The California Supreme Court will consider arguments by prosecutors that bribery and other political corruption charges pertaining to the 2006 Colonies lawsuit settlement that were thrown out by the trial court judge in 2011 and the California Fourth District Court of Appeal last year should be reinstated.
It was announced on February 13 that the state’s highest court will take up the matter, at least temporarily resuscitating the prosecution against Rancho Cucamonga-based developer Jeff Burum and three former political figures. The case against Burum and former county supervisor Paul Biane, former sheriff’s union boss Jim Erwin and former Fourth Supervisorial District chief of staff Mark Kirk was in large part gutted by previous court rulings. The California Supreme Court will now determine whether several of the charges that are central to that case in fact should be aired before a jury.
The Colonies Settlement Political Corruption case grew out of the November 26, 2006 3-2 vote of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors as it was then composed to approve a $102 million settlement of the civil action brought against the county and its flood control division by the Colonies Partners over drainage issues at the Colonies at San Antonio residential and Colonies Crossroads commercial subdivisions in northeast Upland.
Both the California Attorney General’s Office and the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office allege that earlier in 2006 Jeff Burum, who was with Dan Richards one of the two managing principals of the Colonies Partners, conspired with former sheriff’s deputies’ union president Jim Erwin to blackmail two of the then-members of the board of supervisors, Bill Postmus and Paul Biane, by threatening to send to voters but ultimately withholding mailers revealing the former’s homosexuality and drug use and the latter’s insolvency. After the November 2006 vote in which Postmus and Biane joined with their board colleague Gary Ovitt to approve the settlement, prosecutors maintain Burum during the first six months of 2007 delivered four separate $100,000 bribes to Postmus, Biane, Erwin and Ovitt’s chief-of-staff, Mark Kirk, in the form of political donations to political action committees the four had founded or controlled.
Postmus and Erwin were indicted on bribery and extortion counts in February 2010. After Postmus in March 2011 entered guilty pleas on 14 of the felony counts against him, he appeared as the star witness before a newly impaneled grand jury that heard a total of 45 witnesses in April 2011. The following month that grand jury handed down a superseding 29-count indictment naming Burum, Erwin, Biane and Kirk, who were charged variously with conspiracy to commit a crime, bribery, conflict of interest, tax fraud, tax evasion, perjury, forgery, and aiding and abetting.
In August 2011, after demurrers were filed on behalf of Burum, Erwin, Kirk and Biane by their lawyers, Judge Brian McCarville granted some but not all of those defense requests to throw out charges based on their insufficiency or lack of clarity, dismissing five of the counts lodged against Burum, two of the counts Biane faced, two of the counts Erwin was charged with and one count pending against Kirk.
The prosecution then appealed McCarville’s ruling to the appellate court to have the charges reinstated. Defense attorneys asked the appellate court to sustain more of the demurrers than McCarville actually did.
After nearly a year of consideration, the 4th District Court of Appeal in a 41-page decision written by Justice Art W. McKinster and joined by associate justices Betty Ann Richli and Douglas P. Miller, on October 31, 2012 upheld McCarville’s dismissal of part of a conspiracy charge plus four other counts against Burum, and tossed out a conflict of interest charge against Burum, and restored some elements of one conspiracy charge along with an aiding and abetting charge against Burum. The appellate panel  dismissed three charges against Erwin that included engaging in a conflict of interest and that he aided and abetted Biane in his reception of a bribe. The court restored one charge against Erwin, that of misappropriating public funds. The judges denied Kirk’s request to throw out two charges pertaining to conspiring with Burum and misappropriation of public funds and restored a charge that he had improperly lobbied his boss, Ovitt.
Prosecutors asked the Supreme Court to reexamine the Fourth District Court of Appeals’ October 31 ruling. Of central concern to prosecutors is reestablishing the viability of the bribery charges against Burum, considered the linchpin to the entire case.
Two weeks ago, prosecutors were heartened when a San Diego Superior Court judge in his ruling with regard to a civil case that pertains to the Colonies settlement, made a finding that the county had no grounds to proceed with its efforts to recover a portion or all of the $102 million from the city of Upland, the California Department of Transportation or San Bernardino County’s own transportation agency, all of which had some impact on the flood control arrangements for the Colonies project, because Postmus had entered a guilty plea to charges that he had a conflict of interest in the matter and had taken a bribe to ratify that settlement.
For the duration of the case to date, the only arguments and issues being entertained by the trial and appellate courts have pertained to legal issues, with the prosecution and defense attorneys briefing the judges as to the applicability, inapplicability, sufficiency or insufficiency of the charges, with the courts assuming without question the accuracy of the factual allegations contained in the indictment. The factual issues have yet to be considered and the Supreme Court’s review will likewise not take up whether the facts as alleged by the prosecution are accurate but will extend only to whether the criminal charges lodged against the defendants are applicable if the factual basis for the case laid out by the prosecution is assumed to be true.
In this way, the true heart of the defense of the case pertaining to the factual issues has not been previewed in court. It has been hinted at, however, in information that has emanated from various sources, specifically with regard to the credibility of Postmus, who has been twice arrested for drug possession and has acknowledged a long-running drug addiction while simultaneously making conflicting statements to the FBI about whether he considered or understood the $100,000 in donations Burum made to his political action committees to be a bribe. The defense is also fortified with evidence to show that statements made under oath to the grand jury which implicated Burum in an effort to unduly pressure members of the board of supervisors were factually inaccurate. Among those was at least one representation by supervisor Josie Gonzales, who opposed the settlement in 2006. The defense will not have the opportunity to dispute the factual basis for the case until the case goes before a jury for trial.
Since the prosecution instituted the petition for review, it will have 30 days from the time of the Supreme Court’s order to provide its brief on why it believes the charges that have been dismissed should be reinstated. The defense will then have 30 days from the time of the prosecution’s brief to provide its responding brief. The Supreme Court then has the option of accepting further written responses and requesting oral arguments or making its decision on the basis of the written submissions. It is anticipated a decision on the Colonies matter will not be made for another six months.
“We are disappointed by the further delays occasioned by the Supreme Court’s review of the Court of Appeal’s decision,” Burum’s attorney, Stephen Larson, told the Sentinel. “However, we respect the judicial process and look forward to the opportunity to fully vindicate Mr. Burum before the trial court. I cannot comment on the issues before the Supreme Court while they are being considered.”

