Ontario’s reassertion of its ownership rights at Ontario International Airport did not inspire local residents to increase their use of the aerodrome in the first month of 2016, according to the latest released passenger traffic figures.
In fact, 934 fewer people passed through the airport’s gates this January than in January 2015.
According to Los Angeles World Airports, the corporate entity that manages and operates Los Angeles International Airport, Van Nuys Airport and Ontario Airport for the City of Los Angeles, some 312,413 passengers boarded planes or disembarked from them in January. That compares to 313,347 in January 2015.
On December 22, 2015, the Ontario City Council, Ontario International Airport Authority and Los Angeles World Airports’ board of airport commissioners executed a settlement agreement between the City of Los Angeles and the Ontario-dominated Ontario International Airport Authority effectuating the return of Ontario Airport to local control.
The settlement agreement rescinded the 1967 agreement that gave control of the airport to Los Angeles, and the 1985 agreement transferring ownership to Los Angeles.
Under Los Angeles’s ownership and direction, ridership at Ontario airport zoomed from less than 200,000 per year in 1967 to 7.2 million in 2007, accompanied by some $550 million in improvements to the airport, including the paving of its gravel parking lot, the laying down of a second and entirely new east-to-west runway over its obsolete northeast-to-southwest landing strip, and modernization of its existing east-to-west runway, including the widening of taxiways and the addition of storm drains. Ontario Airport’s landing and take-off paths were converted, under Los Angeles’s stewardship, into the longest such civilian facility in Southern California, and Los Angeles erected a state-of-the-art control tower, and constructed two ultra-modern terminals at a cost of $270 million, augmented with a world class concourse.
Beginning in 2008, passenger traffic at the airport began a steep decline, dropping to 3.9 million in 2013.
Four years ago, Ontario city officials, led by Councilman Alan Wapner, launched what would become an extremely acrimonious effort to take back control of the airport from the megalopolis to the west. Initially, Ontario officials suggested that Los Angeles should simply deed the airport back to Ontario as a public benefit transfer, propounding that the airport had no value as marketable real estate. When Los Angeles balked at that request, Ontario escalated the issue into a war of words in which it was suggested that Los Angeles World Airports was purposefully mismanaging the facility in a deliberate effort to harm the Inland Empire’s economy. In 2013, just prior to then-Los Angeles Mayor Anthony Villaraigosa leaving office, Ontario sued Los Angeles, demanding the return of the airport. Last summer, just before that suit was scheduled to go to trial in the Riverside courtroom of Judge Gloria Trask, a tentative agreement to transfer the airport back to Ontario was reached, whereby Ontario agreed to put up $150 million for the airport, provide another $60 million to purchase assets technically belonging to Los Angeles World Airports that are in place at Ontario Airport and which are crucial or indispensable to its operations, and take on bonded indebtedness of roughly $50 million related to the airport that was formerly being debt serviced by Los Angeles.
Even before the transfer, overall passenger traffic at Ontario Airport had been steadily climbing, an indicator that Ontario’s charge that Los Angeles was running the facility into the ground was merely a rhetorical flourish. Los Angeles consistently maintained that the downturn in numbers at Ontario Airport had been a function of the recession that hit the nation, state and region beginning in late 2007 and which lingered into 2013.
In 2015, passenger traffic at Ontario Airport was up nearly 2 percent, with a total of 4.2 million travelers flying in and out of the airport, compared to the 4.1 million travelers in 2014.
At present, Los Angeles World Airports continues to oversee airport operations at Ontario Airport. Operational control of the airport will pass on to the Ontario International Airport Authority, which is headed by a five member board which includes four members connected to the City of Ontario, later this year, displacing Los Angeles World Airports.

In cash-hungry Upland, city employees are increasingly conscious of a pending $83 million unfunded liability stemming from overly generous pensions promised to employees in the past coupled with inadequate provisions to pay for them. Late last month, they brought in a prospective city consultant to brief the city council and a collection of citizens with regard to using arbitrage to extract money from city residents in the form of greatly increased water rates.
Using terms that many in attendance could not fully understand, the consultant, in not so many words, essentially disclosed that the money obtained from those water rate increases would be split three ways. Some of it would go to a company that would lease the water and wastewater divisions or in some other fashion be brought in to “manage” the city’s water and sewer systems, he said. City Hall would be empowered to take a percentage of that money to make sure that the city’s obligation to the state retirement system is satisfied and ensure retired city staff members receive their pensions, he said. And, he added hopefully, a percentage of the money to be generated would go to the attorneys or law firm who will charge a fee for completing the documentation relating to disclosure, financial counsel and underwriting of the deal to complete the transaction.
Don Hunt, who is with the firm Norton Rose Fulbright, was the prospective city consultant who provided that briefing during a workshop held at City Hall on February 23. Hunt is looking to churn fees by involving his firm as a consultant in any transactions the city council consents to engaging in with regard to its water and sewer utilities. He sought to sell the council on how it could use a long-term lease of its water and sewer systems to generate cash through arbitrage, that is, profiteering by the introduction of a middleman who purchases something at one rate and then resells it at a substantially higher rate.
