UPLAND, June 25, 2006 - A small jet crashed near a San Bernardino County airport, injuring the three people aboard and igniting a three-acre brush fire, officials said Sunday.
The twin-engine Citation crashed about 10:30 p.m. Saturday in an open field outside Cable Airport in Upland, said Suzanne Cable, a fire division chief.
The two men and one woman in the plane, whose names were not released, were transferred to hospitals and being treated for burns. One person was airlifted to University of California, Los Angeles, Medical Center and remains in critical condition, Cable said.
The pilot of the twin jet engine private plane reported engine trouble, then skidded off the runway.
CHP officers at a nearby sobriety checkpoint and other bystanders in the area ran to help.
"As we're getting the ladder up and over to try and help these people, I then could see them coming out of basically flames and fire and just walking right through this," said CHP Officer Brad Denham.
"As they approached, they weren't that far away from us coming through the flames, you could just see they were just extremely badly burned," he said.
Firefighters had doused the blaze by Sunday morning.
Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board are still investigating the cause of the crash, Cable said.
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Woman held in shooting of ex-boyfriend
Gina Tenorio, Staff Writer
A Fontana woman was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of fatally shooting her former boyfriend at his Rialto home.
Jennifer Stull, 23, admitted to Rialto investigators that she shot Michael Anthony Ribaudo, 38, Saturday at the Driftwood Avenue home he shared with his mother, said Rialto police Sgt. Reinhard Burkholder.
Stull told detectives that while she had been in the home, Ribaudo had begun sexually harassing her, Burkholder said. Stull claimed an argument had erupted and that Ribaudo stopped her when she tried to leave, the detective said.
The fight then reportedly escalated into the shooting, Burkholder said.
"She felt threatened and said that, in the past, she had communicated through other people that he was going to kill her," Burkholder said.
Detectives were still trying to confirm that story, Burkholder said.
Ribaudo's mother, Beverly Ribaudo, 60, said Stull's depiction of her son is false and that it was Stull who had threatened her son's life.
"Word on the street was that she was going to waste my son," Beverly Ribaudo said.
Stull would often drop in on the family uninvited despite the fact that her son was seeing someone else, she said. Beverly Ribaudo said she had asked Stull to leave the home several
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times.
"If she felt threatened, why was she there?" Beverly Ribaudo asked.
Ribaudo's latest girlfriend found him lying in the living room about 11:30 p.m. Saturday. He had been shot with a handgun once in the back of the head and once in the torso, Burkholder said.
By Monday, detectives had turned their attentions to Stull, putting out her name and photo as a person of interest. Police were able to track her down to a mobile home in Fontana and arrested her on parole violations, Burkholder said.
She was on parole after a conviction of vehicle theft, Burkholder said. She has had run-ins with the law but the shooting is the only violent offense he found in her past, the sergeant said.
"I am so angry," Beverly Ribaudo said. "As soon as Detective (James) Massey told me it was her, I felt so angry. Words can't describe how I feel."
The money included in the recently approved 2006-07 fiscal budget will be used to make a video and fliers for distribution throughout the community, city officials said. "It's to reach out to young men and women in the community to entice them to join the police department," Mayor Mark Nuaimi said Tuesday. "In doing so, you'll get a police force reflective of the community." In addition, city and police officials meet with faith-based organizations and talk to students at Chaffey College to recruit potential officers. "One of the tricks of recruitment is making sure everyone in the community knows you're interested in them," said John Firman, research director of the International Association of Chiefs of Police based in Alexandria, Va. Police departments should as best they can reflect the diversity of their communities, Firman said. "It's very comforting to people of any ethnic group to see representation in the department," he said. Fontana has 166 sworn police officers on the streets with 28 more positions authorized for a total of 194 in the 2006-07 budget, Police Chief Larry Clark said. Twenty positions, including the newly approved ones, are open and eight recruits are in the training academy. Of the 166 officers, 10.2 percent are women, 2.4 percent are Asian, 1.8 percent are African American and 18.7 percent are Hispanic, Clark said. The department hopes to hire 19 minority officers -- including sworn and non-sworn police personnel -- by the end of the 2006-07 fiscal year, up from 13 in 2005-06, according to the most recent budget document. The prior year the department hired eight minorities. Videos, brochures and public speaking engagements are all part of a solid recruitment process, Firman said. The department is taking "smart steps" toward marketing itself, he said. "My compliments to that department because there's no question recruitment is competitive," Firman said. For every 100 applicants, the Fontana Police Department hires one officer after a rigorous screening process, Clark said. It then takes about 18 months until that officer hits the streets. The city has added several new police positions in the past couple of years to accommodate the city's explosive growth and to gear up for the proposed annexation of unincorporated islands. "All the police departments are recruiting because of the growth," Nuaimi said. "So it is a fairly competitive process we have to go through and it takes some money to do it effectively." The video and fliers are expected to be ready by September or October, Clark said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I am wondering how successful the recruitment program has been I know that they said it was not going to be fully implemented until this month, but it is always fun to ask how the new project is coming along when it has not been fully implemented. It sounds like it would be a great thing for the Rialto Police department to look at, but I have always said that they need to look at one thing and I have been a broken record about it. The 3% @50 Retirement package is and will be the thing that will make Rialto Police department more of a Police Department that is better suited for the long term of their Employees. Such as one thing, if they were to give them the 3% @ 50 they would be better then SB PD and already much better then the SBSD. The only one that they would be equal to that they are next to is Fontana, and Colton, and Riverside. See Riverside Police Agency is a Police department that Police Officers join to Retire from. They go there to stay, and not leave. there are people that have been at Riverside PD for a good long time. So, Riverside Sheriff's department is the agency that people leave to go to other agencies, but not to many people leave Riverside, unless they are moving to another area, and they want to see what it is like in some there area. so that is the only reason that they would go. As for Colton Police agency is a very nice Agency it is a small agency that you know your people that you work with and that is a good thing. it is a great thing knowing your partners. I was from an area like that. Small town, smaller then Colton, and we knew our partners well. let me tell you if they got the jump on us we would know it before the suspect knew we knew. Take care, and don't worry be happy. have a great day..Stay safe. BSRanch
Fontana Police Department gets $60K for recruitment
FONTANA - As the Police Department moves forward with plans to hire nine new officers, it is getting $60,000 to boost recruitment efforts and improve diversity on the force.
