Teens Plead Not Guilty to Roadblock Shooting (Press Enterprise 08162006).

From my Little understanding of this case is that they have a great case not just that but they have other evidence tampering charges that will come out later!! These Juveniles acting on the evidential shootings that were going on in 1999-2000 of the Minor and an adult . The adult used an older car and the juvenile and him made a sniper kit in the truck of his car where the Juvenile would set up. then he would lay in wait and shoot at people putting gas into their cars. When the Officers in the east finally found them they figured that they had the access through a small hole in the trunk lid of the car and that was what they were shooting through.

In this case they thought that they would just make a barricade and lay in wait for a car, or in this case a victim to come and then they would shoot them. What would possess any Juvenile to shoot at anyone to kill them is beyond me and my comprehension, This all goes back to the Parents and the way that they were brought up by them. I am sure that the Parents might do something in this case that would lead you to know why that the child would do something so shocking, as to get some ones attention in this manor. Obviously the Parents are not paying enough attention to their children and they are not setting the boundaries and sticking to those set boundaries, or they would not be pushing the boundaries as they feel they can do what they want without consequences.

BSRanch

Teens plead not guilty to roadblock shooting

RIALTO: Charges of attempted murder are connected to the wounding of 2 motorists at a phony blockade.

12:49 AM PDT on Wednesday, August 16, 2006

By LISA O'NEILL HILL and SHARON McNARY
The Press-Enterprise

Shrouded in darkness, two boys set up an elaborate roadblock to snare motorists, including two who were wounded by gunfire, authorities and court documents said Tuesday.

Alvin Molina, 16, and Steve Torres, 17, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in San Bernardino County Superior Court to two charges each of attempted murder in connection with the Friday roadblock and shooting in Rialto.

Police said the boys blocked Cactus Avenue in both directions at Interstate 210 with orange cones, rope and construction signs. The boys, friends since elementary school, have been charged as adults and could face life in prison if convicted.

They are being held in Juvenile Hall in lieu of $1.25 million bail each.

A judge has signed an arrest warrant for Molina's mother, Debra Molina, 51, an employee at the San Bernardino County Probation Department, charging her with accessory after the fact. Prosecutors accused her of trying to destroy evidence by washing clothing authorities say her son had been wearing during the shooting. Molina, who recently had surgery for a brain aneurysm, declined to comment when reached at her home.

Molina's husband, who is in the military and has served in Iraq, could not be reached. Authorities seized a 9 mm gun belonging to him but said they do not yet know whether that weapon was used in the shooting.

Torres' parents and his 16-year-old fiancée declined to speak to the charges against Steve Torres. But Bertha Torres described her son as a fan of all-terrain vehicles and as someone who spoils his 3-month-old daughter.

Suspects Arrested

Rialto police arrested the boys early Saturday at Molina's home, a day after a woman was hit in the neck by bullet fragments, and her passenger suffered three wounds in an arm. Undercover officers staked out the area where the shooting had occurred and watched as people jumped a wall, then spent 28 minutes setting up cones and street barricade signs. The people then hid under a freeway overpass, court records say.

The allegations against the teenagers stunned police and prosecutors, who said the seriousness and cunning of the acts warrant charges being filed in adult court.

San Bernardino County Deputy District Attorney Lyle Scollon said he didn't know the motive.

"Crazy sport, I guess," he said. "One of them said they thought it would be fun to throw rocks on cars. One of them also bragged they had stopped 15 cars that night."

Rialto police Detective James Mills, who is investigating the case, said he believed robbery could be a motive but declined to elaborate. He said the victims, identified in court records as Mary Perez Ortega, 52, and Alex Martinez, 24, are lucky they were not more seriously hurt.

"Thank God for the victims that it wasn't worse for them," Mills said. "The biggest part of this thing is it could have been anybody. It could be you or I going down that street, stopping at that roadblock."

Police Stakeout

The shooting occurred about 2 a.m. Friday, court records show. Ortega had slowed her Suburban at Cactus Avenue, where it crosses Interstate 210, because the road appeared to be closed. She told police she saw three males running toward her car, throwing rocks at it, according to an affidavit filed in support of a search warrant. As Ortega began to drive away, she heard shots, which hit her car in several places and blew out the back window. A bullet fragment hit her in the neck. Her passenger, Martinez, was hit three times in the left arm.

Rialto police also said they received calls from other motorists who were suspicious of the roadblock, Mills said.

Undercover officers returned to the area Friday night, staking it out in hopes of finding the people who had put up the makeshift roadblock. About 11:15 p.m., they saw two people jump a wall at the end of Tahoe Street, which is separated from Cactus Avenue by a six-foot block wall. Two people sat on the wall, then jumped down, the document states.

Two hours later, the officers watched as the people threw boards over the wall from a house at the end of the street.. The people also set up cones and barricades. When police moved in, the people ran into a house on Tahoe Street, and officers began checking the homes as a helicopter circled.

Neighbors said the officers banged on their doors, asking permission to search backyards. One neighbor said the activity then stopped suddenly.

Police found Molina and Torres in Molina's home and got signed permission from Debra Molina to search the property, the court record states. When the officers found a pair of shorts in Alvin Molina's room that matched the description of a pair a person had been seen wearing outside, Debra Molina revoked permission to search the property.

"She threw the clothes in the washing machine in an effort to destroy the evidence," Scollon said.

Police obtained a search warrant and took a 9 mm handgun, yellow nylon rope, basketball shorts and a white tank top from the home. They also took two pairs of size-10 tennis shoes, according to the search warrant affidavit.

Neighbors said Molina and a younger brother are frequently home by themselves while their mother works nights and their dad is away in the military.

A woman who did not want to identified said the boys set a fire in their back yard about 18 months ago, had thrown rocks from the roof and had used the lawnmower late at night.

"It doesn't surprise me," she said of the charges. "It's just too close for comfort.

"I know the kids are there alone a lot."

Reach Lisa O'Neill Hill at 951-368-9462 or loneillhill@PE.com

Reach Sharon McNary at 951-368-9458 or smcnary@PE.com

Two Boys Suspected of Shooting into Car (San Bernardino County Sun Aug, 13, 2006).

Article Launched: 8/13/2006 12:00 AM

Two boys suspected of shooting into car
Mike Cruz, Staff Writer
San Bernardino County Sun

RIALTO - Two boys who allegedly shot at motorists stopped at a makeshift barricade on Cactus Avenue were arrested early Saturday by police.

Two motorists suffered gunshot wounds after stopping at the barricade, which consisted of orange cones, nylon rope, pylons and construction signs, at the Interstate 210 extension overpass on Cactus Avenue just after 1:30 a.m. Friday, Rialto police said.

A team of officers and detectives set up surveillance in the area the next morning and witnessed the two boys, 16 and 17 years old, setting up a second road block.

After a brief foot chase, police found and arrested the two boys at a home in the 19300 block of Tahoe Street, said Rialto police Sgt. Randy De Anda.

A weapon and other evidence were also found at the home. Both boys were booked into Juvenile Hall on suspicion of attempted murder.

"It definitely concerned us in the community," De Anda said by telephone Saturday afternoon. "We still, as of right now, do not know what the actual motive was."

Police received 15 calls from other motorists who were stopped by the barricade early Friday, De Anda said.

The shooting victims, a 52-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man, were headed south on Cactus Avenue when they reached the barricade, according to police.

When the vehicle stopped, the suspects approached from behind. One of the teenagers threw rocks while the other one fired a handgun at the vehicle.

The victims fled southbound and immediately called authorities. The man suffered three gunshot wounds to his right arm, while the woman was wounded in the neck by a bullet fragment.

The victims were treated at hospitals and released. The case will be filed Monday with the District Attorney's Office for review, police said.

Report: Congressman's Claims for tax break on land deals disputed (San Jose Murcury News 08152006) Rep. Miller gets no break..

What is going on with this Rep. Miller. He has nothing to do with us, He represents a large group of people South of our location starting at Chino, and Chino Hills. He was sought after by one of our City Administrators to seek if he could go and relieve the city of the Federal burden they have with regard to the airport. It was figured that they could then back door the FAA and close the airport. Miller Attached What is known in the Political world as Pork to the $286.4 Billion Transportation Bill that was then forwarded to the President and then signed into law. This Bill gave the City Officials the ability to close the Airport and determine the future of the city. I did mention that this was the first time that any Airport has been closed in such a fashioned, and the FAA is against this Closure of the Rialto Airport because they feel that the Rialto Airport is Important to National and Regional Aviation Systems. After all what or where are they going to land numerous plans if and when another one of those air attacks come to happen.

