San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos received from his law enforcement peers one of the most pestigious honors that can be bestowed upon prosecutors when on July 18 he was sworn in as president of the National District Attorneys Association.
Ramos, who has been San Bernardino County district attorney since 2003, was officially elevated to the post at a ceremony held in Boston, Massachusetts, at which he was sworn in by his predecessor, Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick.
The event took place during National District Attorneys Association’s 2016 Summer Conference and National Victims’ Rights Summit.
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker was the keynote speaker at the “Passing of the Gavel” ceremony, while former National District Attorneys Association President Fitzpatrick administered the oath of office to Ramos.
In his inaugural speech, Ramos promised to continue working cooperatively with all local, state and federal partners in the law and justice community and to help further develop the functions and valuable services NDAA has to offer.
“I am honored to have earned the support of my colleagues and given the opportunity to represent the thousands of elected District Attorneys across our great nation,” Ramos said. “My intent is to work with my fellow District Attorneys and utilize this position to continue to fight for justice and victims’ rights at a national level.”
Ramos’ previous leadership roles for the organization have included vice president and current co-chair of the National District Attorneys Association’s Training and Education Committee.
Ramos is currently serving his fourth term as District Attorney of San Bernardino County, California. He has served as president of the California District Attorneys Association, and he is currently one of three members appointed by the Governor to the California Victim Compensation Board.
The National District Attorneys Association, whose membership includes District Attorneys from across the United States, is based in Alexandria, Virginia. The NDAA was formed in 1950 and represents the interests of prosecutors and influences federal and national policies affecting law enforcement and prosecution across the country.
While hs sojourn to Boston was a pleasant interlude that afforded him the opportunity to meet and trade notes with other prosecutors, Ramos has since returned to San Bernardino, where he has again taken up the serious business of fighting crime.

During the celebration of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week which was observed April 10–16, 2016, District Attorney Ramos held a special memorial on Monday, April 11, 2016 at the San Bernardino County Government Center Rotunda, featuring the Redlands East Valley Choir, under the direction of Rita Stevens. The singers performed in honor of San Bernardino county’s fallen victims. During the memorial, the District Attorney’s Office will present the Award for Exemplary Service to Victims of Crime to Rose Madsen of Family and Friends of Murder Victims. A bagpipe tribute will also take place beside the bronze “Officer Down” statue in honor of the county’s fallen officers.
Also in April, District Attorney Ramos announced the creation of his department’s animal cruelty prosecution unit, saying that as district attorney, “I believe the time is now to take the next step in our fight against animal cruelty. Effective prosecution of animal abuse requires a collaborative team approach, vertical prosecution, and specially trained prosecutors and investigators who are dedicated to protecting innocent animals. In short, it requires a special vertical prosecution unit dedicated solely to prosecuting animal cruelty.”
He continued, saying, “I am proud to announce the creation of the District Attorney’s Animal Cruelty Prosecution Unit (ACPU), which together with new stricter policies on prosecution, will help us accomplish the goal of investigating and prosecuting animal cruelty to the fullest extent of the law.
Earlier that month, District Attorney Ramos had hailed his creation of a conviction review unit to make sure the prosecutors under his watch are confining their efforts to bona fide criminals. At the same time, District Attorney Ramos assured the public his prosecutorial team makes very few, if any, mistakes.
“The mission of the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office is to ensure justice is done by seeking the truth, protecting the innocent, holding the guilty accountable, preserving the dignity of victims and their families, while maintaining the highest ethical standards,” he said. “I am proud to say that we are accomplishing our mission.”
And people need not simply take his word for it, he said.
“According to the latest data from the National Registry of Exonerations, which researches and documents every wrongful conviction exoneration in the nation, San Bernardino County had zero exonerations,” Ramos crowed. “Our record of only convicting the guilty is due to many factors. Primarily it exists because our prosecutors work tirelessly every day to ‘do the right thing’ on every case. We have policies and procedures in place to ensure that full and complete discovery is given to the defense on every case. We train on the unique and stringent ethical requirements for prosecutors and have imbued our entire office with a culture that places ethics above all else. Our county’s police agencies likewise put the highest value on conducting fair and ethical investigations.
However, as prosecutors, our duty to obtain justice never ends. Recent advances in technology and scientific evidence, such as DNA, could possibly cast doubt on some convictions. New witnesses or evidence may be discovered, years after a conviction, that could call into question a defendant’s guilt. It is important that we have a formal procedure to review these cases and determine whether an innocent person has been wrongfully convicted. For these reasons, I am pleased to announce that I have formed a Conviction Review Unit. The Conviction Review Unit will be responsible for reviewing qualifying claims that an innocent person was wrongfully convicted.
As district attorney, Ramos also created the Special Victims K-9 Unit, consisting of two black Labradors, Lupe and Dozer, and their handlers, Don Ross and Yesica Cioli, who are assigned to work with children who have been victimized or are witnesses. The dogs are intenended to reassure children and allay their fears about testifying. “Our main goal is to greatly reduce the understandable fears that a child has about entering the courtroom,” Ramos said. “Research shows that just having dogs nearby has a calming effect and lowers blood pressure. The level of cortisol which is associated with stress, is actually lowered when dogs are present.”

Oxford Preparatory Academy, which was founded by Sue Roche and under her guidance advanced to become San Bernardino County’s highest achieving school academically consistently for five years and then saw its luster tarnished when Roche sought to cash in on her teaching formula, is petitioning to keep itself afloat by obtaining a special dispensation from the California Board of Education.
Oxford is chartered to run as a school under the aegis of the Chino Valley Unified School District through the 2016-17 academic year. But Chino Valley Unified’s school board turned down Oxford’s application for rechartering in March, despite its position at or near the pinnacle of scholastic performance in the region. Oxford then struck out when it sought to appeal that decision with the San Bernardino County Board of Education, which refused to consider the matter on technical grounds.
Oxford is a charter school. Charter schools exists as operations under the authorization but beyond the direct control of the school district’s which charter them. Charter schools offer a curriculum that varies from those of traditional schools, offering specialized education for slow learners, accelerated education for fast learners or subject matter that is not normally available through traditional schools. A charter school is funded through money provided to it from the chartering district’s budget.
On July 8 Oxford’s internal board of directors voted to take the academy’s petition to the California State Board of Education, asking it to allow it to operate five more years and upgrade its operation from a single elementary campus to two, including a high school in Chino.
