(November 13)  More than sixty people showed up at  the irregularly scheduled Wednesday night city council meeting a day after Veterans day to attend the public hearing held by the city of Needles with the intent to adopt a “resolution of necessity” to acquire multiple properties by eminent domain on a main route through the shrinking town that includes a portion of Route 66.
Though 14 properties were being considered for the imminent domain proceedings, only two property owners objected to the city’s findings of necessity.
Chuck Dewald, the city engineer, maintained that the city needs the property to improve  traffic flow through town. The  project consists of installing traffic light indicators at three corners, J Street and Broadway, Broadway and Needles Highway, and Needles Highway and K Street, Dewald said. This flow pattern and alignment was conceived of in 2005 and at that time was considered to be the most reasonable and least disruptive to the people in the city, while not bypassing the community as an alternative configuration, which would have which involved a very costly construction of an overpass from J Street to the bridge over the Colorado River.   The project is scheduled to begin when construction plans and specifications plans  are 100 percent, Dewald said, and must get approval from the California Department of Transportation, known by its acronym Caltrans.
The city is looking at an October 2015 start date for the project, which is to be funded by money put up by the city along with federal matching funds. There is also an agreement with the county of San Bernardino for shared funding for the cost of engineering services. Concern was expressed by some members of the council that if the project did not proceed, the city would have to reimburse the county and repay grant money to the state that was previously obtained and has been husbanded for the project.
Craig Bono, who lives at 1400 Needles Highway and has property involved in the project, questioned the city engineer about the integrity of power lines in the face of high winds and whether the lines would be undergrounded. Dewald said there was no intent to put any of the power lines underground except possibly at K Street and Needles Highway where they might interfere with the traffic signal.
Also at the hearing, two of the parties owning property to be seized lodged protests, questioning  the city’s true need for the property in question.  Among the properties to be seized is property owned by Mayer Edward Paget who recused himself from conducting the hearing. Councilman Terry Campbell wielded the gavel in his absence.
Paget’s wife, Jan Paget, speaking for the owners, testified that the frontage of their corner property at K and Broadway was being taken and was not needed for the project.
Ruth and Robert J. Lopez were the only party to submit written protests and both also gave testimony at the hearing that their corner frontage at Broadway and River Road was also being taken and not needed by the city for the identified purpose, which is to install a traffic signal indicator, saying that the city already controls that land.   They objected that the entire frontage of their corner lot was being taken for an alleged purpose of one traffic control devise and that was too much and that the language in the grant of easement left for wiggle room and allowed for more land to be taken as the city desired, for any purpose with no definite end date.   They testified that the clouded title and encumbrance would diminish the value of their property and leave them with uncertainty, subject to the whim of fleeting city councils, and maintained that the city’s designs on their property go beyond the immediate project needs.
The Lopez’s asserted that the seizure was a violation of their Fourteenth Amendment rights “to the extent that an arbitrary, unfair, or unjust taking of someone’s property is not allowed, even if the taking is for the public use and the property owner is compensated,” according to their written protest.
Ultimately, however, the city council voted unanimously 5-0 to approve the resolution of necessity and voted in summary to proceed with eminent domain on all of the listed properties.  Mayor Paget who ran unopposed and was re-elected on Nov. 2, abstained due to a potential conflict of interest. Three of the council members who voted, Shawn Gudmonson, Campbell and Linda Kidd have been voted out of office as of  November 4 election but will not leave until the end of November.
After the meeting, Bob Lopez stated, “Despite our objection and evidence that the taking was unnecessary and that they already control plenty of room for installation of traffic signals, they just voted to take the mayor’s property, my property and about a dozen other properties tonight. The taking is open-ended and allows them to come back for more land if they so desire, for a variety of purposes, including facilities, even though they may not be immediately necessary for this project.”
Lopez noted, “This will cause the impacted land owners trouble by clouding title on our private holdings, potentially diminishing the value of the property. It will be interesting to see what the city intends to do with the property, since the frontage is not needed for a traffic signal.”
While many in the audience were there to see hear the outcome the public hearing on the necessity of the public taking of private land, many were more interested in staying for the hearing that followed, which was  to consider  evidence and testimony for or against enacting new city legislation that (a) prohibits medical cannabis cooperatives or collectives but (b) grants limited immunity from said prohibition to those cooperatives/collectives that are in existence and operating within the city at the time the article is adopted and which comply with the requirements set forth by the city.

By Diane Dragotto Williams
Skunks, also known as “polecats (with “pole” from either the French poule “chicken” or puant “stinking”),” are one of the most maligned animals in the western world.  And yet, they are valuable to our ecosystem.  Yes, of course, beware of their noxious spray that contains sulfur-containing chemicals! Skunks can spray with accuracy at targets that are up to ten feet away. Even bears give this small mammal a wide berth. Its spray can cause you to vomit, and get your dog to suffer the consequences of many tomato juice baths!  However, this small creature does get a bad rap for being exactly what it is, a predator of varmints that need to be eradicated from your back yard.  If you don’t take care of your garbage, he can be a nightly nuisance also.
Skunks are omnivorous, and change their diets as the seasons change. They eat insects and larvae, earthworms, grubs, small rodents, lizards, salamanders, frogs, snakes, birds, moles, and eggs. They also commonly eat berries, roots, leaves, grasses, fungi, and nuts.
Interestingly enough, skunks are one of the primary predators of the honeybee, relying on their thick fur to protect them from stings. The skunk scratches at the front of the beehive and eats the guard bees that come out to investigate. Mother skunks are known to teach this behavior to their young.
Skunks are active at dusk and dawn and are solitary animals and they den up in burrows but are not true hibernators in winter. However, they remain generally inactive and feed rarely, going through a dormant stage. Over winter, multiple females (as many as 12) huddle together, while males often den alone.
