High Desert Happenings

2013-05-18T05:45:00.001-07:00

WEED BUST

OAK HILLS • Electricity theft led deputies to a house with a sophisticated marijuana growing operation, where they seized 1,734 pot plants and arrested a man on Thursday, San Bernardino County Sheriff's officials said.

Two weeks ago, investigators from Southern California Edison alerted sheriff’s officials of a suspected utilities theft at a home in the 9100 block of Daisy Road, west of Highway 395 in Oak Hills, near Phelan.

Upwards of $69,000 worth of electricity was stolen over the course of a year, according to Sgt. Ernie Perez of the narcotics division. Cables were hooked up to SCE lines without a working meter, Perez said.

“We assisted Edison in writing a search warrant,” Perez said. “Based on the amount of electricity theft, we believed there was a grow operation going on in the residence.”

On Thursday, approximately 10 deputies from the sheriff’s Marijuana Eradication Team, along with deputies from the sheriff’s Phelan Substation, served a search warrant on the single-family residence at approximately 2 p.m., Perez said.

Deputies also seized grow lights, fans and other equipment from the garage of the home and from a van parked in the driveway.

“My opinion is that it was from another (grow) house,” Perez said of the equipment in the van.

A neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous, said it was obvious the people in the house were up to something.

“They were only here about three or four months,” the neighbor said. “They always had moving trucks and would unload on weekends and at night only.”

tvally.com

2011-09-21T18:57:00.001-07:00

Green jobs ,solar jobs. windfarm jobs.: Are you a good fit for a "Green" Job ?

2010-10-11T10:58:00.000-07:00

Green jobs ,solar jobs. windfarm jobs.: Are you a good fit for a "Green" Job ?: "Working Conditions Solar Thermal Installers work outdoors in most types of weather. The work requires lifting heavy tools and equipment as w..."

NEW CPR GUIDLINES

2010-10-06T08:04:00.000-07:00

CHICAGO – Hands-only CPR doesn't just eliminate the "yuck factor." A new study shows it can save more lives.

It's the first large American study to show more adults survived cardiac arrest when a bystander gave them continuous chest presses to simulate a heartbeat, compared to traditional CPR with mouth-to-mouth breathing.

"Anyone who can put one hand on top of the other, lock their elbows and push hard and fast can do this. No risk, no fear of causing harm," said lead author Dr. Ben Bobrow of the Arizona Department of Health Services in Phoenix.

"We want to take away all the reasons bystanders do nothing when they witness another person collapse."

With hands-only CPR, advocates say, potential rescuers don't have to contemplate what for some could be the "yuck factor" of putting their mouth to an unconscious person's mouth and breathing for them.

For others, the trimmed-down method simplifies a confusing procedure learned years ago and barely remembered — How many breaths? How many chest compressions? Are you supposed to pinch the nose?

Standard CPR with mouth-to-mouth and chest compressions is still best for very small children and victims of near-drowning and drug overdose, experts say, instances where breathing problems probably led to the cardiac arrest.

Nonstop chest compressions work better for adult cardiac arrest because most people take too long to do mouth-to-mouth, said senior author Dr. Gordon Ewy (pronounced AY'-vee) of the University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center.

After cardiac arrest, oxygenated blood can't get to the brain without help. Most rescuers take about 16 seconds to perform two CPR breaths — long enough to starve the organs of oxygen.

"Your hands are their heart," Ewy said. "When you stop pressing on the chest, blood flow to the brain stops."

A 2007 study of 4,068 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in Japan found similar results, but other studies have found no difference between the two CPR methods.

The study, which appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, is also the first to show a statewide awareness campaign can increase bystanders' willingness to try CPR.

Arizona reached 500,000 people through public service announcements, YouTube, free classes, e-mails and inserts in utility bills, all promoting hands-only CPR.

Researchers looked at 4,415 adult cardiac arrests outside of hospitals in Arizona from 2005 to 2009 during the campaign.

The rate of bystanders attempting any type of CPR increased from 28 percent in 2005 to 40 percent in 2009. Bystanders were more likely to use hands-only CPR over traditional CPR as time went on.

And victims who got hands-only were more likely to survive: 113 of 849 victims (13 percent) who received the hands-only method survived, compared to 52 of 666 victims (about 8 percent) who received conventional CPR.

Greg Stewart, a 54-year-old father of five, is one of the survivors thanks to hands-only CPR. His heart stopped at his Scottsdale, Ariz., home as he and his wife, Lu Ann, sat down to watch "Survivor" on television last year. She called 911.

