It was 105 degrees at a quarter ’til seven on Thursday morning, June 23, in Needles, which three days previously was declared the hottest place on earth that day by one weather bureau. But things got even hotter Wednesday afternoon in the packed room of the historic El Garces train depot, with a standing room only crowd, the seventy some chairs taken. It was 120 degrees in the shade outside. Inside, dozens of property owners were fuming when they learned that they were only 52 votes shy of 392, the number necessary to force a new county fire district tax to a vote. Twenty-five percent of the voter population was needed and a little over 21 percent was determined to have protested.
The protest hearing conducted by Kathleen Rollings-McDonald, executive director of the San Bernardino County Local Area Formation Commission, known by its acronym “LAFCO” was held only to call an end to the 21-day protest period and tally the vote with regard to an application by the City of Needles to annex most of the area within its boundaries into the San Bernardino County Fire District and to tax all non government property owners $148.24 with a potential 3 percent annual increase. The application for annexation approved by the Needles City Council on a majority vote made by Robert Richardson, Tony Frazier, Tom Darcy, Jeff Williams and Shawn Gudmundsen, cost taxpayers a non refundable $10,000.
After providing a summary of the commission’s resolution “LAFCO 3206,” approving the reorganization by forming “Service Zone FP-5 Needles and annexing it to the to the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District and its ”South Desert Service Zone” and the “Service Zone FP-5” which includes a previously authorized tax, Rollings-McDonald stated that the number of registered voter signatures needed to take the tax increase to a ballot vote is 392 and the number necessary to terminate the proceeding is twice that.
She stated that the total number of protest parcels is 4,849 but after questioning at the hearing she clarified that only 2,769 of those parcels are subject to the subject flat tax, the remainder (about 2000 parcels) are government and tribal parcels not subject to the tax.
“You would think that 392 voter signatures would be a cinch but we were up against the messaging by proponents, including the county fire division chief and the Needles City Manager Rick Daniels whose statements in the local paper misled some to believe that the only alternative to the county’s services is a volunteer fire department that receives a low rating from the insurance industry and that the cost of fire insurance would sky rocket if we did not go along with annexation” reported Ruth Musser-Lopez who is an activist and administrator of the newly formed Needles Safety and Fire Protection Auxiliary. “We were on a mission to educate the voters as to the advantages of a ‘paid call’ city fire department staffed by professionals who call in extra trained fire fighters as needed as opposed to a ‘volunteer’ fire department. The heat and the fact that people leave town for the summer or are on vacation with school being out also made it really difficult to collect the necessary signatures. Our team submitted 270 protest signatures out of the 340 signatures LAFCO said it received. The rest were submitted directly to LAFCO by property owners,” she reported.
“We had to conduct our protest signature –gathering drive during the hottest time of the year, making it next to impossible to go door to door,” she said. “We also discovered a high percentage of bogus voter names and addresses which artificially increased the required number of protests imposed upon us,” Musser-Lopez added.
Auxiliary member Mary Stein handled the returned envelopes with blank protest forms that the auxiliary mailed to voters on the current register, mindful that protest forms were not mailed out from LAFCO and residents would not know how to search on the website to find and download the form. Stein showed the Sentinel the returned envelopes saying “We found about 100 phony registered voters and at least four people have been dead for years and never taken off the voter role. We did not send envelopes out to at least 25 voters who we knew were invalid. We did not send envelopes out to the entire remaining voter population, but out of our mailing, the U.S. Postal service returned 25 of our envelopes addressed to registered voters as “attempted, not known, unable to forward;” 30 were “not deliverable as addressed, unable to forward;” 10 were marked “return to sender, no such number, unable to forward,” with this latter category explained by the postal service as an empty lot, where there used to be a mobile home or house, but the structure is gone; 4 were marked “unable to forward;” 4 were marked “moved, no forwarding address, unable to forward;” and 4 were marked “insufficient address” which were found to be actual properties with structures on them but nobody has lived there for years— a vacant house that the post office has known about. Two envelopes were returned ‘unable to forward/For review.’
Among these invalid addresses or unknown recipients were those that were otherwise undeliverable. We learned that many names were registered at vacant lots. Superior Court Judge Joe Brisco continues to be registered to vote in Needles on Beach Drive though a protest form to him was returned to the auxiliary as ‘not deliverable as addressed, unable to forward’ and it is known that he moved when the Needles justice court was closed years ago. The fire insurance sales person, Jan Jernigan, is reported to live across the river in Arizona but is registered to vote at her Farmers Insurance business office in downtown Needles.”
