Two Dead Bodies Found in Rialto Neighborhood

Photo of crime scene at Sycamore and Jackson Streets from Loud Labs IE

RIALTO (LoudLabs News)

On Saturday morning, April 27, 2019, the Rialto Police Department along with the City of Rialto Fire Department responded to reports of a two people down. The incident was reported around 6:19am in the 100 block of E. Jackson Street.

When Officers arrived they located two males, down in the front yards of two different addresses, roughly 200 feet apart. Both victims were pronounced deceased at the scene. Homicide Detectives as well as the Coroner’s Office were just arriving at the scene around 8:30am.

Police investigators working the crime scene where 2 dead bodies were found on the corner of Sycamore and Jackson Streets photo from Loud Labs IE

Details surrounding the two deaths are limited as Police will only say they are conducting a death investigation. No further information was immediately available.

Why are murders and deaths on the rise in Rialto?

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Drug Take Back Day 2018

 

In years past Rialto had a location for the drug take back day that was actually in Rialto.

Now that the City Council along with Congress Woman Norma Torres and Congressman Pete Aguilar have destroyed the Rialto Community Coalition there is nobody looking out for drug and alcohol abuse in the city.

The National Prescription Drug Take Back Day addresses a crucial public safety and public health issue. According to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 6.4 million Americans abused controlled prescription drugs. The study shows that a majority of abused prescription drugs were obtained from family and friends, often from the home medicine cabinet.

Teens will regularly raid family members medicine cabinets and either take the pills themselves or go to parties where kids will SKITTLE. When someone SKITTLES on prescription drugs what they are doing is taking a series of different pills from a bowl or basket without knowing what they are or how they will react together.

The DEA’s Take Back Day events provide an opportunity for Americans to prevent drug addiction and overdose deaths.

Within 10 miles of Rialto you have 2 locations to choose from to dispose of your unwanted to old prescription drugs. To find your location nearest you click here.

Rialto Police Chief Defends Marijuana Users over Non Marijuana Users

In the past Law Enforcement acted as the buffer between the drug users and non drug users. Nationwide that has changed no matter what the laws are in a given state police are giving up on protecting people from the effects of others using drugs. We as adults are causing our youth to see marijuana as safe.

In Rialto this has come as somewhat of a shock as residents expected more on both side of the issue. Those who consume Marijuana for fun and “medicine” expected the hammer to drop or at least more blow back in an effort to hold users accountable to whatever law they could. The same expectation was had on the non user side of things. People not consuming Marijuana had an expectation that the laws over recreational use would be enforced and their exposure would be minimal. You may ask why would Rialto residents on both side have the same fear/expectation. Well both sides thought this for the same reasons:

  • Rialto has fought hard to break the stigma of becoming a drug and gang haven.
  • Rialto worked hard to keep the problems from San Bernardino’s bankruptcy from spilling over the boarders of Rialto.
  • Rialto has one of the toughest gang injunctions in the county.
  • Rialto wrote the most effective local ordnance in dealing with SPICE (synthetic Marijuana) in the nation.
  • Rialto police hit smoke shops hard making sure they followed all the rules of the SPICE ordnance as well as laws on the taxation of cigarettes.
  • Rialto police officers are multiple year award winning DUI officers with hundreds of DUI convictions under their belt.
  • Rialto City Council and Mayor all appear to support keeping Marijuana under wraps by continuing to ban its sale and cultivation in Rialto.

Chief Kling is showing us why we are in the place we are today with Law Enforcement. Mark Kling left law enforcement to teach at Cal Baptist University. It seems clear that students in the career of law enforcement have been getting a very sad view of policing and keeping law abiding people safe. Yes Marijuana is legal for recreational use but there are laws and rules around that use and Chief Kling seems to care less about making sure those laws are enforced. If Marijuana smoke and its harmful effects on others are not a big deal then why do we have laws limiting smoking cigarettes in your apartment, Alcohol in public and loud parties?

Needless to say the Chief Kling that once worked in Rialto and the one we have now are two totally different people. What are your thoughts on the way the Police Chief is dealing with Marijuana Policy and Laws?

Below are links to articles used in the video above:

https://health.usnews.com/wellness/articles/2017-01-06/secondhand-marijuana-smoke-and-your-children

https://drugabuse.com/lets-clear-the-air-about-secondhand-marijuana-smoke/

https://www.leafly.com/news/health/secondhand-marijuana-smoking-side-effects

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/marijuana/what-are-effects-secondhand-exposure-to-marijuana-smoke

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What is going on at West Valley Water???

