The 2017–2018 San Bernardino County Civil Grand Jury in its final report last month recommended that the county solicit bids for the provision of emergency ambulance support in a wide range of so-called “exclusive service areas” for the first time in 37 years.
Throughout the better part of the last four decades, the current service provider and its corporate predecessor have had an impregnable hold over the region. There have been charges over the years that the county has conferred a monopoly upon that service provider, American Medical Response, by establishing it as the sole provider of ambulance service within a cross section of the county’s exclusive operating zones. This arrangement, some believe, is contrary to the best interest of some county residents, as the resultant lack of competition has allowed American Medical Response to escalate the prices it charges for the service it renders to its customers.
American Medical Response’s primacy in San Bernardino County is the legacy of the fashion in which its predecessor, Mercy Ambulance, utilized a formula of hefty donations to elected county decision makers to enhance its profitability to the detriment of its competitors.
Mercy had formed in the late 1970s, when Terry Russ, Homer Aerts, Steve Dickmeyer and Don Reed, all of whom operated ambulance companies on the west and central portion of San Bernardino’s Inland Valley and had been competing against one another for years, smoked a peace pipe and resolved to merge their operations into one, consolidating and streamlining their dispatch service, and better coordinating it with local fire and police departments. Through efficiencies and the sharing of resources, they were able to overwhelm the other ambulance operators they were in competition with, lower their prices, and induce most of those competitors to either go out of business, move elsewhere, merge with them or sell out to them. After pooling their money and initiating a program of making substantial political contributions to local politicians at both the city and county level, Russ, Aerts, Dickmeyer and Reed then used this newfound political clout and influence to have both the county board of supervisors and various city councils “regulate” the ambulance industry, which included essentially adopting as the minimum requisites for an ambulance operation within their jurisdictions the vehicle, equipment and employee training standards Mercy had in place. The politicians were able to do so by asserting that this enhanced public safety.
Thus, Mercy Ambulance established a political hammerlock on the region. Keeping up its pace of donations to the county’s top local elected officials, the consortium gobbled up ever more key franchises, making its operation yet more lucrative. In turn, the company would use a percentage of the profits it was generating to increase the scope of its political contributions. In return, the grateful politicians ensured that Mercy retained its competitive advantage over its rivals, giving Mercy plum franchises in the county’s most heavily populated areas. While what Mercy established fell slightly short of being an outright monopoly, it was at that point capable of controlling the local ambulance market at will. It then began raising its prices, making up for the rate cuts it had instituted to obtain market dominance and then raising its service rates to a point where customers were openly complaining about being gouged.
Those complaints had little effect, however. As Mercy solidified and expanded its domination of the local ambulance industry and it grew to become preeminent among the county’s campaign donors, the county and many of its cities moved to create franchises in which a single ambulance company was allowed to operate and from which any other companies were prohibited from operating. Not surprisingly, in San Bernardino County Mercy was granted the lion’s share of these exclusive franchises, not to mention the most lucrative ones.
As Mercy grew, so did the scope of its operations and its power. The company added helicopters to its line of service and extended its reach all over 20,105-square mile San Bernardino County – a land area the size of four New England states. But as Russ, Aerts, Dickmeyer and Reed aged and grew wealthier, they began, slowly at first, to disengage from and then inevitably pulled out of the stressful emergency response business entirely. A first step in that direction was selling off – at considerable profit – the Mercy Air wing. Thereafter, they sold or let their heirs take on the ground ambulance fiefdom that Mercy represented, and they withdrew into a retirement of luxury and comfort.
It was at that point that American Medical Response came into San Bernardino County as the new kid on the block. As Mercy withdrew, American Medical Response filled the vacuum, simultaneously taking a leaf out of Mercy Ambulance’s playbook, and it too made hefty political contributions. Over time, favored status would be conferred upon American Medical Response in San Bernardino County that would rival that of Mercy Ambulance a generation before. American Medical Response ultimately bought out Mercy Ambulance, thereby inheriting Mercy’s ambulance service kingdom.
A major player in these issues is ICEMA, which is an acronym for the Inland Counties Emergency Medical Agency. ICEMA oversees emergency service provision issues in San Bernardino, Mono and Inyo counties. With the permission of the boards of supervisors in Mono and Inyo counties, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors acts as the governing body of the Inland Counties Emergency Medical Agency. ICEMA is charted “to ensure an effective system of quality patient care and coordinated emergency medical response by planning, implementing and evaluating an effective emergency medical services system including pre-hospital providers, specialty care centers and acute care hospitals.”