The renovation, approved by the City Council last month, is the most extensive in the history of the city's park system. Rialto Park sits on the southeast corner of Riverside and San Bernardino avenues. Funded through a combination of Community Development Block Grants, state bonds and mandated contributions from local developers, the work includes new sidewalks, watering systems and an outdoor amphitheater for concerts and plays. "When this project is complete, Rialto Park will be the crown jewel of our park system,'' Thornburg said. -- Robert Rogers, (909) 386-3855
Rialto Park closes for 9-month upgrade
RIALTO - Rialto Park is scheduled to remain closed for the next nine months while workers complete a $2.5 million renovation project on the 15-acre park, Park Director Larry Thornburg said.
FOXSports.com
"I don't miss it at all," Armstrong said in a wide-ranging interview in the latest issue of Men's Journal. "I miss the training. I miss the team atmosphere. I miss my guys.
"But the last couple of years I would even say I hated racing. The only peaceful times were when I was at training camps, alone or with a few teammates, or at the races, in the hotel room, at the dinner table with my guys.
"That's the stuff I really love. I won't miss the Tour."
Armstrong also reportedly said he was "not a fan" of skier Bode Miller, who said last winter that Armstrong was among a group of high-profile professional athletes who used performance-enhancing drugs.
Armstrong quit professional cycling after winning the Tour for the seventh consecutive time last summer. An independent agency cleared Armstrong of doping accusation this week, but the World Anti-Doping Agency rejected the report on Friday.
He once said that he would not miss the big race, which begins on July 1, but backed off that claim in the interview with former television news anchor Tom Brokaw.
"The Tour is all I did," Armstrong said. "It's all I lived for. It's probably not fair to answer that question until we get to July.
"I mean, in July I may start pulling my hair out, 'cause it's the one race that I lived for. But I suspect not. I know that I can never go back."
Governor OKs hiring of firefighters
Louis Amestoy, Staff Writer
HEMET - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order Thursday authorizing the California Department of Forestry to hire firefighters for areas of high fire danger, including some areas in the Inland Empire.
Appearing at the CDF's air tanker base at Hemet's Ryan Field, Schwarzenegger met with fire commanders, firefighters and other fire officials about the state's high fire danger.
The fire season officially began June 5, and fire officials told the governor that the forests of Southern California are still dealing with a devastating infestation of bark beetles, which have killed thousands of trees.
"This is a very critical need for our state," Schwarzenegger said before signing the order. "I have seen the devastating effect wildfires can have. In 2003, I visited areas hit by the terrible wildfires here in Southern California. I am calling on Californians to do their part to promote fire safety in our communities.
"California has the greatest firefighters. My administration is committed to giving them all the tools to meet these challenges."
The executive order gives fire commanders the ability to bring in additional resources, including the National Guard, to help battle blazes around the state. Over the last five years, the CDF has fought an average of 5,600 fires per year. Since 2001, more than 170,000 acres per year have been scorched by wildfires.
The order also gives fire commanders the flexibility to determine where best to put their firefighters, fire engines and other personnel during major fires. The move is in contrast to federal firefighting plans, which have called for reduced staffing this year.
The
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CDF provides service to two cities in San Bernardino County Highland and Yucaipa, and 14 Riverside County cities.
Some of the authority given to the CDF:
Assigning at least four firefighters to stations in high fire danger areas.
Assigning fire lookouts.
Staffing two additional CDF conservation camps.
The order gives the CDF the authority to fully staff helicopter crews during the fire season.
Schwarzenegger's appearance in Hemet was symbolic because of Riverside County's battle with CDF officials to keep firefighting airplanes and helicopters at the county-owned airport, which has long been the home of both CDF and U.S. Forest Service firefighting aircraft.
State officials wanted to move the base to March Air Reserve Base near Riverside, but county officials protested and were ultimately supported by the governor.
"The people of the Inland Empire are grateful that this air attack base will stay here in Hemet," said Assemblyman Russ Bogh, R-Yucaipa, who represents the Hemet area as well as portions of San Bernardino County, including Yucaipa, the Morongo Valley and Twentynine Palms.
The air base serves all of Riverside County, including the San Gorgonio Pass and the San Bernardino National Forest.
By Brett Rowland
Hollister - The California Highway Patrol is cracking down on dangerous driving as the summer months approach and following the release of the new racing movie, "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," last week.
The movie, which features teens racing and crashing modified high-performance street cars, focuses on a racing style called "drifting." When the rear wheels are slipping out further than the front wheels, a car is drifting. Essentially, the car slides nearly sideways around turns. Hollister-Gilroy CHP officers are concerned the movie will encourage this "out of control" driving behavior among local teens, Officer Chris Armstrong said. Drifting, which started in Japan, is becoming popular in California, he said. Although more common in southern California, particularly San Bernardino County, many local teens are also drifting, according to Armstrong.
"It's been going on in San Benito County, mostly on county roads," Armstrong said. "It's becoming more popular throughout California, and any time people see something glorified on the big screen, they want to try it."
Armstrong said many teen drivers don't realize the racing in the movie is done by "professional stunt drivers on a closed course" and not by an inexperienced driver on a county road.
Besides being illegal, drifting on public roads and in parking lots can be dangerous.
