Fallbrook

A Fallbrook man who threatened to spearhead a recall of all five members of the Fallbrook Union High School District has allowed his campaign to fizzle without collecting a single signature to compel an election.

The recall leader, John Von Borstel, at first announced his intent to recall the school board members last fall because he was angry over the trustees’ consideration of a special property tax assessment without putting the issue to a public vote. The board in the end shelved the idea.

But Borstel said that, by the time he had completed the necessary paperwork to pursue the recall--and to collect the more than 4,000 signatures on each of the five recall petitions--”the anger in the community had died down to the point where there wasn’t any support left for a recall.”

In fact, Borstel said, he didn’t even bother to sign the signature forms himself.

He said he didn’t return reporters’ phone calls in recent months, checking on the progress of his recall effort, because “I wanted the trustees to still be thinking about it.”