(November 10)  The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office late last week took action on sheriff’s department investigators’ conclusion that it was a business associate who murdered Joseph McStay, his wife and the couple’s two children before burying them in the desert near Apple Valley.
The McStay case baffled investigators in San Diego County, where the McStays lived in a home in Fallbrook until they mysteriously disappeared on February 4, 2010. Investigators said the family appeared to have left their home in northern San Diego County abruptly, leaving food to spoil on the kitchen counter and abandoning the family dogs.
The family’s SUV was found less than a week later near the Mexican border in San Ysidro.  A grainy surveillance video from around the time the family went missing showed a family believed to be the McStays, consisting of two parents and two small children, walking into Mexico. It was assumed on that basis that Joseph McStay had willingly taken refuge in Mexico for some unknown but widely speculated upon reason, taking his family with him.
Theories abounded as to what the rationale for the family’s exodus from their country was. Joseph McStay owned a business that designed decorative fountains, artificial waterfalls and birdbaths, which utilized some materials imported from Mexico. One rumor held that Joseph McStay’s business was a front for a drug cartel and that the McStays were seeking refuge in Mexico, either from authorities or a rival drug importation organization. San Diego detectives also focused on McStay’s ostensibly legitimate business operation and anything that might be amiss in this regard. Contacted and interrogated relatively early on in that process was Charles “Chase” Ray Merritt, who had manufactured, fabricated, assembled and installed Joseph McStay’s designed products. That trail appeared to be a dead end and investigators went on to other leads, including hundreds of phoned-in tips.
In April 2013, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department announced they were transferring the McStay family case to the FBI.
The case took a startling twist when on November 11, 2013, an off-road motorcyclist spotted what appeared to be human remains. When deputies from the Victorville sheriff’s station were dispatched to the remote desert area near Quarry Road and Interstate 15 and north of Stoddard Wells Road they encountered what ultimately proved to be the bodies of all four members of the McStay family, which had apparently been interred in hastily dug shallow graves.
Just a little less than a year after that grisly discovery, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office jointly announced that on November 5, 2014,  Merritt, 57,  had been arrested on suspicion of killing Joseph McStay, 40, his wife Summer, 43, and their two young boys Gianni, 4, and Joseph Jr., 3 in February 2010. Merritt, who was at that time a resident of Homeland in Riverside County, was arrested “without incident,” officials said, in Chatsworth in Los Angeles County.
An investigative team from the sheriff’s office, led by captain Leland Bolt and sergeant Chris Fisher and working in conjunction with the FBI and in communication with San Diego County authorities, conducted over 200 interviews and interrogations and obtained and served 60 search warrants in conjunction with the case.
There was a slight variance in the statements of the sheriff’s investigators and the district attorney’s office with regard to the nature of the evidence against Merritt. The sheriff’s department indicated it was the totality of evidence implicating Merritt rather than a single “smoking gun” that led to his arrest. The district attorney’s office, however, which charged Merritt with four counts of murder with a special circumstance of multiple murder on November 7, intimated that there was direct forensic evidence linking Merritt to the scene where the McStays were buried that would be presented at trial.
Sheriff John McMahon said, “There is no information to suggest there were any other suspects involved in this crime. Chase Merritt was a business associate of Joseph McStay. The cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma and based on the entire investigation and the evidence obtained, investigators believe the murders occurred at their residence in Fallbrook. Investigators are not disclosing the motive for the murders at this point.”
Investigators now believe the family videoed crossing the border into Mexico at San Ysidro in February 2010 was not the McStays. Neither investigators nor the district attorney’s office offered an explanation on how it was that the McStay family vehicle came to be parked near the border.
Merritt had a connection with the Victor Valley, where the bodies of the family members were found. In his youth his family lived in Hesperia and he attended Apple Valley High School in 1972, 1973 and 1974. In 2012 he was in a partnership with Abayomi Adepoju in a steel sculpture fabricating business run out of the Clock Tower Professional Center in Hesperia.
On Wednesday November 12, he was arraigned in Victorville Court before Judge Raymond Haight III. The prosecutor present was deputy district attorney Sean Dougherty. Merritt was represented by attorney Robert Ponce. Merritt pleaded not guilty to four counts of murder and denied the special circumstances alleged by the district attorney. Haight continued his no bail status. After the arraignment, Merritt was returned to custody at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga.

(November 10)  The once grandly touted Police Officer Standards and Training Cheating Scandal Prosecution, which entailed criminal charges against seven current and former Sheriff’s Department employees alleged to have defrauded taxpayers by falsifying training and pay records, was quietly closed out on Halloween when the figure at the center of the case, retired sheriff’s captain Hobart Gray, pleaded no-contest to a single count of “aiding in a misdemeanor.”
An indictment unsealed in March 2011 charged Gray; his wife, sheriff’s training specialist Angela Gray; sheriff training specialist Sallyann Christian; retired sheriff’s lieutenant Bill Maddox; sheriff’s lieutenant Russell Wilke, sheriff’s corporal David Pichotta; and former assistant sheriff Michael Stodelle with falsifying records for the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, the state agency which certifies law enforcement officers with regard to skills and specific technique qualifications. By earning certificates, officers qualify to retain their jobs or can have their pay level increased or otherwise qualify for advancement or promotion. According to the indictment, Angela Gray and Christian added the names of Pichotta, Wilke, Stodelle, Hobart Gray and Maddox to the rosters of training classes they never attended, enabling them to claim higher pay and retirement benefits.
Preceding the filing of charges, there were persistent and wide-ranging reports of training completion certification fraud involving scores of the department’s personnel.
At the case’s initiation, a high-powered press conference was held in which then-sheriff Rod Hoops, district attorney Mike Ramos and the deputy district attorney prosecuting the case, Dan Silverman, were present. After the aggressive kick-off, which was followed by intensive scrutiny by the media and further suggestions that the cheating implicated far more than those who had been charged, up to and including former sheriff Gary Penrod, the case stood essentially dormant for sixteen months.
