(August 4)  Bryan Dean Watson is running for town council in Yucca Valley, he said, “because I’ve got a lot of time on my hands and I figure I might be able to do something to benefit the town’s citizens.”
Now retired, Watson had an ambitious go of it when he was in the private sector. He worked as a roofer, and then went to work for General Motors in one of its assembly plants, worked in construction, then in sales, in building design, as a general contractor, owned and operated a fast food restaurant and a night club, was the proprietor of several franchised dealerships and was a property manager. He and his wife, who now boast three children, 20 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren, for 25 years had a home away from home in Yucca Valley. Two years ago they moved there permanently for health reasons.
Watson said there are “a lot of things” that need to be done to improve governance in Yucca Valley. “The town budget needs to be trimmed and more important services should be added. There are still a lot of businesses that are vacant and the town is missing taxes from those closed businesses. If we get more businesses, we will have more revenue coming in. There is a lot of money being spent by our residents in other cities that should be spent here. I would like to see the council refrain from taking anything beyond the $400 they receive per month for attending meetings. Right now they are getting benefits such as health coverage that amounts to more than $1,000 per month. They should not be feeding at the town trough. If you are public servant, you should turn that down and be a public servant.”
Watson continued, “The town needs to get control of its budget and take control of its services. We are paying over $3 million for police and fire protection. It might be better suited for us to have our own police department and fire department. We should toward building our own community hospital. The five to ten minute delays in transporting accident victims or someone with a heart attack is costing lives.  We need to prioritize our spending. No one should ever mention closing the pool again. We should chop out the programs we don’t need and bring in other that will benefit our residents. We are spending a lot of money on things where we should be going in a different direction.”
When queried on what his formula for change would consist of, Watson said he was hard pressed to be precise because of the lack of transparency at Town Hall. “I am involved, but on the outside,” he said. “Where and how they are spending money is kept hidden. I haven’t been able to get down to the nitty gritty, but hopefully, the town clerk will provide me with the information so I can look at what the options are.”
In general, Watson said, “The town budget should be handled along the same lines you handle a household budget. Everything has to be prioritized. People taking care of the town have to do it like a man who is taking care of his family. You have to do it within a budget.”
Watson said he would
He said he believed the former town manager was overpaid and had been given too much in way of staff support and resources.  “We had a city manager whose total budget and perks was more than a half million dollars,” he said.  Watson advocated changing the town to one that elected a strong mayor who would take on more duties and have greater administrative authority. “I think the past city manager’s salary was too high. I think $52,000 is more than ample for an elected city mayor functioning as the  city manager. Compare what he made to the salaries and earnings of the people who live in town.”
If elected, Watson said, he would seek to institute a policy going forward that would require town employees to live in Yucca Valley. “I believe anyone working for the city except those who are now grandfathered in ought to live here. If you get your dollars here, you should have to spend them here. That way our workers will be more responsible to the town.”
Watson also said that “Down the road, I believe we should have a directly elected mayor.  If he isn’t doing a good job representing the city, the voters can throw him out. It should not be up to the town council.”
While saying he believed he was qualified to serve on the town council, Watson declined to speak negatively about any of the others running. “Others have volunteered and stepped forward,” he said, “they deserve credit for that. I don’t know anything negative about these other people running. I am running because of what I think I can help accomplish. If you don’t think ahead you don’t get ahead.”
Of note is that Watson was a prisoner of war, albeit a short-lived one. On March 7, 1962, while serving with the U.S. Army in the northeast quadrant of Laos, in the aftermath of a firefight in which his unit sustained casualties, he was being evacuated by a C-123 transport plane that was shot down after it crossed the Vietnamese border. He was taken prisoner by Viet Cong farmers. He escaped a week later, while still badly burned and malnourished but made his way to a Hmong village where he holed up in a dugout alongside a river. He was recovered by another Army unit and flown out to Thailand.
He attended Saint John Bosco High School before leaving to join the Army in 1960. He later received a bachelor of science degree from Mary Stewart University in psychology.

(August 3)  Matthew Munson acknowledged that his prospect of prevailing in his electoral effort in the 20th California Senatorial District race is daunting. Nevertheless, he is gamely campaigning he said to demonstrate to his opponent, Democrat Connie Leyva, that she needs to consider the perspectives of the Republicans in the district.
In the 20th District, the numbers strongly favor the Democrats. Of the districts 291,110 voters, 76.71 or 26.4 percent are Republican and 136,016 or 46.7 percent are Democrats.
Munson said he could not bear the thought of the GOP just throwing in the towel in the 20th, and that is why he ran in the primary in June.
“I did not want a Democrat to win the race and then have another Democrat take second so that what it would come down to in November is one Democrat calling Republicans saying ‘I want your vote.’ That is the only time Democrats listen to Republicans, when they want our votes to beat another Democrat. I wanted to give Republicans a Republican choice rather than having to choose between two shades of beige.”
