(October 29) Stephen Lyster Siringoringo, the 1999 Fontana High School graduate who seemingly made good by becoming an attorney specializing in modification services for clients facing foreclosures during the height of the home mortgage meltdown four years ago, has agreed to disbarment.
Losing his license to practice law will mollify some, though not all of the hundreds of former clients who claim Siringoringo took advantage of them, took their money, allowed their homes to be taken from them and then provided them with no accounting or records to assist them in the aftermath.
According to the State Bar, Siringoringo visited upon his clients significant harm by failing to provide promised services to them and aided in the unauthorized practice of law by other when he allowed non-attorney employees to meet with clients, set fees and perform legal services without supervision.
A stipulation filed October 15 in State Bar Court ratchets an earlier discipline to the state of disbarment for Siringoringo. Last December, the Bar found Siringoringo culpable of collecting advanced fees for loan modification work in 20 client matters and recommended an 18-month suspension. In partial mitigation Siringoringo has agreed to provide refunds ranging from $1,500 to $5,970 to 14 former clients named in the stipulation.
That relates to but a fraction of the harm Siringoringo is alleged to wreaked. The State Bar’s Office of Chief Trial Counsel indicated it has received 796 additional complaints regarding alleged misconduct by Siringoringo. Those clients may be eligible for reimbursement by the State Bar’s Client Security Fund after the disbarment is finalized by the California Supreme Court.
Under the terms of the stipulation, Siringoringo was not eligible to practice law as of Oct. 18.
Siringoringo and his firm took money up front from clients, maintaining action could not be taken if there were no funds to work with.  The firm typically asked for $3995.00 to initiate work and would bill clients $135.00 each month thereafter. When employees were pressed by clients about what action had been taken, they would be met with claims that the process required time to mature. Delays of eight, ten, 12, 14 and 16 months before informing clients that their loan modifications had been denied were common. Subsequently, clients were told that another method for obtaining a modification was in the works. Few, if any of the sought modifications were ever achieved.

By Mark Gutglueck
The rugged and remote San Bernardino Mountains and the highest peak among them were the setting for the death of Dean Paul Martin more than a quarter century ago.
Dean Paul Martin was the son of performer Dean Martin and his second wife, Jeanne Biegger, the fifth of Dean Martin’s seven children, and Jeanne’s eldest son. He attended the Urban Military Academy in Brentwood and at age 13 set off on a career path that emulated his father when he joined Desi Arnaz Jr. and Billy Hinsche in the pop group Dino, Desi, & Billy, which achieved a few minor hits in the U.S. between 1965 and 1968, landing in the Top 30 twice, including their biggest charter, “I’m a Fool.”
At the age of 16, he obtained his pilot’s license.
In his late teens, he began using his given name of Dean Paul instead of the nickname “Dino.” Something of a playboy and a member of the jet set, he flew Lear jets, drove fast cars, and competed as an amateur racer, and dated Candace Bergen and Tina Sinatra. He also was a serious tennis player, competing in a junior competition at Wimbledon, eventually going on the pro circuit and achieving ranking among the 400 best players in the world.
In 1971, he married actress Olivia Hussey, from whom he divorced in 1978. He was married to Olympic gold medalist Dorothy Hamill from 1982 to 1984.
After his years as a teen music idol came to a close, he became an actor. He starred with Ali McGraw in the 1979 movie, “Players,” in which he was cast as a professional tennis player and for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award as best new actor of the year. He subsequently starred in the TV series “Misfits of Science,” co-starring Courtney Cox, which aired during the 1985-1986 television season, and was working on a pilot for Fox Television, “A Single Man,” at the time of his death.
Co-existent with his life of privilege, Dean Paul Martin had a serious side, having attended UCLA as a premedical student and working to achieve his instrument rating as a pilot. He was among a coterie of Hollywood luminaries including John Travolta, Wallace Beery, Jimmy Stewart and Wayne Morris, who took flying very seriously.
Inspired by an air show he saw at the age of 26 in 1978, he resolved to be a military pilot but was initially rebuffed. Determined, he flew to Washington, D.C. and personally persuaded Major General John B. Conway, then the director of the Air National Guard, to permit him to enlist.
He attended officer candidate training in Knoxville, Tennessee starting in November 1980 and advanced to Phantom jets, capable of speeds reaching 1,200 miles per hour, which he flew out of March AFB. Martin exhibited patience in getting the status he sought. Because there was a surplus of qualified military fliers in the Guard, he was first relegated to “GIB” status, or guy in the back, tending to radio, ordinance and navigational assignments. He said that experience made him appreciative, after he became a full-fledged military pilot, of what his crew member was enduring.
He was an esteemed pilot and had achieved the rank of captain in the National Guard.
On March 21, 1987, he brought his son Alexander to March Air Force Base to allow him to witness the preparation for his take-off on what was to be a routine flying exercise. With his weapons officer, Ramon Ortiz, 39, aboard, Captain Martin, himself 35, went airborne in the company of two other Phantom craft.
