June 2008 Archives

Rialto Fire Captain Mike Cosentino has seen a lot in 24 years on the force.

But nothing could harden him enough to maintain professional cool Monday morning, as he solemnly surveyed the yellow dots and orange marks that grimly told the story of how the young family was run down ...

Spent morning milling around scene of horrific accident in Rialto yesterday which left a baby girl dead and her mother, father and brother injured.

Family was riding bicycles Sunday when they were run down by a drunk driver.

A 22-year-old man was shot and killed over the weekend, bringing the number of homicides in the city to 22 this year (20 classified as murders).

Despite some solid progress and a massive investment in the Police Department (30+ new officers and millions of new dollars), the city is on pace to register more than 40 homicides yet again.

Let's hope it doesn't get there, but clearly much work is left to be done.

Went to Riverside today to cover a protest by local disabled-rights advocates against proposed budget cuts to health and human services.

RIVERSIDE -- Some stood and many sat in wheelchairs on the downtown sidewalk, protesting what they regard as an assault on their rights.

In the Spring and Summer of 1979, Gloria Gaynor's effusive anthem "I Will Survive" scorched airwaves and 8-tracks.

But America wasn't hopeful.

Jimmy Carter at a May 1979 address (Getty images)

Demoralized by a decade of political and economic turmoil and still sunk in the rut of what economists dyspeptically termed "stagflation," the nation suffered from a "crisis of confidence," then-President Jimmy Carter memorably said.

Fast-forward 29-years.

The Sun will publish a sprawling economic/history piece in Sunday's paper chronicling the similarities and differences between our political economy today and the one of the late 1970s ...

click below for more excerpts and some incredible statistics ....

Not too much fall-out from today's library story.

Councilman Brinker, who suggested some branches may need to be shut down, told colleague Andrew Edwards he thought the story was O.K., but wished we had written that he noted that a small tax-increase to fund libraries was voted down by San Bernardino voters earlier this year.

We have received some letters, however, and they generally disagree with any strategy involving closure of West side libraries.

We'll follow this close. Make no mistake: The library system is in for a tough fight this budget season. If not a fight for its life, at least a fight for few of its limbs, er, branches.

Libraries are a keen social indicator. Their number and quality in a community tend to correspond with education levels and quality of life.

Tobin Brinker

From Rome to 19th century Prussia to Western industrialized nations today, the size, breadth and health of free public libraries stand as beacons of civilized societies and free peoples.

But, when the budget in San Bernardino is tight, libraries are an easy mark ...

SAN BERNARDINO -- Martin Exposito is small, slight and 15 years old.

But his face wore the hard stare of a world-weary man as he shouldered supply sacks and slung them onto a truck ...

We at The Sun have received word that at tonight's city budget workshop council members will propose saving money by closing up to three of the four libraries in the city.

We'll post more information as it is forthcoming. The city is in dire financial straits, according to city leaders, and some controversial cuts seem inevitable. Whether the library will be on the block remains to be seen.

Electric powered bicycles are really humming in the Inland Empire right now, apparently triggered by $4 plus gasoline. Read by clicking below ...

Click below for interesting story about builder D.R. Horton's mammoth housing blowout at 12 Inland Empire locations ...

How much do you pay your local police force? Are they paid enough? Is policing still an underpaid, blue-collar job? Are the pension packages (generous by any definition) sustainable?

These are interesting questions for residents and local governments to wrestle with. I suspect they'll be wrestled with much more now that the economic boom is being lowered on local governments' revenues.

The problem is, for too long people just flat haven't known how much public safety costs, and how much police officers make (the same argument can be made for firefighters, of course, and we'll explore that too).

A June 15 article in the Orange County Register read by clicking here revealed that the average pay of all officers in the OC Sheriff's Department was more than $100,000.

The article still shocks many people. The paper's blog has received more than 1,000 responses. All deputies salaries, overtime, names and ranks are on the paper's site.

So how about San Bernardino City Police? The department's budget has seen unprecedented growth during the era of Chief Mike BIlldt. Incredibly, it's looking to grow by millions more next year (despite a massive city deficit) to around $70 million annually.

Well, we'll soon be seeing for the first time an itemized list of all the overtime earned by officers in San Bernardino last year.

I do have a list of every city employee name, title and base salary (not including bonuses and overtime), and I've done some calculations. I don't plan on publishing the names of all rank-and-file officers.

The average officer and sergeant, ie. the rank-and-file, earns about $82,000 annually. This figure was arrived at by taking a sample of about 100 officers and could range anywhere from $81,000 to $83,000.

