Off the I-15

Sorry Democrats vying for my vote in California. I screwed up.

When I registered to vote in California, I decided to check the “decline to state” box hoping it would shield me from partisan pigeon-holing and attacks on my objectivity as a reporter.

So today, when I went to vote, I went as a non-partisan, decline to state voter, and like many Californians, didn’t vote for any candidates when I could have.

Declined to state voters were supposed to be able to vote for Democrat or American Independent Party candidates in Tuesday’s primary. But when I got my ballot, there were no names, just propositions. I asked a poll worker if I had the right one, and I did, the poll worker thought.

I trusted the poll worker and voted. Come to find out later, poll workers across California were ill-trained and mis-informed about how to deal with voters like me.

But Hillary and Barack, don’t get all bent out of shape over this one. I was going to vote for Edwards anyway!

Aaron Aupperlee | City Editor

No really, he did, and the stranded motorist was me.

I’ve been having car problems this week. I thought it was the alternator, the fuel pump, the fuel filter. Now it’s just broken, sitting in my driveway. But this morning, it was broken sitting at the intersection of L Street and West Main Street causing a little traffic backup.

Thankfully, Det. Gary Hart from the Barstow station of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department happened to pull up next to me and noticed my distress. Hart parked behind me to ward off any unsuspecting drivers and then pushed me from the intersection to a nearby parking lot.

When I finally got a set wheels under me and made it to the sheriff’s station to check the logs, I noticed a press release waiting for me:

“On 013008 at about 0900 hrs Det. Hart was traveling on Main St. near L Street when he observed a white male adult stopped in a black 4 door vehicle with the hazard lamps activated. Upon contact with the male subject he claimed that he was with the “press” and could block traffic if he wanted to. It was apparent to Det. Hart that the motorist was simply distraught and embarrassed about the current disabled status of his vehicle and to save self respect opted to state that we was with a newspaper, which was unsuccessful.

Det. Hart calmed the almost hysterical male and had him get back into his vehicle and pushed this car from the roadway into a parking lot a short distance away.

The motorist was not cited for impeding traffic. The identity of the male subject is not being disclosed due to possible embarrassment it may cause his employer and loyal readers.”

That motorist, of course is me.

Thanks Det. Hart for giving me a push there.

Aaron Aupperlee | city editor

NOT REALLY.
I have more faith in my former state’s voters than to select a computer as the front-runner in the Republic race for president.
But on a day when voters are going to the polls in one of the country’s most economically depressed state to help select a candidate from one party, and candidates from another party debate on the eve of a Nevada caucus, Apple wins. At least on CNN.com.
About half an hour before polls closed in Michigan, news that Apple had unveil a new ultraslim way hi-tech laptop computer topped CNN.com’s most popular story. The primaries in Michigan, second place.
This does not mean that Apple’s latest MacBook Air, no relation to Michael Jordan, is more important than selecting the leader of the United States. Nor does it mean that Steve Job’s announcement of the fraction of an inch thick laptop without a CD-drive and movie rentals on iTunes is more exciting that the Michigan primary. (Trying to figure out where all the democratic delegates went and half the republican ones went is truly a mystery to me.)
But maybe it does.
Still the question remains, if the vote for president came down to the PC guy vs. the Mac guy, who would you vote for?

Aaron Aupperlee | City editor

I received a call from Korea today.

A soldier stationed in Korea was about to reenlist in the Army when his reenlistment officer suggested he reconsider. The officer told him to check out a story online at www.desertdispatch.com about bonuses being frozen, saying it could might make the soldier consider delaying his re-up. The soldier said he was planning on using his reenlistment bonus, about $17,000 to finance a home and pay down some bills, but after learning about the freeze on bonuses for the beginning of the year, he paused.

He was referring to Saturday’s Desert Dispatch story Enlistment, reenlistment bonuses frozen across military.

The soldier, after reading the story, called my to ask one question: How long would he have to wait to reenlist before getting his bonus?

Unfortunately, I did not, and still do not, have an exact answer. The Congress will return on Jan. 15 and will most likely consider the 2008 Defense Authorization Act, vetoed by President George Bush at the end of 2007, early in the new year. Bush vetoed the bill due to concerns over language that would expose the Iraqi government to expensive lawsuits seeking damages from the Saddam Hussein era.