On that last day of winter, the San Bernardino Mountains were covered in heavy snowpack and snow was falling at the windswept higher altitudes, clouding visibility. Shortly after the three planes took off, all three were ordered by air traffic controllers at Ontario International Airport to change course in order to avoid 11,800-foot San Gorgonio Mountain,  Southern California’s highest peak. Shortly thereafter, while instrumentation indicated his Phantom was at an altitude of around 11,300 feet, Martin’s plane dropped off the radar screens. It had apparently clipped Mt. San Gorgonio and then streaked into the side of a granite mountain about five-and-a-half miles to the south.
The plane was carrying a large amount of fuel and burned when it struck the ground in an area known as Wood Canyon.
About two feet of snow continued to fall over the next several days, as wind and other conditions hampered the search for the craft, which was spotted by a U.S. Air Force helicopter pilot four days later near the San Bernardino County/Riverside County boundary. The wreckage was reached by searchers on March 25. They found it in “large pieces and small pieces” at the 5,500 foot level. There was no indication that Martin or Ortiz had attempted to eject.
Martin and Ortiz died in a confrontation with Mt. San Gorgonio, where, a little more than ten years earlier, on January 7, 1977, a Lear jet taking Frank Sinatra’s 82-year-old mother, Natalie (Dolly) Sinatra, crashed in a blinding snowstorm at 10,000 feet, 200 feet below a ridge. She was traveling from her Palm Springs home to see her son perform in Las Vegas.
Dean Paul  Martin is buried in the Los Angeles National Cemetery, a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs cemetery in Los Angeles.

The Turkey Vulture, Cathartes aura, engages in what many people consider to be disgusting behavior.
Its name is derived from the red skin on its head and dark body feathers that resemble a turkey. This carrion feeder is common to the United States and seen in habitat from woodlands and farms to the desert. Gliding over open country, looking for food which it finds by its scent, it often roosts in flocks, and many birds will converge to feed at a carcass.  It prefers meat to be ripe, making it easier to strip off the bones, and for the bare head to be bacteria free after engorging on a bloody mess.
Soaring birds hold their wings above their back in a shallow V called a dihedral and rock side to side as if unsteady in the air. Circling above treetops and up to 200 feet high, they are a master at flying.  Turkey vultures frequently circle and gain altitude on pockets of rising warm air, or thermals. When they reach the top of the thermal, they glide across the sky at speeds up to 60 miles per hour, gradually losing altitude all the while. When they need to gain more altitude, they locate another thermal and so begins another sequences of circling, rising, and then gliding. Turkey vultures can cover many miles going from thermal to thermal without ever needing to flap.
Twenty-five to 32 inches long, with a wingspan around 6 feet a healthy adult turkey vulture can weigh approximately 5 to 6 pounds. Nesting on the bare ground, in caves, rock outcroppings, hollow trees and even empty buildings, these avians have few predators. Except man, golden eagles and large mamals that may take adavantage of their presence on the ground, their eggs or nestlings can be taken by bald eagles, great horned owls, raccoons, oppossums and foxes. Turkey vultures have weak, chicken-like feet, which are suitable for running on the ground but not for grasping and cannot lift or carry food with their feet. They can only step on their food to hold it in place while eating. Without a voice box, turkey vultures either hiss or grunt, or sometimes growl around food, which gives them their only appearance of aggression.  Though the bulk of their food is carrion, they sometimes eat rotten fruit and vegetables, stranded mussels, shrimp and fish, and even coyotes and sea lion feces.
Standing in a spread wing pose, the turkey vulture warms and dries itself in the morning sun to rid itself of bacteria and bring its temperature up from its night time almost hypothermic degrees to save energy.  Efficiency a standard, and unable to sweat, on warm days, urinating on its legs cools the vulture as the urine evaporates.  In addition, this urine contains strong acids from the vulture’s digestive system, which may kill any bacteria that remain on the bird’s legs from stepping in its meal.
Their most disgusting behavior is vomiting at will.  Usually this is done as a means for vultures to off-load some weight as predators approach when the vulture has eaten too much to fly.  But they will also regurgitate under stress or to keep anything threatening at bay.  Also semi-digested food can be offered up to a predator as an easy meal instead of attacking the intended vulture!

(October 31)  At the October 27 Upland City Council meeting, a sizeable contingent of residents, predominantly concerned parents, turned up to address the city council on the need for crossing guards in the aftermath of the death of Isaiah Shelton, a sixth-grader at Cabrillo Elementary.
Young Shelton was killed in a hit-and-run accident on his way to school October 23 as he  stepped off the southeast curb on Benson Avenue to cross Arrow Highway. He was struck by a white Jeep Cherokee driven, police later said, by Jason Fehr, 25 of Rancho Cucamonga.
Fehr, 25, was arrested and booked on felony hit-and-run charges at the West Valley Detention Center.
In 2009, the city of Upland reprioritized its public safety budget, eliminating paid crossing guards in favor of upping police officer and firefighter pay and benefits. No action to restore that funding has taken place since.
Maxine O’Neill said, “We need to protect our children. Everyday thousands of our children walk the line of life and death. Think about it carefully.”