Then, on July 13, 2012, sixteen months after the charges were originally entered, the first definitive public demonstration of t a problem with the case manifested when Silverman, announcing he was doing so in the interest of justice, dismissed charges against Maddox. Maddox had been charged with failing to complete a class relating to police dispatch work. His lawyer, Michael Scafiddi, demonstrated to Silverman’s satisfaction that  in claiming the course completion credit, Maddox had properly utilized a work assignment, the opening of a sheriff’s department dispatch center in the desert which he had supervised, as a learning experience that met the training criteria. Specifically, according to Scaffidi, Maddox had done research relating to dispatch equipment and procedures by speaking with other agencies throughout the state and consulting technical and procedural manuals.
In dismissing the charges against Maddox, Silverman asserted that the case against all six of the remaining defendants was proceeding toward trial. But on February 1, 2013, Silverman acceded to dismissing all charges against Wilke on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence to obtain a conviction.
Almost three weeks later, on February 21, 2013, the court finalized a plea arrangement Silverman obtained with Pichotta, in which the original charges against him were dismissed in return for his acceptance of guilt on a grand theft charge that was reduced to misdemeanor status.
Silverman was able to declare a second victory in the case on August 28, 2013 when Angela Gray pleaded guilty to the charge of aiding in a misdemeanor.
Nearly a year elapsed with no further developments in the case, until on August 19, 2014, very quietly, all felony charges against Stodelle were dismissed on Silverman’s motion “in the interest of justice.”
On October 31, 2014, the same day that Bart Gray entered his plea, all charges against Christian were dismissed upon a motion by Silverman “in the interest of justice.”
Multiple perspectives on the case relating to whether it should have been filed in the first place, whether it should have included more defendants than the handful who  were charged, whether Angela Gray and Christian fraudulently added the names of far more department personnel to the roster of those who had completed training,  whether it should have been more aggressively pursued, whether it entailed the maligning of innocent people or whether it represented a political can of worms exist. Those charged but exonerated can now maintain they were innocent all along. Those who entered pleas – the Grays and Pichotta – are seen by some as having thrown in the towel too early. Some believe that the case, as far as it went, was valid but that it did not go far enough. Those having that perspective hold that because dozens, scores or even hundreds of other deputies, corporals, detectives, sergeants, lieutenants, captains, deputy chiefs, assistant sheriffs, undersheriffs and even a sheriff or two were equally guilty, some of those in the docket were able to leverage themselves out of the case by threatening to expose virtually the entire department in the cheating scandal.

By Mark Gutglueck
Little more than five months after the United States entered World War II General George Patton sojourned to the forbidding outback of San Bernardino County to establish a training and maneuver ground for Army soldiers to acclimate them to fighting in the desert.
An interesting sidelight to this is that Patton, who would go on to glory in North Africa, Sicily, France and Germany in 1943, 1944 and 1945, at one point was on the verge of utilizing the men under him in a defense of the North American continent in which he was to deploy to Mexico to rebuff a Japanese invasion there.
In January 1942, German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel was pushing his troops in a relentless drive toward Egypt, threatening the Suez Canal and Great Britain’s critical line of communication between West and East, its land holdings in the British Colonies in Asia and a key channel for the delivery in either direction of supplies and raw materials needed in the war effort.
America had just entered the war and Patton was acutely aware, as was his commanding officer, Lt. General Lesley J. McNair, Chief of Staff, General Headquarters, that the United States would soon be called upon to join their British allies in the North African campaign. Americans would be going up against a well-trained, well equipped and experienced enemy, well versed and accomplished in the use of tanks as a tactical weapon in the desert.
With American fighting men and their leaders having no experience or background in a desert campaign, McNair resolved to develop a strategy and capability to engage the Germans and halt their advance in Northern Africa. He assigned Major General George Smith Patton, Jr. to establish the Desert Training Center for the purpose of training men and machines for action under the brutal and unforgiving conditions of the African deserts.
With staff officers in tow, Patton flew over a vast expanse of the Mojave Desert and the Anza Borrego Desert in Southern California and deserts across the Arizona and Nevada borders. At spots where his plane set down, Patton mounted horses to reconnoiter the territory. He elected to utilize a vast portion of the East Mojave Desert stretching across into Arizona, approximately 18,000 square miles of some of the most rugged land in the country. This was to become the Desert Training Center, the largest military installation and maneuver area in the world. In his communication back to General Headquarters, Patton beamed that the spot he had chosen was “the best training area… I have ever seen . . . it is desolate and remote . . . large enough for any kind of training exercises.”
Patton was briefly detailed to another assignment, but he was back in early April to a place where already arriving troops describes as “a place God forgot.”
Unfamiliar with the desert, Patton consulted with Roy Chapman Andrews, an explorer who had made several expeditions to the Gobi Desert. He instructed his officers that it was his intention to make his men so at home at living in the desert that when they were sent oversees to any desert environment, it will be no difficulty at all to kill the assorted sons of bitches you meet in any other country.”
Patton subjected himself to the same conditions his men had to endure, shunning accommodations at an Indio hotel and at a ranch house where his wife, Beatrice lived. Determined to move rapidly, Patton had the Desert Training Center operational by mid-April. Within four days of his arrival, Patton had the troops under his command engaged in a desert march. By the 15th day of his command all units at the center had been on a desert march……Within 23 days, he had conducted 13 tactical exercises, including some with two nights in the desert. Within a month after arrival, every man sent to the Desert Training Center had to be able to run a mile in 10 minutes, wearing a full back pack and carrying a rifle.
Conditions were primitive.  Some of the bivouacs wooden floors, but there was no electricity, no sheets for their cots, and none of the amenities common to other stateside military installations. Water was a problem. Patton wanted the Metropolitan Water District in Los Angeles to provide water to his men. District managers instead suggested that the men build storage tanks for water. Patton told the utility managers that his men “have no time to do anything except learn to fight.”
The harsh conditions and Patton’s unrelenting drive to build a fighting unit created tremendous hardship for the troops, but they recognized such toughness was necessary and the training would stand them in good stead to fight and survive in the environment they would soon encounter.