Let me first off say that if you are a customer of West Valley Water you have to be concerned with your water provider being able to provide you with clean drinking water. Why would I say this? The entire time Clifford Young has been a Director of West Valley Water he has used West Valley funds to investigate and sue people who refuse to fall in line with his rule. Here is a short and not complete list of people he has spent rate payers money eithier investigating or suing since 2014:

  • Butch Ariza – Former West Valley Water GM and Candidate for the board Clifford used rate payer money to investigate if Mr. Ariza was legally allowed to run for the elected seat. Normally this is left to the Registrar of Voters but since Mr. Young hated Mr. Ariza he took matters into his own hands.

  • Board Member Alan Dyer – Mr. Dyer is another person that refused to go along with Clifford Young and his antics so he too was investigated with rate payer money on the validity of his residence. Now you may say this was more appropriate but no. When local Rialto City Council member Deborah Robertson investigated the validity of her fellow Council member Ed Palmer’s residence she sued him personally no taxpayer money was used.
  • Redwing and Sherill – Since this company was not connected to Mr. Young and his closest campaign contributors money and time was wasted looking over a long series of paid and unpaid bills.

  • The entire 2017 Executive Board – Given no public explanation even though the board members have publicly asked for one Dr. Clifford Young,Sr. has refused to justify yet another misuse of public funds as he descends onto another personal witch hunt.

The main constant here is that all of these Investigations or Suits have amounted to NOTHING!!!! Dr. Clifford Young,Sr. has not produced one shred of public evidence that these actions were warranted and no actions have come from the misuse of public funds. Normally when money is spent from the public funds there is some report able action that comes along even if it is a net loss something is brought forward. Not in the world of Mr. Young he uses the public’s funds at his own desire with no public accountability.
Here are a few more times where Mr. Young has repeatably taken liberties with the public’s funds:
  • Sources report that Mr. Young has all of his fellow directors book hotel stay’s and conference registrations with his personal credit card so that he can stack up extra cash back bonus points. Then he and the other directors are reimbursed from the Water District leaving Mr. Young with a windfall of cash back points. You may say who cares they don’t go to that many things right? WRONG they pad their pockets by attending meaningless meetings and functions so that they can earn more money. They are paid a fixed amount per event they attend on behalf of the Water District no matter how long they stay. Instead of using a district credit card to pay for expenses, Young uses his personal credit card for such expenses so he could earn credit rewards and Marriott points. It led to former district CFO Suzanne Cook being fired after bringing the matter to Young’s attention. Cook sued the district in July, and the case is still pending, court records show. (Sun)
  • Clifford Young is now on his fourth General Manager and Third Legal Counsel Firm in the four years since he has been a Director with West Valley Water. Let me tell you these contracts are not cheap to begin with and the clauses for removing them before their contract is up isn’t cheap either.
  • Since Mr. Young has been on the board he has not only raised Directors ability to make more money but has further limited the communities ability to interact with the Water Board click here to read more.
  • Lawsuits Clifford Young and West Valley Water currently find themselves up against the future liability of workplace harassment lawsuits as spelled out by Hardy Brown Senior (click here)
  • Six figure no-bid contracts are awarded to friends of the board.
  • Young routinely forced staff to hire colleagues from his former job at CSUSB, including paying one a salary of $260,000 a year with no job description.
  • Young regularly expensed alcohol and charged it to the agency & regularly expensed meals for his wife and charged the agency against policy. (click here)

What we found alarming when we first began reporting on West Valley Water and the mess that resides in the Elected body was the strong desire to control the release of information about what is going on there. Board Director Greg Young once tried to have Joise Gonzales the local Board Supervisor to silence us (see here) add to that the constant threats by Clifford Young to Sue Us for slander (never happened) there is a strong move to silence the media going on here and now we see why.

For the longest time Clifford Young was able to keep under the radar of bigger media sources (even though we tried hard to nudge them into looking into West Valley’s actions). Well with the recent elections where Clifford Young was able to fully secure 4 out of 5 board seats on the West Valley Board and has his eye on getting Mr. Olinger out of the Board in the coming election to secure complete control he forgot that his friend and now board director Mike Taylor has already secured a steady stream of media attention with his actions in Baldwin Park. Mr Young also lost sight of Mr Taylors bad deeds seeping into Rialto:

