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California Unincorporated invited Mentone’s organizations to join and post their information and news articles on its website www.caunincorporated.com. The Chamber of Commerce favorably discussed membership and attendees at the Chamber meeting on Tuesday, March 25 learned of the membership, said attorney Joyce Caraway, who presented the opportunity.

According to California (Un)incorporated’s page “Who We Are,” approximately five million people live in unincorporated areas, like Mentone, and, not having mayors or city councils, are subject to the whims of nearby cities. California (Un)incorporated’s chair, Michael Seaman, says that the organization is interested in seeing the law changed to accommodate such communities, such its immediate goals to obtain reform of the property tax portion of vehicle license fees. Caraway provided other laws that need to be reformed, including Government Code Section 56751(a)-(d), which says that if a community applies to LAFCO to be detached from a city’s SOI [Ed.’s note: ‘sphere of influence’], and the city objects, LAFCO must terminate the detachment proceedings. This means that an unincorporated area has no choice but to continue in that SOI even if they don’t want to be, and the city has sole control over the detachment; that pits a small, unincorporated area against a city with probably much more money to spend and more clout. And the application fee is something like $5,000!”   

Seaman stated that legislators are becoming interested in the website and have indicated how helpful the information posted on it has been to them. For Mentone’s part of the website he posted information from Wikipedia, and added a generic photo. The text has been updated and an actual photo of Mentone’s downtown will be substituted as soon as possible; Other information to be posted about will include details about Redlands’ takeovers of Mentone territory, “most of them in violation of applicable law,” said Caraway. The website also has a section titled “Predatory Annexations page (https://www.caunincorporated.com/predatory-annexations) where we go into detail about [also unincorporated communities] Salida and Rio Linda,” added Seaman.

California (Un)incorporated recently changed to a 501c4; it started in 2015 with five communities and now has 25 in 14 counties. Some communities with problems similar to Mentone’s include Ashland and Castro Valley (Alameda County); El Dorado Hills (El Dorado County); McKinleyville (Humboldt County); Lamont (Kern County); Stratford (Kings County); Altadena, East LA, Willowbrook, West Athens, Westmont (L.A. County); Ladera Ranch (Orange County); North Lake Tahoe (Placer County); Winchester, Homeland (Riverside County); Antelope, Arden Arcade, Rio Linda, Elverta, Orangevale and Vineyard (Sacramento County); Isla Vista, Orcutt (Santa Barbara County); Guerneville/Lower Russian River (Sonoma County) and Salida (Stanislaus County). Some of those communities are not in the SOI of nearby cities but still have similar problems to Mentone’s, stated Seaman. Experienced representatives of some of those communities have offered to assist Mentone.

Organizations who guide and support California Unincorporated are the League of California Cities, California Association of Recreation and Park Districts, California Special Districts Association, and the California Association of Local Agency Formation Commissions [Ed.’s note: aka CALAFCO].

To learn what information has been posted about Mentone, click on the word “Mentone” on the “Who We Are” page of the website, which also contains a link to Mentone Matters: click on the green tab on the right side of the Mentone page. To read old news articles click on “NEWS” on the left side. Readers may always read Mentone Matters through this website; Mentone Matters may eventually phase out its own website for cost considerations. MM

According to its website – www.redlandsclassic.com – some of the Redlands races will include the following: “Thursday, April 10 Start at Hangar 24 on Sessums Drive, Finish on Hwy 38 at Onyx Summit. 9:30 am. Stage 2 – Trek Onyx Summit Road Race for Men    (75.5 miles). 10:45 am    Stage 2 – Trek Onyx Summit Road Race for Women  (56.1 miles).” No detail is given for the route that racers will follow after they leave the airport, in order to access Highway 38.

“Friday, April 11
Start/Finish Line on Sand Canyon Road, north of Crafton Hills Drive.” No map is given for this one, either.

No routes are given for the remainder of the races, as to whether they also include Mentone territory. MM

On Tuesday evening, February 11, at 7 p.m., freelance journalist Ken Alan presented a talk to M.A.C.A., titled “How Railroads Shape Mentone Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.” Alan described the 1800s “kite-shaped” track through Mentone, which he described as a figure eight on its side. Alan stated that the trains left Los Angeles’ Union Station, went to San Bernardino’s depot, then came to Redlands and Mentone, which he described as the apex of the larger of the two loops, then to East Highland, Highland, Patton and then back to Union Station [Ed,’s note: from maps others have provided, it appears that the track crossed itself at some point]. The train riders riders came to purchase citrus, he said. He went on to say that the old Patton station was just torn down about five years ago and the Serrano tribe has some of the artifacts from it.