Although they have excellent senses of smell and hearing, they have poor vision, being unable to see objects more than about 10 ft away, making them vulnerable to typical death by road traffic. They are short-lived; their lifespan in the wild is no more than three years, with most living only up to a year.
When a wildlife rehabilitator works with skunks, there is a special way of handling the skunk so as not to be sprayed.  Also, they warn you with little taps on the ground with their front feet if you are about to be sprayed!  They are adorable as youngsters, and have that “Flower” look about themselves, as Bambi’s friend had in the Walt Disney movie of the same name.  Skunks are respected at Wildhaven Ranch.  If you have any nuisance problems, you can contact Wildhaven at (909) 337-7389.
Wildhaven Ranch is a wildlife sanctuary in the San Bernardino Mountains. For more information about its tours and mission, visit its website at www.wildhavenranch.org.

You can download a PDF of the November 7 San Bernardino County Sentinel by clicking on the portal below.

Sentinel 11-07-14

(November 6)  After decades of scandals in which the prostitution industry proliferated in unincorporated pockets of the county, officials, led by clerk of the board of supervisors Laura Welch, this week moved to alter the San Bernardino County Code to surrender to the state the regulatory authority the county once had over establishments that have provided operational cover for brothels.
The county’s action comes after the county’s efforts at specific restrictions were compromised by what Welch characterized as a conflict with more recent state regulations relating to the massage profession. Traditionally, the operators of some of the county’s brothels have masked them as massage parlors.
In a report dated November 4 that accompanied her recommendation for an ordinance amending Chapters 19 and 20 of Division 1 of Title 4 of the San Bernardino County Code relating to massage clinics and massage technicians, Welch wrote, “The proposed ordinance amends Chapter 20 (relating to massage technicians) of Division 1 of Title 4 of the county code by eliminating the massage technician license program and requiring those who wish to provide massage services in the unincorporated areas of the county to obtain certification from the state. The proposed ordinance also amends Chapter 19 (relating to massage clinics) of Division 1 of Title 4 of the county code strengthening local regulation of massage clinics and making such county code provisions comport with recently enacted state law.”
Welch acknowledged that the county has long recognized that massage parlors have been utilized as a front for houses of prostitution.
“Although most massage technician services are legitimate, the historical concern of local governments has been that some massage clinics use massage technicians to engage in prostitution,” Welch stated in her report. “Consequently, the county of San Bernardino has licensed massage clinics and technicians since at least 1981. Many counties and cities similarly regulate massage technicians and clinics.”
Those regulative efforts overlapped with provisions put into state legislation, Welch said.
“In 2008, in response to many complaints that local regulations are burdensome to legitimate massage service providers, the California Legislature adopted Chapter 10.5 of Division 2 of the California Business and Professions Code, which went into effect January 1, 2009,” Welch’s report states. “The state law established the California Massage Therapy Council to oversee implementation and enforcement of the state law. Under this state law, those persons who wish to provide massage services may apply to the California Massage Therapy Council for issuance of a certificate. Such certificate holder would be exempt from any county’s or city’s massage technician licensing requirements.”
The state has again changed its regulatory stance with regard to massage professionals, Welch said.
“The California Legislature, through enactment of Assembly Bill 1147 on September 18, 2014, significantly revised this state law,” Welch’s report states. “The revised law is titled the Massage Therapy Act and takes effect January 1, 2015. The new law establishes more stringent standards of conduct of state certificate holders, even if such conduct does not constitute criminal behavior. Given these more stringent standards and the fact that the California Massage Therapy Council has greater expertise and resources, county staff believes it is no longer necessary or efficient for the county to maintain and enforce its regulations on massage technicians. It would be in the best interest of the public if the county (effective January 1, 2015), discontinues accepting applications for a county-issued massage technician license and instead require all persons who wish to provide massage services in the unincorporated areas of the county to obtain a state-issued certificate. The proposed amendment to the county code accomplishes this change. The proposed amendment to the county code will not limit the county’s ability to ensure technicians comply with state law. The difference under the new system would be that the sheriff’s department or any other inspecting county department would report any problems to the California Massage Therapy Council rather than the clerk of the board, and the California Massage Therapy Council, rather than the clerk of the board, would initiate any suspension or revocation proceedings. The Massage Therapy Act requires the California Massage Therapy Council and local law enforcement and public agencies cooperate with each other. Furthermore, the Massage Therapy Act will not limit in any way the ability of sheriff’s department to investigate massage clinics for potential criminal conduct.”
In recent years, the legitimate massage profession has expanded, with clinics and spas opening in many California cities, including the incorporated municipalities of San Bernardino County. Welch suggested that at the same time, the once flourishing prostitution trade within San Bernardino County’s unincorporated areas has diminished.
“Since enactment of the state certification process, there has been a steady decline in the number of massage technician license applications,” Welch said. “In 2007 there were approximately 106 licensed massage technicians within the county. There are currently 15 massage technicians licensed and the last new license was issued in June 2012.”
Many of the brothels functioning out of massage parlors are or were localized to specific areas where the sex trade could prosper. Once such area is that in and around the Déjà Vu theater in the unincorporated county area abutting the city of Montclair.
The Déjà Vu, which was established as a club featuring topless dancing in the 1980s, became the object of dispute with the county’s planning division more than two decades ago over activity in and around the club, located at the northwest corner of Central Avenue and Mission Boulevard. In 2002, after legal sparring between the county and the club’s ownership, Michigan-based Tollis, Inc., a legal settlement was arrived at by which Tollis agreed to raze the adjoining motel, the Always Inn, which rented rooms by the hour, and to make changes to the landscaping, lighting and maintenance and security of the property in exchange for being able to continue to operate as a strip club for ten years.