"The dispatcher told me what to do. I got him out of the chair and onto the floor and at that point his face was really, really dark," Lu Ann Stewart said. She fought down panic.

With her daughter taking over the 911 call, Lu Ann began pressing her husband's chest.

"I got up on my knees and just started pressing as hard as I could. By golly, his color started to lighten," she said. She kept pushing hard and fast, ignoring her tired muscles. "He was gone a long time. I kept the blood pumping."

Minutes later — "it felt like hours" — paramedics arrived and took over.

Today, Greg Stewart is grateful.

"She's not a big lady," he said of his wife, his childhood sweetheart. "And yet she kept going and kept going."

His cardiac arrest was the result of a heart attack from blocked arteries; he later had bypass surgery.

The steps:

• If someone collapses, doesn't respond to gentle shaking and stops normal breathing, call 911 or tell someone else to call.

• With the victim on his back, place the heel of one of your hands atop the other on the middle of the victim's breastbone.

• Lock your elbows. With your shoulders over your hands, fall forward using your body weight. Press 100 times a minute. Think of the Bee Gees song "Stayin' Alive" for the tempo.

• If an automated external defibrillator is available, switch it on and follow the instructions.

• If not, continue chest compressions until paramedics arrive.

In 2008, the American Heart Association said hands-only CPR works just as well as standard CPR for sudden cardiac arrest in adults. Later this month, the association plans to announce new CPR guidelines and is keeping them under wraps until then.

Guidelines committee chair Dr. Michael Sayre said the Arizona findings are too new to have been considered.

"Certainly their findings are compelling," Sayre said.

Sayre said he's impressed by the increase in bystander CPR achieved in Arizona.

"The real problem we have isn't the small difference between methods of CPR," he said. "The real problem we have is people doing nothing."

___

Online:

Arizona CPR campaign: http://www.azshare.gov

JAMA: http://jama.ama-assn.org

Lightning Safety Tips

2010-10-01T14:19:00.001-07:00

1. PLAN in advance your evacuation and safety measures. When you first see lightning or hear thunder, activate your emergency plan. Now is the time to go to a building or a vehicle. Lightning often precedes rain, so don't wait for the rain to begin before suspending activities.
2. IF OUTDOORS...Avoid water. Avoid the high ground. Avoid open spaces. Avoid all metal objects including electric wires, fences, machinery, motors, power tools, etc. Unsafe places include underneath canopies, small picnic or rain shelters, or near trees. Where possible, find shelter in a substantial building or in a fully enclosed metal vehicle such as a car, truck or a van with the windows completely shut. If lightning is striking nearby when you are outside, you should:

A. Crouch down. Put feet together. Place hands over ears to minimize hearing damage from thunder.
B. Avoid proximity (minimum of 15 ft.) to other people.

3. IF INDOORS... Avoid water. Stay away from doors and windows. Do not use the telephone. Take off head sets. Turn off, unplug, and stay away from appliances, computers, power tools, & TV sets. Lightning may strike exterior electric and phone lines, inducing shocks to inside equipment.
4. SUSPEND ACTIVITIES for 30 minutes after the last observed lightning or thunder.
5. INJURED PERSONS do not carry an electrical charge and can be handled safely. Apply First Aid procedures to a lightning victim if you are qualified to do so. Call 911 or send for help immediately.
6. KNOW YOUR EMERGENCY TELEPHONE NUMBERS.

Teach this safety slogan:
"If you can see it, flee it; if you can hear it, clear it."

Drug smugglers travel through High Desert

2010-10-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

APPLE VALLEY • Costing nearly 28,000 lives, Mexico’s brutal drug war has affected cities across the United States, including the High Desert, as smugglers drive on Interstate 15 to get to Los Angeles or Las Vegas.
Although there’s no direct evidence to tie street gangs selling narcotics in San Bernardino County with Mexican drug cartels, there is a correlation, said San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Deputy Richard Camacho.
“We do have gang issues in the High Desert, I can tell you that,” Camacho said during his presentation at an Apple Valley Rotary Club meeting Thursday. “There are two ways the drugs are coming through. North and south is the I-15, from Tijuana all the way to Vegas and up north. And I-15 lies right between your community. That’s why sometimes we find dumped bodies, homicide.”
Camacho said the High Desert is less of a market than a corridor of drug trafficking.
“We are probably a small market for the cartels,” he said. “Their drugs need to get to L.A. They need to get to Las Vegas. They need to get to major cities.”
Camacho, who was born in Mexico, said securing the border and stopping the illegal flow of drug money to Mexico will be keys to solving the problems.
To read about cartels smuggling not only drugs, but humans, see the full story in Friday's Daily Press. To subscribe to the Daily Press in print or online, call (760) 241-7755, 1-800-553-2006 or click here.

