Our Third District County Supervisor Dawn Rowe [rhymes with “wow”] spoke at the Mentone Area Community Association’s regular meeting, May 14, 2019. She first told a little about herself: she was widowed when her husband was killed by an IED in Iraq on his second deployment and her children were less than school age; she raised her children alone and they are now in college. Her husband had been stationed in Twentynine Palms, where she still lives, and she had worked as a field representative for then-assemblyman Paul Cook. She was appointed by the other County Supervisors to fill James Ramos’ seat when he was elected to the State Assembly. She has the second-largest territory to cover [an irregular, somewhat pie-shaped area, the northernmost portion of which is at Barstow in the high desert south to Grand Terrace, and from San Bernardino east to the Arizona border. “It seems I’m always in my car, driving somewhere,” she stated. Before she was married she studied in Japan and obtained her bachelor’s degree in public relations and advertising; she earned a master’s degree in advertising as well. During a break in her political life while her children were teenagers “I stayed home with them because I thought they needed me but, at that age, they thought they didn’t,” she joked; during that time she obtained her teaching credential and taught school.
“I get what Mentone is going through,” Rowe stated, from her experience living next to unincorporated Joshua Tree; also, after her husband died, she decided to build a house on 10 acres, with some help from a professional. She had planned to subdivide to build three other homes but then had to deal with County and State regulations.
She said the County is interested in helping the Sheriff’s Department deal with community problems and also mentioned the “Inroads” program: $17M in funds to the County to interface with the homeless by placement, that is, the ones who are just down on their luck. As to those with drug and mental issues, that will be more difficult, she added. She also promised to get Mentone together with CalTrans for meetings regarding more “traffic calming,” to which one audience member shook her head, which she noticed [Ed., note: MM had previously reported that CalTrans said it would make the right- only arrow at Wabash and the Boulevard a straight-ahead arrow, as well, in order to alleviate the buildup of traffic going straight, leading to 15-20 vehicles at the red light at times but after more than a year, CalTrans still hasn’t done that].
Rowe stated she met with Redlands Councilwoman Toni Momberger and asked, “Why does Redlands want to annex us?” Ms. Momberger apparently indicated that they didn’t [Ed.’s note: MM has previously reported at least two occasions when the Redlands City Council stated its intention to do so]. She promised to try to bring Ms. Momberger to speak at a MACA meeting in the future.
She stated she is also a Commissioner on LAFCO and had some suggestions for Mentone: contact East Valley Water District about receiving its water service rather than from Redlands [see Op- Ed]. She also suggested that someone from Mentone contact LAFCO to do a “special study” about what could be done, that no one had requested such a study and that Mentone should; there would be some expense but she couldn’t state how much.
Finally, Rowe suggested that Mentonites lobby LAFCO commissioners: “it only takes three” out of five to accomplish something, she concluded. [MM is indebted to an interview with the San Bernardino Sun for some of the above facts.]
OTHER MACA SPEAKERS:
In the same May 14 meeting, Rachel Achilly, Sheriff’s Department spokesperson, stated that there were 18 arrests, four of them “good” felonies [Ed.’s note: meaning that they are not likely to get thrown out on a technicality] in the last month. Activity at a particular house on Jasper was investigated for a while, after which eight people were arrested and the house was red-tagged. The audience was advised that if they saw people there to notify the Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff’s Deputy Emon made an impassioned plea for Mentonites to vote for Senate Bill (SB) 230, in order to combat Assembly Bill (AB) 392, also pending; the issue is that someone reviewing officer-involved lethal force (i.e., causes death) after the fact decides whether the shooting was “necessary” rather the present language. Emon said that impacts everyone in law enforcement because they don’t know, in the split-second moment when they appear to be threatened with lethal force themselves, whether protecting themselves or others is “necessary” or a lesser standard. He also stated that SB 230 provides for better training for law enforcement so that they can make better determinations as to whether to use lethal force or other methods. Emon concluded by requesting that Mentonites contact their State legislators and ask them to vote for SB 230 (for more details see the flyer later in the paper).
MACA secretary Angie Grisafe DeLaRosa reported that the last Adopt a Highway Cleanup, held on April 27, brought out eight volunteers and coincided with CalTrans’ “Cleanup Month” so CalTrans picked up the 11 bags of trash collected between Wabash and Amethyst. She said the next one is this Saturday, from 7:15 a.m. to about 9; meeting at the Chamber Office, also A Noteworthy Realty on the Boulevard next to Arthur’s Restaurant. After Saturday the next one will be in July or August; Mentone is committed to doing this four times a year. Also, Tom Atchley will give a talk on the 200th anniversary of the Zanja at the August meeting, which may start a little early [Ed.’s note: last time Diamond Jim’s Saloon was almost full, so come early to get a good seat near the front]. Mentonites are invited to attend and learn more about our area’s history. Angie mentioned doing a video of Mentone’s history and asked if anyone knew of a student who could perform that task for us.
Finally, Warren Wendell said the Hangar 24’s Air show is on this Saturday and Sunday. The parking lot which Hangar 24 had thought they could not use – because of the Kangaroo Rat – will be open, after all. However, volunteers have cleaned up the lot at the corner of Wabash and San Bernardino Avenues for MACA to raise funds by providing extra parking for $5 per car and $10 per RV and will open on Saturday, anyway. Volunteers are needed to help direct traffic and show people how to get to the airport, where vendors will set up by 11:00 a.m. but the flying won’t begin until 3 p.m. The event goes to 8 p.m. on Saturday and 5 p.m. on Sunday. MM