Gold Star Mothers, go to Washington to discuss concerns with their

You might want to be sitting down when you read this one

 

Gold Star Mothers (G.S.M.)is an organization made up of women whose sons were killed in military combat during service in the

United States Armed Forces.
 

Recently a delegation of New York State Gold Star Mothers made a trip to Washington D.C., to discuss various concerns with their elected Representatives.  

According to published reports, there was only one politician who refused to meet with these ladies.
 

Can you guess which politician that might be?  

Was it New York Senator Charles Schumer?

Nope, he met with them. 

Try again.  Do you know anyone serving in the Senate who has never showed anything but contempt for our military?

Do you happen to know the name of any politician in Washington who's husband once wrote of his loathing for the military?

Now you're getting warm! You got it!
 

None other than the Queen herself, Hillary Rotten Clinton!

 

She refused repeated requests to meet with the Gold Star Mothers.  

Now, please don't tell me you're Surprised. This woman wants to be President of the United States --- and there is a huge percentage of Voters who are eager to help her achieve that goal.  

May you sleep in peace always...and please....hug or thank a Veteran for that privilege.  

Think about this one !!!

Don't forget, our girl, Hillary Rodham Clinton, as a New York Senator, now comes under this fancy congressional Retirement and Staffing Plan.  

It's common knowledge that, in order for her to establish NYS residency, they purchased a million+ dollar house in upscale Chappaqua, NY .

 Makes sense.  

Now, they are entitled to Secret Service protection for life.  

Still makes sense. 

Here is where it becomes interesting. The mortgage payments hover at about $10,000 per month.

BUT, an extra residency had to be built within the acreage in order to house the Secret Service agents..  

The Clinton 's now charge the Secret Service $10,000 monthly rent for the use of said Secret Service residence
and that rent is just about equal to their mortgage payment, meaning that we, the tax payers, are paying the Clinton's mortgage, their transportation, their safety and security, their 12 man staff, and it's all perfectly legal.

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BS Ranch Perspective:

What is sad is that she is Now Running for that Seat, and only that Obama, is running against her, but I am sorry, I am bent to far to the Right, what I mean when I say to the Right is Way to far to the right side of things the way that they should be!! The Liberal Demecrats, represented by the Holleywood left were Asked by reporters from Bill O'Reilly's show, and they would rather Risk ANOTHER DAR-FOUR Situation in Iraq, by airlifting and taking all our Military people out of there immedeatly, at what ever the cost, they don't even care, if IRAN is the ONE THAT IS DELIVERING THE BLOOD BATH, AND KILLING ALL THE SUBSEQUENT, IRAQ CITIZENS THAT WE HAVE BEEN PROTECTING ALL ALONG!

    Bill O'Rielly had his reporters on the ground when None other then The Anti-U.S. Military, Hollywood Queen herself was there, Protesting in Sacramento Ca. at the  Ca.  State  Capital to  plead with the Government to get the U.S Military to Pull Out Of IRAQ. Just like back when the Military Men and Woman were getting Killed while she was on the other side, with the Northern Vietnamese Army, she still has no clue as to what we are fighting for. She just wants us to pull out right away, and then we can watch the blood Bath on Television, the IRAQ, Citizens Killed by IRAN, and then they would move in and price the oil that comes over to the U.S. at $200 $300 a Barrel, now these are prices that Mrs. Turner can afford, after all she is listed on one of the most richest people in the USA, along with the other Movie Makers and Entertainment People that are over making this protest.

IT is funny how these people are the ones that are making our Entertainment, they are the ones that are staring in Movies, and making movies, and are the ones that are thought of as in touch with the world, but I say that they are not in  touch with anything that is going on in the world.

I say that they are void of Emotions, I say that they are told how to feel and would not know what or how to feel if not told how to do so, when it comes to their Job, and their Life!! That is why they must take Alcohol, and many resort to drugs so that when they are not told how to feel the tings in Life that they use those Drugs and Alcohol to feel the things in life that they don't feel. if that makes sense. I know it doesn't to me, but that is because I am not an actor or entertainer.

I am just an Ex-Motorcycle Officer, that nearly died while on the job, but that is a whole other story, but I felt that a little of my back round was warranted since I had made so much of the actors BLANK CANVAS!! HA HA...

