Tea parties protest government – recall petition circulated!
VICTORVILLE • Outside Victorville City Hall radio and television personality Barb Stanton, and guest speaker’s decried government spending, tax hikes and corporate bailouts. They circulated a recall petition on Brad Mitzelfelt, District One Supervisor, San Bernardino County. The patriotic crowd rebuked state and federal representatives for not listening to their constituents.

A crowd of over 200 turned out to city hall carrying signs reading, “Don’t tread on me,” “Congress, our toxic asset,” “Taxation with representation ain’t that hot either,” and “I’m not your ATM.” A cocker spaniel carried his own sign which read “Taxed Enough Already.” The message was clear lower taxes – one term for politicians and smaller government.

“I called it high noon in the High Desert,” Stanton said of the event.
She chose Victorville City Hall for the rally because of what she sees as a lack of accountability for how the council has spent millions of taxpayer dollars and outrage over decisions such as considering selling the Victorville 2 power plant to mainland China.

“My statement to Victorville is they’ve been bullies for far too long,” she said. “And the council needs a reminder that their careers and their legacies are at stake.”
Protesters braved strong winds and cool temperatures to express their concerns over a growing federal deficit and tax hikes they say make it harder to live and do business.

A former candidate for 59th Assembly, Barry Hartz spoke to the crowd along with Hesperia Councilwoman Rita Vogler. Both were unexpected but welcomed surprises at the rally.

Guest speakers included Gary Douglas and Cark Kerns. Douglas recently ran for Victorville city council and garnered over 5,000 votes in a grassroots race. “Gary Douglas was unknown a year ago. He shows tremendous potential as a contender for this city council.” Stanton said. Kerns is the owner/publisher of The Nickel Shopper. He discussed the financial condition this country is in and how it is affecting his business.

“They’re taking our childrens money like its Monopoly money,” Mark Phillips, 44, said outside of Victorville City Hall. “It’s my hope that this is the beginning of something that’s going to start waking up those that are in office, letting them know that if they don’t start paying attention, they’re going to be recalled.”

A recall petition was distributed and signed eagerly by the crowd who feel betrayed by First District Supervisor, Brad Mitzelfelt. “He is an enabler,” Barb Stanton explained. “He condoned and hid Bill Postmus abuse of drugs while he was chief of staff,” she said. Postmus, at the time served as chairman of the Board of Supervisor’s for San Bernardino County. Stanton went on to say, “Mitzelfelt was and is part of the machine that is grinding the Republican Party into the dirt. “He has removed Postmus name from all his literature and history. It’s as if he never even knew the guy, let along worked as chief of staff for over six years.”

The petitioners have four months to gather approximately 17,000 signatures to qualify for a recall election.

“It’s full steam ahead on both Mitzelfelt and his good buddy 59th District Assemblyman Anthony Adams. Adams has been served with two recall intents in the past month. Mitzelfel recently sponsored a fund raiser in Glendora for Adams. “Birds of a feather flock together. Both Adams and Mitzelfelt come from the Postmus school of politics,” said Stanton.

Stanton has started a local group called “The SOC Club.” It means, “Save our Country,” “Save our State,” “Save our Community,” or “Same Old Crap,” she says, “and we are not going to accept the same old crap anymore.” The group meets the last Saturday of the month at 6:30PM at Farmer Boy’s Restaurant on Hesperia Rd. in Victorville.

Stanton can be heard via steaming on the internet weekdays from 1 – 4 PM at barbstantonshow.com and on KCAA Radio AM1050 3 – 4 PM weekdays. High Desert TV – 34 airs The Barb Stanton TV Show Friday evenings at 8PM.

SYDNEY SAYS -

Imagine Life Without The Daily Newspaper



Can you imagine the High Desert without the Victor Valley Daily Press? Or San Bernardino without the San Bernardino Sun?

If recent trends continue, we may not have to.

The newspaper industry is in crisis now. For instance, in Denver the Rocky Mountain News has ceased operations completely. This paper had been in existence for over 100 years. In Seattle, the Seattle Post Intelligencer has switched from print to internet-only. In Boston, the parent company of the prestigious Boston Globe has threatened to shut it down.

Even the venerable New York Times itself has been suffering unprecedented budget shortfalls.

Closer to home, the San Bernardino Sun has instituted furloughs while the Riverside Press Enterprise has shuttered its 909 bureau and laid off reporters and photographers.

There is even a website devoted to the collapse of the newspaper industry. Paper Cuts, a blog devoted to covering the problems affecting the newspaper industry. See it here: http://graphicdesignr.net/papercuts/

What the continuing turmoil in the news industry means is unclear. But with former newspaper readers now able to gather their information from a variety of media – 24-hour television news, internet, blogs, social networking sites like Twitter, it is obvious something has to change in the industry.

Here in the High Desert, will the Victor Valley Daily Press survive? Time will tell. But if current trends continue, the newspaper industry as we have known it will only get bleaker and bleaker.

Barb Stanton Says....

Traffic Tickets - Fees or Taxes?!

California has adjusted the cost of traffic tickets upwards and calls it fees! I believe this is taxation without representation, or maybe representation with taxation! If you call it 'fees' the legislature can simply vote them into existence. Hummmmmm - what would be easier - asking citizens to raise taxes or just implement the new 'fees'.

If it's been awhile since your last ticket, prepare for sticker shock: The cost of all California tickets went up in 2009, with the fines for some violations increasing as much as 65 percent.

The state, which sets and raises fees, took the action in an effort to standardize amounts statewide and make sure court costs were covered, according to officials.