Melinda Aguirre said, “There are 11,665 students in this school district going without protection every single day until we solve this. Please honor Isaiah. Let’s protect our students. These are your kids, too.”
Christy McKenzie said she was “outraged. You say you are going to do everything except care for our children’s safety.” She then reminded the city council about the upcoming election. “Think about losing your jobs for crossing guards,” she said.
Todd D’Braunstein, a member of the city’s traffic advisory committee, said that he and his colleagues “respectfully” looked for input from the community on the issue of improving pedestrian safety.
D’Braunstein’s colleague on the committee, Rod McAuliffe, lamented that the commission had not held a single meeting for the last two years, which he attributed to malaise on the part of the city council and city management. They, as much as anyone, he said, “failed to act to restore the crossing guards to save these kids.”
Neil Jacoby, a certified public accountant who rides his bike to in the morning said that the traffic on Benson at that hour of the day is heavy and dangerous. “This is horrible,” Jacoby said. “The Bonita Unified School District has crossing guards everywhere. Hopefully this will wake everybody up.”
Billy Velto said he did not understand why there were no crossing guards at present, given that they had been in place when he was a student a relatively few years ago.
Anthony Smith, who had coached Isaiah in a youth sports league, encouraged the council to “get out into the community and meet the kids you are supposed to be protecting.”
Stephanie Logan, who had recently moved to Upland with her family from Redding, told the city council “There will be crossing guards in Upland. My husband has been practicing law for 15 years and I will use him. This must be solved now.”
Tamara Strong, Isaiah’s grandmother, said. “Little things can make a difference. Nothing we can do from this point on can bring back my grandson, but …anything we can do so we don’t lose another child.”

By clicking on the portal below, you can download a PDF of the October 24 edition of the San Bernardino County

Sentinel 10-24-14

(October 23)  The county this week agreed to pay Sentinel Offender Services, LLC another $340,000 as an add-on to its ongoing three-year, $1 million contract for probationer/parolee monitoring.
According to San Bernardino County Chief Probation Officer Michelle Scray-Brown, “on June 26, 2012 the board of supervisors approved a three year agreement with Sentinel Offender Services, LLC for global position system tracking services. This contract, which took effect July 1, 2012, is currently approved in the amount of $1,000,000. The probation department’s use of global positioning system tracking services as a supervision tool for a variety of offenders, as well as a form of house arrest for high-risk juvenile offenders, is a means of enhancing public safety while reducing costs of the juvenile detention system.”
Curiously, Scray- Brown indicated that Sentinel Offender Services, LLC knew the parameters of the deal it was entering into when it accepted the terms of the 2012 contract.
“On April 5, 2011, the Governor of California signed Assembly Bill 109,” Scray-Brown said. “This legislation shifted responsibility for supervision of low level offenders and the adult parole population from the state to local jurisdictions. Because of this ‘realignment,’ the department’s need for additional services, including global positioning system tracking, increased significantly.” Indeed, Scray-Brown said, it was “as a result” of the realignment that the county entered into the contract with Sentinel Offender Services.
At this point, Scray- Brown said, it has become apparent that Sentinel Offender Services bit off more than it could chew when it agreed almost two-and-a-half-years ago to complete three years worth of probation tracking for a mere $1 million.
“As of August 2014, 8,316 post release community supervision offenders have been released by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to the county.
This number is approximately 35% higher than was previously projected,” Scray-Brown said. “In addition, cases have also been received from the court and other counties (573 cases), bringing the total number of  cases to 8,889.”
For that reason, Scray-Brown said, the county should cut Sentinel some slack and not hold it to the terms of its 2012 contract.  “Due to the increased number of post release community supervision offenders, the department now requires a related increase in the contract with Sentinel,” Scray-Brown wrote. The additional $340,000 would be sufficient for the increased contract monitoring services needed through June 30, 2015, the agreement’s scheduled expiration date.”
This clashes with what Scray-Brown said in 2012 when she recommended that the county, which had entered into a probationer monitoring contract with Sentinel in 2005, intensify its arrangement with Sentinel based upon the realignment. As a consequence of Scray-Brown’s recommendation, the county in the summer of 2012 entered into a three-year contract with Sentinel. At the June 26, 2012 board of supervisors  meeting, Scray-Brown, who at that time went by the name Michelle Scray, insisted that  Irvine-based Sentinel Offender Services had successfully outcompeted  CMG Safeguard Electronic Monitoring, Inc. of Fullerton and Rocky Mountain Offender    Manage-
ment Services of Westminster, Colorado for  the contract. At that time Scray indicated  one of the criteria in the competition was “cost. Contract services, in the maximum amount of $1,000,000 over the three year term of the agreement, will be fully funded from either AB 109 revenues or fees collected from referred offenders who pay for monitoring services on a sliding fee scale based on their ability to pay,” Scray said more than two years ago.
This week, Scray-Brown cited no provision in the original contract for realignment prisoner releasee monitoring that specified limits on the numbers of prisoners Sentinel would be responsible for tracking. No such limitation was specified in the public documents related to the 2012 contract.