At one point, Roche was lionized as the progenitor of one of the most dynamic scholastic operations in Southern California. During the mid- and late stages of the first decade of the 2000s, Roche had been the principal at Rhodes Elementary School, the highest-scoring school in the Chino Valley Unified School District as measured by state administered scholastic tests. Roche parlayed that success into getting the district’s initial $3 million backing to create the Oxford Academy in 2010. Using a formula that relied on heavy parental involvement outside the classroom and steady doses of academic intensity in the classroom, Roche soared to an even higher level of success with Oxford, as the students there consistently – for four out of five years – were the highest performers on state tests among all schools in San Bernarino County. Competition among parents in the Chino District to have their children attend Oxford was intense and a lottery system had to be devised because there were not enough desks, classrooms and teachers at the school to accommodate the students who applied to get in.
Oxford was so successful that the Capistrano Unified School District in Orange County allowed Oxford to set up a charter school there.
Last year, however, Roche moved to cash in on that success, resigning as the executive director of Oxford Preparatory’s corporate entity and promoting before she left Barbara Black to that position. Roche simultaneously created a for-profit entity, Edlighten Learning Solutions, in which she is the central figure and prime mover. Then, apparently at Roche’s direction, Black orchestrated having Oxford Charter Academy enter into a contractual arrangement that would have paid Edlighten $1.5 million to, essentially, employ Roche as the school’s contract administrator/executive director.
When Chino Valley Unified’s Superintendent, Wayne Joseph, who had been a key Roche backer instrumental in convincing the district to proceed with the original charter for Oxford in 2010, recognized what Roche had done, he was in his own words “heartbroken.” Joseph said Roche had betrayed the faith of everyone involved by seeking to exploit the non-profit Oxford Preparatory Academy and line her own pockets.
As Oxford’s charter renewal was due to be considered earlier this year, there was widespread expectations that the Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees would handily grant the renewal request, as Oxford was the brightest star in the Chino Valley Unified School District’s academic constellation. But Joseph told the board that Roche had engaged in “arrogance, overreach and greed” by employing “machinations” to cynically manipulate the academy’s reliance on consultants to enrich herself. It was, Joseph said, “alarming” that the Oxford board had hired Edlighten Learning Solutions to operate the academy as part of a contract which called for ten percent of Oxford’s revenues to be diverted to Edlighten for that service, representing a radical increase in consulting fees the academy was being budgeted to pay out over the next several years, the lion’s share of which were to be steered to Edlighten. “This is a classic example in which a very, very successful charter school, somewhere along its journey, lost its way,” Joseph said. The Chino school board voted not to renew Oxford’s charter.
Oxford’s internal board appealed that vote to the San Bernardino County Board of Education. As it was doing so, Roche, chastened by all of the bad publicity over her action, moved to disengage herself from the controversy by having the contract with Edlighten dissolved.
The county board was considering that appeal, but on July 1, Sarah Sutherland, an attorney representing the San Bernardino County Board of Education, wrote a letter to Oxford’s law firm, stating that because of Oxford’s governing board’s decision to materially change its operation and governance structure – i.e., undo the relationship with Roche – the county board could no longer legally consider the appeal.
According to a statement from the San Bernardino County Board of Education, “Because the material changes were made during the appeal review process, the petition that was submitted to the County Board is no longer reflective of Oxford Prep’s current governance and operational structure. By its own admission, Oxford Prep administrators said it made material changes in its governance and operations. This unilateral action appears to have been done without consultation or approval of any of Oxford Prep’s current authorizers to include Chino Valley Unified, Capistrano Unified School District and the Orange County Department of Education. On appeal from non-renewal, county boards of education must review the same petition that was denied by its school district in determining if it meets requirements of California Education Code, Section 47605. The County Board… based upon guidance from legal counsel as a result of the material changes, does not have the jurisdiction to lawfully consider the Oxford Prep appeal and will not be taking any action to approve or deny the charter school’s petition.”
In reaction to the San Bernardino County Board of Education’s refusal to consider the appeal, Oxford’s administrators in the last fortnight held two public parent meetings to inform the public of the county board’s decision and consider the academy’s options.
An appeal to the state board of education has been filed by Oxford in Sacramento and officials are hoping the state will hold a hearing and complete its decision-making process by November.

Controversy and widespread community protest over the proposal to construct a 3,632-residential unit subdivision southeast of Seven Oaks Dam in the area straddling east Highland and Mentone has resulted in a delay in the approval of the project, which had been anticipated as early as this week.
The Highland City Council was slated to hold a public hearing and vote on the massive planned residential community being proposed by the Lewis Group of Companies yesterday, July 21, but the hearing was postponed to an as-yet unspecified date in August.
Known as the Harmony Project, it is to be built southeast of the Seven Oaks Dam, between the Santa Ana River and Mill Creek on the east edge of Highland and continuing through to Mentone. The new development, covering approximately 658 acres, calls for the construction of 3,632 new housing units, as well as a neighborhood commercial center covering close to six acres, an additional 16 acres set aside for neighborhood commercial uses, community public facilities that include the development of one elementary school; a 1.5-acre site set aside for the development of a new fire station after 1,000 homes are built and water reservoirs, a water treatment facility, a sewage treatment plant, and pump station.
In addition to what has become routine resistance to development in California in general, a slew of specific issues are being raised by local residents who are contesting the project proposal, including environmental issues, ones pertaining to traffic circulation, the burden 3,632 homes will place on the school system, water use, the reliance on a Mello-Roos financing arrangement for the infrastructure on the project, which will impose on the future owners of the homes in the project assessment above and beyond the property taxes they will be obliged to pay, the consideration that some of the project property was taken from the previous owner by eminent domain, and public safety concerns stemming from the project’s location, its vulnerability to flooding and fire and inadequate routes of escape in an emergency.
Some of that opposition has coalesced under the aegis of a group, the Greenspot Residents Association. According to the association, there are significant flaws in the city’s resolutions proposed for the approval of various aspects of the Harmony Specific Plan. The association has retained the San Francisco-based law firm of Shute, Mihally & Weinberger in attempting to challenge the project approval. A central contention of the association is that the city’s environmental impact report for the project has been inadequate and does not meet the minimum requirements required in such a review under the standards set forth in the California Environmental Quality Act. Based upon the environmental impact documents, the city through its city council made findings with regard to potential flood water generation, the provision of public services to match the increase in housing, and substantial environmental damage in the form of injury to fish and wildlife or their habitat, declaring that the impacts from the development will be less than significant.