On June 3, 1942, Patton was given information about a Japanese expeditionary force on the High Seas heading toward the West Coast. Accompanying that information were indications the force was coming to invade Mexico, which had joined the Allies on May 22, 1942. Believing the  Japanese would land on the beaches of Baja California to move north and capture San Diego, Patton had his troops on high alert for three days in which the were poised to move within minutes to meet the invading Japanese at the tip of the Gulf of California. Ultimately, however, the Japanese invasion fleet eventually landed on Kiska Island in the Aleutians on June 6.
Four months after he founded the Desert Training Center, Patton was summoned to Washington and then dispatched overseas to start planning Operation Torch, the North African campaign which was to be decisive in Allied victory. Only a small portion of the million men that trained at the Desert Training Center during World War II served while he was commander there. But his legacy lives on and at this point, more than 72 years later,  it has served as the training ground for more than a million troops in seven armored divisions and thirteen infantry divisions.

(November 13)  More than sixty people showed up at  the irregularly scheduled Wednesday night city council meeting a day after Veterans day to attend the public hearing held by the city of Needles with the intent to adopt a “resolution of necessity” to acquire multiple properties by eminent domain on a main route through the shrinking town that includes a portion of Route 66.
Though 14 properties were being considered for the imminent domain proceedings, only two property owners objected to the city’s findings of necessity.
Chuck Dewald, the city engineer, maintained that the city needs the property to improve  traffic flow through town. The  project consists of installing traffic light indicators at three corners, J Street and Broadway, Broadway and Needles Highway, and Needles Highway and K Street, Dewald said. This flow pattern and alignment was conceived of in 2005 and at that time was considered to be the most reasonable and least disruptive to the people in the city, while not bypassing the community as an alternative configuration, which would have which involved a very costly construction of an overpass from J Street to the bridge over the Colorado River.   The project is scheduled to begin when construction plans and specifications plans  are 100 percent, Dewald said, and must get approval from the California Department of Transportation, known by its acronym Caltrans.
The city is looking at an October 2015 start date for the project, which is to be funded by money put up by the city along with federal matching funds. There is also an agreement with the county of San Bernardino for shared funding for the cost of engineering services. Concern was expressed by some members of the council that if the project did not proceed, the city would have to reimburse the county and repay grant money to the state that was previously obtained and has been husbanded for the project.
Craig Bono, who lives at 1400 Needles Highway and has property involved in the project, questioned the city engineer about the integrity of power lines in the face of high winds and whether the lines would be undergrounded. Dewald said there was no intent to put any of the power lines underground except possibly at K Street and Needles Highway where they might interfere with the traffic signal.
Also at the hearing, two of the parties owning property to be seized lodged protests, questioning  the city’s true need for the property in question.  Among the properties to be seized is property owned by Mayer Edward Paget who recused himself from conducting the hearing. Councilman Terry Campbell wielded the gavel in his absence.
Paget’s wife, Jan Paget, speaking for the owners, testified that the frontage of their corner property at K and Broadway was being taken and was not needed for the project.
Ruth and Robert J. Lopez were the only party to submit written protests and both also gave testimony at the hearing that their corner frontage at Broadway and River Road was also being taken and not needed by the city for the identified purpose, which is to install a traffic signal indicator, saying that the city already controls that land.   They objected that the entire frontage of their corner lot was being taken for an alleged purpose of one traffic control devise and that was too much and that the language in the grant of easement left for wiggle room and allowed for more land to be taken as the city desired, for any purpose with no definite end date.   They testified that the clouded title and encumbrance would diminish the value of their property and leave them with uncertainty, subject to the whim of fleeting city councils, and maintained that the city’s designs on their property go beyond the immediate project needs.
The Lopez’s asserted that the seizure was a violation of their Fourteenth Amendment rights “to the extent that an arbitrary, unfair, or unjust taking of someone’s property is not allowed, even if the taking is for the public use and the property owner is compensated,” according to their written protest.
Ultimately, however, the city council voted unanimously 5-0 to approve the resolution of necessity and voted in summary to proceed with eminent domain on all of the listed properties.  Mayor Paget who ran unopposed and was re-elected on Nov. 2, abstained due to a potential conflict of interest. Three of the council members who voted, Shawn Gudmonson, Campbell and Linda Kidd have been voted out of office as of  November 4 election but will not leave until the end of November.
After the meeting, Bob Lopez stated, “Despite our objection and evidence that the taking was unnecessary and that they already control plenty of room for installation of traffic signals, they just voted to take the mayor’s property, my property and about a dozen other properties tonight. The taking is open-ended and allows them to come back for more land if they so desire, for a variety of purposes, including facilities, even though they may not be immediately necessary for this project.”
Lopez noted, “This will cause the impacted land owners trouble by clouding title on our private holdings, potentially diminishing the value of the property. It will be interesting to see what the city intends to do with the property, since the frontage is not needed for a traffic signal.”
While many in the audience were there to see hear the outcome the public hearing on the necessity of the public taking of private land, many were more interested in staying for the hearing that followed, which was  to consider  evidence and testimony for or against enacting new city legislation that (a) prohibits medical cannabis cooperatives or collectives but (b) grants limited immunity from said prohibition to those cooperatives/collectives that are in existence and operating within the city at the time the article is adopted and which comply with the requirements set forth by the city.

By Diane Dragotto Williams
Skunks, also known as “polecats (with “pole” from either the French poule “chicken” or puant “stinking”),” are one of the most maligned animals in the western world.  And yet, they are valuable to our ecosystem.  Yes, of course, beware of their noxious spray that contains sulfur-containing chemicals! Skunks can spray with accuracy at targets that are up to ten feet away. Even bears give this small mammal a wide berth. Its spray can cause you to vomit, and get your dog to suffer the consequences of many tomato juice baths!  However, this small creature does get a bad rap for being exactly what it is, a predator of varmints that need to be eradicated from your back yard.  If you don’t take care of your garbage, he can be a nightly nuisance also.
