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Over $71 Thousand Donated to Fontana School Board Candidate

02 Oct 2017 51 Comments

A collection of campaign contributions have come in for Fontana School Board member Mars Serna. Over $71 Thousand in campaign contributions have come in for a special election against one other person community advocate Kareem Gongora.

Now we all know that elections need money and normally the people giving money want something in return. So what do the people donating to Mars Serna’s campaign want? Well let’s look at who is donating:

Burrtec Waste Industries $20,000
Phil Cothran $4,579.38
Clifford Young Sr. $1,000
Constance Young $5,000
Academics in Art Charter $40,000
South Highland Management $500

Now what would a trash provider get out of donating to a small school board seat? Maybe a sweet deal on a contract? Even bigger than that is the $40 thousand dollars coming from a Charter School in Orange County believe us when we tell you this money does not come without massive strings attached.

This election is a special election that once the election is over and the winner is sworn in they will have less than a year until their seat is up for re-election. The real story here is a power grab by Warehouse Warren (aka Fontana Mayor Aquenetta Warren) she has two votes that will do her bidding on the School Board and since her third puppet is now on Fontana City Council she needs another one. Her pick is Mars Serna.

Speaking to Kareem Gongora the other candidate in this election isn’t taking donations like these he is relying on family, friends and the community to send him to the Fontana Board not large corporations and Charter Schools.

We have asked Mars Serna to sit down with us and he refuses so I guess he would rather leave us to make up our own minds about these dirty campaign contributions.

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Changes coming to Rialto Police Department Leadership

28 Sep 2017 1 Comment

Information sent to us today indicates that changes to the top leadership rolls will be coming to Rialto Police Department.

As of October 1st former Police Chief Mark Kling will come on as a “Consultant” to help transition current Police Chief Deanda into “Retirement”. Police Chief Deanda should be well versed in the retirement process as he regularly tells the story of how he was needed so much in the city of Rialto that he was asked to return to work three times after filing for retirement.

In the communication from City Administrator Mike Story he laid out the struggles a quick departure like this will bring “As the city administrator, I must ensure there is a smooth transition of leadership and place leading up to and after chief Deanda retirement. Ideally, organisations have about 1 year to plan the transition of executive leadership. Chief Deanda will be retiring from public service and three short months on December 28th 2017 there for once Chief Deanda submitted and I accepted his notice of retirement, plans for executive leadership transitioning were set into motion. As an organization, filling the position of a retiring police chief is Paramount to community safety, department operations, and intergovernmental Affairs across departments so there are minimal service interruptions”.

Earlier today the Chief was witnessed briefing his command staff on the coming changes in his Department. Those pictured with the Chief at Mimi’s in North Fontana were Captain Andy Karol, Lt Robert Smith, Lt Dean Hardin and Paul Stella. Staff could overheard the chief talking about the memo from Mike Story and the impending changes.

Nobody will ever know the true story on why we have such a quick departure since past leadership has made sure a replacement was already on the ground before major changes took place. For example:

When Chief Kling left he had vetted and prepared Captain Tony Farrar for the promotion.
Fire Chief Matt Fratus knew he was not going to work forever so he hired Sean Grayson our current Fire Chief to eventually replace him.
When Police Chief Tony Farrar was on his way out he secured the promotion and placement of Chief Deanda.
Even City Administrator Mike Story announced months ago of his coming retirement at the end of this year.

So when something is outside the ordinary you have to ask yourself what is the real story? What we do know is that the city has found itself under more legal action brought by staff that claim they were fired, discriminated or retaliated against without merit and some of those cases have began to settle out of court. The latest claim was made know yesterday September 26th 2017 when a $125,000 claim was filed claiming misconduct by a former employee of MHM & Associates.

Answers that will need to be answered are:

How much is the city going to pay 2 police chief’s?
Will Deanda’s removal begin to bring the lawsuits to a close?
How do you attract a quality Police Chief in a Financially Strapped city like Rialto?

There are more questions than answers.

Today we got some of the answers from City Administrator Mike Story who said that Mark Kling will be working on a $15,000 dollar contract for three months to help during this transition. Mark Kling is one of the brighter spots in Rialto Police Department history as he led the Police Department out of the scandals of the past and the poor public trust of the police department. City Administrator Mike Story said that this money came out of the city administration budget already earmarked for consulting.

We will update as more information comes in.