"Speed and inexperience are a deadly combination. Speed kills, and so does stupidity," Armstrong said. "It starts out with 'my car is faster than your car,' but it can escalate very quickly."
The San Benito County Sheriff's Department is also cracking down on speed contests, Sheriff Curtis Hill said. Earlier this year, he said, deputies broke up a large group of teenage racers who had come to San Benito County after their races in Santa Cruz County had been stymied by police.
"It's not only dangerous to the people who are racing, but also to everyone else trying to use our public roads," Hill said. "We tow cars and take people to jail for this kind of thing every chance we get."
California law bans all types of speed contests on public roads, according to Hill. Being involved in or "aiding and abetting" a speed contest is a misdemeanor, but if any one is injured, the crime can quickly become a felony, according to the California Vehicle Code.
Armstrong said CHP officers will be vigilant in stopping any kind of illegal or unsafe driving practices throughout the Hollister and Gilroy areas. State grants from the Office of Traffic Safety will cover overtime expenses for officers enforcing such laws, he said.
"If your going to race or drift, do it properly," Armstrong said. "The only place for this type of driving is on a race track."
Brett Rowland covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or browland@freelancenews.com.
| Brett Rowland Brett Rowland covers education for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-6375566 ext. 330 or browland@freelancenews.com |
With her sights set on teaching - she had already worked as a substitute teacher in both the San Bernardino City Unified and Rialto Unified school districts - she attended the University of Redlands and earned a bachelor's degree in education. "She went back to school to become a teacher because it was something she always wanted to do," said daughter Pat Wilson of Mission Viejo. Hughes, a San Bernardino resident, died Monday at Reche Canyon Rehabilitation Health Care Center from congestive heart failure. She was 82. She was born Dec. 4, 1923, in Sheridan, Wyo., to George and Ethel Lord. Her family later moved to San Bernardino. She attended San Bernardino High School and saw the city "change and grow" around her, said son Tom Hughes of Rialto. She and her sisters used to go hiking and camping up to Green Valley Lake and Big Bear Lake. She married Joseph Hughes in 1941. After earning her bachelor's degree, she worked as a teacher in the Rialto Unified School District for 27 years. During her time there, she returned to the University of Redlands, where she pursued a master's degree in mathematics. She taught math to second-graders at Preston Elementary School. Later, she taught algebra and geometry to students at Rialto Junior High School. "She loved it," remembered her son. "She loved the kids." Hughes also played a part in helping write a curriculum for the Rialto Unified School District, her daughter said. When asked how her students would have described her, her son said they probably would have called her a tough but very fair teacher. In her retirement, she spent a considerable amount of time working with the American Association of University Women, serving in various positions including secretary. "She was a strong woman," said daughter-in-law Betty Hughes. "Very proud of her education and her teaching career. And she was very involved with AAUW and very proud of doing things for women." She is survived by another son, Michael Hughes of Adelanto; five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. No services are planned. A remembrance is scheduled at 11 a.m. Sunday at the home of Tom Hughes. He asks that any of Vivian Hughes' friends who want to attend contact him. Bobbitt Memorial Chapel in San Bernardino handled arrangements.
Obituary
SB woman taught in Rialto district
SAN BERNARDINO - When Vivian Mae Hughes' children reached junior high, she decided it was time to return to school herself.
With all the new land that Fontana Annexed in the last seven years or so, quite a lot of it has been build upon. However they still are building some of the commercial expansions in the North end. Why, Sierra Ave, At the 210 has been really growing, with a Medical Center, a presumed Auto Mall. Lowe's Home Center, and the eventual Costco that will be build there along the freeway too. There is a whole commercial area still that is waiting for businesses to spring up at Citrus and the 210 Freeway in Fontana, they probably have been working on that as well.
Now Sierra Blvd @ the I-15 has started with some Gas Stations such as AM/PM and Jack in the Box, Shell, Chevron, and a couple more Fast Food joints, Del Taco, McDonalds! They all are up there too Fontana has a great deal of growing to do!! In fact they will exceed 200K population before we know it!!
It is great for the Inland Empire for this to happen. Good for Fontana!!
BSRancher
Fontana's spending races with growth
KEEP UP: The council approves a $208.5 million budget, 17 percent larger than last year's.
10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, June 21, 2006
By PAUL LAROCCO
The Press-Enterprise
fontana's 2006-07 BUDGET
$208.5 million between general fund, redevelopment agency and housing authority
67 new positions will be added to meet population growth, including nine police officers
FONTANA - In the year since City Council members last pored over Fontana's annual budget, they've moved toward annexation of about 3,000 acres, watched construction of 1,100 homes and broken ground on $100 million worth of parks, libraries and community centers.
But instead of taking a breath, council members spent Wednesday reviewing just how they're going to keep it up.
"This is a fantastic story," said Mayor Mark Nuaimi, moments before the council unanimously adopted the city's $208.5 million budget for 2006-07, "and I just think we're going to keep exceeding everyone's expectations."
The budget, which increased spending by 17 percent over last year's budget, strives to meet Fontana's rapid growth by adding 67 new city jobs -- including nine police officers -- building a county fire station and spending nearly $4 million to improve roads.
About $500,000 of that money will go toward improving routes the city will gain as part of its much-anticipated annexation, which will take in unincorporated areas around Fontana's borders.
The annexation application was completed by the city late last year, and awaits formal approval from the county's Local Agency Formation Commission. Once final, it will add 14,000 San Bernardino County residents and the sales-tax dollars from surrounding businesses.
But with the residents and businesses come the neglected roads. While Nuaimi applauded using $500,000 to rehabilitate newly annexed roads, he also urged staff to consider borrowing money to speed up the work. Throughout Fontana, officials have identified $30 million worth of repaving, and only $3.8 million of work is scheduled for this year.