  1. When Baldwin Park rehired Michael Taylor as its police chief, the city included a provision in his contract that makes him exceedingly difficult to fire. Taylor can only be terminated from his $234,000-a-year job, according to the agreement, if he commits a felony. Baldwin Park leaders also prohibited themselves from giving Taylor annual performance evaluations. The agreement allows the council to place Taylor on administrative leave — but with pay. The contract term is only for one year. But if the council doesn’t renew it, Taylor gets a severance package worth three months’ salary.
  2. Taylor was recently elected board member at West Valley Water District in Rialto, about 39 miles from Baldwin Park, soon after returning as police chief. One of Taylor’s first actions as a new director on Dec. 7 was to vote for a new attorney to serve the district: Robert Tafoya, the Baldwin Park city attorney who weeks earlier presented the chief’s employment contract to that city’s council for approval.
  3. Taylor has taken money from a drug operation in Baldwin Park where he is the police chief to fund his campaign for West Valley Water Board. Taylor who received help from local republican and tea party groups on his campaign are the same groups who claim to be against drug legalization in California.
  4. Taylor is also accused of moving money around as a way to cover the origins of said money. In another story by the legal lens businesses that are known for using campaign contributions as a way to secure favorable contrasts within the city of Baldwin Park are now spending money here in the West Valley Water Races.
  5. A person of interest in the character assassination of Kareem Gongora when Kareem was running for special election for Fontana Unified School Board is the listed Treasurer for Mike Taylor. The same campaign that shifted money around and took drug money to win a campaign.
  6. Board President Clifford Young has misappropriated public funds and routinely engages in unfair hiring practices, with no regard to staff concerns and district policies and procedures. (Sun)
  7. Young, according to a memo, demanded the district hire people that he worked with at Cal State San Bernardino or had personal affiliations with. (Sun)
  8. Young awarded no-bid contracts to friends, including political lobbyist William Lowery and public relations expert Patrick O’Reilly. Additionally, Young received more than $42,000 in reimbursement for travel, meals and incidentals and more than $43,000 in director fees. He does not provide line item receipts to “ensure that the district is not paying for prohibited expenses such as alcohol,” (Sun)

So Rialto you have one question to ask yourselves. Why do we keep accepting this type of behavior and failed leadership? Don’t the people of West Valley Water deserve better? Where is the DA’s of Riverside, San Bernardino and LA Counties at? Are they going to allow failed leadership to break the rules with ZERO accountability?

 

Video

Fontana Mayor Celebrates Drug Filled Rave As Three People Die

This weekend Fontana was busy, very busy. The city government planned their annual Fontana Arts Festival and their Sunset on Sierra events the same weekend the city ushered in the Hard Summer Music Festival. The Hard Summer Festival is a youth based rave/concert event that seems to exist for young people to get naked, high and drunk. Also the fact that this Music Fest has moved East due to the deaths of two event attendees in 2015 in Pamona would cause you to wonder why Fontana and San Bernardino County would host the event here? It all comes back to money and alot of it.

Well at least the event promoters Live Nation would learn from last years mistakes and work to create a safer environment for concert goers right? Nope according to a LA Times Article:

“Hard Summer, this year at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, is at a turning point in its nine-year history. The two-day festival faced an uncertain future in 2015, after two fans died of drug overdoses. That led to local government demanding that the fest leave the Pomona Fairplex (the family of one of the overdose victims is suing Hard Summer and its parent firm, Live Nation).

But instead of scaling back, the festival moved a bit east, raised its ambitions (Saturday had an estimated 70,000 fans) and booked its most incendiary lineup to date.”

As you can see in the video above the mayor of Fontana is very excited to have a event such as this now in the city of Fontana. So it makes you wonder how much money a life is worth to Fontana Mayor Aquentta Warren. According to her estimations on the possible incoming tax revenue the event will bring about $11 Million each. We say this because the Fontana Herald released a story this morning that 3 people have been reported dead at this years Hard Summer event.

“Three people died while attending the HARD Summer Music Festival at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana on July 30 and 31, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

One man and two women died, but the causes of death were not yet determined pending a coroner’s report, said Captain Horace Boatwright of the Fontana Sheriff’s Station. Two of the deaths were on Saturday and one on Sunday, he said.

Boatwright said there were a total of nine medical transports at the festival, which attracted 146,000 fans during the two-day event.

He said there were 325 arrests, mostly for public intoxication.

A total of 370 San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies were at the site, and 240 other law enforcement personnel were also there, Boatwright said.”

So three dead nine transported to the hospital and 370 arrests and that is acceptable? What type of message are our leaders sending to our young people? We spoke to former event security manager and public safety officer Duane who worked inside and outside of these events and he painted a dim picture.

“These events are used by most of the event attendees to use elicit drugs combined with alcohol and public sexual behavior. Most public safety agencies just can’t handle these events and in today’s culture of anti police mentality these events are even more difficult to control. We worked with staff that were tasked with sniffing out illegal substances at the Orange Show Electric Daisy Raves and even though they stopped massive amounts of drugs, alcohol and weapons substances made it into the venue regardless. Also parents of young ladies attending these events need to see the total lack of clothing that is worn at these events. Nothing about any times of rave is healthy for any community.” 