Deputy chief probation officer Dan Bautista acknowledged that Sentinel had committed to provide global positioning tracking of prisoners released under the realignment through June 30, 2015 and that based on the prisoner releases that occurred under the realignment beginning in 2011, both Sentinel and the county had not entered into a blind arrangement in 2012. Nevertheless, Bautista said, the numbers of releases anticipated under the project at that time “were just projections.” Bautista said Scray Brown had sought greater remuneration for Sentinel “basically because of the increased usage.”
As to whether allowing Sentinel out of the terms of its original contract and conferring upon it a $340,000 increase constituted a gift of public funds, Bautista declined comment.
“Any statement will have to come from our media relations division,” he said.
Chris Condon, the media relations specialist for the probation department said “Basically, what happened was Sentinel was given the contract to monitor as many released prisoners as we needed to have monitored. It could be two. It could be a thousand. The problem is with AB 109 [i.e., realignment legislation], we didn’t know how many more. The Department of Corrections did not give us that information. What ended up happening was we gave Sentinel a three-year contract for a million dollars. In fiscal year 2012-13 we  paid them $429,831. In 2013-14 we paid them a total of $422,314. For the first two years we paid a total of $852,145. That left us with a remaining $147,855 for the final year. We are only three months into the third year and we are now nearly out of money and we have to continue to fund the monitoring program. The board agenda item was to increase the amount of the contract by $340,000. We arrived at $350,000 because the cost of the monitoring is 34 percent higher than we anticipated in 2012. The million dollar figure in the original contract was just a projection. If we had known what the actual costs are, the contract would have been $340,000 higher.”
Despite other indications that Sentinel had taken on the project to provide full monitoring across the board for three years and that under the contract Sentinel agreed, in Condon’s words, “they will provide as much monitoring as was needed for a cost,” Condon said “We can’t enter into a contract in which it would be for an unlimited amount of electronic monitoring… The company would go bankrupt.” Condon said he did not have immediate access to the contract but that a commitment by Sentinel to monitor an unspecified number of released prisoners at a fixed total cost “would not have been included in the contract.”
The county, Condon said, is “billed by them monthly, and we only pay for what we use.”
At present, Condon said 230 to 280 released prisoners are monitored on a daily basis, 90 to 120 of whom are homeless.
According to Condon, 10,982 inmates formerly housed in the state prison system have been released into county custody and of that number, 3,606 are currently out of custody and under the supervision of the probation department. Among those 3,606 are the 230 to 280 being monitored electronically. The cost of monitoring each of those individuals costs between $109 and $110 per month, according to Condon’s calculations.

(October 21)  The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors this week approved a conditional use permit that brings down a permanent curtain on the topless performances at the  Déjà Vu theater  in the unincorporated county area between Montclair and Chino.
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 as well as its location 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 which rented rooms by the hour and 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 and Tollis reluctantly acceded to transforming the club into a non-adult entertainment venue or sports bar, while maintaining its liquor license.
The conditional use permit for the sports bar or comedy club called for further changes with regard to the property, in particular the demolition of the large billboard sign at the front of the property and a change in the external lighting, which entailed a rotating projector which transformed the color of the building from red to pink to purple to blue to green at night.
Tollis appealed the planning commission’s action to the board of supervisors in October 2012. The public noticing of the appeal did not specify the grounds for Tollis’ request, leading to some speculation that an effort was underway to reestablish the 7,048 square foot nightclub building at the 1.22-acre site as a strip club. In effect, Tollis was seeking to transition it to a topless/bottomless dance review that would not feature the availability of alcohol on the premises.
This week, the county and a lawyer for Tolliss gave indication that the issues in the appeal had been amicably resolved, with the county making concessions with regard to the outward appearance of the structure as well as signage, but that the night club will no longer be a venue for adult entertainment.
As a consequence of this week’s public hearing, Tollis was given 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.
In her staff report on the matter, county planning director Terri Rahhal wrote, “The Applicant, Tollis Inc., submitted an application for the change of use of the existing 7,048 square foot, two-story building from a totally nude adult entertainment facility, without alcohol, to a nightclub and tavern with on-site sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages and non-adult entertainment, including a sports bar, comedy club and live music. The application proposes interior remodeling of the building, adding booths and open seating on the first floor and a sports bar and lounge, dance floor and open seating on the second floor. The project plans do not include removal of the existing performance stage and dance pole on the first floor.”
At the hearing on Tuesday of this week, however, it was reported that Tollis has now agreed to remove the dance poles, which are associated with nude or semi-nude dancing from the premises as well as the pre-existing booths, which were associated with “lap dances.”
Rahal’s report also stated that “the applicant/appellant now also objects to 14 other conditions of approval, as detailed in the appeal.”
At the hearing this week, it was revealed that the county had come to an accommodation on those objections, the most significant of which related to the color of the building, currently pink; and colored projection lighting that at night is capable of shifting the color of the building from pink to red, to green, to purple to blue; as well as the sign in front of the building, which exceeds the county’s size and height standards. As a consequence of the compromise, the building will be painted in “neutral tones” and the “light reflected on the building will be restricted to white light, with color permitted for some holidays, such as green and red on Christmas and red, with and blue on July 4.” The sign is to remain in place for five years, after which time it must be replaced with one that conforms with size and height restrictions.