On line Police/Fire/Ems Scanner

2010-10-01T08:57:00.000-07:00

here is a link to an online scanner feed for the high desert,
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/?feedId=4937

And here is the link for the rest of the U.S.
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/
North High Desert Coverage(Barstow Area): Sheriff Station 8&18, County Fire, Barstow Police, MCLB Fire, & Comm.Center.

This is a Motorola type 2 800mhz trunking repeater which will monitor
County Sheriff Station 8,18,& 29(Barstow, Apple Valley, Baker, & Trona) TGID-304 (2-DC-1) *(1-DC-3, D-LAW-6 patched in)*
County Fire (All that is Patched to 2-Fire-1, Barstow Fire District Now On 2-fire-1) TGID-1904 & 2256 (2-Fire-1, 2-FGND-1)*(D-Fire-3 & 4 patched in)*
City Police(Barstow Police Dept.) TGID-17200 (2-BAPD-1)*(D-LAW-5 patched in)*
MCLB Fire(Nebo & Yermo Base) TGID - 20016 (2-MCLB-1)
Comm Center (Interop with Fire & ALS Units [Air Ships]) TGID-16016 (2-COMMCEN)
This is San Bernardino County System #2 which covers the I-15 from Wildwash past Yermo area, Kramer Jct(Highway 58 & 395), and I-40 to the Ludlow area. You will hear other unincorperated areas patched to Co. Fire.
VHF Operations:
Desert Ambulance - 155.280 mhz (Dispatch)
Calfire on Local 2 - 151.325 mhz (Fire Dispatch)
LifeComm - 155.220 mhz (Mercy Air Dispatch)
Calcord - 156.075 mhz (Agency Interops & Air To Ground Tactics)

Calfire

2010-10-01T08:48:00.001-07:00

Calfire Incidents
http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_current

Human Head found in backpack

2010-10-01T07:47:00.001-07:00

A human head believed to be that of a white or Hispanic girl that was found on Lenwood Road Feb. 9 just west of Tortoise Road has not yet been identified, and her killer is still unknown.
“We haven’t had any promising new leads,” said Sgt. Andy Espinoza Sr. “They all dried up, there is just nothing there that would give anything to add (to the investigation).”
Espinoza said the police department has been in contact with an FBI task force that monitors possible serial killers that travel along the interstates in hopes of finding a suspect.
The head was found by a man looking for cans, and was wrapped in plastic bags bearing the Fiesta Foods and Walgreens names inside a black backpack.

Missing hiker found in canyon

2010-10-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

Search and rescue crews found a hiker Thursday morning who had been missing in Joshua Tree National Park for almost a week. “He was conscious when the rescuers found him and was talking with them, but he does have some injuries and some exposure issues,” park spokesman Joe Zarki said.

The hiker — Edward H. Rosenthal, 64, of Culver City — was airlifted to Hi-Desert Medical Center in Joshua Tree, Zarki said.
Rescuers found Rosenthal about 6 to 7 miles south of the original search area, which was a few miles from the campground where he set out for a hike Friday afternoon. Rosenthal was reported missing to park rangers Sunday.
“He's quite a ways from where the primary search area was back on Monday and Tuesday,” Zarki said. “He got into a very deep canyon and was just working his way down.”
Zarki said Rosenthal was found in the East Wide Canyon area, which is about 5 to 6 miles east-northeast of Desert Hot Springs and about 2 miles inside the park's southern boundary.
Rescuers had found tracks in the area Wednesday, Zarki said.
“They followed those tracks yesterday to a point where they lost the trail, so they went back this morning,” Zarki said. “They found him not far from there.”

Off Road Race Saftey

2010-08-17T06:32:00.000-07:00

In a tragic accident during an off road race in Lucerne Valley California this past weekend , Eight people lost their lives as a Trophy Truck lost control and careened into the crowd of spectators.

This has brought about much attention as to who is to blame, First , let me be Clear, This is NOT the fault of the driver !, These people were crowded within a few feet of a dangerous jump on the course. The possibility of a crash in this area of the course was extremely HIGH ! This is why this crowd chose this area to watch the race, They were hoping to see a crash or two,

Mr Sloppy, The driver of the truck must now find a way to live with this, He too is a Victim.

The responsibility of these deaths lies solely with the those who died. They were too close !