Skunks are omnivorous, and change their diets as the seasons change. They eat insects and larvae, earthworms, grubs, small rodents, lizards, salamanders, frogs, snakes, birds, moles, and eggs. They also commonly eat berries, roots, leaves, grasses, fungi, and nuts.
Interestingly enough, skunks are one of the primary predators of the honeybee, relying on their thick fur to protect them from stings. The skunk scratches at the front of the beehive and eats the guard bees that come out to investigate. Mother skunks are known to teach this behavior to their young.
Skunks are active at dusk and dawn and are solitary animals and they den up in burrows but are not true hibernators in winter. However, they remain generally inactive and feed rarely, going through a dormant stage. Over winter, multiple females (as many as 12) huddle together, while males often den alone.
Although they have excellent senses of smell and hearing, they have poor vision, being unable to see objects more than about 10 ft away, making them vulnerable to typical death by road traffic. They are short-lived; their lifespan in the wild is no more than three years, with most living only up to a year.
When a wildlife rehabilitator works with skunks, there is a special way of handling the skunk so as not to be sprayed.  Also, they warn you with little taps on the ground with their front feet if you are about to be sprayed!  They are adorable as youngsters, and have that “Flower” look about themselves, as Bambi’s friend had in the Walt Disney movie of the same name.  Skunks are respected at Wildhaven Ranch.  If you have any nuisance problems, you can contact Wildhaven at (909) 337-7389.
Wildhaven Ranch is a wildlife sanctuary in the San Bernardino Mountains. For more information about its tours and mission, visit its website at www.wildhavenranch.org.

You can download a PDF of the November 7 San Bernardino County Sentinel by clicking on the portal below.

Sentinel 11-07-14

(November 6)  After decades of scandals in which the prostitution industry proliferated in unincorporated pockets of the county, officials, led by clerk of the board of supervisors Laura Welch, this week moved to alter the San Bernardino County Code to surrender to the state the regulatory authority the county once had over establishments that have provided operational cover for brothels.
The county’s action comes after the county’s efforts at specific restrictions were compromised by what Welch characterized as a conflict with more recent state regulations relating to the massage profession. Traditionally, the operators of some of the county’s brothels have masked them as massage parlors.
In a report dated November 4 that accompanied her recommendation for an ordinance amending Chapters 19 and 20 of Division 1 of Title 4 of the San Bernardino County Code relating to massage clinics and massage technicians, Welch wrote, “The proposed ordinance amends Chapter 20 (relating to massage technicians) of Division 1 of Title 4 of the county code by eliminating the massage technician license program and requiring those who wish to provide massage services in the unincorporated areas of the county to obtain certification from the state. The proposed ordinance also amends Chapter 19 (relating to massage clinics) of Division 1 of Title 4 of the county code strengthening local regulation of massage clinics and making such county code provisions comport with recently enacted state law.”
Welch acknowledged that the county has long recognized that massage parlors have been utilized as a front for houses of prostitution.
“Although most massage technician services are legitimate, the historical concern of local governments has been that some massage clinics use massage technicians to engage in prostitution,” Welch stated in her report. “Consequently, the county of San Bernardino has licensed massage clinics and technicians since at least 1981. Many counties and cities similarly regulate massage technicians and clinics.”
Those regulative efforts overlapped with provisions put into state legislation, Welch said.
“In 2008, in response to many complaints that local regulations are burdensome to legitimate massage service providers, the California Legislature adopted Chapter 10.5 of Division 2 of the California Business and Professions Code, which went into effect January 1, 2009,” Welch’s report states. “The state law established the California Massage Therapy Council to oversee implementation and enforcement of the state law. Under this state law, those persons who wish to provide massage services may apply to the California Massage Therapy Council for issuance of a certificate. Such certificate holder would be exempt from any county’s or city’s massage technician licensing requirements.”
The state has again changed its regulatory stance with regard to massage professionals, Welch said.
“The California Legislature, through enactment of Assembly Bill 1147 on September 18, 2014, significantly revised this state law,” Welch’s report states. “The revised law is titled the Massage Therapy Act and takes effect January 1, 2015. The new law establishes more stringent standards of conduct of state certificate holders, even if such conduct does not constitute criminal behavior. Given these more stringent standards and the fact that the California Massage Therapy Council has greater expertise and resources, county staff believes it is no longer necessary or efficient for the county to maintain and enforce its regulations on massage technicians. It would be in the best interest of the public if the county (effective January 1, 2015), discontinues accepting applications for a county-issued massage technician license and instead require all persons who wish to provide massage services in the unincorporated areas of the county to obtain a state-issued certificate. The proposed amendment to the county code accomplishes this change. The proposed amendment to the county code will not limit the county’s ability to ensure technicians comply with state law. The difference under the new system would be that the sheriff’s department or any other inspecting county department would report any problems to the California Massage Therapy Council rather than the clerk of the board, and the California Massage Therapy Council, rather than the clerk of the board, would initiate any suspension or revocation proceedings. The Massage Therapy Act requires the California Massage Therapy Council and local law enforcement and public agencies cooperate with each other. Furthermore, the Massage Therapy Act will not limit in any way the ability of sheriff’s department to investigate massage clinics for potential criminal conduct.”
In recent years, the legitimate massage profession has expanded, with clinics and spas opening in many California cities, including the incorporated municipalities of San Bernardino County. Welch suggested that at the same time, the once flourishing prostitution trade within San Bernardino County’s unincorporated areas has diminished.
“Since enactment of the state certification process, there has been a steady decline in the number of massage technician license applications,” Welch said. “In 2007 there were approximately 106 licensed massage technicians within the county. There are currently 15 massage technicians licensed and the last new license was issued in June 2012.”
Many of the brothels functioning out of massage parlors are or were localized to specific areas where the sex trade could prosper. Once such area is that in and around the Déjà Vu theater in the unincorporated county area abutting the city of Montclair.
The Déjà Vu, which was established as a club featuring topless dancing in the 1980s, became the object of dispute with the county’s planning division more than two decades ago over activity in and around the club, located at the northwest corner of Central Avenue and Mission Boulevard. In 2002, after legal sparring between the county and the club’s ownership, Michigan-based Tollis, Inc., a legal settlement was arrived at by which Tollis agreed to raze the adjoining motel, the Always Inn, which rented rooms by the hour, and to make changes to the landscaping, lighting and maintenance and security of the property in exchange for being able to continue to operate as a strip club for ten years.
