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Listen To Your News		Wednesday, February 8, 2012		News Archive

FEDERAL APPEALS COURT OVERTURNS SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BAN
A federal appeals court has declared California's same-sex marriage ban to be unconstitutional, putting the bitterly contested, voter-approved law on track for likely consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that a lower court judge correctly interpreted the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court precedents when he declared in 2010 that Proposition 8 was a violation of the civil rights of gays and lesbians.

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TRIAL DATE SET IN 2009 JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK DUI CRASH THAT KILLED TWO TWENTYNINE PALMS MEN
An alleged drunken driver, charged with murder in a 2009 wreck in Joshua Tree National Park that killed two men in the backseat, was given a trial date yesterday. Angela Patterson, 25, of Twentynine Palms is set go to trial February 22 in the deaths of Jason Dean Stevens and Jeffery Lee Husted, both 26, who died in the June 17, 2009 wreck. Patterson, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown out of the car, and a front-seat passenger, 26-year-old Tasmin Woodmansee, was seriously hurt, authorities said. Patterson is charged with two counts of murder and two drunken driving-related counts. Riverside County Superior Court Judge B.J. Bjork set the trial date at a trial-readiness conference Tuesday at the Larson Justice Center in Indio. On the day of the crash, Patterson was due in court on a March arrest for DUI, she was being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the county jail in Indio.

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MORONGO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT GETS GLOOMY BUDGET REPORT, EARLY RETIREMENTS SOUGHT
An unusually long meeting of the Morongo Unified School District Board of Education dealt with financial issues and the first three of many site plan reports. Reporter Dan Stork summarizes the main presentations...
After a favorable report by a member of the Citizens' Oversight Committee on the Measure O bond program audits, Assistant Superintendent Price broke down the funding for the Joshua Tree Elementary, Palm Vista Elementary, and Yucca Valley High School construction projects into their state- and Measure O bond-funded components. He added that the third series of Measure O bonds is ready to go out for sale, and that the contractors' walkthrough for the Palm Vista and Yucca Valley projects that was held today was very well-attended, including many local contractors. Those contracts must be let out next month, in order to qualify for state funding. Price then painted a very gloomy picture of the likely effect of state budget woes upon education. California now ranks 50th among the states in per-student funding. At the district level, one worry is that MUSD will have to borrow money to pay its bills, as the state defers payments it owes local districts in order to make its balance sheet look better in the current fiscal year. An outside consultant described the early-retirement incentive program, whose goal is get enough older teachers to retire, with bonus payments, so that less experienced teachers can be hired as replacements at a significant savings. The first of five informational meetings, held at Friendly Hills Elementary School before the Board meeting, attracted a larger-than-expected crowd of eligible employees. Elementary school principals Danielle Hunter of Joshua Tree, Cindy McVeigh of Palm Vista, and Kyle Hannah of Onaga gave detailed presentations of their schools' Single Plans for Student Achievement. Common threads in the plans, aside from overall academic strategies and goals, were the intents to pay attention to individual students' needs and to actively involve parents. The consent and action agendas of the meeting were dispatched together in less than five minutes.

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PAROLEE ARRESTED AFTER TRYING TO EVADING ARREST
A convicted felon was arrested again Monday in Yucca Valley after trying to evade a Sheriff's deputy. About 2:45 Monday, a deputy was able to stop Daniel Greene, 30, of Joshua Tree, in the 6400 block of Camarillo Avenue. The deputy called for back-up because Greene is considered an armed and dangerous felon. Daniel Greene was arrested for investigation of failure to yield, and on a warrant. He was booked into the Morongo Basin Jail and is being held without bail.

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YUCCA VALLEY MAN ARRESTED AFTER DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
A Yucca Valley man was arrested early Monday morning after fighting with his wife. About 1:30 Monday morning, Kevin Cooke, 39, of the 6600 block of Hanford Avenue, was fighting with his wife and pushed and scratched her and another woman in the house. Kevin Cooke was arrested for investigation of domestic battery and booked into the Morongo Basin Jail with his bail set at $25,000.

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TWENTYNINE PALMS PLANNING COMMISSION ELIMINATES PARKING REQUIREMENTS, APPROVES CHURCH
On-site parking, tattoo parlors, hawking, and solar fields were all discussed at last night's meeting of the Twentynine Palms Planning Commission. Reporter Derwood Andrews was there and fills in the details...
First up on the agenda, with a packed public gallery, was the request for a Conditional Use Permit from Freedom Baptist Church, with off-street parking. After much discussion, Commissioner Mendoza made a motion for a code amendment with a 3-to-0 yes vote, and then another motion to remove the onus of the parking issue and its restrictions for new businesses for the whole downtown area. This drew a 2-to-1 vote yes, with Bill Easter no. A report from staff on the number of tattoo shops per one hundred thousand population across the country, put Miami on top, although in comparison, Twentynine Palms would be nearly double Miami's figure. The Limitations on Hawking study session received many public comments both for and against the practice. It was decided to bring it back as another Study Session and further tweaking of the City of Eureka's ordinance on hawking. As it stands now, Twentynine's code effectively bans all hawking. Next were the standards and criteria for solar fields in city limits returned by City Council. The Commission wanted to scrap the idea of letting commercial solar in Twentynine altogether, and still couldn't see a direct benefit to the community, but incorporated public comments and will bring it back again in another Study Session.

