SB Now

We promised you we'd follow up what we've dubbed "ClubGate" here at SBNOW, the widening circle of political officials who appear to have unlawfully accepted and used gifted "honorary" memberships to the Arrowhead Country Club.

The number of familiar names submitted in complaints to the FPPC now stands at 10, and the number of local offiicials admitting to accepting and using the free memberships is currently three.

City Attorney Jim Penman, former mayor Judith Valles and City Manager Fred Wilson all admit they accepted free memberships to the golf and country club beginning in the late 1990s. The law is that they can't accept gifts at a value of greater than $390, a number that was lower in the late 1990s. The membership costs appear to begin at more than $2,000 annually.

Click below for the full story:

Continue reading "Back to the Country Club" »

Posted by Robert Rogers at 12:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

On Tuesday, this reporter attended plaintive funeral services for 22-year-old Deivon McGee, a local man who became the city's 49th homicide when he was gunned down outside a taco stand on Oct. 20.

The service was in many ways similar to others I've attended over the last two years marking the end of the lives of young men and boys killed in senseless street violence. Kids wore shirts with McGee's visage printed on them. Pastors abhorred the scourge of gun violence. Loved ones wept, sometimes while swaying to religious hymns.

Below, loved ones gripped in anguish/photo by Gabriel Acosta

Political figures also turned out, in this case 6th Ward councilman Rikke Van Johnson and 5th Ward candidate Carolyn Tillman, to pay their respects to a slain resident.

One theme Tuesday was choice. Clergy urged those in the audience, many the young men and boys whose lives disproportionately wind up wasted by violence and prison, to take Jesus Christ into their lives and make the right decisions.

But while they did, the material reality was evident just beyond the church walls: The disinvested community, the under-performing schools, the paucity of job opportunities, even the decades-long infrastructural legacy of freeways that steer traffic away.

A sad story, for everyone.

Read the full story, with more pics, by clicking below ...

Continue reading "An urban tragedy" »

Posted by Robert Rogers at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Here is another little pearl that didn't make Wednesday's paper. Read a brief vignette on Linda Johnson, a local mother whose religious faith and personal compassion drive her to volunteer to help those victimized by the fires.

SAN BERNARDINO - Amidst the hazy chaos of major wildfires, Linda Johnson was a study in grace.

Whether smoothing mustard and mayonnaise on slices of white bread or speaking calm directions to other volunteers, the mother of three was unflappable under pressure.

Here is Johnson, center, helping prepare sandwiches for National Orange Show evacuees/photo by Jeff Malet:

“Helping people in need is just a lifelong thing for me,” said Johnson, hands clad in plastic gloves, while taking a brief respite from helping prep lunch for 2,000 ...

Continue reading "From the cutting room floor: Grace under fire" »

Posted by Robert Rogers at 10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This story, about a remarkable woman and her plight, didn't make the cut in today's paper. But you can read here about Scarlett Heston, a NOS center fire evacuee.

SAN BERNARDINO - She’s read all the media reports and made her rounds of calls.

“There’s fire on all points all around our place,” said Scarlett Heston, a 37-year-old mother of two.

Below is a picture of Heston, center, with her two teenaged children at the NOS center on Wednesday/photo by Jeff Malet:

Heston knows the perils of fire, because she’s felt it before. This is the second time she’s had to flee the flames with her young ones and land at the National Orange Show for assistance. Heston went through the harrowing drill during the Old Fire of 2003, which ended with the relief that her house was spared.

Continue reading "From the cutting room floor: Still tough in the trenches" »

Posted by Robert Rogers at 5:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Red Cross evacuation center at the National Orange Show is a vital resource for thousands of people diplaced by fire. They get shelter, food, and sundry other types of assistance there.

Here is a hazy scene of some kids at the evac center, photo taken by Jeff Malet:

But the center is not perfect, and for a harrowing few hours Wednesday, it looked like there may have been serious problems.

For a day and a half leading up to mid-day Wednesday, the Red Cross organizers of the event were helpful enough in providing access to media to the facilities. They strictly imposed a no camera rule on the inside of the Dumas and Dome buildings, where evacuees were bunking, on grounds that the center had become their de facto "residence."

Understandable. Weary, homeless people should have a respite from cameras in their face.