Tollis’s attorney,  Alice Wong, was present at the hearing and indicated the company was amenable to the newly arrived-at terms specified by Rahal.

(October 22)  Bob Conaway is bearing the Blue Democrat Standard in this year’s election in California’s 8th Congressional District against the incumbent member of the House of Representatives, one-term Republican Congressman Paul Cook.
Conaway insisted he is the superior choice, and sought to make a case that his adherence to the principles of the Democratic Party will better serve not only the constituents in the 8th Congressional District but citizens throughout San Bernardino County, California and all of the United States.
Conaway agreed to outline for the Sentinel the issues he believes are of the most importance to the district and its voters.
“Our county should avoid needless conflict and not start or maintain conflicts overseas without making the commitment to take care of the returning servicemen, their families and veterans,” Conaway said.
He was critical of legislation supported by Cook that was ostensibly aimed at reforming the much maligned Veterans Administration but which in effect, Conaway said, sold veterans short.
“Paul Cook voted for HR 4810, which creates a budget to build more buildings and to provide assistance with appointments to outside vendors for veterans,” Conaway said. “What was missing in HR 4810 was a budget for the Veterans Administration hiring the additional doctors and medical support staff needed, like what is proposed in the McCain-Sanders bill. I would not have voted for HR 4810, but would have insisted that an up-or-down vote be done in the House on the McCain-Sanders bill, which has passed the Senate, and that the money used for building more brick-and-mortar facilities and outsourcing care be put into hiring more professional staff, which will also add jobs at the VA facilities locally.
Without passing judgment on the Affordable Care Act, which has been subject to withering criticism by Republicans and lampooned by those critics as “Obamacare,” Conaway asserted that the concept of providing universal health coverage to all Americans is a worthy goal and that efforts to work toward that ideal must be maintained.
“For the sake of discussion, if the Affordable Care Act got repealed, we would still need to make sure that insurance carriers don’t discriminate based on a citizen’s gender and whether they have pre-existing conditions,” Conaway said. “Paul Cook voted for HR 3522, which allows insurers to discriminate based on gender and pre-existing conditions. I would vote to keep those protections, whether or not the Affordable Care Act remains in place.”
Conaway told the Sentinel that it is his position that “working moms still need access to child care tax credits. We all know the economy is in flux. More women are the bread winners in families and need to pitch in to make ends meet even with the significant other working. We need to not discriminate against entry level women employees. Paul Cook voted for HR 4935, which would eliminate $1,725.00 dollars in child care tax credits for five million single parents with two children to care for, reduce it for six million other working moms, while increasing the child care tax credit for those earning $150,000 by an additional $2,200. I would have voted against HR 4935 to make it possible for women with families to afford entry level minimum wages. The savings of not putting HR 4935 into effect, is saving $100 billion over ten years per the Congressional Budget office.”
Conaway said he stood for “not increasing taxes for the working poor. HR 4935, by eliminating the child care tax credit, increases a single mom’s tax bill by up to $150 per month or a week of food and household supplies for most working families. I would have voted against HR 4935 and saved $100 billion over 10 years.”
Conaway said he is in favor of increasing the minimum wage to $10.16 by 2016.”
He said, “No matter how you calculate it, minimum wage has flat-lined over the past 50 years. A 2012 study from the Center for Economic Policy Research reads, ‘By all of the most commonly used benchmarks – If wages had kept up with productivity gains since 1968, it would be nearly $22 dollars an hour.’ Paul Cook voted against increasing the minimum wage to $10.16 in 2016. I would have voted to increase the minimum wage to $10.16 by 2016.”
He would, Conaway said, work to “help our college students get the education they need. Paul Cook voted for passage of HR 3393, which eliminated some tax credits and deductions for education expenses and took benefits away from  graduate students. In addition to this, Paul Cook voted to increase the student loan interest rates to 3.4%, even though passbook rates are at a record low. I would vote to reduce the interest rate and create realistic payment plans that do not discriminate on prior credit history and which can be adjusted based on changing conditions like job loss or income reduction.”
On one issue, at least, Conaway said he was on the conservative side of the divide, while Cook was, by contrast, a liberal. Specifically, Conaway said, he was a states’ rights advocate, while his opponent was a creature of the federal government establishment.
“We need to control our state’s water resources and protect California jobs,” Conaway said. “Paul Cook voted for HR 3964, which will preempt state water law and state court decisions, eliminate protection needed to California’s salmon industry and other commercially valuable species. HR 3964 will federally take over our water and cost us thousands of jobs. I would have voted against HR 3964 as a federal grab of in state water resources.”

(October 23)  Of the nine candidates vying in the race for the three positions up for grabs in this year’s Yucca Valley Town Council race, four appear to have secured the inside track, that is, the greatest degree of viability when measured by the criteria traditionally applied in determining frontrunner status. By virtue of high name recognition and proven records of impacting the political direction of this physically isolated patch of humanity in the vast Mojave Desert, incumbents Merl Abel and Bob Leone along with challengers Ron Cohen and Lori Herbel appear to have advanced to the front of the pack.