An ACTOR GETS PAID LITERALLY MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FOR DOING NOTHING BUT PRETENDING TO BE SOMEONE ELSE!! CAN YOU IMAGINE, PRETENDING TO BE SOMEONE THEY ARE NOT, GETTING PAID MILLIONS. Jeffrey Dahlmer did it for free for years to avoid capture, he should have gotten the Oscar!! I think! Because he was saving on his grocery bills, by eating his victims while acting like a straight guy when he was clearly gay.

MILLIONS OF PEOPLE TAKE THEIR ADVICE FROM PEOPLE THAT PRETEND TO BE SOMETHING THAT THEY ARE NOT, AND YET THEY ARE WHO MANY LOOK TO AS PEOPLE THAT KNOW MORE THAN THE PEOPLE THAT GET PAID TO DO THAT KIND OF WORK, SUCH AS WAR FAIR & Strategies for the best way to handle hostiles in the area.

Yes, on forging Affairs I am going to ask a movie Star what the Government should do!!

I can assure you that the people that know feel that war will break out Iran will attack the Iraq border, as soon as the U.S. are gone and then there will be mass Blood Shed!! They also have said that IRAN will take over the OIL concerns and then we will be paying a very high price for the Liquid Gold, and you can bet a Price of $7.00 to $9.00 is possible!!

Yes Democrats and Hollywood, Pull out!!

BS Ranch

Forgery Suspected After Thefts of Mailbox Bin

Forgery suspected after thefts of mailbox bins

10:00 PM PST on Friday, December 22, 2006

By PAUL LAROCCO
The Press-Enterprise

A forged check has brought attention to a string of public mailboxthefts with the potential to affect scores of residents in Riversideand San Bernardino counties.

Story continues below

Three of the large blue boxes bolted into city sidewalks were stolenin San Bernardino over the past week, while two more have disappearedin Temecula, said Sgt. Richard Ells of the San Bernardino CountySheriff's Department.

One of the boxes was in front of the post office at 1663 E. DatePlace, near Del Rosa Avenue. Locations for the other four were notavailable Friday.

While it's unknown what became of all but once piece of the stolenmail, Ells said identity thieves are known to obtain their informationfrom mail.

"That's generally what you see when a large amount of mail is stolen," he said.

The only known incident involving any of the stolen mail occurredearlier this week. A woman who dropped a check into the box at the DelRosa post office saw that it had been cashed for more than she hadwritten it.

Following up, the woman learned the check -- addressed for Phoenix-- was cashed at a local bank. The check, Ells said, also had been madeout to Michael Thomas Leslie, a 28-year-old transient known to frequentmotels around San Bernardino.

Deputies are searching for Leslie on suspicion of forgery andpossession of stolen property, but do not know if he is involved in themailbox thefts.

"The check was stolen from the box, and it was cashed by him, so theassumption is that he's involved," Ells said. "But I supposed someonecould have dumped it and he just found it."

Sheriff's officials are only investigating the forgery portion ofthe case. The U.S. Postal Service handles thefts of federal mailboxes.

Renee Focht, a postal inspector with the Postal Service's LosAngeles Division, said thieves face five years in federal prison forevery piece of mail they're convicted of taking.

"We take this seriously," she said, "and will investigate aggressively."

Reach Paul LaRocco at 909-806-3064 or

plarocco@PE.com

--
BS Ranch Perspective:

You wonder why the people of the BS Ranch have taken up to renting a PO Box, and place the out going mail inside the Post Office, where it is less likely to get stolen, unless, God Forbid, it is a Postal Employee that has taken up stealing the mail for the small checks that are inside.

The mail outside the Ranch Properties surrounding the places here where the BS Ranch is located have had their mail stolen from the Mail Boxes. They noticed the the their mail was located up the street all torn open with the Checks and important documents gone such as the applications for Credit Cards and the like. I don't know what they will or can get from that, but what ever it is they are trying to get, it is scary to this author!!