According to the association, those findings are not supported by the environmental impact documents and do not establish that the impacts are in fact insignificant. The impact report and the findings combined do not meet legal requirements in terms of specifying the problems or outlining how they are to be mitigated, residents unhappy with the project proposal and the city’s embracing of it contend. Moreover, the critics of the project point out, where the environmental impact report notes two significant and unavoidable environmental impacts, the report and the city’s findings fail to specify any mitigation or solutions. The report acknowledges the project will injure the dwindling population of the San Bernardino Kangaroo Rat, that 88.8 acres of Riversidean alluvial sage scrub “will be lost through the project development,” and that the project will “permanently impact” 1.29 acres of surface waters and approximately 31.48 acres of streambeds and associated riparian vegetation.
Wendy Rea, a resident of Mentone and one of the prime movers in the association, told the Sentinel “There are a phenomenal number of problems with this project, public safety chief among them. This is a project to be built in an alluvial fan. Based upon the flood history of this canyon, it is obvious it is one of the most flood prone areas in our county. Past floods have deposited sediment that was 20 feet deep. In a flood the creek and its banks tend to fill up very quickly. We have already had many flash floods in the area. There have been significant floods in this area. The Seven Oaks Dam by its design was projected to be able to manage 45 percent of the flood risk from the Santa Ana River at this location. That means the majority of water during a heavy rainstorm will still come through Mill Creek.”
Rea continued, “At the southern border of harmony project is a levy that stands ten feet higher than where they plan to put in homes and commercial uses. That levy was built after the 1938 Flood, and it was reinforced in the 1990s, when it was made nine feet taller so it would be able to withstand a 100-year flood. That level of drainage applies to the current condition, which will change when the area is covered with roads and other paving. Yet the project is being built at a level ten feet below the levy, with no other flood mitigation measures. That means the project lies below the 100-year flood level.”
The term 100-year flood pertains to the most intensive water massing that is statistically likely to occur during a century.
“The Santa Ana River is what is called a broad channel,” Rea said. “Under the California Environmental Quality Act, there is not supposed to be construction around a board channel. The approval of this project would be irresponsible, neglecting the protection of residents, including citizens of Highland and those living just outside the city, who will live in that area when the project is completed.”
In addition to flooding, the area, lying at the foot of the San Bernardino Mountains, is also vulnerable to wildfire, Rea pointed out. This makes, she said, having adequate ingress and egress from the area crucial in the face of a disaster. “They are proposing putting 3,632 more homes into an area where there is but a single route of escape,” Rea said. “During a flood or fire, that would be a disaster. With that bottleneck, that amount of traffic would be unable to get past that choke point in time. The development plan calls for a small commercial nub near the fish hatchery at the farthest eastern extension of the project, and a stub of a road going nowhere. There is obviously the potential for a bridge at the east end of the project there, across the Santa Ana River. But Lewis has said it will not pay for it. There is no mention of the bridge in the environmental impact report. This is a classic example of a violation of the California Environmental Quality Act. It is proof they intend to pursue project in this area piecemeal. It is absolutely irresponsible to put 3,632 homes into a flood and fire hazard zone that is hemmed in on two-and-a-half sides by a dam, the mountains and the river with only one way out if an evacuation had to occur rapidly. There would be nothing that could be done for the people caught in a fire or flood. The development should not be allowed to proceed unless the developer is willing to construct that bridge.”
Rea pointed out that a portion of the property to be used in the project was acquired by the San Bernardino County Flood Control District through eminent domain in 1997 because that property was necessary to host a conveyor belt to transport clay used to construct the dam to the dam site. With the dam completed, the county no longer needed the land and it was sold to Orange County, which owns the entire 1,650 acres upon which the Harmony project is to be built. “There was no effort to contact the property owner from which that land was seized by the use of eminent domain” Rea said. “Normally, the owner of property taken through eminent domain is given a first right of refusal once the property is no longer needed for a public purpose. That did not occur in this case.”
Rea said the project involves the wholesale disregarding of a host of quality of life issues, such as traffic circulation and density considerations.
“If you look at the historic zoning of that property, it has been equestrian-residential or estate residential, with homes to be built on several acre lots or, in the alternative, it was to be developed as a golf course,” she said. “With this project, the city made a shift to high density, with the removal of rural open space and agricultural land. This was a violation of the general plan.”
She said that none of the city council’s members live in or near the area slated for development, which is referred to as the “Greenspot.” Noting that a challenge of the city’s at-large electoral system had been made in the court system and that the city is now under a court mandate to dissolve that at-large voting system and put in place a ward system that will ensure the Greenspot will have a representative on the council by next year, Rea said the fix was in now to quickly approve the Harmony project before a new council can replace the current members.
“That is indicative of a city with an agenda, and that agenda is not consistent with what is in the best interest of its citizens,” Rea said.
Rea said “We feel there are enormous financial, health and safety, and quality of life issues at bear here. It’s a huge project, and it’s fantastically time-consuming to sort through the details to get to what it will really really mean. I believe the environmental impact reports filed in conjunction with this project are designed to obfuscate facts and cumulative impacts. The California Environmental Quality Act exists so cumulative impacts can be evaluated. While we respect the need for housing and understand the Lewis Group is not some villain, we and many other organizations firmly believe there could not be a more disastrous choice of locations for this development.”
Another Highland resident, Angie De La Rosa, told the Sentinel, “The boulevard is already a death trap. We have had many deaths on the Highway 38. The poor circulation of the traffic from this huge Harmony Project is a heart attack ready to happen.”
DeLaRosa said the city needed to ensure the bridge over the Santa Ana River is constructed if it is to allow the project to proceed.
“I used to live in the High Desert when major housing developments were going in,” De La Rosa said. “Go up there even today and see all the traffic on Bear Valley Road.  Victorville was to build a bridge at Nisqually to take some of the traffic off of Bear Valley Road. I have been gone from the High Desert for over 16 years and the bridge has yet to be built. We don’t want this traffic nightmare to happen to our highway.”
Randall Lewis, one of the Lewis Group’s vice-presidents, said he would respond in detail to the questions raised about the project after he has an opportunity to discuss those issues with Orange County officials.

BARSTOW — Concern is growing in San Bernardino County’s fifth-smallest city that an arsonist may be lurking among its 22,639 residents.
Last weekend at 3:39 a.m. Sunday morning, firefighters responded to a house fire in the 100 block of West Fredricks Street. The house, well under 1,000-square feet with a single bedroom and bathroom, was fully engulfed in flames. In short order, the two responding fire engines knocked the fire down, which did not spread.
The quick response and the success in dousing the conflagration belied a troubling trend. The residence was unoccupied. Fire inspectors were unable to establish a cause for the fire. And while it is not impossible that the fire was sparked by some yet unknown but explicable and non-deliberate means, this is the fifth such unexplained fire in a vacant structure in Barstow since January 1.
