It's Alito for Supreme Court
Will the third time be the charm?
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D. (R-TN) made the following statement after President Bush nominated Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. as the next associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States:
“This morning, President Bush nominated Judge Sam Alito as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. With this selection, the president has chosen a proven nominee that meets the highest standards of excellence....." More
Measure O | A personal Opinion
We said we would give you our opinion on Measure O a week before the election. Here is my personal opinion.
If you have spent any time on campus at most of our local schools, you are struck with one big fact. These places are falling apart. A couple of schools like JT Elementary in particular, if plopped down in New Orleans would qualify for disaster relief.
The last time the School District had a construction bond was way back in the early 1960s. The last school built was over 10 years ago. The Morongo Basin has tripled and quadrupled in population yet our children and grandchildren are stuck in ancient buildings supplemented by temporary trailers. Trailers so old that the flooring is spongy and ceiling tiles fall at regular intervals. We send our kids to these schools yet we would not house illegal aliens in these places.
What ever your opinion about teachers, school administrators or legislatures, our future is with our children. If they do not have a clean safe and pleasant place to learn, we are condemning them to a cycle of failure. Districts are stuck by law, with the way they must use their tax revenues. Wages, and the everyday overhead consume most and leave very little for even minor repairs and maintenance.
Measure O has not been an easy sell in our house and among members of Vote 29. No one likes another tax burden. I've read every bit of information I could get on Measure O. There are no hidden agendas. The money will go to bringing our schools up to modern building code. We as citizens will have direct decision making authority on how it is spent.
At the risk of dividing Vote 29, I am willing to stick my neck out and support Measure O. Sometimes its not all about the O.... its about the kids.
Dan O'Brien
Desert Trail: Say yes to O and the children
Measure O is about helping our young people and, through them, helping ourselves.
The bond measure, put on the ballot by the Morongo Unified School District trustees, would allow the local school district to borrow $48 million to repair and renovate each public school in the Morongo Basin. More
CMC College Board | No Good Choice
The dilemma with the CMC Board Election is the painfully limited choices of candidates. It's as if to decide on either being administered a Hot Lava Enema or slide down a hundred foot razor blade into a bottle of alcohol.
Here is the rub, the CMC Board has been a bastion of has-been local political hacks. While most political offices are considered stepping stones to higher office the opposite seems to be true here. If you have lost your council seat or been chased from some water board or cemetery district you end up running for the CMC Board. If all is lost and your political career is in shambles, but you just have to have that position to lord over others at the coffee clatch or break room, there is nothing like the heady title of Member of the College Board.
We don't know what to tell you or who to suggest. This is like choosing between having a toothache or hemorrhoids.
Yucca Valley soldier among five killed in Iraq
YUCCA VALLEY, Calif. - An Army Specialist from this Southern California desert town was among five soldiers killed by a powerful roadside bomb that shredded their heavily armored Bradley Fighting Vehicle during a recent operation in Iraq, military officials said.
Spc. Timothy Watkins, 24, died Oct. 15 while participating in a combat mission in Ramadi, a mostly Sunni Arab city about 70 miles west of Baghdad, the military announced Tuesday. He and the other soldiers had been assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division in Fort Benning, Ga.
More
Prop 77 | Stop the Gerrymandering
One of the reasons California is so screwed up is that politicians once sent to Sacramento are there until they term out. Then just when you think you are rid of them, they trade their office with someone of their own party in another party owned gerrymandered district. This is nuts!
"Letting politicians draw their own district boundaries is such an obvious conflict of interest that it's a wonder we have let the practice stand as long as we have," said Daniel Weintraub of the Sacramento Bee. We agree the legislature has created thiefdoms that are controlled not by the voters but by party bosses. It has allowed the fringe of both parties to take control of State politics. They have passed asinine laws and spent us into bankruptcy on scores of boondoggles to feather their own beds and laws that criminalize stupid.
"A new redistricting plan would undo the bipartisan gerrymander, enacted after the 2000 census, aimed - quite successfully - at fixing the party ownership of every legislative district. The scheme rendered the November elections meaningless, disenfranchised millions of voters and allowed narrow interests and ideological extremists to dictate outcomes." said Dan Walters again of the Sacramento Bee.
Prop 77 is not just a Republican initiative. Former Governor Gray Davis is quoted as saying, "My concern is that every elected official should have some sense of jeopardy in a November election. They should have some obligation to the general interest and not just having to win their primaries. And so I think it's better off having people who are not combatants in this process, retired judges, draw those lines."
