(empo-jooryst) In which I make a false assumption

Eventually, the testimony ended, the closing arguments were heard, and twelve of the fourteen people sitting in the jury box were dismissed to begin deliberations.

The two alternate jurors remained for a few minutes. The judge thanked us for our service, but reminded us that we were not fully released from service until the jury reached (or didn't reach) a verdict. The judge had no way to predict how long this could take, since every jury is different. The process could take a few hours, or it could take weeks. Either way, someone at the court would call us to tell us what the verdict was.

That was on a Thursday afternoon.

On Thursday evening, I checked to see if the case was still listed on the criminal calendar for Friday. It was, indicating that the jury was probably still going to be deliberating on Friday.

Similarly, I checked the criminal calendar again on Sunday evening. The case was still listed for Monday.

On Monday morning, I received a call from the court. But it wasn't the call that I expected. The court representative stated that there may be an issue with one of the jurors, and that I may need to join the jury. If I had to do so, how soon could I get to the court in Rancho Cucamonga?

After I told him, I figured that this probably wouldn't affect me, since I was the second alternate and presumably wouldn't be needed unless two jurors dropped out.

Wrong, John. The court representative explained that if a juror did drop out, they would draw lots between the two alternate jurors to see which one would be added to the jury.

At this point, I had to start telling co-workers and various family members that I may be back on jury duty again. I would find out within the hour.

Just a half hour later, the court called again. I was instructed to go about my daily business, and that I would not be summoned to the court - that day.

That was on Monday. On Tuesday, I received a second call from the court. But this time, they had reached a verdict.

Yeah, we replaced the dead guy...but the replacement's a secret

Just last Tuesday, I wrote about Cory Briggs' latest organization, the Inland Oversight Committee, and the fact that the listed chairman of the committee, Ian Trowbridge, actually passed away several months ago.

Well, Briggs has returned to the news again. When I read the title of a recent Liset Marquez article in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Lawsuit threatens formation of Ontario-Rancho Cucamonga tourism marketing district, I wondered if Briggs had something to do with it.

Turns out I was right. (Off-topic, this makes me feel better, because I was sure that Dwight Howard wouldn't make his free agency decision until after July 10. Turns out I was wrong about that. I think.)

The Ontario-based Inland Oversight Committee, in its suit, is asking that the district's formation be taken to the voters.

Cory Briggs, the group's attorney, filed the lawsuit in West Valley Superior Court in Rancho Cucamonga on Monday....

So, considering that the Inland Oversight Committee web page currently lists three people in the organization - Briggs (no listed official role, but quoted in the press releases), Anthony Kim (legal adviser), and the aforementioned dead man (chairman), I wondered if Marquez was able to use her journalistic skills to figure out if anyone else was on the committee. But Marquez had no such luck:

Members of the group have asked to remain anonymous.

For a full account of the basis of Briggs' latest lawsuit, see the article.

Oh, and by the way, I found out more about Anthony Kim. According to LinkedIn, Kim is based in San Diego, and is an attorney with the Briggs Law Corporation. Presumably, as legal adviser to the Inland Oversight Committee, Kim is responsible for securing legal representation for the committee in its court cases. And so far, the lawyer that Kim has recommended is...Kim's own boss. And oddly enough, Kim does not appear on the list of attorneys for the Briggs Law Corporation, although his name does appear on this complaint, filed on behalf of the "Redlands Good Neighbor Coalition," and filed against Costco. No, I'm kidding, it's against Walmart.

So the Inland Oversight Committee site lists a dead man, and the Briggs Law Corporation website fails to list a current attorney - well, someone who was an attorney a few months ago. If you are a webmaster, please try to get a job with Briggs; he seems to be a little slow in updating his web sites.

P.S. The empo-jooryst series will resume on Monday.

(empo-jooryst) Some TMI about the hazards of jury duty

During a criminal trial, a jury is restricted to basing its decision on the evidence presented in court. Jury members cannot go and research the law on their own, research news accounts on their own, or consider anything outside of the courtroom.

In the case in March for which I was an alternate juror, the judge reminded us of this constantly. As far as I know, we all honored the judge's request - even when it caused us difficulties to do so.