According to the grand jury report, “In 1981 San Bernardino County contracted with the primary ambulance service provider and other smaller ambulance providers to conduct a pilot project. As a result of this pilot project, in 1984 the Inland Counties Emergency Medical Agency (ICEMA) established an emergency medical services (EMS) plan that included establishing exclusive operating areas (EOAs) as allowed under California Health and Safety Codes Sections. The plan resulted in contracts being established, without going out to bid with the current providers within the pilot project. On April 20, 2004, twenty years later [and] without going out to bid, ICEMA approved a performance based contract with the primary provider that included setting up six EOAs. The contract was written to expire on April 30, 2012, and included six automatic extensions. In 2010, ICEMA entered into discussion with the emergency medical services providers to negotiate contract extensions with the understanding that a bid process would be needed in the near future.”
The grand jury reviewed the county’s purchasing policies and procedures, pilot project documentation, the emergency medical services contracts, amendments specific to American Medical Response, various statistical reports and business plans.
According to the grand jury report, “The primary ambulance service provider has continued to be a contracted provider to the county for 34 years. During this time frame, the contract has never gone out for a bid. Based upon interviews, the time frame needed to prepare a request for proposal [i.e., a solicitation of bids] for a contract is 18 – 24 months. The grand jury’s interviews and review of documentation validates that there are no set policies which prohibit the extension of contracts. The ambulance services contract is extremely complicated due to the required levels of safety. These levels of safety include but are not limited to adequately trained emergency medical technicians, paramedics and advanced life support (ALS) equipped ambulances. The standard county contract’s life is five years. The board of supervisors has the authority to extend any contract. The contract between the primary ambulance services provider and the county has never gone out for bid since 1984. The current contract has performance monitoring requirements and penalties to which current ambulance service providers must adhere. ICEMA receives a fee for the monitoring of the performance of all contracted providers.”
Obliquely and politely, indeed without directly referencing the degree to which hefty campaign contributions from AMR have bought influence on the board of supervisors, the grand jury report raises the issue of the favoritism shown toward AMR over the years and the way in which the company has been allowed to adhere to older and lower standards that were in place when it obtained the ambulance service franchise while the county is insisting that the companies that would compete with AMR hew to higher and more expensive standards. This phenomenon in which the government shows such favoritism to a preexisting entity that is not shown to a newer entity is referred to as “grandfathering.”
“The primary ambulance service provider has been serving San Bernardino County since 1981,” the grand jury report states. “In the early 1990s, the primary provider formed a corporation with regulations written as ‘successor clauses.’ The successor clauses address the transition from one service provider to another. These regulations allow the provider ‘grandfather rights’ for successive contracts and extensions, addressed in section 1797.201 of the Health and Safety Code. The eleven exclusive operating areas that the primary provider covers have never gone out to bid. The primary provider has ‘grandfathering rights,’ covered in the State of California Health and Safety Code, sections 1797.201, 1797.224 and 1797.226. Additionally, the Inland Counties Emergency Medical Agency cannot put one exclusive operating area out for bid; only the entire contract must be in the bidding process. Ambulance service is considered a critical service as are the police and fire departments in the bidding process, which could take 18 to 24 months. In the grand jury’s interviewing process, it became apparent that county leadership thought it would be difficult to provide the necessary level of critical service in a changeover process.”
According to the grand jury, “The changeover process (successor clause) is covered in section 1797.226 of the State of California Health and Safety Code. The changeover process is addressed as a successor; the successor replaces previous providers. The bidding process has been discussed for five years by the governing bodies. The primary ambulance service provider has all the most populated exclusive operating areas of which eleven of the total twenty-seven were grandfathered. The eleven exclusive operating areas are in the following cities: Rancho Cucamonga, San Bernardino, Redlands, and Victorville. The other ambulance service providers are the San Bernardino County Fire Department, city fire departments, and four other private ambulance service providers.”
Continuing, the grand jury report points out that there are different perspectives as to whether AMR’s potential competitors can perform at the same level it does. “A number of factors are involved in selecting an ambulance service provider,” the grand jury report states. “The primary provider must maintain a 90 percent response time of 9:59 minutes. Based upon our interviews, it was stated that San Bernardino County Fire Department could not provide a more cost efficient level of ambulance services. The fire department stated that it could provide better service, make a profit and cover the entire county. Currently, the department is not monitored for its response time like the primary provider.”
The grand jury alluded to the degree to which AMR and its predecessor, Mercy, had pressed the advantages conferred upon them by the county and then subsumed their competitors, foreclosing any realistic opportunity for competition.