Michael Hildebrand said he is vying for the open spot on the Yucca Valley Town Council in part because of an offhanded remark his wife made to him.
“She said I could lie on the couch and complain about what is going on or I could run,” he said. “So, I’m running.”
As a licensed contractor with extensive experience in converting septic systems to sewer systems, Hildebrand said he has the technical knowledge to guide the city with regard to one of the primary challenges it is now faced with. The State of California has mandated that Yucca Valley end its reliance on septic systems and install the first of several stages of a sewer system by 2016. Property owners and residents will be subject to fines if they do not meet that deadline and the town will be enjoined from permitting any further development in the community.
“I have a general contractor’s license, a C42 sanitation license, a C36 plumbing license, a C8 concrete license and a C16 fire protection license. I carry more licenses than most contractors. I just finished a sewer project in Cathedral City. Over the last twenty years I have made sewer conversions in Desert Hot Springs, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, La Quinta and Rancho Mirage. I know exactly how these things are done and what is required. We were at a candidate forum and a question was asked and it was clear the other candidates did not have a clue about this subject. I have an extensive background in this area. If you want to ask questions about buying insurance, you could ask one of the other candidates, but that is not what the issue is here. I am not sure why the other candidates are even running.”
Hildebrand demonstrated his understanding of the issue and its complexity by explaining that there will be significant economies of scale achieved by undertaking the entire project collectively, including constructing the sewer treatment facility and its collections system and pipes on public lands and beneath the public roads as well as connecting the trunk lines to the homes on each parcel. Nevertheless, he said, that will require that prevailing wage – in the neighborhood of $60 per hour – be paid to those constructing the trunk lines. If private contractors are hired by those property owners outside the rubric of a public agency undertaking, he said, workers could be paid a much lower non-union scale rate – around $20 per hours.
“To build this system we need to get money in place to help people do this,” he said. “We need to create a deferred payment program that will utilize taxes or assessment over a long term that go on the residents’ properties. If the average person has to come up with five or ten grand, they will not be able to afford that and many will just walk away from their house. That is not what we need. We need a program that will help the individual person who at present cannot afford this. The majority of our residents are going to need that help.”
The other major challenge facing Yucca Valley, Hildebrand said, “is our budget. Our numbers are off. I don’t feel giving the town manager a raise and a three-year contract was the right thing to do. Redevelopment money is what the city has lived on for all these years. There is no more redevelopment money. The city council has to be more frugal with our money, like you and me with the way the economy has gone. Today you have to think about how you are going to spend your money, whereas before you might not have.”
Hildebrand said, “I know there has to be more tax money raised, but I don’t think we need more tax money as much as we need more taxpayers. One issue facing the city is we had land for a new park donated. Now we are looking at how to develop that park and maintain that park. I think we should probably farm out the maintenance so it can be done more cost effectively instead of doing it in-house.”
The formula for curing Yucca Valley’s ills, Hildebrand said, is “growth,” explaining, “We need to make this a friendly town where developers are willing to develop. We have made it hard on builders here. I happen to be a developer. There are towns I will not go to because of the harassment or over-requirements. Somebody has to give. We are not going to get restaurants to come here. The best we can get are just the big chains because those are the only ones that can afford to meet the town’s requirements. Everyone says they are for the small business person but no one is trying to help the small businesses in this town. Small businesses are what Yucca Valley is made of and they are what will make the city thrive. The chamber of commerce tells everyone how many hits they have on their website. No one really cares about how many people are viewing their website. What we need is more guidance on having people buying locally. We need to stick together as a town rather than create more problems for people, which is pretty much what the town government does.”
Hildebrand said the town “needs to make more programs available for seniors and our youth.”
He deserves the consideration of voters, Hildebrand said, because “Most people who know me know you are not going to persuade me to do something that isn’t right. I’ve always thought of others before I think of myself. In government, they only think of themselves. For every action there is a reaction. Government should be for the people and not for the gain of the politicians. If I am elected, I promise I will take time out to help people with whatever their concerns are.”
Hildebrand is a member of the Yucca Valley Planning Commission. He has lived in Yucca Valley since 1999. He graduated from Sierra High School in San Diego. His post high school education consisted of attendance at a trade school. He is married with three children.

