances of the 20^th and 21^st centuries. Research it helped fund has been recognized with 13 Nobel Prizes.

The County has been one of its biggest supporters in the region, raising $538,718 over the past 10 years through fundraising campaigns. Last year, the County employees collected $42,194.

Hundreds of County employees are expected to walk again this year in the March of Dimes' biggest annual fundraiser, the March for Babies. When it began in 1970, the event was the first charitable walk held in the U.S. The 5K walk happens every spring and is scheduled to take place Saturday, April 13 in Oceanside and Saturday, April 27 at Balboa Park. To register for one of the events or make a donation to your group’s team, visit the March for Babies page on InSite.

Founded by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1938, the March of Dimes' original mission was to end the polio epidemic. With that goal achieved by the 1950s, the nonprofit’s focus shifted to discovering the genetic causes of birth defects. It also worked to promote newborn screenings and educate medical staffs and the public on healthy pregnancies. The March of Dimes supported research for surfactant therapy to treat newborn’s respiratory problems, helped initiate a system of regional neonatal intensive care for premature and sick babies and helped dramatically reduce birth defects by encouraging mothers-to-be to take folic acid.

Over the past 10 years, the March of Dimes has focused on preventing the increasing problem of premature births. It launched a multi-year campaign to raise awareness and research the causes. According to the March of Dimes website, the rate of premature births in the U.S. has risen by 36 percent over the past 25 years. Each year, nearly half a million babies, or one in nine, are born too soon.

In San Diego and Imperial Counties in the past year, nearly 8,900 pregnant women received late or no prenatal care. Of the 47,910 babies born, more than 9 percent were born pre-term.

In an effort to prevent such premature births, the March of Dimes funds research to look for its causes. The organization also supports legislation to improve care for moms and babies.

Among the nonprofit’s initiatives making a difference locally:

• A three-year grant totaling almost $150,000 called the Scripps Mercy Family Practice Residency Program aimed at improving perinatal care for underserved women in the border region.  The grant helps provide education and clinical services to pregnant Latina women in South County. Women receive home visits after their babies are born.
• A $2,660 grant to help La Maestra Community Health Centers purchase educational materials and resources for a program in central San Diego. The program provides prenatal health education classes to 200 low income women each year.
• An investment of $500,000 for research by two scientists at the Salk Institute and UCSD to prevent heart defects.
• A commitment of more than $75,000,000 in support of the Salk Institute since its inception in 1960.

 For more information or to participate, visit the March of Dimes page on InSite.

De Los Reyes is A Woman's Best Friend

HHSA Child Welfare Services Director Debra Zanders-Willis, left, and 2013 Jay Hoxie Award Winner Charisma De Los Reyes.It’s a wonder Charisma De Los Reyes can find time to sleep.

Besides working as a social worker for the Health and Human Service Agency (HHSA), De Los Reyes has been involved in a seemingly never ending list of community organizations and issues affecting women.

That dedication to her community and causes earned De Los Reyes the annual Jay Hoxie Award, presented to an HHSA child welfare services social worker for commitment to others through volunteering in the community.

“Social workers make a difference in a lot of ways outside of work,” said Kerry Hoxie, the late Jay Hoxie’s mother. “They make a lot of lights shine.”

De Los Reyes’ community involvement:

• Co-designed curriculum and ran groups for high school girls about preventing date rape and sexual assault;
• Volunteered with San Diego Youth Services;
• Trains local organizations on human trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of children issues;
• Lead the Purple Rose campaign to bring awareness to the growing numbers of Filipino women victims in sex trafficking;
• Started Action in Motion to prevent young girls from being victimized by sex trafficking;
• Organized an international conference in San Diego on sex trafficking prevention;
• Founding member and current board member of the Mariposa Center for Change;
• Member of the Gabriela Network for 15 years;
• Community organizer for 20 years on issues affecting women;
• Worked with local schools on the issues of date rape and sexual assault;
• Volunteered with STARS (Surviving Together, Achieving and Reaching for Success) for girls 12-17 involved with commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking;

The other nominees for the award were Carmen Robles, Jennifer Elkins, Jennifer Whitton, Renee Keester-Wellman and Vina Sandal.