In 2012, the county moved to enforce the provision forcing its cessation as a strip club, including holding a planning commission hearing at which Tollis reluctantly acceded to transforming the club into a non-adult entertainment venue or sports bar, while maintaining its liquor license.
Tollis appealed the planning commission’s action to the board of supervisors in October 2012, seeking to reestablish the 7,048 square foot nightclub building at the 1.22-acre site as a strip club by transitioning it into a topless/bottomless dance review that would not feature the availability of alcohol on the premises.
Last month, the county and a lawyer for Tollis gave indication that the issues in the appeal had been resolved, with the county granting Tollis a conditional use permit calling for the change of use from a nightclub with adult entertainment to a nightclub and tavern with on-site sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages and non-adult entertainment, including a sports bar/ comedy club. Despite the closure of the strip club more than two years ago and the county’s action last month, three massage parlors continue to operate within walking distance from it.
There is concern that the county punting the issue of massage parlor regulation to the state will result in an attenuated oversight of potential illicit activity at such establishments, again allowing prostitution to thrive in such venues.
Montclair City Manager Edward Starr indicated his disappointment in the county’s skipping out on its oversight of massage parlors.
“They are backtracking on their authority,” Starr said. “I understand that regulating massage parlors is time consuming and that it makes demands of them and it is much easier to just hand it off to the state. But if the state regulations prove inadequate, will the county then try to reassert itself and bring its authority back? I don’t know. They would be able to do that but it would require them to reschedule it as an item and hold a vote.  It is obviously a decision for the county to make. But the problem in this thing is that when you have neighbors that allow the kind of uses and activity that you are unhappy with and they have given up their authority to regulate it or ability to control it, you are left with those undesirable businesses on your border with their impacts spilling over into your jurisdiction with very few options or no options in how to deal with them. We are obviously unhappy with the type of business the county is allowing to go into that area.”
Starr said he was fully aware of the new legislation, Assembly Bill 1147, but found the county’s assertion that it would prove adequate to alleviate the problems inherent in the proliferation of massage parlors unpersuasive. “Assembly Bill 1147 doesn’t take away from the county’s ability to regulate. From our standpoint, the county stepping out of its regulatory authority does not help in the effort to control undesirable businesses. The state is not going to be providing monitoring. Sacramento is not going to send an inspector to ascertain the legitimacy of a massage parlor 400 miles away. There are many types of massage parlors. Some are legitimate and some are not. When you give up on regulating them, you will see many more of them that are not legitimate.”
Starr said the county’s action in dropping its regulatory role is troubling because “Everyone recognizes the number of massage parlors coming in is getting out of hand.”
Starr said the district in and around the intersection of Mission Boulevard and Central Avenue where the Déjà Vu  was located had been a problem area for quite some time that has garnered plenty of attention from Montclair over the last several decades. From 1998 until 2011, Montclair spent $11 million to make public improvements within the Mission Boulevard Corridor Improvement Project area, which spans along Mission from the Los Angeles County line, a little over a mile-and-a-half west from the Déjà Vu, to Benson Avenue, a little less than a half mile east.
“We have tried to clean up the area to the point of millions of dollars in improvements,” Starr said. He complimented the county for its cooperation in that effort on several fronts.
“They worked with us,” Starr said. “They went to battle with the owners of the Déjà Vu, who hired a lawyer with the expectation of fighting hard. They got the most equitable solution they could in terms of the agreed-upon use for the property. We probably would have done it a little differently.  We had hoped the county would turn that into a residential project but they did not want to get involved in a further legal entanglement with a company that was willing to hire lawyers to fight them all the way. What will go in there now [i.e., a sports bar/comedy club] is better than what was there before.”
Montclair is now left with the assignment of picking up the pieces and moving on. Simultaneously, Starr said he suspected that the county is simply weary of having to tend to not only the Mission Boulevard and Central Avenue District, but the scores of other unincorporated pockets of county property in between or right next to incorporated cities that present land use and social issues that are difficult to deal with. In such cases, Starr surmised, county officials would prefer that the nearby cities simply annex those rough spots and relieve the county of the burden of looking after them. In that way, Starr hinted, the county may simply be neglecting the areas as a way of incentivizing the cities in question to initiate the annexation process.
“The county, more and more, is interested in seeing those pockets go to the cities,” Starr said. “If the zoning allows it, they will just allow them to go in. The county often takes a more lax approach, and regulating massage parlors is such a chore for local governments.”
Starr said the county must also deal with the state’s liberalization of the regulations pertaining to massage parlors. “The state created this monster by loosening the restrictions on massage operations and the county may have finally said, ‘You take over the battle. We’re done with it,’” Starr said.
Historically, San Bernardino County has been a haven for the prostitution trade, with scores of houses of ill repute located along its major thoroughfares such as Highway 66, Highway 395, Old Highway 60, and elsewhere, in both sparsely populated and remote areas as well as in its population centers such as San Bernardino and Ontario. A close relationship developed between many of the brothel operators and county law enforcement, which essentially entailed a semi-institutionalized government protection racket. This circumstance reached its nadir under former sheriff Frank Bland, who initially came into office by campaigning as a reform candidate in 1954, promising to close down the county’s whorehouses. While Bland indeed lived up to that commitment during the first of his seven terms in office, by the mid-1960s he was allowing the flesh trade in the county to flourish in exchange for cash infusions directly into his own pocket as well as into his campaign fund. By the 1970s, the connection between Bland and the purveyors of illicit sexual services had grown so entrenched and casual that he was facilitating liaisons between the county’s elected officials and ladies of the evening, and prostitutes were a featured commodity at his political fundraisers.