Given the matrix of the nine candidates vying for the three seats, a real horserace is in play, complete with its intrinsic septic challenges, that is ones that are literally septic as the major issue facing the 20,700 person community is a projected bill of over $135,000,000 for only the first phase of sewage treatment facilities needed to keep the California Water Quality Control Board from taking drastic action against the city in May 2016.
In a town long heavily dominated politically by the Gemini Star personality machines of Pastor Jerel Hagerman and Congressman Paul Cook and their tight knit affiliates such as the father and son politicians, of Pastor Roger Dean  Mayes and his son, Chad, only one of the four frontrunners bubbles automatically to the top of that largest chamber of voters: incumbent Merl Abel.
The others seemingly holding strong in the race so far, incumbent Bob Leone, past Councilwoman Lori Herbel, and the freshman politician Ron Cohen, have all built their voting blocks from a more diverse crowd influenced less by star personalities and more by issues.  Not surprisingly, all three of these have criticized major decisions by Merle Abel such as the payment of over  $120,000 to disgraced ex-town manager Mark Nuaimi, and a failed ballot initiative to impose an additional one percent sales tax for the town council to spend at its discretion.
Ron Cohen quite visibly became the lead spokesman for an initiative to recall present councilmen Huntington and Lombardo.  He and his wrestling cohorts were seen defending the impromptu free speech encampment created by Ed Montgomery at the intersection of 247 and Highway 62 against a hammer-wielding thug.  Fellow recall organizer Lori Herbel likewise walked door to door and others manned tables at the local Stater Brothers to collect over 2,700 signatures of  town citizens who were “mad as hell and not going to take it anymore” about numerous policy blunders made by  Abel and three of his council colleagues.  Incumbent Bob Leone’s support for the recall was much more circumspect but he made clear his sustained disagreements with all the other members of the council at the time.  Leone served on the council in previous years but left the council dais two election cycles ago, only to return in a special election held last year. During his most recent tenure on the council, Leone was the lone negative vote on several decisions of the council firmly aligning Leone, whether he wants to publicize it or not, with the new powerful voting block that Herbel and Cohen congregated against the established old guard block steered by Hagerman/Cook.
The calculations of the vote include a total registration pool of about 10,000 registered.  Significantly, Herbel and Cohen and their fellows added about 500 votes to the rolls during the recall campaign.  Presumptively, a large percent of those voters remain interested in changing Town Hall.  In a presidential year, the total number of voters is near 4,000 votes, of which the “Pastor Block” is about 2,500 votes depending on the threat level of the non-block candidates.
With a candidate pool of nine candidates, many of whom are themselves Pastor Block candidates but with low name recognition outside the block, the potential for dilution and softening of the block is high despite the weighty opposition such as Cohen and Herbel.
New candidates Rick Dennison, Jeff Drozd, Charles McHenry, Susan Simmons, and to a much lesser extent the “I did and do inhale marijuana”  Brian Watson, all will draw some votes from the Pastor Block if for no other reason than a vote for “someone like me” identity politics.  Dennison: local firemen, Drozd: special education teachers, McHenry: friends of the Library and National Parks, Simmons: small business owners.
So with three lead and powerful dissenters in the race for three seats, the probability appears that at least two of the counter-reactionaries will progress to the dais, perhaps all three.
Random fortune placed past-councilmember Lori Herbel’s name at the top of the list on the ballot and political mavens say that alone will produce a few percentage points of advantage.  Bob Leone has already served on the council four separate times and while he makes his own decisions, he has not raised so much of the ire of the establishment to anger too many people.  So the likely wildcards for the third seat appears to include Abel whose normal voting block is diluted, and Cohen whose voting block is new and untested.
And between Abel and Cohen are some intense contrasts of attributes which some voters use to make their selection to represent them: soft-spoken/outspoken, Christian faith/Jewish faith, public employee/corporate employee, “people skills”/“systems skills,” political conservative/political liberal.
–Sentinel Morongo Basin Correspondent

By Gail Fry
Staff Writer
(October 21) In the upcoming November 4 general election, the voters located within the boundaries of the Hesperia Unified School District are being asked by the district’s leadership to approve a $207 million bond measure to improve local schools.
At its August 4, 2014, regular board meeting the Hesperia Unified School District governing board approved a resolution ordering a school bond election for Measure M and authorizing necessary actions connected to the bond election.  School district governing board members Hardy Black, Niccole Childs, Ella “Lee” Rogers and Eric Swanson voted in favor of the resolution with Cody Gregg dissenting.
The proponents of the bond measure, Measure M, have formed a recipient committee entitled “Committee For Yes On M 4 Hesperia” for the purposes of collecting contributions to pay for campaign expenses.
The committee supporting Measure M consists of its member Lori Mente, who holds the title executive assistant to the superintendent at the district, and its treasurer Gina Turner. According to documents obtained from the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters, the committee has collected $55,500 from its contributors and expended $9,389 for signs, voter slates, electricity, government filings and miscellaneous office supplies.
