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11/9/2017 In FBI probe, accusations mimic scrutiny hanging over Adelanto's cannabis enterprise
http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/20171108/in-fbi-probe-accusations-mimic-scrutiny-hanging-over-adelantos-cannabis-enterprise 1/4
By Shea Johnson Staff Writer Posted Nov 8, 2017 at 4:47 PMUpdated Nov 8, 2017 at 9:34 PM
Land deals, re-zoning and code enforcement protectionhave been called out before.
ADELANTO — Mayor Rich Kerr told code enforcement to back off a late-September inspection of a purported illegal marijuana grow on Koala Road,apparently unsure of whether the property tenant was in fact operatingimproperly.
“I told code to stand down until we find out,” Kerr said by phone this week.
The mayor said he had believed that the tenant possessed a certificate ofoccupancy that covered the company for cannabis cultivation, yet it wasultimately determined it did not.
“That was all me,” he acknowledged, adding that he understood they had sincesought the proper permits.
Citing Steve Peltier, the community safety manager who oversees codeenforcement operations, city spokesman Michael Stevens said Wednesday thecase was still open and the details could not be released.
″(Peltier) did indicate that the necessary enforcement actions have been taken,”Stevens said. “He doesn’t know if a new certificate is being sought.”
Kerr denied that his stand-down order was tied to unscrupulous intent, but thenotion of a public official as a code enforcement buffer — an accusation
previously levied against Kerr by a one-time medical cannabis adviser — has
taken on new life in the wake of an FBI probe into public corruption in the city.
In FBI probe, accusations mimic scrutinyhanging over Adelanto’s cannabis enterprise
11/9/2017 In FBI probe, accusations mimic scrutiny hanging over Adelanto's cannabis enterprise
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Mayor Pro Tem Jermaine Wright is facing two federal charges, including
that he solicited and accepted a $10,000 bribe from an undercover FBI agent, inpart, to shield a supposed commercial cannabis transportation business fromcode enforcement.
Wright, who denied to the FBI ever taking part in a bribe, had allegedlyrequested from an undercover agent an additional “stack” — a cash equivalent of$2,000 — for each instance he was to curtail code operations.
His arrest Tuesday was “part of an ongoing investigation,” according to ThomMrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Meanwhile, Kerr’s initial reaction to the Koala Road incident has raised somequestions over whether he set out to keep feathers unruffled in order to protect apending land deal between the city and an applicant directly involved in thegrow in question, according to two city employees.
A $1 million sale of the city’s public works yard, including its emergencyoperations center, has been held up since it was first announced June 28 becausethe pulse of its support among the council has grown hazy since then.
“I’m the one that made contact with him and negotiated the deals andeverything,” Kerr confirmed, “and all of a sudden two or three people startedasking questions and everything.”
Kerr said the $1 million gain to the city’s general fund was critical to embark on aquarter- to half-mile sewage pipe project on Adelanto Road. He added that thepending agreement called for the EOC to stay put until it could be relocated to aseparate wing at the planned new City Hall in 18 months to three years.
He also denied going to bat harder for the sale than he would have for any otherpotential property in which he has advocated flipping to commercial cannabisdevelopers.
Yet Kerr has been unusually and increasingly adamant that a deal be inked,according to the employees, who spoke this week on the condition of anonymityfor fear of retaliation, leaving some within the City Hall orbit to wonder whethera deal would signal progress for the city or a quid pro pro.
11/9/2017 In FBI probe, accusations mimic scrutiny hanging over Adelanto's cannabis enterprise
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“No, sir, the mayor doesn’t take bribes,” Kerr said in response. “The mayordoesn’t take anything. The mayor just works long hours.”
The land agreement would need to be signed off by City Manager Gabriel Elliott,he said, who will be subject to an employee evaluation during a special meetingFriday. Kerr said it was a normal 90-day evaluation for the new top executive.
The 1.5-acre property, complete with infrastructure and improvements, hadbeen appraised for $700,000 when the preliminary deal was announced morethan four months ago, marking what would appear to have been a solid returnfor the city.
But the deal also has the qualities of recent others in Adelanto that have
warranted attention: It was re-zoned for commercial cannabis not long after anagreement was struck. In this case, the public works yard was thrust less thanthree weeks after the deal into the parameters of a newly created 235.5-acre
green zone bounded by Yucca, Rancho and Aster/Verbena roads and Racoon
Avenue.
“They bought that land before we converted to medical cannabis,” Kerr explainedin disputing the idea the property could have yielded a bigger return.
Two real estate brokerage companies told the Daily Press the property couldhave sold for between $2.6 to $3 million in the zone and under current marketconditions.
In Adelanto, commercial cannabis land deals have seemingly been rooted in adelicate balance between business acumen, speculation and darker prescience.
In accusing Wright of accepting the bribe, the FBI said his pledge to anundercover agent extended beyond protection from code enforcement: Heallegedly vowed to vote favorably on re-zoning issues to bolster land value.
The claim has suddenly intensified the spotlight on the city’s commercialcannabis industry, the beacon of hope for a resurgent Adelanto which wasresponsible in July for giving the city its first balanced budget — and a
surplus — in eight long years.
11/9/2017 In FBI probe, accusations mimic scrutiny hanging over Adelanto's cannabis enterprise
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The troubles detailed in the FBI sworn affidavit also recall earlier warnings,
particularly by Councilman Charley Glasper, who during a late January meetinghad noted an “ill-wind that’s starting to blow across this city” and later: “Wedon’t need an investigation on elected officials that someone’s manipulatingsomeone on the Council to go a certain way.”
Kerr was forceful, telling any would-be bullies or manipulators to “pack yourcrap and go home.”
Following that meeting, Wright was called by a reporter and asked to addressthe seemingly unsolicited public insinuations that kickbacks could threaten toinfiltrate the city’s core nascent enterprise.
“Personally, people have come in and offered, ‘What would happen if they gaveus (money)?’” Wright said. “They get the same answer, at least from me, ‘I don’twant your money.’”
He added that “it’s opened my eyes to a new part of this. Now, you see the dirty,ruthless side of what this business is about.”
“I don’t believe anyone on the council,” he concluded, when asked, “is takingmoney to move projects forward.”
Shea Johnson can be reached at 760-955-5368 or [email protected]. Follow
him on Twitter at @DP_Shea.
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11/9/2017 Adelanto city councilman arrested on bribery, arson charges in FBI corruption probe - LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-adelanto-city-councilman-arrested-20171108-story.html 1/3
A
Adelanto city councilman arrested on bribery,arson charges in FBI corruption probe
By James Queally
NOVEMBER 8, 2017, 11:25 AM
n Adelanto city councilman has been accused of accepting bribes and asking an undercover FBI
agent to burn down his restaurant so he could collect insurance payouts, according to a criminal
complaint made public Wednesday.
Mayor Pro Tem Jermaine Wright, 41, was arrested Tuesday night and will appear in federal court Wednesday
after his arrest as part of an undercover corruption probe targeting misconduct in the city, federal prosecutors
said in a statement.
Earlier this year, a confidential informant introduced Wright to an undercover FBI agent posing as the owner of
a marijuana cultivation business, prosecutors said. Wright agreed to vote in favor of a measure expanding the
Adelanto City Councilman Jermaine Wright, shown in 2016 at his Fat Boyz Grill restaurant, has been charged with accepting bribes andattempting to hire a man to burn down the business, prosecutors say. (Getty Images)
11/9/2017 Adelanto city councilman arrested on bribery, arson charges in FBI corruption probe - LA Times
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parts of Adelanto where marijuana could be grown in exchange for $20,000, according to a criminal complaint.
Wright directed the undercover agent to make the “donation” through a third party, who was not identified in
court documents. Wright said that man “keeps us out of jail,” according to the complaint.
After the council vote, Wright also agreed to accept a $15,000 bribe in exchange for helping “fast track” the
undercover agent’s proposal for a marijuana business, according to prosecutors.
Money did not change hands in either instance, prosecutors said, because the City Council acted faster than
expected in both matters.
But during a meeting last month, the undercover agent provided Wright with $10,000 that was understood to
be payment for the councilman’s future assistance with council votes that could benefit his fictional marijuana
business, including the promise that Wright would keep code enforcement officers at bay in exchange for future
cash payments, according to the complaint. Wright also agreed to help the agent get an exemption so he could
run a marijuana transportation business outside the area zoned for cannabis cultivation, according to the
complaint.
“If he wants his exemption, I want my ten,” Wright told an informant, according to the complaint.
Wright has also confessed to a separate plot to hire another man, also an undercover FBI agent, to burn down a
restaurant he owns called Fat Boyz Grill, prosecutors said. Wright stood to gain $300,000 in insurance payouts,
prosecutors said.
During meetings that began in August, Wright asked the confidential informant for help burning down the
restaurant, suggesting he wanted it to look like an electrical fire, according to the complaint. He later met with a
second undercover FBI agent, and paid him $1,500 while giving him instructions on how to set the fire, the
complaint said. Wright even hinted that it might be beneficial to damage other businesses in the same lot as the
restaurant in order to deflect suspicion, according to the complaint.
“The less it looks like just me, fine. If three go, three go,” Wright said, referring to other properties in the lot,
according to the complaint.
When confronted by FBI agents during a search of the restaurant on Oct. 17, Wright admitted to the arson plot
and agreed to cooperate with the FBI’s continuing investigation into Adelanto corruption, prosecutors said.
The next day, Wright called the informant and asked for help in making one of the undercover agents “go
away,” prosecutors said. He also tried to hatch a plot with the informant to stage an assault on Wright himself,
hoping it would somehow result in the FBI dropping its case, according to the complaint.
Wright told the informant he wanted to be “beat to the point where I have memory loss, all the rest of the stuff,
they have to let me go,” according to the complaint. He also suggested that the assailant should leave a rat next
11/9/2017 Adelanto city councilman arrested on bribery, arson charges in FBI corruption probe - LA Times
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to his prone form so “they [the FBI] would suspect someone has found out I have talked to them,” according to
the complaint.
Calls to Wright’s office, Adelanto Mayor Richard Kerr and other members of the Adelanto City Council seeking
comment were not immediately returned Wednesday morning. Wright is currently being represented by a
federal public defender, who declined to comment on the case.
Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California.
UPDATES:
11:25 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details from the criminal complaint about the plots
Wright was allegedly involved in.