By contrast, there were only three fires in occupied dwellings within the 41.4 square mile city and its surrounding sphere of influence during the same time frame. Logically and statistically, fires in structures where there is constant human activity, including open flames and active electrical outlets, is more common than where no such hazards are present.
Though fires in vacant structures normally pose less of a hazard to human life than in occupied ones, the chance of a fire reaching an advanced stage before contact with a firefighting force to give warning is greater, which can in turn pose a hazard to other structures, occupied or not.
Officially, the Barstow Fire Protection District has not suggested or implied a link between the fires in vacant housing and any arsonist activity or intent.
There are grounds to conclude that the first fire in a vacant home in Barstow this year, which occurred in January in the 1400 block of Riverside Drive may not have been arson but the product of a warming fire started by a homeless individual or individuals on that house’s patio which spread to the house, although that cause is not certain.
After winter passed and the weather began to heat up, firefighters on May 8 responded to a fire at vacant home at 116 W. Fredricks St. That fire was far more suspicious in nature and it destroyed the entire structure. Three days later, on May 11, there was a fire at a vacant structure in the 1300 block of Nancy Street. One week later, on May 18 a 700-square foot duplex in the 1600 block of Riverside Drive was consumed by fire.
There were no injuries in any of the five blazes in unoccupied dwellings.
Barstow, a desert railroad town that a century ago was the county’s fourth-leading population center and which was incorporated as a municipality in 1947 prior to the incorporation of 15 of San Bernardino County’s current 24 municipalities, has been losing ground to many other cities in terms of population size ranking over the last several decades. Like Barstow, another desert community, Trona, which was formerly a significant mining center at the farthest extension of San Bernardino County within the Mojave Desert at its borders with Kern and Inyo counties, has dropped in population significantly beginning almost three decades ago when the Kerr-McGee Corporation began to limit its operations there. As some of Trona’s residential neighborhoods began to sustain vacancies, a firebug descended on that community, destroying fully or partially some two dozen of the homes there.

The Yucaipa City Council on July 11 approved a tentative tract map and environmental impact report for Meridian Land Development Company’ 184-dwelling unit Wilson Creek Estates project.
The project has undergone some alteration since it was originally proposed in 2013 as the 236-acre Casa Blanca Ranch development, which calls for construction on the north side of Oak Glen Road east of Jefferson Street.
According to a staff report pertaining to the project authored by Joseph Lanbert, Yucaipa’s director of development services, “An application was previously filed for the project that involved a general plan amendment and planned development application for a residential project of 240 single family dwellings. The design concept attempted to maintain existing drainage courses and areas with larger slopes as natural open space areas. The balance of the land would have been utilized for single family development in a clustered design concept. To achieve the cluster concept a general plan amendment and planned development was requested to allow a half acre lot size rather than utilize the existing one acre size. This concept was reviewed by the planning commission at a study session on December 18, 2013 and public comment was received. The planning commission expressed concerns that the half acre lot size was too small and expressed a desire to maintain one acre lots.”
The Casa Blanca Ranch project, which has since been relabeled and branded as Wilson Creek Estates, as it was tentatively approved triggered opposition from residents, open space conservancies and environmentalists, who registered protests over traffic circulation and “inadequate” traffic analysis; the compromising of the wildlife corridor; drought and parcel water drainage; flood plain concerns and drainage courses in the project; and the preservation of existing oak trees and the olive groves.
When the project was again considered by the planning commission on June 15, 2016, according to Lambert, “it was reiterated by several individual commissioners that the previous application had some positive aspects, such as the retention of dedicated open space. However, one or more commissioners still felt the smaller lot sizes were inappropriate. Ultimately, the planning commission, with Commissioner Vanessa Register dissenting, voted 6-1 to recommend to the council that the project be approved.
Jonathan Weldy, the president of Meridian Land Development presented the project on July 11. Weldy said an attempt to maintain the natural contour of the land would be made and that no “mass grading” would occur at the site. “The topography will be maintained,” he said. After Weldy’s introductory comments, a public hearing ensued in which an open debate over the advisability of allowing half-acre lots, which would provide for more open public rural space, versus requiring full acre lots, leaving less land for public open space. Residents who offered input were decidedly in favor of the rural one-acre lots, as designated in the current city zoning.
Lambert said the project is conditioned for a phased development based on piecemeal lot sales in which each individual owner will build to his or her own specifications. Lambert said Meridian would be required to put in all utilities, roads and sewer lines. Internal streets would be paved but no curbs and gutters and sidewalks would not be included in keeping with the rural character of the property. Individual homeowner would be responsible for development of each parcel and preparation of all required plans, payment of all applicable development impact fees and environmental compliance.
There was considerable sentiment that the environmental impact analysis for the project done by AECOM was inadequate. According to a staff report, a sufficient “number of technical studies undertaken in the evaluation of the proposed project” were completed, including an overview of flood hazards, “field infiltration tests,” a so-called “environmental site assessment and follow up” and an assessment of the oak trees on the property. According to the EIR, there are over one thousand existing oak trees on the project site, one coastal live oak, one canyon live oak and 1,075 Tucker’s oaks. Under the city’s oak protection ordinance, for every oak tree removed at the site, the developer would need to plant three-to five oak trees elsewhere.
Those opposed to the project said that AECOM had cut corners by relying on the developer’s 2012 biological report that was augmented with another study carried out by another firm ECORE, which was also done at the developer’s behest.
Some suggested that AECOM had failed to adequately assess whether there were biologically sensitive plants that would be displaced by the development
Dr. Tim Krantz, a University of Redlands environmental studies professor who is the executive director of the Crafton Hills Open Space Conservancy, said the development would interrupt the transit of wildlife between Yucaipa Ridge, Pisgah Peak and the Crafton Hills. Before he ran out of time, Krantz said that the project should be altered to provide a wildlife corridor for the migration of different species.
Resident Dena Hall said the environmental impact report did not adequately address the impact on the rivulets feeding Wilson Creek.
Richard Siegmund said the substandard nature of the streets in the project left an open question as to whether the city would take on potential liability by having them dedicated.
Councilman Dick Riddell said there was a need to do a more thorough job documenting the wildlife that would be impacted with the development and where that wildlife was located, and a wildlife corridor should be incorporated into the overall plan for the project.
“Our general plan stipulates that development codes should be in cooperation with the Yucaipa Conservancy, Wildlands Conservancy and the Crafton Hills Conservancy,” Riddell said. “None of these agencies were contacted.”
Lambert, in response to councilman Bobby Duncan’s inquiry, indicated that there was no strict mandate that a development project have the concurrence of the various conservancies to get approval.
Riddell was critical of the consideration that AECOM has failed to carry out its biological and ecological studies during all four seasons of the year before reporting its findings.
