Lisa Martindale, 40

By DENISSE SALAZAR AND CINDY CARCAMO The Orange County Register FULLERTON– Lisa Martindale, 40, of Twentynine Palms was identified today as one of two people killed in a five-car crash near Commonwealth Avenue and Cornell Avenue on Saturday, police said. Ricky Dale Richards, 49, of Fullerton was identified Sunday after being killed in the head-on crash. Richards was driving a Cadillac STS and Martindale was driving a 2004 Chevy Impala when the accident occurred at about 3:42 p.m. Martindale was speeding east when she rear-ended a white Ford F-150 pickup, police said. She lost control, crossed the center divider into oncoming traffic and collided with the Cadillac driven by Richards, Fullerton police Sgt. Linda King said. MORE

Corbins letter to the Council

I've had about a dozen calls demanding that I post the Corbin letter. So I must relent to the public and post it.

His concerns for "Public Hearings" is especially hilarious to me as he never saw the need for the same treatment to those he got a bur under his saddle for when he was in charge.

I think you will agree his letter is filled with hypocrisy.

Press the pdf icon to download

Once a pompous ass, always a pompous ass

When Sean Pulliam wanted to build 4 homes out at the edge of town a couple of years ago, the now ex-Community Development Director required him to have to build a four lane highway and widen half of Utah Trail. Even when Sean took it to the Council the now ex-Development Director's interpreted the development codes to require $250,000 worth of street improvements. Leaving little wiggle room for the city for they have been boxed into a corner by draconian rules passed piecemeal over the years by the ex-City Manager and his willing henchman the ex-Community Development Director.

When the late Janet Breuer moved Thomas Towing in 2003 to a building on Homestead Drive, the same now ex-Community Development Director demanded under his interpretation of the development codes, that she pave half Homestead Drive and curb and gutter several hundred feet of the street. Mind you this was just to move an existing business from one location to another in the same commercial zone not more than a thousand feet.

Fade to March 13th, 2007, a letter is received in the mail boxes of all five city council members, the city manager and the editor of the Desert Trail. The letter was a rambling dissertation on how unfair the same development codes used for years to cause a passel of financial burdens on so many people in town by the now ex-Development Director, should not be applied to that same ex-Development Director or any of his clients.

Over the years, the ex-City Manager and the ex-Community Development Director cleverly devised a way to wrist power from the City Council, and the Planning Commission. They changed the development codes piecemeal over the years to such a tangled mess that it left both legislative bodies at their mercy as to what the Development Codes really meant.

Beginning in 2003 we methodically replaced the hoodlums. We have a new City Manager, a new Community Development Director, a pretty much new Council and same for the Planning Commission. Pretty much all new faces working with the same old rules. All doing the best they can with the tools that were left to them.

The now ex-Community Development Director still wants to be the one who interpretes the development codes. What is good for the goose according to him is not good for the gander. According to his letter he wants special treatment for himself and his clients.

Back to reality, the old now ex-Community Development Director remember if you will, writes this STUPID letter about how his client came to town to "make money on land development." His inane ramblings on the case of Dolan vs. City of Tigard wax on and on without point. He's pissed because according to the rules he and that useless bucket of crap former city manager conjured up, his client has to go through the same hoops this putz put everyone else through over the years. He figures I guess, if he writes a letter and sounds like he is a jail house lawyer, the city will roll over and his client shouldn't have to follow the same rules.

He is trying to have his own rules changed so his 32 unit low income housing client, can get out of having to pave roads, install a bus stop and follow the reasonable requirements of the fire department.

Why anyone would hire this guy anyway, is beyond me. This prize of a guy thinks he can dictate the meaning of the rules he created to the new Community Development Director. All he has done is created this beautiful paper trail of a political ethics violation. The moment he decided that he knows the real meaning of Section 19.96.010 of the development code and dictated it to the city he violated the law that precludes him from participating in any action that is effected by a rule that he himself helped create.

It's about time that the City Attorney do his job and file a complaint on this pompous ass.

I figure I would give Kurt a chance at printing the letter in this weeks paper before I post it here. I know you are all dying to know what the letter says.

Stater Brother Dog Food

Stater Brothers dog food is on the list of potential danger to pets. Menu Foods the company under the gun the last few days for killing pets around the country produced canned dog food for Stater Brothers.

Please check your cans for the following: UPC Code: 007417512242 with dates of Dec/20/09, Dec/21/09, and Dec/22/09. These will be 13.2oz cans of Beef Cuts with Gravy.

