Ontario Councilman Alan Wapner and eleven others connected with Ontario International Airport will be traveling to the Far East for a period of more than week in September.
A degree of secrecy attends the trip, as the Ontario International Airport Authority, the entity that governs the airport, has not publicly disclosed why the group is traveling to China and what its itinerary will be upon arriving. The Sentinel was informed that the eleven will touch down in Hong Kong, but as to where they will go thereafter was not available.
The Sentinel today emailed the airport’s public spokesman, Steve Lambert, seeking from him the purpose of the trip, a confirmation of the identities of those accompanying Wapner, whom they are to meet with and what specifics are to be discussed in the course of those meetings. Lambert did not respond by press time.
The Sentinel is told that participating in the trip will be Wapner, who in addition to being a member of the city council has been the President of the Ontario International Airport Authority since its 2011 inception will be Andrew Han, Annie Lin-Ahn, Atif Elkadi, Emily Paredez, Eren Cello, Joy Chuang, Martha Preciado, Paul Haney, Quinn Annelin and Stephanie King.
Andrew Han is an air service development analyst with the airport. He formerly worked as a market and sales development specialist with Korean Air Lines.
Lin-Ahn is the airport authority’s airline affairs and properties manager.
Atif Elkadi is the airport authority’s executive director.
Paredez is the airport’s community engagement specialist.
Cello is the airport’s senior vice president of communications & marketing.
Chuang doubles as the airport’s marketing and communications manager and its human resources director.
Preciado is the airport and airport authority’s director of government relations.
Paul Haney since 2018 has been a consultant without portfolio to the airport authority on a $20,000 monthly retainer plus reimbursable expenses, having been paid $1,580,000.
Annelin is the airport’s director of air service development.
King is the director of community engagement at the airport.
– Mark Gutglueck