So the question is why would the county and city approve such an event? It all goes back to money.

 

Fake Tax Protection Group Inland Empire Taxpayers Association Called Out For False Attacks

ieypa

Over the last few months the Inland Empire Taxpayers Association has taken a interest in the race for the 31st Congressional District. They seem to have it out for one candidate Paul Chabot and the attacks now have moved from negative mailers to a robo call that will go out to voters in the 31st Congressional District days before the June 7th primary on Tuesday.

Earlier today Paul Chabot put out a message to supporters:

Friends. A fake anti tax organization supporting my opponent is about to run a negative robo call against our campaign. The fake anti-tax organization is called the Inland Empire Taxpayers Association run by Ross Sevy a District Rep for Assemblymember Obernolte and Chris Mann a Deputy Chief of Staff to San Bernardino County Supervisor Josie Gonzales. They are hired guns who take money and promote slanderous and libel ads. We will hold these individuals legally accountable for what they have already posted on their website. I call upon Jay Obernolte and Josie Gonzales to stop allowing tax payer staff to moonlight running special interest political action committees. The Inland Empire Taxpayers Association has lost all credibility and its very existence reminds voters of rampant political corruption in our region.

They have now taken in over 20K to run an unethical and dishonest campaign of hate and ignorance.

I worked with voters in 2015 to defeat a tax that this same so called anti tax organization actually took money to help promote. We defeated their dishonest campaign by 77 percent in 2015.

Together I will fight corruption in San Bernardino County and in Washington when elected.

Looking at the Inland Empire Taxpayers Association Facebook page it looks like Paul Chabot may be right. Here are just a couple reasons why:

  • The Inland Empire Taxpayers Association has endorsed and is actively working to pass Measure D in the City of Colton! This is a common-sense measure that will allow the City to maintain service levels without raising taxes or fees. In fact, it guarantees that electric utility rates will not increase for at least 5 years. – What measure D does is allow the city to raid the public utilities fund to cover up the lack of money that exists to provide essential services. Cities that have done this have had to sell off their utility departments and provide less than adequette services due to no extra funds to make much needed repairs and upgrades Colton voters will vote on this come June 7th.
  • In 2015 the Inland Empire Taxpayers Association supported a tax increase on residents in Rancho Cucamonga that was defeated by 77 percent by the voters.
  • The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association instructed the Inland Empire Taxpayers Association to remove the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association logo from their site. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association as you may know is the largest anti tax association that has worked tirelessly to protect California residents from the dangers of eliminating Prop 13 in California (On June 6th, 1978, nearly two-thirds of California’s voters passed Proposition 13, reducing property tax rates on homes, businesses and farms by about 57%.)

Many thing stick out as outright lies from the Inland Empire Taxpayers Association here are the top lies on their attack website on Paul Chabot:

  • Paul Chabot was a no show on Parole votes – Paul Chabot was there at the votes in question but had not had the time to review the case or be present for the testimony because Paul was serving our country in Iraq so instead of voting without all the information he abstained.
  • Claiming that Paul Chabot is just chasing another government paycheck – Wrong once again, if Paul Chabot is wrong for running the Freestyle Foundation then so is Mental Health Systems, Reach Out, ICSC and the other organizations that take millions in State and County money to run Drug and Alcohol programs in the local region. Mental Health Systems is paid over 3 million each year to run anti drug coalitions in a hand full of cities in San Bernardino County. The Inland Empire Taxpayers Association claims that Paul Chabot makes over a 100 thousand each year for running anti drug programs but that is the entire budget for Drug Free RC, Inland Valley Drug Free Coalition and Drug Free California.
  • The Inland Empire Taxpayers Association uses a highly edited video to turn Paul Chabot’s words against him. Paul is asked in a TV interview why Marijuana is still illegal and labeled a schedule 1 narcotic according to the Federal Government. Paul lays asks why we make other things illegal like LSD, Heroin & Child Porn. The Inland Empire Taxpayers Association uses this short clip to insinuate that Paul Chabot is for Child Exploitation???? The problem is medical marijuana has led to a sharp rise in youth access and abuse. Many local Law Enforcement Agencies have seen Marijuana surpass both tobacco and alcohol use in people under the age of 18.