Do not feed them to your dog and return them immediately to the store for a refund. For more information Click Here

UPDATE: It turns out that rat poison infused into the recipe that is causing the untimely deaths of thousands of dogs and cats.  

It can only happen in 29

It was alleged that old Scott Plummer went to his neighbor with an ax.

With thoughts in his head to give him forty whacks,

His neighbor was alerted and began to run,

So Scotty instead gave the neighbors car forty-one.

link: Daily Bulletin 

Resilient Iraqis ask what civil war?

 From the UK's Sunday Times:

The poor bastards....  

1st Dictrict Supervisor Race Started

This from Barstow's Desert Dispatch:

Why We Fight

By an Anonymous Mother

The other day, my nine-year-old son wanted to know why we were at war...

My husband looked at our son and then looked at me. My husband and I were in the Army during the Gulf War and we would be honored to serve and defend our country again today.

I knew that my husband would give him a good explanation. My husband thought for a few minutes and then told my son to go stand in our front living room window.

My Husband said, "Son, stand there and tell me what you see?"

"I see trees and cars and our neighbors' houses," he replied.

"OK, now I want you to pretend that our house and our yard is the United States of America and you are President Bush."

Our son giggled and said, "OK."


"Now, son, I want you to look out the window and pretend that every house and yard on this block is a different country," my husband said.

"OK Dad, I'm pretending."

"Now I want you to stand there and look out the window and pretend you see Osama bin Laden come out of his house with his wife, he has her by the hair and is hitting her. You see her bleeding and crying. He hits her in the face, he throws her on the ground, then he starts to kick her to death. Their children run out and are afraid to stop him, they are screaming and crying, they are watching this but do nothing because they are kids and they are afraid of their father. You see all of this, son.... what do you do?"

"Dad?"

"What do you do, son?"

"I'd call the police, Dad."

"OK. Pretend that the police are the United Nations. They take your call. They listen to what you know and saw but they refuse to help.

What do you do then, son?"

"Dad....... but the police are supposed to help!" My son starts to whine.

"They don't want to, son, because they say that it is not their place or your place to get involved and that you should stay out of it," my husband says.

"But, Dad... he killed her!!" My son exclaims.

"I know he did... but the police tell you to stay out of it. Now I want you to look out that window and pretend you see our neighbor who you're pretending is Osama bin Laden turn around and do the same thing to his children."

"Daddy... he kills them?"

"Yes, son, he does. What do you do?"

"Well, if the police don't want to help, I will go and ask my next door neighbor to help me stop him," our son says.

"Son, our next door neighbor sees what is happening and refuses to get involved as well. He refuses to open the door and help you stop him," my husband says.

"But Dad, I NEED help!!! I can't stop him by myself!!"

"WHAT DO YOU DO, SON?" Our son starts to cry.

"OK, no one wants to help you, the man across the street saw you ask for help and saw that no one would help you stop him. He stands taller and puffs out his chest. Guess what he does next, son?"

"What, Daddy?"

"He walks across the street to the old lady's house and breaks down her door and drags her out, steals all her stuff and sets her house on fire and then... he kills her. He turns around and sees you standing in the window and laughs at you. WHAT DO YOU DO?"

"Daddy...."

"WHAT DO YOU DO?" Our son is crying and he looks down and he whispers, "I'd close the blinds, Daddy."

My husband looks at our son with tears in his eyes and asks him. "Why?"

"Because, Daddy... the police are supposed to help people who need them... and they won't help... You always said neighbors are supposed to HELP neighbors, but they won't help either... they won't help me stop him...I'm afraid.... I can't do it by myself, Daddy . I can't look out my window and just watch him do all these terrible things and do nothing .. so .... I'm just going to close the blinds ... so I can't see what he's doing And I'm going to pretend that it is not happening."

I start to cry.

My husband looks at our nine-year-old son standing in the window, looking pitiful and ashamed at his answers to my husband's questions. He says.... "Son....."

"Yes, Daddy?"

"Open the blinds, because that man...... he's at your front door... WHAT DO YOU DO?"

My son looks at his father, anger and defiance in his eyes. He balls up his tiny fists and looks his father square in the eyes, and without hesitation he says, "I DEFEND MY FAMILY DAD!!! I'M NOT GONNA LET HIM HURT MOMMY OR MY SISTER, DAD!!! I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM, DAD, I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM!!!!!"

