San Bernardino Press MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 - OCTOBER 5, 2014
sanbernardinopress.com
VOLUME 1, NO. 22
Governor signs ban of Confederate flag San into law Bernardino by Jennifer schlueter Public Library presents author Alice Eby Hall
that morning standing outside a home. The gunman was identified as Alex Alvarado, 38, by the police, and was killed by the trainee officer after Alvarado allegedly opened fire on the police. According to police, the officers approached the group when Alex Alvarado, the suspected shooter, reportedly using had a Taurus .38 Special
Join us Saturday October 4, 2014 at the Norman F. Feldheym Public Library in San Bernardino for a book reading by local author Alice Eby Hall. This program will take place in Kellogg Room A at the Feldheym Central Library at 555 W. 6th Street in San Bernardino from 2:00-4:00 PM. “Reunions” traces the friendships that develop among four diverse, independently thinking girls Adele, Cheryl, Lily and Sondra and how they draw strength and nonjudgmental empathy from one another as they share the traumatic incidents of child abuse they have endured. The book is about faith and how young minds think, develop, cope with and survive life’s atrocities and challenges. Hall is a retired teacher who wrote in many genres before writing Christian fiction the past two years. Hall has been writing since her first poem in fourth grade. Through the years, she has published numerous articles in various publications including Guideposts, Family Life, United Caprine News, Countryside, Dairy Goat Guide, and Dairy Goat Journal. Hall has taught in Southern California school districts including San Bernardino, Yucaipa, and Fontana. She has also taught cours-
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-Photo by Rockwell Hunter
Because the Confederate states, which favored slavery, promoted the Confederate flag during the Civil War, it is to many a sign of racism rather than Southern pride. When the mother of State Assembly-
man Isador Hall, D-Compton, spotted imitated Confederate money featuring the Confederate flag at the Capitol gift shop in Sacramento, her son decided to introduce bill AB 2444, with which he wants to “fend
off the ugly hatred of racism”. The legislation, which prohibits “state agencies from selling or displaying items bearing the Confederate flag,” according to Please see page 4
New details emerge in officer shooting by Vickie Vértiz According to an article from the San Bernardino County Sun, the events leading up to the shooting of a San Bernardino police officer came forward Friday, September 19 through testimonies in the preliminary hearing of three men charged with the crime in this past August. The three accused are Jonathan Contreras, 20, Gonzalo Medina, 22, and Orlando Cruz, 24, all from San Ber-
nardino. They appeared in San Bernardino Superior Court and are each charged with two counts of attempted murder of a peace officer and one count of possessing an assault rifle, reported the Sun. When Officer Gabriel Garcia and his trainee partner arrived on the 1900 block of Garner Avenue, Officer Garcia had been shot once in the head after he and his partner approached a group of people
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Rep. Schiff calls U.S. military Governor Brown signs strikes against ISIL ‘significant’ sister state agreement with Tuesday, Rep. Adam gam of core Al Qaeda from Schiff (D-CA), a senior Mem- Afghanistan and Pakistan, China’s Guangdong Province ber of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, released the following statement after the President ordered strikes against ISIL and the Khorasan group in Syria Monday night: “Last night’s airstrikes against ISIL targets in Syria represent a significant expansion of the Administration’s efforts to degrade and ultimately defeat this new terrorist ‘state.’ The participation of Arab forces is especially important, not only to put an Arab face on the American led coalition, but also to cement their involvement in the long-term effort required to defeat ISIL. “The attack on the Khorasan group was also significant. On the Intelligence Committee we have long been aware of, and concerned with, the threat posed by this amal-
the premier bomb-makers of AQAP, and abundant foreign recruits who can easily travel abroad to carry out attacks against Europe and United States. The Khorasan group and AQAP continue to be the most proximate threat to our nation. “This significant escalation of the military effort makes it all the more imperative for Congress to take up a new authorization to use force. The rationale given by the Administration, that its actions against ISIL can be justified by an authorization passed by Congress in the days after 9/11, is increasingly untenable, and Congress must not abdicate its responsibility. Congress should never have recessed with a war underway – we should take up this issue the moment we return to session.”
Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. last week signed an agreement to establish a sister state/province relationship between California and the Guangdong Province of China and pledged to strengthen ties with the province on trade, technological innovation, clean energy, low carbon development, education and tourism. Last year – during the Governor’s Trade and Investment Mission to China – Governor Brown visited Guangdong’s capital city of Guangzhou, where he committed to forge a stronger relationship with China’s most populous and economically productive province. The agreement builds on more than a year and a half of significant diplomatic and busi-
ness exchanges between California and China, including a climate change agreement with China’s National Development and Reform Commission, the Trade and Investment Mission to China, the opening of the California-China Office of Trade and Investment in Shanghai and a meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping. Partnership on climate change was one of many subjects the Governor discussed with President Xi and a key component of the trade mission, which included a first-of-its-kind agreement with China’s Minister of Environmental Protection, a meeting with officials from the National Development and Reform Commission and remarks on climate change at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
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es at UCR, UC Davis, Cal Poly, and Crafton Hills College. Hall has 21 books to her credit on subjects from raising goats and local history, to poetry. Her book The Cajon Pass, published in 2009, is available from Arcadia Publishing and Barnes & Noble. Devore: A Scrapbook took six years to write, but she was able to pull from her own and her husband’s personal experience. They have both lived in the
Devore area since the 1940s. The Inland Empire Branch of the National League of American Pen Women, a group of authors, artists and musicians, chose Hall as the branch’s 2002 NLAPW Woman of Achievement. For more information on Alice Hall and her books, go to www.aliceebyhall.com For more information on the presentation call the library at 909381-8235 or visit www.sbpl.org
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Fossils Underfoot at the County Museum A special interactive exhibit, “Fossils Underfoot,” opened in the San Bernardino County Museum’s Hall of Geological Wonders on Saturday. “Our prehistoric past really comes alive in this new exhibit,” said Eric Scott, the museum’s curator of paleontology. “Visitors will have a chance to see fossils found in their own backyard—literally underfoot in and around San Bernardino County. They will also be able to test their skills and knowledge with interactive displays, and learn how fossils can give us clues to past life and geologic processes on Earth.” Displays will lead visitors through the early oceans that covered most of the county 500 million years ago, evidenced by extinct trilobites and ammonites that swam in these seas. Explore life during the Permian, as life began to move from water to land only to be nearly wiped out by the great Permian extinctions when about 75% of life in the ocean and 95% of life on land died off. Marvel as dinosaurs evolved to rule the earth, only to themselves suffer extinction—or did they? See the rise of mammals, from tiny creatures to the giants of the Ice Ages. Museum guests will also be able for the first time to explore the first floor of the museum’s Hall of Geological Wonders and some of its exhibits. Saturday, October 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. is Dinorama Day, with a special emphasis on learning and fun for children. Kids can bring their “Dinoramas” to be exhibit at the museum, make fossil replicas, enjoy dinosaur story time, and hear a talk from Curator of Paleontology Eric Scott especially for kids. National Fossil Day is Wednesday, October 15. Visitors between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. can bring in their own rock, mineral, or fossil treasures for identification by a museum curator as they learn from and interact with engaging cart talks offered by the museum’s education division. “Dinosaur Discovery Day”
is Saturday, October 18 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This major event includes cart talks, dinosaur story time, dinosaur mask-making, face painting, dinosaur story time, cockroach races, and a big variety of games and crafts. Science won’t be ignored on Dinosaur Discovery Day either: three guest scientists who are experts on current dinosaur research will speak throughout the day. Get ready for Halloween with Ghost Dinosaur Day on Saturday, October 25 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The emphasis of the day is dinosaur fact and fiction, along with a good dose of Halloween fun. Curator of Paleontology Eric Scott will offer another especially-for-kids talk. Make a dinosaur mask and try out some hands-on learning fun.
Wear your Halloween costume! “Fossils Underfoot” is sponsored in part by the San Bernardino County Museum Association with support from San Bernardino County Libraries. The San Bernardino County Museum is at the California Street exit from Interstate 10 in Redlands. The museum is open Tuesdays through Sundays from 9 am to 5pm. General admission is $10 (adult), $8 (military or senior), $7 (student), and $5 (child aged 5 to 12). Children under five and Museum Association members are admitted free. Parking is free. For more information, visit www.sbcountymuseum.org. The museum is accessible to persons with disabilities.Visitor Services’ telephone number is 909-307-2669.
