Rialto Now 2020 Voter Guide

28 Oct 2020 Leave a comment

Rialto you once again have way to many people to choose from when it comes to electing new leaders. We have spent years in Rialto and we know a lion share of the people running for this years open seats. This guide is not a paid opportunity and isn’t tied to one party over the other. These seats are all ones where we need people wo don’t toe a party line but are willing to do whatever it takes to represent the people.

Some School Board Candidates were left off the image above and a couple faces got cut off this was not done on purpose we promise.

So without further to do here we go:

Rialto Mayor

For Rialto Mayor we were excited to see this race develop. You have Ed Palmer a strong former City Councilman and Small Business owner coming back to apply what he learned about this race 4 years ago. While you have Lupe Camacho looking to come in to steal the show. We feel that Ed Palmer will be the best choice for Rialto moving forward. If your worried about what will happen to Rialto’s development movement you can be rest assured that Ed Palmer did a lion share of this work already and can keep us moving forward.

For Mayor vote Ed Palmer

Rialto City Council

Nobody sitting on the council right now has my support. Councilman Trujillo made National news by trying to hold a secret meeting at City Hall about making Rialto a Sanctuary City. He has shown since that he has little to no voice and can’t stand up for Rialto when they need him. Councilman Carrizales is no better he is so tied to the Mayor that he couldn’t see or choose to not look as the Mayor gifted funds and city buildings to select people and non profits. At best he is a good looking face to stand in front of businesses he had no hand in attracting to Rialto. He also can’t vote on many business items in Rialto as he has to recuse himself time and time again.

Our picks to replace these two poor choices are Andrew Karol and Stacey Augustine.

Andrew Karol I know well and have had the pleasure of working with him for more than 10 years. My haters will be happy to know that Andy has not been shy to tell me when he thinks I am wrong or going to far. He always did it with care and tact. About 6 years ago when racial tensions were at a tipping point and a group of black lives activists were planning a demonstration in Rialto Andy led a group of officers to meet with the protestors and start conversations about how minorities and police interact with each other. Andrew Karol would make a fine Councilman that will represent everyone.

Stacey Augustine I have not known for long and there was a time I did not trust him. It wasn’t anything that Stacey did it was more about the people he surrounded himself with, I was unsure of his agenda. Stacey was the Chair of the Budget Advisory Committee that I also served on. Stacey was a fair Chair and we had a lot on meaningful conversations. As a corporate leader he also decided to bring something to Rialto that is needed and took a gamble brining it to the heart of the city. Stacey is bringing a restaurant/pool hall to downtown Rialto. Many downtown business owners have shared with me that they feel abandoned or forgotten in the Downtown Area so Stacey will bring someone with skin in the game that I believe cares.

Rialto Unified School Board

With Joe Ayala stepping away it clears space for at least one new face to sit on the school board and everyone has their candidate lined up to take a seat and do their bidding. Three seats are up this year With Nancy O’Kelly and Joseph Martinez are running for re election. I am only backing two candidates this go around and you don’t have to vote for three.

My picks are Mirna Ruiz and Joseph Martinez.

Joseph Martinez has always been kind, thoughtful and not hard to get a hold of. He has always taken my call or found time to talk about a problem even when he knew I wasn’t happy with anyone at the moment. He also knows when to stay out of the way and let staff handle things he isn’t the guy that needs to have the mic or be front and center for the photo. Martinez known for his love of STEM will be found in the background support students and staff at his favorite events. Joe is an all around good guy and the type of person you need leading your schools.

Mirna Ruiz is what every student needs on a school board. Mirna is a Special Ed Mom and a Special Ed Advocate. All to many times districts fail to do what is in the best interest of SPED students. Most of the time it is out of shear ignorance to how SPED programs work, the rest is willful defiance of a legal document. To put 2020 and this election into perspective over 400 SPED parents have sued school districts this year for lack of serivces provided. That is over 400 students that their IEP’s are so messed up that the parents had no other recourse then to sue the school. Don’t you think having someone on the board that knows a thing or two about SPED would be a good thing?

 

So all that you have left to do is vote, its easy this year you don’t even have to leave your house if you don’t want to. If you don’t vote you can’t complain!

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Malware Rocks Rialto Unified School Districts Online Learning

24 Aug 2020 Leave a comment

It all began on Friday August 21st when Rialto Unified sent out a message via social media that online technology was experiencing issues.