There was earlier approval to a Development company, Lewis-Hillwood Rialto LLC for 504 Acres around and slightly on the airport grounds. However a most reliable word, the LA Times has said that Rep. Miller's Development Company has a majority of the rest of the 1100 Acres that are left to developed. There are other people that have purchased land that will be selling it at market prices to the city, and small birds have told me that Garcia has been one of the biggest purchasers of the bare land up around the airport, and along Easton Ave.

I am wondering who is caring for the poor people of Rialto, while every one that is running Rialto is filling everyone's pockets even their own, and the people that are getting the stuff done for them, even if it was supposed to go to something that I heard as that was called I don't know a Bid!! Maybe one that might have been announced or something. I didn't read about it in the paper, and wow, do I read the paper when it comes to Rialto!!!

Maybe I am wrong and if that is the case Please write on my blogger or answer it at the bottom and set me straight. I just might not know what I am talking about. After all I am no Lawyer, like Owens, of coarse I don't think of Owens as much of a Lawyer either. After all I can read and make out what the instructions say surrounding the signing of a Petition, and that tied the city up for almost four months, Maybe that was what he was supposed to do, at the cost of being stupid.. or making Barbara Mcgee look Uneducated. I know that she is not, and I know that she knows better, but she also wanted what the boss wanted. That is Barbara. she is like that!! After all she fell for the Authority figure and tried to keep it a secret, but everyone knew..LOL... I hope that this land Issue comes out right and what ever is best for Rialto. I am tired of hearing about everything being how do I put this, OH, YEA!! ED SCOTT Thought me this..Corrupt!! BSRanch

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Report: Congressman's claims for tax break on land deals disputed

LOS ANGELES - U.S. Rep. Gary Miller has avoided paying millions of dollars in taxes on real estate deals under a tax break that protects people forced to sell their property, but officials dispute they ever made him sell his land, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Miller, R-Diamond Bar, sold 165 acres to Monrovia, a suburb about 10 miles east of Los Angeles, in 2002 for a profit of more than $10 million, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Following the sale, he told the Internal Revenue Service and the state he was forced to sell under threat by the city of eminent domain, a process by which government agencies can force sales in the public interest.

That allowed him to avoid paying capital gains on the sale for two years, during which time he could reinvest the proceeds and avoid taxes altogether.

In an interview, Miller contended that Monrovia threatened him during the bargaining process with eminent domain, giving him no choice but to sell, the paper said.

"The base of the deal was either you sell to us or we'll have to condemn it," Miller said.

But city officials told the Times they never strong-armed him into selling.

Glen Owens of the Monrovia planning commission said the city was buying the undeveloped hillside land from Miller for a wilderness preserve using state funds that forbid such forced sales of land.

"The state doesn't go along with eminent domain," Owens said. "You have to have a willing seller."

A letter from the city manager at the time said "Under the guidelines of the Challenge Grant Program, all property owners must be willing sellers."

And in video footage of a February 2000 City Council meeting, Miller is shown pleading with city officials to buy his land. "Why don't you buy my property? I've asked you repeatedly," the Times quoted him as saying.

In 2004, Miller reinvested the profits from the Monrovia sale, buying lots and a building in Fontana and Rancho Cucamonga.

The following year, Miller sold his Fontana land to the city. This year, he sold the building, also to the city.

In both cases, he again claimed the IRS exemption, saying the sales were forced, the newspaper said. As such, the Fontana sales allowed Miller to continue to shelter portions of the profits from his original Monrovia sale.

Records and interviews with Fontana officials indicate Miller's sales there also were voluntary, the Times reported.

Miller had no comment to the Times after Monrovia challenged his claims, and the IRS and the state's Franchise Tax Board both told the newspaper they do not discuss individual cases.

Miller's spokesman Kevin McKee told the Times in an e-mail that "Mr. Miller and the city of Monrovia agreed upon the purchase price and a friendly condemnation."

Reached by The Associated Press Sunday, McKee said Miller had no comment on the Times story.

Monrovia officials acknowledged that early drafts of the sale included a so-called "friendly condemnation," which allows a buyer to claim a forced sale for tax reasons. But that phrase was stricken when the deal became final.

Miller, a millionaire land developer from the Inland Empire, represents the 42nd District, which includes parts of Orange, San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties.

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Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com

RIALTO - Two Teenage Boys Barricade Road, when people stop, and get out, they are shot. Two arrested...AP 08132006

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It seems that the stuff that has gone on in the Eastern Highways, Namely the Sniper Investigation that took so long for FBI+CIA, and the Maryland State Trooper's to solve so many years ago, is starting to emerge here in Rialto. Two Teen's Barricaded Cactus Ave, however there is no Cross street given, and they shot at a driver as they pulled up to the barricade. Two Motorists had suffered Gunshot would after Stopping at the Barricade to either knock it down or they got out to see why the road was barricaded off, & were shot for their troubles.

The two boys were arrested by the Rialto Police Department and Hopefully will not get out until they are 27 years of age, or better yet they can be tried as an adult and found guilty and serve a whole 25 years, but first offices are much easier, sad to say!

BSRanch

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RIALTO, Calif. (AP) - Two teenage boys who authorities say shot and wounded motorists stopped at a makeshift barricade have been arrested for investigation of attempted murder, police said.

Two motorists suffered gunshot wounds after stopping Friday morning at a barricade of orange cones, nylon rope, pylons and construction signs on Cactus Avenue, police said.

The two boys, ages 16 and 17, were arrested Saturday after police set up surveillance in the area and saw them establishing a second road block.

Following a foot chase, officers located the boys at a local home, said Rialto police Sgt. Randy De Anda. A weapon and other evidence also were found, police said.

The teens were booked into Juvenile Hall.

"It definitely concerned us in the community," De Anda said. "We still, as of right now, do not know what the actual motive was."

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Rialto Police Funding OK'd (SB Sun 08062006) Rilato Awaiting New Cruisers, Comptuers.

The funding that Rialto has just OK'd is the funding that was supposed to have been approved back Five (5) Years ago, when they were Thought that they would try to go to San Bernardino County Sheriff Department for Law Enforcement Duties. A Contract that didn't happen, and now they are approving to Replace a Car that is quoted in the News story as this

They are Finally Replacing Five (5) to Seven (7) Years old Cruisers (Police Cars) that are patroling our highest crime areas with computers that are not mounted.

I don't know if you remember for a long time there we used to get the paper and they said for days that the Police Deaprtmetn was driving in Patrol Cars that didn't have basic Maitenence done to them, Now they have, but wow, long over due, and some of them are running terrible I guess they were. I cannot imaging that they did that...ha ha ha ha ...However back in 1991, 1992. I drove R-86. R-86 was the oldest Patrol car that we had, and I was ordered by the Sgt. to take it to the city yards, because they had been trying to Take the car out of Service, so they could paint it white and use it for the City Volunteer's well I didn't know that they were going to do that, I had a car that was well maintained by me. no one else was driving it becase it was old and had the old Square...the square Light bar, not the fancy airodynamic ones that were out. Anyway No one drove that car it was always clean and gassed up ready for me to use it. I was sad to see it go. Then I had to share a car with someone a slob that worked on Graveyard, because they didn't pick up their coffee cups and the like. the begining of my shift was spent Cleaning out that damm car!!

Well, back to this situation, the city has drug their feet holding onto that Money that the collected from the Citizens of Rialto for the Utilities, and now they have a Car/Truck/Police Vehicles to spend it on. For the last Five years that they Utility Tax has been in place they have had nothing to spend it on but the Fire Department.

They gave them Everything that they requested on their contract negotiations. Then the purchased them a Brand new 110' ladder Truck, and three Engines, and I thought a Water Tender and a tralor that has the Scott Air Bottle Refill, or Scuba Tank Breathing Apparatus Pressurization process. I would say total spent $17Million guessing Now??

So, now that they are back on track and treating All City Departments Equilly, it is a good thing!!, needless to say - I am glad that they approved the new cars and are going to clean up the Police Departments Vehicles. OH! I would give my right arm to drive a unit again. I guess In my dreams. I all is like a dream now.

I just hope that the City Administrator, City Council Members, and the city Lawyer and Clerk don't try to get one passed the City's Voter's again. because, they are really someone that should be feared that they take out after the monies that everyone has and we will see what will happens.

The tugging of the purse strings are always a bad sign espeically here in Rialto,

BSRanch

Rialto Funding OK'd
Rialto awaiting new cruisers, computers
Robert Rogers, Staff Writer

RIALTO - Sgt. Randy De Anda and his Multiple Enforcement Team of four officers know what it's like to get the job done under difficult circumstances.