I see a tear roll down my husband's cheek and he grabs our son to his chest and hugs him tight, and says.... "It's too late to fight him, he's too strong, and he's already at YOUR front door, son... you should have stopped him BEFORE he killed his wife, and his children, and the old lady across the way. You have to do what's right, even if you have to do it alone, before it's too late," my husband whispers. "

THAT scenario I just gave you is WHY we are at war with Iraq . When good men stand by and let evil happen, son, THAT is the greatest mistake, believing that the atrocities in the world won't affect them. "YOU MUST NEVER BE AFRAID TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT! EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO DO IT ALONE! BE PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN! BE PROUD OF OUR TROOPS!! SUPPORT THEM!!! SUPPORT AMERICA SO THAT IN THE FUTURE OUR CHILDREN WILL NEVER HAVE TO CLOSE THEIR BLINDS..."

Who dropped the ball?

What happens to the poor bastards who put good money down on a new house in the Turtle Rock development now that the parent company has been placed under receivership with the arrest and incarceration of owners Carter Lee Pendergrass, 56, his son Joshua, 25, both of Palm Springs and Phillip Timothy Cassidy, 51, and his wife Karen, also 51, of San Bernardino?

Will those who put their life savings down on a house in the project loose their investments? Who will finish the project? Who at city hall has a handle on this impending economic disaster that could befall the city?

It is time for answers.

Turtle Rock Developer Jailed

RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA, March 14, 2007: In the largest case of workers’ compensation insurance fraud in the county’s history, four defendants are in custody on six million dollars bail each. Each has been charged with 107 felony counts of defrauding insurance companies and the state government of insurance premium dollars and payroll and income taxes.

Carter Lee Pendergrass, 56, his son Joshua, 25, both of Palm Springs and Phillip Timothy Cassidy, 51, and his wife Karen, also 51, of San Bernardino have been booked into the Riverside County Jail.

Prosecutors have alleged that Carter Pendergrass and Phil Cassidy owned and operated a residential construction company under the various names of TF Ventures, All Service, Inc., and Total Framing. Assisted by the other two defendants, they deliberately under-reported wages to their workers’ compensation insurance companies and to the California Employment Development Department, which collects state payroll taxes.

It is further alleged that they concealed the companies’ claims histories to unlawfully reduce their workers’ compensation insurance premiums and state unemployment taxes.

The four also worked together to defraud the insurance companies, State Compensation Insurance Fund and Redwood Fire & Casualty Company, of millions of dollars by intentionally misclassifying their employees, according to prosecutors.

There goes another T-shirt I won't be wearing

(Press-Enterprise, The (Riverside, CA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Mar. 15--The owners of a home-building company and two other people have been charged with 107 counts of defrauding insurance carriers and the state government of more than $6 million, according to the Riverside County district attorney's office.

It is the largest case of workers-comp fraud in county history, prosecutors said.

Carter Lee Pendergrass, 56, owner of the Turtle Rock Project, and his son, Joshua, 25, both of Palm Springs, and Phillip Timothy Cassidy, 51, and his wife, Karen, also 51, both of San Bernardino, were arrested late last week. Bail is set at $6 million for each person . MORE

Government exists at the consent of the governed

The Desert Trail quoted Jay Corbin as saying, “Eminent domain is getting a bad rap here. It is not a means of stealing people’s land,” he further stated, “It is a legitimate use of your police powers.”

Police powers? Where in the hell did he pull that out of?

Since when is the adverse transfer of tangible property from one private individual to another private individual a "Police Power?" I guess under the Third Reich the transfer of Jewish property to non-Jewish individuals by the Gestapo could have been considered a "police power."

Eminent domain is a Constitutional process. Not a police power.

Limited power is given to the government. The argument is not that the government has the power to claim eminent domain but what constitutes "public use." The Supreme Court gave direction to the citizens of each State and local government entity to exercise the right to limit the power of government as to what constitutes "Public Use."

The argument is not that the city has the power to eminent domain but what we as citizens allow the city to consider "Public Use." Power is derived from and with the consent of the governed. Government has no power that is not given to it by the People, "police" or otherwise. That was what was codified in the recent Kelo decision. All we are now doing is setting the rules for the use of eminent domain.

If people like Corbin and Meyers believe that government has some inherent right to take, they show a complete misunderstanding of the Constitution. The People have Rights, governments have powers granted to it by the People. Government exists at the consent of the governed.

The People set the Standards and limits of Government. What Councilman Spear is doing is giving the People the opportunity to decide what the rules and limits of the City's power of eminent domain will be now and in the future. I applaud his dogged pursuit of clear limits of the government power to take private property in the name of Public Use.

That's right, it's unfair to developers to have to buy right of way at the fair market value. As if it is OK to have potential property owners who were neither asked nor negotiated with to be forced off of their property by a government sympathetic to development. What about the innocent property owner? Shouldn't he be treated fairly too?