Its not a perfect solution but it is a good start in getting a politically third world California back on its feet and back into the mainstream of American Democracy. We say vote Yes on 77.
Proposition 74 "Put The Kids First Act"
In the San Bernardino School District, a teacher called her students derogatory names, told students to “Shut up,” swore at them, showed R-rated movies and once even sent a 4th grade student to her car to retrieve a butcher knife. Was she fired? No! Instead, because of tenure rules, the school district actually paid the teacher $25,000 to get her to resign! (Riverside Press Enterprise, 4/7/99)
Regardless of their performance, once California public school teachers have completed just two years on the job, they are virtually guaranteed a job for life. Under the present system, poor performing teachers can have multiple unsatisfactory evaluations and it is still virtually impossible for them to be dismissed.
Proposition 74 requires new teachers to work successfully for five years before they get tenure and a job for life. Only capable, qualified and proven teachers should be given a job for life.
Let's put an end to the maze of complex rules and requirements designed to protect poor performing teachers from dismissal. Vote Yes on 74.
Ballot Measure Scoreboard
Did you ever want to how much money is being spent by who on what State propositions? Well I do! I thought I would share The Ballot Measure Scoreboard web site with you. Click Here
CMC: The Emperor and his new clothes?
Studying the arguments on the magic 50% make or break number for admin and salaries at CMC brought me to a conclusion. The system is broken. Hey it was a great idea. Everyone was well intended but call it what it is. A failure.
Waiver after waiver from the State requirement for a minimum of 3000 students, If every high school graduate from our two small high schools attended CMC we still would fall 2000+ students short each year of the State requirement. Waiver after waiver for financial stability. Pass a bond here cut a program there and it is still a constant balancing act to keep the college afloat.
While it was a great idea at the time, a local JC controlled by a local governing board, it just doesn't seem to work. You can't squeeze enough blood from the taxpayer turnip to keep it going like this forever.
The board, controlled by the usual local political junkies, oversee the taxpayers' albatross, as it sucks evermore of the finite public treasury. Puffed up Board Members attend one fund raising potluck after another. What do we have to show for all this? Cancelled programs, lack of attendance and a rudderless plan for the future.
Its time we stop and take a good look at where we are going with this admirable experiment.
Former cop faces numerous felony charges
VICTORVILLE - A former lieutenant for the Adelanto Police Department has agreed to turn himself in to authorities on Wednesday, when he will face arraignment on charges of embezzlement, fraud and forgery in connection with a used car dealership he operated, officials said. The charges against Scott A. Burnell stem from his post-law enforcement days as owner of Burnco Auto Sales, formerly on Amargosa Road, Detective Milton Rose of the Victorville sheriff's station said. Based on an agreement between Burnell's lawyer and the District Attorney's Office, he is to appear in court next Wednesday for the arraignment.
More
The Hi-Desert Star's View: Vote yes on Measure O
Measure O is about helping our young people and, through them, helping ourselves.
The bond measure, put on the ballot by the Morongo Unified School District trustees, would allow the local school district to borrow $48 million to repair and renovate each public school in the Morongo Basin.
With plans for big housing developments and new employers increasing every day, no one can doubt that without the money to build more classrooms, local schools will soon be stretched to the breaking point. More
Retired Marine resurrects World War II flying aid
As you drive on Highway 62 east of the Combat Center, the small and relatively unknown Twentynine Palms Airport comes into view and recently, a bright yellow geometric addition to the runway can be seen which draws its roots from the Combat Center.
There is nothing new about the technology in reality, as it was part of the former Condor Airfield here during World War II until it was cast into obscurity in the 1940s.
Known as a tetrahedron, called that for its triangular shape, it is a swiveling wind direction indicator that once helped glider pilots at Condor from 1942 to 1944.
For nearly 40 years, the device was tucked away aboard the Combat Center, until its resurrection by retired Col. Bill Bouldin with the help of longtime friend Charlie Lewis, and installation at the airport recently after more than four months of work on the tetrahedron’s frame. More
A little refresher course
We thought it proper to make a few reminders to those who might need some reminding.
GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 87450
87450. (a) In addition to the provisions of Article 1 (commencing with Section 87100), no state administrative official shall make, participate in making, or use his or her official position to influence any governmental decision directly relating to any contract where the state administrative official knows or has reason to know that any party to the contract is a person with whom the state administrative official, or any member of his or her immediate family, has engaged in any business transaction or transactions on terms not available to members of the public, regarding any investment or interest in real property, or the rendering of goods or services totaling in value one thousand dollars ($1,000) or more within 12 months prior to the time the official action is to be performed.