The average command staff member, ie. the 13 men and 1 woman who are lieutenants, captains, assistant chief and chief, earn a base average of $134,402 annually.

The highest paid person in 2006-7 was Chief BIlldt, who earned $196,224.00. The minimum salary for the 10 lieutenants is $131,400.00.

The lowest paid police officers earn a base salary of $58,632. There are 18 officers earning that salary.

What this shows is that the average pay department-wide is going to approach $90,000, well within striking distance - once we get ahold of the overtime and bonus pay totals - of the $100,000 average that has stirred so much backlash in Orange County.

The median salary for all workers in SB County is around $37,000. Nationwide, the median income for family households is about $48,000.

Obviously, part of the discussion will be the pension packages for retired officers, and whether that kind of cost can be borne by the taxpayer indefinitely. Using the "3 at 50" formula, which allows 30 year department vets to retire with 90 percent of their highest annual salaries, Chief Billdt could retire today and keep drawing a $176,601.00 paycheck for the rest of his life.

Plenty people agree with these pay scales and pension packages. Some do not. Regardless, the public needs these kinds of facts to have the discussion.

Summer is too often a time of soaring temps, spiking crime and wayward youths in San Bernardino.

Just since last Friday there has been a homicide and an under-reported shooting of two teenaged boys (both lived).

I'm an objective, professional reporter, but I have no problem observing some maxims. Examples? Power brokers must face tough questions; the public has a right to know government business; and kids being shot is tragic ... always (I should also add that officials shouldn't parrot information about child murder victims' "criminal" backgrounds).

All of which is as good a reason as any to applaud the work of the local library and the local businesses that sponsor the Summer Reading program that engages thousands of local kids.

Click below for a little story ...

An interesting story about San Bernardino County has gone from a place that went solidly to Nixon over JFK in 1960 to one where gays could get married with nary a protest ...

click below

Congressman Jerry Lewis issued a press release Friday declaring his support for the most significant revision of federal surveillance laws in 30 years.

Crucially, the bill extends legal immunity to the phone companies that took part in President Bush's warrantless eavesdropping program beginning in 2001.

On balance, the bill looks like it would mean expansion of government surveillance powers and a victory for the Bush Administration.

Click below for Lewis' press release ...

A conference on environmental and sustainable growth strategies in the Inland Empire took place today at Cal State San Bernardino.

It was a well-attended event, drawing SB Mayor Pat Morris, Redlands Mayor Jon Harrison and a number of business and academic leaders.

What one gathers from these sorts of symposiums isn't necessarily much new info (granted, I've been to quite a few), but a building sense of how irresistable the green movement has become.

With sky-high energy costs and an unprecedented level of social consciousness and concern with environmental issues, it's clear that both the economics and culture are in place for a major shift in how we live, work and play in the coming decades.

Green is definitely en vogue, and successful movements are often born of broad, sustained enthusiasm like this.

Click below for full report ...

This is the one that started it all. Mark Wensel, 45, (with beard) and Bryan Burch, 50, are married in the first-ever same-sex marriage in San Bernardino County on June 17.

About 30 more ceremonies were performed later in the day.

Wensel and Burch, of Palm Springs, sealed their vows with a kiss.

Click below for historic 1 minute video.

Click below for video of two San Bernardino women being married on June 17.

Check here some photos of the couples featured in Wednesday and Thursday's coverage of the first gay marriages in San Bernardino County history.

SAN BERNARDINO - Julie LaMontagne fretted that her eye mascara might be smeared.

"I don't want to look like Tammi Faye Baker here," she said.

LaMontagne, right, and Martinez get married June 17
____________________

She didn't, but she did tear up. Getting married can do that to a woman.

LaMontagne, 48, of Redlands, wed Paulina Martinez, 45. The women have been together 19 years.

LaMontagne said she was excited to secure the same rights and privileges afforded other married couples, as well as a new level of social acceptance, in marrying Martinez, who is a professor at Cal State San Bernardino.

Both were also adamant that they thought the tide would continue in their favor.

"I really did expect this to happen at some point," LaMontagne said. "We are optimistic that the majority of people are on our side, and we know God is on our side."

____________________

Mark Kimbrough, 48, and Donnie Lovett, 44, know all about being outcasts.
They moved to Apple Valley in 1995 from Alabama, where being gay men didn't win them a lot of friends or admirers.

Donnie Lovett, left, and Mark Kimbrough, say their vows. The two hail from Alabama, and said that background made this moment, which they thought would never come, all the sweeter.
___________________

"Look, we're from Alabama, we never thought we'd see this day," said Lovett, his southern twang intact.