In 2012, the county moved to enforce the provision forcing its cessation as a strip club, including holding a planning commission hearing at which Tollis reluctantly acceded to transforming the club into a non-adult entertainment venue or sports bar, while maintaining its liquor license.
Tollis appealed the planning commission’s action to the board of supervisors in October 2012, seeking to reestablish the 7,048 square foot nightclub building at the 1.22-acre site as a strip club by transitioning it into a topless/bottomless dance review that would not feature the availability of alcohol on the premises.
Last month, the county and a lawyer for Tollis gave indication that the issues in the appeal had been resolved, with the county granting Tollis a conditional use permit calling for the change of use from a nightclub with adult entertainment to a nightclub and tavern with on-site sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages and non-adult entertainment, including a sports bar/ comedy club. Despite the closure of the strip club more than two years ago and the county’s action last month, three massage parlors continue to operate within walking distance from it.
There is concern that the county punting the issue of massage parlor regulation to the state will result in an attenuated oversight of potential illicit activity at such establishments, again allowing prostitution to thrive in such venues.
Montclair City Manager Edward Starr indicated his disappointment in the county’s skipping out on its oversight of massage parlors.
“They are backtracking on their authority,” Starr said. “I understand that regulating massage parlors is time consuming and that it makes demands of them and it is much easier to just hand it off to the state. But if the state regulations prove inadequate, will the county then try to reassert itself and bring its authority back? I don’t know. They would be able to do that but it would require them to reschedule it as an item and hold a vote.  It is obviously a decision for the county to make. But the problem in this thing is that when you have neighbors that allow the kind of uses and activity that you are unhappy with and they have given up their authority to regulate it or ability to control it, you are left with those undesirable businesses on your border with their impacts spilling over into your jurisdiction with very few options or no options in how to deal with them. We are obviously unhappy with the type of business the county is allowing to go into that area.”
Starr said he was fully aware of the new legislation, Assembly Bill 1147, but found the county’s assertion that it would prove adequate to alleviate the problems inherent in the proliferation of massage parlors unpersuasive. “Assembly Bill 1147 doesn’t take away from the county’s ability to regulate. From our standpoint, the county stepping out of its regulatory authority does not help in the effort to control undesirable businesses. The state is not going to be providing monitoring. Sacramento is not going to send an inspector to ascertain the legitimacy of a massage parlor 400 miles away. There are many types of massage parlors. Some are legitimate and some are not. When you give up on regulating them, you will see many more of them that are not legitimate.”
Starr said the county’s action in dropping its regulatory role is troubling because “Everyone recognizes the number of massage parlors coming in is getting out of hand.”
Starr said the district in and around the intersection of Mission Boulevard and Central Avenue where the Déjà Vu  was located had been a problem area for quite some time that has garnered plenty of attention from Montclair over the last several decades. From 1998 until 2011, Montclair spent $11 million to make public improvements within the Mission Boulevard Corridor Improvement Project area, which spans along Mission from the Los Angeles County line, a little over a mile-and-a-half west from the Déjà Vu, to Benson Avenue, a little less than a half mile east.
“We have tried to clean up the area to the point of millions of dollars in improvements,” Starr said. He complimented the county for its cooperation in that effort on several fronts.
“They worked with us,” Starr said. “They went to battle with the owners of the Déjà Vu, who hired a lawyer with the expectation of fighting hard. They got the most equitable solution they could in terms of the agreed-upon use for the property. We probably would have done it a little differently.  We had hoped the county would turn that into a residential project but they did not want to get involved in a further legal entanglement with a company that was willing to hire lawyers to fight them all the way. What will go in there now [i.e., a sports bar/comedy club] is better than what was there before.”
Montclair is now left with the assignment of picking up the pieces and moving on. Simultaneously, Starr said he suspected that the county is simply weary of having to tend to not only the Mission Boulevard and Central Avenue District, but the scores of other unincorporated pockets of county property in between or right next to incorporated cities that present land use and social issues that are difficult to deal with. In such cases, Starr surmised, county officials would prefer that the nearby cities simply annex those rough spots and relieve the county of the burden of looking after them. In that way, Starr hinted, the county may simply be neglecting the areas as a way of incentivizing the cities in question to initiate the annexation process.
“The county, more and more, is interested in seeing those pockets go to the cities,” Starr said. “If the zoning allows it, they will just allow them to go in. The county often takes a more lax approach, and regulating massage parlors is such a chore for local governments.”
Starr said the county must also deal with the state’s liberalization of the regulations pertaining to massage parlors. “The state created this monster by loosening the restrictions on massage operations and the county may have finally said, ‘You take over the battle. We’re done with it,’” Starr said.
Historically, San Bernardino County has been a haven for the prostitution trade, with scores of houses of ill repute located along its major thoroughfares such as Highway 66, Highway 395, Old Highway 60, and elsewhere, in both sparsely populated and remote areas as well as in its population centers such as San Bernardino and Ontario. A close relationship developed between many of the brothel operators and county law enforcement, which essentially entailed a semi-institutionalized government protection racket. This circumstance reached its nadir under former sheriff Frank Bland, who initially came into office by campaigning as a reform candidate in 1954, promising to close down the county’s whorehouses. While Bland indeed lived up to that commitment during the first of his seven terms in office, by the mid-1960s he was allowing the flesh trade in the county to flourish in exchange for cash infusions directly into his own pocket as well as into his campaign fund. By the 1970s, the connection between Bland and the purveyors of illicit sexual services had grown so entrenched and casual that he was facilitating liaisons between the county’s elected officials and ladies of the evening, and prostitutes were a featured commodity at his political fundraisers.