"Once you let that fall behind," agreed Councilwoman Acquanetta Warren, "the catch-up is just unbearable."
This year's budget also will add several code-enforcement and public-works employees and seven police patrol officers, one sergeant and one corporal.
The growing police department, now at 194 sworn employees, will spend $60,000 this year for recruitment aimed at filling the positions that will be needed when Fontana eclipses 200,000 residents, expected later this decade.
Last year, however, the department only lost two officers to competing departments, compared to another neighboring department that lost 15, said Chief Larry Clark
"We didn't see anything like that in our organization," Clark said.
Reach Paul LaRocco at 909-806-3056 or plarocco@PE.com
Minors in custody to get better care
Accord affects kids with special needs
Emily Sachs, Staff Writer
A newly reached settlement will force San Bernardino County to spend millions of dollars to improve its treatment of juvenile offenders with special needs.
Changes will include providing mandatory mental or developmental screening of all youngsters taken into custody, treatment while they are in juvenile hall and continued services after their release.
The settlement was approved by U.S. District Judge Stephen G. Larson in Riverside.
"To their credit, the county listened to us," said Paula Pearlman, deputy director of advocacy programs for the Disability Rights Legal Center in Los Angeles.
Her group filed the initial federal class-action lawsuit in 2002 on behalf of six teens with mental illnesses and learning disabilities who were incarcerated in San Bernardino County's juvenile-hall system.
One of them, a 16-year-old, sustained such a severe beating and pepper spraying by guards at San Bernardino Juvenile Hall that he had blood in his urine. He had an IQ of 76, six points higher than the benchmark for mental retardation.
Pearlman said the boy was later suicidal as a result of the incident.
The other teens made a variety of other c laims, including that they were denied special-education services and necessary medication or were not being properly treated as a result of their disabilities.
Jerry Harper, director of the San Bernardino County Probation Department, called the agreement a "constructive" settlement.
"Frankly, the sides were not that far apart," he said.
County supervisors must still approve a spending plan, which Harper said will amount to "several millions of dollars."
Kent Paxton, director of the county Children's Network, which monitors child welfare and responsible agencies in the county, said the changes are long overdue. The majority of youngsters in the juvenile-hall system have a history of substantiated child abuse and neglect or prenatal exposure to drugs or alcohol, or both.
Troubled beginnings can make way for attachment disorders or learning disabilities, Paxton said, adding that simple cause-and-effect thinking is often lacking.
"A lot of these kids don't even know why they're in juvenile hall," he said.
The lawsuit sought injunctive relief, which means it isn't designed to win money for personal injury but instead seeks to change policy.
"It's using the laws as a tool for social justice," Pearlman said.
As part of the settlement, the county denies any wrongdoing in connection
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with the teens' accusations.
One of the teens, however, will receive $34,900 in nominal damages; the other five will each get $3,000. The attorneys involved in the lawsuit also will receive $500,000 to cover their costs.
Pearlman said the boys originally involved now range in age from 15 to 22. Two are in juvenile custody and one is in jail. Two others live with their parents, and one is living on his own.
"Some fared better than others," Pearlman said.
The proposed changes include increasing the number of staffers and the training they receive. There are 550 to 600 juveniles in custody or in treatment at any time at the three sites in San Bernardino, Rancho Cucamonga and Apple Valley.
In-custody educational programs also will be improved. Talks still are ongoing w ith the county Superintendent of Schools Office.
The mandates will also require juvenile-hall workers to fully investigate every reported use-of-force incident. There was a lack of follow through on them, Pearlman said.
A probation administrator will be a full-time compliance officer and ombudsman. In addition, Pearlman's agency will meet regularly with the county to ensure the changes are being made.
Paxton said a lack of resources, especially on the part of the county Department of Behavioral Health, brought the county to the point of needing the intervention.
A pilot program to screen all at-risk newborns for mental and developmental problems in the High Desert will expand countywide within a year. A specialized Mental Health Court program has begun to steer selected youth in juvenile hall to mandatory treatment in place of traditional probation.
Some mental-health specialists are already in place at juvenile-hall sites, but until now have been only responding to critical incidents, such as suicide attempts.
"It's unfortunate that a lawsuit has to occur," Paxton said of the changes, "but sometimes that's what it takes."
After three years of planning adjustments and candid protests from airport officials and experts, the City Council approved the 81-home Walton development on Tuesday, with Mayor Jon Harrison and Councilman Mick Gallagher voting against the project. Some council members said they could find no reason to reject the Walton project. "It seems like co-existing. We are capable of having it out there," said Councilman Gilberto Gil. "In all fairness, we have not made the argument against the development." The houses will be built between San Bernardino and Pioneer avenues just southwest of the airport. Eric Fraser, a 39-year-old Redlands resident who runs a charter company out of the airport, said he's bothered that the council seemed to ignore experts who "testified about the incompatibility of residential development in close proximity to an airport." "It may not kill the airport, but it's the next step to make that happen," Fraser said as he stood Wednesday outside his Hughes 500 helicopter. A decision on whether to allow developer Everett Hughes to proceed was put off in April to allow consultant Coffman and Associates to further study the issue and finish the Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan, which was adjusted in 2003 to allow for construction of the nearby sports park. The report is still not complete, but the consultants provided a general assessment of how the housing project could impact the airport and ways to mitigate it. One suggestion included moving the helipad to the north or southeast to reduce noise levels for incoming residents and minimize the number of aircraft flying near the homes. It is estimated to cost between $500,000 and $1 million to relocate the helipad. The developer would not be responsible for this expense. "It's akin to allowing golf carts on the freeway," said Eric Paul, a retired airline captain who argued that moving the helipad would be dangerous because helicopters and small aircraft patterns would then cross, compromising the safety of all involved parties. Gallagher said he voted against the Walton tract because he does not believe the airport has reached its full potential and should not be stymied by encroaching development. Professionals seem to agree. "Coffman Associates' experience is that helicopter traffic patterns and new residential homes do not co-exist very well," reads the airport's Comprehensive Land Use Review Plan. The consultants also point out that several local aviation changes are likely to impact Redlands Municipal Airport, including the pending closure of Rialto Municipal Airport. More than 225 aircraft are based in Rialto, and many are expected to relocate to Redlands because it is open to general aviation. There are no available hangars at this time, officials said, but city officials are at expansion.Homes OK'd by airport
Redlands project to total 81 houses REDLANDS - New neighbors - dozens of them - have been given the green light to set up house 2,000 feet from the Redlands Municipal Airport.
