Victorville’s seeming inability to hang onto a fire chief in the aftermath of the 2019 resurrection of its municipal fire department has manifested once again with David Foster’s abrupt departure barely three months after he took on the assignment of leading the department.
The department instantaneously and seamlessly switched gears, such that Deputy Chief Bobby Clemmer for a week took command of the agency, which then double-clutched to reestablish William “Willie” Racowschi, who had served as interim chief between January and April, as the department’s acting chief.
Some are saying that the department, once considered a premier governmental organization in the High Desert, has been cursed by the move a decade-and-a-half ago to dissolve it, despite the department’s revival four years ago. Continue reading →

Redlands Councilwoman Denise Davis is now a mother, having given birth to a boy in March.
Davis has been a member of the city council since 2018, when she was the top vote-getter among five candidates to represent Redlands District 1. Last year, she was reelected.
Davis said she was reluctant to go into specific detail about her son, saying, “I would like to keep my private life from becoming a focus, but I think it is important for people to know I had a baby.”
Davis acknowledged that traditionally, women of childbearing age have not been widely involved in politics generally in Southern California and, further, that in Redlands over most of its history going back to its incorporation in 1888, women only sporadically participated in the political process, with just three distaff mayors in 135 years. In both ways, Davis indicated, she stands out.
But she is not breaking any new ground, she said, pointing out that in the last few years, the tenor of politics in the Inland Empire has begun to change.
“Eastvale Councilwoman Jocelyn Yow, Corona Councilwoman Jacque Casillas, Palm Springs Councilwoman Christy Holstege and Riverside City Councilwoman Erin Edwards all have had babies while they are in office over the last few years,” Davis said. “Norco City Councilwoman Katherine Aleman had hers before she was elected, but she has four very young children, all, I think, under the age of eight. I know all of these woman personally. They’re my friends. Seeing them do it, balancing being in office and being mothers, gave me the confidence that I could, too.”
Women, locally have come into their own politically in the last decade, Davis said.
“I think society is undergoing a shift, with more women in office and more women in office having babies,” Davis said. “Post 2016, you have seen younger women getting involved politically and that is because they are being encouraged to run for office.”
Asked by the Sentinel if being a mother has changed her as a politician, Davis said she believes it has.
“Having a baby made me think about what mothers who support families are going through or just about families in general,” she said. “You work to support a baby and you find out what it takes for healthcare and other considerations. I needed to add my baby to my health coverage with the city and as I was filling out the forms, I could see how much more that is going to cost. It makes you more empathetic with the situation working families find themselves in.”
Practical issues aside, Davis said, being a new mother is enlivening.
“I am so excited to be a mother and have a child,” she said. “I am looking forward to raising him here in Redlands.”

When Chino Police Chief Wes Simmons closes out his active law enforcement career on August 10, he will be succeeded by his deputy chief, Kevin Mensen.
City Manager Linda Reich, in consultation with Simmons and City Councilwoman Karen Comstock, who used to be the city’s police chief, settled on promoting Mensen rather than looking elsewhere by conducting a recruitment or promoting one of the department’s other officers currently serving under Simmons and Mensen.
There is a likelihood that Mensen will remain in place as chief longer than Simmons, who in April, at the age of 50, announced his readiness to retire and set the August 10 date for doing so.
As recently as early this year, many anticipated that Simmons would remain as police chief perhaps until 2030 or slightly beyond. Under legal mandate, he would have been required to retire upon reaching the age of 62, but that would not come until 2035. At 50, however, Simmons became eligible to retire. Having now been a police officer for 28 years, he opted to head off into the sunset. Continue reading →

Chen Weiming’s most recently completed artwork is now on display at Liberty Sculpture Park in Yermo.
The three-dimensional piece was dropped into place in early June and unveiled in a ceremony held on June 4, 2023.
Known by the title “Chained Woman,” the sculpture embodies Weiming’s reaction to the video of a chained woman in Feng County, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China recorded in January 2022 and posted to social media.
An artist and human rights anti-communist activist and advocate for Chinese democracy, Weiming works in three-dimensional media to capture images of injustice and repression in the country of his birth. Weiming was born in Hangzhou, China, and emigrated to New Zealand in 1988. He holds a New Zealand passport as well as permanent residence in the United States, living in both countries. Continue reading →