Musser-Lopez and Stein plan to challenge the protest count saying the number of valid registered voters is inaccurate and artificially high and the number of required signatures should be about 360 not 390 or 400. They said that had the date stamp on the protests been used to calculate valid protests, then there would have been sufficient signatures. Mailed protests were received the day after the protest period was closed, since the mail is now shipped to San Bernardino for processing and then returned to Needles. Further, Musser-Lopez asserts that LAFCO, with County Supervisor Robert Lovingood on the commission, is not impartial and his staff should not be in charge of counting the protests. “That should be the job of the Registrar of Voters and we should be able to see the roster of voter protests,” she said.
There is some resentment in the community that Lovingood is in large part responsible for having exacted the new flat tax by first doubling the price of the fire contract from roughly $600,000 to $1.2 million and then ushering the way into the taxed service zone via the commission he serves on. As a part of the annexation agreement, the county will receive all of the new parcel tax plus 73 percent of the existing property tax, all of the city’s fire equipment and the fire truck.
On the agenda at the protest meeting, the City of Needles was provided 5 minutes for speech while registered voters, landowners and/or the public were given only 3 minutes per person to state their case. Representing the city was its mayor, Ed Paget, who acknowledged that there was significant opposition to the annexation but that he would take no position on it.
Tom Marshall, representing the South Desert Division of the SBC Fire District informed the crowd that by annexing to the fire district the community’s insurance rating would not change but that the rating would decrease if a volunteer fire department was employed. This statement was responded to with jeers from the crowd, questioning why he refused to acknowledge that a “paid call” fire department is different than a “volunteer” fire department. None of the remaining speakers were sympathetic toward the new tax and most demonstrated strong opposition. Those protests were responded to with support and cheers from the audience. These speakers included Edward Sanchez. Paul Pletcher, Billy Bradshaw, Margaret Perry, Don McCone, Terry Campbell, Cheryl Sallis, Mary Stein, Ruth Musser-Lopez, Councilman Shawn Gudmundsen and Nyla Anderson.
Sanchez objected to the cost of services and taxes in Needles saying that funds are diverted to subsidize the city golf course and freebies for the rich while the rest of the town suffers. Several speakers said the tax should be voted on and objected to the nature of the tax being flat and not based upon the value of the property being protected, with a vacant lot taxed the same as a mansion. Musser-Lopez objected to the county leaving the city vulnerable as it uses up and depreciates the fire truck, taking it into the desert and 60 miles away on I-40. “Just think what this community could do to improve our own fire department and create local jobs with the over million dollars that will now be going to the county,” she said. Sallis inquired about funds that were in excess of what would be needed for operations and it was learned that the county would have complete control of the funds which would not be returned to the city. Anderson, who is a member of the fire auxiliary, thanked all who had assisted in collecting protest signatures and said though we may not all agree “our community is still family.”
Towards the end of the meeting, Councilman Shawn Gudmundsen advanced to the podium and protested vehemently that he was wrongfully accused of having supported the annexation. The Sentinel has since researched the question and concluded that in December 2015, the council split Resolution 2015-51 into two actions, one to approve filing an application with LAFCO for annexation to the fire district and the second to request that the new district territory be included within FP-5 service zone of the district which is an area subject to a previously authorized tax. Councilwoman Louise Evans voted against both actions while Jeff Williams voted against inclusion in a taxed service zone. The other four council members, including Gudmundsen, voted for the annexation and for being included in the taxed service zone.
Stein, speaking on behalf of the auxiliary, advocated for ditching the annexation and returning to a city fire department with “paid call” professionals when needed to supplement the regular round the clock three man crew suggesting that the local young people who want extra employment get trained at the existing local fire academy in Mohave Valley or set up a new program at Needle’s Palo Verde College campus. She said “Training and hiring locally would create jobs locally for those whose heart is in their community, appreciate its history and have a personal interest in saving heritage structures as well as homes and buildings from the throes of fire.”
After hearing about the decision, local business owner Kenny Baldwin of Premier Sports told the Sentinel he is “over it. This tax cinch tightening is strangling business in Needles. First it was the water and sewage increase and now this extra tax added to the business tax and existing property tax…basically taxing you out of business. So many rules and regulations, the EPA and fire department. The fire department could close my boat repair operation down in a heartbeat if they wanted to. You can only pay so much and then you aren’t making any money. Why be here? We are here to make a living. That is what happened to the Chevrolet dealer and Ford dealer…they are no longer here. You can put up with just so much of it and after a while it is just not worth it to be here.”