By engaging in an elaborate mechanism involving leasing those utilities to a corporation which would then be free to jack up water and sewer rates, doubling, tripling or quadrupling what Upland residents pay for their water and sewer service, Hunt intimated that the city could generate money to make sure that retired city workers receive their pensions and that the company that comes in to perform the managing function for Upland’s municipal utilities could make a tidy profit. Slyly, Hunt was hoping the city would buy into the idea and hire his firm to carry out the legal work related to it, so he could make some money, too.
How would this be accomplished? Through a process akin to arbitrage.
Merriam-Webster defines arbitrage as “the nearly simultaneous purchase and sale of securities or foreign exchange in different markets in order to profit from price discrepancies” or “the purchase of the stock of a takeover target especially with a view to selling it profitably.”
In this case, the “stock” consists of the city’s water supply, its water reservoirs and delivery system and its sewer system. Technically, the city would not actually “sell” those assets but rather lease them to a company, which would then deliver the water to the city’s customers, i.e., its residents and businesses, and provide sewer services to the same. The company would be free to increase – and increase dramatically – what the City of Upland’s customer base pays for that commodity and service. The company would spring back to the city a substantial amount of money in the form of the lease payment it would pay to the city. The city would make further savings by no longer having to operate, maintain and manage the water and sewer systems. The city could redirect the money realized from these savings and the lease income toward staying abreast of its payments to the California Public Employees Retirement System, known by its acronym, CalPERS. At the same time, the company would be able to realize a substantial return on its investment by upping the bills it would provide to city residents for the water and sewer service.
Without directly saying so, Hunt suggested to the city council at the February 23 workshop he hosted at Upland City Hall with all five members of the city council present and a crowd of some thirty to forty residents and city staff members, that the city might sidestep the wrath of city residents over the rate increases since it would be the company that leased the municipal water and sewer divisions that would be doing the billing and not the city.
Hunt emphasized that a lease agreement would not technically fall into the category of outsourcing or privatization of the water system and sewer division assets, such that the city would still own them. Rather, he articulated a plan that would entail a 55-year lease of those assets and the creation of a joint powers authority involving the city and the company doing the leasing. The joint powers authority would issue bonds and the lease agreement would be structured, Hunt said, so that the city would get an upfront payment from the proceeds of those bonds.
Ratepayers would then see their water and sewer bills enlarged to cover the cost of debt servicing those bonds, paying for the water itself and the delivery of it through the system, and maintenance of the system. In addition, a percentage would be paid to the company doing the leasing to ensure its profit, along with the payment of fees to a law firm such as Hunt’s for drawing up the lease documents and serving as bond counsel, disclosure counsel and trustee counsel on the transaction.
Hunt said there are nearly 20 cities in Southern California that have used long-term leases of their water utility systems as a ploy of raising customer rates to generate money. By working with outside companies through such leasing structures, Hunt said, the companies profit, cities improve their financial situation, the water and sewer systems are maintained and the only ones who lose in the bargain are the ratepayers.
When queried if Upland could maintain its water and sewer systems without entering into  a lease, public works director Rosemary Hoerning said the city could do so by utilizing the money it currently takes in from its water customers to produce the water, distribute it and maintain the system, and that as costs to do so increase, the city can act as it has in the past by making rate adjustments to offset increases in operation costs and capital investments.
Hunt pushed the concept because his company, Norton Rose Fullbright, routinely participates in a variety of such arrangements involving municipalities and private companies in complex and sophisticated financial transactions, including acting as bond counsel and disclosure counsel to either governmental entities or serving as trustee’s counsel and developer’s counsel or representing national and regional investment banking firms in such municipal finance transactions.
Hunt’s effort to churn fees for Norton Rose Fullbright ran into some difficulty, however, when some members of the public in attendance at the workshop, alarmed at the fashion in which the presentation presumed upon the willingness of the city’s residents to accept city action that would see their water and sewer rates jump by as much as 500 percent by 2020, pressed Hunt on that issue. After two such inquiries in which he soft-pedaled, minimized or ignored the rate increase implications, he was confronted with a pointblank question as to whether the leasing of the water and sewer utility would entail rate increases and where the profit from the arbitrage arrangement would come from.
Hemmed in by the question, Hunt blurted, “It will come from the hides of the ratepayers.”
While Mayor Raymond Musser, who introduced Hunt at the beginning of the workshop, sought to remain above the fray, councilman Glen Bozar, who had to depart early to attend a water board meeting, enunciated his rejection of the leasing and arbitrage scheme before he left, stating that any move to create a joint powers authority to undertake a lease of the city’s water and sewer systems should be approved by the city’s residents through a vote before it is implemented. He said the city should not create an artificial entity to gouge the city’s residents on what they must pay for their water to pay off its unfunded pension liability.
Councilwoman Debra Stone said she was likewise skeptical of the concept.
Councilwoman Carol Timm would not embrace the leasing/arbitrage gambit either. “We shouldn’t outsource the management of the water just to get a cash benefit,” Timm said, saying there were “other alternatives… to improve infrastructure.”
Councilman Gino Filippi, however, endorsed the methodology Hunt outlined for generating money into municipal coffers, saying the need for more money “has nothing to do with the pension system.”
He said the infusion of money would be put to work to cover “day-to-day operations.” Something had to be done, Filippi said, because “Our [water] system is deteriorating.”
With Bozar absent, the council directed city manager Rod Butler to come back with more details on leasing management of the systems out, while instructing him to make other inquiries about other financial enhancement options, such as a sales or utility tax, bond measure or rate adjustments that would not entail transferring control of the water and sewer systems out of City Hall.

