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Thursday, December 24 - 30, 2020
A FAITH
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CLERGY CORNER: Not Santa's Gig!
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D OPINION
Trump Hoisted with His Own Petard
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SAN JACINTO
Soboba Gives Back Toy Drive brings joy to many
SOBOBA BAND OF LUISEÑO INDIANS | CONTRIBUTED
T
he annual Soboba Gives Back! Toy Drive took a little more planning to implement this year but with the help of many dedicated volunteers, including members of the Soboba Youth Council, lots of children throughout the San Jacinto Valley will have a great new toy this Christmas. Soboba Foundation members worked closely with employees at the Soboba Casino Resort to allow toy donations to be dropped off at the Event Center on six consecutive Tuesdays from Nov. 10 through Dec. 15. All volunteers working at the donation stations wore masks and gloves and sat behind Plexiglass partitions. Each toy underwent an extreme sanitation process, using a UVC LED handheld sanitizer, upon receipt. The portable wand is rechargeable with a 99.9% sterilization rating. The toys were then taken into a back room for sorting by another group of volunteers so they can be distributed to nonprofits that have requested to be included this year.
PRESENTS: Santa delights a child with a new toy at the My City Youth Center Christmas event on Dec. 17. The Hemet nonprofit received 100 gifts from this year’s Soboba Gives Back! Toy Drive. | Photo by Erika London/My City Youth Center.
Things were certainly different this year but Soboba Foundation President Dondi Silvas said they offered themed days to keep the
50 volunteers in a festive mood. There was an “Ugly Sweater” day and one for “Christmas PJs.” She volunteered for several hours on
most of the days. “Longtime volunteer Joey Placencia was dressed every week with the joy of the Christmas spirit,” Silvas said. Placencia worked a full eighthour shift every week of the event and said he participates every year as a way of giving back. “I have a huge family, and to think there are kids out there going without, really tugs at my heart,” he said. “I loved seeing the gratitude from the public, to know that they were happy that we were providing for our communities’ needy children. It brought me a smile and kept us going, even with this pandemic going on.” Tanya Briones and her daughters, 16-year-old Tanya Rivera, 15-year-old Sica Rivera and 14-year-old Luisa Rivera, volunteer every year. They can start doing so at the age of 14, which allows the family to do something worthwhile together. “The highlight for me is the fact that I know I’m helping families in the community so children don’t go without during the holiday season,” Briones said. “The reason I continue to volunteer every
year is because I enjoy helping the community and representing my tribe. I also am able to show my children it’s good to get out in the community and help others when it’s needed.” The COVID-19 pandemic did affect the number of toys collected – only about half of what has been received in prior years. Distribution of toys was also affected as San Jacinto Unified School District couldn’t host its annual Christmas party and other nonprofits had to give out gifts in a drive-by fashion. “In prior years, we would hold a special event complete with Santa and photo opportunities, along with cookies served by Santa’s Elves,” said Dawn Lawrence, SJUSD’s Communications and Emergency Preparedness Coordinator. She said this year’s distribution was going to include a decorated entrance with socially distanced greeters but in the style of the district’s meal distribution grab-andgo process for touchless contact. Shortly before the planned event,
See SOBOBA on page A2
SAN JACINTO
Two New Trustees Join MSJC Board, Tom Ashley Reelected to a Third Term MSJC | CONTRIBUTED
T
he Mt. San Jacinto Community College District on Thursday welcomed two new trustees and a re-elected trustee during its December Board of Trustees meeting. Brian Sylva (Area 1) and Joshua Pablo Rivera (Area 2) both won four-year terms on Nov. 3 and took the Oath of Office prior to the Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday. Trustee Tom Ashley (Area 5) ran unopposed and also won a fouryear term. They join Vicki Carpenter (Area 3) and Ann Motte (Area 4) on the Board of Trustees. “We welcome Brian and Joshua to the board. They are no strangers to MSJC and we look forward to their leadership, thoughts and ideas to carry us into the future,” Superintendent/President Dr. Roger Schultz said. “We welcome back, Tom,
BRIAN SYLVA - TRUSTEE AREA 1.
JOSHUA PABLO RIVERA - TRUSTEE AREA 2.
TOM ASHLEY - TRUSTEE AREA 5.