Hold this page upside down and in front of a mirror for the answers to these riddles…

Why won’t Hillary let her campaign staffers exercise?
She doesn’t want them to “Feel The Burn.”
Why is Hillary Clinton running for President?
Because it’s easier than running from Law Enforcement.
Why does Hillary want to have relations with her husband first thing in the morning?
She wants to be the first lady.
Why does Hillary prefer dogs to Bill Clinton?
A dog chases his own tail
What’s yellow, hen-pecked and lays chicks?
Bill Clinton
If called to testify in a trial how long will it before Hillary Clinton commits perjury?
When she’s sworn in

Francis Marion Wood was born on May 17, 1833 in Independence Missouri, subsequently of historic note as the place where John and Mary Truman moved in 1894 and raised their son, Harry, who became the 33rd president of the United States. . At the age of 17, in 1850, he sojourned with others seeking gold to California and initially settled in Hangtown, since known as Placerville, east of Sacramento. He later moved to the Napa area and in April 1858 married Mary Elizabeth Vines, born in 1843, a daughter of Bartlett and Frances Yount Vines, also of Missouri. Mary’s grandfather was the very early pioneer George Calvert Yount, after whom the town of Yountsville in Napa County is named. Mary’s younger sister, Ellen, was the first full-blooded American child born in California, her parents having arrived in 1844. The town of Glen Ellen, near Yountsville, is named after her.
Francis and Mary Wood and five of their eleven children came to the San Bernardino Valley in 1869 and settled in the Rincon area in Chino Township. They moved to Colton in 1882. He served as a deputy sheriff for Rincon from 1873 to 1875. While still residing in Chino Township, Mr. Wood was elected to the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, representing the Second Supervisorial District and served from September 24, 1875 until October 1, 1877.
In Colton, Mr. Wood and his family lived on their ranch near Agua Mansa. They raised fruit and vegetables which they delivered to markets in the nearby towns.
Mr. Wood was a member of the San Bernardino County Pioneer Society.
Later, the Woods purchased a home in Colton, where Mrs. Wood preferred to live. It was here that F.M. Wood died on January 18, 1906, of a sudden heart attack. Mr. Wood was survived by his wife and eight of their 11 children. Mrs. C.A, Johnson, Fred, Robert E., Frank B, and Fenton Wood of Colton; Mrs. Bessie Reber of Redondo; Mrs Ada Harris of Beulah in Inyo County; and Earl Wood of Humboldt County.