“All decisions regarding the primary ambulance service contract including the extensions are made by the board,” the grand jury stated. “The current ambulance service providers started servicing San Bernardino County in 1981. Eight ambulance service providers that were servicing the county were acquired by the primary ambulance service provider. The acquisition also included the grandfathered exclusive operating areas which the State of California Health and Safety Code 1797.224 allowed. As Health and Safety Code 1797 dictates, if an ambulance provider were providing services in a specific area within a county exclusive operating area, they retain it [or were] grandfathered. The county could lose grandfathering protection and some control could revert over to the state if the contract were put out for bid under the Health and Safety Codes.”
In its findings, the grand jury stated, “The county issues five year contracts and can extend at its discretion. Three of the six extensions were limited to six months or shorter, not allowing the time needed for a request for proposal (18-24 months). Modifying boundaries of existing contracted exclusive operating areas would warrant for the complete bidding process of the contract. Health and Safety Code 1797.224 states if the exclusive operating areas are amended, the entire contract must go out for bid. The primary service provider currently services eleven exclusive operating areas of the twenty-seven exclusive operating areas within the county. This represents nine percent of the geographic area and 80 percent of the total population.”
Ultimately, the grand jury recommended that the county “Create one exclusive operating area that covers the entire county. This would allow one provider to cover the county and require the provider to service populated and rural areas. If one exclusive operating area were created to encompass the remaining sixteen exclusive operating areas, the current provider could retain grandfathering protection.”
Thus, the grand jury said the county should “Create a request for proposal for a new service provider contract.”
-Mark Gutglueck

Less than a month after its June 26 rejection of resident Linda Repp’s appeal of the planning commissions May 16 approval of Verizon’s proposal to erect a cell tower at Mendel Park, the Apple Valley Town Council on a 5-0 vote last week approved a lease agreement with Verizon for that facility. In exchange for $20,400 annually and Verizon’s assurance it will construct the tower in the likeness of a Eucalyptus tree, the council gave go-ahead to the project.
Repp presented data to indicate that cellular towers present a health risk to those who live or spend a significant amount of time near one, including elevating in children rates of autism and cancer, particularly cancer of the blood such as leukemia. She cited the Los Angeles Unified School District’s banning of cell towers at its schools in making her appeal. The use of the park property for the cell tower location was also opposed by Karen Mendel, whose parents donated the Mendel Park property to the town, though Mendel was unable to launch an official appeal of the planning commission approval because she did not meet the town’s requirement that the appeal be filed within 10 calendar days of the commission’s vote.
In rejecting Repp’s objections to the placement of the tower near the park and its playgrounds as well as adjoining Mariana Academy, which serves preschool through eighth-grade students, the council members downplayed those concerns. Councilwoman Barb Stanton, noting that the fire department has cell towers at its fire stations, said, “If it’s good enough for our firemen who live in those stations day and night, then it’s good enough for our park.” Councilman Curt Emick cited the consideration that Verizon provides the communication link to the in-car computers used by the sheriff’s department to assert that the cell tower will improve general public safety.
Councilman Larry Cusack, who is the owner of Apple Valley Communications and deals in electronic devices using wireless technology such as cell phones, said the proliferation of cell phones among Apple Valley resident was overwhelming the ability of existing facilities to facilitate calls and data exchanges, asserting, “[With] the service in Apple Valley there is not very good coverage. The more and more devices and the more and more equipment that goes on these services, the less service we get unless we add services. North Apple Valley is having all kinds of trouble, and I know down by Apple Valley Road and that area there’s a bunch of dead areas.” He said the electromagnetic emanations from such towers are safe. “Being a radio person, I know the frequencies that go on and stuff, and these are actually lower frequencies, not microwave frequencies that are or can be harmful. When I was working on towers, you had to be away from it, but these are the lower frequencies, which are not as [dangerous]. And it’s low power, too. These are not high power, high wattage facilities.”
At any rate, according to Town Attorney Thomas Rice, the town, like all local jurisdictions, is not permitted to consider the safety or health risks associated with such facilities because the U.S. Congress and the Federal Communications Commission have set the criteria by which such towers are to be located. Both the planning commission and the city council were prohibited by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 from utilizing radio-frequency emissions as factor in determining the placement of the cell-tower, Rice said.
-Mark Gutglueck

The second third of what has been a political institution in Victorville for 50 years gave indication this week he will retire from the position he holds within the public forum later this year.
Councilman Jim Kennedy will not seek what would have been his third term on the Victorville City Council come November.