Relocating the helipad to the southeast is the preferred option, Community Development Director Jeff Shaw said, but the city does not own that property.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The City Council approved Tuesday evening $613,000 for the vehicle purchases and adopted an ordinance requiring the city to maintain its own police department. The ordinance is the upshot of a popular revolt spurred by the council's ill-fated September decision to disband the Police Department and bring in the sheriff. "Approval for purchase of the new vehicles is a huge step in the right direction," said interim Chief Frank Scialdone. "By industry standards, many of our cars are simply unsafe, and our maintenance costs have been horrific over the last two years." But it's the ordinance and its implications that promise more enduring effects. And it was steeped in irony Tuesday. The council adopted the ordinance on the heels of a $25,000 study by the Claremont-based Rose Institute on Local Government, the funds for which the council approved in May. The institute's conclusion: The decision to keep the Police Department was an economic gaffe. "By every metric, the proposed contract with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department would provide a higher level of police service at a lower cost than is currently provided by the Rialto Police Department," the report states. The 84-page Rose report, which some residents at the meeting called a waste of $25,000, also projected a decrease in the cost per patrol hour from $145.14 to $108.05 if the city had succeeded in its plan to contract with the Sheriff's Department. The study's authors cited Rialto's torpid property and sales tax growth as further reasons to cut police costs, and warned that Rialto's revenue base is "highly dependent" on the utility-users tax, which is scheduled to sunset in 2008. But thanks to Tuesday's ordinance, the Police Department will almost surely live on, regardless of financial needs. Councilman Ed Scott, until March a firm proponent of disbanding the department, said the report was worth the cost because it provides a clearer explanation of what keeping the department could entail. "This report clearly spells out the reality of enacting this ordinance to keep the department," Scott said. "It is important that the community knows what the impact will be. We're committed to rebuilding the department, but it's going to cost us." Assistant City Administrator Kirby Warner was more ominous. "It was important to put on file a study by a respected, independent third party, so whatever happens in the future shouldn't be as much of a surprise," Warner said. The ordinance pre-empts a November election, essentially conceding the measure would have passed at the ballot, its inclusion assured by about 5,000 residents' signatures that police supporters gathered in December and January. The measure includes key language prohibiting the city from contracting out police services without voter approval, assuaging any lingering skepticism of how supportive political leaders are of the department. The resolution also specifically states that Rialto shall maintain its own police department. Rialto Police Benefit Association President Andrew Pilcher, a vocal critic of the council's plan to disband the department in favor of the sheriff, said late Tuesday the ordinance was a boon to the Police Department's psychological health. "This is a major step toward our returning to premier organization status," Pilcher said. "It's hugely important for the men and women of the department to be able to do their job without having a cloud of uncertainty hanging over their heads." By both quantifiable measures and intangibles, the six-month political battle touched off with the council's Sept. 13 vote took a heavy toll on the department. Officers at nearly every command level fled, many to other departments, in a brutal spell of attrition that had Scialdone and Deputy Chief Tim Ousley braced as late as March for a "crisis" if staffing dipped further. With the approval of a two-year labor contract June 5 and Tuesday's ordinance, the bleeding of the ranks has stopped. According to the Rose report, the department is down to 71 patrol officers, only about three-quarters the number for which it is budgeted. Despite anemic staffing, the department performed markedly better through the first four months of 2006 than it did over the same period the year before, according to department crime statistics, a stark improvement rank-and-file officers credit to Scialdone and Ousley's leadership. Violent crime and property crime citywide are both down about 15 percent. Police have shaved 23 seconds off average response time to emergency calls, down to four minutes, 51 seconds. Overtime hours logged by the understaffed personnel has increased 77 percent over last year, however, and Scialdone has said his command staff is always on the lookout for signs of burnout. But while recruiting processes are under way for levels from patrol officer to a new chief, the department's hardware got the upgrade Tuesday. The 100-vehicle fleet has an average model year of 1997 with 27 of the vehicles logging more than 100,000 miles, which is high for police cars because of hard driving and excessive engine-idling times, Scialdone said. The $2.2 million spent on vehicle maintenance costs since 2004 are reflective of the fleet's advanced average age, Scialdone said. The freed money should produce new cars on the street in six to nine months, Scialdone said. Colton OKs police pay raises CONTRACT: The city is working to stay competitive in recruiting new officers. 12:22 AM PDT on Thursday, June 22, 2006 By MASSIEL LADRÓN DE GUEVARA A pay increase for rank-and-file officers was included Tuesday in a labor contract for the Colton Police Department under an amendment approved by the City Council. The three-year agreement will give officers a 3 percent raise effective Jan. 1. Another raise of 1 percent will go into effect April 1, the agreement says. The city and Colton Police Officers Association also will do a survey of police wages in eight surrounding cities in July 2007 to see how they compare to those paid in Colton, the agreement says. At the end of the study, the base salary in each job classification will be increased until it's equal to the average pay in the other departments surveyed. The survey cities include Chino, Fontana, Montclair, Ontario, Redlands, Rialto, San Bernardino and Upland. The department also has a 5.5 percent salary increase scheduled to begin July 1, Anthony Arroyo, human resources director, said. Officers' annual salaries range from $49,788 to $60,504, Arroyo said. Corporals and detectives are paid from $55,272 to $67,176, while sergeants start at $65,865 and cap out at $80,076, he said. In a March 16 letter to the council, Curtis Bayer, the police association president, asked to reopen the department's contract to remain competitive with other departments and to improve officer retention and recruitment. The council agreed because, members said, the department was having trouble recruiting and maintaining officers. Councilman Richard DeLaRosa said he is glad the increases were approved. "The Police Department is in our schools, parks, stores, businesses and homes and they have proven to be professional and customer-service orientated," DeLaRosa said. "For that reason I think they should have this pay raise. They protect and serve the public as they are expected."