The honor is named after Jay Hoxie, an HHSA social worker who died in a tragic car accident in 1990. Hoxie was well known for his generous spirit and community involvement.

Hoxie worked with children who are in foster care or adoptions involving cross-border families. He was touched by the plight of Tijuana’s children who lived in the city’s landfill.

“He became involved with those children and started building a school for them,” said Kerry Hoxie. “He would bring kids to go to the San Diego Zoo when they had free days back then and he’d get a company to donate the bus rides and McDonald’s to give every single child a Happy Meal.”

It's Tweenie Time Again!

Click image to see larger version.

Teeny, tiny, Tweenie kitties are about to take over our animal shelters and the Department of Animal Services (DAS) needs volunteers to foster them until they’re old enough for adoption. Volunteers as in you as trusty, responsible County employees!

These kittens are called Tweenies because they fall beTWEEN the ages of four and eight weeks. They're not to be confused with the newborn kitties called neonates which need to be bottle-fed round-the-clock. All these little ones typically bury DAS under what it calls “Mt. Kitten” this time of year.

So DAS is sending out an SOS to County employees again this year to help them with the Tweenies to get out from under all that kitty fur!

DAS turns to County employees because they have proven to be wonderful foster parents of Tweenies in the past. The department goes out of its way to make it as easy as possible. It provides food, litter, litter boxes, toys, beds, and of course…the main ingredient…kittens! All shapes, all sizes, all personalities. All you need to do provide is a safe environment, lots of human contact and love.

No bottle feeding is required but foster parents must take at least two kittens because these babies need the companionship of their siblings.

Your stint as a foster parent lasts until the kittens reach eight weeks of age or weigh two pounds. At that stage, the Tweenies go back to the department where they are neutered/spayed, microchipped, vaccinated and placed in the department’s adoption program!

Tweenies usually are adopted out quickly because, of course they are cute, but they are used to people, want to be with people and it shows. That’s how you make the difference.

Now if you happen to fall in love with your Tweenies, you’ll have first dibbs at adoption. The most difficult thing for some foster parents is letting the kittens go!

So if you’d like to help with Mt. Kitten this year, please email our Tweenie Coordinators at any one of the three shelter locations below.

Some furry felines will surely thank you with loud purrs and maybe a sandpaper kiss or two!

NORTH COUNTY REGION (Carlsbad)

Debbie.Licari@sdcounty.ca.gov

Kathleen.King@sdcounty.ca.gov

SAN DIEGO REGION (Gaines St,. Mission Valley)

Kimberlee.Tardy@sdcounty.ca.gov

Vanessa.Brush@sdcounty.ca.gov

SOUTH COUNTY REGION (Bonita)

Bobby.Keith@sdcounty.ca.gov

Janine.Marr@sdcounty.ca.gov

CECO Gives Nearly $183,000 to Charities

The warm generosity of County employees was on display Thursday, as the San Diego County Employees’ Charitable Organization (CECO) presented grants worth $182,937.99 to dozens of local nonprofits.

In all, 68 programs run by 59 local nonprofits received the funds at a breakfast held at the Spring Valley Community Center. Board of Supervisors Chairman Greg Cox and Chief Administrative Officer Helen Robbins-Meyer both spoke at the event.

To watch County News Center’s coverage of the breakfast, click on this link to the video.

The funds will cover such essential services as dental equipment for UCSD Dental Clinic, which provides free services for the underserved; blankets, towels and other items for the Alpha Project for the Homeless; and soccer equipment for the Boys and Girls Clubs of San Dieguito.