This article was originally published at 10:05 a.m.
Copyright © 2017, Los Angeles Times
This article is related to: Arson, Crime, FBI
11/9/2017 Adelanto councilman accused of taking $10,000 bribe, hiring man to burn down his restaurant – San Bernardino Sun
http://www.sbsun.com/2017/11/08/adelanto-mayor-pro-tem-accused-of-taking-10000-bribe-hiring-man-to-burn-down-his-restaurant/ 1/7
By BEATRIZ E. VALENZUELA | [email protected] and JOENELSON | [email protected] | San Bernardino SunPUBLISHED: November 8, 2017 at 9:25 am | UPDATED: November 8, 2017 at 9:40pm
Adelanto Mayor Pro Tem Jermaine Wright. (Courtesy of the City of Adelento)
NEWSCRIME
Adelanto councilman accused oftaking $10,000 bribe, hiring manto burn down his restaurant
11/9/2017 Adelanto councilman accused of taking $10,000 bribe, hiring man to burn down his restaurant – San Bernardino Sun
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Adelanto Councilman Jermaine Wright was arrested Tuesday, Nov. 7, and
appeared in Riverside federal court Wednesday, Nov. 8, to answer to federal
charges that he took a $10,000 cash bribe and that he hired a man to burn down
his restaurant to collect insurance money, according to the U.S. Attorney’s ofce.
Wright is accused of asking for and accepting a $10,000 bribe from an undercover
FBI agent, who told Wright he wanted his help “navigating city rezoning and code
enforcement issues related to a supposed marijuana transportation business,” the
criminal complaint read.
The complaint, led Monday, also alleges Wright paid another undercover FBI
agent $1,500 to burn down his barbeque restaurant, Fat Boyz Grill, at 11619
Rancho Road.
“I’m very disappointed. I didn’t know he was conniving and doing things behind
the scenes like that,” Adelanto Councilman Charley Glasper said in a telephone
interview Wednesday. “What he did was totally uncalled for if it is true. I wouldn’t
expect someone of his caliber to be participating in something like that.”
Mayor Rich Kerr could not immediately be reached for comment, but a statement
from an Adelanto spokesman on behalf of city ofcials read, “We’re sad to learn
about the circumstances involving Mayor Pro Tem Jermaine Wright, but we want
our residents and businesses to know that nothing changes in the city. We will
continue to deliver the best possible services our constituents deserve, and we
will cooperate to the fullest extent with the authorities in their investigation into
the matter involving Mr. Wright, and hope for a speedy resolution.”
Reached by telephone Wednesday, Councilman John “Bug” Woodard hung up
when he was told the call was about Wright and if he wished to comment.
Wearing a black T-shirt with an American ag emblazoned on the front, Wright
appeared in U.S. District Court in Riverside Wednesday for a detention hearing.
His appointed counsel, Federal Deputy Public Defender Angela Viramontes,
requested the detention hearing be postponed until Monday, Nov. 13. Magistrate
Judge Kenly Kiya Kato granted the request, ordering Wright to remain in custody
and return to court at 1 p.m. Monday, when she said she will decide whether or
not Wright will be released on bond.
Viramontes declined to comment aer Wednesday’s hearing.
“This case started aer concerned citizens and other sources of information
complained about suspected corruption in the city of Adelanto. The FBI followed
up on that information and conducted an investigation, and the investigation is
ongoing,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Widman said following Wednesday’s
hearing.
11/9/2017 Adelanto councilman accused of taking $10,000 bribe, hiring man to burn down his restaurant – San Bernardino Sun
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He said he could not comment on the status of the investigation and other
individuals the government may be targeting.
“I can tell you this is a case about a public ofcial who allegedly breached the
public’s trust by having his hand out, palm up, and also trying to work with
someone to burn down his restaurant. … so he could collect $300,000 in insurance
proceeds,” Widman said.
Wright was booked into the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga
following his arrest Tuesday, and on Wednesday remained in the custody of U.S.
Marshals, Widman said. Wright is being held without bail, at least until Monday,
according to Widman.
Wright, who is also a former Adelanto school board trustee and unsuccessfully
ran for First District San Bernardino County supervisor in 2012, got caught up in
what began as a probe into possible corruption in the city. It led to an informant
introducing Wright to both undercover agents and to a series of recorded
conversations that investigators say document Wright discussing both the bribe
and insurance fraud, according to the afdavit.
In the bribe allegations, investigators say that an informant introduced Wright to
an undercover agent who told the councilman that he wanted to move his
marijuana business to the city.
In June, Wright offered to sell his vote to the undercover agent for $20,000 in order
“to obtain the necessary votes from the Adelanto City Council for the expansion of
the area zoned for marijuana cultivation,” the afdavit states.
It also alleges Wright called the bribe a “donation” that would have to be made to a
third party “because he keeps us out of jail.” However, due to a quicker-than-
anticipated vote and lack of funds, the money was never paid.
The Adelanto City Council approved the expansion of the marijuana zone in mid-
July, with Wright voting in favor of the issue.
Following the vote, the undercover agent asked for Wright’s help in fast-tracking
an approval for a marijuana transportation business, which Wright agreed to do
in exchange for “15,” an apparent reference to $15,000.
During a meeting with the agent last month, the undercover ofcer “placed
$10,000 dollars on a box being used as a table, made up of two stacks of $50 bills,
and told Wright, ‘That’s for you, or your nonprot, whatever,’ ” according to the
afdavit. Wright then placed the money in his pocket.
11/9/2017 Adelanto councilman accused of taking $10,000 bribe, hiring man to burn down his restaurant – San Bernardino Sun
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Authorities allege Wright then told the agent that he would help with code
enforcement and votes, even offering to intervene on the agent’s behalf to prevent
code enforcement activities against the marijuana business, noting though that he
would require a “stack.” The stack was later specically identied as $2,000 for
each time he would step in, ofcials said.
In the suspected insurance fraud scheme, authorities say Wright again turned to
the same informant to nd someone willing to burn down his eatery and make it
look like an electrical issue had caused the re.
The informant rst told FBI ofcials of the plan in August, according to the
afdavit. In late September, Wright again asked the informant to pass along his
cellphone number to an electrician willing to commit the fraud.
Wright subsequently paid another undercover federal agent $1,500 so Wright
could collect $300,000 in insurance money, according to the afdavit.
If convicted on both counts, Wright is facing a maximum sentence of 10 years in
prison for the bribery count and up to 20 years in prison for the arson charge. The
arson charge also carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence of ve years in
prison.
Glasper is demanding Wright’s removal from the City Council.
“He’s done as far as I’m concerned,” said Glasper, who has served on the Council
since 2004. “I don’t want to see him up on that dais on the City Council anymore.
He has no seat there.”
The allegations against Wright only add to the city’s history of problems, including
it being on the brink of insolvency. In 2013, faced a scal emergency due to
stagnant sales tax revenue, so much so that the city grappled with covering the
cost for essential services including re and police.
“For me, It’s about bringing a city up off its knees so it can walk, then run. This
city had been dragging behind in the Victor Valley for years, and for this kind of
behavior by public ofcials, it’s uncalled for,” Glasper said.
Wright, aer learning he was under investigation by the FBI, became more
desperate and began acting erratically. He reached out to the undercover
informant to nd someone to attack him to the point of memory loss, according
to the afdavit.
The recorded conversation between Wright and the informant occurred on Oct.
23.
11/9/2017 Adelanto councilman accused of taking $10,000 bribe, hiring man to burn down his restaurant – San Bernardino Sun
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“So, how much is it going to cost to get my (expletive) beat? And it needs to
happen quickly though,” Wright told the undercover informant, according to the
afdavit.
Wright told the informant, “they gotta hit me in the head.” He also told the
informant the beating would accomplish two things: That it would get the
investigation “off his back” and convince his estranged wife to come back to him,
according to the court document.
“What am I suppose to do? I’m still underneath this federal (expletive),” Wright
told the informant.
beatriz-valenzuela Beatriz E. Valenzuela
Beatriz E. Valenzuela is an award-winning journalist who’scovered breaking news in Southern California since 2006 and has been on thefront lines of several national and international news events. She’s worked formedia outlets serving Southern California readers covering education, localgovernment, entertainment and all things nerd including comic book cultureand video games. She’s an amateur obstacle course racer, constant fact-checker,mother of three and lover of all things adorable.
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11/8/2017 Why affordable housing is such a big challenge for the Inland Empire – Daily Bulletin
http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/08/why-affordable-housing-is-such-a-big-challenge-for-the-inland-empire/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_med… 1/6
By RICHARD K. DE ATLEY | [email protected] | The Press-Enterprise
PUBLISHED: November 8, 2017 at 1:36 pm | UPDATED: November 8, 2017 at 1:41 pm
The grand opening of Olive Meadow at Arrowhead Grove, the housing project formerlyknown as Waterman Gardens in San Bernardino on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017. Thecommunity provides 62 high-quality, affordable apartment homes for low- andmoderate-income families. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
BUSINESS
Why affordable housing is such abig challenge for the Inland Empire
11/8/2017 Why affordable housing is such a big challenge for the Inland Empire – Daily Bulletin
http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/08/why-affordable-housing-is-such-a-big-challenge-for-the-inland-empire/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_med… 2/6
Developer Jeff Burum resumes his chairmanship of the affordable housing
development non-pro t he co-founded just as California faces a tight inventory in
new living spaces that has rent devouring apartment dweller’s paychecks and puts
home prices out of reach of middle-class wage earners.
And it’s affordable housing that has drawn the most attention in the state
Legislature, with the cost of housing going up, while the number of housing starts in
California has slipped from 200,000 annually from 1955 to 1989 to an average of
80,000 annually in the past decade.
“The big picture is not very complicated,” Steve PonTell, president and chief
executive of cer of National Community Renaissance, the rm Burum and Andrew
Wright started a quarter-century ago, said in a telephone interview Monday. “It’s
supply and demand.”
California of cials estimate the de cit of affordable housing across the state is at 1.5
million units. Affordable housing means units accessible to those whose wages are
below the local area median income.
In Riverside County, there were 58,620 extremely low-income renter households in
2014, but only 14,784 affordable apartments available to them, leaving a de cit of
43,836; in San Bernardino County it was 65,000 extremely low-income households
at the end of the same year, with 13,014 affordable units available — a de cit
of 51,986 units, of according to a study by the Urban Institute’s Housing Assistance
Matters Initiative.
