NC Native Went from Army Deployments to Winning ‘Chopped’ Page A3
Obama Returns to the White House to Tout Affordable Care Act Page A2
News Observer Bakersfield
Volume 48 Number 31
Serving Kern County for Over 48 Years
Observer Group Newspapers of Southern California
2020 Census Called ‘Worse Undercount’ in Decades as Bureau Misses Millions of Blacks and Hispanics By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent According to many experts, the COVID-19 pandemic and an administration that displayed a complete disregard for ensuring accuracy led to a consequential undercount in the number of Black, Hispanic, and Native American residents during the 2020 U.S. Census. Further, Census officials admit that they overcounted white and Asian residents. The bureau reported the overall population as 323.2 million. “The undercounting of Black, Latino, Indigenous and other communities of color rob us of the opportunity to be the directors of our fate, reducing our representation and limiting our power while depriving policymakers of the information they need to make informed decisions about where the next hospital will be built or where the next school should be located,” said Damon Hewitt, the president and executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “In addition, the undercount exacerbates underfunding of our communities because Census data is used as the basis for hundreds of billions of dollars of federal, state, and local appropriations each year,” Hewitt said. The Census population count determines how many representatives each state has in Congress for the next decade. It also decides how much federal funding communities receive for roads, schools, housing, and social programs. Hundreds of billions of dollars are at stake each time the census occurs. Robert L. Santos, the bureau’s director, displayed little regard for the undercount of minorities. He said the 2020 results were consistent with recent censuses. “This is notable, given the unprecedented challenges of Continued on page A8
Authorities Search for Boy, 9, Lost in Kern River
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) – Authorities in boats and a helicopter were searching for a 9-year-old boy swept away in a Southern California river. The boy was reported lost Saturday around 2:30 p.m. in the Hogeye Gulch area of the Kern River near Keysville, the Kern County Sheriff’s Office said. It wasn’t immediately clear how the boy got into the water. Sheriff’s officials said an adult relative had to be rescued after going into the river to try and save the child, KGET-TV reported. The search was suspended at sundown on Saturday and was scheduled to resume at dawn on Sunday.
DELANO, Calif. (AP) – The death of an inmate at a central California prison is being investigated as a homicide, officials said Thursday. Juan E. Mendoza, 26, was found unresponsive in his cell at Kern Valley State Prison shortly before 5 p.m. on Wednesday, according to a statement from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He had visible injuries and died a short time later despite life-saving efforts. Mendoza shared his cell with another man, Jorge L. Mendoza, who was removed from the cell and placed in segregation while the death is investigated, authorities said. Juan E. Mendoza went to prison in 2020 after receiving a six-year sentence in San Bernardino County for second-degree attempted murder and personal use of a dangerous weapon, officials said. Jorge L. Mendoza was admitted from Monterey County in 2018 and was serving a sentence of life with the chance of parole for second-degree murder with the use of a firearm by a second-striker. Kern Valley State Prison is located in Delano, northwest of Bakersfield. It has more than 3,200 inmates. The Census population count determines how many representatives each state has in Congress for the next decade.