One afternoon, after a nice lunch with two other jurors (followed by a post-lunch coffee), I arrived at the courtroom in time for the afternoon session. I wanted to stop by the restroom, but didn't have a chance before we were called into the courtroom.

After some testimony, the prosecution was asked to call its next witness. At this point the prosecution said, as delicately as possible, that the witness may be in the restroom. The judge then ordered a brief break in which the jurors were asked to exit the courtroom, and were (as usual) reminded not to discuss the case with anybody.

This may have been a wonderful opportunity to take care of my personal needs, but there was only a single restroom on the floor - and a witness may have been in there! So I decided to wait a while.

Eventually the witness was located, testimony continued, and eventually we got to another break. The jury filed out (after hearing the judge's usual admonition) - and the spectators filed out also. I did not know who the spectators were, but they appeared to have some interest in the case. Were they friends or family of the defendant? I didn't know. Were they friends or family of the alleged victim of the crime? I did not know.

What I did know was that several male spectators took the opportunity of the courtroom break to head to - you guessed it, the restroom.

The story has a happy ending - eventually I took care of my own needs, and was not a victim of jury tampering when I did so.

(empo-jooryst) Is my dog competent to stand trial?

When you spend several days at a trial, things start to rub off on you.

It was the Saturday after the trial began, or a little over a week after jury selection began. I was engaged in important duties that had nothing to do with my jury assignment, or with my regular job. Specifically, I was in my backyard, picking up dog poop.

Frankly, I would rather have been back in voir dire.

As I was picking up after my dog, I was talking to her. Or rather, we were talking to each other. This is what she was saying:

BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK

Meanwhile, I found myself saying this to her:

Your job is to keep cats out of the backyard. But here in my hand, I have evidence that shows that you have not done this! Allow me to introduce Exhibit 1, this piece of cat poop...

I wonder if our prosecuting attorney says things like that to his dog.

I just hope that this doesn't mean that poop will become a major part of this case. Heck, I already cut my hair and then discovered a few hours later that the alleged crime took place near a barbershop. I shudder to think of what might happen next.

A Cory Briggs interest group has a real person connected with it - well, sort of

Sorry to interrupt my coverage of my jury service three months ago, but I was checking my analytics and saw an uptick in people reading articles about Cory Briggs. Since the Ontario Walmart appears to be on schedule for a fall 2013 opening, I figured that perhaps Briggs was being active in some other city. I was correct; I found this article from early June:

CHINO -- A possible lawsuit has Mayor Dennis Yates concerned it will scare away potential developers from building in his city and the Inland Empire.

On Tuesday, the attorney for Inland Oversight Committee threatened to take the city to court if the council didn't reverse the Planning Commission's action approving a million-square-foot industrial development for Watson Land Co.

Attorney Cory Briggs filed an appeal with city alleging the project did not receive the proper environmental review and the city did not properly notify the public about the Planning Commission's approval a month and a half ago.

So this organization is called the "Inland Oversight Committee." We've been down this road before, with the Ontario Mountain Village Association, the Blythe Citizens for Smart Growth, the Menifee Citizens for Smart Growth, and the Murrietans for Smart Growth. So I suspected that the Inland Oversight Committee was just something that Briggs had completely dreamed up, and that the committee itself had one member, Briggs.

Well, in my typical Jim Bakker fashion, I was wrong. Not only does the Inland Oversight Committee have a website, it actually has real people associated with it. But first, let's see that the Inland Oversight Committee does that is different from the other organizations that I have named:

IOC's specific purpose is to educate members of the public about their rights to transparent, accountable, and responsible decision-making by the government, as well as their rights to the fair, equal, and lawful treatment by the government when they interact with government agencies and representatives. Pursuing this purpose, IOC's mission is (1) to identify, expose, and educate the public about non-compliance with local, state, and federal laws of every kind (including but not limited to taxpayer waste and circumvention of voter approval) by government bodies and by persons who conduct any form of business with those bodies; (2) to advocate for and pursue appropriate corrective measures for such non-compliance; and (3) to serve as a "watchdog" to ensure that unethical and illegal conduct by government bodies is exposed and appropriate remedies are pursued.