In more ways than one, Kennedy is the embodiment, or at least represents a continuation, of the Caldwell/Cox dynasty that has proven out as the major shaper of what Victorville is today and has been over the last forty years.
When Victorville was founded in 1962, one of the prime movers toward cityhood had been Joseph Campbell, the scion of what was one of the community of Victorville’s elite families. Campbell’s father was Kemper Campbell, Sr. and his mother, Litta Belle Campbell, both of whom were attorneys. Joseph Campbell. was the younger brother of Kemper Campbell, Jr., an Army Air Corps flyer who lost his life in an aviation training mission early in World War II. Joseph Campbell was a charter member of the Victorville City Council, and remained on that panel for nearly a decade, serving during that time stints as mayor.
In 1967, when the city was five years along in its existence as an incorporated municipality and was being managed by Fred Baxter, it hired a young man not too long out of San Diego State University, Jim Cox, into an apprenticeship as an administrative assistant. By 1968, Cox had acceded to the position of treasurer and then finance director. In 1969, the council took a risk on promoting him to city manager.
In 1972, then-California Governor Ronald Reagan appointed Campbell, who was mayor, to the Superior Court. Because of state statutes pertaining to the incompatibility of public offices, Campbell was required to resign his elected municipal position to go on the bench. With Campbell’s assonance, the city council on March 7, 1972 appointed Terry Caldwell, who was then a member of the Victorville Planning Commission, to fill out the slightly more than two years left on Campbell’s unexpired term. Caldwell spent the next 38 years and nine months on the Victorville City Council, the longest tenure of any Victorville elected official before or since. Along the way, he formed a close alliance and friendship with Jim Cox. Over the years, a number of personages found their way onto the council, becoming members of what was essentially the Caldwell/Cox team that dominated the city and the Victor Valley for more than three decades. In the battle for what was termed “the Golden Triangle,” the property beginning at the tip of the nexus between the 15 Freeway and Highway 395 at the southern end and then between those two major arteries all the way to its northern boundary at Bear Valley Road, Caldwell and Cox outmaneuvered their political and administrative counterparts in Hesperia to put that property, with its rich sales tax-producing frontages, first within Victorville’s sphere of influence and then within its city limits. A few years later, after the Department of Defense in 1992 shuttered George Air Force Base, Victorville entered into a protracted competition with the City of Adelanto over which municipal entity would annex the base property and be allowed to guide its civilian use reconversion. Despite having cut Hesperia off at the pass in the battle for the Golden Triangle, Caldwell and Cox were somehow able to allay city officials there and get them to work cooperatively with them, the Town of Apple Valley and the County of San Bernardino, under the joint powers association of a cooperative entity, dubbed the Victor Valley Economic Development Authority, to put forth an annexation and land use proposal for George Air Force Base that ultimately overcame a competing proposal from Adelanto. Eventually, the Victor Valley Economic Development Authority was granted title to the base property. Thereafter, in a series of maneuvers, Victorville essentially sloughed off the mantle of the Victor Valley Economic Development Authority, taking de facto control of the base, which by that point had been rechristened as Southern California Logistics Airport.
In 1999, Cox retired as Victorville city manager. In December 2007, after more than seven years of comfortable retirement, oftentimes golfing with Caldwell at the Green Tree Golf Course that was proximate to their homes, Cox was sought out by the town of Apple Valley to serve as town manager there. He stayed in that role for ten months, before retiring for the second time as a municipal manager. And then in 2009, Victorville, staggering under the weight of the mismanagement of its electrical utility division as well as the downturn in the national and state economy, asked Cox to again come out of retirement and oversee city staff once more. Cox did so, staying in that assignment for two years.
Over the years, Caldwell would find himself closely affiliated with Jim Kennedy, the husband of his law partner. When Caldwell chose not to seek reelection in 2010, he and his longtime supporters threw their support behind Kennedy, who was elected. Kennedy was, and still is, perceived as a continuation of Caldwell’s guidance of the City of Victorville. In 2011, Cox retired for the second time as Victorville’s city manager. The next year, he successfully vied for the Victorville City Council.
Both Cox and Kennedy not only replicated, but embodied, much of Caldwell’s philosophy and approach.
Of note is that Caldwell, Cox and Kennedy are residents of what is considered by some to be Victorville’s premier neighborhood, that area surrounding the Green Tree Golf Course and Country Club, which was developed as Victorville’s first planned community beginning in 1963, just a year after the city’s founding. The golf course is now a city-owned entity, and as such it has been bundled with a number of other city assets such as City Hall, its city yard, fire stations and other real properties and structures as collateral used to secure bonds. The city, which formerly contracted with Billy Casper Golf to operate the golf course and the country club, has since contracted with Sierra Golf Management to run the links and clubhouse.