When California eliminated redevelopment agencies in 2011, it took $1 billion a
year out of affordable housing aid, PonTell said.
“Sixty percent of all the money in the state of California for affordable housing got
taken away,” PonTell said in an interview during a National Community Renaissance
gala fundraiser Thursday at the Fairplex Conference Center in Pomona to raise
funds for the Hope Through Housing Foundation, a non-pro t that funds projects
such onsite preschool to help low-income residents living in affordable housing.
“They’ve just now started to put it back. The Legislature nally passed a bill that will
allow about $250 million a year” toward affordable housing, he said.
“I do think there is a more leadership awareness of the consequence of an
inadequate supply of housing,” PonTell said.
11/8/2017 Why affordable housing is such a big challenge for the Inland Empire – Daily Bulletin
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Slow post-Great Recession wage increases and higher prices for rentals and homes
boosted by lack of new building have widened the number of people who fall into the
category of “cost burdened” — paying more than 30 percent of their income on
housing.
California and the Inland area have been hard-hit by the convergence of the high
costs and low inventory. The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies concluded a
56.7 percent share of renter households in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario
metro area are cost-burdened, and a 30.6 percent share are severely cost burdened
— paying more than 50 percent of income on housing, based on 2015 data.
The area was ranked 13th in the nation for cost-burdened housing in the Joint
Center study.
California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, who attended
the gala, said the housing crisis has a cascading effect.
“We know there’s a huge imbalance, a crisis in housing. Our teachers can’t even
afford to live in the districts they teach in,” he said Thursday in an interview. “This
isn’t healthy. Teachers traditionally have been able to be part of the community after
school. They coach sports, they volunteer with the drama club,” he said.
Burum said National Community Renaissance — also called National CORE — has
longtime experience in providing affordable housing that puts it in a good position to
help with the crisis.
“We’re now a recognized thought leader,” Burum said. “People are looking toward
this organization to nd solutions. And that’s what our job is. … Give solutions to
both governments and social workers to nd the best way to spend the scarce
resources, because we don’t have enough money to solve this problem. So it’s how
you allocate it that will make the difference.”
Burum also has resumed chairmanship of the Hope Through Housing Foundation
following his acquittal in the Colonies bribery case. He voluntarily left the
chairmanship of both eight years ago.
National CORE says it has helped 250,000 people over that time and overseen
development of 9,000 housing units in California, Arkansas, Texas and Florida,
although PonTell said 80 percent of the organization’s portfolio is in California.
One of local projects for National CORE has been the transformation of Waterman
Gardens housing project in San Bernardino into Arrowhead Grove — not only for the
quality of the buildings but the quality of life in the neighborhood, PonTell said.
11/8/2017 Why affordable housing is such a big challenge for the Inland Empire – Daily Bulletin
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The total cost of Arrowhead Grove was estimated in 2014 at $150 million to $200
million, and it aims to eventually provide 411 units. PonTell said the National CORE
is organizing nancing now for projects in Rialto, Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga.
National CORE is a public-private partnership, PonTell said.
“When you look at the funding for our projects, there can be 12 different sources of
funding,” PonTell said. That can include tax credit equity in which private institutions
buy tax credits and invest that money in the project, leaving it there for years for the
institution, such as a bank, to gain the bene t of the investment. There can be special
needs funding, foundation funding, and funding by private corporations, he said.
“These are the most complicated real-estate deals, not only because of the
population we serve, but putting the funds together,” he said.
“We bring private capital leveraging public money into areas where the market is not
going to work,” PonTell said. “A lot of people talk about, ‘the market should solve it’ —
but we’ve succeeded in distorting the market in California so much, by making
development so hard, that the market can’t solve it.”
The two-part approach — affordable housing through National CORE and support of
residents through organizations such as Hope Through Housing that helps families
get ahead and eventually move into market-rate housing — can bring good results,
PonTell said.
But getting people’s foot in the door via affordable housing remains on social as well
as a political challenge, Pontell said.
“What I nd fascinating is that from the most liberal neighborhoods in California, to
the most conservative, they oppose affordable housing equally,” PonTell said. “A lot
of it has to do with fear-based reaction. They oppose regular development and then
affordable housing, even more.”
Richard K. De AtleyA journalist since 1975 for City News Service in Los Angeles, TheAssociated Press in Los Angeles and New York, and The Press-Enterprise,Richard K. De Atley has been Entertainment Editor and a features writer.
He has also reported on trials and breaking news. He is currently a business
Tags: housing, Top Stories IVDB, Top Stories PE,Top Stories RDF, Top Stories Sun
11/9/2017 Meet Chase Ash, grand marshal for Redlands Veterans Day Parade – Redlands Daily Facts
http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/2017/11/09/meet-chase-ash-grand-marshal-for-redlands-veterans-day-parade/ 1/6
By KRISTINA HERNANDEZ | [email protected] | Redlands Daily Facts
November 9, 2017 at 6:00 am
Enemy re
Chase Ash knew at age 5 he was going to join the military.
It was a calling, the longtime Mentone resident said. He felt strongly that he needed
to give back to the country that had given him so much.
In 2002, he followed the footsteps of his father, Gregory, and his grandparents.
“I would have done it for free,” Ash said as he recalled his three years in the U.S.
Army.
This weekend, Ash will serve as grand marshal of the annual Redlands Veterans Day
Parade. The parade pays tribute to those who have served in all con icts in the
nation’s history, and each year organizers bestow the honor of grand marshal to a
local veteran.
Organizers of the parade selected Ash for his bravery following a September 2004
incident where he exposed himself to enemy re to save the lives of his comrades.
“He received a Silver Star for heroism,” said Mike Warren, parade chairman, “and to
get that star you have to put your life at risk. He did just that in complete disregard
for his own safety. We think he represents younger veterans today, and we’re proud
that he’s a local hero.”
LOCAL NEWS
Meet Chase Ash, grand marshal forRedlands Veterans Day Parade
11/9/2017 Meet Chase Ash, grand marshal for Redlands Veterans Day Parade – Redlands Daily Facts
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Back home
Ash, now 34, enlisted in the service prior to his graduation from Redlands East Valley
High School in 2002.
That August, Ash packed up his bags for basic training as an infantryman before he
was deployed to Iraq with the First Calvary Division in support of Operation Iraqi
Freedom.
On Sept. 12, 2004, his unit was assigned to extract a scout platoon and Navy SEAL
snipers form an observation post in Baghdad when they encountered heavy enemy
re from all directions.
A car loaded with explosives crashed into a Bradley ghting vehicle, causing it to
burst into ames and signaled the start of the attack. The re ght lasted for several
hours.
According to a parade program, “Specialist Ash risked his life to save his fellow
soldiers” by exposing “himself to enemy re while running 50 meters in open terrain
to burning Bradley” and began leading soldiers, including many who were wounded,
“to a safer position.”
No one was left behind.
“A lot of people have negative memories and negative connotations of their service,
and I do, too, because there’s a lot of bad things,” Ash said, “but as far as my Silver
Star that was a good day for us because … none of us died that day. In some small
part that’s because of me, so that’s something I am happy to think about and not
have any negative memories from.”
Ash’s combination of heroism and humility makes Ash the right choice for grand
marshal, Warren said.
“For me, (joining the service) was about patriotism,” Ash said. “I’ve always been proud
to be an American and what the country stands for. I’ve grown up that way, so I feel
the military is an extension of the country, and if you feel like you have the means
and the willingness — mental and physical — then you should do it.”
Ash left the service in 2005 and returned home.
Two years later, he joined the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department as a
deputy, and in 2008 married his wife, Lindsay. They have two children, ages 3 and 5.
11/9/2017 Meet Chase Ash, grand marshal for Redlands Veterans Day Parade – Redlands Daily Facts
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Grand marshal
Ash is proud not only of his own military career, but the careers of others who have
served. He enjoys discovering the stories of men and women in the military, and he
has a large collection of military memorabilia at his father’s home. Items in the
collection include military uniforms, recruitment posters and protective gear.
He scours yard sales and thrift shops for items to add to his collection. One of his
favorite nds is a helmet from World War I. He also has a military uniform that was
worn during the con ict.
Ash has no problems answering questions about the collection, or educating young
students about his nds and his own military experience. In years past, he has shared
some of his collection with Cope Middle School students to give them an
opportunity to feel what it was like to carry equipment.
He hopes to eventually bring his collection to other school sites.
“I like history,” he said, “but to truly get an idea of history, you have to feel it.”
Ash will preside over the Veterans Day Parade as it makes its way from Citrus
Avenue and Redlands Boulevard to Jennie Davis Park on New York Street, where a
ceremony and picnic follows.
The inaugural Veterans Day Parade rolled through Redlands ve years ago as part of
a series of activities and events in celebration of the city’s 125th anniversary. Since
then, the parade has grown each year with new and returning entrants, Warren said.
Participating groups and organizations include Redlands-based and neighboring
veterans clubs, the Norton Air Force Base Museum from San Bernardino, and local
and national dignitaries.
The parade begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, with the ceremony at Jennie Davis
Park following at about 10:45 a.m., Warren said. The ceremony includes a musical
tribute to the troops from the Citrus Valley High School band and a keynote address
by retired U.S. Navy veteran Gil Garza, according to an event program.
A picnic at the park concludes the day’s events. Highlights include food trucks, a beer
garden and a kid-friendly zone. The Lindy Sisters are scheduled to perform.
Warren said his hope for Saturday is that the events will unite veterans from all
con icts and branches of military.
“It’s going to be a great time for our vets to relax and enjoy themselves, and gives
veterans a chance to talk with each other and exchange stories,” he said.
11/9/2017 What to expect as Skypark at Santa’s Village opens for second season – Daily Bulletin
http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/08/what-to-expect-as-skypark-at-santas-village-opens-for-second-season/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_me… 1/5
By JIM STEINBERG | [email protected] | San Bernardino Sun
PUBLISHED: November 8, 2017 at 3:03 pm | UPDATED: November 8, 2017 at 11:51 pm
Employees work to decorate and prepare all the features for opening day, tomorrow,Thursday, Nov. 9th, at SkyPark at Santa’s Village in Skyforest on Wednesday, Nov. 8,2017. (Eric Reed/For The Sun/SCNG)
LOCAL NEWS
What to expect as Skypark atSanta’s Village opens for secondseason
11/9/2017 What to expect as Skypark at Santa’s Village opens for second season – Daily Bulletin
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SkyPark at Santa’s Village opens for its second Christmas season Thursday, Nov. 9,
but if you don’t already have a ticket for opening day you’ll have to try for another
day.