Finally why are employees of the County being allowed to act as hired guns who take money and promote slanderous and libel ads? What happened to the days of making sure the staff of agencies that are there to act on the communities best interest? Are the top staff of  Jay Obernolte and Josie Gonzales spending tax payer time attacking residents running for public office? We can tell you that we did over hear a conversation between Joe Baca and Dan Flores a senior staff member for Josie Gonzales at the City of Rialto Memorial Day event complaining about the Memorial Day event in Bloomington where Paul Chabot just happened to be one of the Military speakers:

It appears that this election cycle will be one of the dirtiest elections in as many years and its not just on the presidential side of things.

Video

San Bernardino Schools Student Discipline & Citations Discussion

Draft of SBCUSD Board Policy School-Wide Positive Behavior Intervention and Support 2-4-16v4 Pg2 001

About 120 people from San Bernardino Unified School District, School Police, School Board members and various ethnic based organizations from throughout the San Bernardino area met at the San Bernardino Club and Events center to go over sweeping changes to student discipline that many in the community see as adding to the dangers that exist within the city of San Bernardino. Out of the 120 plus people in attendance we only count nine parents. Most of the people in attendance are people that are advocating and receiving funding for the sweeping changes in student citations.

Both Pete Aguilar and Cheryl Brown had people from their office here in attendance. On top of that we had four San Bernardino School District Board Members a clear violation of the Brown act. The violation is that out of the seven members that sit on the board Scott Wyatt, Barbara Flores, Abigail Medina and Mike Gallo are here creating a quorum. Apparently this isn’t the first time San Bernardino School Board has had a quorum without putting out the public notice of the meeting. School Board Sup Dale Mardsen said that since they have four board members at the meeting they now have to fly this as a public meeting after the fact. We asked board member Barbara Flores about this and she said “who cares this is important what are they (DA Ramos and his public integrity unit) going to do slap our hands? I’m ok with that!” To make matters worse later on into the meeting another Board Member (that makes five) came into the meeting Board Member Rogers. It was clear that these board members have no respect for the laws that govern them.

SBC Unified Board Quorum

Dr. Harold Vollkommer and Superintendent Marsden worked hand in hand to control the conversation of the meeting leaving ZERO room for real questions or allowing people to speak their minds. It was so bad that Student Parent advocate Steven Figueroa said so in his comments publicly. The only people for this failed plan to remove consequences for the very things most parents work so hard to protect their children from were the people who stood to make money off of implementing the programs. From the mess of switching from different colored paper that was all out of order, poor time management and having the wrong information in the packets this meeting was a mess.

Another key person that stood out to us here is that Rialto School Board Member Dina Walker who was in favor of these horrible ideas making us wonder if Rialto Schools safety is now in jeopardy? Why would a Rialto School Board member attend a meeting like this, speak favorably of it and not have plans for using it in Rialto? Also Mrs. Walker was not there in another capacity alone she self identified as a Rialto School Baord Member and Dale Marsden also introduced her solely in her title as Rialto School Board Member.

Parents spoke about how the district is making parent involvement extremely difficult in this process and in attending this meeting. They are right this whole process has been made out to be as secret and behind closed doors as possible. San Bernardino School District is paying 1,500 a day for an upland based attorney to oversee this process. When this plan was launched it was done in a district employee eyes only email and employees were told they would find trouble with the district if they shared the information that is within.

Dale Marsden told us that no decision has been made and that this DRAFT proposal and that the School Board still has to approve it. The only problem is that Five board members are there all speaking privately about the Draft Proposal and they all are in favor of the proposal.

 

What do you think about San Bernardino & their progress out of Bankruptcy?

On Friday Cassie Mac Duff a reporter for the Press Enterprise penned an article on the apparent signs of San Bernardino on a upward rebound. A lot was talked about in the article but a lot was conveniently left out or avoided. In Cassie Mac Duff’s defense interviewing elected officials is beyond difficult because many of them are very corrupt and want to control the article or go off the record every 10 seconds. So if you want to get statements from them that they wont deny later you must play but a bad set of rules. My biggest beef with this article is the Liberal way the writer and Mayor of San Bernardino talk about economic progress.

Here is what they call progress:

  • New Superior Court high-rise
  • Transit Center and
  • New health clinic nearing completion.

Two of these things are government buildings built with TAX DOLLARS not hubs for economic growth. The New Health Clinic is an extension of Loma Linda University health and if we don’t keep pumping Billions of TAX DOLLARS into peoples pockets this massive clinic will be nothing more than an empty building.

Probably the only thing I agree with in this article is the cities creation of a monthly Food Truck Festival and the city staffer that is responsible for spearheading this effort is Brenda Leggitt and her team. They listen to the public and do their best to bring the best trucks to the city of San Bernardino.