In 1978, a crusading deputy district attorney, Bill Parker, undertook a series of prostitution and pandering prosecutions that targeted Bland’s associates. Bland was not himself prosecuted, but the veiled connections between the sheriff’s department and the local sex trade that played out in court contributed to a circumstance that made Bland’s 1982 electoral effort a risky proposition, and he elected to retire rather than risk wide public exposure of his questionable associations.
Welch told the Sentinel that while she understood that massage parlors have been used as fronts for prostitution operations in the county, she had no knowledge of the historical record regarding the sheriff’s department’s association with operators of brothels and bordellos, nor of the entanglements of the county’s elected officals and the sex industry.

(November 6) While both the Republican and Democratic parties saw San Bernardino County as an inland oyster from which a key political pearl might be plucked this electoral season, neither was able to make a sweep in capturing victory in the most hotly contested and volatile races, splitting evenly in the county’s two most amped up contests. Outside of those electoral battles, both were able to meet their own minimalist expectations in this year’s “safe” races.
For more than three decades, San Bernardino County has been a Republican stronghold, one of the few GOP  holdings in a state that has steadily trended toward domination by the Democratic Party. In 2008, the number of registered voters in the county identifying themselves as Democrats, some 314,000, eclipsed the number of those registered as Republicans, 312,000. Nevertheless, because Republicans turn out in far greater numbers at the polls than do Democrats as well as in voting by absentee, the Party of Lincoln has continued to dominate the county politically. In recent years, three of its four congressional representatives have been Republicans . Five of its eight assembly members were Republicans. Three of its five state senators were Republicans. Though county and municipal offices are considered non-partisan ones, those positions, overall are predominantly occupied by registered Republicans. Of the members of the board of supervisors, until 2012, four of five were Republicans. In the last two years, three of the five are Republicans. Of the county’s 24 incorporated cities, only three – San Bernardino, Colton and Rialto – had city councils with a majority of Democratic Party-affiliated members.
In this year’s election, within San Bernardino County, Republican Paul Cook easily outdistanced Democratic challenger Bob Conaway in the 8th Congressional District race, 58,825 votes or 68.32 percent to 27,277 votes or 31.68 percent.
In the 35th Congressional District, two Democrats vied against one another, with Norma Torres vanquishing Christina Gagnier in the San Bernardino County portion of the district 23,590 votes or 61.96 percent to 14,485 votes or 38.04 percent.
In the sliver of the 39th Congressional District located in San Bernardino County, Republican Ed Royce outpolled Democrat Peter Anderson 7,840 votes or 68.12 percent to 3,500 votes or 31.88 percent.
In the San Bernardino County portion of the 27th Congressional District, Republican Jack Orswell pulled down 5,288 votes or 64.7 percent compared to Democrat Judy Chu, who received 2,884 votes or 35.29 percent. Chu, however, one the overal contest, as the 27th is predominantly Democratic  outside San Bernardino County,
In State Senate District 16 voting in San Bernardino County, Republican Jean Fuller overwhelmed Democrat Ruth Musser Lopez, 12,397 votes or 65.34 percent to 6,576 votes or 34.66 percent.
In State Senate District 20, Democrat Connie Leyva cruised past Republican Matthew Munson, 36,547 votes or 60.93 percent to 23,438 votes or 29.07 percent.
In State Assembly District 33, Republican Jay Obernolte defeated Democrat John Coffey, 37,232 votes or 65.98 percent to 19,199 votes or 34.02 percent.
In the small portion of State Assembly District 36 in San Bernardino County, Republican Tom Lackey carried 2,360 voters or 70.13 percent to Democrat Steve Fox’s 1,005 votes or 29.87 percent.
In State Assembly District 40, where the registration between Democrats and Republicans is almost evenly split, Republican Marc Steinorth outgunned Democrat Kathleen Henry,  31,774 votes or 56.37 percent  to 24.597 votes or 43.63 percent.
In the portion of State Assembly District 41 lying within San Bernardino County, Republican Nathaniel Tsai outpolled Democratic incumbent Chris Holden 9,625 votes or 56.71 percent to 7,347 votes or 43.29 percent.  Despite his strong showing in San Bernardino County, Tsai did not win the overall race, having lost in Los Angeles County where voters favored Holden with 40,718 votes or 63.15 percent to Tsai’s 23,759 votes or 36.85 percent.
In heavily Republican State Assembly District 42, which covers portions of both San Bernardino County and Riverside County, Republican Chad Mayes, the former mayor of Yucca Valley, dominated in the in San Bernardino County portion of the district, pulling down 12,560 votes or 65.27 percent while Karalee Hargrove, a Democrat, received 6,682 votes or 34.73 percent.
In heavily Democratic State Assembly District 47, Democrats Gil Navarro and Cheryl Brown, the incumbent, vied against one another. Brown polled 18,665 votes or 57.11 percent to Navarro’s 14,025 votes or 42.89 percent.
In State Assembly District 52, which straddles Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties and where registration heavily favors the Democrats on both sides of the county line, Republican Dorothy Pineda had a surprisingly strong showing in San Bernardino County where she garnered 11,542 votes or 45.09 percent to Democratic incumbent Freddie Rodriguez’s 14,054 votes or 54.91 percent.
In that small portion of State Assembly District 55 in San Bernardino County, the voting numbers favored Republican Ling-Ling Chang, 6,551 or 61.48 percent, to 4,105 or 38.52 percent for Democrat Gregg Fritchle.
By far the most interesting and engaging races in San Bernardino County were those for Congress in the 31st Congressional District, which covers all or portions of Upland, Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands, Rialto, Loma Linda, Grand Terrace, Colton, Muscoy, Ontario and San Bernardino, and the race for Fourth District County supervisor.