But both men know all about inequality and trampled rights, and they clearly think of themselves as modern troopers in a new Civil Rights struggle.

"This is a dream come true for us, but it's about equality for all people," Lovett said.

______________

Lindsay Bass, 27, left, and Juliana Simmons, 30, say their vows June 17.

Lindsay Bass and Juliana Simmons had no family at their wedding, just one supportive friend. Both young but emotional and fiercely protective of one another, the two women cried during their four-minute outdoor ceremony.

They sealed their vows with a kiss.

"We didn't want to miss this opportunity because we never know what can happen," said Bass, who works with her new wife at a restaurant. Bass is a server; Simmons a bartender. Both live in Highland.

Simmons was more adamant. Wiping away tears with the back of her hand, her eyes a mix of vulnerability and steel, Simmons said she didn't know the law but knew what was in her heart.

"If it's done now ... this, what we did now, can't be taken away," Simmons said.

Figured I'd share briefly with readers what I'm reading, and recommend that you read it too.

"Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America," is a first-rate, modern, fast-paced historical account that attempts to explain the conservative ascent in America in the post-LBJ era.

Rick Perlstein's book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand American politics and contemporary history.

Perlstein's chronicle begins in the cauldron of the Watts riot of August 1965, careening forward at a breakneck pace.

The bottom-line thesis is that Nixon, a lonely, tortured, insecure man with a knack for eliciting pity, drove an indelible wedge through a fractured nation in the 1960s that endures today. The "red" and "blue" states; the appeals to euphemistic "law and order;" the Republican monoply on "security;" it all gets laid right at the notorious political survivor's feet.

My recommendation: Read this book. It is insightful, fresh, and, ultimately, illuminating.

Mark Kimbrough, 48, and Donnie Lovett, 44, know all about being outcasts.
They moved to Apple Valley in 1995 from Alabama, where being gay men didn't win them a lot of friends or admirers.

"Look, we're from Alabama, we never thought we'd see this day," said Lovett, his southern twang intact.

But both men know all about inequality and trampled rights, and they clearly think of themselves as modern troopers in a new Civil Rights struggle.

"This is a dream come true for us, but it's about equality for all people," Lovett said.

For more vignettes and a fuller store click below ...

Gay marriage is coming to California tomorrow.

Click below for a look at a story slated for tomorrow's Sun that looks at the supporters, opposers and beneficiaries of the state's historic move to include gays and lesbians in the legal definition of marriage ...

Having the unenviable assignment of working Father's Day, I thought I'd try to do something different.

My editors were clear and broad: Find us a human interest story about Father's Day. Just a slice of life piece.

Okay, I thought. I can easily go to any restaraunt around town and ask some dad and his family a couple questions.

Or, I can do something different. You can guess where that is going.

Anyway, I drove to the Waterman Gardens Housing Projects. Most of my readers probably know that the Gardens is a high-crime, low-income place where intact families are as rare as hefty bank accounts.

My thinking: All too often, we hear about absent-fathers and the decline of the family - particularly African American families.

But this can't always be the case. Amidst the dismal statistics and cautionary tales, there are probably plenty of stand-up dads celebrating in the gardens with their kids.

I was right.

Click below for a nice story about Keith Johnson, a 34-year-old Compton transplant who is providing for his family in the gardens. Johnson was not alone. At the party on Crestview Road, where members graciously welcomed an uninvited reporter, there were at least four present fathers who were playing with and caring for their youngsters.

Plenty of kids black, white, Latino, etc. families are without dads on Father's Day. We shouldn't forget that. But some kids are fortunate, and some dads deserve to be commended, especially the ones who counter statistics and/or stereotypes.

An interesting trend will be highlighted in Monday's Sun: With gas prices cresting over $4 and no relief in sight, Inland residents are turning to bicycles in droves.

Click below to read full story ...

For information about having your property reappraised or to request a Prop. 8 form, call 1-877-885-7654 or visit www.co.san-bernardino.ca.us/assessor

Click below for story about those interesting promises in your home's mailbox ...

Bill Cosby spoke to a crowd of hundreds of mostly parents in the Carter High School gym Tuesday night. Click below for photos and story ...

Selected responses from 2007 Inland Empire Annual Survey (San Bernardino County):

67 percent rated county as at least "fairly good" place to live.
24 percent listed crime/gang activity as most negative factor of life in county, and 10 percent listed traffic.
78 percent support more stringent regulations of air pollution from trucks and trains.
25 percent said finances were "better off" than they were one year ago, the lowest number on record.
53 percent said environmental protection should take priority over economic growth.
32 percent said everyone shares equally in responsibility for the environment.