In an October 16 email to the Sentinel, Mente refers to herself as a “volunteer” and not “representing” the committee Yes on Measure M.
Documents filed with the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters Office show the committee supporting Measure M were ten days late in filing its 460 pre-election statement and inaccurately reported its contributions received as being $13,500 when in fact they were $55,500 based on six 497 contribution reports filed with the registrar of voters in September and early October.
Five 497 contribution reports filed by the committee Yes on Measure M indicate that on September 18, Erickson Hall Construction Co. contributed $10,000, on September 26, Holman Capital Corporation contributed $2,500, on October 2, Frick, Frick & Jette contributed $2,500, on October 6, Copier Source Inc. contributed $5,000, on October 8, LPA, Inc. contributed $10,000, on October 2, Amber Mooney contributed $2,500 and on October 8, Atkinson, Anderson, Loya, Ruud & Romo contributed $5,000.  The total of the  contributions shown on the five 497 contribution reports equals $37,000.
One 497 contribution report filed by the Hesperia Teachers’ Association PAC and filed with the registrar of voters indicates that on October 9, it gave a $5,000 campaign contribution to the Committee for Yes on M Hesperia.
However, when the committee supporting Measure M filed its late 460 pre-election statement, it indicated that its total campaign contributions were $13,500 for the period of July 1 through September 30, 2014 with its 460 form showing a total of $13,500 in campaign contributions from Erickson Hall Construction Co. in the amount of $10,000, Holman Capital Corporation in the amount of $2,500, Certified Air Conditioning in the amount of $500 and Thomas R. Dorow Inspectors in the amount of $500.
Erickson Hall Construction Co., headquartered in Escondido appears from its website to specialize in school construction projects.  Holman Capital Corporation is a California corporation located in Rancho Santa Margarita and according to its website provides “value added taxable and tax-exempt financing solutions to federal, state, and local governments.”  Certified Air Conditioning, Inc., is a California corporation located in San Diego, according to records with the California Secretary of State.  Thomas R. Dorow Inspectors is a property inspection company located in the city of Hesperia, according to numerous references found on the internet.
Frick, Frick & Jette is an architectural and engineering firm located in the city of Temecula and according to its website, “we specialize in educational construction.”  Copier Source, Inc., is a California corporation located on Hospitality Lane in the city of San Bernardino. Entries of the business name, location and phone number are found on the internet, but no website for the company was found.  LPA, Inc. is a California corporation located in Irvine that specializes in “integrated collaboration” and “sustainable services” according to its website.  Atkinson, Anderson, Loya, Ruud & Romo is the Hesperia Unified School District’s attorney firm.
The contribution reports and pre-election statements filed with the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters by The Committee For Yes On M 4 Hesperia and by the Hesperia Teachers’ Association PAC can be viewed at the registrar of voters website:  http://ssl.netfile.com/Pub2/AllFilingsByFiler.aspx?id=152573692.
In an interview with the Sentinel regarding the late filing of the committee’s 460 pre-election statement, San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters Mike Scarpello acknowledged that Committee For Yes On M 4 Hesperia’s 460 forms were “filed late” as they were due on October 6 and when they “turned it in on October 10 they filed it without a signature.”  Scarpello explained his office contacted the committee, which then filed its signed 460 forms on October 16, according to information on the registrar of voters’ website.
“Filing a few days late is not uncommon,” Scarpello acknowledged, explaining that the registrar of voters maintains a list of those that have campaign filings due and its staff calls to “remind them” that there is a filing due.
The statement by proponents/authors of arguments submitted to the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters and signed by Jessica VanOverbeke, Percy L. Bakker, Amanda Macias, Thomas J. Kerman and Edward Valenzuela claims, Measure M will “improve classroom education, test scores, and help attract/retain quality classroom teachers” and the upgrades will expand “career and vocational education programs that train students for jobs in automotive, agriculture, manufacturing, health care, and technology.”
Specifically, the Argument in Favor of Measure M claims funds from Measure M will upgrade “classrooms, science and engineering labs, computers and libraries” and “insufficient security features including security fencing, cameras, lighting, and security systems to keep students safe and prevent destruction of school property.”
“Fiscally Accountable!” the argument in favor proclaims of the measure, claiming that required “independent financial audits” and a citizens’ oversight committee will “ensure funds are spent as promised.”
The Argument in Favor of Measure M submitted by its proponents claim, “Every penny is required by law to be spent locally on upgrading our schools.”
However, in an email response to questions by the Sentinel, Committee for Yes On Measure M 4 Hesperia admitted, “As discussed in open session with the governing board and presented to the school facilities committee, a portion of the general obligation bonds authorized by Measure M may be used to pay-off a lease obligation of HUSD.”
The email response sent by Lori Mente assured, “The use of general obligation bonds to pay-off a lease obligation will require future approval of HUSD’s governing board and will he dependent on future economic conditions of HUSD.”