Because of the consideration that they each live within 500 feet of the golf course, neither Cox nor Kennedy is permitted to vote on any issues related to the golf course, including the contract with Sierra Golf Management, as this would violate the conflict of interest provisions of the Political Reform Act.
Last month, the city council took up the issue of the 2018-19 budget, including that element of the budget outlining a proposed $532,243 payment to Sierra Golf Management in the form of a taxpayer subsidy necessary to allow the golf course to attain its $1.1 million operating allotment and remain open to the public. That item was separated from the approval of the entire budget so that Cox and Kennedy would not vote upon it.
Under law, however, neither the entire budget nor any part thereof can be passed without the assent of a majority of the entire council, that is, three votes.
Previously, there had been discussion of creating a special taxpayer district within the immediate environs of the golf course that was inclusive of the Green Tree neighborhood. The assessment to be imposed on the district’s homeowners and property owners would defray the costs of operating the golf course, a major proportion of which consists of irrigating the course’s greens and landscaping the course and country club grounds, all of which are considered to be enhancements to the neighboring properties. Those discussions had not proceeded to the point of actuating the formation of that district, though the 2018-19 budget did earmark $25,000 to fund a study about initiating the tax district.
While Mayor Gloria Garcia and Councilman Eric Negrete were willing to support voting to utilize $532,243 in taxpayer money to subsidize the golf course operations, Councilwoman Blanca Gomez was not. This inability to get three votes to support the golf course subsidization raised the prospect of Sierra Golf Management shutting the course down and launching legal action against the city over a breach of contract, as well as potentially creating a default with regard to the credit arrangement on the city’s bonds.
Ultimately, Kennedy has come to the conclusion that his continued council incumbency will prevent the golf course operation contract issue from being resolved. As such, he is electing to leave the council as of December, and will not seek reelection in November.
His departure will have the outcome he seeks, however, only if he is not replaced by a candidate living in the Green Tree neighborhood and Negrete, who is also up for reelection this year, is able to regain election, such that three members of the newly composed council will be on board for offering the city subsidization to the golf course operations and maintenance.
-Mark Gutglueck

San Bernardino County yesterday joined with more than 200 cities and counties throughout the country and filed what is essentially a cloned lawsuit suing 24 pharmaceutical companies and ten retail drug distributors and pharmacies, citing “aggressive and fraudulent marketing of prescription opioid painkillers and distribution practices.”
The county is represented in the lawsuit by the New York City-based law firm of Simmons Hanly Conroy, along with Wisconsin-based Crueger Dickinson LLC.
The suit maintains that the pharmaceutical companies, physicians prescribing opioids indiscriminately and retailers including pharmacies, drug stores and general merchandisers failed to maintain effective controls over the distribution of prescription opioids and actively sought to evade reasonable controls on the prescribing and dispensing of the drugs.
Lodged in federal court, the suit seeks relief associated with costs the county is bearing in fighting the opioid crisis. The problems besetting the county have been brought on by “the drug companies’ deceptive marketing campaign that misrepresents the safety and efficacy of long-term opioid use,” according to the suit, which maintains that 35 fatalities from opioid use occurred in San Bernardino County last year. Moreover, according to county officials, in 2017, at least 259 people visited emergency rooms in the county with non-heroin opioid overdoses and another 179 were hospitalized for opioid overdoses. Nearly 1.5 million prescriptions were written last year for opioid medications. County officials say those have contributed to addiction and have increased drug-related or drug-induced crimes or public health issues like Hepatitis C and neonatal abstinence syndrome.
