By Mark Gutglueck
In one of the more muddled criminal cases pursued by the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office over the last several decades, prosecutors are on the brink of throwing the case against a deputy accused of frolicking with an outlaw motorcycle out in total or large part in an effort to avoid the deputy’s defense attorney’s demands that the evidence implicating the defendant be produced.
An apparent major issue for the prosecution is the sheriff’s department’s unwillingness to compromise certain means and methodologies employed by the department’s command echelon and the detectives attached to it in surveilling, monitoring and investigation the department’s employees.
Deputy Christopher Bingham last year was charged with 13 felony counts, each of which carries a sentencing enhancement with it, based on what the district attorney’s office maintains is Bingham’s association with the Mongols motorcycle gang. Under the prosecution’s theory, the Mongols are a criminal organization, and Bingham as a law enforcement officer should not be involved with it.
Bingham, who enlisted in the U.S. Marines at the age of 19 in 1998, served as a rifleman during two separate overseas assignments, returning to the United States where he was last with the 1st Battalion 7th Marines stationed at the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps base before being honorably discharged in 2002. After attending the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Academy, he hired on with the sheriff’s department in 2005, where among other assignments, he worked motorcycle patrol. In 2015, while he was yet employed with the department, Bingham registered O’Three Tactical, a limited liability company in which he was the sole owner, with California Secretary of State. Located at 73749 29 Palms Highway in Twentynine Palms, O’Three Tactical was a gun shop east of Adobe Road in the downtown section of Twentynine Palms on Highway 62, also known at that point as 29 Palms Highway. O’Three Tactical dealt in standard firearm sales as well as obtaining for its customers specialized equipment and hardware prized by gun aficionados, particularly ones looking to replicate the actuality or mystique of military firepower. It became known for the ability to track down and deliver specialized firearms, as well as for providing servicing and augmenting equipment to those products, along with, as the shop’s name implied, all order of tactical gear, including knives, bulletproof wear and helmets, ammunition, magazines, cartridges, powders, primers, sights and scopes and all order of other accessories. Continue reading →

The musicians of the Ontario Chaffey Community Show Band and Gabe & Susan Petrocelli are proud to present a show titled Latin, Latin, Latin on Monday, October 20, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.
The concert will be held in historic Gardiner W. Spring Auditorium on the campus of Chaffey High School located at 1245 N. Euclid Avenue in Ontario. The Woodwind Celebration Ensemble will present a pre-concert recital at 7:00 p.m. The performance is free to the public.
The concert will begin with one of the Show Band favorites titled Mexican Folk Song Suite! a medley of songs, including La Paloma, La Cucaracha, Cielito Lindo, and the Mexican Hat Dance, featuring Show Band clarinetist and vocalist Jocelyn Washington. The band will play Antonio Jobim’s ballad called Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars that features Show Band saxophonist Francisco Mowatt.
The concert will also feature Josleyn Washington and Pat Arnold singing a vocal duet of the famous bossa nova Quando, Quando, Quando, arranged by former Show Band Director Dr. Gabe Petrocelli. The Show Band will also feature musician/dancer Kathy Soderlund dancing to Amparito Roca and the Don’t Cry For Me Argentina.
One of the featured guest artists for the concert will be vocalist Dr. George Matamala, Chaffey Adult School Principal, who will sing Volver, Volver and Lo Pasado Pasado. Continue reading →