I know that the time has come that the Post Office needs a more secure means of Securing the mail, such as a Postal Drop that is inside a Metal Safe of some kind, that cannot be compromised during the night when there are no witnesses as to what or who is breaking them open! Or it is time for the postal Customer to place their mail in the boxes when they know that the Mail Carrier is going to pick up the mail or Drop their mail inside the Post Office itself, as I have done now for years when I found that there had been break ins to the blue mail drop boxes. The Suspect cut the door open with a cutting torch one time, and the other time the Lock was completely compromised by some kind of prying device in the key opening and then the door was pried open the rest of the way with a prying tool.

The mail isn't safe any more and people wonder why I have gone to paying my bills over the Internet and wondering what, why, or even if that is safe. To me that is safer then leaving a check in the mail box or even the Post Office any more. It is a Sad Day when you have to Think of it This way!!

BS Ranch!

Groups Try To Join Lawsuit Over Roads In Death Valley (Assoc. Press

Groups try to join lawsuit over roads in Death Valley

By Garance Burke

ASSOCIATED PRESS

FRESNO - Six environmental groups filed legal papers Thursday to join Death Valley National Park in fighting a federal court lawsuit that, if successful, could open miles of desert canyons and valleys to motorized vehicles.

Last October, Inyo County sued the federal government seeking to re-establish its access to four dirt roads near the Nevada border that park officials seized when the national park was established in 1994.

The environmentalists say the old mining roads were washed away years ago, and allowing vehicles into those areas now could endanger sensitive animal and plant species found in remote stretches of the desert.

"All of these are places where you can really enjoy the fantastic scenery and the stillness of the largest national park in the lower forty-eight (states)," said Ted Zukoski, an Earthjustice attorney representing the groups.

If Judge Anthony Ishii grants the motion to intervene, the Sierra Club, Friends of the Inyo, California Wilderness Coalition, Center for Biological Diversity, The Wilderness Society and the National Parks Conservation Association would become parties to the suit.

If the county prevails, the groups believe the park's fragile ecosystem could suffer, to the detriment of the federally protected desert tortoise, desert bighorn sheep, mountain lions and other rare wildlife that roam there.

"Even the designation of a national park is not enough to keep people who want to use motorized vehicles out of these areas to protect the resources," said Lisa Belenky, a staff attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity.

The environmentalists see the disputed area as desert canyons and valleys, which the Bureau of Land Management found to be "roadless" years ago.

But the county views the same area as approximately 20 miles of established roadways that can be widened to two lanes to accommodate increased traffic as needed, according to a suit filed on Oct. 24.

Inyo County's lawsuit cited a Civil War-era mining law that allowed local governments to build highways over some public lands.

According to the 1866 mining law, the county has the right to preserve the public right-of-way on the old roads, Assistant County Counsel Randy Keller said.

"These roads have been there for 100 years," Keller said. "The way we look at it, they were taken."

The environmental groups seek to intervene to defend just three of those roads.

The same mining law is being invoked in another case in nearby Surprise Canyon, an area just outside Death Valley's boundaries.

There, off-road drivers and environmentalists are squaring off over whether the canyon and its spring-fed waterfalls should be closed to vehicles.

Off-roaders have no role in the legal action brought by Inyo County, but drivers stand to benefit from the suit, Keller said.

"It's a public road, and the county's desire is to see that the public's right to traverse these roads continues," he said. "That's part of the idea. They're recreation routes that people use to drive through the desert."

The parties have asked for a hearing on March 12, said Zukoski. The court could rule anytime after that.

---

BS Ranch Perspective:

It is really simple, these roads need to be open for the use of the public, that is all!!

BS Ranch

Worries About Wal-Mart (SB Sun 012207) Largest U.S. Retailer Meets

Worries about Wal-Mart

Largest U.S. retailer meets some resistance to supercenter plans

Leonor Vivanco, Staff Writer

Article Launched: 01/22/2007 12:00:00 AM PST

Decades-old mom-and-pop stores will close their doors for good. More traffic will be backed up on already-clogged streets.

These are the fears many residents express when a Wal-Mart supercenter is proposed in their neighborhood.

With two supercenters already built and at least 10 more planned for the region, residents are bracing themselves for a battle against the giant retailer as the county looks at the effect such businesses have on the area.

Wal-Mart says the fear about small businesses is not realized when supercenters open, but the San Bernardino County Grand Jury is taking a closer look at that issue as well as the impact on traffic.