With other offices in San Francsisco, Chicago, St. Louis, El Segundo as well as Alton, Illinois, Simmons Hanly Conroy has with Crueger Dickinson filed what are nearly indistinguishable lawsuits against the same defendants on behalf of New York City; the State of New York’s Dutchess, Broome, Erie, Orange, Oswego, Schenectady, Seneca, Sullivan and Ulster counties; San Juan County, New Mexico; Santa Fe, New Mexico; DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties in Illinois; Adams, Columbia, Door, Douglas, Eau Claire, Florence, Fond du Lac, Grant, Green, Iowa, Jackson, Jefferson, Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Oconto, Oneida, Pierce, Price, Rock, Rusk, Sauk, Shawano, Sheboygan, Washburn, Washington, Waupaca Brown, Crawford, Iron, Juneau, Kewaunee, Outagamie, Ozaukee, Pepin, Portage, Racine, Richland Winnebago and Wood counties in Wisconsin; Washington, Calcasieu, Ouachita, Sabine and Vernon parishes in Louisiana; Adair, Adams, Audubon, Benton, Bremer, Buchanan, Buena Vista, Calhoun, Carroll, Cedar, Clay, Clayton, Clinton, Dallas, Delaware, Fayette, Hamilton, Hardin, Humboldt, Johnson, Lee, Mahaska, Marion, Mitchell, Monroe, Montgomery, O’Brien, Plymouth, Polk, Pottawattamie, Sac, Scott, Shelby, Sioux, Taylor and Winneshiek counties in Iowa; the municipalities of Bridgeport, Naugatuck, Southbury, Fairfield, Beacon Falls, Milford, Oxford, West Haven, Noth Haven, Thomaston, Torrington, Bristol, East Hartford, Southington, Newtown, Shelton and Tolland in Connecticut; Dauphin County in Pennsylvania and Riverside County in California, among others.
“The county and our residents are being severely affected by the opioid crisis,” said San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors Chairman Robert Lovingood, who added that through the filing of the lawsuit, “our county joins hundreds of counties across the United States in an important effort to hold these companies responsible for their role in creating the opioid epidemic.”
“Together, with Simmons Hanly Conroy, we will work to hold the defendants responsible and to secure help for the residents of San Bernardino County recovering from opioid addiction,” Erin Dickerson, a lawyer with Crueger Dickinson LLC, said.
The defendants in the lawsuit include Purdue Pharma, L.P.; Purdue Pharma, Inc.; The Purdue Frederick Company, Inc.; Endo Health Solutions Inc.; Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceutica, Inc. n/k/a Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Noramco, Inc.; Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. n/k/a Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Johnson & Johnson; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.; Cephalon, Inc.; Allergan PLC f/k/a Actavis PLC; Allergan Finance LLC, f/k/a Actavis, Inc., f/k/a Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Watson Laboratories, Inc.; Actavis, LLC; Actavis Pharma, Inc. f/k/a Watson Pharma Inc.; Insys Therapeutics, Inc.; Mallinckrodt PLC; Mallinckrodt LLC; Cardinal Health Inc.; McKesson Corporation; AmerisourceBergen Corporation; CVS Health Corporation; The Kroger Co.; Rite Aid of Maryland, Inc. D/B/A RiteAid Mid-Atlantic Customer Support Center, Inc.; Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. A/K/A Walgreen Co.; Wal-Mart Inc. F/K/A Walmart Stores, Inc.; H.D. Smith, LLC d/b/a HD Smith, f/k/a H.D. Smith Wholesale Drug Co., H.D. Smith Holdings, LLC, H.D. Smith Holding Company; and Miami-Luken, Inc.
The suit also alleges that physicians Russell Portenoy, Perry Fine, Scott Fishman and Lynn Webster have been instrumental in promoting opioids for sale and distribution nationally.

The legal team representing former Adelanto City Councilman Jermaine Wright, who is accused by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of arranging to receive a bribe while in office and fixing to have his restaurant destroyed in an arson fire so he could collect on a $300,000 insurance policy he had on the structure that housed it, has been granted a six-month continuance to prepare for their client’s trial.
Wright had been scheduled to go before a jury beginning on August 14, some nine months and seven days after his November 7, 2017 arrest by the FBI. That arrest came roughly three weeks after Wright had been confronted by an FBI agent with evidence that agency had accumulated against him and the councilman agreed to cooperate with a continuation of the investigation into graft, bribery and fraud at Adelanto City Hall, including using a surreptitious recording device to capture statements from other city officials the FBI agents thought might implicate them in activity similar to that in which Wright was involved. Wright, however, violated the terms of that commitment by disclosing to one of his confidants, whom he did not know to be an FBI informant, that the probe was under way. In his exchange with the informant, Wright went so far as to solicit a mob-type “hit” on an undercover FBI agent who had posed as an arsonist in previous dialogue with Wright during which the councilman had given the agent a tour of his restaurant, Fat Boyz Grill, assisted in the planning of the arson by providing a ladder for the undercover agent, discussed various tactics with regard to maximizing the damage and paid the undercover agent $1,500 to carry out the assignment.