Though Democrats have a seven percent registration advantage over Republicans in the 31st, Gary Miller, a Republican is currently the Congressman there. He captured the newly formed district in 2012 when a surfeit of Democrats, including Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar, ran in the open primary, diluting the Democrat vote and allowing Miller and one other Republican running, Bob Dutton, to capture the two top spots in the June election and qualify for the November 2012 General Election, which Miller one.
The Democrats this year coalesced behind Aguilar early on, signaling they were targeting Miller in an effort to gain back Democratic control of the House of Representatives. Miller dropped out of the race and endorsed one of his field representatives, Lesli Gooch. Gooch, however, was unable to get past this year’s open primary when another Republican, Paul Chabot, savagely attacked her during the spring campaign. Chabot managed to capture the top spot in the June primary with 26.6 percent of the vote.  Aguilar, at 17.4 percent, outpolled Gooch and three other Democrats in the race, including former Congressman Joe Baca, finishing second.
Chabot refocused his aggressive and slashing campaign style from assailing Gootch to attacking  Aguilar, hoping to build upon his showing in June. Chabot sought to overcome the GOP’s seven percent registration disadvantage to the Democrats by appealing to the more than 25 percent of the district’s voters who had no declared party preference or were aligned with minority parties such as the Greens or American Independent Party.
Meanwhile, Aguilar was heavily supported by the Democratic National Committee and other Democrat-affiliated organizations, and he outraised Chabot $1.9 million to $428,574 in building up a political war chest and then outspent him $1.8 million to $351,784 during the final five month stretch of the campaign. Despite that spending, Chabot made some progress toward closing or offsetting the party registration advantage of the Democrats and the race was nip and tuck all along. In the end, however, it seems that Chabot’s savaging of Gooch in the primary may have harmed him with the last reserve of Republicans he needed for victory. With 509 of 509 precincts in the 31st Congressional District reporting in at 1:31 a.m. Wednesday morning, Aguilar had eked out a 40,123 votes or 51.04 percent to 38,488 votes or 48.96 percent victory over Chabot.
The other political benchmark race on Tuesday was that between termed-out Republican State Assemblyman Curt Hagman and Democratic Congressman Gloria Negrete-McLeod for Fourth District County Supervisor.
Current Fourth District Supervisor Gary Ovitt, a Republican, represents one third of the 3-2 advantage Republicans hold over Democrats on the county board of supervisors. Board chairwoman Janice Rutherford, who was reelected outright in a two-way race in June, is a Republican as is supervisor Robert Lovingood. Supervisors Josie Gonzales and James Ramos are Democrats. Thus, the outcome of Tuesday’s race controlled which party is to hold primacy at the county seat for the next two years.
Negrete-McLeod, who had converted the lion’s share of the money in her federal campaign coffer to usable cash in the board race, held a commanding electioneering funding advantage over Hagman. Moreover, going into the election, the Democrats held a substantial voter registration advantage over the Republicans in the Fourth District, 64,477 or 40.8 percent to 50,387 or 31.9 percent.
On his side of the equation, Hagman in 2013 forced Robert Rego, who was then the chairman of the San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee, from his position overseeing the GOP in the county and assumed the chairmanship himself.  This gave him tremendous sway over how party money would be spent locally in the current election cycle and further enabled him in the marshalling of party resources in assisting candidates.
In apportioning those resources in a way to assist Republicans involved in partisan battles, Hagman furthered the party’s overarching attempts to reach voters. Simultaneously, he put himself in the somewhat difficult position of being involved in a pitched political battle testing whether he had the mettle to succeed in his own campaign.
When the battle was joined, Negrete-McLeod fired the first several salvos, including hard-hitting attack pieces. She also utilized phone banks to drive Democrats to the polls and made a concentrated effort to reach governmental employee union members who live in the Fourth District to support her candidacy. Hagman hung tough, however, counterpunching Negrete-McLeod’s negative mailers with a blitz of hit pieces targeting her on law-and-order issues in the last week of the campaign.
Ultimately, Hagman prevailed in both the absentee voter tally and election day balloting, capturing 18,837 votes or 52.22 percent to Negrete-McLeod’s 17,232 or 47.78 percent.
The day after the election, Hagman told the Sentinel “I am very humbled and honored by the Fourth District residents’ votes for me. I wish my opponent well and thank her for her public service. I am looking forward to working with the other members of the board of supervisors on the issues that are of such importance to a lot of our residents. In working with the other supervisors it should be easy to create more opportunities across the county and use the momentum that already exists to strengthen our infrastructure and make the county and the state competitive with other counties and other states.”
In evaluating how he had arrived at his victory, Hagman said, “I am a numbers guy and when I saw how well we did with the absentee voters I was surprised, to tell you the truth, and a little bit relieved. We knew it was going to be a very close race and our plan was to work the demographics where we could make our strongest appeal and get the vote out as best as we could.”
In sizing up how the party had fared both in San Bernardino County and statewide, Hagman said, “We’re on a mission to restore the party in California. We have reached the first stage. We picked up two seats in the state senate and two congressional seats overall in California. We are doing much better and now we can start working on our name brand and build up the party. I wish we could win them all, but that is not going to happen. What we have is the wins we could get and we can build upon them.”
With regard to the party falling short in the 31st Congressional District, Hagman said, “Paul did a fantastic job with the resources we had and going up against the Democratic National Committee and their machine. He could not match what they were spending, but he put out our message of creating economic opportunity, building a strong business climate and safe communities. Even though he did not win, he stayed on the theme of focusing across party lines and staying with the issues that will help get those on the Republican side elected.”

(November 4)  The County of San Bernardino has extended its long running contract with its state legislative lobbyist for another year.
Platinum Advisors, which has offices in Sacramento, San Francisco and Orange County, will be paid $218,400 between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2015 for the provision of state legislative advocacy services.