If the builder can not have his project wrapped and tied up in a pretty bow at the time of submittal, it is not the governments responsibility to help him slit the throat of his neighbor.

For those who believe that we as the Governed do not have the right to set the rules and standards of government's power, I must show complete contempt of them and their misguided misinterpretation of the Constitution and the long history of this country. Tar and feathers are in order.

Phelps finds some success with sign exemptions

This from Mark Wheeler of the Hi-Desert Star:

Is Yucca Valley going down the same road we took to drive business away?

Supervisors name Ruth Stringer to County Counsel post

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday appointed Ruth E. Stringer to serve as County Counsel, a post she has held in an acting capacity since Nov. 8, 2006.

“This was one of the easier decisions the Board of Supervisors has faced recently because Ruth Stringer has done an excellent job since being named Acting County Counsel four months ago,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Paul Biane.“Ruth is always available to Board members with timely and sound legal advice. Having her in this post on a permanent basis will provide the Board, the Office of County Counsel, and the entire County organization with confidence and stability.”

Ms. Stringer joined the county in 1978 as an Employee Relations Officer and began her career in the County Counsel’s Office in 1983 as a Deputy County Counsel. From 1989 to 2003 she served as a Chief Deputy County Counsel, and was appointed Assistant County Counsel in 2003.

“We all benefit from Ruth’s command of government law and her institutional memory,” said Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Gary Ovitt. “We are very fortunate to have had a high-quality professional from within the County available to step into this important role.”

2nd Highest Court finds 2nd Amendment Individual Right

WASHINGTON -- The District of Columbia Federal Appeals court overturned DC's long-standing handgun ban Friday, rejecting the city's argument that the Second Amendment right to bear arms applied only to militias.

In a 2-1 decision, the judges held that the activities protected by the Second Amendment "are not limited to militia service, nor is an individual's enjoyment of the right contingent" on enrollment in a militia.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the city cannot prevent people from keeping handguns in their homes. The ruling struck down a requirement that owners of registered firearms must keep them unloaded and disassembled.

This decision marks the first time the D.C. federal appeals court has struck down a portion of a gun law on Second Amendment grounds. See Parker, Shelly vs. DC

Eminent Domain: Kudos to the Desert Trail

The Desert Trail did a bang up job on defining the Eminent Domain argument in this weeks edition.

Kurt wrote a really even handed article titled Spear appeals housing OK.  and a great editorial  Join debate on eminent domain.

Also their are some great letters to the editor from Steve Spear and Blair Foley on the subject.

Vasquez granted new trial for Murder of Mary Schultz

 Victorville Daily Press

VICTORVILLE — Thirteen former jurors were cross-examined Friday for specific details and comments about a murder case from 2000.

Thomas Weatherwax and Israel Vasquez were both found guilty of the home invasion and murder of Mary Schultz, 24, of Twentynine Palms in 1998.

Vasquez slit Schultz’s throat from ear to ear then stabbed her in the stomach in front of her daughter.

Vasquez has been granted a new trial by the court of appeals on the basis of failing to investigate the allegation of juror misconduct. More

Public Power, Private Gain

As early as 1795, the U.S. Supreme Court described the power of eminent domain—where the government takes someone’s property for a "public use"—as "the despotic power." Eminent domain has the potential to destroy lives and livelihoods by uprooting people from their homes and businesspeople from their shops. With eminent domain, the government can force a couple in their 80s to move from their home of 50 years. Eminent domain is the power to evict a small family business, even if that means the business will never reopen.

The danger of such an extreme power led the authors of the U.S. Constitution and state constitutions to limit the power of eminent domain in two ways. First, the government had to pay "just compensation." And second, even with just compensation, the government could take property only for "public use." To most people, the meaning of "public use" is fairly obvious—things like highways, bridges, prisons, and courts.

No one—at least no one besides lawyers and bureaucrats—would think "public use" means a casino, condominiums or a private office building. Yet these days, that’s exactly how state and local governments use eminent domain—as part of corporate welfare incentive packages and deals for more politically favored businesses. This is the first report ever to document and quantify the uses and threats of eminent domain for private parties. We have compiled this information from published accounts and court papers covering the five-year period from January 1, 1998 through December 31, 2002. The results are chilling. More  

Spear speaks out on Eminent Domain

This post is very to the point and so very accurate.

Elaine Bernal and I have been waging a month long battle to protect the private property rights of our citizens.

We have been short of the mark so far.

I do believe that at least two of the Council Members may not have a complete understanding of what is unfolding - those two being Klink and Flock. Cole, on the other hand, has been around too long to not know what his vote is really saying.