Wright has asserted his innocence through his federal public defenders, Jeffrey Aaron and Angela Viramontes, during the legal process and, when he has surfaced publicly since his conditional release on bond in May, in his own statements. The evidence against him, however, is overwhelming. In addition to the material assembled by the undercover FBI agent who had taken on the persona of an arsonist, several encounters Wright had with another FBI agent who had convincingly represented himself as an applicant seeking to obtain a city permit to operate a marijuana transportation business were electronically monitored. In one of those, Wright told the FBI agent that he was willing to take money in exchange for helping to secure an “exemption” that would allow the transportation business to get up and running. At a later meeting, on October 6, 2017, the FBI agent provided Wright with two separate stacks of 100 $50 bills. When the exchange was made, Wright and the agent observed the nicety of suggesting that the money might be used by a non-profit charity Wright indicated he controlled. In reality, that non-profit entity did not exist.
Wright’s lawyers, despite the consideration that they have been working on his behalf since November, are completely unprepared to go to trial. Whatever leverage to make a favorable deal Wright may have once possessed in the form of his ability to assist federal authorities in their investigation evaporated when he angled to have one of the FBI agents knocked off prior to his being arrested and while he was still in a position to approach both Adelanto officials and those suspected of bribing them to see what evidence he might gather.
Hearing no objection from the U.S. Attorney’s office, U.S. District Judge Jesus G. Bernal on July 9 consented to continuing the trial until February 26. Between now and then, it is anticipated that Aaron and Viramontes, together with their investigators and research staff, will be attempting to find some procedural or evidentiary fault in the way in which the FBI and then the U.S. Attorney’s Office proceeded against their client in an effort to have some or all of the evidence against him thrown out.
–Mark Gutglueck

In a July 16 email to the Sentinel, San Bernardino County’s official spokesman, David Wert, took issue with several elements in the article, “Board’s Emerging Political Divide Overwhelming County’s Top Administrator,” which ran as the lead story in the Sentinel’s July 13 edition.
Wrote Wert, “Just read your article and there were a few factual errors that should be addressed:
“–’Devereaux was not hired into the post of county administrative officer – the title historically conferred upon San Bernardino County’s top employee – but rather the enhanced position of county chief executive officer.’ – Greg [Devereaux] was hired as county administrative officer. The board did not create the position of chief executive officer until Nov. 2, 2010, about nine months after Greg joined the county as CAO.
“–’Devereaux was given absolute autonomy with regard to overseeing the county’s operations as well as the hiring and firing of county department heads that went beyond the authority of any previous county administrative officer.’ – Greg’s authority to oversee the county’s operations and hire and fire department heads was no different than it was for previous CAOs and is for the present CEO. There are a handful of positions –Behavioral Health director, Child Support Services director and public defender, to name a few – that by state law are board of supervisors appointments. Most department head positions have always been and still are CAO/CEO appointments for which there is no legal mechanism for board appointment or termination.
“–’the board did not confer upon McBride the title of chief county executive officer. Rather, the previous title of county administrative officer was reinstated as the county’s top staff position with his promotion.’ – Gary [McBride] was hired as and serves as “chief executive officer.” He has never held the title of “county administrative officer,” which has not existed since November 2010.
“–’the practice of restricting the county’s department heads from having direct substantial contact with the board of supervisors.’ – There has never been a ‘practice of restricting the county’s department heads from having direct substantial contact with the board of supervisors.’ When Greg was hired, he and the board agreed that individual board members and their staff members would refrain from giving orders to county departments behind the scenes, and county departments who received orders from individual board members and their staff members would refer the matter to the CAO (later the CEO). Direction from the board can only come from the board taking action as a body in an agendized meeting. That agreement was memorialized in an ordinance passed on Nov. 2, 2010. However, it was made clear from day one of Greg’s tenure (I know, because I was there when Greg communicated this to county department heads) and it continues to be the rule today that department heads and other county staff are to respond promptly to questions and requests for information from individual board members and board staff, and keep board members and board staff informed of significant situations and events. The CEO needs to be kept in the loop on those communications for obvious reasons. Therefore, there is no and never was any restriction on contact between department heads and the Board of Supervisors, or on the board as a body providing direction to county agencies, just a restriction on individual board members and board staff from giving direction to county staff behind the scenes.
“This is not to say that I’m confirming the other elements in your story. As I mentioned, what you say you’re hearing and what I’m seeing and hearing do not match.
“Thanks, and take care,

“David”

This morning, at 9:16 a.m. deputies and medical aid responded to a residence in the 2700 block of Duffy Street in Muscoy, following a report of a shooting. Deputies arrived and found a two-year-old victim suffering from a gunshot wound. She was transported to a local hospital and pronounced deceased at 10:02 a.m.
Sheriff’s specialized investigators responded to conduct a probe of the incident. They determined a four-year-old boy, the victim’s cousin, was in possession of a handgun and accidentally shot the two-year-old.
