In a deviation of direction that was entirely unanticipated, the central player in the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority is withholding its support of the not-fully-gestated plan to redress the overdraft in the West Mojave’s aquifer through the importation of water from Northern California.
Indian Wells Valley lies at the extreme northwestern end of the Mojave Desert and the confluence of the northwestern corner of San Bernardino County, the eastern end of Kern County and the southwestern extension of Inyo County.
In 2014, then-California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, mandating water-saving measures throughout the state and requiring local agencies to draft plans to bring groundwater aquifers into balanced levels of pumping and recharge through the adoption of a groundwater sustainability plan.
In 2015, in the aftermath of a four-year running drought, a determination by the California Department of Water Resources that Indian Wells Valley overlies one of the 21 water basins throughout the State of California in critical overdraft and the pending implementation of the requirements of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority was formed, pursuant to a joint exercise of powers agreement involving Kern County, San Bernardino County, Inyo County, the City of Ridgecrest and the Indian Wells Valley Water District as general members and the United States Navy and the United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management as associate members. Continue reading →

Preparatory toward next month’s court hearing at which Judge Michael Sachs is to make a decision about the continuation or dismissal of the lawsuit Yucaipa City Clerk Ana Sauseda brought which, in essence, prevented 194 Yucaipa residents from pursuing an effort to recall three of their councilmen, Sauseda offered a free-ranging defense of her action.
Two months prior to her hiring as city clerk by City Manager Chris Mann in March, events played out in the city of 55,495 that have triggered the most contentious chapter in Yucaipa’s 34-year history.
On January 9, the newly-formed city council coalition of Mayor Justin Beaver, who had first been elected to the council in 2022, Councilman Bobby Duncan, a councilmember since 2012, and Councilman Matt Garner, who had been elected in November 2022 and was sworn in the month before, pressured then-City Manager Ray Casey to tender his resignation in lieu of being ignominiously fired and outright terminated City Attorney David Snow, an attorney with the law firm of Richards, Watson & Gershon.
Yucaipa’s citizenry had been given only the shortest of warnings about what was to take place, with the agenda for the January 9 meeting having been posted 72 hours in advance referencing an item relating to the performance evaluations of both Casey and Snow. Indeed, the overwhelming majority of the city’s residents was caught unprepared by the fast-moving developments that manifested with, most notably, Casey’s departure.
Not even three months previously, on October 24, 2022, the Yucaipa City Council as it was then composed had extended Casey’s contract as city manager at least until June 30, 2024, conferring upon him a 3 percent salary increase that would jump his annual salary to $299,420, such that he would be making, when his benefits and perquisites were consider, $422,901.50 in total annual compensation, putting him among the 25 highest-paid city managers among California’s 482 municipalities.
The Princeton-educated Casey had begun with the city in 2003 as the city engineer/director of public works and was elevated to the position of city manager in 2008. During that time, he had become something of an institution in Yucaipa, which qualifies as San Bernardino County’s fifteenth largest or tenth smallest of 24 municipalities in terms of population and, at 28.27-square miles, the sixteenth largest or ninth smallest of the county’s 24 cities and incorporated towns landwise, making it either the fourteenth most dense or the tenth least dense of the county’s municipalities. Continue reading →

The Chino Valley School Board, or primarily four of its members, are under siege from above and below.
At issue is the policy the board passed in July calling on the district’s faculty to notify the parents of a child if he or she reidentifies his or her gender, which is defined if their child changes pronouns, names or seeks to use a gender-based changing room, locker room or restrooms different than their assigned gender at birth.
Some students, the parents of some students, many teachers and the teachers’ bargaining unit, the Chino Teachers Association, protested the change. On July 20, when the board’s four Republican members – Board President Sonja Shaw and trustees James Na, Andrew Cruz and Jon Monroe – voted to begin implementation of the policy, they heard first from California Superintendent of Public Schools Tony Thurmond, who had sojourned from Sacramento that day to be on hand at the Don Lugo High School Auditorium where the board met to accommodate the over-capacity crowd. Thurmond, a Democrat, inveighed against the guideline, stating that “nearly half of students who identify as being LBGTQ+ are considering suicide.” He said the policy would put transgender students who have parents unwilling to accept their gender identification at risk.
That day, just prior to the meeting, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, another Democrat, dashed off a letter to the school board in which he offered his opinion that the notification policy might intrude on students’ privacy rights and otherwise interfere with educational access. Students individually have the right and discretion to determine under what circumstances and when they should make disclosure of their gender identity and to whom, Bonta insisted. He vowed that his office would act to see that right is upheld. Continue reading →