Have a story you think people should know about? Email Rialtosnow@gmail.com

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ATOMIC CRUSH EVENTS ANNOUNCES RETURN FOR YEAR TWO OF COMIC CON REVOLUTION

28 Sep 2017 Leave a comment

Saturday May 19 & Sunday May 20, 2018 At The Ontario Convention Center in Ontario California – Tickets on Sale Now

Top Talent Currently Scheduled To Appear Include Jason Aaron, Sandy King Carpenter, Ming Chen, David Lafuente, Dustin Nguyen, Stan Sakai, Cat Staggs and Timothy Zahn

New York, NY September 27, 2017 Atomic Crush Events (ACE) is pleased to announce the return of Comic Con Revolution (CCR) to Ontario, California. The second annual comic con will be twice as large as year one. Over double the square footage, more exhibitors, more vendors and even more guests. CCR will be held on May 19 & 20, 2018 at the Ontario Convention Center and will feature two full days of programming.

The initial guest list boasts some of the most incredible talent in the industry including Jason Aaron (X-Men, Star Wars), Sandy King Carpenter (Film Producer & Comic Writer), Ming Chen (AMCs Comic Book Men), David Lafuente (Archer & Armstrong), Dustin Nguyen (Descender), Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo), Cat Staggs (Wonder Woman), Timothy Zahn (Star Wars Novelist). Many more additional announcements will be made before Comic Con Revolution opens its doors for year two.

“We’ve been hard at work reaching out to exciting and talented creators over the last few months,” commented ACE Co-Founder Mike Scigliano. “As each one confirms their participation the first thing we think about is how our attendees will react to the news.”

Not satisfied with just growing exhibit hall and the guest list, Comic Con Revolution will now play host to two days of programming full of panels and events for the entire family. They’ll also be producing the second annual Cosplay Revolution Costume Contest hosted by Ming Chen with the winners receiving one of the most unique awards ever. The ultimate goal is to create a full weekend experience.

“We were overwhelmed with the support and love that Ontario and the entire Inland Empire showed Comic Con Revolution last May,” said ACE Co-Founder Drew Seldin. “It’s driven us to produce a bigger and better experience for 2018.”

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased by visiting the Comic Con Revolution website.

Also available are exclusive logo enamel pins, pint glasses and tees.

Like and follow our social media feeds:

www.facebook.com/ComicConRevolution/

www.twitter.com/ComicConRvltn

www.instagram.com/comicconrevolution

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Police Chief Deanda Named in $110 Thousand Claim against the City of Rialto

26 Sep 2017 Leave a comment

There are three people and organizations that keep circulating through the Rialto News cycle (that is if any news outlet covered Rialto). Rialto Police Chief Deanda, Rialto Mayor Robertson and MHM & Associates. As you may already know MHM CEO Luvina Beckley a close personal friend of the Mayors was found to have been Federally Disbarred from working on Federal Grants for the next two years. We found out later that this also puts into jeopardy her ability to work on any State Grants as well. As hard as Mayor Robertson tried to get Luvina Beckley to keep her $100,000 dollar contract to manage the cities Prop 47 grant program in the end the city choose to find another grant program facilitator.

In a claim letter attached to tonight’s city council agenda Rialto Police Chief has put the city in yet another financial loss due to poor decision making and may have bought himself a criminal charge. Here is a short list of the litigation Chief Deanda is responsible for dragging the city into:

Officer Brayshaw – Discrimination Lawsuit settled out of court amount unknown.
K9 Officer Anderson – Wrongful Termination Lawsuit Multi Million Dollar Suit
Officer Jones – Wrongful Termination Lawsuit amount unknown.

It seems as though Chief Deanda seems to have forgotten the rules when running a persons name through criminal databases. His running Annette Kelly-Whittle’s name through public databases was only the tip of the iceberg. According to the complaint Chief Deanda was speaking negatively in regards to Mrs Whittle’s employment with MHM and her ability to work on Police grants. According to the complaint Chief Deanda spoke negatively to Mrs Whittle’s Probation Officer, BSS Program director and other people.

In regards to the possibility of criminal charges being filled it is a Misdemeanor to run someone for personal in the way the complaint claims.

This item is hidden inside the consent calendar so lets see if it is pulled for discussion. Sources close to the department have came in with new information on this claim from Mrs Whittle. According to sources close to Rialto Police the information in question came up as Mrs Whittle changed residences and that action alone creates a notification to be sent to Police and probation. What is still unclear is the issue of Police Chief Deanda had issues with Mrs Whittle working on grants for Rialto Police.