CECO is staffed and funded by County and Superior Court employees and retirees. Founded in 1956, the group donates 100 percent of the funds it receives to help local nonprofits and County employees and retirees who are in crisis. Donations are voluntary and can be made through automatic payroll deductions or one time contributions.

For more complete information on the grants and recipients, check out CECO’s list. For more information about CECO and what it does, visit its website.

 The CECO Executive Commitee pictured at the awards breakfast Thursday. In the front row (left to right) are Mavette Sadile, Eileen Espinoza, Kristen Lowrey and Tracy Watkins. In the back row (left to right) are Peggy Yamagata, Detra Williams, Dennis Gibson, Beverly Randolph and Shirley Chin.

Serving Others is in His DNA

Morris Lazard, a Human Services Specialist in the Lemon Grove Family Resource Center, helps raise money to fund a food pantry in his office. The pantry's Top Ramen noodles, granola bars and pudding cups go to clients in extreme need who can't wait a few days for benefits to arrive. It is completely employee-funded.

Morris Lazard makes a point of starting each conversation with his clients at the front window of the Lemon Grove Family Resource Center by asking them, “How can I help you?”

Most are in dire need. Some don’t know where they are going to sleep next or when their next meal will come, said Lazard, a Human Services Specialist for the County’s Health and Human Services Agency.

“By the time they get here, they’re not having a good day,” he said.

From there, his job is to determine if they are eligible for assistance programs such as CalFresh or Medi-Cal. In the relatively short time Lazard has been in this job, he’s had a profound effect on his clients and those around him.   

Lazard is the second County employee to be spotlighted this month, National Ethics Awareness Month, as part of a series of features on employees living the County’s core values of integrity, responsible stewardship and commitment to excellence every day. The County’s Statement of Values details them.

Clients praise him for the respect and kindness that they say he shows in his every day interactions with them. They have nominated him for so many customer service awards through the County’s Serving Everyone with Excellence program that he received a Lifetime Achievement honor through the program in 2012.

Lazard brings to his job a calm demeanor and a good sense of humor. He doesn’t seem to get flustered easily, and yet he has an empathetic, sensitive touch with clients.

He said he makes eye contact and really tries to understand where they are coming from—but also make sure they know he cares. He then acts as their advocate in determining if they are eligible for assistance.  If so, he makes a point of explaining what they need to do to qualify, and why the process is set up the way it is. To qualify for benefits, applicants must produce sensitive personal information such as bank statements and children’s immunization records.

Lazard’s supervisor, Donnis Crayne, said he is particularly good at explaining the eligibility process.

“He slows down and goes into more detailed explanation, the why, why are we asking for this information,” said Crayne, a Supervising Human Services Specialist.

He is so good with people—and enjoys it so much—that he is one of the first to step in and work with new clients who arrive upset or panicked in the lobby in Lemon Grove.

Just five years ago, Lazard was managing a real estate office in Carlsbad, helping people buy homes. But the real estate and mortgage industries started to nose-dive, and he started looking for another job.  One of his relatives worked at the County and highly encouraged him to apply, so he did. Not long after, the County contacted him with this position in mind.

“What a shift” it’s been, he said. “Now I’m dealing with people who don’t have a home, and who are in serious need.”

But in both positions, he’s been able to help people. And that has been immensely gratifying for him.

Turns out, Lazard practically has customer service in his DNA. His father owned a clothing store in downtown San Diego and had a devoted following of customers. From his parents, he learned the value in taking care of people and also the values of honesty, integrity and ethics. He has applied all of them to his work.

Lazard said he tries to treat others the way he would want to be treated.

Lazard started in the job just months before the economy fully plunged into recession. Still, almost five years later, the office is always busy, he said.

He tries to help clients in as few interactions as possible—to save both their time and the County’s. Some days, he staffs the front window. Other days, he has a succession of four, five or six sit down meetings with clients. The meetings may last from five minutes to an hour and 15 minutes each. The variety suits him well.

“I like contact with people—I’m not good at sitting,” he said.