(February 22) Ray Marquez maintains his depth and breadth of experience in government in and outside of Chino Hills has prepared him to serve on the Chino Hills City Council.
Marquez is vying against three others to be selected by city voters in a special mail-in ballot election March 5 as the replacement for Willburn “Bill” Kruger, who resigned from the city council last September.
“Experience counts,” Marquez said, pointing out that his community involvement began with his participation in Chino Hills Little League in the 1980s, where he went from being a team manager to board member for five years, three as president. In the early 1990s, he was involved in the Chino Hills incorporation effort and in the council campaigns of of Gary Larson and Mike Whitman.
Marquez was appointed to the city’s first planning commission and served on it for one term and was subsequently appointed to the city’s park and recreation commission, where he served three terms. He is currently on the Chino Valley Independent Fire District’s board of directors. He is a San Bernardino County airport commissioner  and he also serves on the advisory council for the Frontera Women’s Prison. He is on the Carbon Canyon Fire Safe Council and is a member of two state legislative committees, the California Special District Legislative Committee and the California Special District Finance Committee. A retired firefighter who worked for 28 years with the Santa Fe Springs Fire Department, Marquez insists that he “can bring that experience to bear on issues that the city faces.”
“When I first got involved in the community, the issue was sports field availability,” he said. “We had people outside Chino Hills shipping their kids in to use our fields. I worked on the problem with the school district and the Little League regional office and we worked out the field allocation issues with the creation of a youth sports council. We came together to assure everyone had adequate access and it worked out quite well. I had to reach out politically to do that. I have been involved politically here in Chino Hills one way or the other ever since. I have accomplished a few things. I was elected to the fire board in 2006 and have served on it since 2007. At present our reserves are at $21 million and we provide better service in Chino Valley than in just about every other fire district in this region. We opened a station while other departments were closing stations. Close to 80 percent of our equipment is new.”
Marquez says he alone among the other candidates is hyperconscious of the issue of community facilities district funding. Community facilities districts are entities created when cities or counties allow a developer to create a residential subdivision, without providing upfront the funding necessary for that development’s infrastructure, instead using a state law passed in the 1980s to issue Mello-Roos bonds, which are then debt serviced for up to thirty years by the homeowners that purchase property within that subdivision. Those assessments are fees those homeowners must pay on top of their mortgage payments. In Chino Hills, many of the Mello-Roos districts that were created nearly three decades ago under the aegis of the county are about to expire. When they do, they will take with them some of the funding the city of Chino Hills utilizes to cover a portion of its payroll. “We have ten of them,” Marquez said of the community facilities districts. “They entail an overhead fee. I don’t want the city to get caught flatfooted when that [the bond payment arrangement] ends.” Marquez did not offer a specific indication of what he intended to do with regard to the community facilities districts, leaving open the possibility of extending the assessments, finding some other funding mechanism to keep the city employees with the city, or laying off those employees whose positions are currently funded by the assessments.
Marquez said the city has several pressing issues demanding the attention of decision makers.
“I am concerned about open space in our community,” Marquez said. “Open space is vital to me.”
“The power lines are a big issue,” he said. “Edison has said it has set aside $32 million to get ready for undergrounding but now we have learned the lines won’t be undergrounded in Oak Tree downs. I don’t like that. Once they start undergrounding, it should not be that much more money to do the same thing for the last mile-and-a-half. I am concerned about health issues. I am concerned about property values. I have been involved with Hope For The Hills on this. There has been a partnership between the city and the community but there hasn’t been good communication. It has gotten better. It is amazing what you can do when you work together.”
Marquez, who now works as a real estate broker, said, “Another big issue is the equestrian overlay.”
The city is in the process of considering a change to its municipal code, which was put in place upon the city’s 1991 incorporation, essentially adapting San Bernardino County’s rules, which prohibit keeping more than nine large animals on any parcel, regardless of its size. The Chino Hills General Plan makes specific mention of protecting the historic horse farms as they are along the English Road recreational corridor. City officials have also given horse farm owners assurances the area’s rural character will be preserved and small or medium sized horse farms will not be zoned out of business and out of town, but many of the farms, some of which have as many as 90 horses, are out of compliance with the municipal code and its zoning. Other cities in Southern California have used these technical restriction to force equestrian farms to close.
The equestrian overlay zone the city is seeking to establish would include the English Road area, Bayberry Drive, Coal Canyon and anywhere where lots are consistently bigger than a half-acre.
“There are a lot of non-conforming ranches,” Marquez said. “There are a lot of businesses that do not have the ability to pull a permit. It is too costly if you do not have business that is compatible with the property zoning.”
“This is a good family community,” Marquez said. “I want to keep it that way. I am a moderate Republican and I don’t want to raise taxes.”
Insisting he was the superior candidate, Marquez was both deprecatory and complimentary toward his opponents.
“Jesse [Singh] just registered and voted in November,” Marquez said. “He is a great kid and I think he has a future, but I don’t think he has the experience. Rossana Mitchell was on the city council for eight months ten years ago, but I have not seen her in the community since. Debbie [Hernandez] is a good person and she would be a good council member, but her experience has been limited to being a commissioner. I feel I have more experience, more involvement more relationships. I have the endorsements of Senator Bob Huff. I have the endorsement of Assemblyman Curt Hagman. I have the endorsements of the entire Chino Hills City Council and the endorsement of the entire Chino City Council with the exception of Eunice [Ulloa]. I certainly believe my four opponents are serious and they are being active and they are doing more than just bitching and complaining. I commend them.”