As if seeking to make a pun, state college faculty members have charged Cal State San Bernardino President Tomas Morales with being a drag on morale.
Morales, the former president of the College of Staten Island within the City University of New York, was brought in to succeed Al Karnig as as president of California State University, San Bernardino in 2012.
Faculty members at CSUSB recently conducted a “campus climate survey” among themselves.
According the results section of the executive summary for phase one of the 2015 Cal State University San Bernardino Campus Climate Survey released on March 7, 2016, “Results from 756 respondents indicate that there are significant problems with morale on the CSUSB campus. Two thirds of respondents indicated that morale had changed since their hire. Nearly 90 percent indicated that morale had gotten worse. Significant proportions of employees agreed with the sentiment that they would leave if they didn’t already have so much invested in the university. Employees have lost confidence in the campus leadership, reporting with their numeric ratings that top leadership has not communicated a clear direction, that input is neither sought nor considered by leadership in the decision making process, and held perceptions that senior management does not act with integrity. Analysis of the numerous comments bolsters the sentiment that the downturn in morale on campus has largely been attributed to top leadership. The themes that emerged from the commentary sections of the survey indicated that senior management plays favorites, does not value or respect employees, is seen as ineffective, engages in abusive or uncivil behavior, and lacks authenticity. There were some positive themes that emerged: employees largely like the work that they do, enjoy working with students, and care about the university and its mission. A small proportion of employees indicated that they liked the new leadership, its direction, and thought that senior management had the best interests of the institution at heart. These were, however, very small proportions of the respondent base.”
In phase two of the report, released on May 10, 2016, the executive summary in part reads, “Bullying appears to be widely practiced on campus – a quarter of the respondents had personally experienced bullying and more than 40 percent had witnessed bullying. Comments show that key perpetrators of the practice tend to be those in powerful positions.”
It goes on to state, “Another dimension of concern is that many employees on campus characterize their work environment as threatening, or do not feel safe expressing an honest opinion for fear of inviting retaliation from management.”
Furthermore, the summary says that “although there is considerable support for diversity, with many respondents indicating that they personally value diversity and that they believe their coworkers and supervisors treat people with respect regardless of cultural background, many believe that senior management does not treat people fairly on this basis.”
The survey also cites “workload and work stress,” noting “working more than 50 hours is the norm for faculty and administrators. Although some respondents reported that they didn’t mind working long hours, a prevalent theme was that the amount of work to be done was not reasonable and caused stress.”
Morales is not mentioned by name in the survey, though the reference to “senior management” appears aimed at him. Morales has a B.A. in history from The State University of New York, New Paltz, and earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in educational administration and policy studies from SUNY, Albany.  He held held senior administrative positions at the three largest public university systems in the nation: the California State University, The State University of New York, and The City University of New York. From 2001 to 2007, Morales served in various capacities at Cal Poly Pomona, including vice president for student affairs, provost and vice president for academic affairs, professor of education and principal deputy to the president.

A collection of students at Cal State University San Bernardino has rejected the results of the survey the university’s faculty members carried out earlier this year relating to the performance of university president Tomas Morales.
Students supporting Morales, noting that the survey did not seek their input, insinuated that there was what was referred to as a “racist” undercurrent in the faculty survey.
“The faculty senate has publicly shared their prejudices, not just toward the students but also towards our own President Morales,” a coalition of two groups calling themselves Black Scholars Matter and Student Dreamers said in a prepared statement. “Similar discrimination students have faced in their classroom is now being used against President Morales here at CSUSB. Faculty has trashed students on social media, undermined us at our meetings and treated us with total disrespect.”
The students said the faculty senate has worked at cross-purposes with regard to reforms Morales has instituted, including scholarship programs, and has “done little-to-nothing to improve the academic climate for students here at Cal State San Bernardino.”
Asserting “the faculty has devalued the students” the coalition cited the same issue many faculty members referenced in the survey – bullying – but attributed it to “faculty members” who “attack non-tenured professors.”

San Bernardino Valley College President Gloria Fisher, whose selection to head that college in 2013 descended into controversy when it was learned that she did not have the requisite academic credentials, has opted out of her position a year early. While her resignation will draw an early curtain on the discredit of having the college headed by an individual whose educational bona fides were subject to question, the college will still pay her all of the money due her under the contract she was given prior to her academic shortcomings becoming public.
Fisher announced her retirement in November and will step down from her position on June 30. She’ll be replaced by Diana Rodriguez, the vice president of Student Services at Las Positas College in Livermore near San Francisco.
Nevertheless, Fisher will continue to draw her salary as specified in her contract. San Bernardino Community College District Chancellor Bruce Baron said that the college would honor Fisher’s employment contract, which runs through June 30, 2017. He disclosed that Fisher had signed a waiver of claims against the college in return for the payment of her final year’s salary, $186,768, which is being paid to her as a condition of her “voluntary resignation a full year before her contract expired.”
Fisher has affixed “Dr.” before her name. In 2013, after having taught administration of justice at San Bernardino Community College for 22 years, she was elevated to the position of interim college president. A year later, when Fisher was appointed full college president in November 2014, charges that her claim to a doctorate was suspect, which had previously surfaced, were resurrected.
Fisher obtained her juris doctor degree in 1986 from the San Joaquin College of Law, an unaccredited institution. Her claim to being a doctor was problematic for two reasons, one of which was San Joaquin’s lack of accreditation. The other is that law degrees are referred to as juris doctors, but are not doctorates in the conventional academic sense.
A juris doctor degree is roughly the equivalent of a master’s degree, which is generally considered a six year degree awarded after two years of study that follow the awarding of a four-year bachelor’s degree. A juris doctor degree carries with it no requirement for the submission of a dissertation, as is required with a Ph.D.
Upon Fisher’s appointment as a full college president in November 2014, the college district board conferred upon her a doctorate stipend in addition to her annual salary of $186,000.

