Weekly News Roundup: May 19 Edition

It's a beautiful sunny day - go to the Iris Festival! It's OK, the news will wait.

City News

Members of the Yucaipa Teachers Educators Association voted Monday to ratify Friday's tentative settlement agreement. According to the Press-Enterprise the deal is "far sweeter" than the one rejected by teachers last June. Both sides seem happy:

"It's fabulous," union President Cyndi Holman said of the agreement.

"The difference is more than numbers. There's no unknowns. It's competitive and it's comparable" to contracts other districts have, she said.

Both sides compromised to produce the agreement, said Sherry Kendrick, assistant superintendent of human resources and the district's chief negotiator. Approving a three-year contract instead of a two-year one makes it easier for the district to map out its financial future, she said.

What's more, Kendrick added, the long-term deal "is going to give us a year of relationship-building" with the union.

Related articles:

• San Bernardino County Sun, "Teachers OK accord"
• Yucaipa/Calimesa News Mirror, "Teachers overwhelmingly ratify contract"
  

The Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District has also settled a lawsuit with Calimesa, providing for a one-mile access road off Sandalwood Drive that will provide access to the Mesa View Middle School. According to the Press-Enterprise, the school may be open for the 2008-09 school year.

Related articles:

• San Bernardino County Sun "Road accord reached"
• Yucaipa/Calimesa News Mirror "Roadblock to Mesa School Removed"
  

The head of the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified school district, Mitch Hovey, is the front-runner for the top Fullerton school district position. According to the Press-Enterprise, Hovey believes the recent settlement with the teacher's union will let his successor start with a clean slate.

"I don't know that there's ever a good time," he said of his potential departure, but "we've done a lot of great things."

Cyndi Holman, president of the teachers' union, said Hovey "worked long and hard to get this settlement and I wish him the best. It gives us a chance to start fresh with a new superintendent."

Related article:

• Yucaipa/Calimesa News Mirror "Hovey well on way to job in Fullerton"
  

The Yucaipa City Council met on Monday night:

• They approved demolition of a house on the northwest corner of Fifth and Wildwood Canyon (map) to allow improvements to that intersection. At Mayor Dick Riddell's insistence, the City Council agreed to allow Habitat for Humanity to buy the house for a dollar and move it, as long as they do it in a timely manner at no cost to the city.
• They approved a trash collection rate increase. The cost for residential curbside collection of a 60-gallon trash barrel will jump from $21.65 to $22.93 a month, while 30-gallon trash barrels will cost $12.36 per month, only a 9 cent increase. The message is clear: trash less, recycle more. Members of the community who attended the hearing voiced a number of concerns, including that residents in mobile home parks have no choice as to the number and type of bins they are provided, and that Yucaipa Disposal is requiring people who live on long and steep private rodes to move the trash cans to the nearest public road.
• The city council also approved several park landscaping contracts.
• The American Legion will be using the Community Park amphitheater on Memorial Day.

Our representative in the California Senate, Bob Dutton, has issued the May 2007 Dutton Report. Read it for more on what he's up to in Sacramento and subscribe to his e-mail list for regular updates.

Yucaipans in the News

Kent Colby, owner and operator of Law's Oak Glen Coffee Shop, was named the 2007 California Small Business Owner of the year by the California Small Business Association.

Kent and Karen bought Law's Oak Glen Coffee Shop in 1972 from his parents and have operated the popular spot since. He is renowned for his cinnamon sauce, French toast and chicken pot pies.

Both Colbys have been active in the community. Karen was a leader in the PTA and Band Boosters for many years.

Kent is a long-time Yucaipa Rotarian and a member of the Yucaipa Valley Historical Society. He is a board member of the Oak Glen School House museum. His historical work focuses on preserving the history of Oak Glen. He is a San Bernardino County Flood Control Commiussioner. He is also an avid collector, cabinetmaker and welder.

The Yucaipa Valley Kiwanis club will be celebrating their 60th anniversary on June 23 at the Mill Creek Cattle Club in Mentone. Kiwanis Club president Richard Rios is asking the public for more information about the original members:

Here is the list of some of the charter members taken from the installation program:

H. William Acuff, G. Olda Barnett, Martin K. Barnett, (secretary), Elmer O. Bise, Frank Bunn, Hadley Burklow, John M. Cooley, Ralph W. Davenport, Roscoe R. Deaton, Robert W. Emmerson, Ben F. Fugate, William D. Fuller, Anthony R. Gazzo (president), Ed B. Gilmore, Gordon A. Greenslade, John P. Greven, Philip J. Greven, Elwein G. Hale, S. Leroy Hansberger; Bert Ivers, Allen Jamar, John T. Jamar, J. Lloyd Leer, D.O.S., A. W. Lund and Jack G. Spurlock.