The bill, however, determines military policy for the new year and funds the war in Iraq. It also secured a 3.5 percent pay raise for officers and authorized the enlistment and reenlistment bonuses for 2008. How long it will take for Congress to agree on a bill that the president also approves, I am not even going to try to venture a guess.

Sorry I could not be more assistance, soldier, but please continue reading the Desert Dispatch over there in Korea.

Aaron Aupperlee | City Editor

Caucus fever hit the newsroom at the Desert Dispatch on Thursday just as it was hitting interested horserace watchers across the country. And even though no one from the newsroom is hopping a red-eye to farm house in Boone, Iowa to caucus with the rest of Iowains tonight, we did conduct a very informal poll about how the candidates will fair in tonight’s caucus.

The newsroom thought former republican governor Mike Huckabee would fare the best out of GOP candidates tonight. On the Democrat side, Illinois Senator Barack Obama edged out New York Senator Hillary Clinton.

Here’s a breakdown of who we think will come out of Iowa ahead of the rest. How do you think the results will shake out?

— Aaron Aupperlee | Staff writer

David Heldreth, sports writer
Democrats:
1) Barack Obama
2) Hillary Clinton
3) John Edwards

Republicans:
1) Mike Huckabee
2) Mitt Romney
3) John McCain

Jason Smith, staff writer
Democrats:
1) Hillary Clinton
2) Barack Obama
3) John Edwards

Republicans:
1) Mike Huckabee
2) Mitt Romney
3) John McCain

JoAnne Dutcher, page designer
Democrats:
1) Barack Obama
2) John Edwards
3) Hillary Clinton

Republicans:
1) Mike Huckabee
2) Mitt Romney
3) Rudy Giuliani

Matthew Peters, sports editor
Democrats:
1) Barack Obama
2) Hillary Clinton
3) John Edwards

Republicans:
1) John McCain
2) Rudy Giuliani
3) Fred Thompson

Aaron Aupperlee, city editor
Democrats:
1) Hillary Clinton
2) Barack Obama
3) Bill Richardson

Republicans:
1) Mike Huckabee
2) John McCain
3) Ron Paul

Scott Shackford, editor in chief
Democrats:
1) Barack Obama (In a squeaker, he adds)
2) Hillary Clinton
3) John Edwards

Republicans:
1) Mike Huckabee
2) John McCain
3) Mitt Romney

It’s 2008, really, it’s 2008. Excited yet?

I always consider Jan. 2 to be the first real day of the new year. New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, just doesn’t count for me. It’s a day when most of the country is either recovering from the late night before, watching college football or doing both. It’s not a holiday steeped with history like Columbus Day, or one filled with tradition like Thanksgiving. It’s just a day to be completely lazy. One day to rest before you face the daunting task of trying not to screw up the next year.

For that matter, I love new year’s resolutions. I am historically bad at them — I still don’t make my bed, still overweight and still bite my nails, all resolutions of years past — but I like the idea of them and hence, make a lot. I sow my new years resolutions like the haphazard gardener. I throw a bunch out there at the beginning of the year and wait a few months to see which ones take root. And, I keep most of my resolutions private. There’s no use advertising a goal that even I don’t think I’ll keep. So you won’t see a list of my — it now numbers at least 10 — resolutions. But here are two I feel confident to share.

1) Do more of this, blogging.
When we first got the blogs on www.desertdispatch.com, there was a lot of excitement and the newsroom took to updating the “Off the I-15” blog with gusto. Then we all got busy and the blog moved to the back burner where it simmered until we scraped a minute or so out of our day to blog. Well, no more.

2) Limit fast food consumption to once a week.
Not sure if many people know where the Desert Dispatch office is, but you can literally stand in the parking lot and look out over the skyline and have your pick of deliciously unhealthy lunchtime options. I spent the last year sampling them all. So fast food regulars and employees on East Main Street, keep me honest on this one. If you see me in Del Taco on a Monday and then see me sneak in the again on a Friday, just remind me that there are seven days in a week.