Shari G. McMahan, who is currently the deputy provost at California State University, Fullerton, will transfer to Cal State San Bernardino  to become the new provost and vice president for academic affairs on September 1.
Cal State President Tomas Morales made the announcement last week. McMahan will replace Juan Delgado, who has been serving in the post of interim provost.
McMahan, who holds a bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. in social ecology from UC Irvine, and a master’s degree in health science from Cal State Northridge, was both a professor and the second leading member of the faculty in Fullerton.
At Cal State San Bernardino, she will hold a teaching position as as a full professor in the College of Natural Sciences, Department of Health Science and Human Ecology, and in her role as provost and academic affairs vice president be charged with supporting the faculty in teaching and research.
McMahan will be the first woman provost at California State University San Bernardino.

By clicking on the blue portal below, you can download the June 24 edition of the San Bernardino County Sentinel.

Sentinel 06-24-16

Adenostoma fasciculatum (chamise or greasewood) is a flowering plant native to Oregon, Nevada, California, and northern Baja California. This shrub is one of the most widespread plants of the chaparral biome.
An evergreen shrub growing as high as 13 feet tall, Adenostoma fasciculatum sports dry-looking stick-like branches. The leaves are small, 4–10 mm long and 1mm broad with a pointed apex, and sprout in clusters from the branches. These clusters are known as fascicles, and give the species its Latin name. The leaves are shiny with flammable oils, especially in warmer weather. The branches terminate in bunches of white tubular flowers five mm in diameter, with five petals and long stamens. The fruit is a dry achene.
The oily leaves give rise to the common name greasewood.
There are two varieties which differ from each other in minor characters: A. f. var. fasciculatum, with leaves 5-10 mm, apex sharp; shoots hairless; and A. f. var. obtusifoliu, with leaves 4-6 mm, apex blunt; shoots slightly hairy.
Chamise is very drought tolerant and adaptable, with the ability to grow in nutrient-poor, barren soil and on dry, rocky outcrops. It can be found in serpentine soils, which are generally inhospitable to most plants, as well as in slate, sand, clay, and gravel soils. Chaparral habitats are known for their fierce periodical wildfires, and like other chaparral flora, chamise dries out, burns, and recovers quickly to thrive once again. It is a plant that controls erosion well, sprouting from ground level in low basal crowns that remain after fires, preventing the bare soil from being washed away.
Thickets of chamise are sometimes called chamissal. The species also gives its name to a specific chaparral (i.e., Adenostoma fasciculatum chaparral) dominated by A. fasciculatum.

What is happening on the streets of fashion comes with a strong message. As summer approaches, the watch which never really left us is back and it’s making pretty bold statement on the wrist. The watch has always represented a lifestyle, and the mixture of designs it comes in is really cool. The double wrap watches are really chic and a favorite style of mine. I have heard a lot of people complain that the watch is extinct, but that’s boloney in my view. The elegant wrist piece is still here, and it always has. It looks great whether sporty style Fitbit, G-Shock, or a plain classic leather/plated piece. The forms are great, too, either round or rectangle, and some of the chain, chrome, and plated bangle bracelet wrist watches are very sharp looking, as well. This piece shouldn’t be underestimated and in a way it’s for everyone that wants to exercise the mind and look sharp at the same time. Enjoy fashion watching the time go by because time flies before you know it.

“Watches are so named as a reminder – if you don’t watch carefully what you do with your time, it will slip away from you.”
– Drew Sirtors