The folding of the Twentynine Palms Fire Department into the San Bernardino County Fire Department took another step toward the inevitable late last month.
On February 17, the San Bernardino County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) approved an expansion of the current San Bernardino County Fire Protection District’s sphere of influence into Twentynine Palms and the 33 square miles surrounding that city. The LAFCO board also approved the county fire district’s annexation of the Twentynine Palms Fire Department on a 6-0 vote.
The 29 Palms Fire Department, which has been in existence since 1957, has always been under the control of the Twentynine Palms Water District.
In 1987, the City of Twentynine Palms incorporated. Its population has since grown to 25,768. Fire department operations are entirely defrayed by an annual $80 special assessment imposed upon all residential and commercial parcels within the 55 square miles within the Twentynine Palms City Limits and the 33 square miles of unincorporated county area that also falls under the water district/fire department’s 88-square mile jurisdiction.
Since shortly after incorporation there has been a segment of the Twentynine Palms population that has been in favor of having operation and management of the fire department transferred to the city. There has never been sufficient political will on the city council, however, to have the city accept that financial burden.
In 2012, the Local Agency Formation Commission staff, led by executive director Kathleen Rollings-McDonald, undertook a study, the upshot of which was a finding that the water department’s continued stewardship of the fire department was unsustainable given the financial constraints under which it must function. The city does not contribute to or in any way subsidize the operation of the fire department. Rollings-McDonald and the Local Agency Formation Commission staff came to its conclusion in some measure because that year voters within the water district jurisdiction rejected Measure H, which would have increased the special $80 per year tax customers of the Twentynine Palms Water District pay to $120 per unit annually. The measure failed by a margin of 850 votes of endorsement, or 48.27 percent, to 911 in opposition, or 51.73 percent, during the mail-in balloting concluded on April 17, 2012.
Thus, the department, which at its peak grew to include two fire stations and seven firefighters to cover the department’s 88-square mile jurisdiction, has been forced to downsize to function within the financial confines of the $1,244,800 in revenue from the annual proceeds of the special tax imposed on residents and businesses. Current fire chief Jim Thompson has pared operations such that the department is run out of a single fire station, employing only himself and four other paid firefighters, augmented by 28 reserve/volunteer firefighters, all of whom are aspiring professional firemen who have attended a fire academy. Nearly all of them return to their homes in the more distant areas in San Bernardino County, or Los Angeles, Orange or Riverside counties upon the conclusion of their single 24-hour shift each week.
Four nearly four years, a group of residents pressured the city and city council to have the city take on responsibility for the fire department. That effort ultimately failed.
On August 19, 2015 at a specially called meeting, the Twentynine Palms City Council, with councilwoman Cora Heiser dissenting, voted 4-1 in favor of a resolution calling for Twentynine Palms’ fire protective services to be annexed by the San Bernardino County Fire District.
On February 17 the LAFCO board, with two of its members, county supervisors James Ramos and Robert Lovingood, who both represent portions of the Mojave Desert, abstaining, signed onto the service responsibility transfer.
Despite the City of Twentynine Palms ultimately opting out of bringing the fire department in-house, the city council did agree to take on the water district’s approximately $3 million liability to the Public Employees’ Retirement System, essentially committing to cover the pensions of the fire department’s former firefighters. The city also consented to purchasing the Adobe Road fire station from the water district for $250,000, and then leasing the station to the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District.
Twentynine Palms Mayor Dan Mintz said “negotiations [for the city takeover of the fire department] have been going on for over 10 years. We have tried to find a solution to this.” As it turned out, Mintz said, the city “unfortunately” did not have the wherewithal to run the fire department. “This is where we came to,” he said.
For many, last month’s action represents the worst of both worlds, as the community has surrendered local control, while having to pay more for handing the fire department over to the county. In retrospect, the 2012 proposal to up the $80 fire department service fee paid to the water district to $120 appears more attractive than the $143.92 per parcel tax that will be imposed on property owners in the 56,919 acres served by the Twentynine Palms Water District. As this is technically a tax, those property owners have the right to prevent it from being imposed, but only by getting one more than 50 percent of those living in the area to file letters of protest against the annexation into the County Fire Protection Services District. In the history of the state of California, no such protest letter procedure, which is permitted under California Government Code § 57051, has ever succeeded. Through this protest letter process, voters could theoretically force a public vote or nix the annexation altogether. The protest period will take place during a specified 30-day protest window, which is tentatively set to begin late this month or in early April. If 25 to 50 percent of registered voters submit written protests, voters in the water district will decide whether to allow annexation in a special election. If the protest earns one more vote than 50 percent, the annexation will be rescinded.

The public this week was given a glimpse of the parameters along which the form of San Bernardino’s redrafted municipal charter is likely to take.
San Bernardino, the oldest and largest city in San Bernardino County as well as the county seat, also has what is the most complex and convoluted of governing arrangements in the county. Indeed, the city’s charter represents one of the more involved systems of municipal governmental organization in the state.
Of California’s 482 cities, 361 of them are general law municipalities, guided by a common set of rules of governmental operation which provides for five council members headed by a mayor, who employ a city manager to run the city and appoint, designate or allow the election of a city clerk and city attorney. The other 121 California cities are charter cities, which have a set of operating guidelines specific to each particular municipality.
