Vol. 50 No. 48
March 19, 2020 -March 25, 2020
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what people will submit to and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them and these will continue till they have resisted either with words or blows or words or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they suppress. —Fredrick Douglass (1849)
WHO urges more testing and isolation to respond to coronavirus
Publisher’s Corner Publisher of The San Bernardino AMERICAN News
Email: sbamericannews@gmail.com
Clifton Harris Editor in Chief
By Don Jacobson cases surged by 1,000 Monday, health officials said -- a jump of 13 percent. The mortality rate has remained at around 3 percent, officials said. There are about 300 deaths and 540 recoveries. Madrid regional premier Isabel Díaz Ayuso and Begoña Gómez, the wife of the Spanish prime minister, said they have tested positive. Sunday, the Spanish government said private health providers would be temporarily taken over and put in the service of the national healthcare system for the first time in Spain's history. France A notice related to the spread of the coronavirus disease is seen Monday posted at Narita International Airport in Chiba prefecture, Japan. Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo March 16 (UPI) -- The World Health Organization said in an update Monday there has been a "rapid escalation" of coronavirus cases and the European Union proposed a 30-day ban on nonessential travel into the bloc. The WHO said the vast majority of new cases in recent days have been recorded outside the original epicenter in China, and that Europe and Iran are now the hardest-hit areas. "More cases and deaths have now been reported in the rest of the world than in China," said WHO Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who added that the global response is improving and lagging in some places. A Johns Hopkins University tally stood Monday at nearly 175,000 cases worldwide and more than 6,700 deaths. More
than 77,500 people have recovered, the university indicates. "We have seen a rapid escalation in social distancing measures, like closing schools and cancelling sporting events and other gatherings," Ghebreyesus said. "But we haven't seen an urgent enough escalation in testing, isolation and contact tracing, which is the backbone of the COVID-19 response." The WHO chief urged every country to "test, test, test" in conjunction with social distancing, saying one is not sufficient without the other. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday announced a temporary halt to non-essential travel to the European Union for 30 days. Under the plan, a "fast
Letter to the Editor
SB Mayor removal of R.V. Johnson from Water Board The City of San Bernardino is facing a multitude of important decisions to be made in order to move the City forward. Some of which are a new City Manager who must be selected by the end of this year. A Police Chief needs to be chosen outside of the current Police Department. Decisions need to be made to address the budget that is trending towards the negative in two years with the City still emerging from the bankruptcy. Plans need to be put in place regarding how we deal locally with the coronavirus (COVID-19). Yet, Mayor John Valdivia’s focus appears to be centered on retaliation, self-gratification and revenge. His controversial actions continue to cost the City monies that it can ill afford. Just look at the Mayor and City Council Agenda for March 18, 2020 to see a small example of his dastardly deeds. In Closed Session on the agenda you have the case of Gary Saenz and Georgeann Hanna v. City of San Bernardino where the Mayor attempted to reduce their salaries in order to use that money to pay a suspect lobbying firm. This reduction of their salary was ruled illegal. Their salary was reinstated, plus the City had to pay attorney fees. Now the City is facing further additional attorney fees as this case moves through the Court system. Agenda Item #8, Staffing – Office of the Mayor. Following the
receipt of complaints from two employees in the Mayor’s Office alleging various forms of harassment occurring at City Hall and offsite, the support staff assigned to the Office of the Mayor was temporarily relocated to the Office of the City Manager. All communications from the Mayor to staff are being communicated through the City Manager. This relocation of personnel has been made to limit the potential for additional allegations. This is governmental dysfunction at the highest level. Agenda Item #1, Water Board Appointment. It should read Water Board Removal because the present Board Member chose to support a different candidate than the Mayor to represent the 6th Ward. Unfortunately, Judith Valles is being used as a pawn in Valdivia’s sordid plans to be a Dictator for the City instead of Mayor for all the people that he was elected to serve. I have lived in San Bernardino for over 50 years, having served on the Human Relations Commission, the City Council for three terms and presently serving on the Water Board with my term expiring in May 2022. I have never missed a meeting. I’m the only minority Board Member and the only one who lives West of the I210 freeway. This action is in revenge for not supporting his candidate for 6th Ward City Council. (continued in next 2 columns)
lane" will be established to give priority to essential transport for goods and commuters. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Italy faces its greatest test since World War II, as the death toll mounted to 1,809 -- nearly onethird of the world total. "It's the time for sacrifices, for responsible choices," he told the daily Corriere della Sera. "Since the start I have worked with a spirit of unity, putting health at the center. We are facing an emergency that has not been known since the Second World War." The head of the Italian doctors' union said more than 2,000 Italian health workers, including doctors and nurses, have been infected. Spain In Spain, in the number of new
President Emmanuel Macron will give a national address Monday night after meeting with his top government and military advisers. French health officials say there are more than 5,400 cases and 127 deaths. Jerome Salomon, director general of country's health service, said the number of new cases has doubled about every three days. "I want our citizens to realize that there are people who are sick, who are in intensive care and that [their number] runs into hundreds," he said. Germany Germany has joined several neighbors in restricting free travel within the European Union's Schengen network of open internal borders. German Interior Minister Horst (continued on page 6)