There’s a peak of what I’ve got planned for Aaron Aupperlee 2008. What about you? Get your resolutions out in cyber-space and ask all us to help keep you on track in the new year.

— Aaron Aupperlee | city editor

We almost came to blows, it almost turned violent, and we had to impose a City Council-style time limit on speaking, but the newsroom at the Desert Dispatch was able to agree on the top five local stories of 2007.

1) Personnel changes at the Barstow Police Department

There were stories about leadership changes at the Barstow Police Department, officers leaving the department and new ones coming on, and so we had to lump changes at the police department into one category, and it was an obvious choice for the most important story of 2007. When four officers resigned in April, it was only the beginning of months of concerns, questions and changes to hammer the department. The ship appeared righted again when Chief Dianne Burns took over in July.

Under Burns, the department has filled out its ranks, brought back the rank of corporal, the street impact team and created other task forces as incentives to stay on the force and cracked down on property theft in the area. Officers in the department say they enjoy coming to work more now, more arrests and responses by the police litter the daily action logs, and people in the community are noticing the impact.

2) City terminates City Manager contract

Tensions within the city’s leadership began to brew in July when members of the council, led by Mayor Lawrence Dale, decided to ditch a contract with HDR to build a new wastewater plant and pushed for a deal with the yearling MicroMedia. On the council, the move pitted the Mayor against Council members Joe Gomez and Steve Curran.

But after the council voted to terminate City Manager Hector Rodriguez’s contract in July, it appeared the fissures went deeper. At the time, no reason was given for the departure, but a four-sentence press release from the city said the separation was agreed to mutually.

Later, a memo surfaced which indicated Rodriguez left after disagreements with the City Council over the bidding process for the wastewater treatment facility.

“The Mayor told me that the Council’s direction to me in this matter had been to write a (Request for Proposals) that would result in a contract award to Micromedia by effectively eliminating other potential bidders,” Rodriguez wrote in the memo.

“(T)his was in direct contradiction of Council’s direction to me. As city manager, it is my charge to carry out the direction of the Council majority. For me to do otherwise would be both illegal and unethical … Council’s direction to me was to administer an open Request For Proposals process, the ultimate outcome of which is unknown at this time.”

Judging from letters to the editor and comments on the Web site, Rodriguez’s departure and the on-going scrutiny of the Mayor’s actions could throw public support away from Barstow’s popular leader, who is up for re-election in 2008. More on that next year.

3) Casino compacts fail in state legislature

Is it dead yet? If you asked yourself this question regarding the casino project in Barstow this past year, you weren’t alone. For years, everyone one from the Mayor to greeters at Wal-Mart have talked about the casino buzz. In 2006, plans to build a dual-tribe casino in Barstow took shape but failed by year’s end. In 2007, we saw a repeat, but this time with potentially fatal consequences.

When the compacts expired in September after failing to move out of the state senate, the leadership of both tribes were unsure what the next step would be. The Big Lagoon Rancheria from Humbolt County said it might still consider Barstow, but after 10 years of fighting for a casino, it also might abandoned off-reservation hopes and begin construction on its ecologically sensitive reservation. To add further doubt, documents later surfaced that showing a possible split between the other tribe, the Los Coyotes, and developer BarWest.

“The tribe is in the process of starting over and will attempt to open discussions with the Governor’s office to obtain a new gaming compact. As part of this new beginning and at least for the time being, the tribe will disengage from LCB BarWest LLC,” the letter stated.

4) President George Bush visits Fort Irwin

After all, he is the president. Bush’s visit to Fort Irwin and the National Training Center in April highlighted the importance of the work the soldiers and staff do at the desert post. Isolated from Barstow by 35 miles, Fort Irwin’s high tech and critical training programs were shown on the national stage when the commander in chief stopped by for a visit.

For the soldiers at Fort Irwin, many of whom have recently fought in Iraq of Afghanistan, meeting the president was an experience they will not soon forget. During lunch, the president made an effort to speak with as many soldiers as possible, and several remarked that he was a down-to-Earth guy who really cared about them. In his speech, the president said Fort Irwin will have a lasting impact on the world.