The Arrow train to the University of Redlands utilizes part of the kite-shaped track, he continued. The Arrow is a light rail, not like Metrolink or Amtrak. The Pullman cars come to the downtown Redlands station early in the morning and late at night, he added.

Alan then continued by saying that trains should be more utilized, that more people are riding Metrolink – twice as many from San Bernardino to LA as other Metrolink routes; however, he postulated that the Arrow trains to the University of Redlands are underutilized because there are large gaps in time between the Arrow train and Metrolink at the San Bernardino depot and the City’s website doesn’t mention the Arrow train. He continued by saying that it is his opinion that the Arrow could be utilized by patrons wanting to attend artistic events such as the University theater by simply walking from the University’s station.

He also gave his opinion that, from looking at maps, the Arrow could be extended from the University to Mentone, possibly by utilizing the historical avenues the kite train had used, and encouraged the audience to lobby for that, in order to bring people from LA to Mentone for its events like the Film Festival. However, he was reminded that the area behind the Senior Center – previously the railroad’s right of way – now contains Mentone’s water supply; both it and the vacant lot by Hovey’s tile factory – where Mentone’s historic depot stood on Opal – cannot hold permanent structures anymore.

Alan mentioned taking the train to Olvera Street, walking distance from the historic Union Station in LA, and that there are several stops on the Metrolink routes to LA and Orange County where the cities have street fairs, market nights and other attractions. He added that there is supposed to be a shuttle from the Upland station to the Ontario airport but that often the trains and buses are not coordinated in the times they arrive at the various stations, resulting in a long wait.

Alan encouraged train travel, rather than driving, citing difficulties with cars – obtaining driver’s licenses; car companies going out of business; some freeways are going to be toll; gas prices; freeway gridlock near LA, while the train keeps running toward LA. He also mentioned that 16-year-olds ride free on the train and there are three free days each year for adults [Ed.’s note: on February 4 Metrolink honored Rosa Parks by giving free rides; April 22, Earth Day, is the next free day].

J.P. Gutierrez, MACA president, displayed architectural drawings of Mentone’s historic train station.

It was announced that the next MACA program will be in May or June 2025. MM

Be sure to attend the MACA meeting tomorrow night, for more on Mentone’s history. Ken Alan, speaking on the railroad that put Mentone on the map; 7 p.m. at Mill Creek Cattle Company’s Banquet room, 1874 Mentone Boulevard, Mentone. MM

On Tuesday, February 11, at 7 p.m., Ken Alan will speak on “How the Railroad Shaped Mentone: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” according to J.P. Gutierrez, M.A.C.A. President. The Mentone Area Community Association meets in the Banquet room of the iconic Mill Creek Cattle Association, 1874 Mentone Boulevard, Mentone.

The presentation is free to the public. M.A.C.A. attempts to have meetings every quarter on the second Tuesday of the month.

OTHER MENTONE EVENTS: The last Tuesday of each month, except for November and December, C.O.M.E.T. (Community of Mentone Empowered Together) and the Chamber of Commerce meet in the banquet room at 7 p.m. The Chamber’s business memberships are $50 per year and individual memberships are $25; one need not own a business to join, said Jan Orbaker, the Chamber Chairperson and C.O.M.E.T.’s president.

Adopt-A-Highway meets several times a year, cleaning up the Boulevard on Saturday mornings at 7 or 7:30 a.m. Contact the Chamber at 909 362-7860 for the next cleanup date.

The date for Mentone Days and the Chili Cookoff will be announced but probably in May, according to Angie DeLaRosa, Chamber/C.O.M.E.T. secretary.

Mentone hosts its yearly Film Festival in November. According to the Chamber’s website, “The 6th Annual Mentone Film Festival was held November 8th,9th, 10th 2024. It was attended by many film makers, actors, and other celebrities. The award winning films are listed below with many photos from the Red Carpet Gala held on Sunday Evening the 10th.