San Bernardino is one of the state’s charter cities. Its charter gives the city’s top political figure – the mayor – an uncommon degree of control over the day-to-day operations at City Hall, such that the mayor and the city manager are essentially co-regents over the city. This arrangement attenuates the authority of the city manager somewhat. Yet at the same time that the mayor’s administrative and managerial reach is extensive under San Bernardino’s charter, his actual political role is, paradoxically, quite limited. While he presides over the city council meetings and can control the ebb and flow of debate and discussion, he is not normally a voting member of the council, and is authorized to vote only in the event of a tie. The San Bernardino Charter also provides for an elected city attorney, making San Bernardino one of only eleven cities in the state with this distinction. San Bernardino is one of 154 California cities with an elected city clerk.
Former San Bernardino Mayor Patrick Morris, who was mayor from 2006 until 2014, has claimed that a major factor in the city’s fiscal deterioration, which led to its filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in 2012, was the city’s unwieldy form of governance as laid out in the charter.
Carey Davis, an accountant by profession and a one-time political ally to Morris, succeeded Morris.
As one of his first acts in office, Davis called for the creation of a municipal commission to consider charter changes. In Spring 2014, the charter revision committee was formed. Each of the council’s seven members was empowered to name one registered voter from their respective wards to serve on the committee and Davis was provided with two appointments to the panel, including one culled from the city’s business community. Ward 1 Councilwoman Virginia Marquez selected Casey Daily for the committee, Ward 2 Councilman Benito Barrios chose Dennis Baxter, Ward 3 Councilman John Valdivia appointed Gary Walbourne, Ward 4 Councilman Fred Shorett selected Hillel Cohn, Ward 5 Councilman Henry Nickel chose Michael Craft, Ward 6 Councilman Rikke Van Johnson brought in Hardy Brown and Ward 7 Councilman James Mulvihill tapped Philip Savage. Davis selected Thomas Pierce and Dan Carlone. Savage was then chosen as the committee chairman.
At the February 29 city council meeting, Savage provided an update on the direction that panel is gravitating toward in terms of the recommendations it will offer in its draft charter to be considered by the city council later this year. Based upon the current charter, amendments, changes or a comprehensive makeover to the charter must be approved by the city’s residents in a vote and such votes can only take place in even-numbered years Accordingly, the city has set a goal of finalizing the ultimate draft of the revamped charter that is to be approved by the council at an early enough date that it can be provided to the county registrar of voters office in time to be placed on the ballot in November.
Savage said it is the collective consensus of not just the committee but city officials overall that the current “charter has imposed basic management and functions on the city” that have resulted in “crippling ambiguities with respect to the authority of the city manager mayor and council. Everyone is in charge, so no one is in charge.”
He said that the committee in looking at the city’s governance requirements had rejected the general law city model and set about redrafting charter options that were not based upon the existing charter, “which would provide the city a chance to set up a proven form and system of governance that support satisfaction, protection efficiency effectiveness and accountability.”
Basically, Savage said, the committee was contemplating a “council-manager form of government” in which “the city council shall be composed of the mayor and council members [with the] mayor elected at large, the council members elected by ward [and] the same four-year terms as the current model. The city council’s powers would be limited to legislative and policy making, with the city manager functioning as chief executive officer, responsible for daily operations.”
The mayor would, Savage said, have “a full vote with the city council, continue to be presiding officer at meetings, and fully participate in discussions while continuing to be the city’s key face and chief spokesperson.”
The mayoral position would also, Savage suggested, “continue to be essentially full time and the mayor would continue to represent the city in intergovernmental relations, establish and maintain partnerships and regional leadership roles, although the mayor may delegate such roles to other members of the council.”
The mayor would, Savage said, “No longer have independent administrative, appointment or removal powers.”
The commission was recommending that the city attorney and city clerk no longer be elected posts, Savage said.
As for the city council, Savage said, it would be composed of the mayor and six council members elected through a ward system. That would entail one fewer council member than the seven the council currently numbers, such that the full complement of council members including the mayor would consist of an odd number “to eliminate the possibility of tie votes.”
The council would be mandated, Savage said, to “ensure fundamental municipal services are provided to protect and promote public health, safety and welfare; to operate as a single governing body; to appoint the city manager, city attorney and city clerk; establish clear expectations for the city manager and conduct periodic performance evaluations to ensure the city manager’s accountability; develop and implement norms or a code of conduct, including measures to hold each other accountable; perform duties and exercise powers to serve the best interests of entire city, rather than a particular geographic area or special interest; and establish departments and assign departmental functions to meet the needs of the community in the most effective and efficient manner.
The council would also have the authority to establish advisory or independent boards or commissions.
Savage said it was the charter revision committee’s belief that the council should “not interfere with the judgment and discretion of management staff, such as the appointment, removal and supervision of subordinate staff.”
In this way Savage said, “The city manager will be sole authority for managing city operations and appointing and directing city staff, unless otherwise specified by the charter; will make business and policy recommendations based on independent professional judgement and best practices in the interests of the city; will be accountable for implementing council goals and policies and the overall performance of the city; and will be responsible for ensuring the city council is kept fully informed on important emerging issues, and will fully brief the council at council meetings on business matters before them.”