Read full story by clicking below ...

Gay marriage is coming to SB County, but in only one spot. Read the story by clicking below ...

Just spoke with PD spokesman Scott Paterson, who disagreed with the substance of the previous blog posts.

For the record, Paterson said "We are not trying to denigrate this young man" by describing him as a "gang member" with a "criminal history."

Paterson was clear to specify that he never said the boy, who was shot and killed Saturday, had a history of "brushes with the law," but he did concede that he told reporters this morning that the boy had a "criminal history."

He told me the boy had a "criminal history" again minutes ago. I don't doubt that he does. Maybe it is very serious. Maybe it is not.

I asked Paterson why he thought it was appropriate to describe the victim, whose juvenile record is not public, as having a "criminal history." He said it was important for people to understand that this crime may have had something to do with a "lifestyle issue," and was not just a random act of violence that could claim any life anytime.

"We don't want citizens thinking that it's imminent that if they're walking down the street they are going to get shot," Paterson said.

Paterson also stressed that the boy's death was made no less tragic by his past or affiliations. He said: "He had a criminal history and was a gang member, period. Does that make it right he was killed? No it does not."

I again let Paterson know that I wanted an answer as to why he thought it was appropriate to publicly allude to a boy's confidential "criminal history," which is not public and could be anything from shoplifting to murder.

He noted his earlier explanations.

The paper I questioned hours ago for printing that a 15-year-old shooting victim had prior "brushes with the law" has changed its Web site report.

Kudos to them for fixing this promptly. To malign a child victim with vague allusions from the police department to his private juvenile record is unacceptable for the reasons I articulated below.

The boy may very well have a serious past that will come out later via friends, family, etc. That, however, is different from a criminal justice organization immediately describing a child murder victim as having a "criminal history."

Something curious is happening right now. Sherman Jones, a 15-year-old boy, was shot dead in San Bernardino on Saturday night, and now the SBPD spokesman has apparently told the Riverside paper some incredible stuff.

Check out this passage on another local paper's Web site: "The shooting appears to be gang-related, Paterson said. Jones was a Los Angeles-based gang member with several previous brushes with the law, Paterson said. He had been living in San Bernardino."

Less than 48 hours after a kid was shot down in SB, the Police Department not only called the boy a "gang member," but vaguely alluded to him having several brushes with the law, according to the paper.

Juvenile records are not public information and not typically publicized unless a juvenile is charged and tried as an adult. In this case, THE VICTIM is having his supposedly private file aired by police, without proof or detail, just a blanket accusation that callouses the public's perception of the victim.

Of course, journalists and the public cannot know what those "brushes" were. If the PD really said this, as the paper claims, then it is doing the equivalent of waving a sealed envelope and maligning someone as a miscreant without offering proof. The "brushes" could be anything from shoplifting to shooting, but we can't know.

If, for instance, a 15-year-old rape and murder victim had a past arrest for prostitution, and the police said the victim was a "prostitute" (stand-in for "gang member") who had "brushes with law," would the journalist print that about the sexual assault victim? I suspect not.

Both the Sun and the Riverside paper are reporting that a deadly Saturday night shooting took the life of a 15-year-old boy near Sunrise Avenue, in the city's eastside near the Guthries area.

Police are calling the boy a "gang member" and calling the shooting "gang-related."

Homicides have quietly picked up their pace in the last month to draw near last year's total.

I note that fact because, as I have written about at length before, it is crucially important to monitor the one objective crime statistic (homicides) when gauging the prevalence of crime.

Economist John Husing, Police Chief Mike Billdt, Mayor Pat Morris and others have loudly trumpeted this year a series of statistics that indicate that crime is at historic lows. Maybe it is, but killings - real bloodshed on the streets, often that of children - remains near historic highs.

Click below for early story of boy's death ...

The San Bernardino Public Library and the Academy of Public Scholars
will co-sponsor the 2008 Summer Reading and Book Fair, themed "Where have all the bookstores gone." Click below for more details ...

By Robert Rogers

It appears that the goal was missed by a few dozen votes, the democratic equivalent of getting thrown out at first base by a half-step or having the would-be game-winning touchdnown pass skid off fingertips.

Now Carol Mulvihill is beside herself. Not because Measure Q garnered 64.75 percent instead of 66.66 percent of registered voters in Bear Valley, but because she thinks the ballot placement, not disapproval, cost the measure passage.

"The process, the outcome, it's questionable," said Mulvihill, who headed the committee that campaigned for Measure Q, which would have floated bonds and levied a small property tax to generate $11.5 million to refurbish and upgrade Bear Valley Hospital.

