Off the I-15

Today’s Friday foto blog comes from the pages of the Printer-Review, the predecessor of the Desert Dispatch, circa 1947.

The above ad is for a vacuum that sucks up dust and moisture. The model, a 21-year-old from St. Louis, Mo. according to the ad, is demonstrating its sucking power by vacuuming her bathing suit dry.

Fort Irwin draws the interest of many foreign military leaders. They come to see the state-of-the-art training in the box and discuss the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan with experts receiving up-to-date intelligence from the field.

Not too long ago, Brig. Gen. Dana J.H. Pittard, commander of Fort Irwin and the National Training Center, met with Lt. Gen. H.S. Panag, a commander in the Indian Army, at Fort Irwin. Panag commands the largest field army in the world, numbering 370,000 troops, in the northern part of India, including the dicey region of Kashmir along the Pakistani border. For 18 years, he has fought a counter-insurgency battle along the border.

During his visit, he shared with personnel at Fort Irwin his insights into fighting a prolonged counter-insurgency operation and offered hope for success.

“It’s had its ups, its downs, but it’s fairly successful,” Pittard said of Panag’s operation in India during a recent interview. “It takes time. It’s that kind of perspective that we need also as we look at our counter-insurgency operation.”

Pittard used two conditions to define success in Iraq. One being the ability for Iraqi security forces to take over the protection of the country and the second, allowing the Iraqi government to provide services to the people. Success came in stages in India, he said.

It took nearly seven years for Panag to create a situation in Northern India where the police force could take over. Pittard said Panag’s force “turned the corner” in 2003. So with a long mission ahead for the United States in Iraq — possibly 18 years — Pittard said he was left with a daunting mission at Fort Irwin.

“Now our challenge here at the National Training Center,” he said, “is how do you replicate that in 14 days.”

Curious what the new parking space signs for expectant mothers look like?

Not a lot of extracurricular shooting this week, but I did manage to snap these on the drive home from work on Thursday.

With a potential storm rolling through Barstow this weekend, should see some good skies.

Remember, to submit photos for the Friday foto blog, send copies to
 aaupperlee at desertdispatch.com

Miley Cyrus, better known as Hannah Montana of Disney fame, will be hitting the road to raise money of City of Hope Medical Center and to promote her new album.

The recording artist pledged to donate $1 of every ticket sold to City of Hope when her tour kicks off on Oct. 18, according to a release from City of Hope. By the end of the tour, Cyrus hopes to raise $500,000.

Dena Hibbetts Gerardi, a Silver Lakes woman with ties to Barstow, will be admitted to City of Hope to receive a bone marrow transplant. Gerardi recently learned they had found a match for her and expects to receive the transplant by the end of October.

Cyrus and her father, county artist Billy Ray Cyrus, have performed on behalf of City of Hope before. In June, the two played at the City of Hope pediatric picnic in Los Angeles. They visited the pediatric wing of City of Hope in May.

Cyrus’s tour, “Best of Both Worlds,” comes to California in November. She will perform songs both as Miley Cyrus and her character, Hannah Montana.

Thursday, November 1 Oakland, CA The Oracle
Saturday, November 3 Anaheim, CA Honda Center
Sunday, November 4 San Jose, CA HP Pavilion at San Jose
Monday, November 5 Fresno, CA Save Mart Center
Wednesday, November 7 Los Angeles, CA Staples Center
Thursday, November 8 San Diego, CA

We take a lot of pictures at the Desert Dispatch and many do not make to the paper’s pages. Here are some that didn’t make it.

A Barstow firefighter walks out of burnt house on Maxine Avenue at the end of August. Firefighters responded quickly and contained the fire to only one room.
Photo by Aaron Aupperlee, Staff writer

A Barstow firefighter puts out the final flames inside a home on Maxine Avenue at the end of August.
Photo by Aaron Aupperlee, Staff writer

The sun sets behind a mosque in Jabal, an Iraqi village at Fort Irwin.
Photo by Aaron Aupperlee, Staff writer

A bunker protecting Jabal at Fort Irwin.
Photo by Aaron Aupperlee, Staff writer

Do you have photos that didn’t make the paper? Send us a digital copy, and we’ll include them in next week’s Friday foto blog.

Send photos to:  aaupperlee at desertdispatch.com

We all know food tastes better when your hungry, and reporters aren’t immune to that effect.
Staff writer Aaron Aupperlee and I headed out to Ft. Irwin to cover Operation Bold Quest on Wednesday. We arrived at the base just before noon after a hour drive. We were quickly ushered through check-ins and various briefings by the military personnel, and by the time we were done with all of that, my stomach was already beginning to talk to me.