Among the growing number of entities itching to sue the city of San Bernardino are the San Bernardino Police Officers Association and the San Bernardino Professional Firefighters Association. Both, however, have been stymied in their litigious designs.
All existing lawsuits against the municipality were put on hold as a result of its August 1 filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in U.S. Federal Court in Riverside. As a further result, the filing of any other suits against the city have been stayed. Several of the city’s contractors, creditors, vendors, associated governmental adjuncts or employee representatives have considered asking or have already asked the U.S. Magistrate hearing the bankruptcy, Meredith Jury, to lift that stay so legal action against the city can proceed.
On March 12, the unions representing the city’s police officers and its firefighters gave indication they will seek leave to sue San Bernardino.
At issue is the police union’s contention that the union’s imposition of across-the-board city employee contracts last month violated California’s labor laws.
On January 28, a divided San Bernardino City Council declared negotiations with most of the city’s various bargaining units to be at an impasse and then voted to impose redrafted contracts on all city employees with the temporary exemption of police management.
Several of the city’s unions protested against the move, saying they were still in the process of making offers and counter-offers. City attorney Jim Penman said the city was on sound legal and procedural footing in unilaterally enforcing the salary and benefit cuts.
The city maintains that once all eight bargaining units are included in the contract adjustment regime, the city will realize savings of almost $26 million  annually from those employee pay and benefit reductions.
The city is wrestling with an “institutionalized” budget deficit which in 2012-13 is equal to $46 million less in income than expenditures. The $26 million in city staff-related reductions were part of a pendency plan submitted to Jury in November.
Police and fire union members, calling the terms in the new contracts “unbearable” and “draconian,” have declared their intention to seek an injunction blocking the salary and benefits cuts from going into effect.
In seeking Jury’s permission to pierce the veil of bankruptcy protection, the two unions will join the San Bernardino Public Employees Association, which represents many of the city’s line employees, and the California Public Employee Retirement System, which assert the city is abusing the federal bankruptcy process by seeking to defer payments to entities, such as themselves, that have under state law a priority claim on money available in the city’s general fund and other coffers.
While those owed money by the city are making those assertions, Paul Glassman, the city’s bankruptcy attorney, and James Penman, San Bernardino’s city attorney, have asserted that the deferrals in payments and concessions on the employee contracts are necessary components of the city’s pendency plan, without which the city cannot find its way out of its financial crisis.
In addition to the savings to be achieved by the employee benefit and payroll reductions, the city is asking for Jury to ratify deferring close to $35 million in debt over the course of 2012-13, with a similar suspension of its payments to creditors and vendors over the next couple of years, until such time as the city’s income again meets its expenditures and solvency is achieved.
Glassman said the pendency plan, in all of its intricacy “shows the city and city council’s resolve to do what is necessary in the Chapter 9 case.”
Jury scheduled a hearing to further discuss elements of the pendency plan for March 5 and a hearing the following day on a current motion by the San Bernardino Public Employees Association to lift the stay.