Six months ago, when dissolution of the Police Department seemed likely, they were pulling overtime shifts while their colleagues were turning in their badges.

Today, they are policing the city's two most high-crime sectors in 5- to 7-year-old cruisers without mounted computers.

But De Anda is at ease. He knows he and his team are about to get some new tools to do the job.

The City Council on Tuesday approved a $71,923 increase in funding to bring the total for 29 new police vehicles to $684,825.

The council also gave the go-ahead to the Police Department's request for $354,140 to equip the vehicles with modern technology, including mobile data computers.

"The equipment upgrades make us more effective at keeping the city safe," De Anda said. "The computers, for instance, will allow us to eliminate the step of running names through dispatch and instead run our own names for information."

Although the fleet of regular patrol cars has mounted computers, some unmarked cars and special cruisers, like the ones used by Multiple Enforcement Team members, do not.

It's a hindrance not to have them, De Anda said, because the team is charged with the task of patrolling East Jackson Street and the Willow-Winchester complex, two known havens for gang members and drug dealing.

Funds for the new equipment were originally approved after a recommendation by interim Police Chief Frank Scialdone in June. Tuesday's action authorized funding for three more cars for traffic enforcement.

The Police Department should have 29 new vehicles within 12 months, including 12 patrol cars, four multiple enforcement units, three K-9 units, five administration vehicles, three traffic cars, a command vehicle and an animal-control truck.

The upgrades are part of a larger rebirth of the department, which the council had voted to disband in September before backing off in the face of public pressure. New Police Chief Mark Kling is expected to take his post later this month.

I Know Why the Rialto Airport Closed!! March 30, 2006 News mag. Business Partner

The following is a report that I found buried in a News magazine that was for people that are interested in Business, I just cannot remember the name of the Magazine at this time. The following is what I had posted on my BLOG associated with MSN.Spaces. Please enjoy, Light of the new news that goes along with the Miller findings that Miller's buisiness is the one that is being used to develope the land. and Ed Scott is right there making the following statement, "this was a pre-arrarranged deal that was made prior to the airport closing that if he were to be able to get the Airport to close, that the contract would go to him!!

The BSRancher is clearing his Throught, and says, 'Hey Ed What ever happend to going to Bid?"

Does the city of Rialto no longer have a Bid System or are we doing Back Room Deals??

BSRanch

I Know Why Rialto AirPort was Closed!!

The land discussed in this article was about the Rialto Airport. Miller is a Congressmen for another District and he came in and did a favor for a friend & Business man (Owner of the Development Agency that is Developing the Site). "Working" Joe Baca didn't do anything or have much to do with this until Miller needed help with the red tape and then they held hands to get hit done.

Garcia I have been told is happy having purchased a great deal of land around the airport knowing that this deal was underway. (Inside Trading??). I know it doesn't apply since this is not stocks.

BSRancher

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March 30, 2006

Miller helped free land for a business partner
By Susan Crabtree

Rep. Gary Miller (R-Calif.) pushed for a provision in last year’s transportation bill that allowed the city of Rialto, Calif., to shut down its airport.

By doing so, he paved the way for his business partner, Lewis Operating Corp., one of his top campaign contributors, to buy the land from the city and make plans to build Renaissance, a community consisting of 2,500 homes, parks and 80 acres of retail space on the former airport property and adjacent land.

Normally, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has sole authority to close airports.

“This is the first time … an airport has been closed through the legislative process,” said FAA spokesman Hank Price. “We follow Congress’s direction.”

Miller’s relationship with Lewis Operating and its president of Southern California operations, Richard Lewis, dates back more than three decades, to Miller’s years as a developer of planned communities. He founded G. Miller Development Co. in his early 20s, and he and Lewis were competitors, Miller said.

Miller, 57, went on to be elected to the Diamond Bar City Council, the mayor’s office, the California Assembly and Congress, beating scandal-scarred Republican Rep. Jay Kim in 1998. Just months earlier, Kim and his wife had pleaded guilty to accepting and concealing $230,000 in illegal campaign contributions.

Miller said he prides himself on his efforts to disclose his campaign contributions fully. He said he sees nothing wrong with his work to close Rialto’s airport, even though it freed land that his business partner wanted to develop.

“I’ve known Richard Lewis for 30 years,” he said. “Richard’s son and my daughter went to high school together. If knowing somebody is bad, I guess that’s bad.”

Miller denied that his actions created a conflict of interest.

“There was no quid pro quo,” he said.

But Theis Finlev, a policy advocate for Common Cause, argues that members of Congress must go out of their way to avoid using their offices to benefit private business partners directly, especially if they also are major campaign contributors.

“Even if it’s legal, it’s horribly unseemly,” Finlev said about Miller’s work to shut down the airport. “It’s not something that inspires confidence in the political process, and should not happen.”

This election cycle, employees of Lewis Operating including Richard Lewis and several Lewis family members have donated a combined $8,100 to Miller’s campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, making the company his top contributor.

Employees of Lewis Operating and members of the Lewis family have donated $19,300 to Miller’s campaign committee since 1998.

Lewis Operating is also a member of the National Association of Home Builders, Miller’s No. 1 contributor since he was elected. The group has donated $44,000 to Miller’s campaign committee since 1998.

ACROSS DISTRICT LINES

Rialto tried for years to close the airport, arguing that it was underused and losing money.

In August 2004, the City Council passed an amendment giving the city the exclusive right to negotiate with Lewis and its partner, Hillwood Development Corp., to purchase and develop the airport land if it should become available. The council approved the prospective sale eight months later.

But finalizing that transaction would have to wait until the city could find a way to close the airport, and the transportation bill provided it last year.

The price tag for the 450 acres of airport land will likely be tens of millions of dollars, but the purchase is still in the appraisal stage, according to Rob Steel, Rialto’s redevelopment director.

“We have entered into contracts of sale with Lewis-Hillwood Rialto,” Steel confirmed.

When it is sold, it will be at fair market value, which the appraiser will determine, a requirement that Miller included in his version of the provision and was in the final bill.

Lewis and Hillwood, founded and chaired by Ross Perot Jr., formed Lewis-Hillwood Rialto LLC when they became interested in the project. There is no way to know how much money the two companies would make on the deal. Lewis Operating and Hillwood officials declined to comment for the story.

Rialto is not in Miller’s district but in that of nearby Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.). Miller said Baca backed his efforts to shut down the airport. Baca did not respond to requests for comment.

Other development companies besides Lewis-Hillwood tried to offer bids for the development but were told by a Rialto City Council member that Hillwood’s strong ties to Washington could help the city find a way to shut down the airport. The company was already working with the FAA on developing San Bernardino airport 8.5 miles to the east, and the city thought that relationship could help influence the FAA’s decision.

According to minutes from Aug. 9, 2004, City Councilman Joseph Sampson reminded other members that “based upon knowledge of Hillwood Corp. they do have extremely close ties in Washington, which provides them with inroads on what a final outcome may be in regards to how they might treat the airport.”

FAA OBJECTIONS

But the FAA did not support closing Rialto airport. Since 1984, the city has taken out $15 million in federal government loans to improve the airport. Traditionally, the FAA opposes closing an airport when it has invested in it until it earns a return on the investment.

The provision in the transportation bill requires Rialto to pay back the federal government 90 percent of any unpaid portion of the federal loans it had taken out.

In an interview, Miller said he is not responsible for the final airport language in the bill because Senate conferees struck his provision from the measure. Working with Rep. Jim Oberstar (Minn.), the ranking Democrat on the transportation panel, Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) managed to insert his own language closing the airport into the final bill.

Rep. Lewis’s provision relocates airport business and equipment to San Bernardino Airport, in his district.

John Scofield, a spokesman for Rep. Lewis, said there are many good reasons for closing Rialto airport, noting that both the city and the county want it closed.

“There are a lot of airports in the area, such as the San Bernardino National Airport and the Redlands airport, which are both better facilities,” he said. “Because of the Santa Ana winds, the [Rialto airport] is only open half of the time anyway.”

Rep. Lewis is not related to anyone at Lewis Operating Corp.

Miller, the only California Republican on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and a senior member of the Highways, Transit and Pipelines Subcommittee, said he helped push for the inclusion of Rep. Lewis’s provision in the final version of the measure.

Employees of Lewis Operating and other members of the Lewis family also have donated $19,900 to Baca this election cycle, making the company his top contributor as well. Rep. Lewis has received $3,000 since 2000.