The Twentynine Palms Council on July 22 unanimously voted to allow the Ofland Resort project to proceed on undeveloped property long zoned and reserved for residential development east of Indian Cove.
Ofland Resort, to consist of 100 guest cabins will be built on 42 acres at the center of a 152-acre parcel east of Lear Avenue, south of Twentynine Palms, north of Sullivan Road and west of the southerly extension of Shoshone Valley Road.
In addition to the cabins, the project is to entail two lodges, a swimming pool, restaurant, general store, outdoor movie screen and dormitories for employees.
In order for the project to proceed, the land had to be rezoned from residential, upon which 61 single family units could be developed, to tourist commercial. Both Ofland and the city’s planning and community development staff touted the project as one which prioritizes conservation and enhances the region’s natural beauty, would not represent an over-intensive land use, such that it would be a low impact baseland for Joshua Tree National Park visitors, develop 42 out of 152 acres while leaving 110 acres surrounding the resort in a natural and undeveloped state and would provide a 550 foot buffer from the Indian Cove residential neighborhood to mitigate noise and other impacts. In addition, Texas-based Ofland intends to incorporate dark sky approved lighting on the project to protect night sky viewing and reduce light pollution.
Both Twentynine Palms Development Director Keith Gardner and Ofland Director of Acquisitions Luke Searcy acknowledged the current residential zoning would allow 61 single family units on the 152-acre parcel. Gardner and Searcy stated 108 acres would remain as open space for conservation purposes and the project will be put primarily near the center of the site.
Searcy said the company would put reservations and conservation easements on the 108 acres for a “protected period.” Nevertheless, it was brought up that Ofland at a future date will be able to approach the city in the future about the development of the land currently designated as open space. Searcy said the guest cabins are to be modeled on the primitive local homestead cabins that dotted the Twentynine Palms landscape beginning in the 1920s.
“We are not Mariott,” Searcy said. “We are not a large multinational corporation.” As such, Searcy said, Ofland would remain committed to Twentynine Palms after the project is up and running. He said Ofland had established its reputation with a first rate resort in Escalante Utah, which had been voted by some rating agency or other as the finest resort in the country. He said what Ofland is proposing in Twentynine Palms is “similar” to what it accomplished in Escalante, Utah. Oflandand has one other resort, beyond that, he said. He said Ofland is “a small and growing business with three projects. We will be focused on just these three projects,” he promised.
Searcy said the project, beside providing the city with tax revenue, will offer benefits to local residents, as the general store will feature local products and the pool will sell passes who want to use it during the summer.
The council meeting was not held at City Hall but rather at the community center gym to accommodate the anticipated large crowd. On June 25, the planning commission had recommended that the city council give approval to the project, with a ratio of roughly three to one of those in attendance speaking in opposition to the project and the utilization of a mitigated negative declaration to give the project environmental certification. This week, there was substantial turn-out to the city council meeting, with at least two thirds of those there hoping to discourage the city council from following the planning recommendation.
A major point of contention was that the city is using a mitigated negative declaration, based on a relatively thin initial study of the project’s impacts carried out by Terra Nova Consulting.
Under the California Environmental Quality Act, an examination of the environmental impacts of a project must be made. Some discretion is left to the governmental decision-making body that oversees land use issues and possesses approval and/or denial authority regard to a development project as to what type of analysis of the environmental issues is to be carried out and what mitigations of the impacts are to be required.
In evaluating the project application thus far, Twentynine Palms planning staff elected to use a mitigated negative declaration, also referred to as an initial study, as the means of providing the project with its environmental certification.
A simple negative declaration is the least exacting type of development impact assessments and a mitigated negative declaration is the second-least stringent type of development impact assessments. On the other end of the scale, an environmental impact report is the most involved and exhaustive type of environmental analysis and certification there is, followed by an environmental impact study, then an environmental impact assessment, then a mitigated negative declaration and a negative declaration. An environmental impact report consists of an in-depth study of the project site, the project proposal, the potential and actual impacts the project will have on the site and surrounding area in terms of all conceivable issues, including land use, water use, air quality, potential contamination, noise, traffic, and biological and cultural resources. An environmental impact report specifies in detail what measures can, will and must be carried out to offset those impacts. An environmental impact study is somewhat less exacting and an environmental impact assessment less stringent still. A mitigated negative declaration is a statement by the ultimate land use authority – in the is case the board of supervisors – that any identified impacts from the project will be mitigated or offset by the conditions of approval for the project. A negative declaration, the least exacting type of certification there is, merely states that the initial study done by the agency staff – in this case the county department of land use services – sufficiently identified any environmental issues and that there are no environmental problems of consequence involved in the proposed project. In the case of Ofland, the planning commission required nothing beyond the initial study to approve the project, which many in Twentynine Palms objected to.
The July 22 city council meeting at the gym was marred by two factors: poor acoustics, as the voices echoing in the larger confines sometimes made it difficult to hear precisely what was being said, and Mayor Steve Bilderain’s failure to make sure that those who spoke adhered to his initial instructions that they clearly and fully identify themselves prior to their comments. As a consequence, some of those quoted in this article are inadequately identified and some are, perhaps, misidentified using the best phonetic approximation that could be managed.
Approaching 30 people spoke in opposition to the project. Efforts by Ofland to prompt its supporters to weigh in in favor of the project succeeded in driving roughly a dozen people to the forum to give their public recommendation that the project be approved. Remarkably, in contrast to many other cities in San Bernardino County, despite the conflicting sentiments of those in the crowd, the proceedings were civil and orderly, with individuals who disagreed with the statements of those being expressed by the individual holding the floor showing them the courtesy of being able to speak uninterrupted, and, when the speaker was particularly articulate, well-spoken or eloquent, recognized with applause by what seemed to be the entirety of those present.
Among those speaking was Mary Jamy, who said the council should not approve the project without requiring an environmental impact report. “Don’t set a precedent for other projects,” she said.
Scot Curry, a real estate broker with an interest in property adjacent to the project area, said he was in was in favor of the project. He said the current residential zoning on the property is inappropriate. “Conserving 106 acres is just amazing,” Curry said. “They care for the city,” he said of the developers.