“The District is experiencing a system outage due to an outside source, beyond our internal control. Our Education Technology Department is currently investigating the issues and working on a resolution.

Meanwhile, Google Classroom is still available, except for those teachers who are working from RUSD school site classrooms. Thank you for your patience and understanding. We will update you as soon as possible. Again, thank you.”

Later this past weekend the situation worsened to Malware that had completely effected the entire online learning platform including the remind software that Rialto Unified uses to communicate with parents. Many parents in the comments on Facebook already struggling with the new online learning atmosphere that Covid-19 has brought to us expressed anger or concern over what they said was a lack of communication. Parents felt they were left in the dark when it came to how they would receive updates on the situation and if they should delete the remind app from their phones for fear of cross contamination.

Rumors have been circulating that this is Ransom Ware. We spoke to district officials that said the issue appears to be Malware and not Ransom Ware as rumored. Rialto Unified School District has technology and risk management officials are working on a fix to this situation.

There is no time table for when school activities will resume. This has parents concerned because distance learning seems to be this situation where we are learning how to teach our kids. It seems like the distance learning plan was being developed as it went along and now this unknown has sent in into the ground.

Marie Gaitan said on Facebook, I’m really thinking of holding my kid back a year. She’s in high school there is no room for trial and error. How are they even learning what They are supposed to be learning and things just keep getting worse. Many parents have the same worry. Some teachers are stepping up to answer questions like the one below.

Parent Maggie Martin – So why am I getting assignments from my kids teachers?

Teacher Nichole Phelps – If you are receiving them through Google Classroom then the reason might be because in Google Classroom you can schedule an assignment to be posted at a later date so students have access to it. We (teachers) were told not to access anything except for gmail so your child’s teacher may have scheduled those assignments before school was suspended and then was unable to go in and disable them.

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Lori Daybell Mother of Missing Children Has Roots in Rialto

07 Mar 2020 2 Comments

Lori Daybell the mother who is accused of refusing to inform Idaho authorities on the location of her adoped son JJ and daughter Tylee has roots here in the city of Rialto. Lori Daybell (maiden name Cox) grew up in Rialto and graduated from Eisenhower High School. One of Lori Daybells old high school freinds and fellow cheer team member says that the Lori she new and the Lori now are two totally different people.

Lori was known as the fun loving blonde bombshell that loved to have fun with her friends, got good grades and was the FLYER on the cheer team (the person that the team would throw up in the air). According to friends on the cheer team Lori was a fun loving person that just wanted to hang out with her friends and wasn’t very interested in boys until her Senior year. Lori came from a very large Mormon family and her family never came to her cheer events which friends say didn’t bother her much at all. Lori’s path was directed by her faith and her plans were to go to BYU and to do mission work for the Later Day Saints church after high school common to most Mormon kids.

It was after high school that something went terribly wrong in Lori’s life. She married a non Mormon man right after high school and that was a marriage that didn’t last long and that husband is all but a secret as even larger news organizations have not been able to identify that man. What is known is that Lori’s wild behavior is that multiple marriages, lies, death and now the disappearance of her two youngest children now lay in her wake. A reporter spoke to Lori’s first son Colby about his mother Lori, missing siblings and his dead step father and uncle.

Colby told the reporter that his mother just showed up one day at his place of work with his two step siblings and said I found a new job we are moving, little did Colby know that would be the last time he would see his siblings before they went missing. Colby said that he learned about his moms new marriage, place of residence and disappearance of his siblings through the media.

Lori isn’t the only one in Cox family to go off the deep end in this story or in life in general. Lori’s brother Alex Cox tazzed Lori’s Texas husband and threatened to kill him and shot and killed Lori’s husband in Arizona. Alex Cox passed away a few months after killing Charles Vallow in 2019. Lori Daybell is being investigated for a string of deaths that lay in her wake as well as the disappearance of her two younger kids. Lori had a court date in Idaho where her bail was reduced from 5 million to just 1 million. Recent reports show that Lori only needs $150 thousand at most to bail out. She will need to wear an ankle monitor and remain in the Rexburg Idaho area.

Lori’s children, Tylee and JJ, have been missing for more than five months. JJ was last seen on Sept. 23 in Rexburg and Tylee was last seen Sept. 8 in Yellowstone National Park. The FBI is asking anyone with photos of that day to turn them over to FBI officials so they can try and track where the family may have been seen in the park.

