S P E C I A L SB D.A. Race, continued from page 17
not filled because of dangerous people,” O’Brien declared while pointing to “data” indicating “San Bernardino arrests way more people than any other county in the state” while San Bernardino County’s crime rate is “no worse than Sacramento and LA.“ O’Brien explained he had been “trying to convince our leaders” to base their comments on the data yet public officials continue to claim the “jails are filled” because of AB109 and proposition 47. O’Brien concluded, “They are either lying or they are ignorant but either way they shouldn’t be in charge of making those statements.” Casey objected to the county spending $220 million annually for that jail “every year, over and over” questioning whether that was an effective use of taxpayer dollars. Life Center Church Minister Kesha McGee spoke of the cost of crime including the cost of the investigations, court hearings and incarceration and how her program, Ceasefire, has been encouraging rehabilitation of those charged with crimes. Regarding policies directed toward those in the country illegally and the negative impact on their willingness to report crimes, Jennaya revealed in
San Bernardino County, many illegal immigrants are not being informed, as required by law, of the potential consequences of their criminal conviction on their immigration status. Jenaya described this as “double punishment” and noted that after serving their sentence for a crime, they could face deportation and never see their family again. In response to questions about the killing of Nathaneal Pickett II and Diante Yarber by law enforcement in the City of Barstow, Lanae Norwood from the Institute for Developing Equity, Advocacy, and Leadership asked, “How many more times can this happen without accountability?” “When you have Nathanael Pickett who police knew had a mental illness and he was unarmed and they gunned him down in cold blood and the district attorney did nothing about it,” Norwood charged, “There was no accountability, there was immunity for that officer.” “The people didn’t feel that way, the people awarded a judgment to that family in the amount of 33.5 million dollars,” Norwood shared explaining, “I am sure the family would give that money back to have their son back.”
I N FastStart, continued from page 7
and the surrounding community to provide current and former foster youth students with a comprehensive college experience and the opportunity to explore and realize their full potential. This grant makes it possible to continue helping our scholars achieve their aspirations, so they can make a positive impact in the community that has welcomed and supported them,” Tuppett Yates, Guardian Scholars Executive Director and a professor of psychology told UCR Today. The $200,000 grant awarded to the School of Medicine-based FastStart Summer Academy by the California Wellness Foundation will support more than 100 high school students’ participation over three years. The funding will pay for three teachers, three teaching assistants, and a program coordinator. The FastStart Summer Academy is designed to increase the number of disadvantaged students pursuing careers in health or medicine and to provide them with academic and social
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support. The intensive, five-week program for 30 incoming UCR freshmen occurs between the senior year of high school and the freshman year of college. CA House Reps, continued from page 5
energy development. The plan also provided 3.6 million acres for recreation, such as hiking, camping, rockhounding, and off-road vehicles, and more than 4.2 million acres of new National Conservation Lands, all of which support dozens of thriving local economies built on these activities. As currently implemented, the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan is designed to protect more than 22.5 million acres of Southern California’s landscape in the desert regions and adjacent lands of seven California counties including Riverside, San Bernardino, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles and San Diego. The DRECP resulted from eight years of
18 VOICE | MAY 10, 2018 | theievoice.com
Norwood then spoke of the recent killing of Yarber, father of three children, in the City of Barstow while in the Walmart parking lot in broad daylight where City of Barstow Police Officers fired 30 shots and objected to the fact that the officers involved are back on the street. Norwood spoke of the importance of training police officers on de-escalation and with regard to the Black community, sensitivity training. Young Visionaries Youth Leadership Academy President and CEO Terrance Stone and formerly incarcerated, Michael Jarado and Michael Garcia, spoke of the lasting impact of being labeled as a gang member and how the label adds years to any prison sentence, a label without an expiration date. Stone, Jarado and Garcia testified regarding how they have turned their lives around and are now productive citizens. COPE Executive Director Reverend Samuel Casey concluded the event by reminding the community to “rethink public safety alternatives to incarceration” while holding their public officials accountable. For more information please visit website: http://copesite.org/.
collaboration that involved state and federal agencies, renewable energy developers, conservationists, recreationalists, and other stakeholders. It was based on extensive scientific study and struck a clear balance between the interests of industry, conservationists, recreationists, government, and local residents. The Trump Administration announced its proposed changes with a limited, 45-day window for public comment. And, although it held a series of eight pubic hearings, according to Ruiz, the Administration failed to give the public the opportunity to voice comments at any of them. By contrast, on Saturday Ruiz hosted a community hearing in Palm Desert where he provided his constituents an opportunity to weight in on the Administration’s changes and he plans to pass those comments on to the Department of Interior. The California Democratic delegation’s letter can be viewed online at https://ruiz.house.gov/sites/ruiz. house.gov/files/38_CA_Dems_Oppose_ Reopening_DRECP.pdf.