Money for police vehicles approved
RIALTO - Having narrowly survived a bitter, ruinous scrap for its own survival, the Police Department is on the road to revival with approval to purchase 29 new vehicles and a new law shielding it from future efforts at dismantling it in favor of an outside police force.
The Press-Enterprise
The most Affordable Harley Davidson EverSubject: Not everyone is picking lettuce
Check this out ! ! ! !
Not everyone breaking into America is coming here to pick lettuce and fulfill the American dream.
Here are some facts you should know:
40% of all workers in L.A. County (L.A. County has 10 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes. This was because they are predominantly illegal immigrants, working without a green card.
95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.
75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.
Over 2/3's of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal whose births were paid for by taxpayers.
Nearly 25% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.
Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.
The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border.
Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.
21 radio stations in L.A. are Spanish speaking.
In L.A.County 5.1 million people speak English. 3.9 million speak Spanish (10.2 million people in L.A.County).
(All 10 from the Los Angeles Times)
Less than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops but 29% are on welfare.
http://www.cis.org/
Over 70% of the United States annual population growth (and over 90% of California, Florida, and New York) results from immigration.
The cost of illegal immigration to the American taxpayer in 1997 was a NET (after subtracting taxes immigrants pay) $70 BILLION a year, [Professor Donald Huddle, Rice University].
The lifetime fiscal impact (taxes paid minus services used) for the average adult Mexican immigrant is a NEGATIVE .
29% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens.
Just thought you should know.
A divided federal appeals court Friday sided with the Bush administration over rules that make it easier for police and the FBI to wiretap Internet phone calls.
In a 2-1 ruling, the court said the Federal Communications was correct when it decided that providers of Internet phone service and broadband services have obligations similar to those of telephone companies.
The FCC was responding to Justice Department complaints that companies must ensure their equipment using new technologies can accommodate police wiretaps under the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, known as CALEA.
"We cannot set aside the commission's reasonable interpretation of the act in favor of an alternatively plausible or an even better one," wrote appeals court judge David Sentelle.
Judge Harry Edwards disagreed, saying that CALEA contains an exemption for information services and that the FCC "has altogether gutted" it.
In determining that broadband Internet providers are subject to the law just as telecommunications carriers are, the FCC "apparently forgot to read the words of the statute," Edwards wrote in dissent.
FCC chairman Kevin Martin said the decision ensures that law enforcement's ability to conduct lawful court-ordered electronic surveillance will keep pace with new technology.
Sentelle is an appointee of President Reagan, Judge Janice Rogers Brown, who sided with Sentelle, is an appointee of President George W. Bush. Edwards was appointed by President Carter.
The supream court has ruled that the knock notice is a thing of the past. With a signed warrent in hand you can barge into a home (s) and seize Evidence even if you don't knock!!! WOW!! This is oen HUGE Win for the Law Enforcement world!! I can remember running for that bathroom when we have done entries and trying to collect that meth or Dope what ever it was sometimes mixed with shit in hopes to keep your hands out of the bowl!! I would imagine that it worked sometimes. Other times it would not, and we would miss so much drugs down the doilet drain. terrable losses. But no anymore, well untlthis gets challenged by the courts to see that it is constitutinal or not!! We will see!!
BSRancher...
PoliceCan Collect Evidence Before Knocking (Assoc. Press June 15, 2006)..
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that police armed with a warrant can barge into homes and seize evidence even if they don't knock, a huge government victory that was decided by President Bush's new justices.
The 5-4 ruling signals the court's conservative shift following the departure of moderate Sandra Day O'Connor.
Dissenting justices predicted that police will now feel free to ignore previous court rulings that officers with search warrants must knock and announce themselves or run afoul of the Constitution's Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches.
Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, said Detroit police acknowledge violating that rule when they called out their presence at a man's door, failed to knock, then went inside three seconds to five seconds later. The court has endorsed longer waits, of 15 seconds to 20 seconds.
"Whether that preliminary misstep had occurred or not, the police would have executed the warrant they had obtained, and would have discovered the gun and drugs inside the house," Scalia wrote.
Suppressing evidence is too high of a penalty, Scalia said, for errors by police in failing to properly announce themselves.
The outcome might have been different if O'Connor were still on the bench. She seemed ready, when the case was first argued in January, to rule in favor of Booker Hudson, whose house was searched in 1998.
O'Connor had worried aloud that officers around the country might start bursting into homes to execute search warrants. She asked: "Is there no policy of protecting the home owner a little bit and the sanctity of the home from this immediate entry?"
She retired before the case was decided, and a new argument was held so that Justice Samuel Alito could participate in deliberations. Alito and Bush's other Supreme Court pick, Chief Justice John Roberts, supported Scalia's opinion.
Hudson's lawyers argued that evidence against him was connected to the improper search and could not be used at his trial. He was convicted of drug possession.
Scalia said that a victory for Hudson would have given "a get-out-of-jail-free card" to him and others.
In a dissent, four justices complained that the decision erases more than 90 years of Supreme Court precedent.