Josh Candelaria, the county’s director of governmental and legislative affairs, in a report to the board of supervisors dated November 4, proposed that the county remain with the lobbying firm it has been using for over a decade.
According to Candelaria, “The County of San Bernardino utilizes advocacy services at both the federal and state level to advance the County’s legislative agenda. The recommended amendment will extend the contract with Platinum Advisors for the period of January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015, at an annual cost of $218,400. Platinum Advisors is a full service government affairs firm with over 16 years’ experience lobbying the California Legislature and executive branch. Effective representation with state administration, agencies, departments, and associations is critical to ensure the county’s legislative agenda is advanced. Platinum Advisors will assist in implementing the Countywide Vision through an effective state advocacy strategy which will allow the county to improve county operations and operate in a fiscally-responsible manner by increasing funding opportunities and influencing state law and policies as they relate to county priorities, programs and operations.”
As the result of a competitive process, on November 15, 2011 the board of supervisors approved Contract No. 11-863 with Platinum Advisors to provide state legislative advocacy services for the period of January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2014. Approval of this recommended action will exercise the first of two options, extending the term through December 31, 2015. Per county policy, all contracts for services (including purchase orders) in excess of $100,000 and/or the contract term exceeding three years must be approved by the board of supervisors.”
There has been some degree of controversy with regard to the county’s relationship with Platinum Advisors. Among those it employs is Brett Granlund, a 1972 graduate of Yucaipa High School who previously represented the Yucaipa/Mentone/Redlands area in the State Assembly.
In 2007, Los Angeles-based attorney Leonard Gumport at the county’s behest investigated the county’s acquisition of the Adelanto jail, making a finding that Granlund and Platinum Advisors, violated the terms of the county’s contract with Platinum by engaging in a conflict of interest and failing to give the county prior written notification of Platinum’s clients. One of those clients was Maranatha Corrections LLC, which is owned by Terry Moreland. Platinum, through Granlund, solicited the county to enter into a $43 million lease and option to purchase the Maranatha Prison in Adelanto, which was owned by Maranatha Corrections/Moreland.
According to Gumport, who had been hired to look into several instances of alleged corruption of county government, neither Platinum nor Granlund informed the county that they were representing the sellers, and the county entered into the purchase agreement without knowing about or being informed of a mold condition at the facility that resulted in additional costs of several million dollars to the county. That sale took place even though an “as is” appraisal reflecting the actual current value of the jail had not been completed, such that Platinum and Granlund had failed to protect the county’s interests.
In January 2005, when the board of supervisors voted to approve the lease and option to purchase the facility, the board had not been informed that Granlund and Platinum had advised and represented Maranatha in marketing the jail to county representatives, including then-county sheriff Gary Penrod, then-county real estate director David Slaughter and then county administrative officer Mark Uffer.
Granlund had previously involved himself in a questionable purchase of county property that allegedly benefited one of his close political associates, Jim Foster, who was at that time the chief of staff to then-supervisor Dennis Hansberger.
In 2001, after San Bernardino County barred its officials from directly purchasing county land or doing so through an intermediary, Foster did just that, using Granlund as his agent. Foster had become interested in a four-tenths of an acre residentially zoned parcel with mountain and valley views located adjacent to Wabash Avenue and Sunset Drive in Redlands, which the county had acquired in 1981. According to county records, Foster made an inquiry about a potential auction of the property in an e-mail exchange with a county property agent in 2001. After the property was put up for bid but not widely advertised, Foster used his authority as Hansberger’s chief of staff to instruct the property agent to again put it up for auction.
In 2001, at Foster’s direction, Granlund and his wife, Lonni, together with Louis and Amy Curti, purchased the property at that auction. In 2002, Foster and his wife, Linda, purchased the Granlunds’ portion of the property for $10,000. In 2004, the Fosters and the Curtis sold the property to George Saunders and Donald R. Paulson for $100,000, netting Foster a profit of somewhere near $40,000.
In 2005, when the matter became public, Foster was suspended from his post as Hansberger’s chief of staff and later was forced to resign after acknowledging he had violated county policy. No charges were filed against Granlund, though Foster maintained that Granlund had knowingly cooperated with him in the scheme to obtain the property.
A list of Platinum Advisors’ clients, which could be cross checked with current county vendors or applicants for county permits or project approval, was not publicly available.

(November 4)  For nearly two months, the National Trials Highway, between Fort Cady Road to Amboy Road and Cadiz Road to Mountain Springs Road/Interstate 40, has been closed pending roadway repairs and bridge evaluations.
On Sunday, September 7, 2014, and Monday, September 8, 2014, thunderstorms and flooding in the Mojave Desert in the communities of Helendale, Silver Lakes, Barstow, Newberry Springs, Ludlow, Amboy and Essex caused damage to various county roads and bridges.
On September 23, 2014, the board of supervisors made an emergency finding relating to the need for repair work on various roads and bridges in the Mojave Desert, triggering the public work division’s access to stand-by funding that could be used to survey the damage and initiate repair work.
According to San Bernardino County Public Works Director Gerry Newcombe, “Preliminary estimates for the emergency repairs total $1,430,000, which includes $805,000 in debris removal and erosion repair, $130,000 in asphalt roadway repairs and $495,000 in bridge repairs. Additional bridge evaluations by the department of public works may further refine the bridge repair estimate.”
This week, at Newcombe’s suggestion, the board of supervisors voted to extend the finding it had made on September 23 that the emergency continues to exist.
Public Contract Code Section 22050 requires an agenda item to be calendared for each regularly scheduled board meeting or every 14 days until the emergency action is terminated to allow the board to review and determine, by a four-fifths vote, whether there is a need to continue the emergency action.