“The work that you have volunteered to do will have a lasting impact on the world in which we live. When we succeed at helping this Iraqi government become a country that can sustain itself, defend itself, govern itself and serve as an ally in the war on terror, we will have delivered a significant blow to those who may have designs on harming American people.”

5) Raquel Beezley named Miss California

Maybe someone forgot to carry the one, but in December, Barstow learned that their very own Raquel Beezley, a former Miss Barstow, was named Miss California.

She won the title after an accounting mistake was discovered in the state-wide competition results. Christina Silva, from Los Angeles, relinquished the title and days later Beezley was wearing the state’s sash and tiara. The local waitress showed grace and poise in accepting the title.

“I didn’t want it to happen this way,” she said. “But then again, I worked so hard for it … She (Silva) was so sincere, full of congratulations. You can’t help but feel sympathy towards her.”

So in April, Barstow and the nation will be watching as Beezley struts her stuff in competition for Miss USA in Las Vegas. You might say the High Desert gal has home field advantage.

- Aaron Aupperlee | City Editor

This was not the first Christmas I spent in the desert.

In 2005, I spent Christmas in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

The city was mostly empty around Christmas in 2005. I felt like the only guest in my hotel just up the street from Manger Square. I finished up last-minute Christmas shopping in some of the city’s shops and waited in no lines. Every shop owner I talked that Christmas told me they were expecting more tourists than the last year but still begged me to buy an olive wood nativity set or a Bethlehem 2000 scarf.

Bethlehem 2000 merchandise was everywhere in the city, in 2005. Shop owners thought tourists would flood the city on the first Christmas of the new millennium and brought a surplus of gifts in anticipation. However fighting sparked up between the Israelis and Palestinians that year, and no one came.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, I accepted an invitation by a member of the Hamas-led Bethlehem City Council to ride with him in the annual Christmas parade. I was told to wear blue, a color sympathetic to local militants, as protection just in case something happen.
That morning, we met at the Israeli security barrier, the wall surrounding Bethlehem, and waited for the Catholic Patriarch from Jerusalem to arrive to lead the procession. He was delayed at the checkpoint, a problem with his identification and credentials. Marchers, many of them Muslim, as most of the resident Christian population has fled the city, sang religious Christmas carols, some in English, some in Arabic. During the parade, loud bangs, gunshots perhaps, sounded causing everyone to tense up, but then fireworks appeared in the sky above.

As we wound toward Manger Square, masses of people lined the streets. When we got to the Church of the Nativity, several people broke out guitars, a circle formed. We sang and danced right outside the church where Jesus was born. It began to rain and hail, and we kept dancing. Then we swarmed into the church where we pilgrims prayed.

Later that night, I went to mass at the church. Not fluent in Arabic or Latin, I ducked out the back of the church toward the end of the mass and dashed through the rain to a shop owned by “John,” not his real name, a shop owner who I shared several cups of tea with during my time in Bethlehem. John led me to the back of his shop, into a grotto where several other Palestinians gathered around a fire, sipping tea and coffee. More pilgrims joined us throughout the night. I stayed in John’s cave until early Christmas morning.

That morning, Israeli security forces closed the checkpoint into Bethlehem, no one would get in or out.

Pilgrims play guitar and dance outside the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem in 2005. I was one of the dancers.

Me, in the blue coat, sitting around the fire on Christmas Eve 2005 in John’s shop.

With its history of cowboys, miners, railroaders and military folk, you’d think Barstow would have a ghost story or two to its credit. It may, but I couldn’t find one for this Halloween.

I know Calico claims to have a few lingering visitors, but I wanted to find the classic town ghost story — the victim of a gruesome murder who haunts the crime scene, Harvey House girls killed in freak accidents that still walk along the tracks, miners trapped in caves, explorers lost in the wilderness, something.

I started with the Harvey House. Not too long ago I heard it was haunted. Graduates of Barstow High School told me stories of bumping into ghosts in the upstairs portion of the building during a prom one year. However, no one else could substantiate the claim of ghosts at the Casa Del Desierto.