A woman identified only as Nan, a local businesswoman and Indian Cove resident, said the project could benefit Twentynine Palms if it were in the proper location, but that it is mispositioned next to a residential neighborhood. She said the residents of Indian Cove were “given no place at the table” in discussing with the city or the proponent the nature and scope of the project, which she said offered “no benefits to our residents.”
Melissa Grissie said Ofland was using deceptiveness in the marketing of the project. She said the proponents had compartmentalized information about the project and the company’s intentions, utilizing a plan to “divide and conquer” the community and the opposition to the project. “How can we believe anything Ofland says if they are willing to shortchange our desert by not complying with the environmental processes, including the environmental impact report?”
Travis Poston, an Indian Cove resident, said, “The facts are this land where Ofland wants to be was not mapped or designated for commercial or hospitality development under the city’s existing general pan or zoning. Poston said residents of the area going back to the 1950s and 1960s had engaged in heavy lifting to create the residential neighborhood that exists there now and that Ofland was sidestepping its responsibility to develop the property in a way that compatible with the existing property adjacent to it.
John Bigar questioned the credential of the biologist who had done the survey for the endangered tortoises that live on, hibernate within and traverse the property. He said the survey was not in compliance with the United States Forest Service’s requirements.
Paula, whose last name was not clearly specified, said that multiple issues relating to the project had not been adequately addressed by the planning commission at its June meeting, necessitating a full environmental impact report. “If the project goes forward, Twentynine Palms residents need to know that there are no hidden environmental, financial or legal problems that will come back to harm us.” She called for the city to require Ofland to put up a bond to guarantee the execution of what it says it is going to do.
Former Mayor/City Councilwoman Liz Meyer said the project was one that was worth pursuing.
Rebecca Anderson said, “I have two misgivings. Number one: For a project this large, it is unheard of that an environmental impact report would not be conducted.” She called for that evaluation too be done “by an independent third party. Number two: The alleged monetary windfall Twentynine Palms will derive from the Ofland resort is pure, 100 percent bull.” She said according to civic officials in Escalante, Utah, where Ofland has an existing resort, no money is coming in.
An individual identified by city officials only as “Tucker,” with no indication whether it was his first or last name, said, the city’s use of Terra Nova Consulting to do the initial study upon which the mitigated negative declaration is based represented a potential conflict of interest. Terra Nova’s work for the city and Ofland raises ethical concerns and compromises the independence and integrity of the study, the declaration, the city and Terra Nova, Tucker said. “Call it the fox in the hen house,” he said.
Heidi Heard, a resident of Indian Coves, said. “I’m asking that the city council do the right thing by not cutting any corners by rushing this project through. An EIR is needed for this project, as the initial study is full of errors.” She said the city was running the risk of litigation by approving the project without a full and complete examination. She said this was an example of “spot zoning. This project belongs in a commercial zone. It is time for Twentynine Palms to be proactive versus reactive.”
Jim Krushat, who had voted as a member of the planning commission on June 25 to recommend that the project be approved by the city council, said, “The City of Twentynine Palms needs this project for the employment opportunities, the tax revenue, the promotion of tourism, which we have always wanted as part of our city’s economic development. As a planning commissioner, I did my due diligence. I reviewed all the material submitted to the planning department and based by decision on the merits of the project, my knowledge and our present economic conditions.”
Krushat said those opposed to the project were a “special interest group. Development does not mean destruction. It means opportunity, local growth and managed access to natural beauty.”
Steve Bardell, the president of the Morongo Basin Conservation Association said” We appreciate the effort to create a buffer around the project to create open space. We also appreciate the potential economic benefits to the city and the need for more accommodations for park visitors. However, with the ongoing extinction crisis and a decline of wildlife in the natural world, a nearly 79 percent decline in the last 50 years, we believe this project is missing an opportunity. The site plan proposed is a doughnut-shaped configuration approach. This approach degrades the open space by the edge effect. A preferred plan would be to consolidate the open space in the southern portion of the site. The MBCA [Morongo Basin Conservation Association] is not in support of adopting the MNI [mitigated negative declaration] for this project as designed.”
A man whose name was not clearly enunciated by Mayor Bilderain said, “I am in support of this project. I encourage others to support this project. Twentynine Palms is in need of development. We need jobs. We need revenue. This development will help provide jobs and resources and tourism that comes along with that. I’ve seen a lot of opportunities that came to Twentynine Palms that weren’t accepted by the residents of Twentynine Palms. We need to find a way to embrace development that is beneficial to all and not just sectors and residents who are already here.”
Luther Parks said he supported Ofland because it held out the potential of becoming the city’s second largest employer after the school district and the Marine Corps base. Secondly, he said the project will “showcase the value of our community and provide economic growth.”
A woman who Mayor Bilderain enunciated as something on the order of “Electra Rosa” but whose identity seemed to correspond with someone identified in a previous article in the Sentinel as “Electra Westman” said the project should be allowed to go forward so that the locals can “share the beauty of the land” with outsiders.
A man named Jeffrey, whose last name was not provided, said Twentynine Palms is a place with property values that are just right for this kind of project. “Tourism is our future,” he said.
Another man Mayor Bilderain did not identify clearly and who did not offer his name said that “Twentynine Palms has long declared itself a tourist town. Tourism is largely a clean industry.” He was in favor of the project.
Lauren Wiler said “A project of this size, only a half mile from Joshua Tree National Park and within a wildlife corridor for endangered species, absolutely warrants and EIR [environmental impact report].”
Several individuals whom Mayor Bilderain did not clearly identify and who either did not identify themselves or whose self-identification was indecipherable expressed the belief that what Ofland was offering was a good project but that it needed to be constructed on commercially-zoned land.
After hearing from the public, Mayor Bilderain, Councilman Octavious Scott, Councilman Daniel Mintz, Councilman McArthur Wright and Councilwoman April Ramirez voted unanimously tio approve the mitigated negative declaration of environmental impact, the first reading of zone changes, the creation of a new zone and a conditional use permit for the project.
The city council agreed to zone the undisturbed portion of the acreage to a new zone, the nomenclature for which is “open space conservation” and to change the portion to be developed from residential to commercial. The change of the zoning on the property is not unalterable. A theme common in the comments of the council members was that the project was one of low land use intensity that was going to result in the development of less than 28 percent of the property. Nevertheless, indication was given that as the owners of the 110 undeveloped acres, Ofland could come back with further development proposals on that property, which could be developed residentially in compliance with the city’s existing general plan or could be developed commercially if the city council at that time agrees to approve the required general plan amendment to allow that to occur.