Here is info from the Press Enterprise article on the food truck event:

“The food truck craze has also hit San Bernardino. The third Thursday of each month, the City Hall parking lot is roped off for a Food Fest, with food trucks and live bands. Even with the summer heat, the event attracts 2,500 to 2,600 people, not just office workers from the surrounding government buildings, but families now, Mayor Carey Davis told me on Friday. The monthly event has grown from five trucks to nine, Davis said, featuring gourmet grilled cheese, chicken and waffles, barbecue, salads and, of course, cupcakes. I stopped by last month and saw people lined up at every truck.”

I guess Mayor Davis believes that people who rife the bus and can’t afford cars can afford to eat out all the time because they left some land vacant for lunch spots and retail development. In that area you have the Old Carousel Mall & adjoining smaller retail pads that are vacant ghost towns and the Inland Center Mall just south of there that still has issues securing retail tenants.

 

“Omnitrans, the bus agency, left two acres vacant next to the transit center for commercial development such as lunch spots and retail shops. Those are needed. Downtown San Bernardino doesn’t have a lot of options apart from a McDonald’s, a Starbucks and a HoneyBaked Ham (which makes a terrific ham-and-cheese, by the way).”

So the newspaper article and Mayor Davis want you to believe that the area around the transit center is void of food options. So I guess the Mayor forgot about the Taco Bell, Del Taco, Chinese Food Resturant & of course the In & Out that was moved up the street to make room for the 215 freeway extension? In & Out should be irate that they were left out of consideration given how popular they are. This area is full of homeless people, homeless people don’t shop for food they beg for it so who is going to patronize these businesses?

 

What is a major part of San Bernardino’s demise is the rampant crime and drug use that thrives within the city. Three to four times a week someone is violently attacked, San Bernardino’s lax stance on Marijuana has allowed other drugs to come back into popularity including Meth and San Bernardino is the go to place for harmful toxic drug fests with no regard to the public safety. Also it looks like San Bernardino opened up a Airport to never fly planes out of it. Look below the Mayor touts an aircraft dismantler as a sign of progress San Bernardino International Airport. I don’t know about you but my idea of progress and a International Airport is I don’t know maybe Commercial Flights?

“He also told me there’s also a new business at San Bernardino International Airport (the former Norton Air Force Base), an aircraft dismantler. The airport will host an air show Oct. 17, Davis said. I’m glad San Bernardino’s bankruptcy (declared in 2012 and still pending in court) didn’t bring everything to a screeching halt in the city. That’s not to say everything is peachy, either. The city is embroiled in a dispute with its auditors over delays completing crucial reviews. The firm blames the city manager’s office; the city manager’s office blames the auditors. The City Council is considering a lawsuit.”

The last paragraph above eludes to more issues with getting a plan to remove themselves from Bankruptcy. What is funny is the reason they are in this position is because of the mismanagement of funds and constant fighting among those in city hall. This November there is a lot of chances for change and its up to residents to step up and as Joe Britt used to say on his Radio Show “Use the mighty power of the pen”.

http://www.pe.com/articles/city-779969-san-bernardino.html

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Statewide Coalitions Call Foul On The Assembly & Senate Pushing In Last Minute Marijuana Legislation

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So while you were looking at Gas Taxes the Governor, Senate & Assembly were working a back door deal to push further Marijuana legalization in a last minute vote on the last day of the legislative session. this effort comes on the heels of the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s report showing a rise in Marijuana use in teens 12-25 years of age. National Data showed the following:

“Overall, the use of illicit drugs – including marijuana – among Americans aged 12 and older increased from 9.4 percent in 2013 to 10.2 percent in 2014. This was driven particularly by the increase in adult marijuana use.

So why would the State Legislative Body push last minute regulations when this evidence shows that young people are suffering at the hands of lies from Big Marijuana and the Pro Drug Legalization Movement? The bills in question are SB 643 & AB 266 both had last minute deals struck to change the wording and regulations of both bills to better suit Big Marijuana yet as of 10am this morning the language has yet to be updated according to Scott Chipman the Southern California Chair of CALMca (Citizens Against Legalizing Marijuana).

David Phillips the Executive Director of Inland Valley Drug Free Coalition said that one of the bills sponsors Assemblyman Tom Lackey’s office said Friday that the text would be updated by noon Friday for public review. Mr. Phillips has heard about the changes and isn’t buying it. Mr. Phillips said “One of the biggest issues is the lack of criminal penalties if the new Law isn’t obeyed. Without criminal penalties this effort only further hurts today’s youth and our communities. Even doctors and pharmacy’s can face jail & or prison time for not following regular drug laws and policies what makes Big Marijuana any different.”  Mr. Phillips is referring to the shops that are shutdown then reopened days later. Drug dealers don’t care about business licenses or monetary fines and or penalties the profit for selling Marijuana makes it worth it. You have seen it in the Southern California media LA, Costa Mesa, San Diego & San Bernardino are just a few of the cites that have been dealing with the revolving door of Marijuana Drug stores.