(b) As used in subdivision (a), "state administrative official" has the same meaning as defined in Section 87400.
But then, what the hell do we know? Just trying to keep everyone on the same page.
Media Hype causes false fears
If you're like most people, you are more afraid of an airplane crash or gun accident than an auto accident, or accidental fall.
In fact, auto accidents and falls kill 25 times more people in the U.S. each year than airplane crashes and firearms accidents. Indeed, accidental drowning alone kills far more people than airplane crashes and firearms accidents combined.
So, why do people people grossly overestimate the danger of trivial risks, while ignoring the danger of greater ones?
Psychology gives an answer: the "availability error". Airplane crashes are far more dramatic than auto accidents, and remain more accessible in a person's memory. Similarly, an accidental gun death, especially if a child is involved, is far more dramatic than a falling, choking, or drowning death -- and so also remains more accessible in a person's memory.
This problem is compounded by the news media, which (1) perseverates over dramatic events, regardless of how inconsequential they may be to the reader or viewer, and (2) never puts anything in perspective.
The net result of all this is that public policy is distracted in bizarre and useless directions. Instead of cautioning Americans to watch their weight, quit smoking, wear seatbelts and life jackets, and take care when using ladders, we have endless grandstanding over safety measures like trigger locks on handguns, radon amelioration, and photocells on garage door openers. These are nice ideas, but require much effort and expense for trivial results. Better to spend the effort where it will have a detectable effect.
Continue
County plans meetings to discuss General Plan
The future of the county is at stake.
Where businesses will be, how many homes will be allowed per acre, what roads are needed and which areas will remain rural are all laid out in the county's General Plan.
A general plan provides the broad outline for what a community will look like.
San Bernardino County is updating its General Plan, which is perhaps one of the more obscure but important documents in local government, for the first time since 1989.
It is the overarching document that establishes zoning and development standards.
Three meetings will be held this week to discuss which issues should be covered in the extensive environmental review of the plan.
The meetings will be held in:
Yucca Valley: 7 to 9 p.m. today at the Yucca Valley senior center, 57090 Twentynine Palms Highway. More
Two Die In Storm
A female driver and her passenger were killed on Monday after the woman lost control of the vehicle because of water on the road. The vehicle veered into opposing lanes of traffic and was struck by another vehicle, officials said.
Amy Rose Tilley, 19, of Joshua Tree and Barret Romaine, 18, of Twentynine Palms were traveling east on Highway 62 west of Torres Road in Joshua Tree about 9:40 a.m. when Tilley went into westbound lanes of traffic, San Bernardino County coroner's officials said.
Paramedics responded and both were pronounced dead at the scene. The California Highway Patrol is investigating the crash.
Wars less frequent, less deadly
The U.N. Human Security Report found a decline in every form of political violence except terrorism since 1992.
"A lot of the data we have in this report is extraordinary," its director, former UN official Andrew Mack, said.
It found the number of armed conflicts had fallen by more than 40% in the past 13 years, while the number of very deadly wars had fallen by 80%.
The study says many common beliefs about contemporary conflict are "myths" - such as that 90% of those killed in current wars are civilians, or that women are disproportionately victimized.
More BBCStephens Hates Free Speech
Desert Hot Springs Vice Mayor Mary Stephens, is quoted in the Desert Sun as saying, "These Internet blogs are not good for anyone. " Of course the quite contrary Mary got caught bad mouthing a competitor on a local DHS blog. Now she's wants to stifle free speech. Watch what you write little Mary because it will come back to haunt you.
Inklings of apocalypse - sacbee.com
In a world suffering from acute information overload, it's becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of, or even remember, the string of natural calamities suffered just in the past year.
Was it really less than 10 months ago that an earthquake-triggered tsunami inundated coastal regions of South Asia and killed perhaps a quarter-million people? Since then, Americans have lost whatever detachment they may have had as hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast, killing more than a thousand people and causing incalculable damage.
Now, Pakistan has been hit by its worst-ever earthquake, with a death toll sure to run into the tens of thousands. And these catastrophic events have all but obscured the heavy loss of life in Guatemala caused by Hurricane Stan and the mudslides it generated.