"We are engaged in an investigative effort to ascertain how a large retail business, such as Wal-Mart, affects the economic welfare of smaller businesses, as well as car and foot traffic in the surrounding area," the Grand Jury stated in a Dec. 19 letter to the city of Rialto, where a supercenter is proposed.

The Grand Jury - made up of 19 citizens appointed by the San Bernardino County Superior Court to investigate or inquire into county matters - asked Rialto to provide materials, such as environmental-impact reports and other research, to help in its review.  Wal-Mart is not concerned about the inquiry, spokesman Kevin McCall said.

"We believe at the end of the study, the cities are going to find out having a Wal-Mart supercenter with the tax revenue and employment is a positive," he said.

Still, the company faces opposition. An Ontario anti-Wal-Mart Web site - www.stopwalmartontario.com - and fliers with similar sentiments in Highland surfaced when word spread of possible supercenters in those cities.

Location, location

Wal-Mart has 21 supercenters in California with an average store size of 185,000 square feet.

Supercenters, stocked with general merchandise and groceries, started being developed nationally in 1988 as a one-stop family shop.

Last year, two supercenters opened in the region - one in Beaumont, the other in Chino.

In addition to its plans in Ontario, the giant retailer has eyed sites for supercenters in Fontana, Rialto, Highland, Redlands, Apple Valley and Victorville.

---

Store status

Proposals have been submitted to many cities throughout San Bernardino County, which are looking at how a large retail business, such as Wal-Mart, affects traffic and the economic welfare of smaller businesses.

1. Barstow: Ground will be broken this year on an 880,000-square-foot food-distribution center on 160 acres. The $60 million investment is expected to create 500 full-time jobs.

2. Apple Valley: An environmental-impact report is nearing completion for a 228,000-square-foot supercenter on the property on which Wal-Mart closed escrow in 2005.

3. Victorville: Three plans have been submitted for supercenters at three sites. All three are early in the review process.

4. Fontana: Two proposals have been submitted to build supercenters in the city:

A 235,000-square-foot supercenter proposed in 2005 for the north-side Fontana Promenade site, a shopping and entertainment destination. City officials are working with Wal-Mart to find alternative sites.

A 245,000-square-foot supercenter proposed in December next to the site of a Hilton Garden Inn on the city's south side.

5. Rialto: An environmental-impact report is nearing completion for a 250,000-square-foot supercenter and expected to be available for the public to review in February or March.

6. Ontario: An environmental-impact report is being prepared for a 178,000-square-foot supercenter proposed in 2004.

7. Chino: A remodeled and expanded 234,350-square-foot supercenter opened in August.

8. Highland: Wal-Mart plans to submit an application for a supercenter on land the company purchased in 2006, but it has not yet done so.

9. Redlands: Preliminary plans were submitted in 2005 for a 196,028-square-foot supercenter.

10. Beaumont: A 216,000-square-foot supercenter opened in March.

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BS Ranch Perspective:

The size of the stores and the sheer over all, way that the all in one store is just so overwhelming to one shopper. The thought that you can just walk in and get everything at the one store is just so overwhelming to ones thoughts. I know that was what happened to me when I walked into the Superstore in Northern San Bernardino, it was just so big, and just wow. huge. But still the products that Wal-mart has is just a little under par as it comes to the quality of the merchandise. See if you get a DVD player there they have the motors that are not as high quality as the same DVD player that you could get in Sears Store for the same or close to the same model number. They don't sell any other Model number then they do  in the Wal Mart Store.

It is one way that they can put the lower quality Motor's in the Unit's and the lower prices go to that unit. The Guarantee is much lower for that motor in that DVD player, and vertebrally doesn't exist if the thing breaks. That is just one thing that is wrong with the store. It crosses over to vacuum cleaner and well every appliance in their store. they sell only appliances that are special made to that store with special lower quality parts for the sale to the public at a lower price.

BS Ranch

Council Votes to Widen Overpass at Riverside Ave @ Interstate 10

Council votes to widen overpass

Article Launched: 01/21/2007 12:00:00 AM PST

RIALTO - Drivers who have ever had to navigate Riverside Avenue over the 10 Freeway during rush hour know how maddening the experience can be.