Measure Q was placed on the backside, by itself, of Republican ballots, Mulvihill said,

possibly leading some voters to miss it altogether. It may have been just enough to turn the narrow margin of defeat to victory.

Bear Valley Hospital treated 37,000 patients last year, Mulvihill said, despite being built to handle just 5,000 annually.

The final official count is slated for June 9, and Mulvihill holds out hope that a few yes votes trickle in. She spoke with Registrar Kari Verjil Friday, who said she would consult with county counsel about the ballot placement.

Redlands-based economist John Husing is an influential guy. He frequents meetings and symposiums, delivering his energetic, data-rich presentations.

Here is a clip of what he said at last month's SB City economic symposium. Husing's assessment has grown decidedly dark, particularly on jobs and housing in the Inland Empire.

Click below for a listen ...

Mel Albiso, Colton schoolboard member and asst. superintendent in the SB Unified School district, was a panelist at the "Brown and Proud" Chicano conference at CSUSB.

While the other speakers generally discussed serious issues and ways to solve problems in the Latino community, Albiso chose to spend the majority of his time telling stories of his childhood persecution and fanning racial emotions.

I am posting two clips below. I had never heard Albiso speak prior to this day. What really strikes a listener is the tone of bitterness. It's clear that Albiso hasn't reconciled his own childhood decades ago. Listen to him in clip #2, when he speaks of thinking about attacking an unnamed college professor ("going at his throat") who he says suggested he was genetically inferior. Puzzling commentary from a community leader whose job it is to build a better community by encouraging progress in our young students.

I was taken aback by how much time Albiso spent telling stories of ugly discrimination, always at the hands of some unnamed, white person of power. His talk was an especially stark contrast to an overrall program set at a University and focused on learning and progress. The other speakers didn't focus on the personal racial strife they endured decades ago.

The other speakers also weren't extremely powerful figures in an education system training thousands of our local children, as Mr. Albiso is. It gives cause for pause.

It looks like at least three incidents have drawn complaints from residents concerned about the June 3 election. In SB, is any election safe?

By Robert Rogers
Staff Writer

Beneath the smooth procedural surface of San Bernardino County's June 3 election, a handful of residents and officials are pointing to incidents they say indicate oversights and inattention.

Thanks to local attorney Gary Saenz for this classic shot of RFK quenching his thirst among a throng of supporters near the Municipal Auditorium in San Bernardino on May 29, 1968.

photo by g. saenz

Nothing can stop it now ... at least until November.

By Robert Rogers
Staff Writer

Gay marriage will become reality in California June 17.

Click below for full story ...

40 years ago today, RFK edged Gene McCarthy in the California primary. 40 years ago tomorrow, Kennedy was shot. He died the next day, June 6.

Papers across the country will do stories and rememberances and history pieces. We did that on May 29 and have a one-of-a-kind site with never before seen photos, videos and other content. Check this classic photo, never before published, of RFK speaking at the corner of Third and E Streets. Photo taken by Mary Lou De La Torre, 70.

See more never-before-seen photos of RFK by clicking here.

Here is a preview of what we'll publish tomorrow, along with two incredible photos of RFK in downtown SB.

By Robert Rogers
Staff Writer

"Oh no, not again!"

Those were the first thoughts for Margaret Garson Aguilar, a UCLA student and fervent Robert F. Kennedy supporter, when she heard reports of RFK's shooting 40 years ago today.

"I've never really been quite so energized by a candidate since then," said Aguilar, 59, of San Bernardino.

Just after midnight on June 5, minutes after claiming victory in the crucial California Democratic primary, Kennedy was felled by bullets in the kitchen area of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. RFK died 25 hours later. A 24-year-old Palestinian immigrant named Sirhan Sirhan was arrested and convicted of the crime.

The Wednesday before, on May 29, RFK made a trek through San Bernardino that still conjures memories, passions and anguish among longtime residents.

Manny and Mary Lou De La Torre named their son, born in late 1968, after the fallen candidate.

"He appealed to people across ethnic and class lines," Mary Lou said.

Below is a shot of a vintage Kennedy pin, this one floated around San Bernardino in 1968 and was saved by Gary Saenz, a local attorney.

Check out this photo, with cutline, below. Kennedy is pictured during a campaign swing through Muscoy.

For the definitive RFK in San Bernardino history Web site, with dozens of never-before-seen photos, videos and stories, click here.

Click here View image to pop-up a full-size version of the photo large enough to read the story on the right.

Thanks to Mary Louise De La Torre for providing this newspaper clipping.