Before Lewis Operating joined with Hillwood on the Rialto project, Miller had not received any campaign contributions from Hillwood employees. But after Miller started working on language in the transportation bill, John Magness, senior vice president of Hillwood Investments, cut him a check for $500 dated May 12, 2005, according to Federal Election Commission records.

“I guess they were saying thank you. … I guess that’s what that was,” Miller said.

He said that the city of Rialto chose Lewis Operating, one of the largest real-estate developers in Southern California, for the airport job on its own.

He could not recall, however, when he discovered that Lewis Operating was seeking the airport property. Rialto contacted him about shutting down the airport because he had done business with the city years earlier before becoming a congressman, he said.

He was asked to help because Rialto’s efforts to convince the FAA to shut down the airport had failed.

“The FAA doesn’t want anything closed,” Miller said. “I don’t think the FAA has ever closed an airport. It’s like pulling teeth to get them to close an airport.”

He also said he does not see how he benefited from any of his business dealings with Lewis Operating Corp.

A CONTROVERSIAL PAST

Watchdog groups have criticized a number of land deals between Lewis Operating and Miller, as well as his role in helping secure other provisions in last year’s $286.5 billion transportation transportation bill.

As first reported by the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, Miller helped secure $1.28 million in the bill for street improvements in front of a planned housing and retail center that he co-owned with Lewis Operating in his district.

Lewis-Diamond Bar LLC, a company formed to buy the land, is the developer. Miller owns $1 million-$5 million of the company. The other partner is Lewis Operating Corp.

The same year, Miller took out a promissory note from a subsidiary of Lewis Operating Corp., Lewis Investments, for $1 million to $5 million, according to his 2004 financial disclosure records.

The Los Angeles Newspaper Group also ran a critical story about a real-estate deal involving Miller, Lewis Operating and the Southern California city of Fontana.

In July 2005, Fontana’s redevelopment agency spent $5 million to buy land from Miller without notifying the public, an apparent violation of state open-meeting laws.

Miller said that he was outraged about it and that he has since demanded that the city insert a written pledge in the sales contract to make public the sale of the last parcel he owns to the city .

Some six months earlier, Miller had bought the same land from Lewis Operating. He said he did so to avoid tax penalties on profit from a land sale to Monrovia, another Southern California city, two years before.

That profit is estimated at $10 million, according to Miller’s 2003 financial disclosure record and knowledgeable sources.

He said he only made $50,000 on the sale to Fontana, barely enough to cover taxes and real-estate transaction fees.

“I needed to find property, and that property was available,” he said.

Jonathan Allen contributed to this report.

Water-Quality Board Under Fire (Press Enterprise 08122006) Rialto DO NOT DRINK TAP WATER

The County of San Bernardino needs to wake up and smell the coffee, and or Java.. The Water Quality Board needs to take this Incident and look at it and move on it swiftly. It is true if it goes by way of the courts it will hold everything up and the longer this is held up the more that people in Rialto are effected by the contaminated water. PERCHLORATE can cause many different types of cancer, many of which are guarded by the Thyroid Gland and that is one glad that is highly effected by it. So Rialto, West Valley Water District or whom ever the pumps might be that are effected they need to notify those people directly not by these news paper clippings alone and figure that they are notified, because we are not notified. By Directly Notified they need to pay someone to go door to door, and contact and make sure that everyone gets a warning not to consume the water. I don't even think that you can boil this out of the water!! So if you drink enough of it you are toast!!

Take my word For it Don't DRINK THE WATER IN RIALTO, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE SUPPLIED BY WEST VALLEY WATER DISTRICT ...OR....THE CITY OF RIALTO.....UNTIL WE ARE NOTIFIED DIRECTLY WHICH & WHOM ARE EFFECTED!!!

BSRanch

Water-quality board under fire

PERCHLORATE: Three appointees will face a state panel as criticism arises over area cleanup efforts.

10:00 PM PDT on Friday, August 11, 2006

By JENNIFER BOWLES
The Press-Enterprise

Three regional water-quality board members appointed by Gov. Schwarzenegger will undergo further scrutiny after a state senator complained the board has done little to clean up perchlorate contamination in a key Inland drinking water source.

The three members will take the rare step of going to Sacramento on Aug. 21 to answer questions posed by the Senate Rules Committee, in addition to the standard process -- handing in written responses and speaking to committee members over the telephone, Nettie Sabelhaus, the committee's appointments director, said Friday.

The Senate Rules Committee reviews gubernatorial appointments that require Senate confirmation, and then issues its recommendations to the full Senate.

The appointments, announced by Gov. Schwarzenegger in December, were Mary Cramer, of Anaheim, and Deborah Neev, of Laguna Beach, who already have been serving on the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Carole Beswick, a former Redlands mayor, was reappointed. She has served on the board since 2000 and is currently its chair. Based in Riverside, the water board regulates pollution in the Santa Ana watershed that sits in parts of San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties.

Sen. Nell Soto, D-Pomona, requested the in-person meetings, saying in her letter to committee chairman, Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, that the board has "performed dismally" regarding the contamination of perchlorate, a rocket-fuel ingredient, in the San Bernardino Valley.

Beswick has responded to community complaints at board meetings by saying that the perchlorate contamination is the board's top priority.

The underground plume stretches several miles, and has invaded some 20 drinking water wells in Rialto, Fontana and Colton. Levels reaching as high as 10,000 parts per billion have been discovered in groundwater below the suspected source -- an industrial site in north Rialto where fireworks and defense contractors used perchlorate.

California's Department of Health Services has set a public health goal at 6 parts per billion as it decides how much of the chemical should be allowed in the state's drinking supplies.

In sufficient amounts, perchlorate can interfere with the thyroid gland's ability to make hormones that control metabolism and guide neurological development in growing bodies.

The water board's staff, in a letter to the rules committee, said that one of two companies alleged to have caused much of the pollution continues to fight their efforts to get a cleanup under way.

A two-day hearing had been scheduled for mid-July to prove that Emhart Industries Inc., is tied to a company that existed at the site in 1950s. That company made explosive cartridges, photoflash cartridges, flares and other incendiary devices containing perchlorate.

Officials at Emhart, a subsidiary of Black & Decker, have been "using all means possible" to block hearings attempting to hold them accountable, the letter said.

Reach Jennifer Bowles at (951) 368-9548 or jbowles@PE.com

Rialto Man Found Guilty of Three Murders (LA Times 08112006)

Rialto Man Is Found Guilty of Three Murders

From Times Staff Reports

August 10, 2006

A jury found a Rialto man guilty Wednesday of three first-degree murders and three attempted murders.

Louis Mitchell Jr.'s killing spree began in August 2005 when he shot and killed car dealer employees Mario Lopez and Patrick Mawikere, who had just helped his girlfriend buy a truck at California Auto Specialist in Colton.

He also shot teenager Susano Torres at a San Bernardino apartment complex.

He was also found guilty of three attempted murders in the same spree.

He is eligible for the death penalty when the sentencing phase of the trial begins next week.

Miller's Land Deals Ethically Questionable (OC Register 08112006) A $7.5 Million loan from a contributer and role in closing airport at issue!!!

I knew that there was something fishy in the closure of the Rialto Airport, and somehow I knew the sink would surface soon enough, well it is starting to surface and here it is. It isn't quite the player that I thought that it was, so I must say that the City Leaders wanted to get out of the financial burden of paying for the Airport any further. So they did some Back Door Dealing with him is the way that I see it here in the paper. Ed Scott sure seems to shed the light that it was not Illegal, but it looks like it is the Rich Feeding the Rich to get Richer, I hope that Joe Baca Gets to the Bottom of the Airport there are a great deal of people that live in the Rialto area that love to fly, and would do anything to keep the Airport.

BSRanch

PS: I don't fly, so I don't know if it is better to keep or level the airport, but I can say that if the Deal to close the Airport is dirty that is not right Either!!!...If there is anything Ethically wrong here, then people should be punished, is all I am saying!!

Miller's land deals ethically questionable

A $7.5 million loan from a contributor and role in closing airport at issue.

By MARTIN WISCKOL and NORBERTO SANTANA Jr.

The Orange County Register

After a long hiatus, Rep. Gary Miller returned to the real estate game in 2003 – and among the land deals, he's finding political controversy.

Key issues are a $7.5 million loan from a major contributor who's also a business partner, and a bill the Republican carried that helped close the Rialto airport – which was then purchased by that contributor, the Lewis Group of Companies.

In a phone interview from his district office in Brea, Miller denied any wrongdoing. Miller is heavily favored for re-election this November in his three-county district, where Republicans outnumber Democrats by a 5-3 margin.