But in order for traffic to get better, it's first going to have to get worse.

Earlier this week, the City Council voted by 3-2 to close the overpass for nine months in order to widen it. When the project starts in the summer or fall of 2008, traffic on Cedar Avenue is predicted to increase by up to 50 percent.

The alternative to this relatively quick period of pain for drivers was to keep the bridge open to reduced traffic flow for a longer, 30-month construction period.

City officials have discussed the project since 1997, when it was predicted to cost only a fraction of the current $31 million price tag.

The council reached its decision Wednesday at a special joint meeting with the city's Transportation Commission.

- Jason Pesick, (909) 889-9666

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BS Ranch Perspective:

It is about time that the City of Rialto has taken the hands off the purse strings a Little and is getting this done. This project should have been done Years ago! It should have been done say almost 5 to 7 years ago, and they waited and waited. The company people of WAL-MART always came up and said when are you going to fix the gate way to the city, so that there will be more people that enter the city, not so many people that there is such a traffic jam that they are angry and all they want to do is leave before they are done shopping!!

BS Ranch!!

City Looks at plan to turn sludge into fuel (The News Journal 012007)

City looks at plan to turn sludge into fuel

Environmentalists doubt claims of clean energy

By JEFF MONTGOMERY, The News Journal

Posted Saturday, January 20, 2007

Wilmington is quietly exploring a venture that would convert treated sewage waste into a fuel for power plants or industry, hoping to avert a looming disposal headache at northern Delaware's regional wastewater plant.

David Small, deputy secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, said city officials disclosed their discussions with California-based EnerTech Environmental Inc. in a letter to the agency.

"It was very preliminary," said William Montgomery, chief of staff to Wilmington Mayor James M. Baker. He said the city's message to DNREC was: "We're looking at this new technology. What do you think of it?"

In a telephone interview on Friday, EnerTech Chief Executive Officer Kevin Bolin described current discussions with Wilmington as "informational and exploratory."

In late December, however, Enertech asked city officials to support an evaluation of prospects for a plant in Wilmington. The study could produce a proposal to "fully develop, design, finance, construct and operate this facility with no financial support or risk by the city," with startup 24 months after contract approval.

One approach could involve importing the sewage waste, known as sludge, from other communities for processing with Wilmington's output, the city noted.

Enertech recently won approval to build a $50 million plant in Rialto, Calif., that will create dry fuel from 675 tons of sludge supplied by Rialto and several other cities and counties in the greater Los Angeles area. The company also operates a small plant in Georgia and two sites in Japan.

All three use a process that heats and dries sludge under pressure, creating a coal-like material that EnerTech calls "E-Fuel."

"Burning processed sewage sludge is something that we would look upon with great caution," said Alan Muller, who directs the environmental group Green Delaware. "We're highly skeptical. It's unlikely that this would be a preferred solution."

Muller said that he would be concerned about the fate of heavy metals and other pollutants left in the sludge. EnerTech described its product as "cleaner to combust than most coals."

Delaware Solid Waste Authority Chief Executive Pasquale S. Canzano said that EnerTech's process may offer a sustainable way of using sludge that now costs treatment plant customers $2 million a year for disposal.

"It's a fuel and it can be used in any boiler that burns coal-type products," said Canzano, who has samples of EnerTech's product in his Dover office. "In California, they're talking about using it in cement kilns, and we do have cement manufacturing in this area."

Canzano said that cement kilns use all of the sludge-based fuel. Unburned solids become a part of the cement itself, eliminating ash disposal problems.

Contact Jeff Montgomery at 678-4277 or jmontgomery@delawareonline.com.

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BS Ranch Perspective:

Why Not, Everyone is looking for fuel in every kind of waist that we produce, why not our own Poop! We leave the waist to go to waist treatment plant in Rialto, and they move the sledge through the pools and then into a large tank where the sledge is heated at a temperature that can make the sledge more manageable, then the sledge is piled up and they either sell it to a plant that uses it for Fertilizer in our Gardens, or Lawns, and you wonder why the Fertilizer "Humus" was so stinky!