Sources close to former Councilman O’Connell said that prior to his passing he was concerned about the way MHM was handling Police Department Grants yet he failed to go into detail over what exactly he was concerned about.

We will update as more information comes in.

Have a story you think people should know about? Email Rialtosnow@gmail.com

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Caught in the Net Play Comes to Rialto

23 Sep 2017 Leave a comment

CAUGHT IN THE NET

WRITTEN BY: Ray Cooney

DIRECTED BY: Candy Kane

SHOW DATES: SEPT 9,10,15,16,17,22,23,24, 2017

The sequel to Run for Your Wife finds the bigamist taxi driver John Smith still keeping his two families in different parts of London, both happy & blissfully unaware of each other. However, his teenage children, a girl from one family & a boy from the other, have met on the Internet & are anxious to meet in person since they have so much in common name, surname and taxi driving dad! Keeping them apart plunges John into a hell hole of his own making. The situation spirals out of control as John juggles outrageously with the truth.

For tickets go to:
https://mkt.com/rialto-community-players

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Rialto Community Flooded With Massive Mosquito Infestation

13 Sep 2017 Leave a comment

The community of Flores Park had begun to experience a growing problem with bug bites as August started. Bug bites mostly from mosquito’s were popping up everywhere and residents were concerned about what was causing it. So what did the community do? They reached out to each other the only way we know how through digital media. The source being used most by people looking to find out what is going on around them has become NextDoor. Venture capitalists created the site as a way to give the communities around the nation a safer avenue for communities to hook up digitally when discussing safety and concerns in their community.

Parents of local school Dollahan Elementary thought the problems were just more inactivity on behalf of school officials to keep kids safe at school. Dollahan has and still has a massive problem with a Fire Ant infestation and other bugs that seek out human hosts. Parents have been less than thrilled with the schools response over the years to the problem which is worse this year as Solar Panels are being installed on the kids playground stirring up the problem even more.

Deborah said “I heard the county sprayed the pool land in the storm drain area and we should have relief this week. We’ll see. Also humidity doesn’t help. We don’t even leave our dogs outside much, I don’t want them getting bit and possibly getting heartworm!”

Barbara said “Yes, same here at Larch and Etiwanda. Diligent about checking yard. Husband has gotten bit about 30 times. Wondering if they are in the storm drains! We use Benadryl ointment (clear). It helps for the itch and swelling.”

What the community failed to notice was the massive catch basin that San Bernardino County Flood Control was constructing. The mosquito problem had manifested from the new catch basins that were constructed just west of the intersection of Baseline and Cactus. In a statement from San Bernardino County vector control, vector control had stated that the water had been treated for any potential further mosquito growth. Vector control also said that the adult mosquito has a 10 to 14 day life span so if people it within the affected community needed to be out and about when mosquitoes were active that they were suggested to wear mosquito repellent.

Sam said “Two days ago while I was grilling I got bit literally from head to toe. I’ve lived here since 1988 and never have experienced anything like this. My front porch was infested so I went to Home Depot and got Black flag mosquitoe spray and it seems to be working.”

Some parents with children attending Dollahan Elementary have purchased bug bands for their kids, these bands attach to the child’s wrist and keeps mosquito’s away. The biting is far from over because the water treatment can take 7-10 days to take effect and we still have to wait for the remaining adult mosquito’s to live out their life and die. So if you live in our near the Flores Park Area you may want to try and stay indoors or wear mosquito replant when outside.

Flores Park is the community between Cactus & Ceder and Baseline and Foothill

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San Bernardino Unified Still Struggles With Weapons On Campus

12 Sep 2017 2 Comments

Last year San Bernardino Unified was rocked with a school shooting that left 3 people dead one of the dead a student along with another student injured by gunfire. Ever since the shooting last year San Bernardino Unified spoke about strict standards for dealing with access to school campuses and weapons being allowed on campus. So one would think that staff who were deeply effected by the loss of a student and colleague would understand how important keeping weapons off campus would be right?

Some staff at Paakuma School say that yesterday reports of a physical fight between two staff members led San Bernardino School Police to find a weapon in the car of one parties vehicle. The letter from school principal Victoria Morales seems to offer a different story, one that has a gun but omits the employee fight.