But they always allowed reporters in to look around, although they also imposed a strict "no comment" policy to all questions, referring queries to an off-site spokesperson.

That abruptly halted Wednesday, with questions swirling about a 36-year-old man collapsing at the center Tuesday night and later dying (cause is still unknown). At the same time, emergency personnel had moments before rushed at least three people away, witnesses said due to respiratory attacks.

At that point, when there were serious questions as to what was going on in the evacuation center from which people had just been rushed by emergency personnel, the place went on media lockdown.

Staff at the door suddently barred entry to this reporter (and others), imposing a total no media policy inside. I argued vehemently that I should be allowed in for the sake of public transparency, to objectively see just what the conditions inside were like for these men, women and children.

I was rebuffed, angrily, by two separate Red Cross officials guarding the entryway.

More than one hour later I was able to track down center manager Micki Hall, who kindly answered some questions and took me on a guided tour of the facility, which had clearly calmed after what witnesses said was growing restiveness triggered by hot temperatures and poor air quality inside.

A Red Cross spokeswoman told me later, by telephone, that denying reporters access to evacuation areas is not typically condoned and suggested a misunderstanding may have occurred on the grounds.

Below is the story in today's Sun.

Continue reading "A haven, but with some caveats" »

Posted by Robert Rogers at 12:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We at The Sun have provided extensive coverage of the deadly Saturday night drive-by in the Westside that killed 22-year-old Deivon McGee and wounded three children.

The brazen drive-by - surveillance video footage from a nearby liquor store recorded nine rapid-fire gunshots - was just the latest burst of violence in a Westside community riven by gang violence.

At least three children have been killed by gunfire in this area since last year.

But what should be underscored here is more than the ugly numbers. This reporter can say unequivocally - for I have walked all over these streets and written a slew of dispatches from them - that this is a community under siege.

By that we mean that violence, poverty, fear and disillusionment are so pervasive here that all conceptions of normalcy - of freedom from this savage urban confluence - is nearly inescapable.

This is an especially grave circumstance for the youths growing up in this environment. When violence and death is an external fact of life, a destructive cycle of thought and perception is often internalized at a young age.

Better off letting the people speak for themselves. Below is a video clip I shot on Monday with a group of neighborhood kids milling around the sidewalk bloodstains marking where McGee was slain two nights before.

Listen to this child, who can't be more than 13 years old, talk with cool cynicism about life in his world:

Posted by Robert Rogers at 12:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ok, it's a break from the bruising politics we all swarm to here at SBNOW, but it's just as fast-paced and rough.

Classic, 1970's-style Roller Derby, with those unforgiving banked oval tracks and snarling skate-warriors, is returning to the National Orange Show Events Center after a 12-year hiatus.

This reporter took a timid walk into the Citrus Arena Thursday night to peek in on a mixed Los Angeles Firebirds practice session and public skate practice. Anybody can come skate on this track seven days a week and get pointers.

The first Roller Derby game since 1995 is slated to roll at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20. Another game will be played same time, Saturday, Oct. 27, both in the Citrus building at the NOS Center.

We'll have a story about this return of Jimmy Carter-era culture in Saturday's Sun.

For now, Click below for some more info, pics and video clips of the scary fun.

The bank-track, an oval, masonite track that clacks with energy when the skates scream around it. Watch for yourself:

Continue reading "Bringing it back: Roller Derby barrels into Berdoo" »

Posted by Robert Rogers at 11:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

In today's Sun, we report the interesting - and inspiring - tale of five local teachers who are striving for a dream that historically has proved nearly impossible: Acquiring a charter from the city of San Bernardino School District.

What makes it doubly interesting is that they've partnered with Operation Phoenix, Mayor Pat Morris and a local church in an effort to make the dream reality. The SOAR Charter Academy, as the prospective school is called, has a proposal set for review by the school board on Nov. 20. The roughly 40 page document touts the school as a progressive learning environment with emphases on reading, writing, community service learning and character development.

Below is a picture of the bold teachers. Below that is the full story.
Clockwise from bottom left: Renee Nunez, Susie Dryden, Tammi Fort, Trisha Lancaster and Kristin Kraus.

Continue reading "Operation Phoenix School?" »

Posted by Robert Rogers at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)