FBN 20230005852
The following entities are doing business primarily in San Bernardino County as
TOGETHER WE ROSE 203 E. CALIFORNIA ST. ONTARIO, CA 91761: ALAN ESTRADA 203 E. CALIFORNIA ST. ONTARIO, CA 91761
The business is conducted by: AN INDIVIDUAL.
The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on: May 17, 2017.
By signing, I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime (B&P Code 179130. I am also aware that all information on this statement becomes Public Record upon filing.
s/ ALAN ESTRADA, Founder and CEO
Statement filed with the County Clerk of San Bernardino on: 6/8/2023
I hereby certify that this copy is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office San Bernardino County Clerk By:/Deputy J2522
Notice-This fictitious name statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the office of the county clerk. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before that time. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see Section 14400 et seq., Business and Professions Code).
Published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel on June 16, 23, 30 & July 7, 2023.

NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF:
CARMEN GONZALES Case NO. PROSB2300714
To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both of CARMEN GONZALES A PETITION FOR PROBATE has been filed by CARMEN P. GONZALES in the Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino.
THE PETITION FOR PROBATE requests that CARMEN P. GONZALES be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent.
THE PETITION requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority.
A hearing on the petition will be held in Dept. S36 at 09:00 AM on 07/20/2023 at Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino, 247 West Third Street, San Bernardino, CA 92415, San Bernardino District-Probate Division
IF YOU OBJECT to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney.
IF YOU ARE A CREDITOR or a contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the later of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined in section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under Section 9052 of the California Probate Code.
Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law.
YOU MAY EXAMINE the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk.
STEVEN P. JANIS:
10788 CIVIC CENTER DR. RANCHO CUCAMONGA CA 91730
Telephone No: 909-980-0677
Published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel on:
06/23/2023, 06/30/2023, 07/07/2023

Continue reading →

The paradox, ruthlessness, absurdity and inherent inconsistency of what some consider the bane, and others see as a positive attribute, of local government was on display in Grand Terrace this week.
Two decades ago, when Grand Terrace could still lay claim to being one of the county’s more affluent bedroom communities, city officials reigned supreme over the 3.5-square mile municipality’s citizenry. At present, city officials, buffeted by financial blow after financial blow and no longer able to wield the authority of government like a cudgel against anyone who stood in their way or challenged them, cower before an animated and energized electorate.
For nearly a century, code enforcement has been, if not an everyday, then a recurrent element of Southern California urban life. Municipal codes, which can vary slightly or substantially from place to place, extend to the texture of shared existence and the social contract among those living in community with one another. Those codes touch on a myriad of issues, from the colors you can paint your house, to requirements that you cultivate a lawn and landscape your yard to mandates that you not let your grass grow too tall nor water it on a date that is neither odd nor, in the alternative, even, to how many people can dwell in your home, to how long you can leave your vehicle parked in front of your home, to how loud or late you can play music, to what sort of repair work you can engage in inside your garage, to how many dogs or cats you can own, to whether or not and where you can hang your clean laundry out to dry in the sun and the wind, to how long you can delay in retrieving your empty garbage cans, to how high you can allow a hedge to grow or construct a fence or wall, to what items you can store outside, to how long you can leave a garage door open, to how many guests or nonresidents you can welcome onto your premises in any 24 hours and, literally, hundreds of other regulations relating to the conditions of a landowner’s property or activities a resident or those on his or her property can or cannot engage in.
Code enforcement officers can be somewhat officious, and enforcement can be draconian. Given government’s reach and extensive assets and financial means, not to mention the consideration that it controls the forum in which citations are adjudicated, resistance to code enforcement is likely to prove entirely futile, giving object demonstration of the phrase, “You can’t fight City Hall.” Continue reading →

Governor Gavin Newsom and both houses of the California legislature this week carried the torch across the finish line after environmentalists’ efforts to effectuate protection of the western Joshua tree through administrative appeals to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the California Fish and Game Commission matched with legal action carried out over the last eight years failed.
As a consequence of the legislation carved out as part of this year’s legislative budgetary process, the yucca brevifolia Engelm, referred to in common parlance as the western Joshua tree, will be given what environmentalists say is crucial insulation that will shield the distinctive desert plants from encroaching development and climate change.
Environmentalists in 2015 asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior, to study the status of the trees, their fragility and prospect for survival, seeking a determination that the Joshua Tree is threatened and therefore in need of certain protections. That examination, which began during the Barack Obama Administration, extended itself into the Donald Trump Administration. Slightly more than halfway into President Trump’s tenure in office, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found the listing “not warranted.” Continue reading →