Colton Courier February 04 2016

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W e e k l y COLTON COURIER Features, Lifestyle & News You Can Use!

Vol 144, NO. 7

THIS WEEK Gloria’s Corner and Words To Think About A3 & A5

For Heart Month: Invest an hour of your life to save the rest A9

SBVC Foundation Celebrates Success of Valley-Bound Commitment Program

Leaders launch Latino voter mobilization effort

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By Anthony Victoria

any of the state’s democratic Latino leadership convened at the Hutton Center in Colton on Thursday Jan. 28 to launch a grassroots voter mobilization effort that proponents say has the potential to determine the next President of the United States.

Latino vote cont. on next page

Anthony VictoriA League of United Latin American citizens (LULAc) of inland Empire president George Aguilar speaking to about 120 people at the hutton center last thursday about the importance of the Latino vote.

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Colton became the first city to approve the building of a memorial during their Feb. 2 council meeting. The memorial will provide no costs to the city, with all expenses coming at an ancillary cost to IECG’s main funders--the USDA and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL Fire). According to Petit, IECG is the largest nonprofit to do urban agroforestry in the Inland region. The group was given a donation of 10,000 trees-ranging from Olive to Red Oak-by Southern California Edison last year.

“There’s no cost to the city, to the families, and the community,” said Petit. “This is a gift from the heart. We’ve utilized a gift to us as a gift to the community. That’s what it’s all about.”

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“We wanted to do something to help the community heal,” said Petit, who is founder and coexecutive of the Agroforestry group. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agroforestry is a land use management system in which trees and shrubs that helps environmental, economic, and social benefits

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Inland Empire Community Newspapers

COLTON FIRST CITY TO APPROVE DEC. 2 MEMORIAL GROVE PROJECT

ith several thousand trees at their disposal, Mary Petit and Eleanor Torres of agroforestry non-profit Incredible Edible Community Garden (IECG) hope to construct memorial groves across several Inland cities in honor of the victims of the Dec. 2 terrorist attack in San Bernardino.

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Calendar Classifieds Legal Notices Opinion Calendar Sports

February 4, 2016

By Anthony Victoria

“For decades we’ve been called sleeping giants,” League of United Latin American Citizens of the Inland Empire (LULAC) president George Aguilar said to about 120 people in attendance. “Where are we when it comes to voting? We need to start a mobilization where people will not only register to vote, but get people to vote.”

According to the Center for American Progress, Latinos over the age of 18 will comprise about 16-percent of the adult population this year (39.8 million people in raw figures). But despite 11.2 million Latinos casting a ballot during the 2012 presidential election, 14.7 mil-

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Photo/Anthony VictoriA college of the Desert political science student Alejandra Zamora said during the Latino Summit on thursday Jan. 28 that she wants to elect someone who supports the people and not corporations. “it’s important we create that momentum as Latinos to demand more change,” she said.

Petit said the goal for the project is to have a tree planted in the communities where the 14 victims of the attack resided in. Besides Colton, the IECG has contacted the cities of Upland and Lake Arrowhead. The memorial grove initiative has a similar aim to the Guardian Project, which honors military veterans by holding tree planting ceremonies where residents, business owners, and dignitaries celebrate the symbolic gesture of memorializing the servicemen and women. Agroforest cont. on next page


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