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The San Bernardino County

Sentinel

News of Notefrom Around theLargest Countyin the Lower 48 States

Friday, December 4, 2009 A Fortunado Publication in conjunction with Countywide News Service 10808 Foothill Blvd. Suite 160-446 Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730

See P 4See P 7See P 2See P 6See P 3See P 2Jim Erwin

Free TrialE-mailDeliveryAvailableSeePage 8

Grand Jury Probing Victorville Operations

The San BernardinoCounty Grand Jury isfocusing on at least threeareas in which embez-

zlements or signicant

unauthorized diversionsof money appear to haveoccurred within the cityof Victorville’s opera-tions over the last half dozen years.

All ve members of

the city council as well asthe current city manager have been questioned by the grand jury and atleast three subpoenas for documents and recordshave been issued.According to sourcesclose to the investiga-tion, the current probe began with a complaintto the 2008-09 grand

jury. Insufcient infor

-mation to support a report or indictment waschurned up before that panel’s charter expiredat the end of June. Thematter was taken up bythe 2009-10 grand juryand as more detail hasemerged, a special crim-inal grand jury has now been impaneled to seethe case through.What was once char-acterized as question-able management andthe imprudent expendi-ture of taxpayer moneyentailing the squander-ing of millions of dollarsis now being consideredin a different light, suchthat the grand jury is fol-lowing up on reports thatcouncil members, citystaff members and cityconsultants and contrac-tors willfully engaged inthe diversion of

MoreErwinFallout

Nearly sixteen monthsago, over three months before supervisor-elect Neil Derry was to be

sworn into ofce, Neil

Derry persuaded the board of supervisors, in-cluding four of its members who would becomehis future colleagues, toextend county employ-ment to the man he hadchosen to serve as hischief of staff, Jim Erwin.Supervisor Paul Biane presented the idea of hir-ing Erwin on August 26,2008, more than threemonths before Derry

was to ofcially takeofce to the board, as

-serting that Erwin couldmake good use of thetime to acquaint himself with the county’s ThirdDistrict, which extendsfrom the urban areas of east San Bernardino andRedlands into a major portion of the county’smountain communitiesand then into a portionof the desert.Derry had defeatedthen-incumbent supervi-sor Dennis Hansberger in June 2008 in a headto head contest, meaningsix months would elapse before he would becomesupervisor. Oftentimesin San Bernardino Coun-ty, more than two candi-dates vie in the primaryelection, such that a runoff between the two topvote getters must be heldin November,

County OKs Hinkley Sludge Compost Plant

Over the protests of local residents, the coun-ty planning commissionthis week approved aconditional use permitfor Nursery Productsto locate and operate asludge composting plantat old Hawes Field.In granting the con-ditional use permit, the planning commissionaccepted the developer’senvironmental impactreport on the project, de-spite a previous ruling by Judge John Vander Feer that the county landuse services division and Nursery Products mustconduct a further envi-ronmental review withregard to the provisionof water at the facilityand consider the feasibil-ity of enclosing the proposed facility.However, the land useservices division made

a nding, and the plan

-ning commission ac-cepted, that adequatewater is available at thesite to support the op-eration. Further, the landuse services divisiondetermined, the cost of entirely enclosing thefacility would have beeneconomically unfeasible.Opponents of the proj-ect, who have long as-serted that enclosing thefacility is both affordableand necessary to protectthe environment, vowedto appeal the planningcommission’s approvalto the board of supervi-sors. Nursery Products,headed by Orange Coun-ty-based Jeff Meberg of Tricilacom Corporation,was forced to

Biane Defends Uncle’sAppointment

Supervisor Paul Bianethis week defended hisnomination of his uncle,Rene Biane, to a posi-tion on the County FloodControl Advisory Com-mission. Following hisnomination of his uncleat the December 1 boardof supervisors meeting,the full board of supervi-

sors ratied that appoint

-ment.Prior to that vote,which was made as partof the board’s approvalof this week’s consentcalendar, two countyresidents, Barbara So-kolof and Edward Snell,questioned the appoint-ment.“Is this a relative of Mr. [Paul] Biane?” So-koloff asked, “Alreadyyou have an uncle as partof the assessor’s com-mittee for reviewing anykind of debate.”Sokoloff’s referencewas to Michael Biane,who serves on the coun-ty’s assessment appeals board.