Morethedesertsun.com | DHS mayoral hopeful facing eviction order
A man vying to be a mayor who would bring fresh leadership to this city hit by controversy is due in court on Monday on his fourth eviction since 1999. Mayoral candidate Alex Bias has been involved with at least seven lawsuits and is currently being evicted from the space he rents to run his realty business, according to Riverside County court documents. Bias, in an interview with The Desert Sun Wednesday, confirmed he has filed suit or has been sued because he refuses to allow people to "bully" him. And most of his cases, which included three prior evictions, were settled out of court.
More
Richard Cowdery, 64
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15, in the former Morongo Basin Work Activity Center, across Joe Davis Drive from the Twentynine Palms Park and Recreation Department, for Richard Cowdery, 64, who died on Sept. 11
A native of Charleston, West. Virg., where he was born on Jan. 25, 1941, Cowdery was a longtime resident of Twentynine Palms who moved to Nevada in 2003. He was a high school teacher for 40 years and also taught at Copper Mountain Community College for 28 years.
He is survived by wife Maria Corazon Cowdery of Amargosa, Nev., brother Lee Cowdery, sister Betty Hall, nephews Kevin and Randy Cowdery and Scott and Steven Meyers, and niece Cathy Cowdery. He was preceded in death by his father, Harold, in 1982, and his mother, Ida, in 2004.
Angela Hossman, 53
Angela Beller Hossman died Tuesday, Sept. 27, in Las Vegas, Nev. She was 53. Born in 1952, Hoffman was raised in Twentynine Palms and graduated from high school here in 1970. She was elected Miss Twentynine Palms in 1969. She was married to Col. Carl ”Bill“ Hossman, USMC Ret., the son of Gen. Carl Hoffman, who commanded the Twentynine Palms Marine Base from 1969 to 1971. Hoffman raised her family while studying to become a registered nurse. After Bill retired from the Marine Corps the couple settled in Las Vegas, Nev., where she worked as a nurse until she lost her sight. She then became active with Blind Connect, an organization dedicated to helping the blind. She is survived by her husband Bill, children Bill, Joe and Melissa, sisters Pam O'Connor and Patti Garvin, brothers Bert and Willie Beller, and her mother Mary Ann Beller. Her father, longtime resident and businessman Albert W. Beller, preceded her in death.
Board of Supervisors: Quit stalling
It's hard to understand why county officials are dragging their feet on handing over a report on a questionable land deal involving supervisorial chief of staff Jim Foster to the District Attorney's Office.
The DA's Public Integrity Unit, created to investigate allegations of government corruption, requested the report 2 weeks ago. The county Board of Supervisors now needs to hand it over forthwith.
Why the delay? SB SUN More
San Diego: "Best Climate for a Conviction."
SAN DIEGO -- A few weeks ago, the local newspaper here asked readers to come up with a new slogan to replace the worthy but tired one that has stuck around since 1972: "San Diego: America's Finest City." The campaign, in the pages of the Union-Tribune, garnered more than 500 entries and reflected the widespread feeling that this seaside city famed for its salubrious climate and its snoozy Midwest-on-the-Pacific feel has lost its moorings.
"An Eruption of Corruption" and "All Major Unmarked Bills Accepted Here" vied with the downright boosterish "Best Climate for a Conviction." Washington Post More
Scary Movie
We watched that "Hunting for the BTK Killer" last night on CBS. The most frightening line in the movie was when the lady's dog was put to sleep against her will and when she asked the BTK killer/Code Enforcement officer why, he said, "because I can." Kind of the way things used to be in 29 Palms.
Local Taxes | Local Control
City and county officials complain that few sources of local revenue are actually subject to local control. Of the items that are in local control:
- Impact fees on new construction tend to raise the costs of housing, in some cases substantially. A PPIC study of new home transactions in Contra Costa County indicated that the costs of a new home were frequently increased by $20,000 to $30,000 due to such fees.