What was previously suspected to be foul play in the disappearance of 74-year-old Naiping Hou of Rancho Cucamonga has now been confirmed as such.
Hou was last seen in March. In the intervening months, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, which serves as the contract police department in Rancho Cucamonga, took the matter up as a missing person’s case. The Sentinel has confirmed that information turned up in the course of that investigation and other developments strongly indicates Hou was kidnapped.
That kidnapping, investigators have come to believe, was not undertaken for ransom, but rather to directly force Hou to turn money over to his abductors.
The case has been complicated by the initial 47-day delay in the Hou family’s report of Hou’s March 18 disappearance to authorities. Partially because the two family members closest to Hou, his wife and son, were not in California, the sheriff’s department was not alerted until May 4, 2025 to what in relatively short order was determined to be a suspicious circumstance. Continue reading →

By Carlos Avalos
Antoinette Jensen, a former Etiwanda School District early childhood general education teacher, says the district’s meshing of three-and-four year old preschool students with special needs and general education preschoolers of the same age together with older prekindergartners into the district’s marquee early education classes created a volatile situation that was, at best, not helpful to many of the students and damaging to some.
The Etiwanda School District initiated its Creating Learning Opportunities Utilizing Diverse Strategies program, which is known by the acronym CLOUDS, in 2005. CLOUDS was originally designed to allow special education preschool students 3-to-4 years of age to attend classes alongside general education preschool students of the same age range. Each preschool class in the CLOUDS program was and continues to be supervised by two professionals: a certified special education instructor and a certified general education instructor. Mrs. Jenson was the certified general education instructor for CLOUDS classes.
Jensen started with the Etiwanda School District ten years ago. Her job title was early childhood educator. Early child educators in this context focus on children aged three to five, those of traditional preschool or kindergarten age. Jensen relayed to the Sentinel that she had been involved in the Etiwanda School District’s CLOUDS program for seven years. According to the Etiwanda School District’s website, Etiwanda.org, the CLOUDS system is designed to be an inclusive setting composed of special education preschool students and their general education peers from the community.  The placement of special education students in the CLOUDS program, which mixes mainstream students with selected special needs students, is based on an education strategy tailored for each specific student. Continue reading →