Adelanto Trades Sheriff Space for Coverage

The city of Adelantohas agreed to provide14,196 square feet of space in its police department headquartersfor use by the sheriff’sdepartment for the nomi-nal fee of $1 per year for the next ten years.According to a coun-ty staff report authored by the county’s director of real estate services,David Slaughter, andsheriff Rod Hoops and presented by sheriff’scaptain Dennis O’Casey,the arrangement is theoutgrowth of a decision by the sheriff earlier thisyear to relocated a major portion of its High Des-ert operations away fromVictorville into Adel-anto.Formerly, Adelantohad its own police department but that agencywas dissolved in 2002when the city councilvoted to contract withthe sheriff’s departmentfor law enforcment ser-vices.At that time the sher-iff’s department movedinto the police depart-ment building located at11613 Bartlett Avenue inAdelanto.In the more thanseven years since, thesheriff’s department’sunincorporated patrolresponsibilities

Board Ethics Reform Inadequate, Critic Says

On December 1, theSan Bernardino CountyBoard of Supervisors passed an ordinanceaimed at stopping coun-

ty ofcials from using public ofce for personal

gain.The ordinance was prompted by criticismleveled and suggestionsmade in the 2008-09county grand jury reportreleased on July 1.The ordinance, whichmust be voted on againat the board’s December

15 meeting to be nal

-ized, prohibits the use of

county equipment, ofc

-es, employees, propertyor resources for personal

benet unless such use

is authorized beforehand by the board the boardof supervisors. Over the past ten years, two for-mer county administra-

tive ofcers, two former

county supervisors, aformer county treasurer,the county’s investment

ofcer, the former asses

-sor and four of the em-

ployees of his ofce have

all been either chargedor convicted of crimesrelating to embezzle-ment, unauthorized useof county resources or misuse of county funds.State laws already prohibit the misuse of public property or a pub-

lic ofcial from partici

- pating in a public action

or decision that benetshim or her nancially.

Because of the prolifera-tion of such activity inSan Bernardino County,the grand jury suggestedthat the county incorpo-rate explicit provisionsinto its employment pol-icy and its code of ethicsthat make it abundantlyclear that such activitywill not be tolerated.Before the board passed the ordinance,however, Sam Clauder,a county resident whohas previously expressedoutrage and disappoint-ment at what he consid-ers to be the board’s self-serving actions, said the board was being sancti-monious in now

Friday, December 4, 2009Page 2San Bernardino County Sentinel

The San Bernardino County

Sentinel

Published in San Bernardino CountyMark Gutglueck, Publisher A Fortunado Publication in conjunction withCountywide News Service

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Continued on Page 6

Biane

from front page

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Erwin

from front page

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Please include your name and city of residence

Snell said, “That isyour relative. You are go-ing to approve Rene Biane

to the ood control com

-mittee. You and [boardof supervisors chairmanGary] Ovitt were run-ning around on [devel-oper Jeff] Burum’s jetwhooping it up, having agood ol’ time. You mightget away with it with therest of the public, but Iknow. This has to dealwith corruption in thecounty. When you startappointing your unclesaunts and cousins and ev-eryone you can think of,this has something to dowith ...corruption in SanBernardino County. Ap- pointing your relatives,

that’s got a kind of shy

smell to it.”Biane responded,“The question has beenasked about Rene Bi-ane and whether he isa relative of mine. Theanswer is, ‘Yes, he is myuncle.’ I think more im- portantly, to add someunderstanding here, in

understanding the ood

control zones, there aresix zones in our county.This particular zone ac-tually has 11 members.Six of those membersare recommended byFourth District supervi-sor Gary Ovitt. Five of those are recommenda-tions of mine. They basi-cally weigh in and makerecommendations on the budget and priorities of

that individual ood

control district zone.Those are forwardedto us to either adopt or make changes.”Paul Biane continued,“Rene Biane, since mostof you aren’t from thewest part of the valley,he’s my uncle. He’s turn-ing 80 two weeks fromnow. He has been hon-ored over and over againfor his commitment tothe community founda-tion board he sits on. It issometimes hard to sit uphere and have my familyattacked. They are good people. You can attack me but look at the in-dividuals I put forward

and their qualications.