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Former Officer Glen Anderson Gets Case Heard On Appeal

24 Nov 2019 1 Comment

by rialto-now in #CA31st, and the unincorporated communities of Bloomington and Muscoy, Andy Carrizales, Burglury, Ca, city attorney, City of Rialto, Colton, Crime, Currupt, Deborah Robertson, Ed palmer, Ed Scott, Fontana, Freinds of Rialto K9, Friends of Rialto K9, Grand Terrace, Inland Empire, Joe Baca Jr, Mike Story, Paul Stella, Public Safety, Rafael Trujillo, Rialto, Rialto, Rialto Parks, Rialto Police Department, rialto unified school district, San Bernardino

On November 6th former officer Glen Anderson took his lawsuit over wrongful termination to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Officer Glen Anderson’s case was dismissed on summary judgement and his legal team is seeking an appeal of that ruling to send his case before a jury.

Officer Anderson’s attorney does his best to nail down that the career of Officer Anderson was ended because the text he sent to James Freeman was then forwarded to Councilman Ed Scott. He works to show that all of the other cases leveled at Officer Anderson were because they could not legally fire Officer Anderson over the text messages alone.

The attorney for the City of Rialto claim that the claim that Officer Anderson was fired over a text message was false. The attorney for the city of Rialto states that nobody fired officer Anderson over Free Speech issues.

The text in question was sent to Political Consultant James Freeman who then in error sent that text message to Councilman Ed Scott. Once Councilman Ed Scott found out that Officer Glen Anderson was texting out the council he became irate. When speaking to Councilman O’Connell and former Councilman Ed Palmer at the time of the investigations there was a clear message that Officer Anderson needed to be dealt with over that text message.

We found the words of the Attorney for the city of Rialto puzzling because he claims that neither the Chief or Mike Story the City Manager had any knowledge of the K9 yard or its construction. The K9 yard was well known throughout the department and the community. The only way Chief Farrar or Deanda could claim not knowing about the K9 yard would be because they are lying or ignorant! City Administrator Mike Story sent years back where the K9 yard used to be located as he was on a mission to build Councilman Joe Baca Jr the 2nd most expensive park in the city Bud Bender park.

No matter if the 9th circuit allows this case go to a jury the people of Rialto should question the leadership of city hall and of the police department. Even no the current leadership of the police department allow people who broke more rules and laws continue to work and hold high ranking jobs within the Rialto Police Department still. The only difference between Glen Anderson and other officers is that the other officers protect Ed Scott and don’t hold him accountable. Remember this all started with a text message sent to Councilman Ed Scott!

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Comes To Rialto

09 Aug 2019 Leave a comment

On Friday April 12th Rialto had the honor and pleasure to host State Superintendent Tony Thurmond as he formally received and recognized the Green Ribbon School winners from Orange County, Los Angeles County, Riverside County and San Bernardino County. The event took place at Morris Elementary School, with site visits to Milor High School, which showcase the amazing efforts taking place at both schools that promote environmental literacy: environmental impact, wellness, and sustainability.

Additionally, Rialto USD has also been nominated to compete in the U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools (ED-GRS) recognition program, which honors schools and districts that conserve resources while promoting health and environmental literacy. State Superintendent Tony Thurmond came in and spent extra time before he sat down shaking hands and acknowledging the students in attendance at the event. Mr. Thurmond even asked his former colleague Eloise Reyes to join him at the podium for a moment as he thanked her for her dedication and service.

After the formal event that recognized Twenty-Four different schools and school districts Mr. Thurmond took a tour of Morris Elementary and Milor High Schools. At Morris Elementary he looked out at a butterfly garden and enjoyed the school’s outdoor classroom and garden area that he wanted to stop and enjoy a meal right then and there. Mr. Thurmond spoke to every child he came across and never took himself too seriously making jokes laughing and enjoying the schools garden.

At Milor High School Mr. Thurmond said he didn’t want to keep the students waiting with photos and walked right over to the students. Mr. Thurmond asked Desiree Ramos, George Falcon and Arianna Ordonez their names and what they wanted to do after high school. Then Mr. Thurmond asked something that threw the students at first “What can we do to support you?” He told them don’t answer now but think about it and handed them his card. Next the students showcased the serenity room a place where students can care for their mental needs. The room offered different areas for groups and individual counseling plus Thrive Thursdays where the students could do yoga. The room was so amazing that School Board President Edgar Montes asked if the School Board could use the room.