“We are completely sold out for the opening day. We strongly suggest that people
get their tickets online before driving up,” said Bill Johnson, Skypark general
manager.
The iconic Christmas-themed park in the San Bernardino Mountains has added
attractions for outdoor enthusiasts including mountain biking, a 30-foot climbing
tower, and a 600-foot long zipline that takes visitors through a section of tall trees.
There’s also a shorter zipline for small children. Also archery, hiking trails and a
Fantasy Forest evening walk have all been added.
“The lights are solar-powered with a panel at the top of each tree,” Johnson said
about the Fantasy Forest.
Returning to the 153-acre park this season is the ice skating rink, Johnson said. He
began his day at 3 a.m. Wednesday to build up the rink’s ice layer in preparation for
Thursday’s opening.
Developers have also added a kids’ play area, according to marketing manager Brad
Lo and.
The park, a revival of Santa’s Village, which opened in 1955 — the same year as
Disneyland — is opening nearly a month earlier than last year.
See what's new at Santa's Village thisyearSCNG
11/9/2017 What to expect as Skypark at Santa’s Village opens for second season – Daily Bulletin
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RELATED STORIES
Skypark is an “anchor of economic development for Sky Forest,” said Robin Bull,
executive director of the Lake Arrowhead Communities Chamber of Commerce, on
Wednesday afternoon. The attraction is likely to draw more businesses to the area,
she said.
But as the season gets underway and the weather turns chilly in the mountain
community of Skyforest, Mrs. Claus and Santa remain staples. And this season, a
soup kitchen opens its doors, Johnson said, where visitors can quickly purchase soup
and some bread to help to warm up.
“This year there are special opportunities to have ‘Breakfast with Santa’, or ‘Tea with
Mrs. Claus,'” Lo and said.
Adult admission to the park remains $65 at the door and $59 when tickets are
purchased online. Cost for children 4-13 is $10 less. The breakfast and tea events
are an addtional fee of $30 and $15, respectively. There is also a $10 parking fee this
year, Johnson said.
Skypark at Santa’s Village, is located in the Lake Arrowhead community of Skyforest
at 28950 Highway 18.
Skypark at Santa’s Village expansion approved by county supervisors
What’s next for SkyPark at Santa’s Village’s expansion near Lake Arrowhead
How SkyPark at Santa’s Village is shifting focus now that the holidays are over
A real winter wonderland: Families ock to Santa’s Village to celebrate a white
Christmas
The life, death and rebirth of Santa’s Village in Lake Arrowhead
Key dates in the history of Santa’s Village
For more information visit http://skyparksantasvillage.com.
Tags: Echo Code, Holidays, Photos And Videos,San Bernardino Mountains, Top Stories Breeze, Top Stories IVDB,Top Stories LADN, Top Stories LBPT, Top Stories OCR,
11/9/2017 Hesperia man arrested in connection to robbery, violent attack of elderly couple
http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/20171108/hesperia-man-arrested-in-connection-to-robbery-violent-attack-of-elderly-couple 1/1
By Kevin Trudgeon City EditorPosted Nov 8, 2017 at 1:32 PMUpdated Nov 8, 2017 at 1:32 PM
HESPERIA — A 19-year-old man was arrested in connection to a residential robbery and violent attack that injured anelderly couple here in September, authorities said.
Deputies with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Hesperia Station originally responded to a report of a residentialrobbery in the 18000 block of Pitache Street at 4:50 a.m. on Sept. 23.
According to authorities, deputies learned that a suspect had entered the residence while the homeowners were sleepingand was confronted by the male homeowner.
“A struggle occurred between the male victim and the suspect when the suspect brutally attacked him,” sheriff’s officialssaid in a statement.
“During the disturbance a second victim, the female homeowner, came out to see what had happened and was alsoassaulted by the suspect. After violently attacking both homeowners the suspect fled the scene on foot.”
An extensive area check was conducted, including the use of a Sheriff’s K-9, but authorities were unable to locate thesuspect. The couple was transported to a local hospital for treatment of their injuries and later released.
Through investigation, Hesperia detectives learned that prior to the attack a male subject, identified as Tyryck Aggers, 19,of Hesperia, had come to the residence looking to solicit work.
Aggers was identified as a person of interest and possible suspect, according to authorities, and detectives were able toeventually locate him and serve a search warrant, which yielded property taken from the victims during the robbery andthe arrest of Aggers on Nov. 1 on suspicion of robbery.
Anyone with information regarding this investigation is urged to contact the Hesperia Sheriff’s Station’s Detective Divisionat 760-947-1500. Callers wishing to remain anonymous may call the We-Tip Hotline at 1-800-782-7463 or visitwww.wetip.com.
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Hesperia man arrested in connection to robbery, violent attack of elderlycouple
11/9/2017 Why construction is being done on East State Street in downtown Redlands – San Bernardino Sun
http://www.sbsun.com/2017/11/08/why-construction-is-being-done-on-east-state-street-in-downtown-redlands/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_med… 1/3
By SANDRA EMERSON | [email protected] | Redlands Daily FactsNovember 8, 2017 at 4:18 pm
Construction is underway for installing gateway arches on East State Street indowntown Redlands, Calif. on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017. The city will install thegateway at each end of East State Street to provide music and decorative lighting,which is expected to be completed by Dec. 11, 2017. (Photo by Rachel Luna,Redlands Daily Facts/SCNG)
LOCAL NEWS
Why construction is being doneon East State Street in downtownRedlands
11/9/2017 Why construction is being done on East State Street in downtown Redlands – San Bernardino Sun
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Join the Conversation
Work has begun this week on the city’s latest effort to enhance the historic
downtown.
Crews are installing gateway arches on East State Street at Orange and Ninth
Streets, which will provide music and decorative lighting, according to the city’s
Facebook page.
The work will include saw-cutting the asphalt, installation of electrical conduit
and electrical boxes in bulb-outs along the length of the street as well as the
backlling and repair of the trench, according to the Facebook post.
Construction should wrap up by 8:30 a.m. each work day, according to the post.
The project’s rst phase, along the rst two blocks from Orange Street to Sixth
Street, is anticipated by be complete by Dec. 11.
Construction from Orange Street to Redlands Boulevard is anticipated to be
completed by early January.
For more information call the Quality of Life Department at 909-798-7655.
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Tags: construction, Top Stories RDF
11/9/2017 2 Fontana men arrested, accused of burglaries in Rancho Cucamonga – Press Enterprise
http://www.pe.com/2017/11/08/2-men-arrested-accused-of-burglaries-in-rancho-cucamonga/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter 1/4
LOCAL NEWS
2 Fontana men arrested,accused of burglaries in RanchoCucamonga
11/9/2017 2 Fontana men arrested, accused of burglaries in Rancho Cucamonga – Press Enterprise
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By STEPHEN RAMIREZ | [email protected] | Inland Valley DailyBulletinPUBLISHED: November 8, 2017 at 7:39 pm | UPDATED: November 8, 2017 at 11:58pm
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department was able to recover several itemsafter arresting two suspects on suspicion of burglary Tuesday. (Courtesy Photo)
Two men, believed by authorities to be connected to a series of burglaries in the
Rancho Cucamonga area in recent weeks, are in jail aer deputies found stolen
items in their possession Tuesday, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s
Department said.
Chance Cragwell, 20, and Nick Lee, 18, both of Fontana, were arrested on
suspicion of burglary and conspiracy to commit a crime, a sheriff’s news release
said. They were booked at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho
Cucamonga, the release said. Bail is set at $75,000 each.
The two were spotted Tuesday just before 3 p.m. driving a vehicle similar to one
identied in a surveillance video during one of the burglaries, the news release
said. A deputy stopped the suspects and found stolen property in the vehicle,
including some items taken in burglaries last week.
A stolen handgun was also found in the vehicle, the news release said.
Detectives got a warrant to search a Fontana residence several hours aer the
suspects were stopped and found more stolen items from several Rancho
Cucamonga burglaries, the release said. Cragwell and Lee were then arrested.
Investigators returned the stolen items to their owners, the release said. Most of
the burglaries were in the area of Etiwanda Avenue and the 210 Freeway.
Anyone with information on this incident is asked to call the sheriff’s department
at 909-477-2800. Those wishing to be anonymous can call the We-Tip hotline at 1-
800-78-CRIME or visit www.wetip.com.
11/9/2017 MWA officially changes to morning meeting times
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By Matthew Cabe Staff Writer Posted Nov 8, 2017 at 5:58 PMUpdated Nov 8, 2017 at 5:58 PM
APPLE VALLEY — The Mojave Water Agency (MWA) Board of Directorsofficially changed its meeting time last week, but not before a discussion onwhether an earlier start would negatively impact public access and force oneboard member to resign.
The board voted 5-2 to adopt a resolution that will move the Thursday meetingtime from 4:30 p.m. to 9:30 a.m. beginning in 2018. Director Beverly Lowryinitially discussed the change at the board’s Sept. 12 meeting. She subsequentlycited morning starts as “really helpful” because driving at night had “become aproblem.”
“We discussed it, and it seemed to me that there was some support for it,” Lowrysaid during the Nov. 2 meeting. “So the only way you’ll know is if you bring itforward for a vote. So I brought it forward for a vote.”
Lowry had support during the initial 5-1 vote on Oct. 26, which paved the wayfor the drafting of the resolution, but Director Mike Page opposed the timechange, arguing it could send the wrong message to the public and might forcehis resignation.
Page — an MWA board member since 2001 — pushed for evening meetings andgarnered support from high-ranking constituents in his division, which includesSpring Valley Lake and most of Victorville, including that city’s Mayor Pro TemJim Cox and former mayor Terry Caldwell.
“Maybe I missed the public hearing that you had inviting participation from thepublic on what they believe the time should be, but I just heard about it recently,”Cox said during public comment before the final vote. “And so, I thought I
MWA ocially changes to morning meetingtimes
11/9/2017 MWA officially changes to morning meeting times
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would come and speak my 2-cents worth. Nobody wants to lose their member.Nobody from any district, and so, we don’t want to lose ours.”