BS Ranch

Naked Man Arrested With "Conceald" Weapoon! (AP 11032006) Read On

Nov 3, 2006 4:44 pm US/Pacific

Naked Man Arrested With 'Concealed' Weapon

Read On If You Want To Know Where He Put It

(AP) EL CERRITO, Calif. A naked man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon after telling police he
had a screwdriver in his buttocks.

Police say John Sheehan was lying on a tree stump fondling himself beside a nature path near the El Cerrito Bay Area Rapid Transit station Thursday.

Sheehan was initially arrested on suspicion of indecent exposure. But when asked if he was carrying anything police should know about, Sheehan mentioned the tool.

Officers drew their weapons and firefighters were called to the scene, but Sheehan removed a six-inch metal awl wrapped in black electrical tape without incident.

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BS Ranch Perspective:

The one thing that I would be thankful for if it was my Arrest, is Those Rubber Gloves. I Would not want to handle the object with my bare hands, and could you imagine the smell in the Tag and Bag Evidence Locker Room area! Then the Evidence Clerk's that have to handle this stuff and they would get this Wrapped object that is all smelling like poo poo, and just sick. What would make a person hide a weapon in the orifice or anal opening that could receive permanent damage to this person. Why, It just really makes you stop and wonder, Why??

It is obvious that this guy is a pervert of different kind of sorts!!

BS Ranch

Jury Seeks Death Penalty for freeway Slayer (Press Telegram 01032007)

Jury seeks death penalty for freeway slayer

From P-T staff and wire reports

Article Launched: 01/02/2007 10:22:13 PM PST

LOS ANGELES - Jurors recommended the death penalty Tuesday for the so-called "60 Freeway Slayer," convicted of killing six prostitutes whose bodies were found along the route east to the Inland Empire.

The jury deliberated for four days before reaching a decision.

Ivan Hill was convicted Nov. 17 of six counts of first-degree murder.

During last month's penalty phase, a parade of friends and relatives urged jurors to spare Hill's life. Prosecutors countered that Hill had a violent past and deserved the death penalty.

Hill was convicted in the 1993 and 1994 killings of Roxanne Bates, 31, of Montclair; Helen Ruth Hill, 36, of Pomona; Donna L. Goldsmith, 35, of Montclair; Cheryl Sayers, 34, of Ontario; Betty Sue Harris, 37, of Pomona and Debra Denise Brown, 33, of Los Angeles.

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BS Ranch Perspective:

I hope that they give this guy the death penalty, then we have to work to resolve the differences regarding the recent court decision to say that the death penalty is unconstitutional again, it really is a sad time when The Death penalty is 25 to 30 more years extended to the suspects life, when they didn't give that to their victim's!! I agree that if the wrong man was executed then they need to set aside an amount that might be suitable for the slaying of a person for the murder that they potentially didn't commit, but it is funny how they say they were wrongfully convicted but their blood or finger print is on the murder weapon. Oh My?

BS Ranch

Driver Shot During Attempted Carjacking (SB Sun 12312006)

RIALTO
Driver shot during attempted carjacking

A man was shot in the legs three times Friday evening during an unsuccessful carjacking and robbery attempt.

The wounds were not life- threatening, said Rialto police Sgt. Don Lewis.

Lewis said three juveniles attempted to rob the victim and steal his car at an apartment complex at 1108 S. Riverside Ave.

One of the juveniles apparently shot the man twice in the right knee and once in the left shin, Lewis said. The victim then drove to the front of the complex in his car. Police were still searching for the suspects. The victim's 4-year-old daughter was in the car at the time of the attack. She was not injured, police said.

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BS Ranch Perspective:

It just goes to show that even with a New Police Department the danger is still lurking out there. The Rialto Police Department is still short over some 15 or so positions, that they are not publishing, for the public scar that might start if and when they do! With the 15 or so Officer's that are short, it is hard to get to every incident in a timely manor, so please be patient with the Rialto Police Department, they are doing the work of 125 Police Officers when they are even short some 15 to 23 Officers on the Department. I know the good news that has come to the City lately is that the Ex-Sergeant R. Martinez, has been re-hired or stolen back from Baldwin Park, but this time he will be promoted from a Lieutenant to a Captain. I guess he will be in charge of Special Services and the Detective Bureau. That puts him over Traffic, Humane Services, SWAT, SIT (Special Enforcement Team), Everything but Patrol, and Records, because that is what Capt. T. Farrar will over see.