Best Crime    ROAD TO TERZETTO – Brian Shakti  (Eddie Vincent accepted award as ACTOR in the movie)

Best Drama  LIME AND VINEGAR    Evan Snyder

Best Comedy  BOYS ABOUT TOWN #1   Mike Cuenca

Best Comedy Writer  DEATH PAYS FLORA A VISIT  Sy Rosen

Best Actor   BREAK UP SEASON   Chandler RIggs

Best Feature   BREAK UP SEASON   H. Nelson Tracey

Best Actress   LIME AND VINEGAR   Dalma Daniela

BEST THRILLEER (Short)  BECAUSE I LOVE YOU   Bob Celli

Best Thriller          MONSOON LOVER     Marlin Darrah

Best Animation   CHRISTMAS DANCE    Tiffany Jiang

Best Horror         HALLOWEEN ’63    Lorenzo P Adams

Best Documentary    WHO WE ARE     Noah Berlow and Szilva Vecserdy

Best Comedy (short)    CALLING ANDY    Alex Lang

Best Music Video  MIDNIGHT BLUE   Paul Gervasi 

​There was a 90 min block of student films on SATURDAY EVENING THE 9TH.

Best Student Actor    WHEN LUCK RUNS DRY   Jack Hadley

Best Student Actress   CHANCE IT   Maddie Bunn

Best Student Adventure   DREAMS   Marcel Mikaeli

Best Student Comedy     JOHNNY JR.    Lily Andrews

Best Student Music    ALL I ASK   Shelby Clinkscales

Best Student Romance  SLOW DANCE   Micha Streeter

Best Student Documentary  ORANGE RUSH  Dragon Fly Studios Orangewood School

Best Student Cinematography   TRY N RUN   Jospeh Eskander

BEST SILENT FILM     CHANCE IT    Ariel Lopez.”

2025’s Film Festival will run two days in November, with the dates and location to be announced later, according to DeLaRosa.

On Saturday, January 18, attorney Joyce Caraway received a notice from the California Supreme Court that COMET’s Petition for Review was denied. COMET had petitioned for a reversal of the appellate court’s decision in favor of Redlands and taking away COMET’s “standing,” [Ed.’s Note: right to bring a lawsuit]. “COMET had sought to prevent further forced annexations, but Redlands originally argued that COMET couldn’t prevail at trial and the judge bought the argument.” It was all downhill from there,” she added. It appears the case is over, even though the trial court judge did not rule on several issues, such as Redlands’ ‘development impact fees’ for library, police, fire, parks, etc., that Mentone’s developers and subsequent owners probably will not use,” she continued.

“It was a summary denial, meaning that the Supreme Court didn’t have to explain why it was denying review,” stated Caraway, who has been prosecuting COMET’s lawsuit against Redlands and LAFCO for nearly six years. “Redlands may be out of the lawsuit; all that would remain is for LAFCO, which approves Redlands’ forced annexations, to get out of it, as well.

“It has been a very complicated case, with several issues, including Redlands’ having done several illegal annexations and getting away with them.

“This doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the road for Mentone,” she added. “Every such annexation has to be approved by LAFCO, and if the property owners do not wish to be in Redlands, they may object before LAFCO, which has to abide by their wishes: Government Code Section 57078. Thus, if new property developers in Mentone want to stay in Mentone and don’t want to be absorbed into Redlands, they may appear before LAFCO and object and, by law, LAFCO may not approve the forced annexation. The problem is that most property developers think that “agreeing” to Redlands’ demand is all that they can do and apparently no one is telling them otherwise. That’s one reason why so much of Mentone has been lost in the past few years,” she continued. If anyone knows of someone who is developing property in Mentone, they should talk to them and ask them to stay in Mentone by objecting to LAFCO’s approval of Redlands’ forced annexation. If LAFCO then makes the wrong decision, the developer can sue; the decisions in COMET’s case do not prohibit any developer from suing LAFCO,” she added.

“The other problem for Mentone is that, unfortunately, some developers have not cared about it but instead have agreed with annexation or an unenforceable ‘pre’-annexation for business reasons, and thus have placed Mentone’s future in jeopardy. COMET filed suit to prevent future such annexations; also unfortunately, the courts did not discern Mentone’s dilemma and give us what we believed we deserved,” she concluded. MM

After COMET filed its Petition for Review in the California Supreme Court, Redlands had until the time limitation of December 23 to file its Answer, after which COMET could file a Reply. Redlands did not file anything, so COMET is now waiting for the Supreme Court to grant or deny review.