Caldwell cautioned the board to “really give this proposed change some seriousthought” and shared his experience related to “an experiment” Victorvilleconducted to increase public participation at that city’s Council meetings.
“We changed all the afternoon meetings to evening meetings because we werenot getting the attendance,” Caldwell said. “We were not getting the publicparticipation that we felt was important for the community. And it worked. Theparticipation for evening meetings went up substantially.”
Caldwell added that morning meetings would impact mothers who take theirchildren to school, as well as commuters whose jobs take them out of the HighDesert and away from public discussion and action involving water, which hesaid was the “most critical issue confronting desert dwellers.”
“I encourage you to think about what seems to be one of the hot issues in oursociety today, and that’s both transparency of government and accessibility toelected officials,” Caldwell said. “So whatever decision you make, I trust that itwill be designed to meet those twin concerns of our general population:transparency and accessibility.”
The board also received letters of opposition from former Victorville mayorRyan McEachron, local businessman Joseph W. Brady and former VictorvilleCity Council candidate Michael Stevens.
The change, however, was not without support. MWA Technical AdvisoryCommittee President Jeanette Hayhurst and Joshua Basin Water DistrictPresident Mickey Luckman both advocated for earlier meetings.
″(Highway) 247, which those of us in the Morongo Basin must drive to get here,is very dangerous at night,” Luckman said. “And I really dislike driving that atnight very, very much. So I think that it’s a much more convenient meeting timefor most of the people from the basin who have to come here for that, and Isupport changing it.”
Director Jim Ventura, whose division includes constituents from the MorongoBasin, added on to that point.
11/9/2017 MWA officially changes to morning meeting times
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“The shortest drive for them is, if you go from Lucerne Valley, about 20 miles,”Ventura said. “But, if you go all the way into the Morongo Basin, it’s 70 milesone way. So (evening meetings) would require my constituents ... to have anhour and a half over and an hour and a half back.”
Meeting attendees from the Morongo Basin leaving meetings around 9:30 p.m.was “just not acceptable,” according to Ventura, who countered Caldwell’s pointconcerning transparency, as well.
“The transparency issue is not an issue,” he said. “This board continues to betransparent in everything we do.”
On Wednesday, Page told the Daily Press potential scheduling conflicts continueto make resignation a possibility, but he said he could not elaborate further.After the Nov. 2 vote, he told the board he was “very disappointed in tonight’smeeting.”
“I feel like we’ve sent the wrong message to the public and we’re discouragingpeople from participating,” Page said.
Supporters of the time change noted they would not want to see Page’sdeparture; however, the consensus was that the board’s meeting schedule neededto be fair to all involved parties.
Matthew Cabe can be reached at [email protected] or at 760-951-6254. Follow
him on Twitter @DP_MatthewCabe.
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11/9/2017 Probe reveals criminal crew run by Rancho Cucamonga high school students – San Bernardino Sun
http://www.sbsun.com/2017/11/08/probe-reveals-criminal-crew-run-by-rancho-cucamonga-high-school-students/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_m… 1/4
By MICHAEL WATANABE | [email protected] and BEATRIZ E.VALENZUELA | [email protected] | The Press-EnterprisePUBLISHED: November 8, 2017 at 1:59 pm | UPDATED: November 9, 2017 at 7:00am
A 2-year sheriff’s investigation has revealed a criminal crew operated by Rancho
Cucamonga high school students who have been committing several crimes
ranging from assault with a deadly weapon to burglary, San Bernardino County
sheriff’s ofcials said.
The investigation led to several search warrants being served Thursday, Nov. 2;
the arrests of two 17-year-old boys on suspicion of burglary, conspiracy and gang
enhancements; and evidence expected to be used in several unsolved cases in
Rancho Cucamonga, according to a sheriff’s news release.
The teens’ names weren’t provided because of their age.
Over the past two years, the investigators noticed that the same teens were being
arrested in various crimes, including assault with a deadly weapon, robbery,
vehicle burglary and grand the, ofcials said.
Detectives soon realized the teens had developed into a criminal crew and could
possibly develop into a full-edged gang.
NEWSCRIME
Probe reveals criminal crew runby Rancho Cucamonga highschool students
11/9/2017 Probe reveals criminal crew run by Rancho Cucamonga high school students – San Bernardino Sun
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“There’s no connection to the larger scale criminal street gangs,” Deputy Jacob
Bailey said in an email. “This ‘gang’ is more like a ‘crew’ that are trying to
develop.”
Working with school resource ofcers and by using social media, detectives
located and identied crew members. Members, the release said, had posted
pictures holding rearms, drugs and money and posted statements about robbing
residents and selling stolen property on smartphone apps.
Authorities warn parents to be aware of their children’s online activity, as that can
give them a glimpse into possible criminal activity.
“I recommend parents keep tabs on their children’s social media platforms and
continue to educate themselves in the new social media platforms that pop up,”
Bailey said. “Electronics and, in particular, smartphones are the gateways to what
is occurring in your child’s life. Just because your child has a smartphone does not
mean the content on that phone is private.”
Authorities ask that anyone with information on these crimes to call at 909-477-
2800. Callers wishing to remain anonymous may contact the We-Tip Hotline at 1-
800-78CRIME (27463), or may leave information on the We-Tip web site
at www.wetip.com.
Michael WatanabeEditor. Geek. Pop culture acionado. Michael Watanabe hasbeen at The Press-Enterprise since 2003. When he isn't editing,he's at Comic-Con, watching a Firey marathon or catching upon Gilmore Girls on Netix.
Follow Michael Watanabe @obiwab
beatriz-valenzuela Beatriz E. Valenzuela
Beatriz E. Valenzuela is an award-winning journalist who’scovered breaking news in Southern California since 2006 and has been on thefront lines of several national and international news events. She’s worked formedia outlets serving Southern California readers covering education, localgovernment, entertainment and all things nerd including comic book cultureand video games. She’s an amateur obstacle course racer, constant fact-checker,mother of three and lover of all things adorable.
Tags: Echo Code, investigation, Top Stories IVDB,Top Stories PE, Top Stories Sun
11/9/2017 Saluting those who served: Pair of events honor veterans in Barstow
http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/20171108/saluting-those-who-served-pair-of-events-honor-veterans-in-barstow 1/2
By Kay Lovato / Staff WriterPosted Nov 8, 2017 at 5:27 PMUpdated Nov 8, 2017 at 5:27 PM
BARSTOW — Two special events took place in Barstow on Wednesday tohonor all those who have served our country.
Barstow Community College held a Veterans Community Resource Fair andluncheon in the Performing Arts Center on campus, with representatives fromthe U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Park University, Family ResourceCenter, Congressman Cook’s office, as well as Barstow Community Collegecampus services, on hand to offer information to interested veterans anddependents.
Opening remarks were offered by BCC Superintendent/President Dr. Eva Bagg.Speaker Dr. Catherine Feher, USAF veteran and BCC instructor, read a poemthat her mother, who was a member of the United States Women’s Marines,wrote. A line from the poem read, “America is our mother land. That makes uskin, you know. Brothers and sisters, standing strong, to conquer every foe.”
Commander Shirrell McCarey (Ret.), U.S. Navy and Deputy Chief of Staff, 11thDistrict, DAV was there to speak on empowering women veterans,, but also paidhomage to all her “brothers.”
“For all your strength, if wasn’t for you men, I would not be here” said McCarey.
Barstow Community Hospital also held “A Salute to Honor All Who Served” atits main entrance. The event opened with the presentation of colors by theUnited States Marine Corps Mounted Color Guard, and the national anthem wassung by U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer (CW2) Jeff Smith.
Matthew Blevins, chief executive officer of the hospital, spoke about those whoare serving all across the world as being protectors.
Saluting those who served: Pair of events honorveterans in Barstow
11/9/2017 Saluting those who served: Pair of events honor veterans in Barstow
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“You are in so many ways protectors of us, protectors of our collective hopes anddreams, of the American way, the American dream and the American lifestyle,we thank you for that” Blevins said.
Colonel Martin Doperak, Weed Army Hospital commander at the NationalTraining Center, Fort Irwin, spoke on the sacrifice that so many have given.
“This Saturday in the United States and across the world, people gather as theyhave for nearly a century, in town halls and city squares, they march in parades,and join together in many places to celebrate and honor our veterans for theirdevotion, patriotism, and self service and sacrifice on our behalf,” Doperak said.
Throughout the event, members of the Barstow High School band playedpatriotic music and the Armed Forces medley, which prompted those inattendance to stand when they heard their military branch anthem played.
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11/9/2017 While Jurupa Valley residents are concerned about truck traffic, planners OK warehouse project – Daily Bulletin
http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/08/planners-ok-jurupa-valley-warehouse-project-residents-concerned-about-truck-traffic/?utm_source=d… 1/4
By IMRAN GHORI | [email protected] | The Press-Enterprise
PUBLISHED: November 8, 2017 at 10:16 pm | UPDATED: November 9, 2017 at 7:18 am
Jurupa Valley of cials approved plans Wednesday, Nov. 8 for a 1.1-million square-
foot warehouse project in its Mira Loma area that has seen heavy industrial
development since the 1990s.
The Planning Commission voted 4-0 to allow for the expansion of the Mira Loma
Space Center site north of Highway 60 and west of Etiwanda avenue. The city
approved a development agreement in 2014 that allowed for industrial
development on the 318-acre site.
The new project adds two buildings on 51.3 acres at the southwest corner of
Etiwanda and Iberia avenues.
Residents in the nearby Mira Loma Village criticized the project for adding more
truck traf c and pollution in an area that is already home to 90 large warehouse
complexes that generate 15,000 truck trips a day, according to the state attorney
general’s of ce.
LOCAL NEWS
While Jurupa Valley residents areconcerned about truck trafc,planners OK warehouse project
11/9/2017 While Jurupa Valley residents are concerned about truck traffic, planners OK warehouse project – Daily Bulletin
http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/08/planners-ok-jurupa-valley-warehouse-project-residents-concerned-about-truck-traffic/?utm_source=d… 2/4
Graciela Larios, an organizer with the Center for Community Action and
Environmental Justice, said the project adds more truck traf c to the area even as
city of cials have yet to divert traf c away from a separate warehouse project
approved in 2011.
“Any more trucks on this community would be detrimental,” she said.
A 2013 settlement with the state attorney general’s of ce required the city to work
on a plan to prohibit heavy trucks from traveling on Etiwanda Avenue — the road
adjacent to the neighborhood.