substance use disorders,” said Newsom. “We are taking action to break the pattern that leaves people without hope and cycling repeatedly through homelessness and incarceration. This is a new approach to stabilize people with the hardest-to-treat behavioral health conditions.” Similar programs called collaborative courts focusing on specific problem-solving solutions for offenders have already been established in a number of counties across the state. Teiahsha Bankhead, Executive Director of Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY) said the courts work. “In some counties these courts have demonstrated very positive outcomes. They are most successful in communities that are not obsessed with over-policing and harsh punishment,” said Bankhead. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Lawrence G. Brown, who has extensive experience with cases that come through these types of courts, asserted that the model has been helpful
in his community. “In our three mental health treatment courts in Sacramento, which serve between 150-200 participants at any given time, it would be a conservative estimate that well over half of those coming into our courts are either homeless or have housing instability,” said Brown. “Based on our experience, if a person can be connected to meaningful treatment services, coupled with judicial oversight, there can be a profound impact on recidivism and hospitalizations,” he continued. Rhonda Smith, executive director of the California Black Health Network, is pleased to see the gap that CARE Court is closing but she is concerned about people the criminal justice program might miss. “If someone doesn’t pass the screening test, what happens to that person? What kind of safety net is there for them?” Continued on page A8
Two Suspects, Brothers, Arrested in Sacramento Mass Shooting Antonio Ray Harvey California Black Media The Sacramento Police Department (Sac PD) has made two arrests in the mass shooting that happened in the early hours of April 3 in downtown Sacramento. Brothers, Dandre Martin, 26, and Smiley Martin, 27, are in SAC PD custody. Dandre Martin was booked Monday for felony assault and illegal firearm possession charges, according to Sac PD. Charges against Smiley Martin, who was hospitalized after sustaining injuries during the shooting, are for possession of a firearm by a prohibitive person and possession of machine gun. According to public records, the younger Martin has an outstanding arrest warrant in Riverside County for violating two terms of his probation related to a domestic violence arrest in 2014. Six people died from the shooting. The 12 wounded individuals who survived the incident suffer from minor to critical gunshot wounds. They are all in stable condition. The investigation is ongoing. “We want to thank the community for the overwhelming assistance that has been provided. To date, we have received over 100 videos and/or photo files provided through the community evidence portal. We continue to encourage the community to use the community evidence portal to directly provide the department with photos and videos,” Sac PD said in a statement Apr. 4 As the investigation progressed, Sac PD Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team and other detectives served search warrants at three residences in an area that has yet to be disclosed. At least one handgun reportedly related to the shooting has been recovered. The shootings that have made headlines across the state and around the world happened in an area near the California State Capitol known for its restaurants and bars, a popular after-work hangout for politicians, staffers and other government workers. Around 2:00 a.m., Sac
Wednesday, April 6, 2022
Delano Inmate Death Investigated As a Homicide
CA’s New CARE Court is Justice Option for Addicted, Mentally Ill Aldon Thomas Stiles California Black Media Over the last two months, Gov. Gavin Newsom has met with some of the state’s counties to promote CARE Court. CARE Court – the acronym stands for Community, Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment – is a mental health framework the state created to help people who are suffering from mental illness and Substance Use Disorder by providing alternatives to arrests and jail if they have run-ins with the law. Newsom announced the initiative at a press conference in San Jose last month. At the event, the governor said the new statewide initiative will receive funding from his administration’s multi-year mental health budget proposal totaling nearly $10 billion per year in behavioral health programs and services. “CARE Court is about meeting people where they are and acting with compassion to support the thousands of Californians living on our streets with severe mental health and
Take One!