He called the loan "a normal transaction that happens in real estate" because of the difficulty in obtaining bank financing for land that does not have building entitlements. As such, the loan – used to buy land from the Lewis Group in 2005 – should fall outside the provisions of House ethics rules, he said.

Yet those rules state that loans to House members from sources besides financial institutions must be approved by the House ethics committee. A committee staffer said the staff director would not be back in the office till Monday and therefore could not comment.

Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political scientist at USC, says the appearance is troubling.

"That raises a significant political red flag," she said. "Why did he ignore that requirement? In politics, perception can be more important than reality. It might have been a mistake, but it's perceived as a cover-up."

Rialto city leaders have been struggling financially with the underused municipal facility for years. In 2004, the city inked an exclusive deal with the Lewis Group, giving the developer first shot at buying it if it were closed.

"We were the ones that chose Lewis, not Gary," said Rialto Councilman Ed Scott.

Unable to get the Federal Aviation Administration's approval to close the facility, Scott said city officials enlisted help from their congressman, Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto. Miller said Baca then approached him, because Miller sat on the House transportation committee.

Miller established language in a bill to close the airport – it was later rewritten by Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands – and it was approved last August. The Lewis Group now owns the property.

The Lewis Group, besides lending Miller $7.5 million, has given his campaign more than $18,000 since the 2004 election cycle. Did the developer influence the closure?

"The two were not related at all," Miller said.

The three promissory notes from the Lewis Group developers totaled $7.5 million. Miller said most of the money – $6 million – was used to buy land in nearby Fontana from the developer in 2005, which Miller sold to that city this year.

He said he did the deal to reinvest capital gains from an earlier land sale and avoid paying a tax penalty. While he received $50,000 over his purchase price, he said that his profit was $13,000 – the rest going for closing costs. The deal from the outset was that he'd sell the land to Fontana for a minimal profit, he said.

But a nonpartisan campaign watchdog group based in Washington, D.C., notes that without a review of the loan's terms, questions remain.

"The ethical test for a loan to a politician is: Could you or I get a similar deal, or are the terms sweeter because the lender expects more than just interest payments in return? In this case, we don't know whether Congressman Miller's loans stand up to that test," said Massie Ritsch, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics.

Miller said he virtually stopped his lucrative development business in 1990 to focus on politics. But he never lost the interest in development and says that as "I watched myself get poorer," he decided to jump back in.

Poor, of course, is relative. He is the wealthiest member of the county's congressional delegation, and Roll Call listed him as the 12th-richest member of Congress, pegging his wealth at $19 million.

He plans to continue land development – with one change.

"I'm not doing any more partnerships," he said. "It's not worth the press."

Rialto Approves Police Cars (The Press Enterprise 08032006) The City is Getting Closer to Putting 29 New Vehicles on the Street!!

Rialto City Council is finally Approving Cars for the Police Department!! These are the Police Vehicles that they refused to give them when they were trying to force the City of Rialto into Contracting their Law Enforcement with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. However there was a Large Movement of Citizens that didn't want to see the Sheriff's Department forced upon them after they have had more then adequate Law Enforcement by None Other then The City of Rialto Police Department!

They tried by not allowing the City Police Department to have any new Equipment, No Maintenance was being done to the Current Police Vehicles placing the Current Police Officers at Risk of Loosing their Life's, for example, if they go to a call and they get out of their car, as they start to walk towards the front sidewalk where the call was supposed to be and it turns out to be an ambush, there is shots being fired, the Officer gets back to his car, and due to the Improper or lack of maintenance it doesn't start, they were placed at risk. There was Police Vehicles that were being towed in constantly, but the Rialto Police Officer's Kept Working, and they worked on their own cars as needed, I mean they didn't do their own Oil changes at least that I know of they didn't , but it would not surprise me to know that if they did.

The whole thing is that the Rialto City Council Elected not to fund or do anything to make the City Safer while the whole Battle was going on between the Rialto Police Benefit Assoc. (RPBA) and the City's Loyal Police Fan's who formed up "Voice United" (www.VoiceUnited.com) Between them they hired a Riverside City Based Attorney with whom saw the court room four times against The City's Own City Attorney, Owens. Each of the four times Owens Lost, each of the four times Owens didn't say whether he won or lost, he just did a 1 to 3 hour presentation on Election law, and how the R.P.B.A. and the People of Voice United were going about this all wrong!

In the end, the city's Voice United & The RPBA collected almost 5000 signatures to keep the City of Rialto Police Department, and change the MOU to state that if the City Council ever was to want to change the Law Enforcement of the city again they would have to go before the City in a Special Election, the changing of the Police Department would be a vote by the People of Rialto, and then a Vote of the City Council as to make the decision final.

As everyone knows when the 4900 signatures that were collected were presented to the City Clerk Barbara McGee, with advice from the City Lawyer, Owens stated that over 3000 signatures collected were not collected properly because they were collected by signature gatherer's, and theory were Illegal, making the collection of the signatures not legal. and then they sat for almost a month or two, but each time they were under scrutiny by the people, and the City's Attorney each time quoted the same law that is written on the Petition paperwork where you sign for the witnessing signature gatherer. Well, looking at that the person just has to live within the county, every time this was put out before the City's Attorney Owens and each time he would argue, that he was right and they were wrong.

The Rialto Public, and some of the other people that didn't normally attend the meeting wanted a neutral party to take a look at this paper work the sinuate.a and they would quested the people that gathered the signatures and see if they were within the laws of the land.

The Register of Voters of San Bernardino County Stepped in to be the Neutral Party and do the Investigation into the Signatures and the signature Gathering. The County Registrar of Voters for San Bernardino County only had the Petitions and the Signatures for one day, when they came back and said that the signatures that they have correct, there was only a few that were duplicated, and some others that signed that actually lived in the county area and didn't qualify for the Petition, so they were disqualified.

The Voice United, and the Rialto Police Benefit Assoc. had been redeemed from the accusations of being said to have lied on their Collection of signatures on the petitions. Owens again became a LOOSER against the Voice United/RPBA People!!!

So here is what I think, I think that Owens due to his mis-handling of the whole Petition Drive, Election Law Losses in Court!! All of which was great that he lost, but he should have won!! He Gets Paid a whopping $750.000.00 a year by the city of Rialto as a Retainer to be their lawyer and to keep them from such trouble, Thank GOD he is the BUMBLING IDIOT that he is, to have lost the Every Legal Battle, so that the Rialto Police Department was Saved by the Small Law Firm from Riverside. He did this by borrowed monies and later the city was forced through a law suit to pay for his Legal Fees of $180,000.00 that it would have cost the Voice United, and Rialto Police Benefit Assoc. Monies that are used to pay for Benefits for their Employees.

Owens, Lost every case and is still advising the City of Rialto Regarding the outcomes and reminisces of Law Suits of the city. Owens doesn't like to take anything before a judge, and he tries to solve everything out of court. Owens, didn't as far as I know has not won any cases that was ever brought before the court. At the price that he is getting paid $768,000.00 with a City Administrator Garcia who is another one that is getting a huge pay check from the city $250,000.00 per year.

That is amazing. I feel that they should both go, I know that Garcia had his hand in the hiring of the new chief, but if the Police Department doesn't like the way that he is handling them or his way of management is inconsistent and they don't like it then he should be subject to termination or let go from his contract due to not passing his probationary period. Then right after the new chief starts, and before he can get his baring they need to clean out the City Attorney's spot, That is right!! FIRE the CITY ATTORNEY!! He can fight the Termination in court, but we know what the outcome will be, he will LOOSE!! He after all is a LOOSER! Then the CITY ADMINISTRATOR GARCIA Must go as well. GARCIA, getting a wage at $250,000.00. a year, and he wants to Replace a Police Department that has a better then 85% Clearance of Homicide Cases, with The San Bernardino Sheriff's Department who has a Homicide Clearance of less then 50% Needs to find different employment, because clearly the current employment is not challenging enough for him, Garcia feels that by increasing the Murder rate in Rialto maybe he can get more Federal Grant money and the like. That is the best that I can figure it with my non collage degree. But clearly he wanted the Homicide and Crime Rate to go up by wanting the Contract with the county Law Enforcement.

Once the City Council has Voted to Remove the City Attorney for legal advice, then I recommend that they seek out and hire the Attorney that so brilliantly beat Owens in the battle to loose the Police Department to the Sheriff's Department. If the Attorney that worked for the RPBA, and Voice United doesn't want the job, or they are to busy, then I suggest that we ask for their advice as to whom would be a good replacement. Then either take their advice for the replacement or now.