City of cials, who last month tabled further environmental study on such a plan, say
they were only required to consider a truck ban.
With the new project, city of cials considered restricting truck traf c on the route
but did not include it in the proposal that went to the commission, citing concerns
about how to enforce it.
However, commissioners said they wanted to add more protections for an area they
noted already suffers from terrible air quality. They added a condition to require
access at the southeast corner of the site, which they said could cut some of the
truck traf c.
Gene Procter, who has lived in Mira Loma Village since 1971, said the conditions
don’t go far enough to reduce truck traf c.
“When it comes to health there is no gray area as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
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11/9/2017 The Unsung Role That Ordinary Citizens Played in the Great Crime Decline - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/upshot/the-unsung-role-that-ordinary-citizens-played-in-the-great-crime-decline.html 1/6
https://nyti.ms/2hlT3Mu
The Upshot
The Unsung Role That OrdinaryCitizens Played in the Great CrimeDeclineEmily Badger @emilymbadger NOV. 9, 2017
Most theories for the great crime decline that swept across nearly every majorAmerican city over the last 25 years have focused on the would-be criminals.
Their lives changed in many ways starting in the 1990s: Strict new policingtactics kept closer watch on them. Mass incarceration locked them up in growingnumbers. The crack epidemic that ensnared many began to recede. Even the moreunorthodox theories — around the rise of abortion, the reduction in lead or thespread of A.D.H.D. medication — have argued that larger shifts in society altered thebehavior (and existence) of potential criminals.
But none of these explanations have paid much attention to the communitieswhere violence plummeted the most. New research suggests that people there wereworking hard, with little credit, to address the problem themselves.
Local nonprofit groups that responded to the violence by cleaning streets,building playgrounds, mentoring children and employing young men had a realeffect on the crime rate. That’s what Patrick Sharkey, a sociologist at New York
11/9/2017 The Unsung Role That Ordinary Citizens Played in the Great Crime Decline - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/upshot/the-unsung-role-that-ordinary-citizens-played-in-the-great-crime-decline.html 2/6
University, argues in a new study and a forthcoming book. Mr. Sharkey doesn’t
contend that community groups alone drove the national decline in crime, but ratherthat their impact is a major missing piece.
“This was a part that has been completely overlooked and ignored in nationaldebates over the crime drop,” he said. “But I think it’s fundamental to whathappened.”
Between the early 1990s and 2015, the homicide rate in America fell by half.Rates of robbery, assault and theft tumbled in tandem. In New York, Washingtonand San Diego, murders dropped by more than 75 percent. Although violence hasincreased over the last two years in some cities, including Chicago and Baltimore,even those places remain safer than they were 25 years ago. And crime has continuedto fall in other cities, most notably New York, where shootings are at a record low.
This long-term trend has fundamentally altered city life. It has transformed fear-inducing parks and subways into vibrant public spaces. It has lured wealthier whitesback into cities. It has raised the life expectancies of black men. And even in an ageof widening urban inequality, it has meant that the daily lives of the mostdisadvantaged are less dangerous now than they were a generation ago. These poorneighborhoods, Mr. Sharkey has found, have been the greatest beneficiaries of thistectonic change in safety.
The same communities were participating in another big shift that started in the1990s: The number of nonprofits began to rise sharply across the country,particularly those addressing neighborhood and youth development.
Mr. Sharkey and the doctoral students Gerard Torrats-Espinosa and DelaramTakyar used data from the National Center for Charitable Statistics to track the riseof nonprofits in 264 cities across more than 20 years. Nonprofits were more likely toform in the communities with the gravest problems. But they also sprang up forreasons that had little to do with local crime trends, such as an expansion inphilanthropic funding. A spike in nonprofits addressing subjects like the arts andmedical research occurred in this same era.
11/9/2017 The Unsung Role That Ordinary Citizens Played in the Great Crime Decline - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/upshot/the-unsung-role-that-ordinary-citizens-played-in-the-great-crime-decline.html 3/6
Comparing the growth of other kinds of nonprofits, the researchers believe theywere able to identify the causal effect of these community groups: Every 10additional organizations in a city with 100,000 residents, they estimate, led to a 9percent drop in the murder rate and a 6 percent drop in violent crime.
In a criminology field that has produced some eyebrow-raising ideas, this one isactually not so surprising. That national finding echoes local studies of someindividual programs, like one run by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society thatconverts abandoned lots into green spaces and that has been linked in Philadelphiato reduced gun violence.
The research also affirms some of the tenets of community policing: thatneighborhoods are vital to policing themselves, and that they can address thecomplex roots of violence in ways that fall beyond traditional police work.
“It’s absolutely consistent with what I would argue is probably the prevalenttheory of policing among the major cities today,” Richard Myers, the executivedirector of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, said of the new research.
Local organizations also say Mr. Sharkey’s results validate what they havealready witnessed.
“Any time people’s basic needs are met, violence goes down — that’s not new,”said Noreen McClendon, who directs the nonprofit Concerned Citizens of SouthCentral Los Angeles.
The group, led by Ms. McClendon’s mother for many years, was formed in the1980s to fight a proposed waste incinerator in the neighborhood. It evolved in the1990s to address many of the neighborhood’s other challenges. The group createddozens of block clubs to care for individual streets. It cleaned alleys and repairedpotholes, and hired local ex-offenders to do that work. It established a credit union,sponsored a jazz festival and developed hundreds of units of affordable housing.
During a time of major disinvestment in cities, and severe cuts in federalsupport for urban programs, residents of the neighborhood believed no one else wascoming to help. “Nobody,” Ms. McClendon said. And if the group had not done this
11/9/2017 The Unsung Role That Ordinary Citizens Played in the Great Crime Decline - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/upshot/the-unsung-role-that-ordinary-citizens-played-in-the-great-crime-decline.html 4/6
work itself? “There would have been a lot more death,” she said, “between violenceamongst people, violence from police brutality, just drugs.”
Many similar groups did not explicitly think of what they were doing as violenceprevention. But in creating playgrounds, they enabled parents to better monitortheir children. In connecting neighbors, they improved the capacity of residents tocontrol their streets. In forming after-school programs, they offered alternatives tocrime.
In the East Lake neighborhood of Atlanta, the crime rate in the mid 1990s was18 times the national average. The drug market in the neighborhood was estimatedto be doing $35 million in business a year. There hadn’t been a new building permitissued in the neighborhood in nearly three decades, a sign of how little anyone hadinvested in the community other than to buy drugs there.
Then the newly formed East Lake Foundation developed new mixed-incomehousing to replace a decaying public housing project. It started a golf program forneighborhood children on a nearby but long-deteriorating golf course. Thefoundation eventually opened a charter school, where the first class of seniors had a100 percent graduation rate in May.
“We knew we wanted to see violence and crime go down in the community,”said Carol Naughton, who led the foundation for years and today is the president of anational group, Purpose Built Communities, that is trying to teach East Lake’s modelin other cities. “But we’ve never had a crime-prevention program.”
Today violent crime in East Lake is down 90 percent from 1995. But Ms.Naughton is momentarily perplexed by the question of whether she believes groupslike hers have gotten enough credit for contributing to that outcome.
“We’re not part of the crime-reduction world, or the public safety world, in thesame way that we’re part of the health and education and housing world,” she said.“It never occurred to us that we’re not getting the credit, because we don’t even knowthat world is out there.”
11/9/2017 The Unsung Role That Ordinary Citizens Played in the Great Crime Decline - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/upshot/the-unsung-role-that-ordinary-citizens-played-in-the-great-crime-decline.html 5/6
The lesson in that response, and in Mr. Sharkey’s work — that effective crimeprevention doesn’t necessarily look like stop-and-frisk, or hot-spot policing, or massincarceration — is particularly relevant today as cities rethink policing.
“A lot of these communities were in despair because they needed resources,”said Robert Sampson, a sociologist at Harvard who has studied Chicagoneighborhoods damaged by violence. “And what did they get? Well, they mainly gotcrime control. They got increases in incarceration.”
Those tactics may have contributed to the decline in crime as well. But they’vecome with costs that have become clearer over time, in antagonizing communitiesand disrupting families.
Mr. Sharkey is pointing to one possible solution with less evident downsides.And he’s suggesting that communities can effectively take on the very roles that thepolice say have strained them as they’ve increasingly been asked to perform jobs theyweren’t trained for, as guidance counselors or marriage therapists or substance-abuse experts.
“They are taking that burden away from the police that probably never shouldhave been there, but by default has kind of landed there,” said Mr. Myers of thechiefs association, who is also a former longtime police chief himself, in Michigan,Virginia, Colorado and elsewhere.
As Mr. Sharkey publishes his findings, crime rates are now diverging after ageneration in which violence fell reliably year after year nearly everywhere. It’s notclear yet whether the great crime decline he writes about will continue. But he arguesthat it’s time for a new model of violence prevention, one that relies more heavily onthe kind of work that these community groups have been quietly doing than on theaggressive police tactics and tough sentencing that the Trump administration nowadvocates.
“The model that we’ve relied on to control violence for a long time has brokendown,” Mr. Sharkey said. If communities want police to step back, he is pointing tosome of the people who can step in. “This gives us a model. It gives us another set ofactors who can play a larger role.”
11/9/2017 LA County moves forward with hepatitis A vaccines for police, other first responders – Daily Bulletin
http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/08/la-county-moves-forward-with-hepatitis-a-vaccines-for-police-other-first-responders/?utm_source=dl… 1/4
By SUSAN ABRAM | [email protected] | Daily News
November 8, 2017 at 5:12 pm
Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG
In this April 2017 photo, LAPD Officer Deon Joseph walks through the Skid Row areaof Los Angeles. Earlier this month, the LAPD’s union reported an officer was sickenedwith hepatitis A while working in the area.
NEWS
LA County moves forward withhepatitis A vaccines for police,other rst responders
11/9/2017 LA County moves forward with hepatitis A vaccines for police, other first responders – Daily Bulletin
http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/08/la-county-moves-forward-with-hepatitis-a-vaccines-for-police-other-first-responders/?utm_source=dl… 2/4
Los Angeles County leaders have approved an effort to look into providing law
enforcement and other rst responders with access to free hepatitis A vaccines,
after the LAPD’s union reported an of cer was sickened with the liver disease while
working in downtown’s skid row.