Having captured second in the primary, Munson is now entitled to run against Leyva in November, and in so doing, propound the Republican message.
“This is as horrible of a business climate as there has ever been in California,” he said. “There are approaching a million and a half people without jobs,” he said. “Many of the people who do have jobs are stuck in a place where they cannot move up because there is no chance of promotion. Right now, my sister is unemployed and she has been that way for more than two months. She has never been without a job for that long.It should not take that long to find the opportunity to work. I want to bring opportunity back to California and back to our district.”
Munson’s formula for curing California’s economic doldrums, he said, is to “get rid of the overregulation. The government is making business owners jump through way to many hoops. We have to lower taxes and waive certain fees that are crippling start up companies. Businesses are what make it possible for employees to earn. Employees who earn then become paying customers of other businesses, and that is the way the economy grows. Without business there can be no growth, no taxes, nor roads, schools or infrastructure. If we make it more difficult for businesses to operate in California, we hurt everyone.”
He continued, “My opponent is basically a union leader. Her main concern is the unions. Not everyone is a union member. She does not understand that small businesses that employ people are struggling and if we bury those businesses that employ people, there will soon be no work and no jobs.”
Munson said, “Basically, I want the people in our district to send a message to Connie to make sure she is listening to the people. If large numbers of people vote for me, even though I do not get elected, she will know she has to be a mainstream state senator and she must be fair to everyone and do a good job for our state and economic development and growth.”
Munson graduated from Chaffey High School in Ontario, attended Chaffey College in Alta Loma and studied political science at UC Riverside.
He is employed in the retail industry.

(August 1)  Ontario Councilman Alan Wapner in November is asking his city’s voters to return him to office for a fourth term and what will be the initiation of his third decade on the city council.
Wapner said he believes he merits reelection “because there are still programs and work on issues I want to see continued and come to fruition,” the most important of which, he said, is “to see the [Ontario International] Airport brought back under local control.”
Wapner tied his reelection to the fate of the airport, the city, the community at large and the Inland Empire.
“Since I am the one leading negotiations and am the president of the airport authority, if I were not elected it would be a huge step backward in the effort to bring the airport under local control. Right now, we are in active negotiations with [Los Angeles] Mayor Eric Garcetti and Senator Diane Feinstein to be able to accomplish that.”
The city of Ontario entered into a joint operating agreement with the city of Los Angeles for the management of Ontario Airport in 1967 and transferred title to the airport to the city of Los Angles in 1985.  Wapner said the airport is on the brink of demise under the management of Los Angeles, its Department of Airports and the corporation, Los Angeles World Airports, that Los Angeles created to run Los Angeles International, Burbank, Van Nuys and Ontario airports.
“The closure of Ontario Airport would be disastrous not just for Ontario but the entire region,” Wapner asserted. “Once the other airports hit the point of the legal constraints on their expansion, it will result in the collapse of the Southern California aviation industry.  Ontario Airport is the last unconstrained airport in the Southern California region and if it were to close it would be a blow that would directly lead to the loss of hundreds of jobs and indirectly to the loss of thousands  of jobs. We have already lost millions of dollars into the local economy because of Los Angeles’s control of the airport. Control of the airport is the biggest issue facing Ontario.”
Wapner said Ontario has already made considerable progress toward that goal.
“We have carried out negotiations and already got Mayor Garcetti to suggest publicly it would be better for Ontario Airport to be under local control  and he has reiterated that in our private dialogue.”
The effort to wrest control of the airport back from Los Angeles has so far proven, Wapner conceded, “extremely difficult. Under [former Los Angeles] mayor [Anthony] Villaraigosa, they never got engaged. Our efforts with Mayor Garcetti are more promising than they have been with any other administration. We have gotten the airport commission to deal more directly with us.”
Wapner defended the city’s decision to file a lawsuit against Los Angeles to force the larger city to disgorge the airport, saying the lawsuit was a smaller piece of a grander strategy. “A lawsuit is very expensive and time consuming and once we prevail no doubt LA will then take it to the appeal level,” he acknowledged. “But so far, Ontario has one each and every pretrial motion. At the end of the day, I am convinced we will prevail. This lawsuit is providing us with leverage at the negotiating table. We have gotten the state legislature involved and are working with the federal government to put pressure on the city of Los Angeles to move control of the airport from Los Angeles to Ontario. We have also carried out what is the most successful media and public relations campaign in Southern California to unite everyone in Southern California behind us and convince everyone that it is not only the right thing but is in everyone’s interest for control of the airport to be local.”