Newcombe said public works department “crews have been performing work to clear debris and repair shoulder erosion since the storm event occurred and it is anticipated repair work will continue until the end of November 2014. The most extensive damage occurred along National Trials Highway where large sections of asphalt roadway surface were damaged and in some locations removed; earth shoulders were heavily eroded; earth material behind bridge abutments and wingwalls washed away; bridge timber elements were damaged; and bridge and roadways were overtopped resulting in debris on the roadways.”
Newcombe told the board that he has available revenue, means, equipment and manpower to carry out the repairs, but that doing so will eat into the funds set aside for carrying out repairs all over the county. He said the exigency is such that the county does not have the luxury of putting the repair projects out to bid to drive down the cost.
“Emergency work will be funded by Gas Tax,” Newcombe said. “Sufficient appropriation and revenue are included in the 2014-15 road operations budget; however, this item will impact the department’s ability to perform routine maintenance work on other roads since said emergency repairs were not included in the budget. A delay to solicit competitive bids for the work is still not feasible, as the subject roads and bridges need to be immediately repaired in order to provide the public and emergency responders a safe route of travel.”

(November 4) Jean-Rene Claude Basle, who has served as county counsel for four years, has been given a return engagement by the county.
Over the previous four years, his entire compensation package has run the county $390,204 per year. Over the next four years the county’s cost to continue to employ him  will be $435,285 per year.
Next month, Basle’s contract was set to expire. On Tuesday. San Bernardino County Chief Executive Officer Greg Devereaux proposed to the board of supervisors that it extend the county’s working relationship with Basle.
According to Devereaux, “Mr. Basle has been successfully providing services to the county counsel’s office as county counsel since December 4, 2010; this amendment will continue the provision of these services for a second four-year term commencing December 4, 2014. The county counsel serves a four-year term of office pursuant to Government Code section 27641. The changes to Contract No. 10-1016 are to the term which will continue the provision of services for a second period of four years and an additional provision was added, as required by Government Code section 53243.2.”
According to Government Code section 53243.2., “On or after January 1, 2012, any contract of employment between an employee and a local agency employer shall include a provision which provides that, regardless of the term of the contract, if the contract is terminated, any cash settlement related to the termination that an employee may receive from the local agency shall be fully reimbursed to the local agency if the employee is convicted of a crime involving an abuse of his or her office or position.”
According to Devereaux, “All other terms and conditions of the contract remain in full force and effect. The office of county counsel provides civil legal services to the board of supervisors, county departments, commissions, special districts and school districts. County counsel also provides legal services to various joint powers authorities and represents the courts and judges on certain matters. As county counsel, Mr. Basle oversees a staff of approximately eighty and is responsible for a budget in excess of $15 million.”
According to Devereaux, “Jean-Rene Basle is to continue to provide services to the county’s counsel’s office  as county counsel for a second four-year term commencing on December 4, 2014, with no change to salary or benefits.”
Devereaux said the increase in the county’s cost on Basle’s total compensation package from $390,204 to $435,285 per year does not entail a salary increase. “The change reflects increases in the cost of the benefits  elements in the contract. It does not mean he will receive a raise. It is costing the county more to deliver those benefits, but he will not be receiving any more in terms of salary or benefits himself.”
Basle attended the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington and received his law degree from Seattle University School of Law. He has been practicing law in California since 1988.

(November 4)  While more than one hundred candidates for agency, district, municipal, county, state and federal government positions proved victorious Tuesday night after hard fought electoral battles against over 200 vanquished opponents, earlier that day 67 individuals were granted, upon the recommendation of the county registrar of voters and the unanimous concurrence of the board of supervisors, either two or four year terms to elected office without having to face an opponent.
The board made these appointments in lieu of election because no challengers had come forward to contest the elections.
San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters Michael Scarpello recommended that the board of supervisors “fill elective offices for various special districts in the November 4, 2014 Statewide General Election that are under the jurisdiction of the board of supervisors. This action is aligned with the board of supervisors’ county goals and objectives with respect to conducting efficient elections in a business-like manner that are compliant with the Elections Code, Administrative Code, and Education Code. The registrar of voters is making this request to appoint candidates because California Elections Code §10515 provides that the registrar of voters shall request that the supervising authority (board of supervisors) make these appointments at a meeting held prior to the Monday before the first Friday in December when the number of persons filing a declaration of candidacy for various offices was either equal to or fewer than the number of positions to be filled for those respective offices.”