Duncan said he did not think the council should be second-guessing AECOM, which the city had hired to do its environmental assessment, and he suggested that Weldy and Meridian should be free to develop the property as they deemed fit, such that any entities wanting to keep it in its pristine state should purchase it. “I think the project is fine,” he said. I liked the first tentative tract map but the general public didn’t like it because all they saw was half-acre lots. The bottom line is this project is [permissible under] our general plan. We should approve the project the way it is.”
Councilman David Avila was somewhat equivocal in his support of the environmental impact report, at one point saying that it might need to be redone, but saying he found it acceptable. He said that if the environmental impact report deemed the project as pursuable, do did he. “I hate to see the applicant or anybody go through this again,” he said “There’s people out there that just don’t want that land developed and that’s unfair to the developer.”
Ultimately, councilman Greg Bogh and Mayor Denise Hoyt joined with Duncan and Avila, and the four voted to approve the project on one acre lots, with Riddell dissenting

Mike Spence’s extended absence as Fourth District San Benardino County Supervisor Curt Hagman’s chief of staff was precipitated by a single-vehicle traffic accident in which he is alleged to have been driving under the influence.
Spence has not been to work for more than five weeks.
At half past noon on June 12 Covina police officers responded to a report of a vehicle that collided with a utility pole near the intersection of Azusa Avenue and Cypress Street in that city. According to the department’s watch commander, Sergeant Gregg Peterson, officers said Spence appeared to be intoxicated.
Spence’s condition as a result of the accident was so serious that he was transported at once to Los Angeles County USC Medical Center, where it was determined he suffered a broken hip, a broken femur, two shattered vertebrae and three broken ribs in the crash. He was cited for a DUI while yet at County USC, but was not arrested. He underwent two surgeries at the medical center for a spinal fusion and to repair his hip and femur. He was subsequently transferred to Casa Colina Hospital for Rehabilitative Medicine in Pomona.
The results of a toxicology report, based upon blood that was drawn at County USC after Spence arrived there, had yet to be publicly released at press time.
The Sentinel was unable reach Spence.
Hagman’s deputy chief of staff Katherine Kolcheva has been elevated to serve as interim chief of staff.
The development is likely to have a substantial impact on not only Spence, but Hagman, the City of West Covina and the Republican Party.
Spence was considered to be a GOP stalwart, and a key element in the effort to reestablish the Republican Party statewide and maintain its tenuous political grip on San Bernardino County.
Hagman, a Republican and former Chino Hills mayor, was elected to the California Assembly in 2008. Spence served as Curt Hagman’s chief of staff during all six years Hagman has served in the State Assembly. Hagman brought Spence to San Bernardino County to serve as his chief of staff here after Hagman, having been termed out of the Assembly, vied for and eked out a razor-thin victory over then-Congresswoman GloriaNegrete-McLeod in 2014, when they both sought the post of Fourth District San Bernardino County supervisor.
Spence, a councilman in West Covina, had a quarter of a century experience in various political roles in the state capital, including serving as the chief of staff for then-assemblyman Joel Anderson (R- El Cajon).
Spence and Hagman share a hard-edged Republican streak, evident in the bare knuckled campaign waged against Gloria Negrete-McLeod for supervisor. Negrete-McLeod, a Democrat, was portrayed as soft on crime and an advocate of policies that are unfavorable to business interests in hit pieces originating with the Hagman campaign. Spence served as the chief strategist for Hagman in that electoral run.
Spence is an anti-tax advocate who has long crusaded for paring back the bureaucracy of government and alleviating the financial burden on taxpayers.
In 1998, the city of West Covina unsuccessfully sued Spence over his opposition to a multi-million dollar tax increase that would have imposed several hundred dollar-per year assessments on homeowners. Spence prevailed in the lawsuit and the tax proposal failed.
Born and raised in West Covina, Spence was student body president at Edgewood High School and he then attended and graduated from UCLA with a degree in political science. He was elected six times to the West Covina Unified School District Board of Education, was a founding board member of the California Virtual Academy-L.A. High School, and is a past-president of the East San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupational Program/Technical College where he served 18 years as a board member.
Spence was for four years the taxpayer representative on the Mount San Antonio Community College Bond Oversight Committee.
After Hagman’s 2014 victory in vying for supervisor, Spence readily took on the key San Bernardino County political/governmental assignment Hagman offered, despite remaining a creature of Los Angeles County, where he was then and still is a member of the city council in the 16.09-square mile, 106,098-population West Covina. Spence’s role with Hagman was considered crucial, as San Bernardino County remains a bastion, of a sort, of Republicanism in California, which over the last two decades has slipped under the control of Democrats.
Throughout the 1990s and well into the 2000s, political registration in San Bernardino County favored the Party of Lincoln. But in the 2008-09 time frame, Democrats eclipsed the GOP in terms of sheer numbers of registered voters throughout the county. By 2013, the county’s 24 cities were evenly split between Democrats and Republicans in terms of voter registration advantage. In most of the county’s economically challenged cities such as San Bernardino, Adelanto, Barstow, Needles, Rialto and Colton, voter registration was lopsidedly in favor of the Democrats. The Democrats also enjoyed by that point a decided lead over the Republicans in Montclair and Fontana, and less distinct advantages in Highland, Victorville, Chino and Ontario. In the county’s other 12 cities – Chino Hills, Upland, Rancho Cucamonga, Hesperia, Apple Valley, Loma Linda, Grand Terrace, Yucaipa, Yucca Valley, Redlands, Twentynine Palms and Big Bear – the Republicans registered to vote outnumbered Democrats. But despite the slightly greater numbers of Democrats in San Bernardino County overall, Republicans, who turn out at the polls and vote by absentee ballot in far greater numbers than do Democrats, yet predominate at the polls in all but a handful of cities, most notably Colton and Adelanto. On the county board of supervisors Republicans still outnumber Democrats three to two and in the California Assembly and State Senate, the Republicans in San Bernardino County hold their own against the Democrats.
Spence was, until just recently, seen as an architect of the Republican hold out in San Bernardino County – pushing fiscal conservatism, law and order, the private sector over the public sector (despite his status as a virtual career-long public employee), traditional family and religious values, and personal discipline.
With his accident, brought on by intoxication within a half hour of high noon on a Sunday, Spence may have compromised his ability to effectively militate for the Republican cause. Less than a week before the accident, he was a Republican candidate for the Assembly in the 55th State Assembly District, a race in which he finished a close third in the June 7 primary, being only narrowly denied the opportunity to vie in the November general election.
