Hit-and-run suspect crashes east of Ramona during pursuit

A suspect in a hit-and-run crash led a California Highway Patrol officer on a chase before crashing east of Ramona on Tuesday night, an official said.

The hit-and-run occurred on state Route 67 at Poway Road in Poway when the suspect allegedly hit another vehicle about 8:40 p.m. No one was hurt, CHP Officer Travis Garrow said.

A CHP officer was on his way to the crash site when he spotted a green 1998 Toyota 4-Runner that matched the description of the hit-and-run driver’s vehicle.

The driver fled east on state Route 78 near Ramona Trails Drive, reaching speeds of up to 100 mph, Garrow said.

As the man passed Deer Canyon Drive, he failed to negotiate a curve and lost control of the 4-Runner, which veered across westbound lanes and went up a dirt embankment. It hit a barbed wire fence and sign, then overturned before it came to rest on its wheels atop the embankment.

The man suffered minor injuries. He was arrested and taken to a hospital for treatment.

Officers later learned the suspect apparently rammed the 4-Runner into the car of family members in Alpine prior to the Poway crash. No one was hurt, Garrow said.

Ramona small-business owners are committed to keeping their battered enterprises open, with hopes that coronavirus vaccines will help lift the statewide regulations that are affecting the restaurant, hospitality and service industries.

In the meantime, they are adapting to the pandemic by giving up offices, relying on second jobs and spouse’s paychecks, and applying for loans to keep their employees working and their businesses afloat.

Before COVID-19, Wright Trammel Transportation provided 100 to 130 rides with four vans and a VIP edition Suburban each month. But as the pandemic progressed, the number of rides dropped to a mere handful.

The wedding parties and wine tours that had been the company’s bread and butter all but dried up with prohibitions against group gatherings and winery shutdowns, said Maurice Trammel, owner of the company with his wife, Dr. Cheryl Wright.

And there was no longer a demand to drive guests to and from the airport, convention center or cruise terminals in San Diego, San Pedro and Long Beach, or deliver customers to dinners and concerts.

“As you can imagine, none of that has been happening since March,” said Trammel, who also waved good-bye to transportation services for Taste of Julian, Sip of Julian and Apple Days. “Our business was directly affected by people not being able to go anywhere.”

Wright Trammel has lost 98 percent of its revenues since last March, he said.

On Jan. 1, the couple traded their office space at Sixth and Main streets — an established location for the past decade — for the family home on Mussey Grade Road. And they reduced staff from seven employees to Trammel and one other driver. Wright, a rheumatologist, works as the chief financial officer while Trammel takes care of daily operations as chief executive officer.
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Along with the cutbacks to the transportation business, Trammel put his cigar business, Trammel’s Cigar Sales, on hold.

“As weddings went, so did cigar pairings and cigar functions at weddings,” said Trammel, who has held cigar pairings at wineries in Ramona and Escondido.

But he said he’s hopeful that with the recent approval for patio dining he’ll pick up some restaurant business and may plan a cigar event at a winery in the near future.

That’s worth more than all the money in the world.”

Reds Whites & Brews

When heavy winds knocked down the Reds Whites & Brews sign a couple weeks ago, customers asked owner Peter Bidegain if the bar was going out of business.

“It’s amazing how word gets around town that’s inaccurate,” he said about the queries.

The truth, he said, is that the wine and beer bar has been closed since the initial COVID shutdown last March. Bars like Bidegain’s that don’t serve food have been shuttered except for two weeks in July. Others, such as Cheers of Ramona and Way Point Saloon, have been open for outside dining because they serve food as well as drinks.

The temporary opening in July was costly, he said. When Bidegain had to close again a short time later he lost $4,000 he had spent on kegs of beer that went unused past their shelf life.

“When we opened in July, we had no idea what this governor was up to,” he said, noting that reopening also means hiring staff and thoroughly cleaning the bar. “Had I felt he would open and close us I would have stayed shut down.”

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