Clients are sometimes hostile when they arrive, expecting an unpleasant experience.  They may anticipate a long wait and even then, not necessarily getting what they came in for. 

Sometimes life has been tough on them, other times they may not have been keeping up with what they needed to do, he said. Or maybe it’s been a mixture of the two.

He aims to make them feel comfortable and understood.

No matter what frustrations Lazard said he is feeling in his own life, he doesn’t let them creep into his interactions with clients.

“The work is challenging, but he faces it cheerfully,” Crayne said.

In addition to his regular duties, Lazard volunteered to serve as president of the FRC’s House Committee. The group’s mission started out as raising money to replace appliances in the shared employee lunch room. But the appliances have kept up, so the focus mostly shifted to creating an in-house food pantry.

Inside cabinets in the lunch room, sit stacks of Cup of Noodles soup, cups of pudding, granola bars, bottled water, diapers and other basics.

This isn’t for the employees. It’s for clients in extreme need, who have absolutely no income or who can’t wait a few days for benefits to arrive.

“They are pleasantly surprised, quite grateful and appreciative,” Lazard said. “Sometimes (they) even shed a tear of happiness knowing they can feed their family for one or two more days until benefits are on their EBT card.”

Lending a Helping Hand

When you’re a member of the County’s Hazardous Incident Response Team (HIRT) any call can be kind of “hairy” — you know, dangerous — whether it’s responding to a meth lab, a transformer fire or a mercury spill.

But some calls just end up being unexpectedly hairier than others.

Just ask HIRT’s Amy Paquette.

Hurrying off in the dead of night last month to a call about an explosion in Spring Valley, Paquette ended up giving emergency first aid alongside the freeway to a woman who flipped her car over a median and head-on into oncoming traffic on Highway 94.

Paquette, who’s been with the County for more than 12 years and the Department of Environmental Health’s HIRT team for six, said she was responding to a law enforcement call around 11 p.m. after a guy blew up his apartment while using highly flammable butane gas to turn his marijuana into “honey oil.”

She was actually in her hazmat outfit and just coming off of Interstate 805 onto Highway 94 to head to Spring Valley when she rolled up to the crash scene where she saw two men trying to get the woman out of her wrecked car.

“I must have missed it by seconds,” Paquette said. “I could see her car was facing the wrong way and there were two guys who were trying to pry the car door open. Thankfully, no one hit her head-on.”

No other emergency responders — police or paramedics — had arrived.  Paquette quickly rolled down her window, flipped on the emergency lights on her County hazmat car and yelled out to ask if anyone had called 911 and if they needed first aid help. The men, who were able to get the woman safely out of the car, yelled back that no one had called yet and — yeah! — they needed help!

Paquette called the accident in, grabbed her first aid kit and helped get the woman safely out of the roadway. Paquette said the first thing that came to her mind was gratitude — because the County provides DEH’s HIRT members with first-aid “refresher” training every other year. So Paquette said she felt comfortable knowing she would be able to do something to help.

Fortunately, the woman wasn’t seriously hurt, but did have a number of cuts and was “just freaked out.”

Paquette said she bandaged cuts, applied direct pressure to stop the woman’s bleeding and tended to her for “oh gosh, maybe 15 minutes,” until paramedics arrived and took over. You may be asking, “what about the explosion? What exactly is the protocol if you come upon one disaster while responding to another?”

“That’s a great question,” Paquette said. “I knew my partner was going to the same call, so I called him and said I was going to be late. I knew that sheriff’s were on the scene and I knew somebody had control of the situation.”

Paquette’s experience was actually the second time this year that a County HIRT team member happened upon a car wreck and took control of the scene. In January, HIRT team member Todd Burton was driving home from work and came across a collision between a car and a pool cleaning truck carrying hazardous chemicals. In that incident the drivers didn’t need first aid, but Burton called 911, controlled the scene and took care of the chemical spill.