Authorities search area of the scene of a mass shooting with multiple deaths in Sacramento, Calif. Sunday, April 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
PD officers responded to the sounds of shots fired in the busy part of downtown around 10th and K Streets, four blocks east of the Golden 1 Center where the NBA’s Sacramento Kings play. Over 100 rounds were reportedly fired into a crowd. The deceased are Sergio Harris, 38; Melinda Davis, 57; Yamile Martinez-Andrade, 21; Johntaya Alexander, 21; Joshua Hoye-Lucchesi, 32; and 29-year-old DeVazia Turner. Stevante Clark, a local activist, told California Black Media two victims, Harris and Turner, were related. Clark said he was with Harris’s wife Leticia Harris when a Sac PD Captain, at Clark’s insistence, told her about her husband’s death. Clark said Mrs. Harris was “out there all (Sunday) morning,” trying to get information. “This is so sad. It breaks my heart” Clark said. “This is
community violence.” The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office will be “reviewing all related evidence in this investigation” to determine appropriate charges, the Sac PD stated. On the afternoon of Apr. 3, Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester said a “stolen handgun” was recovered at the scene. Sunday’s mass shooting is the second in Sacramento in under two months. On Feb. 28, five people were shot and killed after a man opened fire at a church in the state’s capital. The man shot and killed his three children and a man who was with them before taking his own life. No link has been established between the mass shooting and organized crime, but gang activity has been on the rise in Sacramento. In November 2021, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the results of a multiagency investigation into Sacramento-based criminal street gang activity that resulted in a number of arrests. Gangs in the area are allegedly responsible for a series of violent crimes, including homicides. A total of 26 individuals were arrested, and more than 125 firearms were seized by state agents. Most of the firearms confiscated were assault weapons, including “ghost guns.” Ghost guns are un-serialized and untraceable firearms that can be purchased online and assembled. They are often sold through “ghost gun kits.” Lester did not provide details of the stolen handgun used in Sacramento’s most recent shooting, but the SAC PD chief said a semi-automatic, high-velocity weapon was used. “What happened is the biggest and most recent example of what we all know,” Lester said at a news conference hours after the deadliest shooting in the city’s history. “Gun violence is truly a crisis in our community, and it has increased not only here in Sacramento but across the nation.”
Researcher Inspired By ‘Breaking Bad’ Given House Arrest
BOSTON (AP) – A former top researcher at MIT who says he was inspired by the hit television show “Breaking Bad” when he purchased ingredients for the powerful poison ricin has been sentenced to six months of home confinement. Ishtiaq Ali Saaem, 38, was also given three years of probation by a Boston federal court judge on Thursday, The Boston Globe reports. Saaem said he never made poison and maintained was “guided by innocent curiosity” to learn more about ricin when he purchased castor beans, the source of the poison. Saaem, who holds a doctorate in biomedical engineering and also had been head of advanced research at a Boston-area biotechnology company, had ordered 100 packets of the beans online in 2015. It’s not illegal to purchase castor beans but Saaem, who now lives in Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice last year for lying to federal authorities about his reason for purchasing them. He told investigators he purchased castor beans because he was interested in planting them in his apartment as decoration and had only intended to purchase one packet, not 100.
Black Bear Gets Stuck Inside Home for 45 minutes
GRAFTON, N.H. (AP) – A black bear that made its way into a New Hampshire home got stuck inside the porch area and eventually left after 45 minutes – after making quite a mess. “Naughty, NAUGHTY bear!!” Melissa Anne KelleyChampney of Grafton posted on Facebook following the encounter Saturday. “We do NOT eat the walls and the doorknobs! Worst houseguest EVER!” She said her husband had to climb out a window and go push the door open so the bear could get out. No one was hurt. The couple estimated the bear was over 400 pounds. New Hampshire has between 4,800 and 5,000 black bears statewide, according to the state Fish and Game Department. The bears typically enter dens between mid-October and late November and emerge from dens during late March or early April. In 2018 in Groton, a woman was injured when a bear was trapped in her home.
Four Hurt in So. CA Recycling Yard Explosions
MONTCLAIR, Calif. (AP) – A fire and a series of explosions at a Southern California metal recycling yard Thursday injured four people and spewed shrapnel from compressed gas canisters into the surrounding neighborhood, authorities and witnesses said. The explosions were reported at about 9:15 a.m. at the facility in Montclair, east of Los Angeles. The fire sent up a huge cloud of black smoke. The blasts could be heard from miles away and sent blackened canisters raining down to litter roofs and streets. Shrapnel also damaged some cars. “Everything was just exploding like a freaking war over here,’’ Albert Castro told KABC-TV. Castro said his car was dinged and some debris ripped his pants leg. Four people went to hospitals but there was no immediate word on their conditions. Several schools near the plant were locked down as a precaution, although classes continued, and the Montclair Fire Department evacuated about 50 people for more than four hours because some tanks at the plant were leaking chlorine and other toxic chemicals. The evacuation orders were lifted Thursday night. The cause of the fire was under investigation.