Two staff members at a surgery center in San Bernardino County have been charged via a federal criminal complaint alleging they assaulted and interfered with United States immigration officers attempting to lawfully detain an illegal alien.
Jose de Jesus Ortega, 38, of Highland, was arrested this morning and is expected to make his initial appearance this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Riverside.
As of early this afternoon, law enforcement officers are seeking to locate and arrest for Danielle Nadine Davila, 33, of Corona.
Ortega and Davila are charged with assaulting a federal officer and conspiracy to prevent by force and intimidation a federal officer from discharging his duties.
The arrests were authorized by Federal Judge Sheri Pym, based upon an affidavit filed by an as-yet unidentified special agent with Homeland Security Investigations. The affidavit, which was obtained by the Sentinel was an unsigned draft of that presented to Judge Pym. Its author is self-described in the affidavit as having served as a special agent since March 2023 and that he is currently assigned as the Homeland Security Investigations assistant special agent in charge at the federal complex in Riverside.
The affidavit relates the narrative provided by two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, described only as Officer One and Officer Two, who were conducted roving immigration-related operations as part of their duties in Ontario on July 8. According to the affidavit, the officers were wearing government-issued equipment, including law enforcement vests, and were in an unmarked government vehicle, following a truck with three adult men when the truck made a quick turn into the parking lot of the Ontario Advanced Surgery Center at 1211 West 6th Street. The affidavit states,” The three adult males exited the truck, and one of them began urinating on the exterior wall of the surgery center. At that time, Officer One and Officer Two decided to conduct a consensual encounter with the three adult males. As soon as Officer One and Officer Two exited their vehicle, the two non-urinating males fled the area on foot in opposite directions. According to Officer One, one of the fleeing males, later identified as an illegal alien (the “Target Alien”), ran towards the entrance of the surgery center. Officer One followed the Target Alien, while Officer Two stayed with the adult male who did not flee.”
The affidavit identifies the target alien as “a Honduran national without permission to be in the United States.” The Sentinel has learned his name is Denis Guillen-Solis and he came into the United States through Mexico without registering.
According to the affidavit, Guillen-Solis was “partially detained” near the surgery center’s front entrance before he resisted and pulled away, causing both him and the ICE officer to fall to the ground. Shortly afterward, a medical staffer helped the alien off the ground and helped pull him away from the officer. Guillen-Solis went inside the surgery center and was pursued by the ICE officer, who eventually stopped him.
According to the affidavit, Ortega and Davila, both dressed in medical scrubs, impeded and interfered with the arrest. Davila did so, according to the affidavit, by wedging herself in between the officer and the alien, pushing the officer, and shouting, “Let him go!” and “Get out!” Ortega grabbed the officer’s arm and then his vest, according to the affidavit.
The officer called for assistance and another ICE officer arrived on scene and saw multiple staff members grabbing the first officer. The officers eventually detained and handcuffed the Guillen-Solis, then exited the surgery center with him
According to the affiant, he was able to make an accurate description of what occurred inside the Ontario Advanced Surgery Center in some measure based upon videos of the incident that were available, including posted on YouTube by the New York Post and another video clip of the incident posted on YouTube by KTLA.
Those video are viewable at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PW6Bysinn0 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Yhox15fvDw
Those videos were made by other employees at the surgery center. The videos were closely viewed by federal agents who then went to surgery center and surreptitiously observed, videoed and photographed the employees there, identifying both Ortega and Davila. Characteristics used to identify Ortega was his height, tattoos visible on his arm, his affinity for headgear with an LA logo on it and facial recognition. Davila was identified via her reddish-brown hair, her eyeglasses and facial recognition.
U.S.. Attorney for Central California Bill Essayli noted that in much of the media coverage of what occurred in its immediate aftermath on July 8, 9 and 10, the officers were depicted as having violated the principle of medical privacy as a result of the ordeal taking place at a medical office.
“This story is another example of a false narrative echoed in the media in furtherance of an agenda to delegitimize federal agents,” Essayli said. “The illegal alien arrested inside the surgery center was not a patient. He ran inside for cover and these defendants attempted to block his apprehension by assaulting our agents. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you work, if you assault our agents or otherwise interfere with our operations, you will be arrested and charged with a federal crime.”
Under sentencing guidelines, the defendants, if convicted, face a statutory maximum sentence of eight years in federal prison on the assault count and up to six years in federal prison on the conspiracy count.
Homeland Security Investigations is conducting follow-up investigations on the matter.