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Free personal care aide class The San Bernardino Community College District (SBCCD), through its Economic Development and Corporate Training (EDCT) Division, is offering a FREE month-long Personal Care Aide course designed to prepare and assist students in getting a job in health Classes meet Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of each week from 7 am to 3:30 pm from September 29, 2014 through October 29, 2014 and are offered in English only. All tuition and costs of supplies will be paid for ten participants by a grant, so spaces are limited. Offered by the SBCCD, the California Community College “Doing What Matters for Jobs and the Economy” program and REACH Centers, candidates over the age of 18 are encouraged to apply, whether or not they have a high school diploma or GED. For more information or to
enroll, call REACH Centers at 909.483.9100 or visit www. reachcenters.org The Excellence in Personal Care Aide class is intended for anyone wishing to become a safe and competent caregiver. The program includes 77 hours of learning patient care and 40 hours of the Customer Service Academy, which will prepare students for employment. Wendy Zinn, CTE Project Manager with the EDCT, noted, “There will be employers available to interview students who successfully complete the program. Successful students will have opportunities for work as private duty caregivers, In-Home Supportive Services workers, caregivers at a Home Health Company, Hospice or Assisted Living Facility. This is a terrific opportunity for people looking for a new career.”
California bans Confederate flag Continued from page 1
Al Jazeera, was signed into law last Thursday by Governor Jerry Brown. For Hall and others, the flag symbolizes racism, hatred, and is meant to intimidate. In August, the California State Assembly supported the law 66-1 proving to Hall that legislators were “standing together united to fend off the ugly hatred of racism that’s been portrayed and demonstrated through the emblem of the Confederacy.” Republican Tim Donnelly told the Los Angeles Times that because he is a “strict Constitutionalist,” he sees the law interfering with the right to free speech. Al Jazeera reported that “other lawmakers argued that the legislation does not violate free-speech rights because it only applies to formal actions of government officials and
agencies. Moreover, the law allows for the flag to be used for historical or educational purposes and does not apply to people on state property.” John Mc Worther of the Daily Beast believes that there are more important steps to take against racism, for example addressing the issue of police brutality against AfricanAmericans: “When we talk about ’fending off’ racism, we need to fend off the kind of thing that happened to people like Michael Brown, John Crawford, Eric Garner, and Ezell Ford all within the past month’s time. Make an America where this sort of thing isn’t routine, and maybe then we can get to worrying our heads over flags. And yet, even then, I highly suspect most of us wouldn’t really even feel the need to bother.”
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five-shot revolver and an AK47 assault rifle, began to shoot at the officers. The trainee officer, still unnamed in the investigation, shot and killed Alvarado. According to a criminal complaint against the three men, it is alleged that they knew Alvarado had an assault
rifle and that the two men who approached them were police officers. The Sun reports that the defendants were unarmed, according to court documents, and pleaded not guilty on August 27. On Friday, September 19, prosecutor Ron Webster put a family member on the witness
stand, Solia Cruz, mother of Orland Cruz, asking her about items in her home that ended up there after the shooting, in particular a black canvas bag that might have at one point contained the firearms from the shooting. However, on the stand, Cruz said that, “That canvas bag was never in our home. It was a gray bag filled with clothes that weren’t Orlando’s.” But San Bernardino Police Detective Jerry Hanes disagreed when he took the stand. Hanes said that in his conversation with Solia Cruz on the day of the shooting, she had said she was afraid there may have been firearms in the bag that her son, Orlando, was holding for Alvarado. Brittany Rodriguez of San Bernardino took the stand and said the group was drinking and using methamphetamine that night. She and her friend,
Jonathan Contreras’ sister, were in a Nissan Maxima belonging to Medina when the officers pulled up. Rodriguez stated that before any guns were fired, Jonathan Contreras told them to get down. A ruling will come down at some point in the week by Judge William Jefferson Powell IV on whether there is sufficient evidence for the three men to stand trial. On behalf of the Contreras family, Mr. Contreras issued a formal public apology to Garcia, his family, and the San Bernardino Police Department. The statement added that they were “morally and emotionally upset about the events that occurred on that night. Sadly, these things never should have occurred.” According to Police Chief Jarrod Burguan in The Sun, Officer Garcia remains in critical condition and is being held in intensive care.