"It weakens, perhaps destroys, much of the practical value of the Constitution's knock-and-announce protection," Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for himself and the three other liberal members.
Breyer said that police can now enter homes without knocking and waiting a short time if they know that there is no punishment for it.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, a moderate, joined the conservatives in most of the ruling. He wrote his own opinion, however, to say "it bears repeating that it is a serious matter if law enforcement officers violate the sanctity of the home by ignoring the requisites of lawful entry."
Kennedy said that legislatures can intervene if police officers do not "act competently and lawfully." He also said that people whose homes are wrongly searched can file a civil rights lawsuit.
And Scalia wrote that there are public-interest law firms and attorneys who specialize in civil rights grievances.
In response, Breyer said there is no evidence of anyone collecting much money in such cases.
The case is Hudson v. Michigan, 04-1360.
Starting tonight, Buchert will participate in the Jurupa Rodeo, a PRCA sanctioned rodeo which is celebrating its 30th anniversary by returning to its original home, the Rick Thompson Arena in Glen Avon. Buchert actually became a bull rider at the urging of his wife, Kris, 33, who was his girlfriend at the time. ‘‘She had friends who were bull riders and, for fun, encouraged me to do it,'' he said. ‘‘I love it, it's a blast and the Jurupa Rodeo is special to me, because it's home and I get to see all of my friends and family there.'' This year's rodeo will include bareback bronc riding, saddle bronc riding, tie down roping, steer wrestling, team Roping, barrel racing and bull riding events. There will be a ‘‘mutton bustin' '' demonstration during intermission on both Friday and Sunday. Bill Cain, who was the rodeo's first announcer, and Tom Mitchell, the rodeo's first stock contractor will participate as grand marshals of the rodeo. The presiding royalty for this year's rodeo will be Jurupa Rodeo Queen Jessica Saenz of Norco; Jr. Queen Rebekah Robinson of Mira Loma; Young Miss McKayla Payne of Phelan; Lil' Miss Jazmine Singh of Hesperia, and will feature Miss Rodeo California Brittany Nuckols of Summit Valley. Longtime rodeo committee member Linda Thompson said she hopes this year, those who recently moved into the Eastvale area will attend the event as a way to make new friends. ‘‘The Jurupa rodeo is a good way to see friend, family and neighbors,'' said Thompson, who has been a volunteer with the committee for more than 22 years. ‘‘It's a fun event and people who have moved away often return home just to visit.'' The arena is named for her late husband, Rick, who died in 1999. She said that each year the rodeo is special, but this year will kick off with ‘‘Tough Enough to Wear Pink'' night. ‘‘It's our way of showing our support of Breast Cancer Awareness by asking everyone to wear pink tonight,'' said Thompson. She added that on Sunday, the annual Cowboy Church starts things off at 10 a.m. and said that the service is open to everyone wishing to attend. The gates open on Sunday at noon with the Special Children's Rodeo for handicapped children at 1:30 p.m. All those wishing to participate must be pre-registered. There will be food and drink available for purchase, including kettle korn and barbecue, snow cones and tacos. ‘‘Everyone in our community gets involved,'' said Thompson, adding that there will be lemonade for sale from the local 4-H club and hot dogs from the Jurupa Parks Department. This year, Thompson said there will also be a Kiddy Carnival for small children. The VFW Post 10267 will be manning the beer booths and the Boy Scouts will be selling soda and water. The Jurupa Rodeo is truly a community rodeo with an all volunteer committee and with the help and support of the Jurupa Parks District, the Jurupa School District, and District Supervisor John Tavaglione, along with many other community clubs and businesses. ‘‘It's just a really good time, and it's designed just for families,'' said Thompson. Buchert said he hoping to stay on his bull, which will be chosen by the luck of the draw. ‘‘It's a good time, and I could win anywhere from $1,500 to $2,000,'' he said. ‘‘So I'm hopeful and excited to participate.'' 30TH ANNUAL JURUPA RODEO
Jurupa Rodeo ropin' up fun for this weekend
Jon Buchert, 40, of Riverside is a bull rider who has for eight years spent his spare time competing on the rodeo circuit.
WHERE: 8621 Jurupa Rd., between Agate and Pedley roads, Glen Avon.
WHEN: June 9, 10 and 11
Gates open at 5 p.m. on June 9 and 10.
On June 11, a Cowboy Church will start things off at 10 a.m. at the arena and will be open to everyone at no charge. Gates open on June 11 at noon.
COST: Tickets purchased at the gate on Friday and Sunday will be $13 and children younger than 11 will be admitted free. Saturday tickets are available for $16 and children younger than 3 will be admitted free.
INFORMATION: (951) 681-6429, (951) 360-3761, or www.juruparodeo.com.
The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds that come in encounter with the roughness of the world.
When all other friends desert, he remains.
In this spot are deposited the remains of one who possessed beauty without vanity, strength without insolence, courage without ferocity, and all the virtues of man without his vices.
This praise, which would be unmeaning flattery if inscribed or commented over human remains is but a just tribute to the memory of Buck, a dog.
He wagged his tail to the very last -
And he smiles in his last, long sleep -
The troubles of life, for him, are past,
In his grave, a few feet deep.
His soul -- for I feel that he had a soul
and he thought real thoughts, we know, -
Has found the ultimate end, life's goal,
In the heaven where good dogs go.
