Saturday, June 16, 2007

Weekly News Roundup: June 16 Edition

City News

The Yucaipa City Council approved a $20.4 million budget. According to the Sun the budget includes:
  • ~$6 million for policing services
  • $3.2 million for firefighting
  • $2.5 million for public works
  • The News Mirror notes that revenue from building permits "fell short of projections for the 2006-7 fiscal year by almost 50 percent," and the slow down in residential development will continue to affect future revenue.
The city is fiscally in the black, with a projected balance of $38.5 million in the General Fund.

The City Council approved a zoning change for an undeveloped property on the northeast corner of Holmes and County Line Road (map) from "neighborhood commercial" to residential. According to the News Mirror:
A representative for the owner noted the property was purchased with the intention of developing it commercially. The inability to do so, even though the property was zoned for commercial development, represents a loss to the owner, who came to accept that he could not develop his property according to the original intent allowed under existing zoning law.

The owner's representative argued, very respectfully but pointedly, that to further limit potential profit on the original investment by requiring 10,000 square foot lots rather than 7,200 square foot ones would not be fair, especially considering all the other lots on the Yucaipa side that surround the site are approximately 7,200 square feet.
The City Council ultimately agreed to this change.

According to the Sun, Yucaipa department of public works has initiated bids to begin widening Yucaipa Blvd. Phase one will focus on the stretch between 7th and 10th streets, but will ultimately span 5th to 12th.
"Oak Glenn[sic] Road intersects Yucaipa Boulevard between 7th and 10th streets, and so we're trying to provide the additional capacity on Yucaipa Boulevard to accept that traffic from the freeway," Casey said.
The project is scheduled to begin by early July.

26-year old Yucaipa resident Jessica Licause was shot and killed in Mentone on June 9. According to the San Bernardino County Sun, Licause's boyfriend, Christopher Barrios, was probably the intended target. Four people have been arrested in connection with the killing.
Other links:

Two carloads of San Gorgornio High School Students left a graduation pictnic at Yucaipa Regional Park and raced down Oak Glen. According to the Press-Enterprise:

Wiltshire, the sheriff's spokeswoman, said witnesses told authorities that the Civic and Tahoe bumped just north of Fifth Street and then spun out of control.

The Honda, driven by Roxanne Gonzalez, 18, of Colton, broke through a guardrail and went down a steep embankment west of Oak Glen Road, Brownell said. The San Bernardino County coroner's office and Sheriff's Department differed on the number of people in each vehicle.

One student in the SUV was killed in the crash - Adrian Barajas, age 18. Several other passengers were seriously injured.

Other reports:
Locals in the News

Congratulations to all Yucaipa High School Grads! 548 graduated on Thursday, with two valedictorians - Daniel Price and Molly Jones - and three salutatorians - Devon Ruff and Breanna & Spencer Marcinek. Senior class President Daniel Schwarz also spoke at graduation.

Related articles:
The Sun reports on Yucaipa-Calimesa Unified School District Superintendent Mitch Hovey's move to the Fullerton School District. His last day at YCUSD is July 1.
One month after Hovey stepped into the Yucaipa-Calimesa District as its superintendent, he created the Areas of Focus list with nine categories and all ultimately work to help the students. And not to anyone's surprise, Student Needs was the first of the nine categories where the district developed programs to help enhance every student's learning environment, to shape their characters and nurture their intellect.

Another one of the categories was Curriculum and Assessment to adjust the curriculum and insure students' progress on a regular basis.

"I feel good about what we've been able to do," Hovey said.


Congratulations also to the Crafton Hills College graduates. From the News Mirror:
There were 311 students eligible for CHC graduation, of which 123 were men and 188 were women. The average age of the graduates was 27. The oldest graduate was 56 and the two youngest were 18. The average grade point average was 3.11.


Ernistine Smith, 43, of Yucaipa, was selected to give a speech, which she delivered at CHC's annual commencement breakfast.

Smith, who raised four children, decided to return to college three years ago to pursue a nursing degree.

“I've been waiting for this for 18 years,” said Smith while waiting for the commencement ceremony to begin.
The Press-Enterprise talks to Lee Green, a farrier who owns the Shoein' Shop (near Live Oak Canyon), with some excellent photos.

"I have over 3,000 kinds, types, styles and sizes of horseshoes, whether it's for racing, jumping or saddlebred stuff, big draft horses and supplies for horses that have therapeutic needs."

Loma Linda University News reports that Yucaipa resident Ann Burke has published a novel, To the Last Drop of Our Blood.

“It is my privilege to present to the reading world a book about the Waldenses, a minority whose story echoes like a call among their native Alps, its poignant warning resounding to where we are.”

In her book, Ms. Burke sketches excerpts from the story of the Waldenses, a religious minority who for generations lived under the looming shadow of church-state power.
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