The motion, authored by supervisors Kathryn Barger and Janice Hahn, was
introduced and approved Tuesday, nearly a week after a spokesman from the Los
Angeles Police Protective League made an urgent call for vaccines for 1,000 of cers
after the of cer contracted the virus.
RELATED STORY: LAPD union calls for ‘urgent action’ on hepatitis A vaccines after
of cer contracts virus
The union represents some 9,800 Los Angeles Police Department of cers up to the
rank of lieutenant.
The board directed the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to work
with the LAPD, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Los Angeles County
Fire, and other law enforcement and re agencies “to ensure that rst responders
who are most at-risk of being exposed to Hepatitis A have access to vaccinations.”
Public health of cials were instructed to return to the board in 14 days with a report
on availability and resources.
“We applaud the swift action taken by the Board of Supervisors to protect Los
Angeles police of cers and other rst responders by providing the Hepatitis A
vaccination,” according to a statement from the LAPPL. “We appreciate the
leadership of Supervisor Hahn and Supervisor Barger for immediately
understanding the signi cance of this public health issue and for acting on our plea
for help on behalf of our members.”
RELATED STORY: Here’s one way LA County plans to stop spread of hepatitis A in
homeless encampments
11/9/2017 LA County moves forward with hepatitis A vaccines for police, other first responders – Daily Bulletin
http://www.dailybulletin.com/2017/11/08/la-county-moves-forward-with-hepatitis-a-vaccines-for-police-other-first-responders/?utm_source=dl… 3/4
VIEW COMMENTS
For those who asked why we needed @HexArmor NeedleResistant gloves in Skid Row for our @LAPDCentralArea officers.Here's an example why...9:16 AM - Jun 29, 2017
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Captain Marc Reina @LAPDMarcReina
Much of the vaccination outreach efforts in Los Angeles have been focused on
homeless people who live in encampments. Health of cials are concerned that,
because of an outbreak among homeless people in encampments in San Diego and
Santa Cruz counties, the disease will spread in Los Angeles.
As of Monday, there were 29 reported cases of hepatitis A, 15 of them among
homeless people who use drugs.
Hepatitis A is a liver disease with symptoms that include fever, fatigue, loss of
appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dark urine, clay-colored bowel
movements, joint pain and a yellowing of the skin or eyes or jaundice. It is spread
person-to-person through close contact or through contact with environments
contaminated with feces.
susan-abram Susan Abram
Susan Abram covers public health and county government for theLos Angeles Daily News and the Southern California News Group.
Follow Susan Abram @sabramLA
Tags: LA County Board of Supervisors, LAPD, public health,public safety, San Fernando Valley, Top Stories LADN,vaccinations
Palm Springs cleared of violating state law with taxpayer-funded mass mailer
Jesse Marx, The Desert Sun Published 4:48 p.m. PT Nov. 2, 2017 | Updated 6:19 p.m. PT Nov. 2, 2017
California’s independent political watchdog cleared the city of Palm Springs on Thursday of violating state lawsthat prohibit cities from using taxpayer dollars to engage in political campaigning.
The Fair Political Practices Commission agreed in October to look into a complaint filed by City Councilcandidate Robert Stone, who argued that a mass mailer informing residents about the benefits of two proposedtax increases on the upcoming election ballot crossed a line into political advocacy.
Ruth Yang, a lawyer in the FPPC’s enforcement division, disagreed. Yang wrote in a letter to Palm Springsofficials that the mailer did not expressly advocate for passage of the tax proposals, known as measures D and
E.
“The content of the mailer is more appropriately characterized as informational rather than campaign material,” Yang wrote.
When reached on Thursday evening, Stone said he hadn't seen the FPPC's letter and would be withholding comment until then.
READ MORE: Despite some hesitation, Palm Springs business groups support Measure D tax proposal (/story/news/politics/2017/10/03/despite-some-hesitation-palm-springs-business-groups-support-measure-d-tax-proposal/728548001/)
Palm Springs City Attorney Edward Kotkin said he was satisfied by the outcome and the exhaustive approach taken by state investigators in resolving thecomplaint.
“The city of Palm Springs is gratified that the FPPC, as the agency entrusted with the protection of political integrity in our state, validated the educationand information approach brought to bear in the mailer questioned in the citizen complaint,” Kotkin said.
Stone complained (/story/news/politics/2017/09/19/palm-springs-uses-tax-funds-send-mailer-informing-voters-proposed-sales-tax-proposal-subject-scrutin/681899001/) that the mailer contained the word “official” and that it did not include evidence to back up its claim that up to two-thirds of thepotential $6 to $7 million annual revenue generated by the passage of Measure D, a half-cent sales tax increase, would be paid by tourists.
Measure E would expand the city's marijuana tax to recreational-use sales, which are set to begin in January.
The mailer did not mention that Measure D grew out of conversations in June surrounding the city’s growing, long-term pension and retiree health carecosts. It did, however, say state revenue sources have dried up and put pressure on the local budget in recent years.
READ MORE: If Palm Springs increases the sales tax rate, would residents have a higher tax burden than other cities (/story/news/local/palm-springs/2017/08/21/if-palm-springs-sales-tax-increase-passes-residents-would-still-pay-less-taxes-than-other-valley-cit/573595001/)
Supporters of the mailer, including City Council member Geoff Kors, argued that the mailer simply laid out the facts of the situation: if Palm Springscouldn’t identify a new source of revenue, then services would be cut and additional police officers and fire personnel that both chiefs requested wouldn’tbe possible.
(Photo: Jesse Marx/The Desert Sun)
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Jesse Marx covers politics. Reach him at [email protected] or @marxjesse on Twitter.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/reader-center/mass-killings-survivor-stories.html?_r=0
‘Tell Your Story to Everyone’: Readers Affected by Mass Killings Offer Advice for Fellow Survivors By NANCY WARTIK and MARIE TAE McDERMOTTNOV. 8, 2017
A vigil on Sunday night in Sutherland Springs, Tex., after the killings at First Baptist Church.CreditTodd Heisler/The New York Times
The Reader Center is a newsroom initiative that is helping The Times build deeper ties with our audience.
In the painful aftermath of the church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Tex., that left 26 people dead on Sunday, we asked readers affected by similar attacks to share their experiences and tell us how they have coped, in the hopes that any advice they offer might help others facing such a tragedy. We heard from more than 150 people in less than a day.
Their responses suggest that such mass killings touch myriad lives — bystanders, first responders, close-knit communities, the families and friends
of those lost, among others — and that the effects are powerful, lingering and often hard to talk about.
David Silberman of Brooklyn, N.Y., survived a deadly 1985 grenade attack at the Vienna airport when he was 16 and found it cathartic simply to put his experience into words: “Thank you for giving me a place to tell my story,” he wrote. “I don’t get to tell it often. I don’t know how I got through it. It is haunting, and no one ever wanted to talk about it with me. It was scary, foreign and not part of anyone else’s reality.”
Over all, those affected did not sugarcoat the suffering; some are coping better than others. But all have found a way to go on, and many expressed hope that they could provide a road map for survivors like those in Sutherland Springs, now taking the first steps on a very tough path.
(Some replies have been edited and condensed for clarity.)
‘Tell your story to everyone — that is how you heal.’
Mandi Burkett, Austin, Tex.
Affected by the shooting at Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Tex., in 1999
Photo
Brandon and Mandi Burkett When I was 16 in Fort Worth, Tex., I lived through a mass shooting at my church. The gunman killed seven and wounded seven before turning the gun on himself. I was in complete disbelief. Church was probably the most safe place outside of your home. I would say it was “hard,” “unimaginable,” “devastating,” but none of those words really describes it.
My boyfriend then, now husband, was with me at the time, as were many of our friends. It goes without saying, we were immediately changed forever. I know we all came away with something different, but from the last 18 years, here is what I know:
1. You will never get over it. You will change, and things will get different, but you will think about this (and sometimes relive it) every day of your life.
2. I have a strong faith, as do many others I was with that night, but faith alone cannot get you through this. Find a counselor, and go. If someone offers you counseling services, say yes as fast as you can. You will need to work through so many things.
3. Don’t stay hidden inside. This world is scary, but man, it is also really good. Some days just getting up and moving will be hard, but you will get up and you will keep going. Live your life. It is indeed so precious.
4. Don’t be scared to tell others what they mean to you. That is one of the biggest things I have learned. Just say it. Text it or write it down. You never know how many more opportunities you will have. Even if you cry the whole time and you stumble on the words, tell them. People need to hear those positive words more than you know, so say them. Speak life into others.
5. Keep talking about it. Tell your story to everyone — that is how you heal and that is the only way things will change. When you have had time to heal and you can talk about it, then talk about it. We need to put faces and names to this epidemic. We need to be brave and share our stories.
‘Let yourself go through all the emotions.’
Andie Caputo, Smyrna, Del.
Affected by the shooting in Las Vegas in 2017
Photo
Andie Caputo and Megan O'Donnell Clements
I was at the concert in Vegas on the night of the mass shooting. I just remember trying to get out and running as far as I possibly could. I can’t explain the fear we all had that night, and I don’t think it’s something I’ll ever forget. I think the healing process is just starting for my family. They have been my biggest support and are all there for me on my roughest days. My mom has literally been there for every call, text, anything I need to listen and talk me through it. I am going to therapy to figure out how to process this.
I would say just try to remember to take everything one day at a time and to let yourself go through all the emotions you’re feeling whenever they come up. I’ve been trying so hard to just put on a brave face, but when it all builds up and you are feeling angry or upset, let yourself feel that way and then pick yourself up and remember how lucky you are to be here.
Love trumps hate. We need to come together and remember there’s more good than evil in this world.
‘Don’t try to understand why — there is no why.’
Jon Ferguson, Vancouver, Wash.
Affected by the shooting in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood in 2006
I lost two close friends at what was terribly dubbed the Seattle Massacre, in 2006. It was awful, from the moment I learned about it to this day. I had been at the location of the shooting just a few hours before it happened. I left partly because I had to work the next day. The grief was intense and immediate and lasted for years. I still feel very shaken by it, and my heart aches at the news of each new shooting. I was and am still very fortunate to have many close friends who are in the same boat as me. We support each other. I don’t know what I would have done without them.
My advice to anyone going through this is to grieve. Don’t be afraid of your grief. Don’t try to understand why — there is no why. It doesn’t make sense and it never will.