With regard to one issue, Savage said, the city manager should be free to show the city council who is boss. The city manager, Savage said, should be empowered to “strictly guard against interference with the performance of his or her duties.”
Compensation for the mayor and city council, Savage said, should “be set by the mayor and city council following a public hearing” and should “be based on recommendations of an advisory commission charged with the periodic review of compensation for city elected officials.” Additionally, Savage said, the commission was recommending that the “mayor’s compensation be commensurate with that for a full-time position.”
Savage intimated that the current position of elected city treasurer would be dispensed with and the treasurer’s function would be taken up by the finance department. Both the city clerk and city attorney should be appointed by the city council and the city attorney would, Savage said, “function as chief legal officer to provide legal advice to the mayor, council and city manager. The city attorney shall not be involved in formulation of policy. With the exception of the water and finance departments, Savage said the commission further recommended that “city departments should not be referenced in the charter, unless there is a compelling reason to do so. The city council should ensure fundamental municipal services to protect and promote public health, safety and welfare” and that the revamped charter should ensure that “the city council has the authority to create, modify or change departments as needed to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.” Savage called for the charter requiring that the city have a “department responsible for water, wastewater and sewer functions, with an oversight board of commissioners to be appointed by the city council” to “recommend rates for water, wastewater and sewer services.”
The city should also have a library board of trustees, according to the commission, as well as “a personnel system” and that “reference to the civil service board and its duties would be addressed in the municipal code.”
The commission also called for municipal elections to “be consolidated with the cycle for state and federal elections i.e., November of even-numbered years.”
Members of the city council in their comments were in general concurrence with the commission’s recommendations, though there was a call for more citizen input with regard to the charter change. Some residents in attendance at the meeting were critical of the composition of the commission, noting that the majority of its members were “old white men” who were not reflective of the community as a whole.
Councilman Benito Barrios sounded his objection to the recommendation that the number of council wards be reduced from seven to six.

Hesperia Councilman Paul Russ has joined his council colleague, Hesperia Mayor Bill Holland, in an electoral challenge of First District San Bernardino County Supervisor Robert Lovingood.
Lovingood, who owns an employment agency, was elected to his current position in 2012, succeeding former supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt.
In November 2012 Lovingood prevailed in a run-off against Rick Roelle, with with 38,640 votes or 51.22 percent to Roelle’s 36,798 votes or 48.78 percent. That runoff was necessitated when the two were the top vote-getters in the June 2012 primary in which neither captured a majority of the vote, but outpolled then-Hesperia Mayor Russ Blewett, San Bernardino County Fire Department Captain Bret Henry, congressional office staffer Michael Orme, supervisorial district staffer Bob Smith and then-Adelanto School District Board Member and later Adelanto City Councilman Jermaine Wright, who were also vying in the race.
Lovingood this year has so far attracted four challengers – Roelle, a former Apple Valley mayor and council member; Roelle’s wife, former Victorville Councilwoman Angela Valles; and Russ and Holland. The electoral competition between Roelle and his wife is an extremely rare phenomenon. Only slightly less rare are the combined candidacies of Russ and Holland, given that they are running from the same base, i.e., the Hesperia City Council. There is, the Sentinel has learned, a “gentlemens’ agreement” among Valles, Holland, Russ and Roelle to conduct their campaigns not against one another but against Lovingood. The filing period for the board position does not close until March 11.
The Victorville Daily Press, the widest circulating newspaper in the High Desert, conducted a week-long poll of its readers last month with regard to potential voter support of those known to be interested in running for First District supervisor.
Russ’s strong showing in that survey, done online, was a major factor in his decision to actually enter the race. He did not take out candidacy papers until this week.
In the non-scientific poll which started on February 22, Russ pulled down the support of 39.13 percent of those responding, eclipsing Lovingood, who carried 33.82 percent. Valles claimed 16.67 percent, Roelle collected 6.71 percent and Holland garnered 3.67 percent. The poll registered 2,862 total votes cast.
While the entry of the quartet of challengers into the race could portend another runoff in this year’s November balloting, requiring Lovingood to again wage a longer campaign, the larger field of candidates may ultimately and paradoxically redound to his advantage. As an incumbent, Lovingood is likely to be able to bring in substantial campaign contributions, which will in any event favor him. Assuming he polls a sufficient number of votes to place no lower than second in June, he will very likely have a significant advantage over whoever his November opponent will be, as that opponent, already at a fundraising disadvantage, will have seen his or her electioneering fund depleted before the runoff contest begins.
In addition, the Sentinel has learned, Lovingood has already staked a claim to the endorsements of two of his board colleagues, supervisors James Ramos and Janice Rutherford. Rutherford has even, the Sentinel is informed, rebuked a member of supervisor Curt Hagman’s staff for expressing approval of Russ’s contemplated run against Lovingood.