Spence has since his accident made public statements to the effect that he has had a problem with alcohol since he was a teenager and that he has struggled against his alcoholism his entire adult life. Simultaneously, he has maintained he is not a drug user. He has not outright conceded that he was drunk on June 12, saying he doesn’t recall anything about the accident or what led up to it. The revelation of his out-of-control alcohol use, nevertheless, is absolutely contrary to his cultivated public image. There is no indication, yet, if his misadventure in the city that neighbors the one in which he lives and where he is a current council member and former mayor, will damage his electability. And Hagman has not given an indication yet as to whether his now-open secret will result in his termination as chief-of-staff.

In the infernal, 113 degree-plus background temperatures, five structures, a vehicle and expensive city transformers were consumed by fire last Saturday afternoon, July 16, in Needles, California. Controversy surrounds both the cause of the blaze and the reason for its spread to surrounding structures with fire fighters being called in from 3 fire stations in the adjoining state of Arizona, to assist San Bernardino County Fire District contain a blaze that lasted about three hours. “The fire on “Chestnut” illustrates how vulnerable our homes really are” says Mary Stein, Needles Fire Auxiliary executive director.
Old faulty wiring, careless rigging from electric thieves, meth lab explosion and outdated city transformers atop worn out wooden poles shot with bullets from afar are some of the theories though the official determination has yet to be released. It can be observed at the scene that the tops of two antiquated wooden power poles were “burnt like match sticks, “ reported David Buckley, a local journalist.
Needles city officials allowed Buckley to view and photograph both transformers that were involved. “Both showed signs of burning, but neither had exploded,” Buckley reported to the Sentinel. He said that Jack Lindley, Needles Electric Crew Supervisor,t explained to him that “Two of the expulsion fuses associated with the transformer blew” and that was probably the bang, bang multiple neighbors reported the heard along with other popping sounds.”
“Captain Dean Dickover, public information office, South Desert Division, on Wednesday told the Sentinel that he did not have a report to release and that the arson investigator was still reviewing the situation.
A neighbor at the scene told the Sentinel, she saw someone she had “never seen before” running down the street who called out saying “get out of here…its going to explode.” Shortly there after, she saw the house on fire that the unidentified person was running from. Several days following the fire, the Sentinel observed a large hole in the roof/ceiling of what was apparently the kitchen area of that house (Figure 1) while some portions of the ceiling of the adjacent living room and bedroom area appeared uncharred.
The fire was reported at 4:04 p.m. said a bystander. Wishing to remain anonymous, this person said the residents appeared alarmed that “it seemed so long for the fire truck to get there”… allegedly at 4:35-4:40, and “by that time the fire was spreading.” Neighbors who were observing stated that the first responder was the Fort Mojave Tribal Police, Jordan Butterfield, who saw the smoke from the Arizona side of the river and came over to investigate.
“The County Fire District responded to the call and was out the door immediately; they deserve credit for their timely response,” commented Buckley “Once county was on the scene, the fire progressed too rapidly for the resources available.” According to several observers however, the nearby fire hydrant was faulty requiring time to hook up to the one down the street and the three man crew was not suited up when they got there.
“I watched as the fire leapt from one building to an adjacent building—to me it seemed that the crew was over matched by the fire..they deserve our thanks, they worked hard and were trying very hard, but the situation kept expanding.” Buckley said. “I helped the fire fighter stretch the hose over to a palm tree in the next block to put out the fire.”
The Mohave County Fire Department arrived at the scene and reportedly their incident command requested that additional fire fighters be dispatched from Bullhead City and Fort Mohave Mesa Fire departments. Eventually responding were a total of 35 fire fighters from the area surrounding Needles as well as volunteers from the Northern Arizona Chapter of the American Red Cross to offer assistance to affected families it was locally reported. The fire is reported to have been contained several hours later at about 7pm.
If the fire indeed began in the house occupied by tenants, it spread and actually consumed major portions of the landlord’s home and their small guest cottage, their garage and truck and a neighboring vacant house. At some point a tree in the back yard appears to have ignited causing overhead power lines to burn. Early observations by neighbors who videotaped the catastrophe state that after the fire began to spread the city’s transformers had not yet blown saying, “there was multiple popping sounds” and attributed that to possible ammunition blowing up. The property on the south side of the yard wall appeared to be undisturbed by the fire which is further evidence that the transformer above had not exploded, but the wind was blowing northerly and a palm tree a block away, to the north, caught fire, reportedly due to blowing embers
“This incident highlights the needs for increased fire prevention measures in the City of Needles and the need for local residents trained to help assist fight fires and a City Fire Department devoted to the territory of the City,” Ruth Musser-Lopez, Administrator of the Needles Fire Auxiliary, told the Sentinel. Thank goodness that County Fire was in town and not responding to calls 60 miles away on I-40. “According to Captain Dickover, there is a crew of 3 firefighters in Needles at all times, working in shifts that change 3 times in a 24 hour period. That is nine firefighters 24/7. Something is not adding up. The County’s proposed budget called for six firefighters at $150,000 each per year. Firefighters in Barstow told me that we had two fire fighters and we recently got a third. The fire was a short distance from the fire house, about a half mile on city streets. If there was a three person crew in the fire house, how long should it take for them to jump on the truck and speed to a fire a half mile away? When it is hot and windy in Needles, a half hour and certainly, forty minutes, is too long.”