Those given a ticket to elected office in this way were: Bob R. Tinsley for a two-year term on the Apple Valley Fire Protection District Board; Tamara Alaniz and John “Jay” Jeffs, each for four-year terms on the Apple Valley Fire Protection District; Philip M. Harris and Timothy Heiden each for four-year terms on the Barstow Community College District Board; Raymond Perea and Ben Rosenberg for four-year terms on the Barstow Unified School District Board; Gail McCarthy and Sara Russ for four-year terms on the Bear Valley Community Healthcare District Board; Robert C. “Bob” Ludecke for a four-year term on the Big Bear Municipal Water District Board Division 1; Terry Conaway for a four-year term on the Big River Community Services District Board; Judy McMenamon-Sands for a four-year term on the Big River Community Services District Board; Terry King for a four-year term on the Chino Basin Water Conservation District Board Division 1; Margaret Hamilton for a four-year term on the Chino Basin Water Conservation District Board  Division 3; Hanif Gulmahamad for a two-year term on the Chino Basin Water Conservation District Board Division; Geoffrey Vanden Heuvel for a four-year term on the Chino Basin Water Conservation District Board Division 7; Randall Ceniceros for a four-year term on the  Colton Joint Unified School District Board Area 1; Joanne E. Thoring-Ojeda for a four-year term on the Colton Joint Unified School District Board Area 1; Eva Kinsman and Elizabeth “Liz” Meyer for four-year terms on the Copper Mountain Community College District; Donald Cowan for a four-year term as the San Bernardino County representative on the County of Kern Area 7 Board; Mark Sumpter for a four-year term on the County of San Bernardino Special District Area A Board; Loren Burch and Tawney Burch for four-year terms on the East Kern Healthcare District Board; Herm Engelhardt, Frank M. Melendez and Barbara Schneider for four year-terms on the Helendale School District Board; Joseph P. Sullivan for a two-year term on the Hi-Desert Memorial Healthcare District Board; Steve Elie and Jasmin Hall for four-year terms on the Inland Empire Utilities Agency Board; Mark Storch for a four-year term on the Kern Community College District Board Area 2; Carmen Fox, James Harvey and Dawn D. Turnbull for four-year terms on the Lucerne Valley Unified School District Board; Jim Ventura, Mike Page and Beverly J. Lowry for four-year terms on the Mojave Water Agency Board; Philip L. Erwin and G. Michael Milhiser for four-year terms on the Monte Vista Water District Board; Ronald Thomas, Jr. for a two-year term on the Mt. Baldy Joint School District Board; Juanita Kovras for a two-year term on Muroc Joint Unified School District Area 2; Sherman Burkhead, Jr. for a four-year term on the Muroc Joint Unified School Board Area 3; Carl A. Ackermann and Joshua Garcia for four-year terms on the Oro Grande School District Board; Jerry M. Lewis for a four-year term on the Palo Verde Community College District Board;  Randy Lee Halgunseth, Pamela F. Keiser and John W. Kittell  for four-year terms on the Rand Communities Water District Board; Scott Markovich for a four-year term on the Rim of the World Unified School District Board Area 1; Theodore E. Melms for a two-year term on the Rubidoux Community Services District Board; Ruth Anderson Wilson and Forest F. Trowbridge for four-year terms on the Rubidoux Community Services District Board; Don Singer for a four-year term on the San Bernardino Community College District Board Area 4; Donna Ferracone for a four-year term on the San Bernardino Community College District Board Area 6; Keith J. Burkart, Cheryl A. Robinson and David M. Stern for four-year terms on the San Bernardino Mountains Community Hospital District Board; Ruth A. Chafin for a four-year term on the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District Board Division 3;
Brian Boatwright, Lynn McKee and Heather R. Reid for four year terms on the Silver Valley Unified School District Board; Christina Behringer, Steven “Mr. C” Coulombe and Karie La Fever for four-year terms on the Snowline Joint Unified School District Board; Ann Bashaw for a two-year term on the Snowline Joint Unified School District Board; Lisa A. Crosby for a two-year term on the Victor Valley Union High School District Board; and Bruce J. Granlund for a four-year term on the Yucaipa Valley Water District Board Division 2.

After Enrico Fermi received the Nobel Prize in Physics at the age of 37  in 1938 for his “demonstrations of the existence of new radioactive elements produced by neutron irradiation,” which were later demonstrated to actually be  fission products, he traveled to claim his prize in Stockholm. He used that opportunity to make his exodus from his native country  to escape from Italian dictator Mussolini’s  Italian Racial Laws that affected his Jewish wife Laura. He traveled to New York City along with his family, where they applied for permanent residency.
Upon his arrival in America, he was offered five different chairs at various colleges, and chose to work at Columbia University.
On November 6, 1942 the construction of the world’s first atomic reactor began in the squash court under Stagg Field at the University of Chicago under Fermi’s supervision On December 2, 1942, the pile went critical. This successful experiment was a landmark in the quest for harnessing atomic energy.
Fermi was subsequently detailed by the U.S. Department of War to oversee the production of plutonium at the Hanford Reactor in the state of Washington.
In 1944, Robert Oppenheimer persuaded Fermi to join the Manhattan Project Los Alamos, New Mexico, the U.S. Government’s effort to develop the atomic bomb.
Shortly after he took up residence with his family in Los Alamos, Fermi began making weekly trips, by means of U.S. Army Air Corps Aircraft to San Bernardino, typically on the weekends.. The cover story for these trips was that he was recreating in San Bernardino by visiting with Italian prisoners of war incarcerated at Camp Ono near San Bernardino who had been students of his at the University of Milan in the early 1930s.
Indeed, what Fermi was actually doing was overseeing a crucial part of the atomic bomb making effort, which was taking place in top secret metallurgical facilities in San Bernardino. Tons of uranium ore mined in the San Bernardino Mountains were transported to the facilities, which existed within the Shandin Hills at the north end of the city. Using what was then state-of–the-art equipment, portions of the Shandin Hills had been honeycombed out and lined with lead, and in what was then a remote location,  refinement and enriching of the uranium took place, using a less electricity intensive alternative process than was used at the Oak Ridge, Tennesee facility, creating sufficiently pure Uranium-235, which was then transported back to Los Alamos.
It was a ball of  Uranium-235, together with a smaller ball of plutonium alloyed with gallium, that was wrapped in TNT and then encased in a specially designed, derived and reinforced alloy shell capable of withstanding tremendous force, that made up the first atomic explosive device, the one that was detonated at the White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico on July 16, 1945. When the TNT inside the shell was detonated it slammed the plutonium into the Uranium 235 with such violence that a critical mass was obtained. Variations of this design, using the same Uranium-235 refined in San Bernardino, were utilized in the “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki the following month.
In the more than two  thirds of a century that has elapsed, expansion and development has crept north from San Bernardino and today Shandin Hills is considered an upscale neighborhood in the city of San Bernardino, featuring, among other amenities, a golf course. Most residents of the Shandin Hills district have no idea of the role the scenic hills near their homes played in bringing World War II to a resounding conclusion.