By Count Friedrich von Olsen
Well, the indicators are in that Hillary Clinton is going to be the Democrats’ standard bearer in November and she will be going toe-to-toe with Donald Trump, the Republican candidate. I suppose there is a smidgen of a chance either of those two will stumble before their respective parties’ conventions roll around, which is about the same level of probability that the outer moon of Jupiter will collide with the outer moon of Mars…
As all well know, I am a Republican tried and true, in heart, body, mind and soul. So I was heartened to hear Jim Webb, a former Democratic presidential candidate, announce he won’t be voting for Hillary Clinton and might vote for Donald Trump. On MSNBC’s program “Morning Joe” today, he said “I would not vote for Hillary Clinton.” Normally, I do not heed what a Democrat has to say. In Mr. Webb’s case, I’m willing to make an exception…
Here’s a little bit of background on him: He attended Annapolis, the U.S. Navy Academy. He graduated in 1968. In 1967, he fought in the 147-pound boxing championship at the academy against a fellow named Oliver North. North won that fight on a decision…
After graduating from the Naval Academy, Mr. Webb was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He then attended the Marine Corps Officer Basic School, from which he graduated first in his class. He was promoted to first lieutenant in the second half of his tour in Vietnam, where he served as a platoon commander with Delta Company, 1st Battalion 5th Marines. To enable himself in his assignment, he learned to speak Vietnamese, a skill he retains until this day. While in Vietnam, a Viet Cong guerrilla lobbed a grenade at him. Before it exploded, he shoved a nearby Marine to safety and shot the guerrilla. When the grenade exploded, it sent shrapnel into his knee, kidney, and head…
He was awarded the Navy Cross for heroism in Vietnam, along with the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, and two Purple Hearts…
During the Reagan Administration, Mr. Webb served as the nation’s first Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs from 1984-87. In 1987, he served as Secretary of the Navy, becoming the first Naval Academy graduate to serve as the civilian head of the Navy…
He was elected U.S. Senator from Virginia in 2006. There was speculation about his possible candidacy for president in 2008. In 2012 he did not seek reelection to the Senate. He was among those considered to be a viable Democratic candidate for president in 2016, but he dropped out of that race last year when it became apparent that the Clinton machine had accumulated too much money to be stopped…
This morning he said that Hillary Clinton would continue President Barack Obama’s policies, but that with Trump, things would change. Asked if he would vote for Trump, Mr. Webb said, “I’m not sure yet. I don’t know who I’m going to vote for. If you’re voting for Donald Trump, you may get something very good or very bad. If you’re voting for Hillary Clinton, you’re going to be getting the same old thing…”
It is too bad the Democrats did not see their way clear to let someone like Jim Webb make his way to the top of their nominating process. I would not vote for him – after all he is a Democrat – but at least he would have been a worthy opponent…

By Mark Gutglueck
Azariel Blanchard Miller, was born on September 5, 1878. to Joseph Kempster Miller and Eliza (Blanchard) Miller in Richlands, North Carolina. On his maternal side he was related to Commodore Matthew C. Perry and Gurdon Saltenstall, who was the governor of the Colony of Connecticut from 1708 to 1724.
While A.B. Miller is well known locally as the founder/major developer of Fontana and  celebrated for that distinction, at the national and international levels, his accomplishments have been overshadowed by some of his other family members. His older brother, Kempster Blanchard Miller, was an electrical engineer and device designer, and his niece, Ruth Miller, also known as Ruth Kempster and Ruth Blanchard Miller, was a distinguished artist.
Azariel spent his childhood in Washington, D.C., where he attended public schools before finishing his schooling in Riverside, California. He also attended one year at Pomona College.
In 1897, he resolved to go into farming, planting 500 acres of grain in Perris Valley. In 1901, he had enlarged that operation to 5,000 acres. He had many head of livestock as well. When the region experienced a drought in the early part of the Twentieth Century, Miller leased a portion of his stock to a firm of contractors who were building a span of the Salt Lake Railway.
Miller then went to the Imperial Valley, and engaged himself in developing the area into the agricultural powerhouse it was to soon become. He constructed a large part of the canal system that waters what became known as the No. 8 Section and laid out and graded much of the land upon which the city of Brawley now stands.
In San Bernardino County he was associated with E.D. Roberts, H.D. Harris and E.J. Eisenmayer in real estate and farming. The San Francisco Savings Union owned 19,000 acres of land in San Bernardino County and 75 percent of the the water flow of Lytle Creek. Miller and his associates leased from the San Francisco-based outfit eight thousand acres of land near Rialto, with an option to purchase. Shortly thereafter, Roberts, Harris Eisenmayer and Miller formed the Fontana Land and Water Company.
Simultaneously, Miller was under contract with the United States Government to construct the first levee on the Yuma project on the Colorado River . Owing to his commitment to the Fontana project, Miller handed off the Yuma Project, which was well toward the completion of its first phase, to J.G. White and Company of New York.
Miller relocated the grading apparatus he had been using in Imperial County to Fontana – consisting of some 200 head of horses and mules together with plows, scrapers and mess and sleeping tents, to a clearing in the brush just south of the heart of modern day Fontana, what was then called Rosena on the Santa Fe Line.
In 1906, Miller planted 3,000 acres of barley, which grew well. However, a fire started by a tractor ended up burning half of that crop.
In 1907, at the age of 29, Miller purchased six thousand acres of the Lakeview Ranch in Riverside County, where he had earlier farmed. He thereupon formed the Nuevo Land Company and sold the Lakeview property.
An obvious problem in Fontana was the high wind. In response, Miller set about planting what would eventually become what translated into 500 miles of Eucalyptius trees planted in rows east and west 3,330 feet apart in the grove district and 660 feet apart over the rest of the 18,000-acre tract.