Assistant United States Attorney Cory Burleson of the Riverside Branch Office is prosecuting this case.

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME CASE
NUMBER CIV SB 2518242,
TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner YASMEEN BETTON filed with this court for a decree changing names as follows:
YASMEEN MEDINA BETTON to YASMEEN MEDINA BLACK
[and]
KHALIL WELDON-JAMES VENTERS to KHALIL WELDON JAMES BLACK VENTERS
[and]
KHALI LOREEN CHARLOTTE VENTERS to KHALI LOREEN CHARLOTTE BLACK VENTERS
THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.
Notice of Hearing:
Date: 08/14/2025, Time: 08:30 AM, Department: S27
The address of the court is Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino, San Bernardino District-Civil Division, 247 West Third Street, San Bernardino, CA 92415, IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a copy of this order be published in the SAN Bernardino County Sentinel in San Bernardino County California, once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing of the petition.
Dated: 07/03/2025
Judge of the Superior Court: Gilbert G. Ochoa
By Kristina Talley, Deputy Court Clerk
Published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel on July 4, 11, 18 & 25, 2025.

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME CASE
NUMBER CIVRS2500984,
TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner: ,Carlos Cortina, filed with this court for a decree changing names as follows: Carlos Cortina Avena to Carlos Avena Cortina, THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.
Notice of Hearing:
Date: 09/04/2025, Time: 08:30 AM, Department: S35The address of the court is Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino, San Bernardino District-Civil Division, 247 West Third Street, San Bernardino, CA 92415, IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a copy of this order be published in the SBCS ? Upland in San Bernardino County California, once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing of the petition.
Dated: 02/05/2025
Judge of the Superior Court: Kory Matheson
Published in the SBCS  Upland on 07/03/2025, 07/10/2025, 07/17/2025, 07/24/2025

Continue reading →

This one just in: The Sentinel has learned that First District Supervisor Paul Cook, who this year turned 82, is purposed to resign from the board of supervisors to make way for former Assemblyman and Hesperia Mayor Thurston “Smitty” Smith to succeed him.

Considerable preparation, including backroom maneuvering on the fifth and fourth floors of the county administrative building in San Bernardino and among the members of the committees and subcommittees of the San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee to make this transition take place.

Cook, who was formerly the mayor of Yucca Valley, a California Assemblyman and member of Congress for almost eight years, left the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020 to run for First District San Bernardino County Supervisor. He did so, despite the far greater prestige of being a member of the federal legislative branch and that he was not, in actuality a resident of San Bernardino County’s First District. Given his name recognition, the advantage of his sizable campaign war chest, his support network and his standing among the Republican Party, which dominates politics across the majority of San Bernardino County, Cook cruised to an easy victory in 2020, capturing the supervisor’s seat with 64.66 percent of the vote in the March primary voting, obviating the need for him to run in the November general election. In 2024, he was handily reelected, despite occasionally being dogged by controversy pertaining to his actual place of residence being outside the First District, he handily won reelection during the primary voting when he polled 63.86 percent, again avoiding a November run-off.