Now is the time to once again lean on our elected official’s to speak for children and communities rather than Big Marijuana & Drug Dealers. Call your elected official’s and tell them to vote no one bills SB 643 * AB 266

Assembly Member Tom Lackey 916-319-2036

Assembly Member Cheryl Brown 916-319-2047

Assembly Member Catharine Baker 916-319-2016

Assembly Member Autumn Burke 916-319-2062

Assembly Member Ian Calderon 916-319-2057

Assembly Member Chris Holden 916-319-2041

Assembly Member Eric Linder 916-319-2060

Assembly Member Jose Medina 916-319-2061

Assembly Member Jay Olbernote 916-319-2033

Assembly Member Marc Stienorth 916-319-2040

Find your Assembly Member here

DATE:         September 11, 2015

 

Contact:      Southern California, Scott Chipman                619 990 7480      scott@chipman.info

                        Northern California, Carla Lowe                       916 708 4111      carladlowe@aol.com
After nearly 20 years, at the last minute of the last day of the legislative session, Californians will see the “deal” lawmakers have made regarding regulation of the multibillion dollar “medi pot” industry. The obvious reason this regulation is difficult is because THERE SHOULD NOT BE a “medical” marijuana industry.

In 1996 Prop 215 voters did not vote for a big marijuana industry. They didn’t vote for drug dealers operating behind glass doors in local business districts. They did not vote for hash oil labs or the hash oil laced candies, cookies and sodas that provide dangerously high levels of THC. They did not vote for drug culture advertising to youth and young adults.

The fact that California is now the largest supplier of marijuana to the rest of the country is tribute to a legislature that has been unwilling to address the reality that “medical marijuana” is a rues in support of just plain drug trafficking and dealing. With the “Emerald Triangle” providing 60% of all the marijuana in the country we now are the drug cartel for the US.

Through inaction and tacit and institutional approval, elected local, federal and state officials have created a huge illicit drug industry, drug addicted population, and drug harmed society. Now the answer to the public health and safety hemorrhage created by government is a government band aid?

What is needed would be to get back to what the voters approved in Prop 215 only. If a band aid is all that can be applied then a proper band aid would at least include:

  1. Local control maintained – of course! This has already been upheld by the CA Supreme Court. It is not a real concession to allow local control to continue. It must be considered a given.
  2. Raise age of use/purchase to 21! – The science would argue for 25 when the brain is fully developed! How can there be a big concern about under 21 tobacco smoking and not marijuana smoking? More kids and college students are smoking pot than cigarettes.
  3. If this is “medicine” treat it like medicine – use the CURES system like every other pharmaceutical This would include limiting the THC level to the levels of FDA approved cannabis based drugs such as Dronabinol (marinol).
  4. Limit the number of recommendations a doctor can make for marijuana and a proven connection between the ailment and the marijuana being recommended. Require a second opinion from a specialist in that medical area.
  5. Eliminate advertizing especially to youth, including product placement in print and onscreen use in film and television. NO PORN STAR SPOKESPEOPLE PLEASE!
  6. Eliminate packaging mimicking well known products like candies/cookies/sodas and other well known edible products.
  7. Require full compliance with the Sherman Food and Cosmetic Act. All other industries must, so why not the pot industry?
  8. Include tracking from seed to sale. Where is it coming from and where is it going? Every “patient” must be registered and have purchase records kept. That is a pharmaceutical industry standard.
  9. Eliminate all private grows and sales. These are just drug dealers operating for a profit. Establish state run grows and distribution in each county. At least require full non-profit status. Anything less is drug dealing pure and simple.
  10. Enforcement must be real and not left up to localities. The feds have said they won’t interfere in a state that has strong effective pot regulations. Well, if state regulations are not being followed the state should ask for federal enforcement help. This would be real enforcement with real consequences. The state ABC is an example of an agency with almost no enforcement (or investigations). We have no confidence that local enforcement will materialize.
  11. Eliminate illicit deliveries that don’t come from a properly regulated (all of the above) establishment. Call for federal enforcement against unregulated delivery services.
  12. Eliminate the sale of hash oil products – BHO explosions are epidemic now. Where does the BHO come from? Illegal labs of course. And nearly 50% of sales are high strength BHO infused products
  13. Create a drugged driving test and track and publish the negative impacts such as child fatalities related to marijuana (Arizona does it) and fatality crashes where marijuana is involved, and arrest percentage numbers of those testing positive for marijuana. Don’t allow permits until these tests and tracking procedures are in place and functioning.
  14. Establish an education system for parents, kids and teens on the science behind the harms of marijuana. (This could be dangerous as the PC anti drug war crowd would likely be assigned by Gavin Newsom to create and control the curriculum.)