Angelic Davis posted the post above on Next Door that confirms the same story that the School Principal put in the letter. We reached out to the Principal as asked in the letter and we were directed to the District Communications office where after getting hung up on twice we were finally able to leave a message.

What is odd here is that arrest records are not confidential when a crime is committed at a school yet the District is circling its wagons around this situation and controlling the conversation. San Bernardino Unified is already coming under attack as their move from citations to peer court is blowing up in their faces as the program is not providing the results.

At 4pm Tuesday we found out that Anita Rene Scott a Counselor at the school was arrested for bringing a loaded gun onto school grounds. Linda Bardere the district spokeswoman said ” It was locked in the employee’s personal car, which was in the parking lot on school propoerty. At no time was the weapon brought out or shown”. District officials said that another employee shared information that Anita Rene Scott claimed to have a firearm in her car. Anita Rene Scott posted $25,000 bail Tuesday and was placed on administrative leave.

We will keep you up to date as more information comes in.

To provide tips or have an event highlighted on our media email rialtosnow@gmail.com

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Rialto USD Registration Center reopens, offers convenient student enrollment

20 Jun 2017 Leave a comment

Rialto, Ca- With great pleasure the Rialto Unified School District Board of Education and Superintendent, Dr. Cuauhtémoc Avila will reopen the District Registration Center (DRC), located at 260 South Willow Avenue, in Rialto, to order to create an effective and easier student enrollment process for parents/guardians and staff members. “With our next school year beginning August 7, we wanted to offer convenient, early enrollment
services,” stated Superintendent, Dr. Avila. “On July 5, 2017, starting at 7:30 a.m., staff at the DRC will, officially, begin accepting enrollment for transitional kindergarten to twelfth grade students. We are enthusiastic about offering this one-stop opportunity for parents and our communities’ children.” On Thursday, June 29, 2017, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., the DRC will hold a Grand Re-opening.

The DRC first opened its door in 2007. Drastic budget cuts affected the closure shortly afterwards. “It is exciting to open our doors, again, to serve our parents and students,” replied Pilar Ayala, DRC Supervisor. “We are ready to provide friendly, effective, and time-sensitive service to our parents, and
we also hope to see many faces on June 29, at the reopening of the DRC.” The District’s projected enrollment is approximately 25,530, encompassing 29 schools, within the City of Rialto, parts of the cities of San Bernardino, Colton, Fontana and the area of Lytle Creek. RUSD parents/guardians are urged to register their child(ren) at the District Registration Center. All registrations are on a walk-in basis. From July 5, 2017, office hours will be Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m.to 4:30 p.m. Parents/guardians whose children are new to the RUSD schools next year are
urged to enroll early. Trained and friendly staff members are available to answer any questions.
Enrolling a child for school involves the parent/guardian to have the following documentation available: enrolling parent’s Identification Card, proof of residency, your child’s birth certificate, previous school information, check out grades/transcripts and the immunization card.
For more information on registration/enrollment please call the DRC at (909) 873-4300 or (909) 820- 7700, ext. 2357.

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City Administrator Mike Story Final Parting Words

14 Jun 2017 1 Comment

Dear Mayor Robertson and City Council,

It has been my privilege to serve the City of Rialto for the past 32 years. Since 1985
when I started working for Rialto as a Planner, then as a Director, in that time I believe
we have accomplished some extraordinary things together. I can say without
hesitation that serving as your City Administrator has been the highlight of my
professional life. Thank you Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and City Council Members for the
honor and privilege you have given me to serve our community.
Rialto, too, has meant so much to me and my family. Janet and I moved here in 1981,
and we could not have found a better community in which to raise our children and
grandchildren. Rialto has been and will forever be our home.
So, after a 41 year career of working in city government for the cities of San Dimas,
Duarte, Fontana and Rialto, the time has come to move on to the next stage of our
family’s lives, and therefore this is my formal notice to the Rialto City Council that I
intend to retire from active service on December 23, 2017.

I wanted you to know well in advance in order to ensure a smooth transition. I am also
happy to offer any help in recruiting and/or working with the next City Administrator –
again to ensure as smooth a transition as possible.
Again, I would like to thank you, the Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Council Members,
Department Heads, City employees and the community for all of your support all these
years, and I look forward to accomplishing more over these next six months. We’ve
got an amazing staff at City Hall, and I am confident that greater things are yet to
come, and greater things are still to be done in Rialto.