- Sales tax revenues are subject to some local control because they are collected on a situs basis, and local land-use decisions may influence retail development within local boundaries. A dependence on sales taxes creates an incentive for local governments to host retail development, since each dollar of local sales generates a penny of local sales tax revenue. αω
Local-Funding Options
Most new school buildings and major renovations are financed using tax-exempt general obligation bonds issued by the local school district. However, many districts face obstacles to issuing bonds. To curtail increases in property taxes, many communities have placed caps on their ability to issue debt, making it impossible for some districts to use bond financing. Further, school districts cannot issue bonds until they have been approved by voters, and resistance to increased property taxes has made it difficult for many communities to gain voter support. Although no comprehensive registry of local school district bonding activity is kept, reports from 19 states that do keep records of school bond referenda show that in 1998 only 54 percent of school facilities bonds placed before voters in these states were approved. (Sara Mead, 2001, School Construction, Policy Report, June 2001, p.3, Progressive Policy Institute)
http://www.puaf.umd.edu/
Struggle for the American Dream
Record-breaking home values have endangered the American Dream for an ever-increasing number of Southern Californians, who aspire to the security and stability of home ownership but find that the price and personal sacrifice may be too much to bear.
The hot market has had its winners and losers with some families basking in the newfound wealth of home equity and others locked out of ownership or unable to move up to larger homes or nicer neighborhoods.
Kirsten O'Brien, a one-time Long Beach renter, found a $139,000, two-bedroom house that fit the small budget of a single mom in the desert city of Yucca Valley 140 miles from her job as a teaching intern in Watts.
She drives six hours a day, leaving home at 4 a.m. and returning after 7:30 p.m. Her mother lives with the family and cares for O'Brien's 5-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son during the day
More in the Long Beach Press-Telegram
Local History | Minerva Hamilton Hoyt
Minerva Hamilton Hoyt (1866-1945) was a South Pasadena socialite whose relentless crusade to preserve the deserts of Southern California earned her international fame as the "Apostle of the Cacti" and a place in history for her role in establishing Joshua Tree National Park.
A native of Mississippi (her birthplace was her father’s plantation near Durant, Mississippi), Mrs. Hoyt and her husband, New York surgeon Dr. Albert Sherman Hoyt, moved to South Pasadena, California in the late 1890s. A wealthy and cultured woman, Mrs. Hoyt was active in a number of civic and arts organizations, but always maintained her interest in the California desert which she first saw as a young woman traveling west by rail. As Conner Sorensen writes: "Her habit of making desert excursions was reinforced by tragedy when, sometime early in the century, her infant son died, and again in 1918, when her husband died. Following her husband’s death the grieving widow turned more frequently to the desert for peace and consolation."
MoreFuel prices take a swipe at Hi-Desert Water's budget
YUCCA VALLEY - The growing cost of petroleum and availability of materials have contributed to a $1.49 million increase in Hi-Desert Water District's budget for construction of a water recharge facility.
Hi-Desert Star
DHS Mayor right in letting voters have their voice
Signs urging Desert Hot Springs residents to recall Vice Mayor Mary Stephens and City Councilman Hank Hohenstein go to the heart of the First Amendment and should be allowed to stand, Mayor Matt Weyuker said Wednesday. Give the mayor a standing ovation. He has given free speech precedence over petty politics. Weyuker said he will tell city code enforcement officers to cease and desist tearing down the signs. About 50 signs were planted at intersections along Palm Drive, the primary road leading into Desert Hot Springs. "Although I don't agree with the recall, the recall signs should be permitted in and along these medians, just as most candidates have used them in the last three or four elections," Weyuker said via an e-mail interview. "I believe that this is referred to in the U.S. Constitution as 'freedom of speech.'" Weyuker, who is not seeking re-election in the November election, says that whatever the law says, it has been "patently ignored by candidates and not enforced" - until now. Source Link:
DHS Recall: It's Daja Vu
Its interesting to watch Desert Hot Springs react to a recall of two of its council members. What the heck is with those folks? Instead of keeping the politics of a recall at arms distance the DHS City administration jumps right in and is attempting to quash the movement with the full power of government. We could have told the members of the DHS recall movement that this would happen, and it will get worse before it gets better. Funny thing about this, the recall is already a success. When the politicians use dirty tricks, people see it. When they stifle the 1st Amendment it angers the voter. The council members will be eventually thrown out of office. They have defeated themselves. They might as well run up the white flag.
DHS Pro-recall signs posted removed; city cites code enforcement
Desert Hot Springs residents pushing a recall effort against two members of the City Council awoke Tuesday morning to find the work they had done over the weekend was had been done in vain.
In its usual mismanagement of city affairs the City of Desert Hot Springs in its official capacity, has become politically embroiled in the Recall of two of its Council Members. Defying State law on Fair Campaign Practices it used its Code Enforcement Officers to remove signs under the guise of preventing distractions to traffic. We are wondering when the DHS Recall group will be filing an injunction against the city on 1st Amendment Grounds? MoreOne Stop Contracting Coming to MCAGCC
MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Oct. 6, 2005) -- In an effort to improve command and control, the major Marine Corps installations throughout the West Coast have regionalized under Marine Corps Installations West.