The city employs to resident Harvey House experts. Both Patricia Morris and Jeanette Hayhurst used to give tours of the old train depot; Morris dressed as a Harvey House girl, she said. They’ve spent hours investigating the historic monument and even more time inside of it, but never once saw a ghost, never once heard a ghost story. Hayhurst recalls hearing something about high school students seeing ghosts and remembers an incident when the body of transient was found inside the Harvey House, perfect fodder, but no story there.

In 2006, a group of ghost hunters — members of the High Desert Paranormal Society —visited the Harvey House with the latest in ghost detection tools. I couldn’t track the society members; Web sites were down; phone lines were disconnected, and the group looks to have vanished.

I investigated other leads. A gas station attendant in Flagstaff, Ariz., told me that the mountains around Newberry Springs were haunted. With what, he didn’t know but swore seeing ghosts lurking around the peaks. After many late night drives up and down the I-40, I saw no ghosts.

An employee at the Mojave River Valley Museum and known Barstow history buff racked his brain for me but shook out no ghost stories either. He offered to make one, perhaps start a tradition, but told me he would need more time, and it probably wouldn’t be ready for the Halloween edition of the Desert Dispatch.

But just so Halloween does not pass without the sharing a few ghost stories, here are two I dug out of the Desert Dispatch archives from an article about Calico Ghost Town written in 1997.

Aaron Aupperlee | City Editor

From about 1987 to 1993, Lucy Lane reportedly visited her old home on Ghost Town Main Street. As the story goes, Goldsmith’s wife, Lee, worked at the renovated museum and stitchery shop.
Each Wednesday night, when she thoroughly cleaned the place, she moved Lane’s rocking chair into the center of the room away from its position near the window.
During her life Lane was often seen sitting in the rocking chair looking out the window at the happenings on the main street.
When Lee Goldsmith left for the night, she would lock the shop up tight. But occasionally she would arrive the next morning to find the rocker moved back to its place by the window.

The story is told of a young man who was caught in a cave-in at one of the Calico mines. His body was never recovered.
His mother reportedly held out hope her son’s remains would be found and he would have a proper burial. So, when circumstances were such that she had to leave the town, she purchased a plushly padded casket and left it for her son.
The General Store on Main Street used to display the box for visitors. After certain windy nights, when the shop was opened the next day, various employees have reported seeing an indentation in the cushions, as if someone had slept there and only recently vacated the coffin.

It seems like everywhere I’ve gone since Sunday there’s been some trace of fire.

Sports Editor Matthew Peters and I were on our way to Hollywood to see a Ken Andrews concert on Sunday, and as they say, “where there’s smoke there’s fire.”

Along the Cajon Pass, the hills were charred, and fire crews cleared brush. As we got into Ontario, the wind was blowing more than 50 mph pushing smoke and debris across the freeway and splitting a big rig’s trailer in half. Near the Ontario Mills Mall plants that were less than five feet from the freeway were on fire apparently due to embers blown from other fires. Luckily we made the concert only missing a couple songs from an opening band.

On our way back we saw another trailer split in half and a few big rigs on their sides, but no flames this time. I got home at 2 a.m. and I went to sleep hoping to be done with fires.

On Monday I had a doctors appointment in Victorville. I got ready and headed down the I-15 once again. Near the Hodge Road exit I began to see smoke rising off the mountains to my left. I hadn’t watched the news yet, but apparently Lake Arrowhead, Malibu, San Diego, Santa Clarita and the Cajon Pass were all on fire. I went to the doctor, did some shopping and headed home. My doctor lived down the hill and she was forced to get a hotel when the pass was closed.

I got back to Barstow in time for my mom to call me and tell me that my brother, Robert Heldreth, was close to being evacuated from his house in Mira Mesa, a suburb of San Diego. He eventually left during the voluntary evacuation. However, he returned to his house to sleep in the middle of the night. He said he wasn’t too worried about his safety.

“I’ve got all my stuff in my car,” Heldreth said. “If it gets close to my house I’ll go to my school, and if it gets there I’ll just park my car on the beach.”

It’s now the third day, and the fires are still going. You can see the smoke from the Lake Arrowhead fire from different vantage points around Barstow. I hope the winds stop, and Southern California gets some rain so everyone can return home and so I can stop worrying about my brother and stop looking at smoke.

- David Heldreth Staff Writer