Unfortunately, we were running just behind schedule so we were loaded into a van and HUMVEE and sent straight into the middle of nowhere, or as they like to call it “the box.” The box is the outer area of the base used for training exercises. I had brought a muffin and Gatorade, but forgot them in Aaron’s car. Aaron ate a cereal bar and slammed a Java Monster on the way out there.

We made stops at various places in the box talking to troops, commanders and civilian contractors that were part of Bold Quest. Our final stop was Medina Jabal, a simulated Iraqi village, located deep in the box. There we sat waiting with our camera’s and recorders waiting for the forces to storm the town.

After two hours at the village — six hours at Ft. Irwin and eight hours since I last ate — everyone finally broke down and headed for the MREs or meals ready to eat. I ended up with the beef ravioli meal. It included beef ravioli, a powdered fruit drink, beef jerky, apple sauce, crackers, jalapeno cheese sauce and a brownie along with condiments, gum, a wet nap and toilet paper. Aaron got the grilled chicken breast meal with cornbread stuffing, a powdered vanilla cappuccino, a ranger bar, bread, jalapeno cheese sauce and M&M’s.

While I don’t think I’d want to eat it everyday that food tastes pretty good when your starving.

David Heldreth - Staff writer

We all know Barstow’s a small town, but in the double-homicide trial of Kenden Ige, the courtroom seemed extra small. Before the trial could start, the court had to declare the following conflict of interests:

• The defense jury consultant is a personal friend of the judge.
• The court reporter’s husband is a California Highway Patrol officer and a witness in the case.
• The court clerk worked for the Barstow Police Department, the investigating agency in the case, during the time of the crime as a police services assistant and as the court liaison when the reports were filed.

Luckily, the Ige had no objection and allowed all conflicted parties to stay in the courtroom.

Aaron Aupperlee | Staff writer

Volunteer groups have braced for the decline in numbers since the post-Sept. 11 hype and have turned to the Internet to help boost numbers.

Marta Bortner, a spokeswoman for California Volunteers, said the group has put a volunteer opportunity finder on their Web site: www.californiavolunteers.org.

The search engine allows perspective volunteers to search for opportunities based on interest categories. Bortner said matching interests — animals, the environment, arts, children, technology, faith, health or public safety — with volunteer opportunities is the best way to have an enjoyable experience and one that continues.

A quick search on the California Volunteers site turned several volunteer opportunities, with everything from the police department to area campgrounds, in the 92311 area code.
Another volunteer Web site, www.handsoninlandempire.org, also has a search engine to narrow down opportunities by area and interest. The site also lets volunteers filter results by specific organizations, the blood bank or the Red Cross, skill sets, public speaking or gardening and project attributes, family friendly or good for groups.

Check the sites out, they are a great way to learn about more opportunities in the area, some you may not know existed.

Also, the American Red Cross, a standard in the volunteer world, is looking for volunteers to help with emergency and disaster response. The Red Cross can be reached at 245-6511.

Aaron Aupperlee | Staff writer

In what we hope is not a reoccurring feature on the Off the I-15 blog, we present the jerk of the day.
Today’s jerk was last seen on a surveillance tape from a car wash in Campbell, Calif. massacring nearly a dozen ducks two years ago.
According to reports, the man ran down several ducks with his car and then got out of his vehicle to hurl more ducks at the front of his car. When car wash employees arrived at work the next morning, they found at least 10 dead ducks scattered on the ground.
The death of the ducks, who lived in a nearby pond and had become a popular attraction at the car wash, has gone unsolved, prompting concern from duck lovers and a reward earmarked for animal groups.
“We just passed the two-year anniversary and there doesn’t seem to be much of a chance that the person responsible will be caught,” Mike Davis, manager of Delta Queen Classic Car Wash, where the ducks were killed told the Associated Press. “It’s not our money and we want to put it to good use.”
Nearly $18,000 will be donated to several animal hospitals and rescue shelters, Davis said.

Honestly, who kills a duck? Besides hunters. But honestly, who kills a duck?

Aaron Aupperlee | Staff writer

It’s official.
I have passed the hardest test required to become a resident of California. There was no exam, no background check, no lengthy application— just an enormous amount of patience. I, like several hundred thousand other people, spent the weekend in Los Angeles.

By spent, I mean was I stuck in traffic with the several thousand others hoping that they wouldn’t cut me off or hit my car. They were going to beach or going to friends’ houses or going to the movies. I was going crazy. This is not something that happens in Vermont where I’m from.

I didn’t get to see much of LA. Well, not actually any of it other than Union Station and a less than five-star roadside motel. I did get to spend about seven, yes seven, hours in traffic— three on Saturday and four on Sunday. I spent another hour lost somewhere in Manhattan Beach.

I finally made it out of the city and out of my car and back to Barstow where traffic never gets that bad. I didn’t see a lot of LA, but I got the LA experience.

Jason Smith, Staff Writer