This whole issue has been screened very well by the use of Agenda terms such as "Right of Way Dedications".

True, it is a discussion about Right of Way dedications, but it is also a discussion of land ownership.

Few people understand the Subdivision Map Act(SMA) and the impacts that it has on communities such as ours.

Long ago the Council granted the Planning Commission with the authority to approve Tentative Tract Maps (TTM). By doing so it lost control of what subdivisions would be built and what ones would not.

Once a TTM is approved at the Planning Commission level the project is locked in place by the laws of the SMA.

If a subdivision did not obtain the necessary ROW requirements PRIOR to approval of the TTM the Council can only do one of two things when the Final Tract Map (FTM) comes before us for approval.

The Council can opt to allow the developer to build
sub-standard roadways into and out of their subdivision or the Council can opt to execute eminent domain in order to secure the land to build the proper roadways.

Those are the only options - not good ones if you ask me or Elaine.

I have proposed a solution to this problem but it was defeated. But I do believe it was defeated because at least two of the Council Members did not have an understanding of the sequence of events that will unfold under the laws of the SMA.

This subject will again raise its head on March 13, 2007 when an appeal of a recent Sunwest subdivision is heard in Council Chambers.

Sunwest did nothing to acquire the required needed ROW dedications to build their subdivision. Nonetheless the TTM was approved by the Planning Commission.

I appealed that approval because I did not want the face the choice of having to execute eminent domain or allow substandard roadways.

Kevin Cole has his mind set to build and build and build. That building, will in his mind, come at the cost of you and I who own our own property. He will use smoke and mirrors to make it seem that what he wants is for the good of us all and call the use of eminent domain anything but the use of eminent domain. However, in the end, I will call him on this issue and only hope that the majority of the people of this city realize that he has said one thing to get elected and is doing another to further his own belief of what this city should be.

I look forward to the meeting on the 13th - I hope that the Chambers are full of citizens in righteous indignation of where the slim majority of the Council is leading us.

Steve Spear

Council Member
City of 29 Palms

Is the smell of Recall in the air?

How can good people be so wrong about such an important subject like Eminent Domain?

The right to be secure in ones property is sacred in this country. While we as a People have long resigned ourselves to the principle of Eminent Domain for the good of Society, we as a People have NEVER bought into the idea of taking one man's land for the economic benefit of another man.

We have three members of our City Council who contrary to the vast majority of citizens in this town, that seem to believe the taking of your land for the benefit of a private developer is some how a "public purpose."

It should be remembered that one of the original complaints listed in our Declaration of Independence was the seizure of private property for the use of another private person. The concern about securing ones property from arbitrary government action has always been a bedrock of the social and political system of this country.

Three Councilmen stand in direct opposition to the will of the People and in direct conflict with the recent passage of a County wide referendum that made it clear to those in power we the People do not want the type of eminent domain planned to be exercised in Twentynine Palms.

We would respectfully suggest that the Council revisit their decision on Eminent Domain and follow City Resolution 06-31 in supporting the principles of Measure O and align the City Ordinances to reflect the concensus of the Council when it on 10/24/2006 passed the resolution to support Measure O.

Finally, this lapse in good governance has united both Left and Right of the political spectrum and we should give fair warning that recall of those who fail to protect private property has been discussed by those united in their disgust of the present Council's actions. (Joey and I are not even in the loop on this, so don't blame us.)

The Ball is in the Council's court.

California Focus: Next round in eminent domain fight

Every California property is fair game for condemnation, seizure and transfer to a private developer under the government's power of eminent domain. New and excessive property regulations also could render anyone's property useless, with no financial compensation required.

The defeat of Proposition 90, an initiative that would have erected safeguards against the types of abuses mentioned above, has opened the floodgates of the Kelo decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that elected officials may take anyone's private property – with alleged "just compensation" – and transfer it to a private developer to build things like stadiums, auto malls, shopping centers or any other project that the jurisdiction thinks would generate more tax revenue. MORE

Eminent domain race ripples

By Mindy Fullilove/Washington Times

March 2, 2007

From the imposition of slavery to the modern trend of eminent domain in the name of economic development, African-Americans have suffered disproportionately from destabilizing trends forced upon them by the politically powerful. Through each upheaval, legalized "takings" -- first of the person, and more recently of our homes -- threaten African-American lives, homes and families.
    From 1949 through 1973, under the Federal Housing Act, 2,532 projects were carried out in 992 cities, displacing 1 million people, of which African Americans accounted for two-thirds. African Americans -- then 12 percent of the population -- were 5 times likelier than whites to be displaced. MORE