They are able to servethis community andhave something to give.”Ovitt said, “I mightadd that I have the privi-lege of serving with Mr.Biane in a number of ca- pacities. He truly is high-ly thought of throughoutof through out the WestEnd. He’s done an aw-ful lot The Biane name iswell thought of through-out the district. It is trulya privilege to be able toappoint him.”Rene Biane, who livesin Upland, will serve asa representative of coun-

ty ood control zone

1. Flood Control Dis-trict One extends over the Fourth and Secondsupervisorial districts.Paul Biane is SecondDistrict supervisor. TheSecond District includesMt. Baldy, San AntonioHeights , Upland RanchoCucamonga, Wrigth-twood, Fontana and a portion of the lower HighDesert, Crest Forest,Lake Gregory, Crestline,Cedar Pines Park.Rene Biane will re- place Richard Avent onthe Flood Control DistrictAdvisory Committee.

which is only one monthfrom the beginning of an

ofce term.

While Biane’s proposal on behalf of Derryand Erwin sounded rea-sonable to some, tradi-tionally the county hada policy of not hiring anincoming supervisor’sstaff until just one month before the superviso-rial term initiated. In thisway, Biane’s proposalwas somewhat unique.In the discussion that

ensued after Biane oat

-ed the concept, Derrymade himself availableto provide his rationalefor giving his future chief of staff a running startat overseeing, on behalf of his boss, the ThirdDistrict. During this ex-change, supervisor JosieGonzales questioned theneed for Erwin getting athree month head start.She pointed out that theexpense of paying Er-win’s $13,000 per monthsalary for a full threemonths before Derryactually would assumeauthority over the ThirdDistrict would be an un-necessary burden on tax- payers, considering thatHansberger’s stafferswould be simultaneously pulling paychecks. Gon-zales gently suggestedthat perhaps a compro-mise might be reachedand that Erwin could behired beginning in Oc-tober instead of Septem- ber so that he would gettwo months to come upto speed, which after all,Gonzales pointed out,was twice the acclima-tion term that had tradi-tionally been extendedto incoming supervisors’staff members.Derry’s response toGonzales sent a shock-wave around the boardchambers that still re-sounds, in more than oneway, today. He informedGonzales that he wouldaccept the opportunityto have his chief-of-staff begin his service withthe county in Septem- ber. Clearly, Derry wasnot prepared to have Bi-ane’s proposal denied.While he did not say sodirectly, Derry’s bodylanguage clearly statedthat he would acceptno less than a full threemonths employment of his future chief of staff.Implicit in Derry’s man-ner was Derry’s tacit as-sertion, remarked upon by dozens who witnessedit, that Derry, who hadyet no authority withinthe county, was virtuallydictating county policy.What was assumed bymany in the aftermath of Derry’s show of power,was that he, together with Erwin, were insome fashion engagingin political extortion of the board of supervisors.Some said that Derry,fresh off an electoralvictory over the well-

nanced Hansberger and

the Redlands politicalmachine he represented,was merely feeling hisoats.Others, however, saidthey feared that some-thing much more sinister was afoot. Erwin, manyrecognized, was a forceto be reckoned with.Aside from now beingthe power behind Der-ry’s throne, he represent-ed a wellspring of insti-tutional memory drawnfrom disparate sources.Erwin had been a deputywith the San BernardinoCounty Sheriff’s Depart-ment. As a member of the union representingthe sheriff’s deputies, theSafety Employees Ben-

et Association (known

by its acronym SEBA),he ran, successfully, for union treasurer. Later,he stepped up and ran,again successfully, for SEBA president. Eventu-ally Erwin would leave

the sheriff’s ofce and no

longer have the status to be a member of the unionor, thus, the union’s pres-ident. His value to theunion was such that hewas hired as SEBA’s ex-ecutive director.As a sheriff’s depu-ty, the sheriff’s deputyunion president and thenits executive director, Er-win became a custodianof information - infor-mation of a type oftenreposited into dossiers- derogatory informa-tion pertaining to the