In 1978, a crusading deputy district attorney, Bill Parker, undertook a series of prostitution and pandering prosecutions that targeted Bland’s associates. Bland was not himself prosecuted, but the veiled connections between the sheriff’s department and the local sex trade that played out in court contributed to a circumstance that made Bland’s 1982 electoral effort a risky proposition, and he elected to retire rather than risk wide public exposure of his questionable associations.
Welch told the Sentinel that while she understood that massage parlors have been used as fronts for prostitution operations in the county, she had no knowledge of the historical record regarding the sheriff’s department’s association with operators of brothels and bordellos, nor of the entanglements of the county’s elected officals and the sex industry.

(November 6) While both the Republican and Democratic parties saw San Bernardino County as an inland oyster from which a key political pearl might be plucked this electoral season, neither was able to make a sweep in capturing victory in the most hotly contested and volatile races, splitting evenly in the county’s two most amped up contests. Outside of those electoral battles, both were able to meet their own minimalist expectations in this year’s “safe” races.
For more than three decades, San Bernardino County has been a Republican stronghold, one of the few GOP  holdings in a state that has steadily trended toward domination by the Democratic Party. In 2008, the number of registered voters in the county identifying themselves as Democrats, some 314,000, eclipsed the number of those registered as Republicans, 312,000. Nevertheless, because Republicans turn out in far greater numbers at the polls than do Democrats as well as in voting by absentee, the Party of Lincoln has continued to dominate the county politically. In recent years, three of its four congressional representatives have been Republicans . Five of its eight assembly members were Republicans. Three of its five state senators were Republicans. Though county and municipal offices are considered non-partisan ones, those positions, overall are predominantly occupied by registered Republicans. Of the members of the board of supervisors, until 2012, four of five were Republicans. In the last two years, three of the five are Republicans. Of the county’s 24 incorporated cities, only three – San Bernardino, Colton and Rialto – had city councils with a majority of Democratic Party-affiliated members.
In this year’s election, within San Bernardino County, Republican Paul Cook easily outdistanced Democratic challenger Bob Conaway in the 8th Congressional District race, 58,825 votes or 68.32 percent to 27,277 votes or 31.68 percent.
In the 35th Congressional District, two Democrats vied against one another, with Norma Torres vanquishing Christina Gagnier in the San Bernardino County portion of the district 23,590 votes or 61.96 percent to 14,485 votes or 38.04 percent.
In the sliver of the 39th Congressional District located in San Bernardino County, Republican Ed Royce outpolled Democrat Peter Anderson 7,840 votes or 68.12 percent to 3,500 votes or 31.88 percent.
In the San Bernardino County portion of the 27th Congressional District, Republican Jack Orswell pulled down 5,288 votes or 64.7 percent compared to Democrat Judy Chu, who received 2,884 votes or 35.29 percent. Chu, however, one the overal contest, as the 27th is predominantly Democratic  outside San Bernardino County,
In State Senate District 16 voting in San Bernardino County, Republican Jean Fuller overwhelmed Democrat Ruth Musser Lopez, 12,397 votes or 65.34 percent to 6,576 votes or 34.66 percent.
In State Senate District 20, Democrat Connie Leyva cruised past Republican Matthew Munson, 36,547 votes or 60.93 percent to 23,438 votes or 29.07 percent.
In State Assembly District 33, Republican Jay Obernolte defeated Democrat John Coffey, 37,232 votes or 65.98 percent to 19,199 votes or 34.02 percent.
In the small portion of State Assembly District 36 in San Bernardino County, Republican Tom Lackey carried 2,360 voters or 70.13 percent to Democrat Steve Fox’s 1,005 votes or 29.87 percent.
In State Assembly District 40, where the registration between Democrats and Republicans is almost evenly split, Republican Marc Steinorth outgunned Democrat Kathleen Henry,  31,774 votes or 56.37 percent  to 24.597 votes or 43.63 percent.
In the portion of State Assembly District 41 lying within San Bernardino County, Republican Nathaniel Tsai outpolled Democratic incumbent Chris Holden 9,625 votes or 56.71 percent to 7,347 votes or 43.29 percent.  Despite his strong showing in San Bernardino County, Tsai did not win the overall race, having lost in Los Angeles County where voters favored Holden with 40,718 votes or 63.15 percent to Tsai’s 23,759 votes or 36.85 percent.
In heavily Republican State Assembly District 42, which covers portions of both San Bernardino County and Riverside County, Republican Chad Mayes, the former mayor of Yucca Valley, dominated in the in San Bernardino County portion of the district, pulling down 12,560 votes or 65.27 percent while Karalee Hargrove, a Democrat, received 6,682 votes or 34.73 percent.
In heavily Democratic State Assembly District 47, Democrats Gil Navarro and Cheryl Brown, the incumbent, vied against one another. Brown polled 18,665 votes or 57.11 percent to Navarro’s 14,025 votes or 42.89 percent.
In State Assembly District 52, which straddles Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties and where registration heavily favors the Democrats on both sides of the county line, Republican Dorothy Pineda had a surprisingly strong showing in San Bernardino County where she garnered 11,542 votes or 45.09 percent to Democratic incumbent Freddie Rodriguez’s 14,054 votes or 54.91 percent.
In that small portion of State Assembly District 55 in San Bernardino County, the voting numbers favored Republican Ling-Ling Chang, 6,551 or 61.48 percent, to 4,105 or 38.52 percent for Democrat Gregg Fritchle.
By far the most interesting and engaging races in San Bernardino County were those for Congress in the 31st Congressional District, which covers all or portions of Upland, Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands, Rialto, Loma Linda, Grand Terrace, Colton, Muscoy, Ontario and San Bernardino, and the race for Fourth District County supervisor.
Though Democrats have a seven percent registration advantage over Republicans in the 31st, Gary Miller, a Republican is currently the Congressman there. He captured the newly formed district in 2012 when a surfeit of Democrats, including Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar, ran in the open primary, diluting the Democrat vote and allowing Miller and one other Republican running, Bob Dutton, to capture the two top spots in the June election and qualify for the November 2012 General Election, which Miller one.