When Apple Valley Town Manager Doug Robertson retires in December, he will have spent 7 years and 11 months as the town’s top staff member. That duration as city manager one year, four months and a week shorter than the average town administrators in the 75,040 population, 77.08-square mile jurisdiction, which in 1988 incorporated as what was then San Bernardino County’s 21st municipality, the fourth to last of the county’s current 24 cities and towns to do so.
Robertson’s tenure as city manager began after that of Frank Robinson. In 2009, Robinson had succeeded in Jim Cox, who was brought in as town manager in 2007 to succeed Bruce Williams who had been Apple Valley’s original town manager, remaining in that post for the town’s first 19 years.
Of some note is that both Cox and Robertson had made their respective marks on the world as city managers in Victorville before they signed on to oversee Apple Valley.
Marginally smaller geographically than Apple Valley at 74.16 square miles, Victorville is of substantially greater population density, with 141,689 residents currently. Moreover, it is host to Southern California Logistics Airport, a major aerodrome that was converted to civilian use from the former George Air Force Base. Victorville, traditionally and currently, has had a budget that dwarfs that of Apple Valley, as exemplified by the city’s current expenditures of $377 million in 2025-26 in comparison to the town’s $140 million. While Victorville is adjacent to Apple Valley, the pace of life is slower and the intensity of activity far less demanding in Apple Valley than in Victorville. Continue reading →

Controversy has erupted over the perception that Ontario officials late last month opted to name the minor league baseball team that will play out of a soon-to-be built municipal baseball stadium on the south side of the city in a way that is intended to enhance revenue by appealing to marijuana smokers and beer drinkers in an effort to get them to attend ball games.
Alcohol sales are to take place at the stadium and there is word, undenied by city officials, that the city is willing to allow marijuana use in the stands and bleachers as well within the stadium’s luxury boxes.
The City of Ontario scored a coup by convincing the Los Angeles Dodgers to allow it to host a newly created Class A farm club within the city. The team is to play at what is to succeed Jay Littleton Field, destroyed in a 2024 fire, as the city’s landmark ballpark, now under construction at its proposed Ontario Sports empire, a 200-acre facility for training and competition billed as being the “largest sports complex of its kind west of the Rocky Mountains.” Continue reading →

In Norway

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME CASE
NUMBER CIV SB 2525127,
TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner: Victor D. Rosales, filed with this court for a decree changing names as follows: Victor D Rosales to Karson Buddha-Ivory Kartier, 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: 10/20/2025, Time: 09:00 AM, Department: S24The 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 ? Ontario in San Bernardino County California, once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing of the petition.
Dated: 09/08/2025
Judge of the Superior Court: Gilbert G. Ochoa
Published in the SBCS Ontario on 09/12/2025, 09/19/2025, 09/26/2025, 10/03/2025

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME CASE
NUMBER CVSB 2524966,
TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner: Dylan Sebastien Ramirez, filed with this court for a decree changing names as follows: Dylan Sebastien Ramirez to Dylan Sebastien Amin, 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: 10/17/2025, Time: 08:30 AM, Department: SThe 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 ? Rancho Cucamonga in San Bernardino County California, once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing of the petition.
Dated: 09/05/2025
Judge of the Superior Court: Gilbert G. Ochoa
Published in the SBCS Rancho Cucamonga on 09/12/2025, 09/19/2025, 09/26/2025, 10/03/2025