Hazardous Materials Division Chief Mike Vizzier said he wasn’t surprised by Burton or Paquette’s performance and willingness to do the right thing without hesitation.

“The willingness to do the right thing is one of the things we look for in our HIRT team members,” Vizzier said. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. We’re lucky to have people like Amy, and to have such a selfless and expert group.”

As for Paquette, she said she was simply happy that she was prepared to help and had the chance to do so.

“Right place, right time, I guess,” she said. “I was just happy to do what I could. I think if anything, I’d give credit to our department, for the training that they give us. Given our training as first responders, it’s our duty to help if we can.”

Space Filling Up Fast for Free, On-Site Health Screenings

Earning $100 through the County’s Employee Health and Wellness Incentive Program is about to get even easier. But space is booking up fast.

Starting Monday, employees can start to qualify for the incentive by visiting a Kaiser Permanente mobile health van at one of nine County office locations. There, employees can get FREE health screenings to test their blood pressure, glucose levels, body mass index and height and waist measurements.

Employees just need to complete the screening, get a doctor’s signature and send a confirmation form to Human Resources’ Benefits Department. Then, they can go to their health care provider’s website and fill out a Health Risk Assessment. For more detailed instructions and the required paperwork, visit InSite’s Employee Health and Wellness Incentive Program web page.

The mobile vans will make a series of visits to County offices from March 11 to 29. For details on when and where they will stop, check out the schedule.

Appointments are going fast in some locations. As of earlier this week, 100 percent of appointments were reserved at the County Operations Center and Duffy Administration Center, but some walk in appointments will still be available with a County ID. Appointments were still available at the HHSA-South Region office in Chula Vista, North Inland Regional Center in Escondido, Edgemoor Hospital in Santee, East County Regional Center in El Cajon and North County Regional Center in Vista. Appointments at the Health Services Complex on Rosecrans in San Diego were almost all booked.

To sign up, employees can call Kaiser Permanente at 619-641-4536 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Employees can use County time for a health screening in the mobile van, subject to their supervisor’s approval.

Screening results will be confidential.    

The County is not seeking individual data on employees. Rather, Kaiser Permanente will compile results they receive and send them to the County in the aggregate form. The County will use the data to get a better sense of which health issues employees are facing as a whole, in order to craft the most effective employee wellness health outreach programs and activities.

For more information, visit the Employee Health and Wellness Incentive Program web page or contact HR's Employee Benefits Division at 888-550-2203.

For County Employee, Doing the Right Thing Is Only Natural

 Senior Park Ranger Marc Pumpkinthief manages 78-acre Otay Lakes County Park in eastern Chula Vista.

Marc Pumpkinthief gets to know County park visitors, especially the regulars.

So when a frequent visitor to Sweetwater Regional Park, where the senior park ranger was based, became ill a few years ago, Pumpkinthief noticed. The man’s face seemed a little pale and he complained of dizziness.

A former EMT for the National Park Service, Pumpkinthief’s instincts told him it was serious. The man resisted help, but Pumpkinthief insisted and called 911.

It turned out the man had a severe viral infection near his heart. He was going into shock.

After a stint in the hospital and successful recovery, the man returned to the park to thank Pumpkinthief. He nominated Pumpkinthief for a customer service hero award through the County’s Serving Everyone with Excellence program. It was one of three customer service awards--two Superhero awards and one Lifetime Achievement honor--Pumpkinthief has won since the program began in 2008.

Now the senior park ranger at Otay Lakes County Park, Pumpkinthief is one of a few employees who will be spotlighted this month, National Ethics Awareness Month, as part of a series of features on employees living the County’s core values of integrity, responsible stewardship and commitment to excellence every day. The newly renamed Office of Ethics and Compliance created a Statement of Values that spells them out.

Spend some time with Pumpkinthief and it quickly becomes clear that he brings a surge of enthusiasm, creativity and passion to his work. Underlying that is an eye for detail and a deep commitment to integrity.