The City Council must be also moved on, Ed Scott Winnie Hanson, Debra Robertson,and Joe Sampson all must find new civic jobs to do. they can either volunteer at the Police Department. They are not clearly working in the BEST INTEREST of the CITY OF RIALTO!! so they must MOVE ON TO OTHER CIVIC ACTIVITIES!!!

BS Ranch

BS Ranch

Rialto approves police cars

10:00 PM PDT on Thursday, August 3, 2006

By MASSIEL LADRÓN DE GUEVARA
The Press-Enterprise

RIALTO - The city is getting closer to putting 29 new police vehicles on the street.

The Police Department expects to have the vehicles delivered from a dealer in the next three to nine months under a purchase approved by the City Council in June, records show.

In anticipation of their arrival, the council also approved the department's request for $354,140 to modify and add equipment to the cars Tuesday.

The vehicles will include 12 patrol cars, three K-9 units, four units for a team that patrols East Jackson Street, five administration vehicles, an animal-control truck, three traffic cars and a command vehicle.

The modifications include installation of mobile radios, modems and laptop computers, records show.

The council also approved Tuesday a $71,923 increase in the purchase price because the cost of three traffic cars was not included in the original price.

The council approved $612,902 of the purchase price in June. The total for the 29 vehicles is $684,825.

"It's a necessity to have police vehicles in good running shape for our Police Department, so this was necessary," Councilman Ed Scott said.

The final delivery of the vehicles, with the modifications, is estimated to take six to 12 months, records show.

Reach Massiel Ladrón De Guevara at 909-806-3054 or mdeguevara@PE.com

---

Online at: http://www.pe.com/localnews/sanbernardino/stories/PE_News_Local_B_bpolice04.2ac121c.html

County supes consider raisesSalary boosts would cost more than $1 million (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin 08052006)

Lets think about this one just a little? They want to give themselves a raise. I feel that they can give everyone but the Elected Officials a Raise, and here is why!!

They knew what kind of a job that they were putting in for when they placed the papers in for the election, with their backing signatures on board!! They waited for the outcome and dreamed of being elected for the Biggest, largest, County in the whole United States!! That has to be something in itself!! People do not run for an office as an application for a job, they do it so that they can represent the people that live in their neighborhood, but now that they feel that the tax base is good they must take advantage of it!!

Well I have news! The news is not good news!! It is always bad news, after all this is San Bernardino County!! The Tax Base is dropping, the home sales is slowing and the repossessions or retaking of mortgage home loans is up, way up. 68.3% UP!!

So a raise at this time is a race against time before the bottom falls out of the market and they cannot collect on the tax base that is out there. I guess they figure that they will get their money rain or sine, because the banks that take over the loan will pay the Back tax, but if that were the case then why are there so many people that can take over property from back taxes payments?? that is what I want to know??

BS Ranch!!

NO NO I Vote NO on the Raise for the COUNTY SUPERVISORS, Got that JOSE NO!

Article Launched: 8/05/2006 12:00 AM

County supes consider raisesSalary boosts would cost more than $1 million

Jeff Horwitz, Staff Writer
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

San Bernardino County supervisors are considering double-digit raises for their right hand men for the second year in a row.

The move comes on the heels of the board's decision this week that their own salaries could use some polishing.

On Tuesday, county supervisors approved an amendment to the county's charter which would boost their salary to around 85 percent of a Superior Court judge's, give the chairman of the board an additional 7.5 percent raise, and impose a three-term limit on supervisors. Voters will decide whether to approve those changes in November.

The raises for chiefs of staff would be a part of an overall shuffling of employment classifications and salary adjustments, said Andrew Lamberto, the county's director of human resources.

More than 20 other types of county positions would also receive salary boosts, costing the county $1,010,000. If county officials do not address the proposal at Tuesday's board meeting, he said, the adjustments may later be included in the county's overall budget.

In August 2005, the board approved another batch of raises for the chiefs, lifting the minimum annual salary from $70,408 to $90,979. The current proposal would set a $100,318 minimum for the job with $128,461 maximum. If the board approves it, the chiefs' minimum salaries will have risen by at least 40 percent in just over a year.

San Bernardino County concluded that the pay should be improved after looking to six counties it uses as a salary barometer. Even after the increases, the county's second in command will lag behind two coastal counties, Orange and San Diego.

Not all supervisors are convinced another raise is in order. While the 3rd District's Dennis Hansberger says he'd "like to treat them very well," the county has to consider whether it's setting a good example for lower-level employees.

"A strong argument needs to be made why," Hansberger said. "Do I think this is the biggest deal in the world? I don't. But I don't want to give a message that is not equal and equitable."

Lamberto said the raise was justified in comparison to six other counties which San Bernardino County uses as a salary barometer. While Lamberto said he could not make the county's statistics available, San Bernardino County currently falls in the middle, he said.

Within the Inland Empire, San Bernardino County's chiefs will top their neighbors. The same job starts at a little more than $82,000 in Riverside County and does not come with as many benefits as the county's chiefs get.

The difficulty of the job also merits the pay, Lamberto said. Though chiefs of staff earn less than the second in command for many county departments, Lamberto said, "There's no blueprint for that job. They have to know county departments inside and out."

Given the importance of the position, Lamberto said, it is important to keep wages competitive.

"When times are good in the public sector, there's a feeding frenzy for staff," Lamberto said. "It is the CAO's desire to keep the cream of the crop here."

Uffer agreed with Lamberto's assessment of the chiefs' work. "You get what you pay for. These guys work very hard, and very long hours," he said. What the appropriate compensation for that work is is best left to the board, Uffer said.

"It's their side of the house."

Dismemberment Case Arrest Made (SB Sun 08052006)

This woman either had to be very hard up for money or she was plain sick, because she had cut this man into pieces and distributed the pieces along her route when she fled. This was no ordinary crime scene, it was one that was merely one that the Detectives that followed the case literally, were taken to the Killer by the trail of body parts that were dumped off by the Killer!! The 73-Year-Old Man was Killed by a Woman with whom was left in her care, she was being sought for Elder Abuse in this case from the lack of care that she was giving the elderly man, so rather then fix him some grub she merely cut him in two and served him food to the wild animals in the city!!

BS Ranch!!

CrImE dOeSnT pAy, AsK aNyOnE!!!...bsr

Dismemberment case arrest made

Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
San Bernardino County Sun

SAN BERNARDINO - A woman was arrested Friday on suspicion of killing a 73-year-old developmentally disabled man she was caring for in her home.

The arrest of Charmain Louise Bergmann came 10 months after the dismembered remains of Charles Gillespie were found dumped in two locations about 30 miles apart.

Police arrested Bergmann, 54, at her North E Street home about 4 p.m., police Sgt. William Hanley said.

County prosecutors on Friday charged Bergmann with one count of murder and elder abuse in the Oct. 29 stabbing death of Gillespie, Hanley said.

Hanley cited the diligence of detectives and crime-scene investigators who collected abundant evidence from Bergmann's home in the 3300 block of North E Street in the days following Gillespie's death.

He also gave a nod to the Coroner's Office and the sheriff's crime lab in helping put together the case.

"There's been a team of detectives working on this, despite a heavy caseload, for nearly a year now," said Hanley. "It's something that's always been on our priority list, and while there's still work to be done, we're optimistic about our efforts so far."

A woman walking her dog discovered Gillespie's torso near a bathroom at Wildwood Canyon Park about 6:30 a.m. Oct. 30.

About four hours earlier, a group of men headed to Silverwood Lake discovered Gillespie's head, legs and arms stacked in a turnout on Highway 138.

Detectives noted a stench of bleach emitting from the remains, which also had human bite marks on them.

During a search of Bergmann's home, where Gillespie resided, detectives found a bloodstained carpet in Gillespie's bedroom and blood spatter on the walls, an entertainment center and a pillow, authorities said. A hacksaw blade and a bottle of a Clorox bleach were found in the kitchen, according to search warrants filed in court.

Bergmann will be arraigned either Monday or Tuesday in San Bernardino Superior Court, Hanley said.

Before moving into Bergmann's home in 2005, Gillespie resided at the Breezy Hill Guest Home in Fontana for about 15 years.

Vernall and Janette Townsend of Rialto own the guest home for developmentally disabled people and knew Gillespie well. They helped organize his funeral in January.

"Wow! I'm speechless," Vernall Townsend said Friday after learning of Bergmann's arrest. "I know Charmain, and if the evidence points to her, let justice be served."

He said residents and employees of Breezy Hill have often called to inquire about the disposition of Gillespie's case. They often wondered if an arrest would ever be made, Townsend said.

