Firefighter is in the race to become Alpine’s ‘mayor’

Alpine’s first Honorary May­or candidate for 2019 is Robert Laatsch, an Alpine Education Foun­dation director and Heartland Fire & Rescue captain.

Laatsch, his wife Tamara and their two children moved to Alpine in 2010.

The candidate is supporting the Alpine Education Foundation (AEF) and its “Wheel of Experts” program, which has provided an ad­ditional local 840 assemblies and labs this school year alone.

“Enriching the education of all Alpine students through this mul­tiple Pathways program ensures students are better prepared for lifelong learning,” Laatsch said. “Our goal is to create experiences through STEAM (Science, Tech­nology, Engineering, the Arts and Math) that empower students to be well equipped for the future.”

Presented by the Alpine Cham­ber of Commerce, Alpine’s annual Honorary Mayor Race raises money for projects and causes that improve Alpine.

Every dollar donated to a candi­date’s campaign is a “vote.” The candidate with the most “votes”wins.

Honorary Mayor is a volunteer position with no authority. The winner gets to promote his or her cause at Chamber events and activities.

“I have never done anything like this before,” Laatsch said. “This is pretty out of character for me. The goal of my campaign is to bring aware­ness to (AEF’s) mission.”

The candidate said he is “committed to improv­ing, enriching and supporting the education of all of Alpine’s 1,100-plus kindergarten to eighth-grade students” and to ensuring they’re “prepared for high school and more importantly for a life of learning.”

George Barnett, AEF Treasurer and Laatsch’s campaign manager, said fund-raising for the can­didate will likely include promotions.

Donations for Laatsch can be made directly by visiting the AEF4kids.org website or by the smart phone application,Venmo, @alpineeduca­tionfoundation and by using #Robformayor as the tag.

Candidates need to register now with the Cham­ber in order to have time to raise money.

Applications are available online at www.alpin­echamber.com or at the Chamber office in the Al­pine Regional Center, 1620 Alpine Blvd., Suite.208.

The deadline for submitting copies of “votes” to the Chamber office is 5 p.m. Friday, March 29. The winner will be announced April 13 at the Chamber’s new Spring Festival. Call (619) 445-2722 for details.