Again, the “questions presented” in the Petition included 1) whether Redlands’ demanded annexations and “pre”-annexations, before it will provide water and sewer services, violate several [California] Codes and case law ; 2) whether the forced annexations violate the Takings Clauses of the United States Constitution; 3) Whether a challenge to the “pre”-annexation “Agreements” without further proceedings, triggered the time limitations of California Code of Civil Procedure Section 860 [Ed.’s note: the basis on which the case was thrown out, rather than “substantive” issues]; and 4) Whether the appellate court possessed jurisdiction to reverse the trial court’s finding of COMET’s associational standing, when COMET and Redlands did not appeal that issue.

The Court only reviews 3% of the Petitions it receives.

“The high Court refused to grant COMET’s fee waiver of the $710 filing fee, despite multiple requests and proofs of need therefor,” said Joyce Caraway, COMET’s attorney for this case. If anyone wishes to contribute to COMET’s legal costs, they may forward contributions to C.O.M.E.T. at P.O. Box 246, Mentone, 92359. MM

On Tuesday, December 3, COMET [Ed.’s note: for those who don’t know, it stands for Community of Mentone Empowered Together], a Public Benefit Corporation, filed its Petition for Review in the California Supreme Court. The Petition asks four questions: 1) whether Redlands’ demanded annexation in exchange for provision of water and sewer services violate the law; 2) whether its demanded annexations in exchange for those utilities violates the Takings Clauses of the U.S. Constitution; 3) whether COMET’s challenge to the “pre”-annexation “Agreements” forced upon developers and Redlands’ 1956 Annexation No. 4 triggered the time limitations the trial and appellate courts imposed on COMET’s case; and 4) whether the appellate court had jurisdiction to overturn the trial court’s finding that COMET had associational standing [Ed.s’ note: meaning its right to sue in place of a developer who was directly affected, on the basis that all of Mentone is impacted by the forced annexations].

Prior to filing this Petition, COMET had filed a Petition for Rehearing with the appellate court, which summarily denied it [Ed.’s note: that means without an explanation]. The Petition was designed to ask the high court to overturn the appellate court’s Opinion.

COMET cited Code authority for its claim that Redlands extorts annexation and case law that extended the Code authority to civil cases, as well. COMET also cited U.S. Supreme Court case law that found that any government’s demands, for more than was needed in order to provide a permit, constituted “takings of property without just compensation,” which “takings” were prohibited in the highest Court’s view.

COMET’s original Complaint, filed in March 2019, attached a “pre”-annexation “Agreement,” without the signing of which Redlands would refuse to provide the water -“from under Mentone’s streets and from Mill Creek a mile east of where Mentone took its water – but did not challenge any particular annexation other than all which were illegal and Annexation No. 4. As the Complaints explain, Annexation No. 4, accomplished in 1956, went up Wabash to what is now the south side of the airport runway, turned eastward and went almost to Bryant, connecting one of the City’s properties with its east city limits,” explained Joyce Caraway. who has prosecuted COMET’s case from the beginning. “It did so by means of ‘strips’ of land which violated the law concerning such ‘strips,’ and we claim that all annexations adjacent to the 1956 Mill Creek annexation are also illegal,” she continued. “A major factor is that most of Mentone did not know of the annexation and none of the adjacent property owners knew of the illegality at the time, but Leonora Tate notified the City in writing that they did not wish their property to be annexed, which the City honored,” she added. “Later, another property adjacent to Mill Creek was involuntarily annexed by the City in recent years so that it could connect their water property south of Mill Creek Road to the city limits in the Mill Creek properties it had already annexed. Although the property owner objected, Redlands did it anyway.

“As suggested by Redlands’ counsel, the trial court found that COMET had failed to bring a timely challenge and basically threw our case out. We are endeavoring to get it reinstated, or at least have some of the holdings against us reversed,” she continued. “This is the reason for our arguments that Annexation No. 4 and the ‘Pre’-annexation agreements attached to the Complaints – which ‘Agreements’ violate the ‘contiguity law,’ and California Supreme Court case law upholding the Code section – did not trigger the time consideration, also because that time limitation was enacted after Annexation No. 4 was completed.”

