We welcomed Supervisor Rowe’s comments and suggestions; whether they will succeed in protecting Mentone remains to be seen. We look for her really to protect Mentone, as opposed to her predecessor who – although he claimed to have grown up here – was more interested in his political ambitions than in Mentone and actually favored Redlands’ greedy takeover. As for East Valley Water, perhaps someone out there knows if we are connected to it with piping: the area where the “Harmony” project is sought to be built used to be in Mentone’s territory but LAFCO gave it to Highland, which it serves, and that district may not be able or willing to give us water across the riverbed. It is doubtful that Redlands would agree to sharing the piping it received when it bought Mentone’s water companies.
Redlands likes to claim the Zanja as its own but it forgets that the ditch/creek begins in Mentone territory and if we dammed it up into a reservoir they wouldn’t get any of the water! Say, maybe that would provide some water and thereby alleviate some of our problems with Redlands.
Officer Emon’s comments were certainly understandable: no one likes to go to work thinking that it could be their last day on earth. MM deeply appreciates our law enforcement, firepeople and others who protect us. They do have those Kevlar vests but no helmets, except in limited situations; helmets could go a long way toward protecting them. On the other hand, the ACLU (which MM considers extremely liberal and not always right) says AB 392 addresses the unfortunate police shootings of – sometimes – unarmed people and states that the majority of them are people of color (one hears the most about people of color who are killed by white officers but less about white people who are killed by officers of color). MM has no opinion about which bill to support and urges its readers to Google both bills and make informed decisions for themselves.
This editor has helped the homeless and applauds efforts on behalf of the deserving down-on-their-luck homeless, but what to do about those who are on drugs or choose to live on the streets and off of society because they don’t want someone to tell them what to do? Present-day laws do not force them to go to shelters – even though San Bernardino County says it has the largest number of resources for the homeless in California (usually accepted by the not-of-their-choice victims) – or to get into drug- and alcohol diversion programs or get mental health treatment (including medication where needed) or otherwise be responsible for their own food and lodging. The only solution is to drive them away from here so that they become another city’s, county’s or state’s problem. It seems unfair to the area where they end up (and harsh to the homeless), but who creates the problem? Isn’t the person who chooses to live on the street or in their car, who won’t go to a shelter, get a job or otherwise become responsible for themselves?
Finally, after living four years in Mentone, we still don’t understand why all of the flying – especially the screaming jets – takes place over Mentone rather than Redlands: after all, it is their air show. One year a jet flew so low over our neighborhood that we could clearly see the pilot’s face. It scares our animals and just isn’t necessary over here: another intrusion – this time into our “air space” – by Redlands. We’re always glad when it’s over for another year. This is just MM’s opinion and we will probably hear from those who like the air show over Mentone. MM