And if you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you can see the people named as part of this group, none of whom has the last name of Briggs (although he has represented the group in legal matters):

Chairman: Ian Trowbridge

Legal Advisor: Anthony Kim

Now I have not yet researched Anthony Kim - as you will see in a future post in my empo-jooryst series, it is difficult to research people who have very common names. But I figured that Ian Trowbridge would be a relatively easy name to find, so I began looking for an Ian Trowbridge in southern California - perhaps in the Inland Empire, or perhaps in the San Diego area.

Bingo. I found an article all about Trowbridge - about how he had been a "retired Salk Institute researcher who turned his attention to local politics and became a thorn in the side of many an elected official." The article included a quote from "East [San Diego] County activist Charlene Ayers, who worked with Trowbridge to hold government officials accountable to the people they serve." After he retired from the Salk Institute:

Trowbridge became a fixture at public meetings of the San Diego City Council, the county Board of Supervisors, the port commission and any other public agency that he thought might benefit from his civic interest. He advocated for clean-needle exchanges to fight the spread of AIDS. He sued to stop developments over environmental issues, or to avert generous severance packages for corrupt officials.

Oh, and there's one other thing about this article.

It's Trowbridge's obituary.

You see, Ian Trowbridge passed away in early February.

Yet his name is still on the Inland Oversight Committee website, where he is listed as Chairman.

Mayor Daley would have been proud.

(empo-jooryst) The strangest coincidence

This is another post about my experiences as an alternate juror back in March 2013.

As I noted in my previous post, I was questioned on a Tuesday afternoon regarding my fitness as an alternate juror. Neither the prosuection nor the defense objected to my inclusion, so I was sworn in as an alternate juror on that Tuesday afternoon.

Opening statements were scheduled for Wednesday morning, and since the judge had other cases to attend to early in the morning, we were instructed to report to court at 10:30 am on Wednesday morning. Since I am no longer constitutionally (heh) able to sleep in all morning, this gave me some free time before my jury service began.

Now remember what I was NOT allowed to do during this time. I was not allowed to discuss the case with anyone, nor was I allowed to research the particulars of the case. For example, I could not search the Internet to find any news articles that mentioned the defendant in the case. I was also not allowed to use the Internet to research anything about the specific charges that were filed in this case. Although opening statements had not been delivered, I already knew the name of the defendant and the four charges against him.

So I decided to do something that had nothing to do with the defendant and those charges.

I went and got a haircut.

After getting the haircut and taking care of other business, I reported to the courthouse. Since I live in Ontario, I was required to report to the courthouse in Rancho Cucamonga. This is a nice courthouse to report to; among other things, it is a building of recent construction that is reportedly able to withstand a major earthquake. (Not that I want to test this.)

I went through security. This is more comprehensive than TSA security, and is the second strictest security that I have been through. (The most secure place that I have entered is the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC.)

After security, I went upstairs, met my fellow jurors and alternate, and proceeded into the courtroom to hear the opening statements.

As the prosecution attorney began his presentation, he described the scene of the crime.

A parking lot outside a barbershop.

Luckily, the barbershop that I had visited that morning was NOT the barbershop in question. Otherwise, I would have had a big problem.

(empo-jooryst) The analogy mashup

While I have been known to write blog posts in advance of their publication, I don't think I've ever written one three months in advance. As I write this, it is March 14; I am scheduling this post to appear some time in July.

Allow me to explain.

As I write this (back in March), I am an alternate on a jury that is hearing a criminal trial. While the trial is in session, I am prohibited from talking about the specific case with anyone (including my dog). I am also prohibited from researching the case on my own. While many of these prohibitions will be lifted once the case ends, I am also unable to talk about the case in exchange for money - at least for a period of 90 days after the case ends. (I'm reluctant to research the particulars of this prohibition at this time, due to the other restraints that the judge has placed upon me.)

Since this blog includes advertisements, the regulation could be construed to prohibit blogging about the case during that 90 day period.

Therefore, if the case ends by the end of March, then this prohibition will be lifted by the end of June. Hence, the delayed nature of this post (and any other posts, with the exception of my March 27 post).