Following an extended round of negotiations between the city of Upland’s seven employee bargaining units and city manager Stephen Dunn, all 277 of the city’s full-time employees have agreed to pick up the full nine percent employee match of their pension system contributions.
Over the last two decades, the city had agreed to make for its employees a major portion of the contributions normally made by those employees to capitalize their retirement fund. Under the terms of the employees’ retirement system, each year nine percent of each employee’s salary was paid into the city pension pool. But in the case of the city’s non-safety employees, they were only paying 5.2 percent and the city was supplying the other 3.8 percent. Firefighters were laying out 5.8 percent and the city was picking up 3.2 percent. In the case of policemen, the city’s taxpayers were augmenting their pay with the full nine percent contribution.
Dunn succeeded in getting all employees to agree to make their own pension contributions as of July 1. He calculated that change will result in the city saving $2.3 million throughout fiscal year 2013-14 and 2014-15. The fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.
The move will go a considerable way toward redressing the city’s current trend in unbalanced budgets, in which spending outruns revenue by nearly $2 million per year.
The employer contributions in the form of the pension fund payments were locked into place after having been negotiated by former Upland City Manager Robb Quincey. Quincey negotiated for himself a contract that gave him the same raises as those received by the city’s police officers. He worked out a deal that gave the police union’s members a 3.5 percent raise in 2011 and another 3.5 percent boost in 2012. The police were the only employees to be provided raises since 2010.
Quincey was suspended from his position in January 2011, a little more than a month before the indictment of former Upland Mayor John Pomierski on bribery charges. Quincey was fired in May 2011 and in July 2012 lost a wrongful termination case he brought against the city. In October 2012, the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office filed felony public office corruption charges against Quincey, including unlawful misappropriation of public money, gaining personal benefit from an official contract, and giving false testimony under oath. The charges against him are still pending.