“COMET appealed the trial court’s finding of no other types of ‘standing’ but did not appeal COMET’s associational standing; nor did Redlands file a cross-appeal. Thus, the appellate court did not have jurisdiction to overturn the trial court’s finding that COMET had standing; however, the appellate court took away that standing, anyway,” she continued.

Redlands’ counsel has a certain amount of time to answer the Petition for Review; then COMET will have to reply to its arguments. “After that, the Supreme Court has the discretion to grant or deny review; its website states that it only undertakes 3% of the cases referred to it; we hope that the Court will see value in our questions and grant review,” she concluded.

Anyone wishing to read these articles as they are published are welcome to add their e-mail address to the website. Donations to the Chamber for legal fees are most welcome, as are new members; one need not own a business: individuals may also join. MM

On Friday, October 25, 2024, the appellate court served its opinion in the case of C.O.M.E.T. v. Redlands, agreeing with the trial court and finding against Mentone on all points. The main issues litigated were whether Redlands had a right to demand annexation in exchange for providing new water service, which C.O.M.E.T. alleges is extortionate because Redlands is not otherwise entitled to pull Mentone into its city limits. The court disagreed with C.O.M.E.T. because it had not brought a “reverse validation” case within 60 days of a completed annexation, although C.O.M.E.T.’s complaints had attached Annexation “Agreements” dated just weeks before, in which the property developers agreed to allow annexation when the property was next door – [Ed.’s note: “contiguous” in legalese] to Redlands’ city limits. After such an executed “Agreement” became available, the trial court had already thrown out C.O.M.E.T.’s reverse validation cause of action without leave to amend.

“Redlands’ action is based on its 1997 “slow-growth” initiative, a position that is not encompassed in the law elsewhere in California; nor have I found another community that is being taken over as we are,” stated attorney Joyce Caraway, who has prosecuted the case for the past 5 1/2 years.

The appellate court also agreed with the trial court that C.O.M.E.T. lack “standing” [Ed.’s note: meaning a right to sue] because C.O.M.E.T. could not prove to the court’s satisfaction that it represented other Mentone residents and because it did not own property that was subject to Redlands’ forced annexation. The trial court had found that C.O.M.E.T. possessed “associational” standing but the appellate court reversed that finding, deciding that C.O.M.E.T. lacked any of the four types of standing. “We know people in the community and in Redlands don’t know and haven’t known what was going on with Redlands or the lawsuit; it’s because we are not a united community, such that only a few attend the C.O.M.E.T./Chamber meetings, that we don’t have the clout a city would have,” she added.

“Someone who is forced to annex in order to receive water to their new development would not have these problems; they would have standing and a reverse validation cause of action. However, there are strict statutes of limitation in which they must challenge that action by Redlands, and they need to know their right to challenge the forced annexation. Sometimes developers come to Mentone and develop their properties and then leave after annexing because they don’t care,” attorney Caraway concluded.

The appellate court agreed with the trial court on all other issues on which it opined; some issues had not been decided on the trial court level and some were not addressed in the appellate decision.

LAFCo, the San Bernardino County Local Agency Formation Commission, which oversees all of Redlands’ annexations, is the other defendant, with somewhat different issues in the case.

UPDATE:

On Tuesday, November 12, C.O.M.E.T. filed a timely challenge to the decision, titled a Petition for Rehearing, with the Fourth District Court of Appeals, to which was attached a Declaration of Joyce Caraway, with proof that the “reverse validation” had not been triggered by the Annexation and “”pre”-annexation “Agreements attached to three versions of the Complaints. “Although I am informed by appellate specialists that the Court usually does not accept briefs with declarations, it did this time,” stated attorney Caraway.

“The Petition argued that because the ‘Agreements’ – which were only “pre”-annexed [Ed.’s Note: those for Mentone’s Dollar General and the erstwhile Tom’s Burgers], together with Redlands’ illegal 1956 annexation of Mentone’s Section 7 and all of Mill Creek, did not trigger the reverse validation action, it was error for that court and the trial court to throw out the causes of action – most of which rulings were based on ‘no timely reverse validation’ – and they should be reinstated,” she added. “Redlands is not allowed to file an Answer to the Petition unless the court asks it to.

“The appellate court has until 30 day after its October 25th Opinion against C.O.M.E.T. in which to decide whether to grant the rehearing; if it does not wish to do so it may state that intention or it may just ignore the Petition,” Caraway concluded. MM