Jury selection began on a Thursday afternoon, then continued all day on Monday, and then continued some more on Tuesday morning and into Tuesday afternoon. For those who have never been involved in jury selection, it consists of a brief interview of each potential juror followed by the judge, followed by questioning from both the prosecution attorney(s) and defense attorney(s). The attorneys are trying to determine if a potential juror would be favorable or unfavorable to their side of the case. After the interviews and questioning, each set of attorneys may choose to remove a potential juror from the panel. This continues for some time (in my case, over three separate working days).

In my particular case, the attorneys used a couple of analogies to determine how the jurors would make decisions regarding guilt or innocence. Again, I am prohibited from researching these analogies online at this time, so I'll reconstruct them from memory.

One analogy discusses a driver who is approaching a yellow traffic light. As the driver approaches, he or she can either go through the light, or stop at the light. The driver only has a split second to do this. The question that the attorneys posed - is this a conscious decision by the driver, or is it a reflex? At this point (March 14) I cannot surmise why this particular analogy was presented, although I have a sneaking suspicion that I know why the question was asked.

The second analogy discusses a hypothetical case in which walking on the beach at night is a crime. In this particular instance, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt (since this is a criminal trial, not a civil trial) that all of the elements of the crime are in place, namely (a) that it was night, and (b) that the person was in fact walking on the beach. It is not sufficient, for example, to say that the person was walking on the beach without noting the time that the person was walking on the beach.

These analogies were used in questioning the potential jurors.

Dozens of potential jurors.

Over the course of three working days.

Eventually, by Tuesday afternoon, both the prosecution and the defense had agreed on a set of twelve jurors. But now they had to pick two alternate jurors, so that in case one of the twelve jurors had to drop out for some reason, the court could just plug an alternate juror into the original juror's place and continue with the trial or deliberations or whatever.

I had been waiting for three working days, and had not yet been called. Finally, I was called as a potential juror to fill the second of two alternate juror slots.

The judge asked me if I had any concerns about anything said by the attorneys or by the dozens of potential jurors who had been interviewed previously.

My response: "Well, I don't know what I'd do if I ran into a traffic light on the beach."

The entire court burst into laughter, since this relieved some tension.

I will need to remain silent for the rest of the trial - unless two jurors drop out and I end up in deliberations - so this will probably be the only utterance of mine that will be heard in court. I guess it was worth three days of waiting.

(empo-jooryst) The new post series finally begins tomorrow

Way back in March, I promised all of the Empoprise-IE Inland Empire blog readers that I'd eventually be sharing a series of posts describing my experiences as an alternate juror in the Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court.

Well, after more than three months, that series will begin tomorrow, July 1.

To see the posts in the series, check http://empoprise-ie.blogspot.com/search/label/empo-jooryst over the next several days.

No, Ontario isn't on Route 66. But we're celebrating anyway. (And so is San Bernardino.)

As most of you know, Foothill Boulevard (and its various other names) is the former route taken by Route 66. Technically that old Route never went through Ontario, but the next big Route 66-related event will take place in Ontario anyway.

As you know, the impetus for this event was the cancellation of the 2013 Route 66 Rendezvous due to budget issues in the city of San Bernardino.

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - (February 19, 2013) It is with deep regret that the San Bernardino Convention & Visitors Bureau, in conjunction with their title sponsor, Stater Bros. Markets, announces the suspension of the 2013 Stater Bros. Route 66 Rendezvous®....

“This was a very difficult decision for our Board of Directors to make and not one that we came to lightly,” said Jim Gerstenslager, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the San Bernardino Convention & Visitors Bureau. “The loss of funding due to the statewide elimination of Economic Development Agencies coupled with the current financial situation of the City of San Bernardino has resulted in a total loss of the revenue needed to continue the day-to-day operations of the Convention & Visitors Bureau and by extension the Stater Bros. Route 66 Rendezvous® and the California Welcome Center.”

From the Route 66 Rendezvous Facebook page:

ONTARIO, CALIFORNIA TO HOST ROUTE 66 CRUISIN’ REUNION®

Thousands of Classic Cars and Fans will Jam Historic Euclid Avenue Sept. 20-22.

ONTARIO, CALIFORNIA – (June 13, 2013) – Ontario will experience a population explosion this fall as several thousand classic cars and tens of thousands of automobile enthusiasts descend upon the city Sept. 20-22 for the Route 66 Cruisin’ Reunion®.