‘All that anger I felt wasn’t hurting anyone but me.’
Brad Geiger, Logan, Ohio
Affected by the shooting in Aurora, Colo., in 2012
Photo
Matthew Robert McQuinn A good friend of mine was a victim of the “Batman” shooting in Colorado, back in 2012. We would go to lunch a few times a week at work. After the shooting, I was so angry at the shooter. Honestly, if given the opportunity, I probably would have flown to Colorado and put a bullet in the back of the shooter’s head.
When the time came for the shooter’s trial, I kept up with it as much as I could. I remember as the trial drew to its end, I couldn’t wait for the verdict. As the verdict was read, at first I was like, “How is he not getting the death penalty?” Then as the decision for each victim was read, I discovered something. What I had wanted was vengeance; what the shooter was getting was justice. It took a while, but I let go of my anger and thirst for revenge. I realized that all that anger I felt wasn’t hurting anyone but me.
Now I do things to honor my friend’s memory. For example, I bought breakfast for a father and his son at a local restaurant. He asked why, and I told him about Matt. When “Batman v Superman” came out, I went to our local theater to watch it. I made arrangements through the owner’s wife to purchase 10 tickets for strangers in Matt’s name. In each instance, I try to let others know a little bit about him.
‘Coping is knowing when to push aside the heartache so it’s more like background noise.’
Mary Kay Mace, Petersburg, Ill.
Affected by the shooting at Northern Illinois University in 2008
Photo
Ryanne Mace My only child, my daughter, Ryanne (pronounced like the boy’s name Ryan), was the youngest of the five students murdered in the mass shooting at Northern Illinois University on Feb. 14, 2008. It’s been exceedingly difficult to “cope.” I’ve had to adjust how I even define that word. Coping means that I know I will always be sad and feel longing, loneliness and incomplete. Coping is knowing when to push aside the heartache so it’s more like background noise when I have to focus on something else. I take every opportunity I can to honor Ryanne’s memory by urging legislators to enact smarter, more enforceable gun safety laws.
It’s devastating each time I hear about another shooting. I’ve been at this for nearly 10 years, and I can say only one thing with 100 percent certainty: It won’t be my child who gets killed in the next mass shooting. I take no pleasure in stating that fact because I don’t want anybody else to go through this.
‘Always look for the helpers.’
Dora Totoian, Roseburg, Ore.
Affected by the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon in 2015
Photo
Dora Totoian After the mass shooting in my hometown, Roseburg, Ore., someone very dear to me told me to think of a Mr. Rogers quote: “Always look for the helpers. There are always people who are helping.” Looking for those people helped in the grieving process because it proved to me that even though there’s so much evil and sadness in the world, whenever one of these acts of evil occurs, there are always people working to relieve the pain, even if it’s hard to see them and focus on them. Knowing that there are people like that is a great comfort.
I was a high school senior at the time, and I lost my friend Lucero that day. We weren’t super good friends, just friends from class, but her passing has affected me a lot. It’s the worst kind of pain because it’s so unexpected. You should know that you’ll never heal completely and that you’ll have a new definition of “normal.” However, you should also know that in these moments you get to see the best of humanity and of your community.
‘There’s generally a hero in these tragedies, and I try to reflect on them.’
Jonas Nahoum, Santa Fe, N.M.
Affected by the shooting in Newtown, Conn., in 2012
I’m from Newtown, Conn., and I have friends from high school that lost their daughter. Newtown is a small town so of course I know of others. My parents still live in Newtown. They were extremely emotional and quick to cry in the months after the shooting. We talked about it a lot. Seeing them suffer like that gave me a realization of how far-reaching the effects are. Going home (I live in New Mexico now) was incredibly difficult — although people were kinder to each other, there was and still is a dark cloud over Newtown. I find reminders everywhere when I visit.
I’ve coped with this tragedy by holding my kids tighter when Dec. 14 comes around, and I always read them the book by Steven Kellogg and Patricia MacLachlan, dedicated to the Newtown community: “Snowflakes Fall.” The kids don’t know its references, but it’s a reminder to me never to normalize what happened and always to remember.
I also went to high school with a relative of Vicki Soto, the brave teacher that sacrificed herself to save her classroom of children. I remember her as a positive light during such a dark event, and I’m continually inspired by her. There’s generally a hero in these tragedies, and I try to reflect on them rather than on the disturbed individual that committed the act.
‘Like it or not I was a survivor.’
Barb Cone, Concord, Mass.
Affected by the downing of Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 in 1987
My late husband was killed when a disgruntled, fired airline employeeput a gun in a gym bag, flashed his airline ID to bypass security and boarded a flight he knew his supervisor was on. He took the plane down, killing over 40 people.
Coping? Maybe. You have two choices in situations like this. Either you survive or you don’t. For my part I wasn’t sure I wanted to live, but live I did. Often unwillingly, inconsistently, in a daze. Events like these have a way of dividing time into before and after. While I was never the same in all sorts of ways, I was fortunate to have a certain resilience. Like it or not I was a survivor.
‘We have found blessings in new friends who also are coping with this loss.’
Jolanda Arnold, Lorton, Va.
Affected by the shooting in the Washington Navy Yard in 2013
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Jolanda and Michael Arnold Learning to cope with the aftermath of losing someone in a mass shooting is a never-ending process. My husband, Michael Arnold, was one of the 12 people killed at the Washington Navy Yard. Never in a million years did I expect to become a member of
a club that no one should have to be a part of. We had been married over 36 years. He was my husband, my best friend, my love, my partner and the father of our two sons. After four years without him, I know that I will never get over losing him — the best thing I can hope for is to continue to learn to live without him, better.
Yes, we are all coping, but it is by far the hardest thing I have ever done. It is the hardest thing Michael’s sons have ever done. We do draw strength from the amazing family and friends who stand by us every day. We have found blessings in new friends who also are coping with this loss. We all “get it” — and unless you have been personally affected by a mass shooting, you do not understand the terror and heartache that becomes a part of you.
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Opinion | OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
How You Can Help Prevent MassShootingsBy KATHERINE SCHWEIT NOV. 8, 2017
In the summer of 2013, I led a briefing with Attorney General Eric Holder on theF.B.I.’s research on active-shooter incidents in the United States. Our meeting tookplace just months after a gunman massacred six adults and 20 children at the SandyHook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
“If these were deaths from terrorist acts, the American public would beoutraged,” Mr. Holder said. I couldn’t disagree.
Four years later, his observation still haunts me. Last month, 59 people weremowed down in Las Vegas at a country music concert. This week, we are facing thegut-wrenching news that an 18-month-old child is among the 26 dead in a Texaschurch. Yet we are still asking the same question we did after Sandy Hook: “How canwe stop this carnage?”
The answer, in part, requires us to look at our own role.
In the weeks and months after Sept. 11, 2001, Americans were laser-focused ontheir surroundings, galvanized and determined to prevent another attack. We weremore afraid. I know I was.
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Fear is not comfortable, but it does make us more aware. After Sept. 11,Americans called F.B.I. offices and police departments when they saw somethingsuspicious. They stopped beat officers on patrol if they saw a package unattended.“See something, say something,” may not be a rousing battle cry, but it works: Manyof these tips resulted in terrorist plots foiled, including several in New York City.
Yet Americans have not responded similarly to the uniquely American event of massshootings. For five years, I led the F.B.I.’s studies of how to prevent, respond andrecover from these incidents. Emergency medical workers are now far betterprepared to take action and help survivors. It is prevention that remains thechallenge.
We see and know more about one another’s day-to-day lives than ever before.Yet our research shows that 15 years ago an active-shooter incident occurred everytwo months. These days, we are seeing one every two weeks. The nation’s 800,000law enforcement officers cannot stem this tide of destruction without theengagement of the country’s 300 million citizens. Unless public engagement replacesour collective passivity, mass shootings will continue.
Targeted violence falls into two major categories: impulsive and planned. Theformer comes with little or no warning and is often set off by a workplace or familytrauma. This kind of attack may result in fewer casualties, but it is extremely difficultto do anything to prevent it. The same is not true of planned attacks, which provideopportunities for intervention.
Law enforcement routinely derails brittle individuals on the pathway to violencethanks to brave and concerned family members, friends, neighbors, teachers and co-workers who sounded the alarm. But sometimes, the call is not made. I didn’t wantto get someone in trouble, we hear. I didn’t want to be embarrassed. I didn’t want toseem hysterical.
These excuses don’t fly in an era of regular mass shootings. No one has a right tobystander apathy.
Perhaps people don’t want to call the police about someone they love or know.But would they call to save a loved one, a friend or a neighbor? Our research shows
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that 10 percent of these gunmen also killed a family member. An additional 10percent of the incidents involved troubled romantic relationships. The Texasgunman, Devin Kelley, checked those boxes. His threatening text messages to hismother-in-law preceded what the authorities report was a “domestic” situation thatspilled over to the church. He also was court-martialed by the Air Force in 2012 forassaulting his wife and their child.
Trust your hunches. Do you notice someone isolating himself, giving awaybelongings, refusing to take regular medications, or stockpiling weapons? Atypicalaggression may be a way of testing out newfound bravery. A fixation on a person or acause or an activity may also be a sign. Mr. Kelley’s neighbor said there were soundsof gunfire from his property every morning the week before the church shooting.
We know those closest to a person of concern are the most likely to seebehavioral changes. One acquaintance told the authorities that the Sandy Hookgunman, who methodically planned the attack for 18 months, was fascinated by pastshootings. Courtney Kleiber, who was a friend of Mr. Kelley in middle school andhigh school, wrote on Facebook that he used to be “normal, your average kid” butthat “over the years we all saw him change into something that he wasn’t.”
If there is any hesitation, err on the side of over-reporting. Law enforcement willsort it out. If you don’t want to call the police, call a school counselor, a clergymember, your human resources department or the place where the person works. Ananonymous call can save lives.
If you run a business, a school, a church or an organization, make sure everyoneinvolved knows how and where to report information. If you don’t have a reportingand threat-assessment strategy, get one.
Prevention is more about attitude than tactics. Changes in laws and policies areimportant, but without an urgent increase in citizen awareness and reporting,innocent people will continue to die. To prevent these shootings, Americans need tobe as motivated as they were after the morning of Sept. 11, when no one knew whowould be the next victim.
Katherine Schweit, a retired F.B.I. special agent, is a security consultant.