By Count Friedrich von Olsen
Donald Trump gave his acceptance speech last night. I listened to it. It got me longing for that faraway time, just about a century ago, when Charles Evans Hughes accepted the nomination of the Republican Party, not in Cleveland, but in New York City, at Carnegie Hall, when that venue was a mere 25 years old. Carnegie Hall was not the scene of the Republican Convention, which that year was held in Chicago. Mr. Hughes, who was at that time Justice Hughes, did not actively seek the nomination, but indicated he would not turn it down if it was offered to him. He did not attend the convention, but remained in the nation’s capital, where as a justice on the highest court in the land, he had work to do, cases to consider, colleagues to persuade, opinions to write. He was nominated on the the third ballot. When he was informed of his nomination by telegram, he resigned from the Supreme Court and sent back a telegram of acceptance. The convention had bypassed former President Theodore Roosevelt, who was for a short time under consideration by the Republican Party convention-goers and who had been threatening to run as a Progressive Party candidate. Former President Roosevelt graciously stepped aside, accepting Mr. Hughes as the Republican standard bearer that year, while threatening to jump back into the race as a third party candidate if, in the words of one contemporary chronicler, Mr. Hughes “turned out to be pacifistic, pussy-footed, or pro-German…”
When Mr. Hughes gave his belated acceptance speech, he was in the position of having to pay homage to former President Roosevelt by pledging obeisance to Americanism and preparedness. That he did. But he also had to make clear that he was committed to putting a Republican into the White House, satisfy the Republican machine, which was at odds with the progressiveness embodied by Teddy Roosevelt, while wooing or at least not offending both the active pro-Ally sympathizers as well as the pro-Germans, and appealing to women, who at that time were permitted to vote in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Washington, California, Oregon, Kansas, Arizona, and in Illinois…
In his speech, Mr. Hughes succeeded, as the New Republic reported in its August 1916 edition, in accomplishing all of this when he “managed with considerable skill to find the least common denominator” of all of these divergent interests…
With former President Roosevelt in sitting in one of the opera boxes within Carnegie Hall, Mr. Hughes spoke of his vision of an efficiently-run government, which he could well do with authority as a consequence of his splendid record as New York governor from 1907 until he was nominated to the Supreme Court by then-president William Howard Taft in 1910. But he appealed as well to the concept of nationalism, of the opportunity for all American men to be of heroic service to their country. He hinted at, but did not openly avow sympathy for the Allies – the British, the French, the Italians and the Russians in their struggle against the Germans, the Austrians, the Hungarians and the Turks. He was deferential to Senator Warren Harding of Ohio, pro-preparedness advocate Senator Francis Emroy Warren of Wyoming, Utah Senator Reed Smoot and former Massachusetts governor and senator Murray Crane. Instead of coming off as a hero, like former President Roosevelt, or a rabid Republican, Mr. Hughes concentrated on making a case against the incumbent president, Woodrow Wilson, while seeking to harnass the disparate Republican elements behind his candidacy. He appealed to the workingman. He appealed to businessmen. Criticism of Wilson appealed to Roosevelt and his minions; it inspired the Republican establishment; it appealed to the pro-Ally contingent, based upon Wilson’s unwillingness up to that point to enter the European fray; and it pleased those favoring the Germans because they saw Wilson, despite not getting America directly involved in the fighting, as favoring the British by allowing American armament to sail the Atlantic to Southhampton and Liverpool…
In attacking President Wilson, Mr. Hughes was able to make the very credible points that he would be a far more efficient adminstrator of government than the incumbent, more decisive, more effective all around and a more vigorous and masculine leader of America in the world. Without pledging military action against Mexico, he spoke passionatley about the unstable political situation south of the border and decried Pancho Villa’s attacks on border towns in New Mexico and Texas. He insisted the United States under his leadership would maintain friendly relations with its southern neighbor but would remain firm. He lambasted President Wilson for the poor quality of his appointments. He suggested that American neutrality in Eurpoe and American isolation would come to an end, that this would end the war and that once all or our competitors were back in the swing of things and producing goods, the United States should protect itself in the worldwide economic struggle that would replace war with tariffs…

Edward Barber Daley, a road builder, pioneer and one fo the founders of the City of San Bernardino, was born on March 31, 1825 in Skaneatles, New York. He was the son of Moses Daley (1796-1869) and Almira Barber Daley (1901-1874) and the grandson of John Daley (1752-1811) and Amy Mapes Daley (1752-1842). In about 1840, the Moses Daley family migrated to the new state of Ohio and in 1844 to Quincy, Illinois. Here Edward met Nancy Ann Hunt, the daughter of Captain Jefferson and Celia Hunt. Captain Hunt, perhaps the most accomplished of Mormon adventurers, was chosen to guide a wagon train of pioneers, which included the Daley family, westward. Edward and Miss Hunt were married in Pattawatomie, Iowa.
To the couple born eleven children, Loami, Celia, Edward, Jefferson, John, Grace, Annetta, Frank, Lou, May and Kate Daley. Three of their children, Laomi, John and Grace, predeceased Mr. Daley.
In 1851, Edward and Nancy traveled to Salt Lake City, where they joined another train of Mormon settlers bound for new lands in the San Bernardino Valley in California, under the guidance of Captain Jefferson Hunt. It was Captain Hunt’s third trip to San Bernardino and he was often referred to as being “The Father of San Bernardino.” The party arrived at “Sycamore Grove” near what is now Devore, in June of 1851 where they camped while arrangements were being made to purchase lands for their permanent home. On September 22, 1851 the Mormon leaders Charles Rich and Amasa Lyman closed the deal on the 80,000-acre Lugo San Bernardino Rancho, whch was purchased for $1 per acre. Here the colonists built a fort in which to secure themselves against occasional attacks by hostile Indians. Much of the task of road building was entrusted to the supervision of Edward Daley.
When the call came from Salt Lake City for the faithful “Saints” to return with all haste to prepare for the defense of that city against a threat from the United States Army being sent to Utah by President James Buchanan, most of the Mormons, with saddened hearts, obeyed the call. The Daley Family was among the very few who decided that their love for San Bernrdino outweighed their adherence to the Mormon beliefs and remained behind. Captain Hunt again guided a large party back to Salt Lake City but when the threat abated, was among those to return. In 1870 Edward Daley and his young sons assisted his farther-in-law in building the old Waterman Canyon switchback road into the mountains to help those living and lumbering in the Huston Flat (now Gregory Lake) Valley. Later Ed Daley and his sons built another road into the hills called the “Daley Road.” It started at the head of what is now Del Rosa Avenue. At the crest there is a monument where it crosses into the old Blue Jay Canyon, which was the headwaters of what is now Lake Arrowhead. The road, formerly serving the Talmadge and La Prais saw mills, will always remain a monument to the resolution and perseverance of Edward Daley. It afforded more convenience in those saw mills to expedite the supply of lumber in the ever-increasing needs for material with which to build the new city. Many years later, one of Edward’s grandsons, J.S. Bright, Jr., county surveyor from 1911 to 1915, was one of th engineers on the Rim-of-the-World Highway along the crest of the San Bernardino Mountains.
Mr. Daley was active in all matters promoting the welfare of his community. He opened the first restaurant to accommodate those traveling through the area near what is now Third and “E” Street, known locally as “Daley Inn.”
Edward Daley was elected to the county board of supervisors, representing the Third District, serving from January 5, 1880 to January 8, 1883. He was chairman of the board from July 26, 1880 through the balance of his time in office. As a supervisor, he guarded the welfare and interests of the people as he did his own family, with great care and circumspection. His home was a gathering place for his neighbors and friends, who were always made welcome.
Mr. Daley died at his homestead, January 25, 1896 in his seventy first year.