In 1909, Miller bought out Roberts, Harris, and Eisenmayer, and redoubled his efforts in the Fontana Land and Water Company, this time in partnership with F.H. Adams, E.J. Marshall and J. T. Torrance. Their first major undertaking was to construct an extensive irrigation system in the Fontana area. Thereafter, Miller devoted himself to the Fontana development effort, intensifying the irrigation system, marketing some of the property, and establishing literal plantations of citrus. At this point, Miller held the titles of president and manager of the Fontana Development Company; president and manager of the Fontana Land and Water Company; vice president and manager of the Fontana Water company; manager of the Rialto Domestic Water Company; and president of the Lytle Creek Water Company.
At noon on June 7, 1913, Miller’s mother, Eliza, was on hand at a free barbecue that was being served at the corner of what is now Sierra Avenue and Arrow. She was given the honor of breaking a bottle of Fontana grape juice to open, in inimitable Southern California tradition, the townsite of Fontana. A crowd of 4,000 were on hand, including many who had come in by train aboard a Santa Fe Special that had departed from Los Angeles that morning. Once the lunch was concluded, another ceremony was held to break ground for the future Pacific Electric Fontana Depot. In between the dedication, barbecue and ground breaking, members of the crowd surveyed the lots Miller had for sale. Before the sun went down, he had sold many of them, bringing in $59,125.
This opening day was such a success that in subsequent years it became a local holiday and “Fontana Days” is still observed in the city, which has now grown to a population of 204,000.
In 1918 Miller organized the Fontana Farms Company, over which he served as president. The next year, Fontana Farms established a $100,000 twenty-acre poultry farm, which was capable of hatching 400,000 chicks per year. One chicken at this farm – Lady Fontana – set a world’s record by laying 564 eggs in a single 24-month period.
By 1920, the company had planted 5,000 acres of citrus.
Miller hired engineers F.C. Finkle and William Starks, and they designed and he had built an underground water storage and distribution system, which was in part designed by Major Philip Hasbrouck in the 1920s. All told, this system would entail more than 500 miles of concrete water lines.
In 1923, the Fontana Farms Company had planted 5,500 acres of grapes, making it the largest irrigated vineyard in the world.
On June 7, 1923, Miller, working with Cornelius De Bakcsy, Miller established the Fontana Herald News, publishing the first edition on the ten year anniversary of the city’s founding.
In that inaugural edition, Miller described the town thusly:
“We have planted the largest citrus grove in the world, over 5,500 acres, and of other fruits, 1,000 acres. We have planted 5,000 acres of vineyard. We have, during two successive years, had the largest planting of peanuts in the country, over 2,000 acres.
“We have undoubtedly the largest pork producing farm in the world, about 35,000 head.
“The Professor Rice of Cornell University, a recognized poultry authority, says we have the best poultry plant in the country.
“We have planted enough eucalyptus and other windbreaks, which if stretched end to end would reach from here considerably beyond San Francisco.
“We have graded and in a great many cases have oiled over 75 miles of streets. We have tunneled the mountain and put down number-less wells for the development of water, built a power house that develops over 2,000 horsepower of electric energy, and built several hundred miles of cement pipeline and conduits to convey our water to every corner of our lands.
“We have built of enduring concrete the principal building for our public business, packing house, school, and railroad depots, and this has meant the enlisting of over $6 million in capital.
“Let’s make Fontana the best place to live, and the reward to all of us will surely come from the work and heartaches that always come to the pioneer. Let’s make Fontana the real land of our heart’s desire – ‘United we stand, divided we fall.’”
Miller operated three farms, including two in or around Fontana and one in Diamond Bar. The farm in Diamond Bar boasted 44,244 pigs in 1925, qualifying it as the largest pig farm in the world. Miller arranged for a train from Los Angeles to bring garbage to Diamond Bar to serve as slop for the hogs. Legend has it that twice those who rummaged through this garbage carried out to the pig farm from the metropolis to ensure that nothing harmful was fed to the swine found human fetuses.
Miller promoted a business enhancement plan, known as the “Triangle of Trade,” which was aimed at putting Fontana within Los Angeles’s marketing area and vice versa.
He was the founder and first director of the First National Bank of Fontana.
In 1926, Miller saw to it that the land and $10,000 was donated for the building of the Community Church.
In 1928 Miller donated five acres for the Fontana Plunge along with the land for the city park.
In 1930, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church was built on land given by A.B. Miller.
Miller was president of the State Agricultural Society from 1931 to 1938; an ex officio regent for the University of California from 1931 to 1938, then appointed to fill unexpired term of Regent Gallwey, 1938–41; and a member of the chambers of commerce for both Los Angeles and San Bernardino.
Miller died on April 13, 1941 in Fontana, at the age of 62.

Incumbent Victor Valley College Board Member Joe Brady has picked up the endorsement of Brandon Wood in Brady’s bid for reelection in November.
Brady is seeking a second full four-year term later this year. He was originally appointed to the board in 2011 to replace Angela Valles following her resignation to assume the position on the Victorville City Council she had been elected to in November 2010. Brady ran to remain on the board in November 2012, garnering 45,978.votes.
Brady is the immediate past president of the college’s board of trustees.