powerful and inuential,

information that would

further the inuence

of the sheriff’s depart-ment and the sheriff’sdeputies’ union. Some of those dossiers pertainedto members of the boardof supervisors.As SEBA’s presidentand its executive director,Erwin had played a major role in collecting moneyinto, and then vectoringmoney out of, SEBA’s political action commit-tee. Over the years, thisinvolved the disburse-ment of millions of dol-lars, money that madeand broke candidatesand installed dozens of individuals into political

ofce. One of the rea

-sons Derry had formedan alliance with Erwinwas Erwin’s understand-ing - indeed mastery - of how the political game is played, and in particular,how that game is playedin San Bernardino Coun-ty. No doubt, Erwin had been the architect of Derry’s longshot vic-tory over Hansberger,

who had a string of ve

victories in previousraces for Third Districtsupervisor. Previously,Erwin had used his posi-

Friday, December 4, 2009 Page 3San Bernardino County Sentinel

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Hinkley Sludge

from front page

close down a smaller sludge composting fa-cility it operated near Adelanto four years agoout of environmentalconcerns. Subsequently,it applied to enlarge thatoperation and locate iton the grounds of thelong-shuttered Hawes

training aireld 12 miles

east of Kramer Junction,eight miles west of Hin-kley and south of High-way 58, subject to closemonitoring.According to an envi-ronmental impact reportcompleted at the behest of San Bernardino County,the facility will receiveup to 1,100 tons of hu-man and green waste per day for processing, put-ting out roughly 400,000tons of composting ma-

terial per year. The nal

product will be marketedto farmers throughoutSouthern California.On August 14, 2008,all six members of theCalifornia IntegratedWaste ManagementBoard voted to grant Nursery Products a facil-ity permit for the plant.Several desert resi-dents, including Barstowmayor Lawrence Dale,went on record as beingopposed to the project by means of a real timeteleconference from theBarstow City Councilchambers on August 14,2008 that was incorpo-rated into the CaliforniaIntegrated Waste Man-agement Board hearing.Those residents saidthey opposed the proj-ect, mainly over their concern that odors andwind-borne contami-nants from disease-and-chemical-bearing vola-tile organic compoundswould emanate from the plant.The Mojave Water Agency, which had pre-viously raised the issuethat discharges from the proposed plant could potentially pollute theMojave River, did notreiterate that issue atthe August 2008 hear-ing. The river is located12 miles to the south.After the Mojave Wa-ter Agency alerted theSan Bernardino CountyLand Use Services De- partment of the danger that byproducts from the plant could reach the riv-

er by means of two oodow routes near the site,

That issue, according tocounty planners, was re-dressed. Nearby residents, as-sisted by the Center for Biological Diversity, theCenter on Race, Povertyand the Environment andthe Golden Gate Univer-sity Environmental Lawand Justice Clinic, chal-lenged the approval.That challenge ledto the ruling by Vander Feer, which NurseryProducts appealed to theFourth Appellate Dis-trict in Riverside. With-out waiting for a rulingfrom the Fourth Appel-late District, the project proponents then soughtto address the water is-sue with the county landuse services division. Nursery Products alsosubmitted documenta-tion showing that hous-ing the operation entirelyinside a closed facilitywould boost the cost of the project to nearly $1 billion.Meanwhile, project proponents were con-tending Vander Feer’sruling meant that the en-vironmental impact report for the project had to be entirely redone. Theysubmitted alternative de-sign plans for the enclo-sure of the plant that theysaid would be far less expensive to construct than Nursery Products wasmaintaining.One advantage the proponents insist theHawes facility has over the site Nursery Prod-ucts formerly operatedout of in Adelanto is thatit is far more removedfrom its neighbors. Me- berg said the new plantwill be both cleaner andmore remote than its pre-decessor. Nursery Products op-erated the compostingfacility in Adelanto until2005, at which point thatfacility was hounded outof existence by the com- plaints of residents.According to thecounty, roughly 45trucks per day will un-load sludge at the new plant, which will takein up to 401,500 tons of human and green wasteannually. Nursery Prod-uct’s Adelanto facilityreceived and processedno more than 96,000 tonsof waste annually.A local resident, Norman Diaz, says the Nursery Products de-sign for the plant andthe county’s unwilling-ness to alter that designis unacceptable. He wasa leader in the oppositionto the project.Diaz dismissed as in-accurate Nursery Prod-uct’s assertion that the plant had passed envi-ronmental muster.“Judge Vander Feer ruled that they couldnot sever the parts of theenvironmental impactreport and that the en-tire EIR [environmentalimpact report] was unac-ceptable,” he said.Diaz complained thatwhile the appeal of the project was pending,Meberg “was attempt-ing to work around the process by using [countysupervisor] Brad Mitzel-