“I know he loves being a park ranger,” said Amy Harbert, an Operations Chief with the Department of Parks and Recreation. “He loves what he does and if you have a passion for what you’re doing, it comes through.” 

Pumpkinthief’s goal is to make parks welcoming, safe spaces for visitors. He said he wants them to feel comfortable and be able to relax, exercise and connect with nature.

“We want them to feel better leaving than when they got here,” he said. “If people aren’t walking away either smiling or happy, I’m not satisfied.”

His strategy seems to be working. At Otay Lakes, traffic and park revenue have jumped recently. The number of parking permits sold in the past year doubled, he said.

His recipe for success has been simple. He just tries to do the right thing.

“My reputation is really all I have,” Pumpkinthief said. “People who know me know there’s a trust they have with me.”

Pumpkinthief more or less stumbled onto this career path. As an undergraduate student at San Diego State, he saw a flyer on the wall seeking summer volunteers for the National Park Service. He signed up and went off to Utah to work at Natural Bridges National Monument. He knew on his first day of training that he wanted to be a ranger.

“I realized I want to be the connection between people and nature,” he said.

Pumpkinthief said he had been interested in the natural world since he was a kid. He grew up in Northern California playing outside and building teepees. He changed his last name to honor part of his Osage Indian heritage.

After graduating from SDSU, he became a National Park Service ranger and spent time working in Yosemite and Zion national parks and Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico.

Pumpkinthief started at the County in 2007 and spent four years as a ranger at Sweetwater Regional Park in Bonita before transferring to Otay Lakes. There, in eastern Chula Vista, he manages the 78-acre park, along with two other paid employees and eight volunteers.  

Walking around the park one recent morning, Pumpkinthief excitedly explained all the new projects he’s overseen since arriving a year and a half ago.

One of the first things he did was buy chairs for the park headquarters’ front porch.

It was a small, but symbolic step. He and park maintenance worker Robert Major wanted visitors to feel more comfortable stopping in to ask questions or just taking a breather under the shade of the historic adobe.

Nearby, Pumpkinthief and his staff are planting a massive rose garden around a pavilion which he hopes will one day be a destination for rose lovers and the site of many weddings. He has found ways to save the County money in the process. They built planter boxes from scratch, rather than buying them, saving an estimated $3,000.

He also saved money by relying on volunteers to build a new interactive composting exhibit. A group of college students donated their time to construct the compost demonstration garden last year. An area resident also donates horse manure, which is broken down in the garden and turned into soil for the rest of the park, saving another $1,500 in the past year.

Volunteers have spruced up furniture in the park’s headquarters and plan to hold a cleanup event next month with the nonprofit I Love a Clean San Diego and the cities of Chula Vista and San Diego.

“I never turn down volunteer help,” he said.

Pumpkinthief has taken a special interest in increasing disability access. An onsite multi-sensory trail  allows sight and hearing impaired people and those in wheelchairs to stroll along a paved pathway, smelling and touching plants specially chosen for their interesting textures (pencil plant, euphorbia) and aromas (rosemary, pepper tree). 

His favorite part of the job is the challenge of getting visitors to comply with rules but also leave happier than when they arrived.

“It’s all in the delivery,” he said. “I don’t form opinions until I’ve spoken with them and heard what they have to say.”

Harbert praised Pumpkinthief for seeking feedback from park visitors, and being open to both critiques and compliments. He’s quick to volunteer for pilot projects or programs, too.

“He’s always looking for ways to improve the customer experience and to make it better,” she said.

As he’s matured in his role as a ranger over the years, Pumpkinthief said he’s become more focused on educating people and learning from them too.

“Everyone’s family when they’re here,” he said. “Everyone’s a friend. Parks are a community effort. It’s not just one person.”