"Because of all the other issues going on (with the San Bernardino Police Department) ... I was wondering if this was going to be one of the cold cases," said Townsend, who is also the vice president of the Rialto-Fontana branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

"We knew Charles for so long 15-plus years and just thinking of how he was murdered and dismembered, it takes all that we have to keep our composure."

Predators Beware Area Agents Target Child Molesters (SB Sun 08042006)

This is great, I am glad that they are catching the child molesters where they stand, Live, and work. Why just the other day they found and took into custody a Teacher that was Teaching, or Molding Young Minds, into Little People, and he was teaching them a little something something on the side!! That is so sick, I want to go and wash my hands just for typing it!!!!!

BS Ranch

Article Launched: 8/04/2006 12:00 AM

Predators beware Area agents target child molesters

Stacia Glenn, Staff Writer
San Bernardino County Sun

A seedy subculture swimming with child predators is submerged in every community, skulking just beneath the surface of society.

Parents typically think their neighborhoods are safe. They drop the kids off to teachers, priests and Boy Scout leaders without ever doubting their safety. They dismissively shake their heads at the thought someone they know could be abusing youngsters.

But predators don't just lurk in shadows.

Oftentimes they are invited into our homes, looked up to as role models and considered above suspicion. Knowing this, they prey upon the most vulnerable members of society again and again.

Fighting to keep children safe from those who would steal their innocence are agents of Operation Predator, a nationwide Immigration and Customs Enforcement initiative formed in 2003 when the Immigration and Naturalization Service and Customs Service combined their sex- offender programs.

Locally, a tough six-member Inland Empire crew tracks down more than the boogeymen who make children cower in darkness and in dreams.

In the three years since it was formed, agents in the Inland Empire branch have arrested more than 220 men in connection with crimes against children, including possession of child pornography, molestation, human trafficking and sex tourism.

"These are real children and real victims," said Lloyd Schultz, group supervisor for the Inland Empire's Operation Predator office in San Bernardino . "People forget they're not little plastic figures or pictures."

More than half of the caseload for the local Operation Predator office focuses on possession or distribution of child pornography.

It's a ghastly job.

Agents have to spend countless hours watching videos of kids being molested or abused by the very same people who should be protecting them. They have to find a way to separate themselves from the on-screen horror because, as Schultz points out, "Somebody's gotta do it."

High-tech equipment zeros in on the little ones' facial features so they can be added to the National Child Victim Identification System, a database to track victims. Specialists stare intently into the background, looking for any clues as to where the tape was shot.

And they're usually successful.

Operation Predator's Inland Empire office managed to close every case thus far and prosecute each predator.

More than 40 child- exploitation cases have been investigated since 2003, and ICE agents have provided other local agencies with 49 leads.

Currently, 24 cases are being investigated and 10 are in various states of prosecution.

A high-profile case that has sent ripples across San Bernardino and Riverside counties is that of 62-year-old Earl Venton Buchanan, a Bloomington man arrested July 3 after trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border with a 5-year-old boy from Banning on his lap.

Authorities searched his van and found a videotape of Buchanan molesting a small boy. Records show Buchanan admitted to being the man in the video, yet he pleaded not guilty to federal charges of kidnapping, molestation and transportation of child pornography.

Buchanan is counted among the 1,945 arrests made in California since the inception of Operation Predator, which is twice the amount of any other state. The next highest is Texas, where 700 child predators have been nabbed.

"California is one of the most popular states, and we have a significant amount of ICE agents working here," said ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice. "It makes sense that with a large amount of ICE agents working in California, you would probably have a significant volume of cases."

Another reason Southern California has more than its share of predators is its closeness to Mexico and the number of foreign nationals who choose to make their homes here.

Several suspects, like Buchanan, have been caught transporting children and child pornography across the border. Some, though not as many, have trafficked kids into another country to sell them for sex.

In the Inland Empire alone, 179 men have been convicted of a sex crime, served their time and been deported to their home country. Fifteen of those were arrested a second time and placed in a federal prison for about 72 months after returning to the United States.

"They just didn't think they'd get caught," said Doraluz Ancona, assistant agent in charge at ICE's local office, shaking her head.

There is no set profile for a child predator, no discernible way of picking them out of a crowd.

They are often pillars of the community.

A sheriff's deputy, minister and teacher have been picked up in the Inland Empire by ICE agents.

A "Dateline" sting in Riverside County earlier this year netted 50 suspected predators in three days, many of them in shockingly respected positions: a high school teacher, a rabbi and a press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security. All thought they were coming to have sex with a minor, authorities said.

"These are people who occupy trusted positions in the community," Ancona said.

Holding respectable positions in the community means the case is usually high profile and generates massive amounts of disbelief from those who never suspected.

That is the case with Jon Winningham, a longtime Calimesa councilman who faces 10 felony counts of intent to distribute child pornography and three misdemeanor counts of possession of child pornography. He pleaded not guilty and is awaiting a preliminary hearing in Riverside Superior Court.

Winningham's arrest was not part of Operation Predator.

He was first arrested in October after two men handed police a computer disk with downloaded child pornography images they said came from Winningham's home computer. No charges were filed at that time.

The councilman was arrested a second time in February after forensic specialists said they discovered 1,126 pornographic images on his home computer, city-owned laptop and various computer media.

Many researchers and law-enforcement officials believe possessing and distributing child pornography is increasing because of the Internet.

The National Juvenile Online Victimization Study found 1,713 arrests were made nationally in 2000. An estimated 2,600 arrests were made nationwide in 2001 for Internet-related sex crimes against children, according to the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.

Operation Predator launched a nationwide sting in 2004, dubbed Operation Falcon, to bring down a commercial child- pornography site where people paid to download images.

Regpay, a Belarus-based Internet billing firm, provided credit- card billing services for 50 child- pornography Web sites around the world.

Out of the 1,200 people arrested, five were from the Inland Empire.

Yet some say sex crimes against kids are decreasing.

There has been a 40 percent decline in the estimated number of child sexual- abuse substantiations since 1992, according to the Crimes Against Children Research Center.

The center's director, David Finklehor, said most crime has been declining since 1993.

"People don't feel it or notice it because it's actually being covered more extensively (by the media) than it used to be," he said. "They feel more endangered, but it's actually gone down."

Whether these types of crimes are rising or falling, Inland Empire ICE agents still labor around the clock to bring down child predators.

Their lives are not their own.

Few spend sick days recuperating on the couch. Vacations are ended early by a single call. And forget holidays.

"We will put in whatever time it takes to catch every predator here," Schultz vowed.

When the ICE agents aren't hunched over a computer or tracking down leads, they are shooting at the range, being trained in tactical entry or practicing hand-to-hand combat.

After passing an exhaustive screening process by the Department of Homeland Security, they must spend 22 weeks at a federal law- enforcement training center in Georgia, immersed in customs and immigration law, search techniques and firearms training.

Such a grueling, time-demanding job might chase some off. Witnessing all the atrocities done to kids might scare away others.

So, why do they do it?

"It's a personal satisfaction that I'm giving back to my community," said Ancona, a mother of two. "I want to make sure those kids that are out there are protected as much as possible."

"The biggest motivator is, these aren't ambiguous cases," Schultz said. "There's a cut-and-dried bad guy. There's a cut-and-dried victim. It's gotta be done."

And so, the chain continues.

ICE agents stalk the predators who stalk our children.

SB County Defaults on the Rise in 2Q

This is bad news for the city of Rialto, because it means that more houses are going to be on the market for the upcomeing quarter, and home sales or goning to drop drastically. This could mean that the Taxes that Rialto City is anticipating getting their hands on next July might not be there, They better hope for the Utility Tax, but I have to say that if these homes are standing Empty, and not one person is in them to have Utilities for them there is not much collected for the city!! Again that is bad news for the Police Deapartment and the future budget, that the New chief has to work with. We will have to see how it plays out!!

BSRanch

Article Launched: 8/04/2006 12:00 AM

S.B. County defaults on the rise in 2Q
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

Slowing price appreciation levels caused foreclosure activity in San Bernardino County to soar 68.3 percent in the second quarter compared the to second quarter of 2005.

Lenders sent out 1,839 notices of default in the second quarter, up from 1,093 twelve months earlier -- which was the lowest level for the county since DataQuick began tracking defaults in 1992.

"This is a measure of financial distress. It is rising. But it is rising toward normal," said Andrew LePage, an analyst for DataQuick Information Systems.

According to DataQuick's records, San Bernardino County has had an average 3,830 default notices filed every quarter.