felt’s inuence to x the

problems that were notseverable. This was done

in deance of the judge,

who stated the EIR needsto be redone completely.What Brad Mitzlefelt isdoing is not correct. Itis a waste of taxpayer money and time. It is atravesty of government.He is doing this as a fa-vor to someone who gavehim and his pal [former supervisor] Bill Postmusa lot of campaign money.We are citizens who aregoing to be hurt by thisand we are getting nohelp from the county or the department of health.Mr. Mitzelfelt says thatto help us will be to hin-der industry. The indus-try he is talking aboutwill employ eight employees.”The human waste inthe form of sludge thatwill be trucked to the project site from thegreater Los Angelesarea, Orange and lower San Bernardino countiesrepresents a biohazard,Diaz said.“This is not cow ma-nure,” he said. “This ishuman sewage. It con-tains pharmaceuticals,antibiotics, steroids, hor-mones, all of which rep-resent potential healthhazards. There are traceheavy metals in it. Itcontains volatile organiccompounds.“These will createhealth problems, breath-ing problems, reproduc-tive problems, devel-opmental and learning problems,” he continued.“These will have longterm effects. My kids’school is downwindfrom the plant site. Asthe sludge evaporatesthose volatile organiccompounds will blowoff. You can’t tell methere is not a potentialfor problems.”Diaz scoffed at thesuggestion that the compost derived from a mix-ture of human waste andground up constructiondebris would be used for agricultural food pro-duction.“The only type of thing that sludge compost can be used for isa crop such as cotton,”Diaz said. “It cannot be used on food crops.There is already enoughcow manure available lo-cally to provide fertilizer in this area.”In this way, Diaz said,it is clear that the compost plant is not thereto deliver a product butto serve as a dumpingground for waste. Ac-cordingly, Diaz said, Nursery Products should be required to incorpo-rate into the plant’s de-sign the same safeguardsthat would be requiredif it were located in LosAngeles, Orange or low-er San Bernardino coun-ties.Diaz said he wouldstill not be comfortablewith the plant’s pres-ence in his community but that he could livewith it if the plant wereto incorporate concreteslabs upon which thesludge was to be de- posited that would pre-vent contaminants fromleaching down into thewater table; an enclosureto prevent the wind fromscattering the volatileorganic compounds; a

ltering system that fur

-ther eliminated the pos-sibility that the volatileorganics would spread;and a requirement thatafter the trucks depos-ited their loads of sludgeat the plant that theywould be hosed out to prevent sludge residuefrom dripping onto localroads and neighboring properties as they drove back toward the InlandEmpire and Los Ange-les.Such requirementswould increase the cost of the plant by around $180

million, Diaz said, a g

-ure he claimed would not be unreasonable given

the prot Nursery Prod

-ucts would reap fromits operation, which he pegged at slightly over $30 million per year.Diaz said the companyhad utilized much more

expensive cost gures

for an enclosed plant thatwas built by public rath-

er than private for-prot

entities. He said the en-closure was needed toensure public safety.“This is toxic wasteand it’s not environ-mentally friendly,” Diazsaid. “There should beas much regard for thehealth of the people wholive in our neighborhoodas there is for the people who live in the areawhere this sludge origi-nates.”In a document prepared for Thursday’s planning commission

hearing, the land useservices division stated

,“

Based on the entire re-cord, the planning com-