By Steve Lambert
The 20/20 Network
Rialto City leaders are mourning the passing of former Mayor Grace Vargas, whose nearly 35 years of service to the community left a lasting legacy that will be felt for decades to come.
Vargas, who passed away on Sunday after a long illness, served as mayor from 2000-2012 and was the first woman and first Latina to hold that position. Her many contributions to the city were memorialized in 2016 with the naming of the Grace Vargas Senior Center, located at 1411 South Riverside Avenue.
Flags are being flown at half-staff at City Hall and other locations.
“Grace Vargas was a trailblazer and an inspiration to women and women of color throughout our region. We will miss her passion, her strength and her commitment to our city,” said Mayor Deborah Robertson, who served on the city council during Vargas’ tenure as mayor.
Said Mayor Pro Tem Ed Scott, “Grace had a heart of gold and was determined to help make Rialto a great city. She embodied the best of what public service is.” Continue reading →

In this year’s District 4 Big Bear Lake City Council race, Robert Barton, an attorney licensed to practice in California, New York and Washington, D.C., is seeking to employ his training and expertise in the legal realm to guide municipal operations in the mountain tourism hamlet.
“Lawyers have a duty to use their education on behalf of the public when appropriate,” Barton said. “I believe I have talents and experience that can be beneficial to the community.”
He is qualified to hold the position of city councilman, Barton suggested, because “I’m not a politician and I have nothing to gain financially by running for this office. Thus, I can do what I believe is in the best interests of all residents and business owners.”
He is running against incumbent Councilwoman Perri Melnick, herself an attorney who was appointed to the council in July 2021, and Cory Blake Miholich, an engineering contractor who runs a restaurant in the city. Barton said he is not running against them in any way except the technical sense, as they are in opposition to one another on the ballot for the same position. Continue reading →

Tom Berg is one of three candidates in this year’s Redlands District 1 election vying against the incumbent, Denise Davis.
“It’s my firm belief no incumbent should run unchallenged,” Berg said. “I believe I’d be the better candidate for the voters to choose from.”
Also competing in the District 1 race are Andrew Hoder and Rodgir Cohen.
Berg said, “As a registered civil engineer in California involved in over 40 years of managing large public works projects for governmental agencies, I believe I can serve Redlands well in contrast to the experience levels offered by my opponents.”
Berg said that “Real life and practical experience in the business world and the world of public works; plus, my long-held belief public works are a public trust” distinguishes him from his opponents. Continue reading →

NOTICE OF HEARING ON PETITION FOR TERMINATION OF PARENT – CHILD RELATIONSHIP
CASE NUMBER JS21265
SUPERIOR COURT OF ARIZONA IN MARICOPA COUNTY
Juvenile Department
PARENT/GUARDIAN NAMES: Tiffany Araujo – Mother; Malik Russell Etheridge – Father
Petitioner Tiffany Araujo In the Matter of Minor: Delani Nicole Van Damme (10/30/2012)
This is an important notice from the court. Read it carefully.
A petition about termination of parent-­child relationship has been filed with the court, and a hearing has been scheduled related to your child. Your rights may be affected by the proceedings. You have a right to appear as a party in the proceeding.
If you fail to participate in the court proceedings, the court may deem that you have waived your legal rights and admit to the allegations made in the petition. Hearings may go forward in your absence and may result in the termination of your parental rights.
Facility Assignment: Durango Juvenile Court Center 3131 W. Durango St, Phoenix, AZ 85009.
Judicial Officer: Honorable Lauren R. Guyton
Hearing Date/Time: October 13, 2022, at 9:30 a.m.
Hearing Type: Severance-Initial Hearing Location – Court Connect Remote Appearance
Court Connect Hearing: Yes
Video: https://tinyurl.com/jbazmc-juc02
Phone: (917) 781-4590, Participant Code 312 434 5#
How can I prepare for the hearing? Any supporting documentation must be filed with the Clerk of Court at least seventy-two hours in advance of the set hearing date.
If I have questions or concerns who can I contact?
For questions concerning filing, please contact the Clerk of Court at (602) 372-5375. For questions about the hearing, contact the Juvenile Department at (602) 506-4533, Option 2 to reach the assigned Judicial Officer’s staff. If you have legal questions, seek legal counsel.
Published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel July 29, August 5, August 12 & August 19, 2022.

NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF: MICHAEL C. MADDUX aka MICHAEL CHARLES MADDUX CASE NO. PROSB2201012
To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both of MICHAEL C. MADDUX aka MICHAEL CHARLES MADDUX
A PETITION FOR PROBATE has been filed by SHAYNA STEWART in the Superior Court of California, County of SAN BERNARDINO.
THE PETITION FOR PROBATE requests that SHAYNA STEWART be appointed as personal representatives to administer the estate of the decedent. Continue reading →

Clean up your own backyard
Oh, don’t you hand me none of your lines
Clean up your own backyard
You tend to your business, I’ll tend to mine
-Elvis Presley

Twenty-three of 290 Upland residents whose properties are being encumbered by selectively placed assessments turned the tables on the Upland City Council this week, during a spontaneous rather than planned contesting of those officials’ municipal authority.
Despite the efforts of the council members to brand two dozen of their constituents as scofflaws and impose on them what were labeled as “exorbitant” and “draconian” fines and penalties for their alleged failure to maintain their property, some of those being singled out for the city’s sanctions were able to marshal evidence to demonstrate that the city’s public property – for which all five members of the council are at the ultimate level officially responsible – is being maintained in a state that is equally or more abysmal, in many cases, to their own.
According to the city, 290 primarily residential properties in the city at one point or another this year were overgrown with weeds. Of those, as of last month 24 were yet out of compliance to the point that the city had contractors remove the vegetation deemed to not be in code or which was creating a potential fire hazard. Any property owner whose yard elicited the attention of city employees in this manner were immediately subjected to a $72 fine. That would be the extent of it if those landowners rapidly complied with the city’s demand that the weeds be removed. Continue reading →

All but a few of this election season’s mayoral and council races in San Bernardino County have shaped up as of today, with the elapsing of today’s 5 p.m. across-the board filing deadline for candidates in 21 of the county’s 22 cities and both towns that are to hold municipal races in November. The lone exceptions are in those contests where the incumbent is not seeking election, which by law requires that the deadline be extended another five days, in this case until August 17. Continue reading →

Thirty-one residents of the High Desert, represented by two San Diego-based law firms, have sued Synagro Tecnologies and its corporate ownership, the American multinational investment bank
Goldman Sachs, citing the environmental havoc from the fire in its unenclosed waste pit that has been burning out of control for close to two-and-a-half months.
On behalf of Catherine A. Blevins, Barbara Bryson, Alice M. Carrigan, Theresa Carter, Judy Ceja, Guadalupe Ceja, Veronica Davila, Terry Deaton, Justine Dellavecchia, April Evans, Mariah Evans, Patricia A. Evans, Andrea M. Figueroa, Jeff Gerhart, Norman Halstead, Delfina Harrell, Alexandra Hendley, James Hood, Brianna Hoody, Brooklyn Hoody, Erica Jackson, Dorothy Ann Jackson, Sean E. MacDonald, Sandra Martin, Daniela Natale, John Natale, Carlos Ozuna, Helen Ozuna, Bryan Douglas Powers, Ilean Sanchez, and Lisa R. Sollars, attorneys Natasha N. Serino, Alexander M. Schack and Shannon F. Nocon of the Schack Law Group and Gregory J. Hout filed suit, alleging negligence, strict liability for ultrahazardous activity, trespass, public nuisance and private nuisance. Named as defendants in the suit are Synagro Technologies, Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., as well as Nursery Products, LLC and Synagro-WWT, I. Continue reading →

By Mark Gutglueck
As much as any political entity in San Bernardino County and far more than most, the West Valley Water District Board of Directors has over the last nine months undergone an orientational, organizational and compositional change.
Despite its size and status among far larger local governmental organizations and its relatively confined function, over the last five years the West Valley Water District has proven to be the most politically contentious governmental operation in San Bernardino County.
The dynamics of the relationship between two of the district’s leaders, which began amiably enough but devolved into a bitter enmity and power struggle, dominated the district. As of last month, both of those personalities have left. Continue reading →