“As the president/chairman of the VVC Board of Trustees, Mr. Brady raised the bar for professionalism and transparency. Joe was always inviting and inclusive of all board members’ ideas, comments and suggestions,” said Wood. “There is no question that Mr. Brady always acts for the best interests of our students. He clearly analyzes every situation by asking how does this benefit students, and how does this improve the health of our institution.” Wood will serve as the president of the board of trustees beginning in December 2016.
Brady said, “Re-election to the board will allow me to continue the work I have begun, concentrating on the issues at hand: supporting continued student success and ensuring that our students have full access to the classes they need from our Victor Valley Community College. One of my goals is to provide more counseling staff and offer the most advanced educational environment to our students and our teachers. Mr. Wood and I have proven that we work well together to accomplish goals effectively. With Brandon serving as president of the board closely following the election in November, we can get right to work on the issues facing the college.”
Brady said he hoped his accomplishments on the board over the last five years, in particular overcoming accreditation and financial challenges, would convince the High Desert’s voters to retain him in office.
“I am extremely proud of the condition in which we find the Victor Valley Community College District today in comparison to where we were when I was appointed a trustee,” he said. “With help, advice, guidance and work by many we have regained our full accreditation, are preparing for our reaccreditation in 2017, have our first balanced budget in nearly 30 years and have dealt aggressively with a $3.5 million structural deficit,” explained Brady.
Brady is president of Joseph W. Brady, Inc., DBA The Bradco Companies, a commercial based brokerage firm in Victorville, Barstow Real Estate Group in Barstow, Alliance Management Group (a property management group in Barstow), and publisher of the Bradco High Desert Report.
“I believe that the High Desert can once again position itself as an economic powerhouse, but it can only be done through an educated citizenry and skilled workforce. In order to attract industry and employers, reduce above average unemployment and offer our students and graduates an opportunity to become a part of the High Desert landscape, we need Victor Valley College to remain a first rate educational institution,” stated Brady. “When re-elected, I will work diligently to ensure that.”
Additional endorsements to Brady’s campaign include: Congressman Paul Cook, Congressman Steve Knight, State Senator Sharon Runner, State Board of Equalization Board Member George Runner, State Assemblyman Jay Obernolte, First District Supervisor and Vice Chair of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors Robert A. Lovingood, and Third District Supervisor Chairman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors James C. Ramos, as well as San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Mr. Ted Alejandre. “I am extremely humbled that the majority of former Victor Valley Community College Foundation Presidents have also endorsed me,” said Brady.

Sclerocactus polyancistrus is a species of cactus, known by its common name, Mojave Fishook Cactus, which grows in the Mojave Desert at elevations of 1,500 feet to 7,500 feet.
Other common names for this plant are redspined fishhook cactus, the pineapple cactus, and hermit cactus.
In addition to the Mojave Desert, it also proliferates in the desert of Southern Nevada.
This cactus can be found among desert scrub in woodlands, particularly pinyon-juniper woodlands and canyons, often on a limestone substrate or in rocky soil, on basalt rock hillsides, limestone hillsides, and desert pavement, generally on south to southwest facing slopes.
The Sclerocactus polyancistrus cactus has a cylindrical stem up to 10 inches tall by three inches wide. The plants may grow in clusters. The cactus is densely spiny, each areole has several reddish or white central spines with hooked tips and several more white spines around the edge.
It bears fragrant flowers is up to four inches wide and may be most any shade of pink or red-violet. The scaly, fleshy extended fruit is at first tan, then green and finally red-colored, varying in size anywhere from slightly less than an inch long to slightly more than an inch long.
A low, cylindrical cactus with one or many thick-clustered stems grows to 6 inches high. Many hooked spines, 1/2-inch long at the tips of the cactus, are surrounded by numerous, straight, tan-to-pink ones.
This cactus is sometimes confused with the with the Fishhook Barrel Cactus (Ferocactus wislizenii) of the Chihuahuan Desert.
The Sclerocactus polyancistrus has a relatively wide range, and tends to grow in inaccessible areas and in protected areas.
though there are no major threats to this species, in the Mojave Desert there has been habitat loss due to urbanization.
The stems of these cacti are unbranched or in clusters of anywhere from ten to 40, cylindric or elongate cylindric, running from two to four-and-a-half inches, with ribs and no evident tubercles. The ten to fifteen white and glabrous radial spines on each areole are dense, often obscuring the stems.
The flowers have a pungent spicy odor and their outer tepals bear greenish purple midstripes contrasted with rose-purple or magenta margins. The inner tepals are rose-purple to magenta, though some are on rare occasion white. Filaments tend to be greenish yellow.

By Grace Bernal
Style is very different from fashion because it stays still through the times. Classic always returns while fashion tends to fade away. I’ve seen a lot of classic pieces like the slack pants with heels, furry coats with floral prints, and jackets with patches. What these pieces bring is a taste of classic bohemian. It can be a lot of fun when you wrap up a bohemian look because it offers color, comfort, strength. Let’s face it: denim is chic and very bohemian. You can do denim anytime and anywhere, too. The boho look is very appropriate for the spring weather we are experiencing in Southern California. There’s really nothing better than baggy pants, whether denim or slacks, floppy hats, and a piece or hint of something furry. You can always add a piece of rose quarts, or turquoise jewelry to add flare to your classic bohemian look. Until next week stay chic in this weather and get your boho on.

“She was born to be free, let her run wild in her own way and you will never lose her.”
― Nikki Rowe