TWENTYNINE PALMS — The Twentynine Palms Band of Mission Indians has revived in earnest its effort to develop and operate a casino on tribal land in Twentynine Palms.
If the tribe achieves environmental and land use approval for the project and takes it to completion, the casino will become the third gambling house  operating in San Bernardino County and the second one operated by the Twentynine Palms Band, which since 1995 has operated the Spotlight 29 Casino in Coachella in Riverside County.
The submission of a draft environmental impact report for the project within 29 Palms signals that the tribe has abandoned a similar effort in Joshua Tree after it was earlier discouraged from proceeding with the effort on its Twentynine Palms property, first submitted in 2007, for a 60,000-square-foot casino with 350 slot machines along with table games, a bingo hall, two restaurants and a sports bar.
At that time, the tribe was looking to attract not only traditional gamblers but a unique subset thereof as well, ones who would be content to spend the night not in a swanky casino hotel, but rather in recreational vehicles. Also proposed in the 2007 plan for the 160-acre development was an RV park that would accommodate up to 100 RVs and also provide tent camping and rustic cabins, campfire rings and barbecue facilities, along with hookups for   electricity, water, cable TV, and wastewater treatment. The project also called for wireless Internet access, swimming pools, showers, locker rooms, and a laundry facility.
The tribe, led by Darrell Mike, dubbed the proposed gaming house the Nüwü Casino.  Part of the reason that made the concept of locating the facility at the site south of Baseline Road and west of Adobe Road in Twentynine Palms attractive to the tribe made it unpopular with several forces to be reckoned with. The proximity of the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps base, with its 8,400 plus service members and dependents, promised to make the undertaking a lucrative venture. But the Department of Defense was less than enthused at the prospect of having the temptation of a gaming enterprise at such easy disposal to its troops. Moreover, there was stiff resistance from a contingent of local residents and government agencies like the National Park Service. The project site is located within the city of Twentynine Palms’ National Park Buffer Overlay, which is intended to deter development that will interfere with the natural panorama.
Two years ago, the tribe reluctantly abandoned that plan and resolved to relocate the proposed Nüwü Casino some 23 miles away, in Joshua  Tree, on a 130-acre parcel on the north side of Twentynine Palms Highway west of White Feather Road east of downtown Joshua Tree and just east of Desert View Homes’ metal dinosaurs. That site was well outside the tribe’s reservation and what is recognized as the tribe’s ancestral land. To overcome the opposition of many vocal Joshua Tree residents as well as that of then-county supervisor Neil Derry and Joshua Tree municipal advisory council member David Fick, the tribe was forced to jump through a number of hoops. Those included filing an application with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to place the land in a public trust, transferring the tribe’s right from its tribal property to the Joshua Tree site and making a case that the tribe had ancestral roots in the Joshua Tree area, where it had an historical relationship to the property in question by virtue of aboriginal activity, including hunting, foraging and trading in particular.  That application would have entailed an anthropological study to demonstrate the tribe’s ancestors ranged into Joshua Tree.
Mike and his advisors, including the band’s chief financial officer, Steve Gralla, reassessed the likelihood of prevailing in a bruising battle with project opponents, and considered other issues relating to the project. Among those is the consideration that in December Derry was replaced as supervisor by James Ramos, the one-time chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, which operates what is the largest Indian Casino in San Bernardino County, the San Manuel Casino in Highland. The San Manuel Band followed all elements of protocol in building its casino on tribal land.
The Twentynine Palms Band played things relatively close to the vest, undertaking in-depth surveying of the site in Twentynine Palms without making any sort of public pronouncement. When surveyors and other workers were spotted on the property in early January, Twentynine Palms City Manager Richard Warne inquired as to what was up, at which time it was disclosed that the tribe was considering the property once again as the site of its proposed gaming complex.
Mike has indicated the tribe wants to initiate construction as early as March.
On January 28 the tribe released a draft environmental impact statement for the proposed casino that had been prepared by Sacramento-based Environmental Science Associates.
That draft statement leaves no doubt that the tribe’s plan for constructing the 30,000-square-foot casino has advanced considerably.
According to Environmental Science Associates, what was formerly to be called the Nüwü Casino will now be known as the Tortoise Rock Casino and cover a footprint of roughly 32 of the 160 acres at that location owned by the tribe. In deference to the casino’s new namesake, a tortoise-exclusion barrier will be erected to protect the species from danger that might befall it on the to-be-developed property, which is to include a parking lot with 450 parking spaces.
The casino will be 35 feet high and offer its customers 500 slot machines, six card or roulette tables, a delicatessen, restaurant, bar, administrative offices and ancillary structures. The casino will employ approximately 100 full- and part-time workers.
In keeping with its presence within the National Park Buffer Overlay, the casino’s design is to incorporate natural colors in its building materials and paint schemes that complement the existing landscape as well as having external lighting shielded to keep light from being projected upward or onto adjacent property, in keeping with Twentynine Palms’ Night Sky Ordinance, according to the draft environmental statement.
The casino will be visible from Palm Vista Elementary School on Baseline Road, located 3,375 feet northeast of the project, as well as the  Oasis of Mara, which is a half mile northeast of the site. According to Environmental Science Associates, the one-story structure will obstruct to some degree the scenic views from residences to the north and east, Palm Vista Elementary to the northeast, the Oasis of Mara and those of motorists transiting Baseline Road, Adobe Road and Utah Trail. That obstruction will not be total, according to the draft report. “[T]he tops of mountainous areas to the south and west would still be visible behind the proposed development,” according to the draft statement.
Some negative impact on air quality in the nearby area will result from construction activity, according to the draft report.
“During project construction the project would result in dust emissions, exhaust from on-road vehicle and off-road equipment and fugitive emissions from pavement and architectural coatings” which will primarily impact Palm Vista Elementary School, and existing residential development 350 feet north and 2,200 feet southwest of the project site, the draft statement indicates.
To reduce air quality impacts during construction, the report says contractors will maintain their equipment and will anchor dust by watering dirt access roads and using surfactants on exposed earth, and suppress the creation of dust by reducing truck speed on unpaved surfaces. Grading will be discontinued on days when winds reach 25 miles per hour. Ground covering vegetation that is uprooted during the construction phase is to be replanted as soon as possible, according to the draft report.
The only impacts air quality-wise that will continue after the project is completed will be diesel emissions from bus and truck travel to the casino as well as minimal increases in “emissions from energy use, area sources… mobile sources…  landscape maintenance equipment, consumer products and architectural coatings used for routine maintenance,” according to the draft statement.
Water to the project will be provided by the Twentynine Palms Water District, which will extend servicer to the site by means of an 8-inch water line on Baseline Road.
With regard to the harm to biological resources near the site, the draft statement says the endangered desert tortoise does inhabit some of the tribe property, particularly within the southwestern portion of the reservation.
“Five desert tortoises have been identified on the reservation since 2009, of which four have been radiotagged,” according to the draft statement. “To date the four radiotagged tortoises have been located along the lower slopes of Queen Mountain, i.e. in the southwest corner of the reservation and nearby off-site areas.”
Care has been taken in locating the site where it is now proposed, according to the draft statement, with the tortoise in mind. “The project site has been chosen based on the absence of burrows and other signs during the 2013 clearance survey in the northwestern portion of the reservation.” Moreover, according to Environmental Science Associates, “As the project site does not contain desert tortoises and an exclusion fence would restrict desert tortoises from entering the development area, the construction/operation of the proposed project is not anticipated to result in direct significant, adverse impacts to desert tortoises.”
Public comment on the draft report can be made until near the end of the month and that input will be used in the drafting of a final environmental impact statement.
Written comments must be emailed or postmarked no later than 5 p.m. Feb. 27 and should be sent to Jennifer Wade,  Environmental Science Associates, 2600 Capitol Avenue, Suite 200, Sacramento, Calif. 95816 or to jwade@esassoc.com.