Sheriff’s Museum Honors Retired Captain for 99th Birthday

The oldest Sheriff's retiree, Leland McPhie sitting on the left shares some 99th birthday cake with San Diego County Sheriff's Museum volunteers and fellow retirees. He was the youngest sheriff’s captain of the San Diego County Jail when he retired in 1969. Now at 98, Leland McPhie is the oldest living San Diego County Sheriff’s retiree.

He will celebrate his 99^th birthday on Sunday, but the docents at the San Diego County Sheriff’s Museum wanted to start celebrating early.

“I like it, I appreciate this,” McPhie proclaimed Wednesday morning in between television and newspaper interviews about his career with the Sheriff’s Department.

Docent staff initially invited McPhie to the museum to help them identify people and events in their photographs archive. After speaking with him, they decided they wanted to honor him for his career accomplishments as well, said Rusty Burkett, who works as a volunteer at the museum in Old Town.  

McPhie joined the department at 26 years old in 1940 and was assigned to the downtown jail. He took a few years off to serve in the Army during World War II. In the Sheriff’s Department, he quickly ascended the ranks to sergeant, lieutenant and ultimately captain. He retired at age 55 after working for four sheriffs.

He spent his entire career working in the jail, first in the jail built in 1911 and then in the newer one built in the 1960s. His biggest career highlight was helping design the 1960s downtown jail with the architect.

In 1998, a new Central Jail was built and the old jail, the Central Detention Facility, on Front Street now houses the psychiatric security unit. McPhie also helped write the policy and procedures manual for deputies working in the jails in 1940, even though he had only worked there a few months. A copy of the typewritten manual is on display at the museum.

On Wednesday, he recalled his first day on the job when he might have used that same manual. He was in one of the first batches of civil service employees to be hired as deputies. He said he scored sixth among all the applicants and he would have scored higher but he didn’t know about local government, not even the name of the mayor at the time. He was simply told to report to the jail at 4 p.m. and the other deputy left promptly at 5 p.m. McPhie relied on an inmate trustee to train him about the procedures in the jail, and called him “my bodyguard.” In return for good guidance, McPhie said he rewarded the inmate with extra food.  

“Looking back it seems kind of strange that all I was told was just to report at 4 o’clock,” he said, referring to the lack of formal training. 

Museum docent Dick Beall, who retired in 1986, said he remembers working with McPhie at the jail and he came in to share some birthday cake with his former supervisor. 

“He was a legend,” Beall said then started telling everyone how McPhie’s nickname among the jail staff was “Silver Fox.” McPhie was obviously amused as he listened to the story. It turned out McPhie got the nickname because he was quiet and stealthy and had silver hair.  

Beall said that to stay on McPhie’s good side, you just had to give him the house count and tell him the money was right every day. Years later, Beall became a captain and ran the South Bay Detention Facility and was given the nickname of Bear in the Woods, though he also never heard anyone call him that to his face.

Leland McPhie High School PhotographWhile working at the jail, McPhie went back to San Diego State and earned his degree. He attributes his success within the Sheriff’s Department to getting a good education. He was quickly promoted to sergeant after only five months on the job and then did that for only nine months before he was promoted to lieutenant. At the time he was promoted to captain, there were only three for the whole department and he was chosen for the job over other lieutenants, some who had been there longer than him.

“I felt pretty good about that,” McPhie said of his rise through the ranks.

If asked, he would advise ambitious deputies to “Get as much education as you can.”  

On Wednesday, McPhie spoke of some of the booking procedures he streamlined, how he designed a lock that was patented, and how back then there might be 20 to 25 women inmates who were in their own cell block and had to have a “matron” sheriff’s female employee sleep in the jail overnight.  

“It’s a living history and we want to get it on video to give to his family and keep for our archives,” said Burkett. “And we’re going to try to get him down here some more because we have an archive of photos.”

After his retirement, McPhie served as an advisor for the military during the Vietnam War. He has also always been athletic and competed until he was 96 years old in the Senior Olympics. He has won many gold and silver medals in the track and field competition.