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Rialto Middle School Holds Annual Career Day

06 Mar 2019 Leave a comment

On Wednesday February 27th Rialto Middle School held their annual career day where fifty three different presenters came out to expose the students to a wide variety of potential careers. Many were your traditional careers like law enforcement, teaching and the medical field. Yet there were many presenters that were from career fields we may not think of when we are preparing kids for their future!

One presenter was John Merchant a local voice actor, professional beat boxer and a radio DJ personality. John Merchant showed off his latest project he worked on was the Missy Elliot Project where musician Christina Hall pays homage to one of the most influential female rappers of the 20th century. John also spoke to the kids about how to be successful in life with something you are passionate about. John Merchant didn’t talk at the students he spoke with them.

We came to this interview unprepared because we thought that Kenny Landreaux just worked for the Dodgers organization in the front office. We were not aware that he played professional baseball. Kenny came to speak to the filed of being a professional athlete and working in other facets in the professional sports arena. It was pretty cool to see that Rialto Middle School had him out to speak to the kids.

We wanted to see Mike Kindrich’s presentation just because of our knowledge of what his employer Mercy Air does. Mercy Air operates private air ambulance service helping get critically injured people to a care facility as quickly and safely as possible. When we found out Mike was a helicopter mechanic that was even better. Mike spoke to his body of work and the many different opportunities that existed in the field he worked in. Mike is a A&P Mechanic this A&P license has given Mike the ability to work as a civilian for the army, a ride mechanic for Disneyland and now a Mechanic for Mercy Air.

One thing that was clear at this career day was that the staff were invested in seeing the students succeed now in school and in the future. This career day event was inventive, exciting and totally an out of the norm type of event for a public school. This event was something you normally see in a private school not a public school setting. I was honored to be able to get a chance to attend and cover this event.

Big thank you has to go out to Mr Rod Campbell who invited us to this event, the principal who was so welcoming, school counselors for going the extra mile and the school security staff that always had a smile each time we saw them on campus!

 

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Rialto Leadership Lacks The Ability To Lead ALL of Rialto

24 Feb 2019 4 Comments

With homeless population increasing every single day and the core of the city falling into disrepair many of the regular unconnected people in Rialto are asking if our leaders still have what it takes to lead all of Rialto. There is development happening in the North and South ends of the city but as you move closer to the city center the decay becomes quite evident. This question isn’t just something whispered about in quite circles but people are asking it out loud in public forums and there really isn’t any answer to the questions.

At the Rialto Unified School Safety Seminar the question was asked multiple times about what the city and schools are doing to deal with homelessness and the crime and consequences that come with them. Rialto Police Lt. Cameron Nelson said that the police departments hands are tied by new public camping laws (nobody ever references a specific law). The problem has become so bad that parks and schools are now dealing with homeless living in the or near them. One are that was brought up at the school safety seminar was the walking trail behind Rialto Middle School and Warner Elementary School. Both of these schools have access gates that open up into this trail. This BLOGGER brought up many concerns with this trail and having access gates to the schools. The powers that be said I was crazy and just trying to get in the way of progress. Now we have unstable people living where kids walk to school and have access to the schools. Does a child have to be hurt or go missing before anyone listens?

When it comes to what our leaders it seems that most of them are ok with Rialto becoming an homeless magnet. Mayor Deborah Robertson seems on a fast track to begin opening housing shelters in Rialto. When new laws are thrown in the public’s faces as the reason that more isn’t being done to fix the problem I wonder what benefit we get from the HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of $$$$$ we spend on lobbyists and having our elected officials travel with our tax dollars to Washington and Sacramento.

Some if the worst areas of our city are the main corridors that people travel every single day! Areas like Route 66 that are full of shuttered businesses, graffiti and homeless are far from the beacons of progress and prosperity that our leaders preach about.

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Eisenhower Principal and Head Football Coach Come To an Agreement

22 Feb 2019 Leave a comment

Last week we reported to you that Eisenhower High School Coach Alvin Brown of the CIF Division Champion Eagles football team was forced to step down as Eisenhower’s Varsity Football Coach over continued stalling over offering him his teaching contract allowing him the ability to care for his family..