We also have a little bird that says a once long gone Sgt. will be returning as a Sgt. and Crispin be thy name. Sgt. Crispin is reported to be returning as well.

This is all great news for Rialto, however they need to get more Police Officers, and not so many Chiefs, in other words when are they going to get the Indians, to do the work for the chiefs that they have lined up here.

They need to work on getting the 3% @ 50 retirement plan to help get more recruits from the Sheriff Department, and the like. With out that Retirement plan they will not do anything but sit and stagger and wonder why no one wants to work here!! or they will get the DORKS that no other department will hire. the people that fall down going up the stairs on their first day of work. LOL...

Well, Good Luck Rialto, but get more People, Officer like people for the citizens. Since I have lived where I live in the County area, I have seen but one Sheriff's unit in this whole area in the whole last year, and three the year before that. That is in the whole year, OUCH, are you not happy you didn't contract with the Sheriff's department!!

BS Ranch

A Century Later, Los Angeles Atones for Water Sins (NY Times 01012007)

A Century Later, Los Angeles Atones for Water Sins

J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times

Mike Prather, an environmental advocate, walked a dry part of Owens Lake, which emptied when the Owens River was diverted to Los Angeles.

By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD

Published: January 1, 2007

INDEPENDENCE, Calif. — It may fall short of a feel-good sequel to “Chinatown,” the movie based on the notorious, somewhat shady water grab by Los Angeles that allowed the city to bloom from a semi-arid desert.

Skip to next paragraph

Enlarge This Image

J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times

As part of a project to restore water to the Owens Valley, a dam redirects water going to Los Angeles, causing it to flow into the Owens River.

But in one of the largest river restoration efforts in the West, water is again flowing along a 62-mile stretch of the Owens River after a dry spell of nearly a century.

That part of the river had been left mostly drained when upstream water, fed by snowmelt from the towering Sierra Nevada, was channeled 233 miles south to fill swimming pools and bathtubs throughout Los Angeles.

The restored flow is among several long-awaited steps the city is taking to help make amends for the environmental consequences of its water maneuvering, most notably the drying up of Owens Lake, an area more than three times the size of Manhattan, here in the Owens Valley.

Los Angeles agreed in December to expand efforts to control toxic dust storms that erupt from what is left of the lake, a 110-square-mile body that emptied when the river was diverted to Los Angeles through an aqueduct opened in 1913.

The lake’s salty, mineral-laced basin has been the largest single source of particulate pollution in the country. It looks so otherworldly that it doubled as a desolate planet in the movie “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.”

To restore the river, Los Angeles built automated gates at the point where the river veers into the aqueduct. The gates steer some water into the original riverbed, setting the stage for the growth of cottonwood trees and other plants and the return of waterfowl and other animals.

Much of the water eventually returns to the aqueduct, though some of it is being used for lake irrigation and other projects.

Environmentalists here say they are keeping an eye on Los Angeles for backsliding, but they acknowledge that the new efforts will make a significant difference.

As winds whipped across Owens Lake on a recent afternoon, Mike Prather of the Owens Valley Committee, which along with the Sierra Club took Los Angeles to court over the environmental fallout of its water policies, marveled at sandpipers, American avocets and other birds frolicking in the shallow pools created by the irrigation.

“This work will bring back more and more of them,” Mr. Prather said, savoring the twist in the battle that means water once intended for Los Angeles will feed the lake.

“It’s Owens Valley’s turn to stick its straw in L.A.’s water,” he said.

Court rulings and the threat of legal action have largely forced Los Angeles’s hand in dealing with its past water moves, but city leaders say they are also intent on doing the right thing in keeping up a vital source of water while avoiding further damage to the Owens Valley.

H. David Nahai, president of the board that oversees the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said Los Angeles was looking for less adversarial ways to resolve differences over the valley, which provides 40 percent to 60 percent of the city’s water supply, depending on the snowfall in the mountains.

“We can’t change the past, but we can shape the future,” said Mr. Nahai, one of five board members appointed by Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, who promised a friendlier approach to the valley when he took office in July 2005.