Investigators interviewed several people who were at the home at the time of the shooting, and as a result they determined that Cesar Lopez, the victim’s grandfather, left the gun in an area that was accessible to the children. Lopez, 53, was arrested and will be booked for child endangerment and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The Montclair City Council this week appointed Virginia Eaton to serve out the remainder of her husband’s term as mayor. Paul Eaton stepped down as mayor on July 5, as health considerations had prevented him from physically attending city council meetings since March.
Councilwoman Carolyn Raft nominated Eaton, who often goes by “Ginger.” No other suggestions were made or nominations entertained. The council then voted unanimously to approve her selection.
Virginia Eaton was sworn into the office on the spot by City Clerk Andrea Phillips.
Virginia Eaton’s political ascendancy very likely preserves what should be an open mayoral election in November, when the term Paul Eaton was elected to in 2014 expires. It is anticipated that Virginia Eaton will not vie in that contest.
Appointments to elected office vacancies carry with them political implication, as incumbency statistically endows office holders with an eight-to-11 percentage point advantage against challengers. There has been speculation that any of the four current council members – Raft, who has been in office since 1992; John Dutrey, who has been in office since 1996; Bill Ruh, who has been in office since 1998; and Trisha Martinez, who has been in office since 2014 – would be interested in moving into the mayor’s post.
Virginia Eaton has lived in Montclair 53 years, since moving there with Paul and their young family in 1965. Her husband, to whom she has been married for 60 years, came into office the same way in which she did. He was appointed to the city council in 1988. Seven years later, with the departure of then-Mayor Larry Rhinehart, Paul Eaton was appointed mayor.

The ten-lined June beetle, also known as the watermelon beetle, is a scarab beetle, living in the western United States and Canada.
Like all living things in this world that are not plants, bacteria, or fungi, the ten-lined June beetle is classified as Animalia, that is, within the animal kingdom, and falling within the Arthropoda phylum, the Hexapoda subphylum and within the insecta class. They are of the coleoptera order, i.e., beetles, and the polyphga suborder, meaning water, rove, scarab, long-horned, leaf and snout beetles, and within the superfamily Scarabaeoidea, which includes scarab, stag and bess beetles, the Scarabaeidae family of scarab beetles, the Melolonthinae subfamily of May beetles and Junebugs, the Melolonthini tribe and the Polyphylla genus of lined June beetles and the decemlineata species, literally meaning ten-lined June beetle.
Polyphylla decemlineata adults are attracted to light and feed on foliage. They can make a hissing sound when touched or otherwise disturbed, which can resemble the hissing of a bat. The hissing is made by their wings pushing down, forcing the air out between their wings and back. They are known, in the larval stage, as an agricultural pest affecting a wide range of crops, as the larvae feed on plant roots and can weaken or kill plants.
They are relatively large in size, some growing to 1.5 inches in length or more. As in other members of this genus, the males have large distinctive antennae consisting of several lamellate plates, which they close up when threatened. The antennae are used to detect pheromones emitted by females. The wing covers (elytra) have four long white stripes and one short stripe each. The underside of the thorax is covered with brownish hairs.
Eggs laid by females are oval, dull, and creamy. They are about 1/16 of an inch long. The larva or grub can grow up to 2 inches with 3 pairs of legs, with a white body and brown head. The larval stage can last as long as 4 years.
The ten-lined June beetle is very common throughout the Pacific Northwest as a root feeding white grub which feeds on roots of crops, garden, and ornamental plants. They are less common south of that region, but are indeed present in all of California. The beetles emerge in the summer, usually in late June through July. Attracted to lights at night and found under the lights in the daylight, they hiss and squeal when handled. They prefer sandy soil.
Ten-lined beetles take two years to mature. Upon hatching from eggs, they spend the next 24 months underground, eating roots and developing into adults, which emerge from May to June in most cases but as late as September, hence the name June beetle.
From Wikipedia http://entomology.wsu.edu

The bucket hat is back this summer and it’s super cute! Oftentimes it’s cool to just be informal. If that is your aim, the bucket hat is definitely it. It rounds up the head. The bucket look is perfect when you’re on the go in the sun this summer. If you’re off to the beach, to run errands or just outing for fun, the bucket hat is a great cover-up. They are trending now, match well with street fashion and look sexy with a bikini. You won’t look dorky in this hat! I promise it will be all about fun. So get to it and head into summer fun, remembering you need to have a headpiece if you are going to take on the sun.

“How a hat makes you feel is what a hat is all about.” -Philip Treacy