The Democrats this year coalesced behind Aguilar early on, signaling they were targeting Miller in an effort to gain back Democratic control of the House of Representatives. Miller dropped out of the race and endorsed one of his field representatives, Lesli Gooch. Gooch, however, was unable to get past this year’s open primary when another Republican, Paul Chabot, savagely attacked her during the spring campaign. Chabot managed to capture the top spot in the June primary with 26.6 percent of the vote.  Aguilar, at 17.4 percent, outpolled Gooch and three other Democrats in the race, including former Congressman Joe Baca, finishing second.
Chabot refocused his aggressive and slashing campaign style from assailing Gootch to attacking  Aguilar, hoping to build upon his showing in June. Chabot sought to overcome the GOP’s seven percent registration disadvantage to the Democrats by appealing to the more than 25 percent of the district’s voters who had no declared party preference or were aligned with minority parties such as the Greens or American Independent Party.
Meanwhile, Aguilar was heavily supported by the Democratic National Committee and other Democrat-affiliated organizations, and he outraised Chabot $1.9 million to $428,574 in building up a political war chest and then outspent him $1.8 million to $351,784 during the final five month stretch of the campaign. Despite that spending, Chabot made some progress toward closing or offsetting the party registration advantage of the Democrats and the race was nip and tuck all along. In the end, however, it seems that Chabot’s savaging of Gooch in the primary may have harmed him with the last reserve of Republicans he needed for victory. With 509 of 509 precincts in the 31st Congressional District reporting in at 1:31 a.m. Wednesday morning, Aguilar had eked out a 40,123 votes or 51.04 percent to 38,488 votes or 48.96 percent victory over Chabot.
The other political benchmark race on Tuesday was that between termed-out Republican State Assemblyman Curt Hagman and Democratic Congressman Gloria Negrete-McLeod for Fourth District County Supervisor.
Current Fourth District Supervisor Gary Ovitt, a Republican, represents one third of the 3-2 advantage Republicans hold over Democrats on the county board of supervisors. Board chairwoman Janice Rutherford, who was reelected outright in a two-way race in June, is a Republican as is supervisor Robert Lovingood. Supervisors Josie Gonzales and James Ramos are Democrats. Thus, the outcome of Tuesday’s race controlled which party is to hold primacy at the county seat for the next two years.
Negrete-McLeod, who had converted the lion’s share of the money in her federal campaign coffer to usable cash in the board race, held a commanding electioneering funding advantage over Hagman. Moreover, going into the election, the Democrats held a substantial voter registration advantage over the Republicans in the Fourth District, 64,477 or 40.8 percent to 50,387 or 31.9 percent.
On his side of the equation, Hagman in 2013 forced Robert Rego, who was then the chairman of the San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee, from his position overseeing the GOP in the county and assumed the chairmanship himself.  This gave him tremendous sway over how party money would be spent locally in the current election cycle and further enabled him in the marshalling of party resources in assisting candidates.
In apportioning those resources in a way to assist Republicans involved in partisan battles, Hagman furthered the party’s overarching attempts to reach voters. Simultaneously, he put himself in the somewhat difficult position of being involved in a pitched political battle testing whether he had the mettle to succeed in his own campaign.
When the battle was joined, Negrete-McLeod fired the first several salvos, including hard-hitting attack pieces. She also utilized phone banks to drive Democrats to the polls and made a concentrated effort to reach governmental employee union members who live in the Fourth District to support her candidacy. Hagman hung tough, however, counterpunching Negrete-McLeod’s negative mailers with a blitz of hit pieces targeting her on law-and-order issues in the last week of the campaign.
Ultimately, Hagman prevailed in both the absentee voter tally and election day balloting, capturing 18,837 votes or 52.22 percent to Negrete-McLeod’s 17,232 or 47.78 percent.
The day after the election, Hagman told the Sentinel “I am very humbled and honored by the Fourth District residents’ votes for me. I wish my opponent well and thank her for her public service. I am looking forward to working with the other members of the board of supervisors on the issues that are of such importance to a lot of our residents. In working with the other supervisors it should be easy to create more opportunities across the county and use the momentum that already exists to strengthen our infrastructure and make the county and the state competitive with other counties and other states.”
In evaluating how he had arrived at his victory, Hagman said, “I am a numbers guy and when I saw how well we did with the absentee voters I was surprised, to tell you the truth, and a little bit relieved. We knew it was going to be a very close race and our plan was to work the demographics where we could make our strongest appeal and get the vote out as best as we could.”
In sizing up how the party had fared both in San Bernardino County and statewide, Hagman said, “We’re on a mission to restore the party in California. We have reached the first stage. We picked up two seats in the state senate and two congressional seats overall in California. We are doing much better and now we can start working on our name brand and build up the party. I wish we could win them all, but that is not going to happen. What we have is the wins we could get and we can build upon them.”
With regard to the party falling short in the 31st Congressional District, Hagman said, “Paul did a fantastic job with the resources we had and going up against the Democratic National Committee and their machine. He could not match what they were spending, but he put out our message of creating economic opportunity, building a strong business climate and safe communities. Even though he did not win, he stayed on the theme of focusing across party lines and staying with the issues that will help get those on the Republican side elected.”

(November 4)  The County of San Bernardino has extended its long running contract with its state legislative lobbyist for another year.
Platinum Advisors, which has offices in Sacramento, San Francisco and Orange County, will be paid $218,400 between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2015 for the provision of state legislative advocacy services.
Josh Candelaria, the county’s director of governmental and legislative affairs, in a report to the board of supervisors dated November 4, proposed that the county remain with the lobbying firm it has been using for over a decade.
According to Candelaria, “The County of San Bernardino utilizes advocacy services at both the federal and state level to advance the County’s legislative agenda. The recommended amendment will extend the contract with Platinum Advisors for the period of January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015, at an annual cost of $218,400. Platinum Advisors is a full service government affairs firm with over 16 years’ experience lobbying the California Legislature and executive branch. Effective representation with state administration, agencies, departments, and associations is critical to ensure the county’s legislative agenda is advanced. Platinum Advisors will assist in implementing the Countywide Vision through an effective state advocacy strategy which will allow the county to improve county operations and operate in a fiscally-responsible manner by increasing funding opportunities and influencing state law and policies as they relate to county priorities, programs and operations.”