The three-day classic car rally will feature block upon block of cars and displays, feature off-site events such as a Poker Run and car competitions, and draw immense crowds of fans from Southern California and the Southwestern United States to Ontario’s historic Euclid Avenue.

“San Bernardino County and the Inland Empire have enjoyed a long and rich love affair with all things relating to vintage automobiles,” noted Michael Krouse, president of the nonprofit Route 66 Reunion and President & CEO of the Greater Ontario Convention and Visitors Bureau. “As a part of Ontario’s continuing vision for growth and greater community pride, we have formed what we know will become a long-standing, highly popular vintage metal road show for everyone to be proud of and to enjoy. We couldn’t be more excited as this is a great day for the city of Ontario.”

Teaming-up with the 501(c)3 Route 66 Reunion is long-time car show event planner Shelly McNaul. “Shelly, who now is our director of event planning for Route 66 Cruisin’ Reunion, brings more than 20 years of successful car show operations experience to the team,” said Krouse. “We are thrilled to have her on board!”

The Route 66 Cruisin’ Reunion will feature three days of classic cars, cruising, contests, live entertainment, fabulous food and revelry to make it one of the nation’s most extended, long-play events of its kind. Vintage autos and car hobbyists will line Ontario’s tree-shaded Euclid Avenue and a take part in a Poker Run rally incorporating the much loved classic Route 66.

Visit www.Route66CruisinReunion.com, or follow us at http://www.facebook.com/Route66CruisinReunion, http://twitter.com/CruisinReunion, http://www.youtube.com/cruisinreunion for information about becoming a sponsor, vendor or to register your vehicle for the rally.

ABOUT THE ROUTE 66 CRUISIN’ REUNION®:

The Route 66 Cruisin’ Reunion®, created by the newly formed 501(c)3 Route 66 Reunion, is Southern California’s ultimate weekend celebration of America’s love affair with the automobile and its world-famous highway, Route 66. Three days of cruising, contests, live entertainment, fabulous food and revelry make it one of the nation’s most extended, long-play events of its kind. Held annually each September along historic, tree-shaded Euclid Avenue in Ontario, California, the Route 66 Cruisin’ Reunion is where classic cruisers, convertibles, hot rods, and wicked Woodies fuel a jam-packed jamboree. Visit www.cruisinreunion.com for details.

ABOUT THE GREATER ONTARIO CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU:

The Greater Ontario Convention and Visitors Bureau provides groups and meeting professionals with an unbiased, comprehensive resource when booking a tour, convention, meeting or event within the cities of Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Ideal for both leisure and business travel, the region boasts scenic mountains, deserts, vineyards and metropolitan areas that are both historic and cosmopolitan in character. For meeting needs of all sizes – from a conference room to a citywide convention utilizing the Ontario Convention Center – or for a special exposition or sporting event, the Greater Ontario Convention and Visitors Bureau will provide the necessary destination support tools to execute a successful experience.

###

CONTACT

Don Williams

Public Relations

Route 66 Reunion

(760) 707- 4589

media@Route66CruisinReunion.com

Oh, but there's just one little thing. While all of this organization was going on, the San Bernardino Area Chamber of Commerce (a separate entity from the San Bernardino Convention and Visitors Bureau) is planning its own event for that weekend:

The San Bernardino Area Chamber of Commerce invites you to Rendezvous Back To Route 66 at San Manuel Baseball Stadium, 280 S. E Street, San Bernardino. The original Route 66 Rendezvous may have been suspended this year, but the fun continues with a Poker Run, food and many, many old time vendors, kids' games and more. Continuous stadium entertainment, music, movies and more! And yes, we have CRUISING!!!! All proceeds go to local charities, Verteran's Hospital & San Bernardino Area Chamber of Commerce.

The competing events are getting coverage from as far away as San Jose:

"We do not want to lose Route 66," said Judi Penman, the president and CEO of the San Bernardino Area Chamber of Commerce....

"I look it as competition is good. We'll become better or stronger as a result. Otherwise, we will fail. There's many car shows that exist in this world. This region is ripe for these shows," said [Michael] Krouse, the president and CEO of the Ontario Convention and Visitors Bureau. He is also president of the newly formed nonprofit Route 66 Cruisin' Reunion.

