Race for SB County Supervisor Gets New Candidate

The race for San Bernardino County’s third district has a new challenger.

Former Mayor of Twentynine Palms Jim Bagley said Sunday he is running for the seat currently held by Neil Derry.

He joins a contentious race that started with a war of words between the incumbent and candidate James Ramos, San Manuel Tribal Chairman and trustee with the San Bernardino Community College Board.

That saga continued with reports that Derry’s campaign recently emailed a flier to 11,000 residents that links Ramos to “gang members … drug dealers … killers for hire,” according to the Press-Enterprise.

The report mentions that the email refers to Ramos as a “casino boss” and includes pictures of what is suggested to be a gang member, drugs and drug paraphernalia. This is not the first time that Derry has referred to Ramos as a casino boss.

In a May news release, Derry called on “San Manuel Casino Boss James Ramos to release his personal income and property tax records.”

“The citizens of the 3rd District deserve to know whether Mr. Ramos pays state or local taxes,” Derry said in the release. “The Los Angeles Times has reported that Ramos’ predecessor as Tribal Chairman didn’t pay state and local taxes required for nearly all other San Bernardino County residents. Is Mr. Ramos a tax scofflaw too?”

“Mr. Ramos’ casino business rakes in millions of dollars, but he lives on tribal land. Does he pay any California taxes on his casino income? Does he pay any local property taxes on his primary residence to help our local schools?” asked Derry in the release.

The flier refers to a 2008 law enforcement investigation into criminal gang activity, including members of the Mexican Mafia, on the San Manuel reservation, according to the Press-Enterprise. Derry goes on to say that crime continues to be a problem on the reservation, but Ramos says the reservation is a safe community.

Derry battled legal troubles of his own last year. California Attorney General Kamala Harris charged Derry purposely failed to report campaign contributions.

Derry pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor as part of a plea deal that included the dismissal of felony perjury charges against him. He was sentenced to three years informal probation and fined $1,000 with an additional $5,000 in penalty assessments, state attorney general officials said.

Derry still has a lot of friends within his district, but at least one local leader commented to me they were concered because "Neil has had his issues." All three candidates will face off in June for the right to represent the second largest district, land-wise, in the county.

Given all of the violence that erupted last week in Oakland with the Occupiers, it turned out to be timely for Occupy Redlands to host Nonviolent Communication training Feb. 1.

The class was given by Dr. April Wursten, of Redlands, a psychologist with more than 20 years experience working with severely mentally ill patients, many of whom have been violent, according to organizers. 

Wursten discussed the principles of nonviolent communication as developed by Dr. Marshall B. Rosenberg. Trainees were taught to “listen to others with an open mind and heart and to find common ground with adversaries though constructive questioning and conversation.”

“We feel that this training will be of use to Occupy Redlands as it moves forward with it's agenda to engage with the community and it's elected officials in a positive way in the future,” said Occupy member Virginia Harp-Sanders.

The Redlands Tea Party Patriots has joined the effort to collect signatures for another go at getting a parental notification measure on the November ballot.

Supporters want physicians and facilities that perform abortions on unemancipated (under 18) minors to notify a parent of the procedure at least 48 hours before it’s performed.

Members of the Tea Party encouraged those who attended Thursday’s general monthly meeting not only to sign a petition, but also take one home and have friends sign them.

The legislation was placed on the ballot in 2008 as Proposition 4, but it was narrowly defeated.

They need more than 800,000 signatures by the end of March, Tea Partiers said.