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MORONGO VALLEY COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT CALLS SPECIAL MEETINGS, VIOLATES OPEN MEETING LAWS
In a very sloppy fashion, the Morongo Valley CSD Board has called a special meeting for 9:30 this morning, in violation of the 24-hour notice required by the state's open meeting laws. Z107-7 news received six separate Morongo Valley CSD meeting notices throughout the day, the last marked as the final version at 4:21 p.m. yesterday afternoon, in violation of the Brown act. The closed session will be held at the General Manger's office as a closed conference with SDMRA and County Legal Counsel. No explanation was given as to what SDMRA was. According to the agenda, after the closed session, the CSD will discuss, in open session, old business, new business, and allow public comments. The CSD Board will meet again in closed session Thursday at 9:45 am in the Covington Park Community room to interview for the general manger's position. The agenda also indicates they will discuss old business, new business, and allow for public comments, although no specific items of business were listed. We also received a notice, again 6 times throughout the day, for a Friday meeting, but it calls for the meeting for Friday, February 3, an obvious date error. The misdated Friday meeting starts at 9:00 a.m. at Covington Park to have a closed conference and interview manager applicants. Business and public comments are also listed on that agenda.

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COPPER MOUNTAIN COLLEGE BOARD MEETS TOMORROW
The Copper Mountain College Board of Trustees meets tomorrow. Mike Lipsitz says the Strategic Plan update is one item on the agenda...
The Copper Mountain College Board of Trustees meets in regular open session at 3 o'clock tomorrow in the Bell Center's Community Room on the College's Joshua Tree campus. Among the items on tomorrow's action agenda, trustees are expected to review the community college's five-year Strategic Plan, hear a second reading of the Board Policy on Parking and Traffic Regulations, and look at the agreement for professional services for course workshops.

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YUCCA VALLEY AIRPORT DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
The Yucca Valley Airport District Board of Directors Meeting will be tonight at 6:30 in the Joshua Tree Room of the Yucca Valley Community Center. Among items of interest, the Airport Board will discuss annual inspections, swearing in of new officers, K&N Aircraft Maintenance and Gemni Welding default status update.

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MARINE BASE GETS AWARD FOR DIVERSE POWER PRODUCTION
For the second year in a row, the Combat Center has won two prestigious awards for energy production and conservation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will recognize the Combat Center in a ceremony today in Arlington, Virginia, with the ENERGY STAR Combined Heat and Power award for leadership in producing electrical power and thermal energy with one system. The Combat Center has an energy plant that generates 7.2 MW of electricity for the base. The waste steam is then used to provide hot water and to chill water for the heating and air conditioning systems aboard the Combat Center. The base saves more than $10 million per year as a result of this energy program. The Combat Center has also won the Secretary of the Navy Energy Award for the Marine Corps for its diverse energy power portfolio.

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VALENTINE'S CRAFTS SATURDAY AT YUCCA VALLEY LIBRARY
The Twentynine Palms Library is having a Valentine Craft Day, Saturday, February 11, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. There will be different crafts available to make, all ages are welcome and everything is FREE! Come in and join us, and make something for a loved one, for yourself... or BOTH! This event is sponsored by The Friends of the Twentynine Palms Library. For more information, please call the Twentynine Palms Branch Library at 760-367-9519.

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PARADE OF HOME TO FEATURE SIX UNIQUE RESIDENCES
Six unique and distinctive residences will be featured in this year's "Parade of Homes" fund-raiser to benefit Reach Out Morongo Basin… Z107.7's Managing Editor Tami Roleff takes a peek...
Reach Out Morongo Basin has signed up six homes for its annual Parade of Homes, its biggest fundraiser of the year. Homes on this year's Parade include two homes in Twentynine Palms, the estate of Liz Hatch Meyer and the Singing Sands Adobe owned by Bud and Nicki Camp. Yucca Valley will be represented by Casa de Cielo owned by Shelley Currie and Forest C. Dobson and Rancho del Vida Dulce designed and owned by George and Nancy Huntington. Representing Joshua Tree on the tour is the Brian Rennie's home, Rockin' Rennie Ranch and Desert Solitaire, the home of artist Vera Topinka. Tickets are $25 and include tours of each home and a lunch stop at the Park Rock Café with live music by Ramblin' George. Get your tickets from Reach Out Morongo Basin offices in the Twentynine Palms and Yucca Valley Senior Centers, Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms Chamber of Commerce offices, Windemere Realty in Yucca Valley, at the Desert Trail offices in Twentynine Palms or here at the Z107.7 studios in Joshua Tree. For more information, go online to www.reachoutmb.org or call the Reach Out Morongo Basin offices at 760-361-1410.

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TWENTYNINE PALMS HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL PROGRAM CO-ED SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT SATURDAY
The Twentynine Palms High School Wildcats softball and baseball teams are sponsoring a co-ed tournament Saturday, February 11, at the Luckie Park softball fields, with the first game starting at 8 a.m. Each 12-person team must have an equal number of boys and girls. The cost to register is $150. To register or for more information, call Dan Mintz at 760-902-1263 or TJ Stanford at 760-464-3220.

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LAST DAY FOR TWENTYNINE PALMS HIGH SCHOOL, YUCCA VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL SEASON
The last games of the season for high school basketball for Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms will be held today. The Twentynine Palms Wildcats are at home tonight versus Shadow Hills High School. Tip-off for the girls' game is at 6; boys at 7:30. The Yucca Valley Trojans travel away to Big Bear for their last game. The girls play at 6; boys at 7:30.

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