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Listen To Your News		Tuesday, January 19, 2010		News Archive

2 HURT WHEN SMALL AIRPLANE CRASHES INTO JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK
Rescue crews have found an airplane that was been reported missing in Joshua Tree National park. Park Spokesman Joe Zarki said the Cessna 172 took off around 7 Monday Morning from a Joshua Tree-area airport enroute the Palm Springs International Airport, but never arrived. The plane was about nine miles northeast of Palm Springs when officials lost contact at 8:22 a.m. On board was a pilot and a student pilot. Civil Air Patrol was notified around 2:00 Monday afternoon, and using tracking equipment, suspected the Cessna went down in Joshua Tree National Park in the Juniper Flats/Quail Mountain area. Small search teams were sent out around 3:30, a full-scale search and rescue team was sent around 8 p.m. The plane was located at about 11:30 last night and the two victims were reported to be trapped in the wreckage with serious injuries. Rescue workers asked for extrication equipment to get them out of the plane. Zarki said the two men, one identified as Rocky Harvey of Joshua Tree, were pulled from the wreckage around 4 a.m. and taken to Desert Hospital in Palms Springs. The other man in the plane has not been identified. We will have more details as they become available.

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Bill Neeb Chad Mayes George Huntington Lori Herbel Frank Luckino

YUCCA VALLEY TOWN COUNCIL MEET TONIGHT, CALIFORNIA WELCOME CENTER WANTS ANOTHER $10,000.00 The Yucca Valley Town Council meets in regular session tonight. Property negotiations, a request for more money for the California Welcome Center and a 2% raise for town employees are on the agenda. Managing Editor Karl Gardner takes a closer look... The Yucca Valley Town Council and Redevelopment agency will be in session this evening in the Yucca Room of the Yucca Valley Community Center.

The RDA will convenes at 5 to discuss routine matters, then goes into a closed session to negotiate for property on the north side of Highway 62 west of Inca Trail. Due to an error in the Agenda the Town Council, slated to convene a closed session also at 5, will convene that closed session if time permits after the RDA meeting. On that agenda; a conference with the Town Attorney on potential litigation and property negotiations for Blue Skies County Club, along with property owned by the Boy’s and Girl’s Club. In regular session, Council will hear a report from the Desert Regional Tourism Agency asking for an additional $10,000 in funding; authorize a 2 percent pay raise for Town employees, appoint members to the Planning Commission and RDA, and hold policy discussions on the town’s sign ordinance and code compliance program.

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YUCCA VALLEY MAN HELD AFTER ATTACKING HIS PARENTS
A Yucca Valley man ended up behind bars for a few hours after he spit in his mother’s face and hit his father. Sheriff reports say Friday afternoon around 2:15, deputies were called to the 56700 block of Cassia Drive in Yucca Valley by a woman saying she needed their help. Arriving deputies said 38 year old Richard Bell, who lives at the home with his parents, had drank around 12 beers after becoming angry with this 18 year old son. Bell, drunk and upset, spit in his mother’s face, then threw his father Roland Bell, around the garage and punched him in the back of the head. Roland Bell placed his son under citizens’ arrest; deputies took Richard Bell into custody and booked him to the Morongo Basin jail for investigation of assault. Richard Bell was released the next morning around 6:45am.

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3 HURT IN TWENTYNINE PALMS CRASH
Sketchy details after a traffic crash in Twentynine Palms sent three to the hospital Sunday. Twentynine Palms fire officials said they were called to a two-vehicle traffic crash around 1 p.m. The father of one of the victims, Christopher Defries, said his brother in-law Derek Feldman, 19, was driving west on State Route 62 in a small Mazda approaching Lear Avenue. A car heading in the opposite direction attempted to make a left turn onto Lear in front of Feldman’s car. Feldman, and Defries’ 5-year-old daughter Daniella, were injured in the crash, as was a child in the second car. All three were taken to Desert Hospital in Palms Spring. Defires said Daniella was treated and released with minor injures, Derek Feldman remains hospitalized. Exact details on the crash were not available from the California Highway Patrol.

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SPOT FIRE IN JOSHUA NATIONAL PARK SUNDAY
A small "spot" fire near Keys Ranch in Joshua Tree National Park over the weekend. County fire officials said around 9:00 Sunday Morning, fire crews from Joshua Tree were called to the park to assist in fighting a small fire that started among some brush and trees in a group of rocks near the historic Key’s Ranch. Firefighters had to hike in about a quarter mile off the road. Park officials said since the fire was confined to such a small area, about 10 by 40 feet, the decision was made to let it burn itself out. It appeared the fire was man made, possible due to campfire or someone tossing out a lit cigarette. No injuries were reported.

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Donna Munoz Ed Will Martie Avels Phyllis Swinnerton

SCHOOL BOARD TO DECIDE HOW TO RESOLVE TIES IN SENIORITY The Morongo Unified School Board meets in regular session tonight. Three financial updates and how to solve seniority ties are on the agenda. Reporter Dan Stork has more... The regular meeting of the Morongo Unified School District Board of Education on Tuesday January 19th takes place at Palm Vista Elementary School, 74350 Baseline, in Twentynine Palms. It begins with a closed session at 6:05. The open session at 7 p.m. begins with a song by a second-grade class from Palm Vista Elementary. 3 presentations will follow: one from an accounting firm on the Financial Report on the last school year, another on grants, and the third on the Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the Federal stimulus act).

After considering the consent agenda and hearing reports from staff, student, and employee representatives, the Board will move on to the Action Agenda, which includes:

• criteria for resolving ties in seniority related to certificated layoffs.
• an application for funding categorical aid programs,
• The implementation of program flexibility; and
• several High School Exit Exam waivers for specific special education students.

