Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

Morrison appointed to Fallbrook Airpark Advisory Committee

Carl Morrison was appointed to the Fallbrook Airpark Advisory Committee during the San Diego County Board of Supervisors meeting December 12.

Morrison replaces Tom Brotherton, who resigned from the five-member advisory board. “I’m very grateful,” Morrison said. “I look forward to the opportunity to serve, and I just hope that I can meet the expectations of the Board of Supervisors.”

Morrison is a practicing attorney and also has a consulting business focusing on water resources management. His consulting business eventually expanded to Northern California water districts and now has an office in Livermore. Unlike his visits to Southern California clients, the trips to the Northern California water agencies require air travel.

“I got so tired of driving to San Diego and Ontario,” Morrison said.

Morrison obtained a pilot’s license in 1998 and purchased his own plane, allowing him to fly out of Fallbrook Community Airpark instead of having to drive to commercial airports.

“It’s been very convenient for my business to be able to fly places,” said Morrison. “Easily 95 percent of my flying is business related.”

When Morrison flies to the Bay Area he lands at the Oakland airport so that he can utilize a commercial airline if conditions preclude a return flight in his Mooney M20J. The private plane has also been advantageous when Morrison has flown to Joshua Tree and Bakersfield for business.

Morrison is also a member of Friends of the Fallbrook Airpark, and earlier this year he joined the Civil Air Patrol, which has a Cessna 182 based at Fallbrook Community Airpark. “I try to do my part to support the airport,” he said.

As an attorney he negotiated the lease for the airport’s maintenance hangar. He already knows many of the commercial tenants at the Fallbrook airport as well as the other four Fallbrook Airpark Advisory Committee board members.

His previous board experience includes serving on the Fallbrook Union High School District board and on the Fallbrook Revitalization Committee in the early 1990s. He also served on a state water-related board in the 1990s, and his consulting business works with public agencies.

Morrison was born in Honolulu, but his mother was originally from Minnesota and the family moved back to that state after his father passed away. Morrison grew up on a 240-acre dairy farm with 40 cows.

Morrison attended Brigham Young University, and he met his wife in Provo although not at the college. Morrison was assigned to Chile for his Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints mission.

In 1966 Morrison entered the United States Marine Corps. He spent 13 months in Vietnam, but during much of his time in the Marine Corps he was in school obtaining advanced degrees. He received a Master’s degree in Spanish from Loyola University of Chicago, a law degree from DePaul University, and an advanced law degree in administrative law from George Washington University. He moved to Fallbrook after his law school graduation in 1976 and has resided in Fallbrook for the past 30 years with the exception of a two-year stint in Okinawa and a three-year LDS mission leadership assignment.

While he was stationed at Camp Pendleton, Morrison practiced administrative law, prosecution, and defense law and also worked in the legal assistance office. During his final three years at Camp Pendleton he was a public affairs officer. He retired from the Marine Corps in 1986 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Morrison passed the Illinois bar exam in 1976, and the Marine Corps allowed him to practice law at Camp Pendleton with his Illinois law credentials. He did not receive his California bar credentials until 1995, and he focused on his consulting business prior to obtaining the license to practice law in California.

All six of Morrison’s children, who now range in age from 40 to 20, graduated from Fallbrook High School. Morrison now has 14 grandchildren, the oldest of whom is 15.

Morrison left Fallbrook for three years when the Mormon church called him to be a mission president in the Canary Islands from 2000 to 2003. During that time he flew a private plane once, from Gran Canaria to Tenerife in a Piper.

Despite only flying once in those three years, he has accumulated more than 800 hours of flying since he obtained his pilot’s license in 1998. He averages between 150 and 200 hours of flight per year.

Morrison notes that Fallbrook Community Airpark adds to the local economy as well as provides a more convenient option for Fallbrook commuters. “I think the airport contributes to Fallbrook,” he said.

Morrison sees the Fallbrook Airpark Advisory Committee as a liaison between the community and the county. “I just hope that as a board we can do a good job,” he said.

 

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