Smith’s succession to supervisor is being orchestrated by a cabal of powerful and well-placed members of the local Republican Party, extending foremost to Phil Cothran Sr. the chairman of the Republican Central Committee since 2021. Second District San Bernardino County Supervisor Jesse Armendarez, Third District Supervisor Dawn Rowe have bought into the plan, which calls for Cook stepping down later this year, whereupon the board will choose to make an interim appointment that is to last until December 2026 after that year’s general election in November. The November ballot is to feature a special election to fill the First District position for what will then be the remaining two years on the term that Cook was elected to last year, from December November 2026 to December 2028. The only current supervisor who has not agreed to Smith’s appointment to the board upon Cook’s departure is Supervisor Joe Baca Jr, the only Democrat on the board of supervisors.

It is the calculation of those working toward Cook’s “graceful” withdrawal and Smith’s elevation to take his place that the effort will confer upon Smith an insurmountable advantage as an incumbent in the 2026 specially-schedued and 2028 and perhaps the 2032 First District supervisors races.

In 50 regular elections for supervisor in San Bernardino County over the last 40 years, five challengers succeeded in ousting their incumbent opponents – Jon Mikels replacing Cal McElwain in the Second District in 1986; Paul Biane beating Mikels in 2002; Neil Derry defeating Dennis Hansberger in 2008; Janice Rutherford supplanting Biane in 2010; and James Ramos dislodging Derry in 2012. In all other cases where the incumbents sought reelection, they prevailed.

Smith, a concrete pump operator by trade, was elected to the Hesperia City Council in 2006. He was appointed to serve two terms as mayor by his council colleagues before leaving the council in 2014.

In 2016, he successfully ran for a position on the board of directors for the Mojave Water Agency.

In 2019, then-First District Supervisor Robert Lovingood began a chain reaction when that August he indicated he would not seek reelection to a third term, whereupon Cook announced he was opting against seeking reelection to Congress and would move back down the political evolutionary chain and run to fill Lovingood’s spot. In turn, Jay Obernolte, who was then representing the 33^rd District Assembly covering a swath of the San Bernardino Mountains and San Bernardino County’s desert in California’s lower legislative house, declared his candidacy to succeed Cook as the Congressman in California’s 8^th Congressional District. Thereupon, Smith jumped into the 2020 33^rd Assembly District race. That year, California was holding a nonpartisan blanket primary, and Smith finished first among a field of Republicans and Democrats, with Big Bear Mayor Rick Herrick, like Smith a Republican, finishing second. Smith then outdistanced Herrick, capturing 54.85 percent of the vote in doing so.

As a consequence of California’s political redistricting that took place in 2022 based upon the 2020 Census, Smith, who now resides in Apple Valley, was moved into the 34^th Assembly District. This fated him to a contest against Tom Lackey, another Republican, Tom Lackey from Palmdale. The redistricted 34^th District was populated by far more of Lackey’s constituents than Smith’s. Smith was defeated in his effort to remain in the Assembly.

Smith is an elected member of the San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee, one of seven members representing the First District. He is also the First District Chairman on the central committee’s executive committee.

Previously, Smith had suggested that he would seek election in the 34^th District in 2026, when Lackey will not be eligible to run for the state legislature again because of term limits.

It appears, however, that he has been persuaded to forego returning to Sacramento based upon what is being offered to him in San Bernardino. For monetary considerations alone, it makes more sense for Smith to lay claim to the county supervisor’s position than seek to return to the state legislature. Assembly members receive $132,700 in annual salary and are eligible to receive between $48,000 and $57,000 in benefits. Thus, Smith might be able to count on as much as $189,700 in total annual compensation if he were to capture the 34^th Assembly District seat. As county supervisor, he would receive $194,806.47 $37,133.02 in perquisites and pay add-ons, and $63,200.50 in benefits for a total annual compensation of $295,139.99.