Four draft policies will be presented for review, covering:

• Disenrollment for Nonattendance
• Parental Notifications
• Parent Involvement, and
• the Individualized Education Program

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BRAILLE INSTITUTE FREE SEMINAR ON COPING WITH VISION LOSS
The Braille Institute is hosting a Free Seminar on Understanding Vision Loss and Ways to Adjust and Cope Friday, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Braille Institute, at 70-251 Ramon Road in Rancho Mirage. The two-hour seminar will cover the basics of blindness and visual impairment and specific skills related to assisting people who are blind and visually impaired. Techniques for The Business of Living will be addressed along with the emotional impact of sight loss and how to cope with the changes in lifestyle. All of your questions will be answered. Please RSVP by calling 760-321-1111. More information can be found at www.brailleinstitute.org.

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OFFICERS SPOUSES CLUB OFFERING SCHOLARSHIPS
The Officer’s Spouse’s Club aboard the Twentynine Palms Marine Base is offering scholarships locally. Reporter Tami Roleff tells you how, and who, can apply...
The Officer Spouses Club of Twentynine Palms has college scholarships available for the 2010-2011 academic year. Applicants must be children or spouses of active duty, retired, or deceased military service members, and must have applied to or been accepted by a 2- or 4-year school for their first undergraduate degree or vocational certificate. Applicants and their military sponsors must live in the Morongo Basin at the time of application. Applications must be postmarked by March 1. For more information or to receive an application, call Kaprece James at 760-910-9576 or e-mail oscscholarship@gmail.com.

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THURSDAY NOON LECTURE AT HI-DESERT NATURE MUSEUM ON 10 BEST BIRDING SPOTS
The Hi-Desert Nature Museum will host Associate Professor of Natural Resources at College of the Desert, Kurt Leuschner, presenting "The Palms to Pines Birding and Nature Trail" as part of their Winter Lecture Series. Almost two years in the making, "The Palms to Pines Birding and Nature Trail" map is a useful guide which highlights ten of the area’s best known birding sites. Professor Leuschner will share information about this ambitious project this Thursday, starting at noon, free to the public, and coffee will be served. The Hi-Desert Nature Museum is located in the Yucca Valley Community Center Complex and is open Tuesday-Sunday from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Admission is free. For information, contact the Museum at (760) 369-7212 or see our web site at www.hidesertnaturemuseum.org.

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HI-DESERT WATER DISTRICT WASTEWATER ADVISORS MEET TONIGHT
The Wastewater Advisory Committee for the Hi-Desert Water District meets tonight. Managing Editor Karl Gardner says assessment districts are among those items being discussed...
Hi-Desert Water’s Wastewater Public Advisory Committee meets in special session this evening at district offices on the Highway at Inca, starting at 6:30, please note the new start time. Items of interest on the agenda include discussions on forming an assessment district and sewage treatment technology options. Subcommittee sessions, reports from subcommittee, round table comments and issues for the next meeting raps up the reminder of the docket.

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RAINS CAUSE "WALMARTOPIA" AUDITIONS RESCHEDULE FOR TONIGHT
The winter deluge the Morongo Basin experienced Monday caused the originally announced auditions for the musical, "WALMARTOPIA" at Theatre 29 to be postponed. This satiric revue, making it’s West Coast Premiere at the John Calveri Theater, takes dead aim at the world’s largest retailer in an hysterical romp of musical mayhem, wrapped up in a social commentary. Due to road conditions in both the hi and low deserts due to the storm, director Charles Harvey decided the best course of action was to cancel the audition and reschedule. "We’ve not had a rain like that is a while and, it seemed the better part of valor, to cancel the audition and keep people off the roads until the worst of it subsided" Harvey said. The audition will happen this evening at 7 p.m. at Theatre 29, 73637 Sullivan Rd in Twentynine Palms. Audition details are on www.theatre29.com.

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TWENTYNINE PALMS PLANNING COMMISSION LOOKS AT FARMER’S MARKETS
The Twentynine Palms Planning Commission will finish up work on farmer’s markets tonight. Reporter Dan Stork has details...
The regular meeting of the 29 Palms Planning Commission on Tuesday January 19th has a single item on its agenda. There will be a public hearing on an amendment to the Land Use Tables within the Development Code regarding "Certified Farmers’ Markets". The amendment will add Farmers’ Markets to the list of activities requiring Conditional Use Permits for operation. The meeting begins at 6 PM in City Hall chambers on Adobe Road.

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TWENTYNINE PALMS HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL TAKES A HARD LOSS
The Twentynine Palms High School Wildcat Boy's basketball team traveled to Los Angeles on Saturday to play Renaissance Academy of Pasadena in the Johnny Cochran Cure for Cancer Classic. The Cats found themselves down 42 to 21 at the half but battled back and pulled away for a 64 to 49 victory. Juwan Rice led the Wildcats with 11 points followed by Jimmy Hauronic with 10. Monday the Wildcats traveled through the pouring rain to Rancho Cucamonga to play Alta Loma in the Martin Luther King Classic. Alta Loma took a 58 to 36 win. Jarin Rice led the Cats with 10 points. The Cats are now 11-8 on the season with 5 DeAnza league games remaining.

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HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS ACTION
Basketball leads the lineup in local high school sports today with the Yucca Valley High School Lady Trojans traveling to Thermal versus the Desert Mirage Rams. The Twentynine Palms High School Lady Wildcats soccer and basketball games versus the Big Bear Bears, today have been postponed due to weather. The Joshua Springs High School Lighting boy’s basketball team is at home versus the Antelope Valley Christian Eagles, that game starts at 7:30.

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