The higher fees are expected to raise $300 million a year to pay for renovations at 41 courthouses statewide. Some of the hikes include a $15 rise in the cost of a "fix-it" ticket (for driving with broken car parts) and a $25 rise in the cost of traffic school.

While base fines have increased over the years, it's the add-ons that really soared. A number of extras are tacked on to traffic tickets in California.

Most mandatory add-ons are set by the state, but some are determined by counties and county courts. Base fines for traffic infractions vary from $25 or $35, a common base fine, to $5,000 for transporting radioactive materials without a license. The standard base fee for a moving violation is $35.
The add-ons apply to every traffic ticket, but vary according to the base fine.

If the ticket is issued by a city police officer, most of the money goes to the city; if it's issued by a county agency, such as the sheriff's office, the entire amount goes to the county. If it's issued by a redlite camera a substantial part goes to the camera company - such as RedFlex in Phoenix which administers the cameras in Victorville.

Now, the add-ons begin.
The initial fine is to set a penalty, all the other fees are associated with the judicial system. Basically, the person who committed the infraction is paying for the system that's dealing with their violation."

The state gets a $100 "penalty assessment," $70 of which is used for programs including restitution for crime victims and witness protection. The rest is allotted to the county's general fund.

The distribution varies depending on the violation. The amount will be the same, but a number of factors, including whether the citation stemmed from a red-light camera, determine how it's distributed.

Not to be outdone, the county where the ticket was issued gets another $70 for automated fingerprint identification and other programs. Another $20 penalty goes to the state to help fund DNA testing for the collection of evidence.

A $50 assessment goes toward state court construction, a $20 surcharge goes to the state's general fund and $20 goes to the county's emergency medical system.

Then there's a $20 court security fee and a $35 fee to build new courthouses, and a $1 fee for night court.
It all adds up to $436.

Should you decide to go to traffic school,in order to avoid increased auto-insurance rates, that surcharge is $49.

You have the option of requesting a payment plan, should the cost of a ticket threaten to cripple your budget. But plan for an additional charge: Up to $35 to a state court for paying in installments.

MORPHEUS WRITES -

For an excellent read I recommend The Appeal by John Grisham- 2008
It has to do with buying a political office/ judge for fun and profit. Its fiction but probably understated in these times. Balance your life with other things than playing on the computer. Read books.

Here’s my short list of the questionable local events that I have concerns about.

The City of Victorville and its impending implosion/bankruptcy. This will effect all of the High Desert Communities and the County in a VERY BAD way. This means You, if you live in the area. This will kill off the High Desert economy like toxic assets does a bank. The entire High Desert will become business poison because of Victorville’s stupidity and greed. Public safety and services in Victorville will diminish to the lowest levels as the employees flee to safer/ more secure jobs and retirements. Crime will increase accordingly and people will move away from the area -if possible. Housing prices will drop even lower than they are now, and no one will be buying them. And this is the good news part of this story! It’s not a matter of if, it’s when. Get out now if you can. It’s going to get ugly.

The Daily Press recently ran a pathetic fluff piece on poor Billy Postmus going into rehab for the third time. The problem I have with this latest version are the lies told about the first two times he was in rehab (while in office) that these same guys were denying. Mitzelfelt and Lehrer (and Postmus himself) claimed he was burying his grandmother or on some vacation or no one knew where he was while he was really in rehab in Washington State or in Lucerne Valley or some other place. So now that he’s been arrested and has resigned from office every one is supposed to believe this latest sob story. What happened during the 3 month paid leave of absence? Was that rehab too? Or was Bill burying some other relative? The really funny part of this story was the source of it, Ted Lehrer . Lehrer now claims to be - get this- a private media liaison for Postmus. How does that work? An out of work meth head has his own private media liaison? Lehrer does not work for the county any more so I guess he had to take what work was available. I wonder how much this new Postmus “liaison” job pays? The best line in the story was Lehrer’s claim that,” even his political opponents have encouraged him to beat this addiction and get back to better health.” Really? Who are these political opponents who have nothing but good wishes for our drug addicted ex-assessor? And all of this coming from his pathological lying self appointed spokesperson? If all you have done is lie while you were getting paid by the county to protect Postmus, why would anyone believe you now? I know I don’t. Postmus should be in jail for his crimes, at least we would know where he is while getting off the meth.

The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors all need to be drug tested by someone outside of the County because they have to be high to come up with ideas like this. Neil Derry recently stated that he would staff the County ethics commission with 8 members. Are you ready for this impartial- not biased group? Here’s Neil’s plan. All 5 supervisors would get to pick their own members, the DA and Sheriff would get to pick their own members and there would be 1 member from an independent group. So 7 out of 8 members would be picked by the people that are supposed to be getting looked at for ethics violations. I can see that this commission will get a lot done and restore our faith in the County.

And last on the list is the John Hueston investigation into the Assessors office. Just like the Gumport investigation, my guess is the County will delay and stall as long as possible to let the guilty escape justice.

The county came under criticism in 2005 for delaying the release of a report by a private attorney hired to look into the county's purchase of a private jail in Adelanto and the purchase of former county land by a supervisor's top aide.

Attorney Leonard Gumport's investigation into both matters was completed in fall 2005 but supervisors did not release the report until August 2006.

From what I heard, Hueston found out more in the 2 months he investigated than the DA has in the last 2 years. But that shouldn’t surprise anyone, that Ramos - The Look the Other Way DA- hasn’t filed any charges and continues to claim that he is still investigating years later. Barney Fife and Otis would have closed this case years ago. Inspector Clouseau would have solved the crime long ago. But this is San Bernardino County! The most incompetent government that money can buy!

Enough for now. For some relief, be sure to vote against all of the State propositions that the crooks have on the ballot on May 19th. Just Vote NO!