Moreno Valley News

Sixty-nine drivers were issued citations and 32 vehicles were impounded overnight Friday at a DUI checkpoint in Moreno Valley, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department reported.

Moreno Valley school board member and Hispanic activist, Victoria Baca is scheduled to begin her criminal trial Monday November 9th in Riverside County.

Ms. Baca, who was arrested earlier this year for interfering with the lawful duties of a Moreno Valley police officer during a sobriety check point located on Perris Boulevard, in the city of Moreno Valley is scheduled to appear in department 62, of Riverside County's main court building located in the city of Riverside, at 8:30am.

Cayson Lamont Caddell, 19, and Travell Darrell Williams, 23, could face life in prison without parole if convicted of gunning down 15-year-old Brooke Nicole McKinney of Moreno Valley on June 10, 2006.

A fire at a Moreno Valley home today displaced seven people, three of them children, and killed a family dog but was contained to one room and part of the attic.

A victim of a home invasion robbery in Moreno Valley who escaped and flagged down police officers enabled them to locate a suspect in a silver Ford Focus fleeing the scene, authorities said today.

To the readers of the Moreno Valley topix pages.

Someone has complained about old stories which have been removed from this site.

I am going to let everyone know that if an article show a lack of public interest, is old and outdated, or the topic is somehow no longer relevant it will be removed, so it can be replaced with newer articles.

If you wish to view older removed articles, all you need to do is look for them, for they will still exist, however normally they don't show on the main pages.

Sorry for any inconvenience or hurt feelings, this may cause some of our readers.

An ex-Riverside police officer accused in a string of armed robberies is expected to be arraigned today in Riverside.

Two of the 52 girls rescued by law enforcement agents last weekend as part of a nationwide operation targeting child prostitution were found in the Inland area.

The FBI's Riverside office worked with police departments in Riverside, Moreno Valley, San Bernardino and Ontario in making the arrests, Eimiller said.

The court on September 11th shot down the demurrer filed on behalf of Victoria Baca, setting in motion a jury trail to decide her fate.

Other actions on that date included the granted request by the district attorney’s office to have sealed, all police reports connected to the arrest and subsequent investigations into Victoria Baca, and the incident which took place between her and the Moreno Valley police department.

Her actions on that night led to her arrest and subsequent filing of charges of willfully resisting, delaying and or obstructing an officer in the performance of their duties.

At the pace in which this is moving, it would appear that soon the cost will outweigh the charges filed, leaded to a dismissal of the case in best interest of justice.

However the puzzling part of this case is the sealing of the police reports, and to whom this action is meant to serve.

Is the district attorney protecting law enforcement, or an elected official from public scrutiny?

I call on the Press Enterprise to look into this issue, and use their powers of the press to seek these documents be made public. We have a right to know what is contained in such documents, provided that their public disclosure doesn't interfere with the issue before the court, or privacy of the officers involved.

As of October 22nd, the attempt at obtaining the required signatures to qualify for an up or down vote by the citizens of Moreno Valley's east end will draw to a close.

The only question now is do those who supported the recall effort have the signatures required to place the issue before the voters?

At last known count the effort was falling short, however the effort still was moving forward, even though it was plagued by the lack of volunteers to assist in the signature gathering, there was no shortage of those wishing to sign the required petition.

However it must be noted that those who have made claims that the recall has or will be defeated, are incorrect, as there is no recall to be defeated. These claims go as far as saying it has been defeated at least three times already, or that it can or will never succeed because Councilmember Robin Hastings is supported by Victoria Baca and Delbert (Raul) Wilson, however both claims are false.

A recall can only be defeated by a majority vote, however it needs to be approved before it is placed before the voters by gathering the signatures required to call for such voting, and as of this date that hasnt occurred.

As for Ms. Hasting you would think that she would have supported the effort, so as to prove she was and is the person of choice for her district, as would the Moreno Valley Taxpayers Association, which has claimed she won by a mandate.

As for now only time will tell if the effort will survive and produce the needed number of signatures. Those of us who believe that the citizens should have their chance to be heard in the democratic way, can only sit back , wait and hope, that the claims made by Deanna Reader are true and correct as to how well things are going.

The dirt is out about who Victoria Baca, Delbert Wilson and their family's truly are, and on those which they support and are employed by. See it all at: http://mvgordie.wordpress.com For direct link to their pages: http://mvgordie.wordpress.com/the-baca-wilson-pages

A 1 1 2-mile public dirt road, a favorite commuter shortcut until it was closed in spring 2005, will probably never reopen because of safety concerns.

The developer of a huge footwear warehouse in Moreno Valley is cooperating with the Sierra Club to solve potential pollution, noise and energy efficiency problems, said the attorney for the environmental group.

The city has been less (cooperative), said Raymond W. Johnson, a Temecula-based lawyer representing the Sierra Club.