Does this sound like a lot of regulation? Yes it is and yes it all should be done. There is nothing required above that is not already in place for other industries that have the potential to negatively impact public health and safety. If the goal is to protect health and safety there can be no half measures.

Some will say, “Finally, we got something!” But what we will likely have is another institutionalization of a drug dealing “big marijuana” industry. Some will say, “We have to do this to protect against the potential of legalization in 2016.” This band aid is a great argument for why, from now to November 8th, 2016, the voters of California should speak out in opposition and then vote against the further institutionalization and legalization of marijuana.

Adult Marijuana Use Attributed To A Rise In Youth Use

Michael_Botticelli

Below is a message from the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy to local prevention providers. This data and reports further confirm what prevention providers have been warning ever since the lie of Medical Marijuana began to take shape youth use is on the way up. One area where prevention providers have been looking to get to is kids in Elementary and they have been getting resistance due to the thought that these kids are to young to be involved in drug use. This study show a major increase in drug use among youth 12 and older meaning kids in 6th grade are being introduced to drugs.

Another thing that the data shows is a driving force behind an increase in youth use is the widespread use in adults. This matches what the Rialto Community Coalition found in February during their Strategic Planning Session was that one of the biggest reasons youth use drugs especially Marijuana is because  of the lax attitude from adults. The investigative reports from David Goldstein on medical marijuana dispensary’s acting as a hub to get Marijuana to youth should be an eye opening period for parents.

We need to support local organizations that are taking this issue seriously and local candidates that value youth health over money from the Pro Drug Legalization Lobby. On of these organizations is the Rialto Community Coalition that meets the first Tuesday of the month from 6-7:30pm at Fire Station 202 at 1700 North Riverside Ave. Another group working locally and more regionally is Inland Empire Youth 4 Today a local network of prevention providers and business owners looking for innovative ways to engage and grow tomorrows leaders.

Today, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) released the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) report which shows progress in reducing some forms of substance use – especially among adolescents.  Substance use levels in many areas, however have remained relatively constant.

SAMHSA issued the 2014 NSDUH report on mental and substance use disorders as part of the kick off for the 26th annual observance of National Recovery Month.  Recovery Month broadens public awareness to the fact that behavioral health is essential to health, prevention works, treatment for substance use and mental disorders is effective, and people can and do recover from these disorders.

With regard to substance use, the report found some areas of progress, particularly among adolescents.  For example, the percentage of adolescents aged 12 to 17 who were current (past month) tobacco users declined by roughly half from 15.2 percent in 2002 to 7.0 percent in 2014. Similarly, the level of adolescents engaged in past month illegal alcohol use dropped from 17.6 percent to 11.5 percent over the same period.  The level of current nonmedical users of prescription pain relievers decreased from 3.2 percent in 2002 to 1.9 percent in 2014 among adolescents aged 12 to 17.

Marijuana continues to be the most commonly used illicit drug. In 2014, roughly 8.4 percent of Americans age 12 and older were current users of marijuana – up from 7.5 percent in 2013. Marijuana use is especially growing among those aged 26 and older – from 5.6 percent in 2013 to 6.6 percent in 2014.  The percentage of adolescents who were current marijuana users in 2014 (7.4 percent) was similar to recent years.

Although the survey shows nonmedical pain reliever use continues to be the second most common type of illicit drug use, the percentage of people aged 12 or older in 2014 who were current nonmedical users of pain relievers (1.6 percent) was lower than in most years since 2002, and about the same as in 2013.  However, current heroin use increased from 0.1 percent of the population age 12 and older in 2013 to 0.2 in 2014.

Overall, the use of illicit drugs – including marijuana – among Americans aged 12 and older increased from 9.4 percent in 2013 to 10.2 percent in 2014. This was driven particularly by the increase in adult marijuana use.

The data released today show some signs of progress, including lower levels of nonmedical prescription drug use and teen alcohol and tobacco use; however, we still have significant challenges to address.  We know that evidence-based prevention efforts are the most effective way to reduce drug use and to support the roughly 90 percent of American youth who do not use illicit drugs.

This Administration will continue to expand community-based efforts to prevent drug use, pursue ‘smart on crime’ approaches to drug enforcement, increase access to treatment, work to reduce overdose deaths, and support the millions of Americans in recovery.

Sincerely,

Michael P. Botticelli, Director
Office of National Drug Control Policy

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