Susan Cash, the chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors of Inyo County, where the Owens Valley is located, said animosity toward Los Angeles had lessened since the early 20th century, when the water diversion was made possible by the purchase of much of the valley by less-than-forthcoming city operatives.

The underhanded moves, as chronicled by historians, included city representatives posing as ranchers as they bought up property. The questionable land dealing provided the inspiration for “Chinatown,” the 1974 movie starring Jack Nicholson as a private detective who stumbles across corruption on a Los Angeles water project.

Water from the valley made possible the growth of what became the nation’s second-largest city. But people in the valley have long regarded the water dealings as a double-edged sword.

Officials here have argued that the water diversion undercut the potential for growth. But others say that such prospects were dim anyway in such a dry and remote valley, and that Los Angeles’s keeping the water clean and the land relatively untouched has been a boon.

Los Angeles’s policy of allowing public access to much of its land and the fact that many people here have worked for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, one of the valley’s largest employers, or have friends or relatives there, have contributed to improved relations. The godfathers of Ms. Cash’s children worked for the department.

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The New York Times

“The fact is,” she said, “we are in a marriage with no annulment in the near future, so we have to find a way to work together.”

Inyo officials said the city’s projects could inspire more tourism, the only real economic activity in this dry, high-desert valley.

“We have recreational users now but not to the extent it can be once the river is flowing and there is sufficient water for fish and wildlife,” said Arlene Grider, president of the chamber of commerce here.

The long-promised river restoration is a $24 million project, compensation won from a lawsuit by environmental groups over excessive groundwater pumping. It came after delays that prompted a county judge in September 2005 to impose daily fines of $5,000 on Los Angeles. The penalty has so far cost the city $2.3 million and will continue until a large volume of water flows through the river in the coming months.

The work on the lake, scheduled to be completed by 2010, will irrigate or otherwise control dust over 43 square miles.

The improvements result from an agreement the city signed with the local air pollution control regulator in 1998 that sets a timetable to comply with federal requirements to control dust on the lake. The city has spent $400 million on dust control for just under 30 square miles of the worst pockets, and in December, through a mediator, it agreed to do 12.7 more square miles by 2010 at a cost of $105 million.

A water department spokeswoman in Los Angeles, Carol Tucker, said ratepayers would see relatively modest increases in their monthly bills; the river restoration, for example, would amount to an increase of about 26 cents. Los Angeles has one of the country’s more intensive conservation programs, allowing it to use roughly the same amount of water even as it has grown by 750,000 residents in the past two decades.

But environmentalists say they doubt the city can grow much more without finding more water.

Mr. Nahai said the Department of Water and Power was already studying other possibilities, like using groundwater from within Los Angeles, buying water from other places and desalinating ocean water.

But one thing is certain, he said: “Are we going to get to a place where we are going to pump all the water out? No.”

Still, most everyone suggests there could be rough going ahead. Ms. Cash, the Inyo County supervisor, said officials were only “cautiously optimistic” about a changed relationship with Los Angeles because they had heard nice words from the city before, only to end up in court.

Mr. Nahai acknowledged that the litigious nature of the relationship would be difficult to break.

“Nobody can guarantee there won’t be litigation in the future, and litigation has its uses,” he said. “There is no denying what the City of Los Angeles has done far too often has been because of court order.”

He added, “It’s like what Mark Twain said: ‘Whiskey is for drinking, and water is for fighting over.’ ”

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BS Ranch Perspective:

I know that it has been a 100 year battle since they stole the water from the beautiful valley where I was born and now it is being made right in my life time is just wonderful, I cannot believe that it has finally come to be! I guess for once I am speechless!! Just the pictures on this tells the story, and the dust problem that they had will be no more! Also, if the lake becomes deep with any amount of water, then there will be some fishing, boating, Water skiing, and Wind Surfing that is always a popular sport that is taken place at Klondike which is located just N/of Big Pine. It is a low point Mud Hole that everyone boats in to water ski, and also Wind Surf's as the water is great and the wind brings some good times upon the water, even if it is a giant mud hole.

I am happy that this has taken place and hopefully the valley will take on the green look that it once had from space!

BS Ranch