As the result of a competitive process, on November 15, 2011 the board of supervisors approved Contract No. 11-863 with Platinum Advisors to provide state legislative advocacy services for the period of January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2014. Approval of this recommended action will exercise the first of two options, extending the term through December 31, 2015. Per county policy, all contracts for services (including purchase orders) in excess of $100,000 and/or the contract term exceeding three years must be approved by the board of supervisors.”
There has been some degree of controversy with regard to the county’s relationship with Platinum Advisors. Among those it employs is Brett Granlund, a 1972 graduate of Yucaipa High School who previously represented the Yucaipa/Mentone/Redlands area in the State Assembly.
In 2007, Los Angeles-based attorney Leonard Gumport at the county’s behest investigated the county’s acquisition of the Adelanto jail, making a finding that Granlund and Platinum Advisors, violated the terms of the county’s contract with Platinum by engaging in a conflict of interest and failing to give the county prior written notification of Platinum’s clients. One of those clients was Maranatha Corrections LLC, which is owned by Terry Moreland. Platinum, through Granlund, solicited the county to enter into a $43 million lease and option to purchase the Maranatha Prison in Adelanto, which was owned by Maranatha Corrections/Moreland.
According to Gumport, who had been hired to look into several instances of alleged corruption of county government, neither Platinum nor Granlund informed the county that they were representing the sellers, and the county entered into the purchase agreement without knowing about or being informed of a mold condition at the facility that resulted in additional costs of several million dollars to the county. That sale took place even though an “as is” appraisal reflecting the actual current value of the jail had not been completed, such that Platinum and Granlund had failed to protect the county’s interests.
In January 2005, when the board of supervisors voted to approve the lease and option to purchase the facility, the board had not been informed that Granlund and Platinum had advised and represented Maranatha in marketing the jail to county representatives, including then-county sheriff Gary Penrod, then-county real estate director David Slaughter and then county administrative officer Mark Uffer.
Granlund had previously involved himself in a questionable purchase of county property that allegedly benefited one of his close political associates, Jim Foster, who was at that time the chief of staff to then-supervisor Dennis Hansberger.
In 2001, after San Bernardino County barred its officials from directly purchasing county land or doing so through an intermediary, Foster did just that, using Granlund as his agent. Foster had become interested in a four-tenths of an acre residentially zoned parcel with mountain and valley views located adjacent to Wabash Avenue and Sunset Drive in Redlands, which the county had acquired in 1981. According to county records, Foster made an inquiry about a potential auction of the property in an e-mail exchange with a county property agent in 2001. After the property was put up for bid but not widely advertised, Foster used his authority as Hansberger’s chief of staff to instruct the property agent to again put it up for auction.
In 2001, at Foster’s direction, Granlund and his wife, Lonni, together with Louis and Amy Curti, purchased the property at that auction. In 2002, Foster and his wife, Linda, purchased the Granlunds’ portion of the property for $10,000. In 2004, the Fosters and the Curtis sold the property to George Saunders and Donald R. Paulson for $100,000, netting Foster a profit of somewhere near $40,000.
In 2005, when the matter became public, Foster was suspended from his post as Hansberger’s chief of staff and later was forced to resign after acknowledging he had violated county policy. No charges were filed against Granlund, though Foster maintained that Granlund had knowingly cooperated with him in the scheme to obtain the property.
A list of Platinum Advisors’ clients, which could be cross checked with current county vendors or applicants for county permits or project approval, was not publicly available.

(November 4)  For nearly two months, the National Trials Highway, between Fort Cady Road to Amboy Road and Cadiz Road to Mountain Springs Road/Interstate 40, has been closed pending roadway repairs and bridge evaluations.
On Sunday, September 7, 2014, and Monday, September 8, 2014, thunderstorms and flooding in the Mojave Desert in the communities of Helendale, Silver Lakes, Barstow, Newberry Springs, Ludlow, Amboy and Essex caused damage to various county roads and bridges.
On September 23, 2014, the board of supervisors made an emergency finding relating to the need for repair work on various roads and bridges in the Mojave Desert, triggering the public work division’s access to stand-by funding that could be used to survey the damage and initiate repair work.
According to San Bernardino County Public Works Director Gerry Newcombe, “Preliminary estimates for the emergency repairs total $1,430,000, which includes $805,000 in debris removal and erosion repair, $130,000 in asphalt roadway repairs and $495,000 in bridge repairs. Additional bridge evaluations by the department of public works may further refine the bridge repair estimate.”
This week, at Newcombe’s suggestion, the board of supervisors voted to extend the finding it had made on September 23 that the emergency continues to exist.
Public Contract Code Section 22050 requires an agenda item to be calendared for each regularly scheduled board meeting or every 14 days until the emergency action is terminated to allow the board to review and determine, by a four-fifths vote, whether there is a need to continue the emergency action.
Newcombe said public works department “crews have been performing work to clear debris and repair shoulder erosion since the storm event occurred and it is anticipated repair work will continue until the end of November 2014. The most extensive damage occurred along National Trials Highway where large sections of asphalt roadway surface were damaged and in some locations removed; earth shoulders were heavily eroded; earth material behind bridge abutments and wingwalls washed away; bridge timber elements were damaged; and bridge and roadways were overtopped resulting in debris on the roadways.”
Newcombe told the board that he has available revenue, means, equipment and manpower to carry out the repairs, but that doing so will eat into the funds set aside for carrying out repairs all over the county. He said the exigency is such that the county does not have the luxury of putting the repair projects out to bid to drive down the cost.
“Emergency work will be funded by Gas Tax,” Newcombe said. “Sufficient appropriation and revenue are included in the 2014-15 road operations budget; however, this item will impact the department’s ability to perform routine maintenance work on other roads since said emergency repairs were not included in the budget. A delay to solicit competitive bids for the work is still not feasible, as the subject roads and bridges need to be immediately repaired in order to provide the public and emergency responders a safe route of travel.”