Written by a client of Pet's Rest
"They (his parents) never gave me a name! I guess that means that I can call myself anything that I want, right? I think so," he said. "I found this out when my mother and a notary did some `paperwork,' so I could join the Marines in 1946. I was 15. Mom called me Vern (Acree) and I answered to that, but I always liked the name Roy, and used that for a while; also, Johnny Colorado. Now, I'm just Cowboy." Cowboy was born May 10, 1930, in Borger, Texas, near Amarillo, on the vast and lonely Texas panhandle. His mother, Annie Lee Hawkins Acree, was born in 1893 to a musical family, in a covered wagon near Breckenridge, Texas, a tad southwest of Mineral Wells. Her father, Pete Hawkins, was a trail boss who was leading the wagons to Oklahoma at the time of the land rush. The wagons had been delayed because they couldn't cross over the north fork of the Red River due to high water and had to circle the wagons to wait it out. Finally, the settlers were able to make their way to Oklahoma and homesteaded a claim near Sayre in southwestern Oklahoma. One day, the singer/songwriter explained, "My father rode into town, and my mother married him, even though her family strongly disapproved." The couple had nine children, eight survived. "One day, during the Great Depression, my father went for milk at the next farm and just kept going." Annie Lee's family wouldn't help her very much. "We told you so," her parents told her, so two of little Vern's brothers dug a large hole in a hill on their claim and that is where the family of nine lived. It had dirt steps and a dirt floor. They all slept in a chicken feather bed in the back of the dugout and when the rain came through, Annie Lee would say, "Nobody moves!" She would put a jar under the leak and if any of the children even rolled over, it would spill all over the bed. They hauled water more than a mile and she would boil it over and over to wash the dishes without having to go back for more. "Facilities" were designated trees and bushes -- one area for the girls and one for the boys. Often, when it rained, critters would come in through the roof. "We dealt with centipedes, they were the worst, spiders, chiggers and snakes." When one of the children was bitten, chewed tobacco juice was used on the bite. Vern was shy and stuttered, kind of a loner. He made a pet out of a blue racer snake that he spotted while climbing a tree. Blue racers aren't poisonous, but they are fast and will whip around and chase whatever is nearby. The little boy and the snake chased each other for fun all the time. One day, he asked his mother what his heritage was. "Scotch, Irish, Dutch and devil, and mostly devil," she answered. "Now go away and leave me alone." The family never had much to eat. Their mother would gather roots, wild greens, grapes and plums, and the boys hunted rabbits and other small game with slingshots. Eventually, the eldest children left, and Annie Lee and the younger ones moved to a small house in town near a hobo camp. Cowboy remembers hanging on to his mother's apron strings when a hobo knocked on the door. The man had just a few pennies and wanted to work for food. When Annie Lee told him her story, the man turned around and gave her his pennies. "Ma'am, you need these more than I do," he told her. It was about this time that Vern set his heart on a cutaway guitar, decorated in Hawaiian style with a palm tree design, that he spotted in a local pawnshop. He had tried to create a guitar out of an old cigar box, but was defeated by the strings he tried to attach. "I've always loved sounds," he said. He "chopped" (picked) cotton and worked as hard as he could to buy that guitar. His mother helped him and finally, it was his. He has played guitar ever since. "Old-timers would cut the rattles off snakes and put them inside their guitars," he said. "It gave the music a special kind of `shushy' sound effect." Cowboy stepped out into the world at age 12 when one of his brothers sent him a train ticket to Portland, Ore. There he learned the ways of the city and his shyness started to disappear. His brother later moved to Shafter, Calif., where Vern attended high school. He quit in the 10th grade and returned to Oklahoma with the idea of joining the Marines. He served for three years as an ordnance expert and started his professional musical career during that time, playing in honky- tonks, clubs, at special events and anywhere that his band, the Feather River Boys, could find a gig. In 1955, they performed at the grand opening of Disneyland and in 1949, the Spade Cooley Show. Cowboy sang with Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers. He had a special friendship with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and their son, Dusty. They were "super people," he remembered. Cowboy is well-known in Rancho Cucamonga and the Inland Empire for his original songs and his performances at the strawberry stands on Archibald Avenue and Base Line Road, where he takes care of business and also entertains his customers. First-timers are amazed at his talents and are delighted by his humor. He is very proud of an autographed photo of Johnny Hammer, who was the lead guitarist for Merle Haggard. Hammer admired Cowboy's rendition of "Back in the Saddle Again," faithfully reproducing Pat Butram's recording. He finishes with a steer's bellow. Rancho Cucamonga Mayor Bill Alexander presented the photo as a surprise during a performance of the "Golden Follies" in Montclair. "I have played music for most of my life," Cowboy said. "I have been on television and made some records here and there, but I have never given up on my dream of creating a song that would catch on. Even at my age, I know I can do it. I think I've got some very good songs and I'm going to find out what people think. I think there should be a lot more music. People should whistle and hum a lot more. It would be helpful." To this end, Cowboy is working on a CD that will include "Cucamonga Blues," a local favorite, "Eating Strawberries and Drinking Cold Beer," "Skate Board Boogie Man," "Weekender" and "Jay Walking Man." He is working on the project with a former member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and others. "It isn't cowboy music," he said. "I'm a real cowboy, but I don't have cowboy ways. I'm always trying to jump the fence. It gets me into trouble." A few years ago, Cowboy suffered a near-fatal heart attack while working at the strawberry stand on Base Line in Rancho Cucamonga. Customers spotted his upraised arm in the back of the stand and called 9-1-1. He underwent a stent procedure and then a quadruple bypass. "My brain keeps saying, `I'm all right,' and my doctor keeps saying, `Stop jumping fences.' " The music man/philosopher always tells his customers and friends, when they are leaving clutching their baskets of giant strawberries -- "Remember now, God loves you and so does the Cowboy."
"Cowboy," a unique modern minstrel, is still living his dream
The man called Cowboy was given a birth certificate that had no name on it.
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Bernice Henley: Lady of many talents
You might recognize her as the Easter Bunny, having fun on the streets of Highland at Easter time.
Helping others came naturally to her, she said, recalling that her mother would always have food for the poor at a restaurant she operated on Mount Vernon Street in San Bernardino. | |||||
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