The Mt. San Jacinto Community College District on Thursday welcomed two new trustees, Brian Sylva and Joshua Pablo Rivera, and a re-elected trustee, Tom Ashley, during its December Board of Trustees meeting. | Courtesy Photos of Mt. San Jacinto College.
and have valued his voice and leadership over the past eight years.” Mr. Sylva stepped down from his seat on the Beaumont Unified School District board and vacated his seat on the Mt. San Jacinto College Measure AA Citizens' Over-
sight Committee to take on his new role on the board of MSJC. Mr. Rivera is an alumnus of Mt. San Jacinto College who transferred to the University of California, Riverside to receive a bachelor's degree in Chicano studies.
Mr. Ashley was first elected to represent the Murrieta and Temecula area on the board in 2012 and has served in the board president and clerk roles. He served as board president most recently in 2018. Leaving the Board of Trustees
are Sherrie Guerrero (Area 1), who served five years, and Dorothy McGargill (Area 2), who served 16 years. “We can’t thank Dorothy and Sherrie enough for all that they’ve done for the students at MSJC,” Schultz said. “Their leadership has helped guide us during a period in which we’ve seen record graduation rates and an expansion of facilities that will welcome students in the coming years. We thank them for their service.” During its annual reorganization meeting Thursday, the Board of Trustees also selected Trustee Carpenter as its new president and Trustee Ashley as its new clerk. Mt. San Jacinto College serves about 27,000 students in a district covering 1,700 square miles from the San Gorgonio Pass to Temecula, with campuses in San Jacinto, Menifee, Banning and Temecula.
Hot spot: California hospitals buckle as virus cases surge ALANNA DURKIN RICHER AND JOHN ANTCZAK | AP NEWS
H
ospitals across California have all but run out of intensive care beds for COVID-19 patients, ambulances are backing up outside emergency rooms, and tents for triaging the sick are going up as the nation’s most populous state emerges as the latest epicenter of the U.S. outbreak. On Thursday, California reported
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a staggering 52,000 new cases in a single day — equal to what the entire U.S. was averaging in mid-October — and a one-day record of 379 deaths. More than 16,000 people are in the hospital with the coronavirus across the state, more than triple the number a month ago. “I’ve seen more deaths in the last nine months in my ICU than I have in my entire 20-year career,” said Amy Arlund, a nurse at Kaiser Permanente Fresno Medical Center.
On Dec. 24, 1923
President Calvin Coolidge touches a button and lights up the first national Christmas tree to grace the White House grounds. The tree was the first to be decorated with electric lights -- a strand of 2,500 red, white and green bulbs.
On Dec. 25, 1880
Layne Hall is born in Mississippi. When he died in 1990, Hall was the oldest licensed driver in the U.S. In nearly 75 years on the road, Hall never got a speeding ticket or citation of any kind.
On Dec. 26, 1917
President Woodrow Wilson announces the nationalization of a majority of the country's rail-
While the surging virus has pushed hospitals elsewhere around the country to the breaking point in recent weeks, the crisis is deepening with alarming speed in California, even as the nationwide rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations this week and the impending release of a second vaccine have boosted hopes of eventually defeating the scourge. Intensive care unit capacity is at less than 1% in many California counties, and morgue space is also
roads under the Federal Possession and Control Act due to World War I. Two days later, the United States Railroad Administration seized control.
On Dec. 27, 1932
At the height of the Great Depression, thousands turn out for the opening of Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Designed as a place where ordinary people could see quality entertainment, it remains the largest indoor theater in the world.
On Dec. 28, 1895
The world's first commercial movie screening takes place at the Grand Cafe in Paris. The film was a series of short scenes from everyday French life. Admission was charged for the first time.
running out, in what is increasingly resembling the disaster last spring in New York City. Patients are being cared for at several overflow locations, including a former NBA arena in Sacramento, a former prison and a college gymnasium. Standby sites include a vacant Sears building in Riverside County. At St. Mary Medical Center in Southern California's Apple Valley,
See BUCKLE on page A4
On Dec. 29, 1940
London suffers its most devastating air raid when German planes firebomb the city. The next day, a newspaper photo of St. Paul's Cathedral standing undamaged amid the smoke and flames seemed to symbolize the capital's unconquerable spirit.
On Dec. 30, 1862
The U.S.S. Monitor sinks in a storm off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Just nine months earlier, the ship had been part of a revolution in naval warfare when the ironclad dueled to a standstill with the C.S.S. Virginia (Merrimack) off Hampton Roads, Virginia.