Litigation has tied up the construction of a 1.8-million-square-foot warehouse since February when the Sierra Club sued the city of Moreno Valley to stop a Skechers USA Inc. distribution center south of Highway 60, between Redlands Boulevard and Theodore Street.

The environmentalists also named the developer, Highland Fairview Properties LLC, as an interested party.

A judge has postponed a hearing scheduled for Monday in Riverside Superior Court until Sept. 25.

The lawsuit asks the city of Moreno Valley to throw out its approval of the project and redo its environmental impact report.

The Moreno Valley City Council unanimously approved the Highland Fairview Corporate Park on Feb. 11, which environmental activists find unacceptable.

City Council members either underestimate the project's potential environmental hazards of greenhouse gas emissions, exhaust and global climate changes or

made bad decisions based on bad information, Johnson said. I have more issues with the city than with the developer.

Moreno Valley had no response because its policy is not to comment on pending litigation, spokeswoman Michelle Dawson wrote in an e-mail

.

Johnson said he's had very good discussions with the president of Highland Fairview, Iddo Benzeevi, whom he describes as cooperative, willing to work with the environmental group. It's likely we could have gotten this settled if the city hadn't dragged its feet so much. This has upset Iddo incredibly.

There are over 22,000 registered voters in District 3. We will get to everyone's door within the allotted 120 days.

We're out everyday. Starting this week we will be at the Easter Market every weekend for those that want to sign. Sorry we haven't got to your neighborhood yet, but you can go to the Easter Market this weekend. Looking forward to seeing you there. Thank-you for your input.

recallrobinhastings.com

The Moreno Valley Planning Commission has cleared the way for two projects: a 409,000-square-foot warehouse and an affordable housing project for seniors and people with special needs.

MORENO VALLEY - School board member and longtime activist Victoria Baca helped elect Moreno Valley's first-ever Latino city councilman and argued in support of a major warehousing project that the City Council recently approved.

Baca's efforts represent the growth in power and influence of a particular faction within the Hispanic community, which makes up more than half of Moreno Valley's population.

Baca, who is scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 4 and declined to comment on the incident, said she supports police stopping drunken drivers, but does not think they should ask innocent motorists for identification.

"I'm not willing to give up my civil liberties so two drunk drivers can be arrested," she said in an interview.

But in the process, Baca has become a lightning rod for controversy -- especially when she was arrested May 15 on suspicion of interfering with Moreno Valley police conducting a traffic stop. Baca and others were protesting a police checkpoint.

"Her actions on the night in question put the safety and security of our city and its citizens in jeopardy by alerting and diverting traffic away from a lawful administrative police action aimed at protecting the public at large," resident Gordon Tucker Jr. wrote in an e-mail to the city.

Riverside, Moreno Valley and Jurupa-area residents can celebrate Independence Day with a parade, barbecues, live music, games and fireworks displays.

Moreno Valley employees would see their salaries cut by 10 percent and City Hall would open just four days a week to help close a projected budget shortfall for the fiscal year that begins today.

The City Council on Tuesday night approved the $187 million budget for the 2009-10 fiscal year. The budget included a projected shortfall of $6.3 million in general fund revenues, which pay for most city services, including public safety, public works and animal control.

To help close the shortfall, the council chose not to fill four police officer positions and reduced fire truck company staffing, which resulted in $1.8 million in savings.

None of us is happy with everything here, Mayor Richard Stewart said.

Thirty-nine Moreno Valley city employees have decided to retire early as part of a plan to help the cash-strapped city save money and avoid layoffs.

The city offered about 135 eligible workers an incentive to retire early. For those who accepted the offer, the city will pay for two years' additional service credit in the California Public Employees Retirement System, which calculates pension benefits partly by length of service.

All had to be retired and off the payroll as of June 25, city Human Resources Director Chris Paxton said by phone.

The effort to recall one of the Moreno Valley city councilmember’s, has more to do with lies and deception, than warehousing.

The move aimed at removing Councilwoman Robin Hastings from the Moreno Valley city council is based on several actions taken by her in her bid for election, along with her inability to properly address the concerns of her electorate in the city’s third district.

During Hastings campaign she steadfastly claimed she was against all warehousing projects which were under consideration for the east end of Moreno Valley, which has been given a new up scaled name designation of Ranch Belago, in an attempt to lure high end housing and business to Moreno Valley.

Prior to Hastings election she repeatedly accused those who claimed she supported the zone changes, and the building of mega warehouses in the third district, as being ABYSMAL in reporting that she is in support of such developments when she is not.

I do not in any way, shape or form support bringing warehouses into the spot that (Rios) is talking about. (This statement was made in reference to the third district of Moreno Valley).

However a month after she was sworn in, and a calibration-victory party held by Iddo Benzeevi at the Highland Fairview offices for her and Jesse Molina, she did just as that, approved the development and zone changes.