Edward Barber Daley, a warmhearted and kindly man, loved his politics and influenced people in a quiet way. He was a successful farmer and had a good eye for selecting rich farmland. At his death he left a good piece of land for each of his eight living children. Edward Jr. worked with his father on the large Daley farm in Northeast San Bernardino and was the agent who sold to the state the acreage occupied by the Patton State Hospital. Two other sons, John and Frank, were lawyers. Frank B. Dale became a judge of the San Bernrdino County Superior Court in 1923. Three of Edward Daley’s daughters became schoolteachers. The Edward B. Daley family made an indelible impression upon the City of San Bernardino.

Ten months after Yermo Community Services Director Sean Cloughen resigned in the face of a recall attempt and seven weeks after the recall of board president Bob Smith and board member Geoff Berner, the community and the district are nearing implosion.
With no clear operating authority, a lack of a quorum on the board and no entity with financial authorization to pay bills, the closest thing to an in-town governmental authority was adrift. No one had until just recently the authority to access or unlock the bank accounts that serve as the town’s public treasury and bills went and are still going unpaid, reducing the likelihood services will continue to be provided. As of this writing, even the fire department has not been paid.
At its most recent meeting, the Yermo Community Services District was unable to take a full range of action. That entity’s new president, Michael Cint, who replaced Smith, had virtually nothing to preside over. Citing Brown Act section 5456.5 that requires a majority of the board to approve a state of emergency, Cint, essentially, declared himself in a quorumless quandary.
Cint, acknowledging there was indeed an “emergency,” lamented that “we don’t have access to the bank accounts to pay for the Fire Department operations.”
The Yermo Community Services Board is supposed to consist of five members. A quorum of that five member panel would be a simple majority – three. But the recall of Smith and Berner on June 7 left only one director – GaryYeasley – on the board for over a month. That was remedied when Cint and Clarissa Loehr, Smith and Berner’s replacements, were sworn in earlier this month. The same voters who ousted Smith and Berner selected Cint and Loehr as their replacements.
Before Smith and Berner departed, no one bothered to have Yearsley – as of June 7 the last elected official in town left standing – added as a signee on the district’s bank account. With Smith and Berner’s departure, there were no authorized signers with regard to the district account.
To create authorized signers, the new board had to vote – after it met – to agendize an emergency item to elect new board officers. That done, Cint was named president and Loehr was made vice president. Yearsley was appointed fire commissioner.
But even with a board, or a bare minimum of a board, the district yet has no means of accessing its accounts. Upon being ousted from office, both Smith and Berner destroyed the district’s only credit/debit cards and the accompanying account access means then available to the district, which existed in the form of the credit cards in their names. They shredded those cards.
This has left Cint, Loehr and Yearsley somewhat miffed. A circular argument has gone on for a week now about whether Smith and Berner, once out of office, had the authority to close out the accounts in their names. At this time, that is a moot point.
The recall proponents claim their intent to rid the district of Smith and Berner was a high-minded one. Even if good intentions are imputed to the recall effort, the reactive element such actions bring should have been looked after. Rejected by the voters that once embraced them, Smith and Berner were acting within the standard realm of deviation when they took it upon themselves to divest themselves of the two items – the credit cards – which, if used at all after their removal from office, might be interpreted as a misappropriation of funds.
There are also reports that paper documentation of the district’s financial transactions were shredded at the time of Smith and Berner’s departure, or perhaps shortly before or after. That is a more serious problem, as the destruction of public documents can be deemed a felony.
Given the disarray in the district’s finances – which appears to have gone back for some time – and the neglect of district business for what is now pushing two months, the financial institutions the district transacted business through formerly are not in the most facilitative of moods.
The matter is complicated by other things that may have or may not have occurred during the vacuum of leadership following the recall.
By one account, Yearsley, the closest semblance of legally constituted authority in the district at that time, “ran off” the district’s general manager, Rita Dado, in the weeks after the recall. Whether that actually occurred is unclear. What is known is that on June 30, Dado officially resigned.
This indicates that for at least two weeks and for perhaps as many as five-and-a-half weeks, the district office was vulnerable to compromise. Whether such a compromise was serious is subject to interpretation. The district’s computers were password protected and with the departure of Smith and Berner and then Dado, it is unlikely that the computers could have been accessed. Whether Dado handed over to Yearsley the requisite codes – which were previously withheld from him when Smith and Berner were ruling the roost – is unknown. If Yearsley did not have the access codes before Dado left, the likelihood that he could have carried out a successful search on his own to discover them is remote.
In an effort to limp back into normalcy, the board has chosen Vicki Paulson to serve as the interim general manager for the next 90 days.
Yermo, a town of roughly 1,750 population in San Bernardino County’s Mojave Desert 13 miles east of Barstow and just south of the Calico Mountains has been buffeted by events in recent years. A good deal of those problems has pertained to water, a commodity of particular importance in the desert.
Decades ago, Donald Walker acquired the Yermo Water Company. Walker saw the water company, which had exclusivity in Yermo, as a profit generating entity, one that could be maintained with very little devotion to maintenance or upgrades. By the late 1990s the company’s pipes and pumping systems were falling into a state of disrepair. The situation was exacerbated in the early 2000s when Walker relocated to Florida, leaving the neglected and undercapitalized company in the hands of a resident of the area with no expertise or real understanding of how to run a water company, who served as its part-time manager. Despite the importuning of customers and local authorities, Walker refused to hire a licensed operator to look after and operate the system.
During the summer of 2006, the primary water tank serving the Yermo community’s water system developed a leak and customers were without water for a week in the community, where temperatures exceeded 100 degrees every day. The California Department of Health and the California Public Utilities Commission initiated an investigation into the matter in 2007.
A decision to pursue the appointment of a receiver was issued in May of 2009 but that effort was delayed while it appeared the sale of the system to a community-based prospective buyer was imminent.
After more than two years of negotiations, Walker refused to inform the prospective buyer how much he owed in back taxes and fines to the California Department of Health. As a result, the sale fell through. In August 2012 the California Public Utilities Commission filed to take control of the water company. Three months later, the Superior Court entrusted operation of the Yermo Water Company to the Yermo Community Services District and appointed California Public Utilities Commission Attorney John Richardson to act as receiver. The Yermo Community Services District then made $40,000 in emergency renovations to the system to keep it functioning.
The receivership arrangement that took place in November 2012 was contested by Walker’s family. His wife, Charlene, filed an opposition to the appointment of a receiver, raising a number of claims that were ultimately denied by the Superior Court on March 6, 2013.
In July 2013 Apple Valley Ranchos, acting on behalf of Park Water Company, bid $300,000 on the purchase of the Yermo Water Company. Subsequently, Bob Smith, president of the Yermo Community Services District, acquiesced in Richardson’s decision to accept Apple Valley Ranchos’ offer.