SB Mayor removal of R.V. Johnson from Water Board...continued Valdivia didn’t even have the dignity to let me know that I was being removed. I had to find out from someone else. This is another sad display of abuse of power by the Office of Mayor. John Valdivia campaigned on a new direction for the City. It looks to me that the direction he is trying to take the City will be spiraling down with him into a cess-
pool of his own making. His multiquestionable actions have relegated him to an irrelevant lameduck Mayor with no road to recovery. It’s time for Valdivia to resign. However, with his massive ego I seriously doubt that will happen. Rikke Van Johnson
ATC Offers High Desert Taxpayers Electronic And Mail Payment Options SB CountyNews
San Bernardino, CA — San Bernardino County Tax Collector Ensen Mason today announced that for the safety and protection of taxpayers his office will not have a temporary payment office at the High Desert Government Center for the April 10th property tax installment. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak represents a state and national emergency and requires extra precautions to ensure public health. “I am dedicated to providing the personal customer service at tax installment time our residents in the High Desert are accustomed to,” stated Mason. “However, the Coronavirus is fundamentally changing the way we do business in the near future. High Desert residents can avoid going down the hill by using checks or electronic payment options.” While a payment center at the High Desert Government Center will not open, taxpayers can
continue to utilize our convenient electronic payment options. Electronic payments are accepted online at www.MyTaxCollector.com, and by phone at (909) 387-8308, or (760) 241-8829, and can be made using a checking or savings account free of charge. Credit card payments are also accepted; however, they include a convenience fee charged by a third-party processing vendor. Mailed payments should be sent to the Tax Collector’s Office at 268 West Hospitality Lane, First Floor, San Bernardino, CA 92415-0360. Payments must have a USPS postmark on or before April 10, 2020, to be considered timely. Payments can be made in person at the Tax Collector’s Office at 268 West Hospitality Lane in San Bernardino during business hours, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
LAPD’s Latest Controversy Forging information on minority traffic stops Isabell Rivera, Our Weekly Newspaper, Contributor
According to the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory (RIPA) Board, the LAPD is almost double the disparity of the other eight largest policing units in the state of California. (Photo: iStockphoto / NNPA) Just days into the New Year, and the Los Angeles Police Department already has a fire to put out. According to the LA Times, the LAPD’s elite Metropolitan (Metro) Division is being accused of allegedly forging information collected at random stops, falsely portraying innocent Black and Latinx citizens as gang members. More than 12 officers are being investigated for entering wrong information to boost statistics. The sources claim that in one case, a body camera shows a different scene than the initial field interview cards. Some of the investigated officers have already been suspended from working the field. A 2019 investigation by the LA Times found that the Metro Division stops Black and Latinx drivers five times more often than their White counterparts. Another investigation followed in October and discovered that across the entire LAPD – not just Metro Division – Black and Latinx drivers are being searched at rates 4-to-1 and 3-to-1, in comparison to White drivers, although officers found more contraband among White drivers. According to the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory (RIPA) Board, the LAPD is almost double the disparity of the other eight largest policing units in the state of California. South LA civic leaders, such as the PUSH LA “Reimagine Protect and Serve” coalition, demand that Chief Michel Moore remove Metro completely. “We are calling on LAPD Chief Michel Moore to pull the Metro Division out of South Los Angeles immediately and take the steps toward eradicating it entirely for this corruption and past division-wide racist policing,” Community Coalition President and CEO Alberto Retana declared in a statement on behalf of PUSH LA. “There additionally needs to be serious consideration to ending the gang database.” PUSH LA “Reimagine Protect and Serve” is a cross-sector coalition of 15 social justice organizations dedicated to ending racist policing in Los Angeles. “The division is corrupt, racist, abusing its power, and purposefully distorting information,” Retana continued in his statement on behalf of PUSH LA. “They’re certainly not protecting and serving, a mantra that has long since lost truth for communities of color across Los Angeles and the United States.”
After the investigated reports, Metro said they’ll cut back on random vehicle stops and searches. Moore also agreed that Metro’s methods were not effective and costing innocent drivers who felt they had become targets of racial profiling. Metro is said to use other strategies to catch wanted suspects in connection with burglaries and shootings. Moore explained in a released statement the reasoning for the investigation and responded, “An officer’s integrity must be absolute. There is no place in the department for any individual who would purposely falsify information on a department report.” Recently, the LAPD released a statement explaining the investigation and what has prompted it. In early 2019, a mother in San Fernando Valley was notified by the LAPD in a written letter that her son is allegedly a gang member. Believing that this must be a mistake, she took the matter to her local precinct, and reported the incident to a supervisor. According to the statement by the LAPD, the reviewing supervisor stated, “body worn video and other information, finding inaccuracies in the documentation completed by an officer.” As a result, the mother was informed that her son’s information will be removed completely from the data, and an internal investigation will be launched that involves the three officers who collected the data. “Over the course of several months, Internal Affairs investigators have continued their investigation resulting in identifying additional inaccuracies in the documentation on field interview cards completed by those officers as well as others,” the statement by the LAPD declared. “Given the serious nature of the alleged misconduct, all involved officers have been assigned to inactive duty or removed from the field.” According to the Police Protective League, those discrepancies on a restricted number of field interview cards are known to them, and the department will take a closer look. The department also supports Moore’s decision with confidence, stating that they “will oversee a thorough and fair process to determine the facts and to also ensure that any impacted officer is accorded his or her due process rights.”