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton’s commanding general, Brig. Gen. Michael R. Lehnert, who has been selected for major general, has been tapped to command MCI West, which will exercise operational command over the following bases and stations:
- Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton
- Marine Corps Air Station Miramar
- Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz.
- Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton
- Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms
- Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow
- Mountain Warfare Training Center, Bridgeport
County Prosecuters & Public Defenders cause work slow down.
When presented with upholding the Constitutional Right of "a Swift Trial" of their clients and the People or trying to squeeze the taxpayer out of additional money, County Lawyers would rather see criminals returned to the streets. The State Supreme Court should find them all guilty of contempt and disbar the whole bunch.
SAN BERNARDINO – A protest by county prosecutors and public defenders aimed at breaking a stalemate over wages has created a glut of court cases so severe that the state may step in to alleviate the problem.
The state will soon send criminal cases to neighboring courts if the presiding judge so wishes, said Ron Overholt, chief deputy director of the Administrative Office of the Courts in San Francisco. More
The Seattle Times: Education: Diploma mill v. legit college
Another State says No to Diploma Mills. Pretty soon a guy with a CPU Diploma will just not be able to pass it off anywhere, 'cept down at city hall.
How can you tell the difference between a diploma mill and a legitimate college? The state's Higher Education Coordinating Board says a diploma mill is a "substandard or fraudulent college that provides degrees to students who do little or no college-level work." Guidelines on what to watch for:
www.hecb.wa.gov/autheval/daa/diplomamillsFAQ.asp
From the seattletimes.com
It's Harriet Miers for Supremes
David Frum in National Review wrote: "Keep an eye on Harriet Miers, White House counsel. Miers was the first woman president of the Texas Bar Association, a co-managing partner of a 400-lawyer firm in Texas, a one-time Dallas city councilor, and by the by, the personal lawyer to one George W. Bush. She joined his staff as governor, served as staff secretary (Richard Darman's old job) in the first administration, and now oversees the White House's legal work."
More
Roberts justice
JUST FOUR days after swearing his oath of office, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts begins this morning what may be one of the longest eras in Supreme Court history. Roberts is 50; only John Jay in 1789 and John Marshall in 1801 took the court gavel at a younger age.
More
20 percent of YV on aid | One in 5 in 29 Palms
MORONGO BASIN - According to a report from San Bernardino County's Human Services Department, 3,955 people in Yucca Valley receive public assistance in the form of CalWORKs money, food stamps or Medi-Cal. This amounts to 20 percent of the 19,726 general population named in the report.
Of this total, 1,070 received cash benefits, 2,070 received Medi-Cal only, and 342 received food stamps only. Those receiving both food stamps and Medi-Cal totaled 473.
More from the Hi-Desert Star
Maze chooses Smith to Rep Area
VISALIA – Assemblyman Bill Maze (R-Visalia) announced the hiring of Bob Smith, a former field representative for San Bernardino County Supervisor Bill Postmus. Smith will work as a part-time field representative for Maze with primary responsibility in the Inyo, Kern, and San Bernardino County areas of the 34th Assembly District.
Nothing against Mr. Smith but it seems like politicians pass their field Reps around like old Bikers pass their chippies. You would think Mr. Maze would want to find new talent. There's a whole pool of retired or recent Grads with a Degree in Political Science out there. The same old faces that angered us in one office seem to find their way to another.
It does not seem Maze takes the Inyo, San Bernardino counties seriously. I don't fault him for that. His constituency is the Great Central Valley and that is where his heart is. The choices he makes in his appointments seems to show his disconnect from areas outside his traditional constituency. Its not that it is a bad idea to call on the experience of others to make choices for appointments in this area, but it is bad when those who you ask promote their castoffs to fill those positions.
The Postmus machine reminds me of Tammany Hall and the days of patronage. You show me a has-been political hack or a drummed out official of local or city government that sucked up to Postmus, and I'll show you a guy who has been given an oft obscure plumb position as a consolation prize. Often right in the towns that threw their butts out of office. Postmus is either unaware of its effect or he relishes in rubbing his power in the faces of the voters. Like we said nothing against Mr Maze or Mr. Smith but it would be refreshing to see some eager new faces in government.