Continue reading →

In a replay of what in late 2023 and throughout much of 2024 was for many property- and homeowners on 102 square miles in the formerly verdant agricultural communities at the east end of the San Bernardino Valley an unpleasant experience, residents on 74 square miles of southwest San Bernardino County find themselves and their land under a quarantine directive from the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
The same pest that was targeted in the previous eradication/control effort, the oriental fruit fly, is again what is being targeted.
Previously known by the scientific name, Dacus dorsalis and now referred to as Bactrocera dorsalis, the oriental fruit fly is a species of tephritid fruit fly that was endemic to Southeast Asia. It is a major pest species, with a broad host range of cultivated and wild fruits. Having left its native Asia, it is a highly invasive pest that now has a presence in at least 65 countries. It is believed to have invaded Hawaii in 1945 as a contaminant of military material returning from the western Pacific war zone, in particular Taiwan and the Mariana Islands. Fruit imported to the mainland from Hawaii is generally fumigated to prevent the pest from coming to the Mainland. But fruit brought by travelers, most likely from Hawaii but also from Southeast Asia and other Pacific islands has allowed the flies to get into California.
On September 27, 2023, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the California Department of Food and Agriculture imposed a quarantine in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. The quarantine covered 102 square miles of San Bernardino County. Redlands, which is one of the communities in San Bernardino County which has preserved significant portions of historic agricultural property, was at the epicenter of the infestation.
Within the expansive quarantine zone, 1,200 acres of commercial agriculture production of citrus, apples, avocados, peaches and other stone fruits were affected.
It took several months for word about the quarantine to pervade the affected population, and the restrictions began in earnest in January 2024
The California Department of Food and Agriculture, known by its acronym CDFA worked in coordination with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Riverside County Agricultural Commissioner, and the San Bernardino County Agricultural Commissioner in arresting the migration of the pest, doing so with the cooperation of the local populace, which complied, for the most part, with orders to refrain from removing fruit from trees and further demands that they not move any produce from their property. If fruit fell from trees, residents were urged to double-bag it and place it in a trash bin rather than green waste bins or other organic refuse designations.
Work crews consisting of a combination of California Department of Food and Agriculture and U.S. Department of Agriculture employees, California Conservation Corps crews, and private contractors specializing in fruit removal then methodically worked their way from one end of the target area to the other, going on to private property to pick up the contaminated, or potentially contaminated, fruit, disposing it into containers from which it was impossible for the flies, larvae or maggots to escape.
California and its fruit industry have been buffeted over the years by several pests, including Mediterranean, Mexican, Tau, melon, peach and guava fruit flies. Oriental fruit flies are most easily distinguished from other flies by their yellow color.
In August 2024, the California Department of Food and Agriculture declared an end to the Oriental fruit fly quarantine in the Redlands area following eradication of the invasive species. At that point, according to officials, the nearly 11-month-long collaborative effort to eradicate four unique invasive fruit fly species (Tau, Queensland, Mediterranean and Oriental) from seven quarantine areas across seven California counties — San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Clara, Sacramento and Contra Costa – concluded with a success.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture, nevertheless, stated at the time that “the threat of new fruit fly introductions remains. Left unchecked, they can endanger the state’s natural environment, agriculture, and economy.” Agricultural officials called upon the state’s residents to remain vigilant for signs of invasive species.
It seems the Bactrocera dorsalis has returned to Southern California, this time further to the west and some 25 miles closer to the Pacific Ocean than in 2023.
Yesterday, September 25, 2025, the California Department of Food and Agriculture declared a 131-square-mile area of Riverside and San Bernardino counties to be under quarantine.
In this case, it was flies found in the cities of Ontario and Jurupa Valley and nearby areas that triggered the alarm. California Department of Food and Agriculture officials have declared 57 square miles in Riverside County and 74 square miles in San Bernardino County as the circumscribed restricted property. Intense monitoring in those areas began in early September, which produced confirmation of infestations in the area. For internal California Department of Food and Agriculture purposes, the commitment for the commencement of the quarantine came on September 19.
“To prevent the spread of Oriental fruit flies through homegrown fruits and vegetables, residents living in the quarantine area are urged to not move those items from their property,” according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture website. “However, home grown produce may be consumed or processed (i.e., juiced, frozen, cooked, or ground in the garbage disposal) on the property where they were picked, or disposed of by double bagging and placing in the regular trash, not in green waste receptacles.”
According to the website, “Following the principles of integrated pest management, agricultural officials use the “male attractant” technique as the mainstay of the eradication effort for this invasive species. This approach has successfully eliminated dozens of fruit fly infestations in California. Trained workers apply a small amount of fruit fly attractant mixed with a very small dose of an organic pesticide, Spinosad, approximately 8-10 feet off the ground on street trees and similar surfaces. Male fruit flies are attracted to the mixture and perish after consuming it. The male attractant technique is being carried out over an area that extends 1.5 miles from each site where oriental fruit flies have been trapped.”
Female flies lay eggs in groups of three to 30 under the skin of host fruits, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Larvae tunnel through the host and emerge approximately 10 days later. Flies mature into adulthood in 10 to 12 days and usually live up to 90 days. Adult flies are strong fliers and can travel as far as thirty miles for sustenance. This aggressive search for food allows the pest to infest a region quickly.