Ontario will not be pushed around by the larger and more domineering municipal entity to the west, Wapner vowed
“Under no circumstances will Ontario pay Los Angeles to bring the airport back into its possession,” he said. “Having said that, we believe the city of Los Angeles should be made whole for whatever money they have invested in Ontario Airport and when we can come up with that number, Ontario will write a check to the city of Los Angeles to again take title to it. I think at that point it will then be a matter of Mayor Garcetti getting support from the city council and signing off on it.
Once the city of Los Angeles’s flag is taken down from the staff at the airport and Ontario’s flag goes up and we have full and clear ownership and we get FAA certification we will be able to move forward and manage what is this region’s most important asset in a way that will facilitate job growth, economic expansion and provide access to the entire area.”
Under his twenty year watch, Wapner insisted, Ontario has prospered despite the outside control of the airport and he made special note of the progress achieved by judicious use of the city’s redevelopment agency during that time.
“I helped create over 15,000 jobs, all due to our economic development programs,” he said. “When I first got on the council, Ontario consisted of agricultural and logistics uses. We have since grown, and have created segments of our economy that include hospitality and tourism and high tech to become to become the city in California with the highest per capita sales tax, which goes into providing services and a higher quality of life. While I have been here the city of Ontario has built three new fire stations, a new police headquarters, two libraries, remodeled City Hall, built the Ontario Convention Center and Business Bank Arena and created the Ontario Mills. We have never had an unbalanced budget in the twenty years I have been on the council. We have by far the best public safety departments of any city around us and we have lowered the crime rate even while our population has had tremendous growth. I have been part of a team that has done all of this without raising taxes on our residents. The businesses have subsidized our programs and growth, and they are happy to do it because the climate for them, the business climate, is so favorable.”
A Los Alamitos High School and USC graduate, Wapner has a law degree from Whittier College. He was employed by the Ontario Police Department for 16 years and retired as a detective sergeant. He was on the Ontario Montclair School District Board of Trustees before he was elected to the city council.

(September 4) Upland Councilwoman Debbie Stone says she is seeking reelection this year “because I feel that there is still a lot I have to offer to the residents of Upland and have a strong understanding of what needs to be done.  The council has a lot of unfinished business to take care of.”
She said voters should consider her as providing a means toward a goal, rather than a politician.
“I do not feel that it is about me and my accomplishments,” she said. “We as a council have accomplished some things, but a lot have been deferred.  I understand my role as a policy setter, and that is the council’s role, to give direction to our city manager for execution.  We as a council need to focus and get down to business.”
Stone referenced recommendations made by a blue ribbon panel of city residents formed to serve as a fiscal task force to look at ways the city could redress its fiscal challenges.
“The council needs to focus on the task force recommendations and continue to move them forward,” she said. “These are the things that we have to evaluate, and give our city manager direction to get the work done on the items.  It will not be easy but in order to keep the city moving in the right direction we have to make these hard calls.”
Stone said, “The major issues that that we are facing are the well-publicized search for new or increasing revenue, controlling and cutting costs, ensuring public safety, dealing with our aging infrastructure, our unfunded pension liabilities, and getting the council working together to move solutions forward in a timely way.”
Stone said she believes she merits being reelected. “Being on the council for the last 2 ½ years, I have learned a lot, and have the energy, knowledge and drive to continue to work to improve our city.  I have worked with city staff and the council to move changes forward.    During my tenure on the council I have been focused on being the voice of our residents, and not the voice of any group that that has been a campaign contributor or city employee group..I believe that my voting record distinguishes me from the rest, I have been consistent and will continue to be.  My goal is that the citizens of Upland are proud to live in Upland.  I have always been and will continue to be focused on making the best decisions for the long term financial health, and quality of life in Upland.”

(September 2) VICTORVILLE— Ron Wilson, the director of the Victor Valley Rescue Mission since 2007, is leaving that post as of this week.
Wilson, 48, who was also the assistant pastor at the New Life Chapel will be assuming the position of pastor at Grapevine Fellowship, a church in Nevada.
Wilson worked diligently to refurbish the Victor Valley Rescue Mission from shortly after he arrived in Victorville seven years.
His efforts served as a catalyst for widespread volunteerism that effectuated change in the mission that was teetering on the brink of collapse, just as the Crash of 2007 was hitting the High Desert with full force.
Wilson brought other churches, businesses and private donors together to beef up the mission’s programs of reclaiming individuals and families in need and crisis. In addition to providing 80,000 meals to the homeless yearly and obtaining for them clothing, it offers the destitute and drug addicted a nine-month recovery program, operates a 14,000 square foot charity thrift shop, provides  2,000 Christmas gifts to children of the impoverished during the Holiday Season and sponsors a Thanksgiving banquet and turkey basket giveaway.
Wilson’s departure leaves unfulfilled his vision of seeing to fruition the Victor Valley Rescue Mission’s Bridge To Hope Center, which Wilson said would be built on 16.2 acres off Stoddard Wells Road near Highway 18, and would include living quarters for families, women and children, a large kitchen, classrooms, a gym, sports fields, and a conference room.