Well after our story broke Eisenhower and Rialto Unified School District staff stepped up and began talking to Coach Brown again. Coach Brown reached out to us on Thursday February 21st to say that he and Principal Camacho came to an understanding and he will remain as Eisenhower’s Head Coach of the Varsity Football program. This is amazing news because nobody was happy to hear about the possibility of Coach Brown’s departure. Parents, staff, teachers and community leaders all spoke out about the possibility of not having Coach Brown at the helm of Eisenhower’s Varsity program.

Coach Brown wanted to thank everyone for their kind words and support now and as the team forged forward this season. No details on what the agreement that Coach Brown and Principal Camacho came to outside of the fact that Eisenhower will not have a leadership change on the football field for the 2019-2020 football season!

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Eisenhower Brings Home the CIF Title

22 Feb 2019 Leave a comment

by rialto-now in Al Brown, Ana Gonzales, Ca, City of Rialto, Eisenhower High, Inland Empire, Rialto, rialto unified school district, RUSD, youth

Two teams that looked evenly matched on paper collided Saturday night in Rialto.

The stats would not predict what happened on the field Saturday night in Rialto. The passion of a team destined to return to greatness would overcome any stat or nay sayer. These young men and young woman would show everyone that this was their time, it was Eisenhower’s time!

Eisenhower High School Varsity Football team led by #5 Cesar Ayala at QB, #11 Jordan Goodloe & #2 Joel Ayala plus the ever so constant foot of female kicker #33 Taylor Jackson propelled Eisenhower Football into greatness as they won another CIF Championship for the once famous high school.

A school that has won CIF Championships before and has had multiple students go on to the NFL and win super bowls hit a 25 year dry spell that Coach Alvin Brown vowed to end. Coach Brown and his staff and student athletes came into this season thinking we want to go 1-0 each week. Coach Brown said the teams success came from the team listening to the coaching that they were given and executing each week.

Highland High School looked more impressive on the stats sheet than they did on the football field. Eisenhower pushed forward and kept to their game and came out triumphant in this CIF Championship.

You could see it in the kids faces they were so excited to have went from back to back 2-8 seasons to undefeated CIF Champions. Eisenhower has a long legacy of greatness and that can be a lot to live up to, but this team showed they were equal to the task of getting the job done and making the school and alumni proud!!!!

Principal Frank Camacho said “we are proud of the coach and the players making Eisenhower proud and bringing a ring back to Eisenhower High School football” Varsity Coach Alvin Brown was proud of his players and coaches for sticking to the game plan and forging forward with their plan of taking the season one win at a time.

Eisenhower ends an amazing season to Kaiser High

21 Feb 2019 Leave a comment

by rialto-now in 100 Black Men, Al Brown, Ana Gonzales, Ca, Fontana, Inland Empire, Rialto, rialto unified school district, RUSD, youth

Eisenhower coming off an amazing run in the CIF Southern Section playoffs had one more team to conquer Saturday night. Coming off a CIF Southern Section title win against the Highland Bulldogs the team now had to put that behind them and focus on yet another big game.

On yet another cold night these two CIF champs took the field. It was clear early on that Eisenhower had their hands full with the D8 CIF Champion Kaiser Cats. Kaiser had a beast of a Running Back that accounted for all of Kaiser High School 7 touchdowns Christian Hunter. Eisenhower seemed to struggle to stop the 6’ 190 Senior as he sliced his way through the defense with some well done blocking.

The Eagles had some amazing highlights as Dayveon “Special” Benton blocked and extra point kick. A majority of the scoring and heavy load was on the backs of the teams key go to players Joel Ayala, Jordan Goodloe and Cesar Ayala.

Eisenhower relied on a combination of ground and air assault to push their offense down the field. Kaiser on the other hand used a powerful and effective running game that had Eisenhower scratching their heads.

Even though Eisenhower was down three touch downs early they managed to claw their way back into the game and pull within eight points of the Cats. It looked as though Eisenhower would have just under 2 minutes to try and find the endzone as they stopped Kaiser short of a 1st down but Dayveon Benton was called for a facemask giving Kaiser a new set of downs and sealing Eisenhower’s fate.

Coach Alvin Brown said one of the reasons this game was so hard was because they got away from the game plan that worked so well over the last 13 games, they were looking to Sacramento and the finals rather than going 1-0 each week.

Kaiser Coach Bill Cardosi when asked how he felt after this win he said “exhausted”. Coach Cardosi has a connection to Eisenhower as his father was Ronnie Lotts basketball coach. Coach Cardosi credits the win to “outstanding student athletes and stuck to the game plan and came out victorious”.

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