Kerri Tuttle has been appointed to replace Theresa Kwappenberg on the San Bernardino County Planning Commission.
After completing the interview process, Third District Supervisor James Ramos, who succeeded Neil Derry in December, appointed Tuttle to represent the Third District on the county’s planning panel. The county board of supervisors approved the appointment on February 12.
Tuttle, a Joshua Tree resident, has more than 15 years of professional experience in development and land use issues.  She has specialized in water policy, land use and planning, compliance with the California Environmental Protection Act and the National Environmental Protection Act and other developmental policies. Recently, Tuttle has assisted the Bureau of Land Management with getting an emergency land lease proposal through the permitting processes.
Supervisor Ramos commented, “Ms. Tuttle has a wealth of professional and educational experience in planning and land use procedures.  I believe she will bring valuable contributions to the commission.”
Tuttle joins the four other Commissioners who are appointed by the board of supervisors and who are charged with overseeing the development of San Bernardino County.
Simultaneously, the board of supervisors approved First District Supervisor Robert Lovingood’s reappointment of Randolph J. Coleman to the Planning Commission.
The planning commission will next meet on February 21.

From Bob Goodwin, President  Hope For The Hills

1.    As of today, we have not won.  The California Public Utility Commission’s final decision regarding the future of the towers through Chino HIlls and our lives will occur in mid-July 2013.
2.    We have no guarantee the California Public Utility Commission will order undergrounding although we are working every day to achieve that goal.

3.    “If” the commission orders undergrounding, the residents of Chino Hills will not have any additional surcharges attached to their utility bill to pay for this project.  California Public Utilities Commission  President Michael Peevey represented, “the cost of the Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project  will be shared by residents statewide as this is a project that benefits the entire  state.”

4.    Hypothetically, $500 million divided by the estimated 20 million ratepayers in California equals $25 per ratepayer (total).  If amortized over 5 years, it will equal $5/year or 42 cents/month (per ratepayer). The cost would be minimal to remedy Southern California Edison’s blatant disregard for our health & property.  Keep in mind, it’s not the cost but rather the precedent Edison wants to avoid.

5.    Benefits of undergrounding high voltage power lines are:

a.    Elimination of  the electrical field through shielding and significant reduction of  the magnetic field through phase cancellation.
b.    Reduction of  the negative health impacts of overhead line electromagnetic fields  to almost zero.
c.    Elimination of  the negative health impacts of the overhead line corona effect.
d.    Greater efficiency and lower transmission loss costs.
e.    Comparable capital costs to the erection of  overhead lines.
f.    Non-interference with the visual  aesthetics of any community and accompanying  property values.

6.    The CPUC ruling on Tuesday, January 29, 2013, was very encouraging but it was not a final decision. It gave Southern California Edison the approval to move forward and begin testing cable, submit requests for engineering and construction quotes, begin preparing permits and environmental documents and to submit real estate needs and plans. This eliminates Southern California Edison’s time constraint concerns “if” the California Public Utility Commission’s final decision is to underground.

7.    It’s evident the commission is ensuring its final decision will withstand legal, regulatory and environmental review.  In other words, we will live with whatever happens in July 2013.  With that in mind, we must  continue to apply the pressure and work together to ensure an undergrounding decision is implemented.

8.    While the recent information regarding The Oak Tree Downs section of the project is not positive, we want to emphasize this information has been known to all concerned since early 2012. Hope For The Hills learned, at that time, that Southern California Edison had always maintained undergrounding would not be feasible in that area.   We continue to support and options are being researched.

9.    We welcome new members and would appreciate any involvement you can donate towards this epic battle.  Thanks!

Remember, We can and will make a difference!