Rialto Streets to Close for New Traffic Signals (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin 080206)

It is about time that the intersection of Willow and Bloomington avenue is closed for the new signal. I have handled one fatal in my career, and I have assisted on two others in the time that I was in traffic. That does not count the times that I was not called out to help on the others that occurred there. That Intersection is bad simply because the driver South Bound on Willow has to look almost all the way to the rear to see traffic that is crossing in front of him on Bloomington Ave.

So I am happy that this is being done finally. Good job, City Council and engeneering, just took you so long to decide to do this!!

BSRanch

Article Launched: 8/02/2006 12:00 AM

Rialto streets to close for new traffic signals
-- Robert Rogers
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

RIALTO - Five intersections will be affected at different times this year by temporary street closures as workers install new traffic signals. Work began July 25 and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The schedule is staggered so only one or two intersections are impacted at a time, according to a release from the city's administrator, Henry Garcia.

The intersection of Bloomington and Willow avenues is closed until Aug. 31. Willow and Merril avenues will be closed for light replacement Aug. 28.

National Night Out a Success!! & El Rancho Verde Median District is Born, Planting will start later this year

This is a great welcome to the Police Department and the hard Job that they are doing!! Right now they are 25% down and they need Police Officers, however they will not start hiring new Cops until the new Chief is in his Office and then the fun begins so he can rebuild the department the way that he wants it. It will be interesting to see.

I have been Retired from Rialto since 2000 and in the 6 years since I was gone the turn over and the Contract talk everyone is gone. The only people that stayed is the ones that are on probations or were in a hire position such as Sgt. Lt. ect ect. However there was two sgt.'s that left to go to the Riverside D.A.'s office, and so even the Sgt's that I knew are gone as well.

But the citizens, Put up such a great fight along with the Police Department, to save it. They did a great job. What a good news report and a wonderful story..

The next one is the El Rancho Verde District has been formed to start planting and doing landscaping to fix and beatify the center median. We have been working on this for the last year or so. It has finally come. Thank You Jose Gonzales for your help and support on this particular matter!!

BSRanch

RIALTO
National Night Out a success

At least six "National Night Out" celebrations rang out Tuesday across Rialto.

In the 400 block of South Pine Street, residents stretched a 50-foot banner across the street welcoming police into their neighborhood. It was just last year that the future of the city Police Department was in doubt.

Mayor Grace Vargas, Assemblyman Joe Baca Jr., D-Rialto, and a handful of police officers stopped by different neighborhood gatherings in the city, honoring Neighborhood Watch associations and thanking residents for service in fighting crime.

On South Pine Street, police cars burst through the banner to the crowd's delight.

"It was an unbelievable celebration," said Marilyn VanKleef. "Everything fell into place."

---

RIALTO
Landscaping work begins later this year

Landscaping along the Riverside Avenue median, from Kauri Avenue to Peach Street, will begin later this year.

With support from local property owners, San Bernardino County will proceed with its beautification plans for the Riverside Avenue median along the unincorporated El Rancho Verde community. Each of the 509 property owners will pay $120 annually for the landscaping.

"The El Rancho Verde homeowners share my opinion that their property is worth the investment," said 5th District county Supervisor Josie Gonzales in a news release.

New Police Chief Welcome News for Rialto (SB Sun 07222006) Our View: New Leadership promise to strengthen a department seeking to rebuild itself

I am praying and praying that Mark Kling is the man that will bring a sence of Team back to the Police Department, this is the one thing that really has been missing since the Chief Farmer had left. Chief Farmer was in a position that he was running the city in some ways, and the people in city hall didn't like it so they took him out, and really disrupted the city, so the last few years of what Ed Scott Calls Corruption, is the fault of none other then City Halls, and the Administrator, and City Council.

It is much to bad that they had fought so hard to get Chief Farmer out, and then they had Lewis, he would have been okay, but he was so torn to do a good job that City Hall grabbed him by his lower portions and held on and lead the department by those ever since. Didn't matter who was in the Chief's Office. Now we have Chief Mark Kling and we will see if Kling is the man that can stand up to the mighty Garcia, and say no when it needs to be said!

I am still puzzled why, he left a very successful position and came to Rialto where it is barly on its feet. His Department in Baldwin Park still needs some building. I know that Rialto has a lot of growing to do and will more then likely be a department of Over 150-200 sworn in the next five years. That might be why he came, because in the next 10 years he has the potential to make about $200.000 to $250.000 when Rialto gets up to a 200 Sworn department!! that might be a reason? I guess we will see.

BSRanch


Moving forward
New police chief welcome news for Rialto
Our view: New leadership promises to strengthen a department seeking to rebuild itself

The appointment of a new police chief for the embattled Rialto Police Department should add much needed stability to a department the city sought to disband until just four months ago.

City Administrator Henry Garcia announced last week that Baldwin Park Police Chief Mark Kling, 48, will be brought in to help rebuild the Rialto department, much like he did with the Baldwin Park police force five years ago.

Kling's experience in revamping a department that some city leaders said at the time should be scrapped in favor of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department closely mirrors the problems suffered by Rialto's PD, which went through five chiefs in six years before the mottled seven-year tenure of Chief Michael Meyers, who stepped down in December after seeming only to fan the flames.

After years of strife and dissension amid charges of racism, sexism, discrimination and corruption dogging the Police Department, the Rialto City Council voted in September to disband it and go with the San Bernardino County sheriff instead only reversing course in March.

In the meantime, the department, under the able-bodied leadership of Interim Chief Frank Scialdone, has fought hard to persevere, and stands to prosper with someone of Kling's caliber at the helm. Moving from captain to chief in 2000, Kling is credited with turning around the 124-officer Baldwin Park department with his zeal for policing. Besides implementing new programs including a full-time gang enforcement team and narcotics squad as well as expanding the traffic detail and upgrading communications and weapons systems, Kling proved himself most successful in boosting morale through strong, accessible leadership. He has been praised for establishing an atmosphere of trust and fairness in Baldwin Park that should translate well in Rialto.

Both Garcia and Kling are intent on changing the culture of the Rialto Police Department, and creating a sense of unity after years of problems that almost led to its demise.

The department already has done a good amount of healing under Scialdone, who has helped reshape it, both physically and emotionally. Rialto police, who have shown a new resolve to fight crime, and not each other, have done an admirable job of facing the increased challenges posed by gang crime and their own dwindling ranks, which have meant copious overtime.

Kling will walk into a department that demands bold, credible leadership, and it is his drive for positive change that will help make the beleaguered department whole again. That is good news not only for Rialto police, but for the greater community as well.

Target opens new Rialto distribution center (LA Business 072106)

The Distribution center that Target opened in Rialto is more then likely 3 to 5 times bigger then the one that they had in Ontario. It is more then one block up in Rialto's North end at 1.3 Million Square Feet, just huge. It is one of he biggest Distributer Werehouses that I have ever seen, not that I have seen a whole bunch, but it is huge.

I am happy that they chose Rialto and they are in a nice quet part of town. I don't think that they are in an area that can or could be zoned anything else but, Light industry just because the military used to store munisions up there and it might have done something to the land, I don't know I am just thinking with a typwriter..LOL. They go all the way south to the dump, and all the way north to the Las Colinas Neighborhood. That is some large area.

The fact that they employ 500 people is great, but they probably will have at anyone time up to 1000 people on their books, but that does not necisarally mean that the person works every day for them, they don't fire or lay anyone off, to avoid paying anyone any Unemployment Insurance!! weird, but that is what they do, the crew that shows up has to load unload all those trucks and if no one shows they are looking for people to show up. It is weird, but the amount of people that they have they keep the people that are on with them for a good long time and they will pay them a good wage it is just frustration when the people around you take days off without calling in or anything.

I had a friend that worked for them for about two years and he was so frustrated that he had to quit, and get away from the pressure that they put onto them. I just hope for the people that work at the Rialto Target Werehouse that it is not like that for them.

BSRanch

Target opens new Rialto distribution center

Los Angeles Business from bizjournals - 12:34 PM PDT Friday

by John Vomhof Jr.

Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal

Target Corp. on Friday officially opened a new 3.1 million-square-foot distribution center in Rialto.

The new facility will be the largest single investment in an operating unit in Target's history, the company said in a release.

Minneapolis, Minn.-based Target now has 30 distribution centers in 20 states. These facilities receive shipments from suppliers, ship products to Target stores and provide storage space for merchandise.

The Rialto distribution center will initially employ 500 workers, with plans to add several hundred employees during the first five years of operation.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) also said it will open 29 new stores in 18 states on Sunday, including one in Irvine. Following the openings, the company will have 1,444 stores in 47 states.