As a member of the Assembly, Smith, given that he would be one of 80 members of the Assembly and 120 members of the combined California Legislature together with his disaffinity for the legislative and parliamentary processes at the statehouse, would prove at best a medium-size fish in a large sea. As the First District supervisor, Smith would oversee a jurisdiction of 10,063 square miles, a tad over half – roughly 50.05 percent – of the county’s 20,105 square mile land mass, more real estate than is contained within six individual U.S. states – Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware or Rhode Island. is would be one of five votes on the board of supervisors, representing one-third of a voting majority on that panel. For Smith, however, public policy and decision-making is of less value than the prestige of the post and the power/ability it would lend him in assisting his supporters and those with the means of installing him in the office. Beyond citation of right-on-the-political spectrum slogans celebrating his constitutional conservatism and standing as a small business owner who has assumed political office to fight wasteful government spending, Smith in office has proven a tabula rasa who has carried the water of the politically activated business interests who have bankrolled his campaigns. As an assemblyman, he did not author the legislation he sponsored but rather brought forth bills that had been written for him, the most celebrated of which was Assembly Bill 1725, which he and his supporters said was intended to combat illegal marijuana cultivating operations that were proliferating throughout the rural High Desert communities. AB 1725 altered Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act to increase penalties from a misdemeanor to a felony for illegal marijuana growers possessing six or more live cannabis plants.

The move to replace Cook comes as concern over his age and the more frequent manifestation of what some delicately refer to as his “verbal eccentricities” in recent years.

A not very well-kept secret known by dozens or scores of county insiders is that Cook is not an actual resident of the First District. In 2011, a large portion of the First District, including Barstow, Twentynine Palms and Yucca Valley was moved into the county’s Third District. Cook, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marines who was last stationed at the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Base, had purchased what is considered to be one of the nicest homes in the Town of Yucca Valley. Very shortly after his retirement from the military, he initiated his political career when he ran for the Yucca Valley Town Council. One of his political proteges was Dawn Rowe, the widow of a Marine Corps captain who was stationed at the Twentynine Palms base who was killed while on duty in Iraq in 2004. When Cook was Yucca Valley mayor, he encouraged Dawn Rowe to run for the Yucca Valley Town Council, which she did, successfully, launching her political career. Later, when Cook was in Congress, Rowe went to work for him as a member of his legislative staff. She resigned from her federal job in December 2018 to accept an appointment as Third District supervisor, replacing James Ramos, who vacated the supervisorial post after he was elected to the California Assembly in November 2018.

In 2019, the 76-year-old Cook, worn out by the demands of representing California’s 8^th Congressional District and the 24-to-28 cross continent flights he was making on a yearly basis, chose to leave the House of Representatives the following year based upon the opportunity he saw to move into a county supervisorial role. Rowe, however, occupied the Third District post at that time and was intent on running for a full term in 2020. It was Lovingood’s decision to exit as First District supervisor that cemented Cook’s decision. One of Cook’s congressional staffers was Tim Itnyre, the son of Bob Itnyre, with whom Cook had served in the Marines. Cook promoted Tim Itnyre to the position of his congressional chief of staff during the last several months of his time in the House of Representatives. Tim Itnyre agreed to allow Cook to “officially” become a roommate at his home in Apple Valley, which lies within San Bernardino County’s First District, so that he could claim residence there and run for First District supervisor.

Upon Cook being elected supervisor, he appointed Tim Itnyre as his chief of staff.

Dakota Higgins is Cook’s assistant chief of staff. Higgins is a member of the San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee, representing Republicans living in the county’s First Supervisorial District on that panel. Higgins has been installed by Cothran as the financial chairman on the central committees executive committee. Like Cook, Higgins does not live in the First District.

Part of the resignation deal closed with Cook to set Smith up for an easy election as an incumbent was that upon advancing into the supervisor’s post, he will retain Itnyre and Higgins in their chief of staff and assistant chief of staff positions. There are numerous other buy-ins and conditions to Cook’s resignation and Smith’s assumption of his post, many of which revolve around Smith’s acceptance of a litany of items on Rowe’s, Hagman’s and Armendarez’s wish lists.

One party to the arrangement is District Attorney Jason Anderson, who like most of San Bernardino County’s officeholders, is a Republican. Anderson previously committed the district attorney’s office, the purse strings for which are controlled by the board of supervisors, to not pursue criminal charges against Cook or Higgins over their misrepresentation of their residency in their candidacy filings for supervisor or the county Republican Central Committee as long as Cook remains in office. Sources tell the Sentinel that while Anderson has put nothing in writing and made no “agreement per se,” an “understanding” exists that he will not file charges against Cook or Higgins on the residency issue after Cook leaves office.

The statute of limitations on such crimes is three years.