Regards,
Bob Goodwin

The three pathologists working at the senior level of the county coroner’s office were provided ten and eleven percent raises, effective this week.
While county employees in most divisions already have or are being asked to accept downward adjustments in their pay rates, sheriff’s captain Steve Higgins, who previewed the agenda item calling for the increases to the board of supervisors, said the “salaries of the pathologists were increased to retain parity with area counties. Given there are only an estimated 500 forensic pathologists nationwide, it is imperative that salaries remain competitive to enable the county to recruit and retain these highly sought-after individuals.”
In San Bernardino County, the coroner’s office is a division of the sheriff’s department.
Dr. Frank Sheridan, the county’s chief forensic pathologist, will be given a ten percent increase from $97.53/hour to $107.28/hour, representing a $20,280 per year increase. His total annual compensation will be $295,870 ($228,134 in salary and $67,736 in benefits).
Dr. Chanikarn Changsri, a forensic pathologist, will receive an 11 percent  increase, from $88.78/hour to $98.55/hour, representing a $20,322 per year increase. His total compensation package will jump to $264,813 ($204,984 in salary and $59,829 in benefits).
Dr. Dennis Rhee, a forensic pathologist, will get a ten percent increase, from $73.53/hour to $81.51/hour, a $16,598 per year increase. His total annual compensation will be adjusted upward to $225,448 ($169,541 in salary and $55,907 in benefits).
In addition to his base salary, Dr. Sheridan will continue to receive $2.40 per hour specialty pay for possessing American Board of Pathology certification in neuropathology.
According to Higgins, the salary increases will not result in larger paychecks to the doctors, as they are being provided to shield the doctors from the county’s takeaway of its previous perquisite of having the county’s taxpayers make county employees’ pension fund contributions.
“These contracts include updated benefit language and contribution levels,” Higgins said. “It is the intent of the county to ensure as much consistency as possible in all employee groups regarding compensation and benefit structure. The county’s objective is to have employees pay their portion of retirement benefits, eliminate any remaining benefit plan contributions that are pensionable and replace those with a non-pensionable medical premium subsidy. These salary increases are entirely offset by the elimination of the county’s contribution to the employee’s portion of the retirement contribution and discontinued special assignment compensation.”

San Bernardino County Auditor-Controller-Treasurer-Tax Collector Larry Walker said he is running for state senator in the 32nd District because “We are at a crossroads in our state’s history, and I feel that many important things are on the line in the next two years. I believe that now more than ever we need somebody who brings an outsider’s perspective to Sacramento, but who has the years of experience necessary to be prepared to pursue these issues, and I believe that I have those qualities.”
Walker added, “As the San Bernardino County auditor-controller, recorder, commissioner of marriages, treasurer, and tax collector, and as a former county supervisor, a mayor, a realtor, an attorney, accountant, and officer in the US Naval Reserve, I have had varied and complementary experiences in the public and private sector throughout my career that allow me to view any government program from several different angles. My background will be valuable when asking the questions ‘is it efficient?’ and ‘how can we cut waste?’ Some legislators may have the background to look at an issue with a single type of expertise, but not many legislators have the background to approach an issue this comprehensively.’
The major challenges facing the state, Walker said, are “budget reform, unemployment and the need for improved economic growth, and improvements in education and transportation, and maintenance of public safety.  Finding ways to overhaul the state budget is a critical challenge.”
In the 32nd District, Walker said, “The state’s fiscal mess has a huge impact on our community, including the reductions in school funding it has caused.  Public safety and improving transportation are key challenges as well.  We need to find ways to encourage economic growth and jobs in our region.”
In meeting these challenges, Walker said, “Fiscal discipline is an important tool that I hope to bring to Sacramento.  I want to make sure that Proposition 30 money is being spent on things that matter – ending our structural deficit, returning money to education and public safety – and that it is not just being spent to kick the can down the road.” Proposition 30 was a statewide tax measure approved by the voters in 2012.
“Over the next two years, I want to bring the perspective of an accountant and a county auditor-controller to the state budget,” Walker said. “Sacramento needs a sober outside voice, a pragmatic accountant.  I will seek to implement policies that encourage economic growth, balanced with maintaining our environmental values. Transportation improvements are important in our area.  I will be a tireless advocate for return of Ontario Airport to local control, and for the extension of the Alameda Corridor East to include rail lines in this district.”
Walker said that he is a superior choice to the others vying for state senator. “Often there is a trade-off in electing a state legislator – either you get a tired old incumbent who is a part of the problem, or you get an outsider who has new ideas, but not very much experience,” he said. “Because of the range of my experience as a fiscal watchdog in local government, I can be an exception to that rule: a candidate free of the tired old partisan Sacramento groupthink, but who is ready to step into the job on day one.”