Information provided on Measure M included on the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters’ website in an “impartial” analysis provided by San Bernardino County Counsel’s Office states, “Issuance of all of the authorized bonds might require the outstanding debt of the district to exceed its statutory bonding limit of 2.50 percent of the total assessed valuation of taxable property in the district.”
San Bernardino County Counsel’s impartial analysis explains, “Principal and interest on the bonds will be payable from the proceeds of tax levies upon the taxable property in the district, which is estimated at 5.858 cents per $100 (58.58 per $100,000) of the assessed valuation.”  To view these documents visit the registrar of voter’s website:        http://www.sbcountyelections.com/Elections/PastElections/20141104/Measures.aspx
In other words, if the voters within the Hesperia Unified School District vote in favor of Measure M at the November 4 general election, the school district would be authorized to annually assess each property owner within the district $58.58 per $100,000 of property value.
As an example, if your house was valued at $300,000 the school district could assess your property at $175.74 a year until those bonds have been paid off with the loan term going as long as 25 years, the statutory limit.  Additionally, the bonds can be refinanced extending their payoff even further.
The resolution passed by Hesperia Unified School District at its August 4, 2014 meeting indicates that the district, in issuing these bonds, may require the outstanding debt to exceed the legal limit of two and a half percent of its net valuation of the value of the property located within the district.
According to records obtained from the San Bernardino County Assessor’s Office currently, the value of the property located within the boundaries of the Hesperia Unified School District is $5,248,752,411 net for fiscal year 2013/14.
Therefore, two and a half percent of the value would have equaled $131,218,810 in fiscal year 2013/14.  In order to exceed the statutory limit, the school district would need to obtain a waiver from the State Board of Education, which according to records shown on its website have a tendency to approve the requests for waivers with conditions.
In her email to the Sentinel, Mente explained, “HUSD does not believe the total amount of general obligation bonds issued under Measure M will exceed 2.50% of the total assessed valuation (this test occurs each time bonds are sold). This is due to bonds being sold in multiple issues as opposed to a single issuance. As total assessed valuation grows within HUSD, additional series of general obligation bonds authorized under Measure M will be sold.”
The 2.50 percent limit, i.e., “the value of taxable property in the district” on the amount a unified school district can borrow, is set by California Education Code Section 15106.
Other restrictions were placed on school bond financing when California Governor Jerry Brown, in response to concerns about creative financing being conducted by school districts, signed legislation (Assembly Bill 182) on October 2, 2013, requiring the ratio of total debt service to principal for each bond series to not exceed 4 to one among other legal requirements and restrictions included in the bill.
In other words, if 55 percent of the voters within the boundaries of Hesperia Unified School District approve Measure M at the November 4, general election and the district issues $207,000,000 in bonds, it can legally indebt the district up to $828,000,000 in debt service requirements.
Keeping within these statutory restrictions will be challenging for the Hesperia Unified School District and that is when school districts have been getting creative in how they structure their financing and how they project to payoff the debt.
For instance, when Mente explained the district’s decision to pay off a lease obligation “will be dependent on future economic conditions of HUSD” it suggests the district may be projecting rising property values in their calculations on how to pay off the school district’s debt.
There is a variety of bonds from which the district would choose from if Measure M passes in order to structure its financing to keep within these legal restrictions, such Build America Bonds or BABs, current interest bonds or CIBs, capital appreciation bonds or CABs, convertible capital appreciation bonds or CCABs.
According to Mente’s email, “HUSD anticipates using both current interest bonds and capital appreciation bonds when issuing general obligation bonds under the authorization of Measure M” and “current interest bonds will be issued to the fullest extent possible.”
“The use of capital appreciation bonds will be only to maximize the efficiency of the tax revenues,” Mente explained adding that the school district would “adhere to all legal requirements.”
Capital appreciate bonds are known to have extended maturities now up to 25 years, included compounded interest, which is interest on top of interest and have been known to have no payments due until maturity date resulting in exorbitant payoff amounts.
“The use of bond anticipation notes is not expected at this time and not needed to accomplish the goals of HUSD’s Governing Board and the School Facilities Committee,” Mente concluded.
Mente in her email to the Sentinel explained, “HUSD will adhere to all parameters and requirements set both in AB 182 or any other legal requirements in place at the time of each bond issuance when issuing general obligation bonds authorized under Measure “M.”
“If the district receives voter approval, the district will analyze the issuance of each bonds based on the planned facilities improvements, the requirements of the law, and the economic conditions at the time,” Mente asserted, explaining, “There is, therefore: no way to know today, all details of bond issuances five to 10 years into the future.”
As far as the existing debt of Hesperia Unified School District, Mente responded “HUSD does not have any outstanding general obligation bonds.”
However, Mente revealed, “HUSD has entered into two (2) lease arrangements which are making lease payments on certificates of participation.”  Certificates of participation are another type of debt instrument which is sold on Wall Street to investors without voter approval.
“In addition, HUSD has formed a number of community facilities districts,” Mente said, adding that “Two (2) of the five community facilities districts have issued special tax bonds.”
When the Sentinel asked for the names of the community facilities districts and details on the special tax bonds, Mente explained “our consultant cannot meet your deadline.”