With one of its members abstaining, the four-fifths strength Big Bear Community Services District Board of Directors on Monday September 18 voted 2-to-1 to appoint Mike Eagleson to fill its ranks.
Eagleson was among five residents of Big Bear City who applied to replace former director John Green, who died July 25.
In addition to Eagleson, JoKay Rowe, Belinda-Joanna Masse Rainwater, Madison Jackson and Brian Erickson had sought elevation to the board.
Instead of holding an election, the board, then consisting of John Russo, Bob Rowe, Larry Walsh and Al Ziegler, on August 7 determined it would, with the guidance of Big Bear Community Services District General Manager Glenn Jacklin, replace Green by appointment.
Because JoKay Rowe is Bob Rowe’s wife, Bob Rowe recused himself from participating in the decision.
The 38.45-square mile Big Bear community is home to 17,784 residents. There is some confusion, however about jurisdiction issues in Big Bear, as it consists of two entities, the City of Big Bear Lake and Big Bear City. Despite its name, Big Bear City is not a municipality but rather an unincorporated county area and a designated census place. Big Bear Lake is an incorporated municipality. Despite its status as an actual city, Big Bear Lake is smaller than Big Bear City both in terms of land area and population. The former is 6.42 square miles and has 5,046 inhabitants. The latter is an expansive 32.03 square miles with 12,738 residents. While both qualify as rustic mountain districts, the more compact Big Bear Lake is slightly more urbanized and densely populated. Continue reading →

For the second time this year, the Redlands City Council has turned back requests that city premises be used as a forum for promoting gay pride. In a 3-to-2 vote at the September 5 council meeting, the five council members replicated their rejection, by a similar margin, not to display the rainbow flag, considered to be a symbol of pride and affirmation among those within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) community.
In May 2019, the Redlands City Council, inspired by Denise Davis, whose openly celebrated lesbianism was a central tenet of her successful 2018 campaign for city council, officially declared June as “Pride Month” for the LGBTQ element of the city’s population.
Davis was reelected in 2022, but has developed a somewhat testy relationship with three of her council colleagues, those being Mayor Eddie Tejeda and councilmen Paul Barich and Mario Saucedo, particularly because of her continual emphasis on social issues traditionally beyond the focus of local government rather than the land use, financial and municipal operational matters the council typically deals in. Continue reading →

FBN 20230008791
The following entity is doing business primarily in San Bernardino County as
ONI SAME DAY LOAN & AUTO SALES 210 N BEECHWOOD AVE, APT 488 RIALTO, CA 92376: VINCENT I ONI 210 N BEECHWOOD AVE, APT 488 RIALTO, CA 92376
The business is conducted by: AN INDIVIDUAL.
The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on: N/A.
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/ VINCENT I ONI, Owner
Statement filed with the County Clerk of San Bernardino on: 8/29/2023
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 J7550
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 September 1, 8, 15 & 22, 2023.

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME
CASE NUMBER CIVSB 2320648
TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner: CHUN MING CHEN filed with this court for a decree changing names as follows:
CHUN MING CHEN to JIMMY C M CHEN
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: 10/10/2023
Time: 08:30 AM
Department: S26
The address of the court is Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino San Bernardino District-Civil Division 247 West 3rd Street, San Bernardino, CA 92415-0210
To appear remotely, check in advance of the hearing for information about how to do so on the court’s website. To find your court’s website, go to www.courts.ca.gov/find-my-court.htm
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: August 29, 2023
Sergio Villanueva, Deputy Court Clerk
Chun Ming Chen, In Pro Per
7827 Paxton Place
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730
Phone: (949) 888-9185
Published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel on September 1, 8, 15 & 22, 2023.

Continue reading →

By Mark Gutglueck
Today, the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) approved a Cease & Desist Order forcing BlueTriton, the bottler of Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water, to stop the removal of tens of millions of gallons of water annually from a San Bernardino National Forest spring complex that gave the Arrowhead brand its name.
Under the Order adopted Tuesday, BlueTriton is required to allow the bulk of the water it currently removes to bypass its collection facilities – a series of tunnels, boreholes and a pipeline that occupy public lands – by November 1st.
Water originating in the San Bernardino Mountains and using the Arrowhead brand in one form or another had been marketed at least since 1909. Questions have long existed, however, as to whether the water rights originally claimed, attributed or granted to Arrowhead Puritas, the corporate predecessor to Arrowhead Spring Water, pertain to the current source of the water drawn at the 5,200-foot elevation level from Strawberry Creek in what is known as Strawberry Canyon.
In 1929, the California Consolidated Waters Company was formed to merge three Los Angeles-based companies that bottled and distributed “Arrowhead Water,” “Puritas Water” and “Liquid Steam.” The property, bottling operations, water distribution and administration of Arrowhead Springs Company, Puritas of California Consumers Company and the water bottling division of Merchants Ice and Storage were all administered by California Consolidated Waters Company. Soon after, California Consolidated Waters, on the basis of a single pipeline permit that was not based on any water rights and without having obtained a diversion permit or any further valid authorization or rights, in August 1930 started diverting spring water from a single “bedrock crevice” spring in the San Bernardino National Forest along Strawberry Creek at an elevation of 5,600 feet. Subsequently, in 1933 and 1934, the company put in place tunnels, ultimately accompanied by holes and horizontal wells at or near the headwaters of Strawberry Creek in Strawberry Canyon. Strawberry Creek was noted in maps and springs studies prior to the diversion to be a perennial stream which was fed by abundant flowing headwaters springs. Continue reading →