Also on the list are Harold Lockwood, Joseph W. McKenney, J. Wilson McKenney, Jim H. Mann, Clarence A. Martin, Horace W. Miller, Joseph P. Monroe, Herbert W. Morrison, Jack C. Muirhead, Monroe A. Neiswender; Wilson P. Parker, B. M. Schim, Harry Sheppard, James R. Stader, Lavoy R. Stater, Ferdinand L. Sturtevant, Harry E. Teazle, Harlan R. Waite, Wilbur F. Walck, Floyd F. Ward; Cliford H.Wilcox, Jesse B. Wilcox and Albert W. Young.

Do you recognize any names in that roster? It contains many community businessmen and area pioneers. Names like Bunn, Greenslade, Hale, Ward, Stater, Hansberger (father of current Third District Supervisor Dennis Hansberger) Congressman Harry Shepherd and many others.

If you are one of those original members, or a relative or spouse, contact the Yucaipa Valley Kiwanis Club.

On May 9, the San Bernardino County Chapter of the Commission on the Status of Women honored 15 locals at their Annual Herstory Luncheon, including Yucaipan and News Mirror editor Claire Marie Teeters.

After moving to Yucaipa, she adopted the community as the hometown she didn't have when she was growing up. She continued working in the medical field until meeting Third District Supervisor Barbara Riordan through the Yucaipa Municipal Advisory Council, where she served as secretary and field representative for 13 years. Teeters became an editor than more 10 years ago after Riordan stepped down.

As many already know, her latest accomplishment has been in the recent publication of the book, "Yucaipa,” which was the product of 15 years of work and collaboration with other members of the Yucaipa Historical Society.

The other two District 3 honorees were Nancy Bailey, former commissioner for the San Bernardino County Committee on the and current board member and director of the capitol campaign for "Lets Build a Clubhouse" for the Boys and Girls Club of Redlands; and Ellen Weisser, who has served as a trustee on the San Bernardino County Board of Retirement

The Press-Enterprise talked to 17-year-old Yucaipan Cody Blackshear about his experiences in the U.S. Naval Sea Cadets program. Cody's dad, Tom Blackshear, is the associate regional director for the Point Divide division of the Sea Cadets, based in Moreno Valley. The program not only inttroduces teens to military life, it also gives them travel opportunities.

Groups typically visit a variety of military bases, hospitals and colleges, and can participate in an exchange program. Cody's twin sister, Callie, for example, spent several days in Scotland as part of an exchange.

Park View Middle School had their own Renaissance fair on Friday, complete with costumes, and demonstrations of blacksmithing and archery. The celebration is a 10-year-old tradition, the culmination of what the seventh graders have been learning in their social studies classes all year.

Twelve-year-old Camree Harriman, dressed in a long tan-and-white satin dress, said she learned about a lot of interesting people through her studies, including Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Sir Francis Drake and Queen Elizabeth.

Da Vinci interested her the most.

"He's a true Renaissance man. He does a lot of things," Camree said. "He paints, he sculpts and he does anatomy."

Sounds like fun!

According to the Sun, a recent study by Glencrest Investment Advisors places 9.3 percent of the Inland Empire's wealthy in the "Redlands, Yucaipa, Pass area."

Thunderbird sports

According to the Sun, there was nearly a packed house of cheering fans at Tuesday's CIF-Masters swimming finals. Yucaipa's Karl Drug took seventh place in the 200 freestyle and and Trevor Hoyt took third in both the 200 individual medley and the 100 breastroke. The Yucaipa boys also took fourth place in the 200 medley relay. The Press-Enterprise's High School Insider has a play-by-play (so to speak) and slide show from the meet. Get all the top times and scores.

On Tuesday the Yucaipa boys baseball team beat Chino Hills in the Division wild card game. They lost to Lake Forest El Toro Thursday in their first first-round playoff game.

Tags: Yucaipa, news