Wilson and his wife, Cari, and their children Justus, 14, and Ashalyn, 10, will move to southern Nevada, roughly five miles north of Nellis Air Force Base, where he will become the pastor of the congregation at Grapevine Fellowship.

Raccoons (scientific name Procyon lotor) are very common in the forest of the San Bernardino Mountains..  Residents often find them rummaging through garbage cans or eating from pet bowls that have been left outside.  Adults have few natural enemies, but young raccoons can fall prey to many animals including coyotes, bobcats, and owls.
Raccoons are a medium-sized mammal native to North America. The raccoon is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of 16 to 28 inches and a body weight of 8 to 20 pounds. Their grayish coats mostly consists of dense underfur which insulates against cold weather. Two of the raccoon’s most distinctive features are its extremely dexterous front paws and its facial mask.
Racoon are also  noted for their intelligence, with studies showing that they are able to remember the solution to tasks for up to three years. Raccoons are nocturnal and  are generalist omnivores, eating just about anything that’s edible, including frogs, fish, lizards, insects, bird eggs, berries, fruits, nuts, mice, and any tasty thing they find in the garbage. Their diet consists of about 40% invertebrates, 33% plant food and 27 percent vertebrates.
Previously, raccoons were believed to be solitary. Evidence is emerging that  raccoons engage in gender-specific social behavior. Related females often share a common area. Unrelated males sometimes live together in groups of three to five to solidify their advantage over  foreign males during the mating season, as well as to ward off predators.  The home range of a raccoon is about 7 acres for a female in areas near humans and up to 20 square miles for males in the wild.
Raccoons have a gestation period of about 65 days. Mothers bear two to five young, known as kits,  in spring. The kits are subsequently raised by their mother until dispersal in late fall. Although captive raccoons have been known to live over 20 years, their average life expectancy in the wild is only 1.8 to 3.1 years. Hunting, as some humans consider raccoons to be pests and their pelts are valued, is a leading cause of  death of raccoons, as is vehicular injury.
There is a tale in the name raccoon.  The word “raccoon” was adopted into English from the native Powhatan term, as used in the Virginia Colony. It was recorded on Captain John Smith’s list of Powhatan words as aroughcun, and on that of William Strachey as arathkone. It has also been identified as a Proto-Algonquian root ahrah-koon-em, meaning “one who rubs, scrubs and scratches with its hands.”
Raccoons possess an uncommonly acute sense of touch.  The hypersensitivity of their  front paws is augmented by a protective thin horny layer which becomes pliable when wet. The five digits of the paws have no webbing between them, which is unusual for a carnivoran. Almost two-thirds of the area responsible for sensory perception in the raccoon’s cerebral cortex is specialized for the interpretation of tactile impulses, more than in any other studied animal. They are able to identify objects before touching them with vibrissae located above their sharp, nonretractable claws. The raccoon’s paws lack an opposable thumb; thus, it does not have the agility of the hands of primates. Raccoons lose some of their tactile perception when subjected to cold for a log period of time.
Raccoons are either color blind or poorly adapted to distinguish color, with the exception of green light. Raccoons have poor long-distance vision.
Raccoons boast an acute sense of smell, allowing it to orient itself well in the dark. Their olfactory sense is also used for  intraspecific communication. Glandular secretions (usually from their anal glands), urine and feces are used for marking. They also have a  broad auditory range, replicating what humans are basically capable of and beyond, being able to pick up on very quiet sounds, such as those produced by earthworms underground.
Raccoons have notable mental capability, much of it keyed into their sense of touch. Ethologist H. B. Davis in 1908 tested raccoons, finding they were able to open 11 of 13 complex locks in fewer than 10 tries and had continued success when the locks were rearranged or turned upside down. Davis believed they were capable of abstract reasoning. He found their learning speed to be equivalent to that of rhesus macaques.
Raccoons are capable of remembering learned tasks for up to three years.
Raccoons can be pests, overturning  trash cans and raiding fruit trees. They are also capable of more expensive damage, such as when they invade an attic to use it as a den.
Raccoons can be adopted by humans as pets and in captivity are longer-lived than in the wild.
Raising baby raccoons takes special training.  Raccoons carry a number of serious diseases that can be passed on to humans or pets, and wildlife rehabbers must use great caution.  Rehabbers also have state and federal permits to take in wild animals.  It’s illegal to possess a wild animal without these permits. Raccoons are liked for their charming faces and comical antics, and reviled for their messy and destructive habits.
Raccoons are opportunistic, taking advantage of any warm, cozy space to make a den. Homeowners can discourage raccoons, and other critters, from moving in by covering openings in structures and securing trashcans.