Sincerely,

Mike Story
City Administrator
City of Rialto

Story by David Phillips

Mike Story was one of the more honorable men to hold the position of City Administrator. Unlike many of his colleagues in other cities he worked hard to make local government work for the taxpayers. Mike is a man of strong character and a man of God. He has been a role model and second father to many youth growing up in Rialto. I was one of those youth and I can tell you that Mike has been someone I look up to. One of legacy setting items Mike Story will leave the city of Rialto with is his dedication to education of the Public Administration process. Mike created and ran the Institute of Progress which gave people a first hand look at the who, what where and why of the operations of local government.

Mike is also one of the few public employees in the nation that worked tirelessly to lead with his actions and not just words. When the city was in serious trouble in regards to the budget he was the 1st person to take massive pay and benefit cuts to show that he was not going to ask anyone to do something he wouldn’t 1st do. His integrity shows out in the words of former Police Chief Tony Farrar.

We also can’t forget the man who wore integrity like a God given tattoo Former Councilman Shawn O’Connell. I can remember many conversations with Councilman O’Connell where had it not been for an ethical leader like Mike Story Councilman O’Connell would not have had the impact he had for the city of Rialto.

History will remember those who stood in the gap for strangers with no care for the personal cost. History will remember you Mr. Story have a great retirement.

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Communities Concerns Lead to Attempted Kidnap of a Girl at Flores Park

17 May 2017 2 Comments

Photo credit SB Sun
George Molina-flores, 26, of Rialto, was arrested for suspicion of attempted kidnapping at Flores Park Tuesday.

Residents of Flores Park and Parents of Dollahan Elementry have been concerned with the illegal and questionable activities taking place outside the school and park that are only seperated by a single 5 foot chain link fence.

Parents of Dollahan Elementary spoke at recent school meetings with Rialto Unified School District Security officers and School Safety Chief Leary (meetings Rialto Police were absent) about creepy guys harassing moms walking in the park, homeless people sleeping and drinking in the park as well as people being witnessed preforming sexual acts in the park in broad daylight.

Residents say that more drugs and sex go on in the park restrooms than anything else. At a recent Safe Routes to School meeting at Dollahan (meetings Rialto Police were absent) parents marked multiple problem houses on maps where drugs are sold, kids are used as drug mules, gang related and former felons sit in open garages and drink all day and a group home full of mentally disturbed right across the street of a park and elementry school are located all around the school. One attempt to create walking groups to school failed because of a concern that pedophiles were targeting the walking group.

Local resident Marie said “that she has lived in the community for over 10 years and there was a time that we felt like Rialto PD cared about our safety. Now they have removed any officers that wanted to help us keep this neighborhood clean what is worse is a council member and officers still have family living here and we get no help”. Marie is right there were dark times where Lt’s like Burkholder, Crispin and Karol all worked very hard to make sure that good people were taken care of and evil did not prevail. These leaders with a community mindset brought in aggressive officers and staff that made things much safer in the Flores Park Community. Then people like former Captain Joe Cirilo that was witnessed multiple times yell at and threatening residents that were looking for help for their community.

Flores Park Neighborhood Watch now has a new Area Commander who acts a lot like former Area Commander Joe Cirilo. Rialto Police Lt. Paul Stella is the current Area Commander and the leadership among the Neighborhood Watch group have expressed a lack of confidence in his ability to lead the Northern portion of Rialto. Neighborhood Watch leadership asked Lt Stella last summer at a promotion ceremony for officers if they could sit down with him and he barked “why would I meet with you?” When they said we would like to give you a insider look into our community and the ongoing issues. Lt Stella said “I know all about your community and your group I don’t need your help.”

The recent Kidnap attempt at Flores Park after school dismissed yesterday it leaves one to ask does he really know what is going on in the community if these concerns preceded the incident the other day? School Safety officers walk the park when they are on campus and identify people not in the park for valid reasons and multiple people have been removed from the park but not by Rialto Police but by School Safety officers according to sources. Now that this incident has happened Rialto Police will have additional patrols after school and cameras have been looked at and any that are not working have been marked to be fixed according to Sgt Nelson form Rialto PD.

Sgt Nelson said that its sad that sometimes it takes incidents like these to move police into action even though it is the desire and goal to place resources to keep them from ever happening. Sgt Nelson also said that now its vital to remain vigilant in alerting the police to any suspicious persons.

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