Hopefully this won't become a west side/east side war of competing car enthusiasts. But at least if someone decides to attend both shows, there's a logical way to get between the two. And on the way, you can do it in a teepee.

First they came for the new bookstores...

Times change, as David Allen notes in a Daily Bulletin article:

One of the Inland Valley's few remaining used bookstores is closing its doors. The Book Exchange, a used book store at 4847 Arrow Highway in Montclair, has been in business for 30 years, said owner Luisa Conner, who bought it in 1997. The last day of business is Saturday.

The closure of a used bookstore is no surprise.

Conner said her store was affected by the shift to online sales and e-reading, the same factors that have hurt other bookstores.

So what happens to the books?

After the close of business Saturday, remaining books will be boxed up and donated to libraries.

This assumes, of course, that the libraries (a) are still around, and (b) if they are still around, that they're actually stocking deadwood books.

The fourth E is Ending (Ramon's Cactus Patch is closed)

A few weeks ago, I wrote a three-part series of posts describing a Saturday in downtown Ontario. The third post in that series, The third E is Eating, described my first-ever visit to Ramon's Cactus Patch, a Mexican restaurant at the corner of San Antonio and Mission that has been in existence (at various locations) since the 1930s.

Toward the end of the post, I wrote:

I just regret that I waited so long to visit the place.

I really would have regretted it if I had waited a few more weeks to visit. According to David Allen, the restaurant is now closed, since Ramon has decided to retire.

After all, he's 99 years old.

Now some business plan extensive transition periods. Take NBC, which has decided (again) that Jay Leno will leave the Tonight Show and transition to a new host next year. But in the case of Ramon's Cactus Patch, the decision to finally close the restaurant (due to Ramon's health) was made rather quickly:

Customers who ate there on what turned out to be the last day [Saturday, March 30] had no idea the restaurant would close.

[Ramon's children] Roque and Ramona didn't either, although they knew the end was near.

The restaurant is typically closed Sunday and Monday. During a family meeting Sunday, they decided not to reopen Tuesday.

"It was very abrupt," Roque admitted.

I'm glad that I made it when I did. Hopefully, the family will be able to follow the suggestion that David Allen made, and open the restaurant for one last farewell to its customers.

(empo-jooryst) Now it can't be told

Yesterday, a jury in Rancho Cucamonga, California returned guilty verdicts in a criminal trial.

I have not said anything about this until now, for a compelling reason - I was an alternate juror on that jury, and obviously a juror can't discuss a trial while it's going on.

It turns out that a juror can't discuss a trial after it's ended, either. You can thank the O.J. Simpson circus - I mean trial - for this:

Gov. Pete Wilson on Monday signed bills spawned by the O.J. Simpson double murder case that make it illegal for witnesses and jurors in criminal trials to sell their stories until the case is finished....

Under the legislation, AB 501 by Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) and SB 1999 by Sen. Quentin Kopp (I-San Francisco), it will be a crime starting Jan. 1 for jurors, witnesses or potential witnesses to provide information for compensation, a practice known as "checkbook journalism."...

Jurors will be barred from engaging in any arrangements for compensation until 90 days after being discharged.

Well, how does this affect me, you may ask? It's not that people are beating down my door offering to pay for my story. All that I can say is...um, look to the left over there. While it's a stretch to say that one of those boxes to the left may qualify as "compensation," you can't be too careful.

So I'll tell a few stories about my jury service...in July.

In the meantime, now that I am now able to read about the case and the particulars online, I'm going to do some catching up. When you're a juror, you are only supposed to base your decision upon evidence that is actually presented in court. If there was any coverage of the crime when it originally occurred, I'm not supposed to use it as a juror. In fact, I don't even know if the defendant hired his own attorneys to defend him, or if he were assigned a public defender.

After this self-imposed cone of silence, I have some catching up to do.

The third E is Eating

(Continued from previous post.)

So I was driving westbound on California Avenue, which is now a mixture of residences and car repair shops with the occasional other store thrown in. At the end of California Avenue, where it intersects with both San Antonio Avenue and Mission Boulevard, you can find Ramon's Cactus Patch.

This restaurant, which has been on this particular corner for over 50 years, and has been in existence in various Ontario locations since either 1937 or 1938, bears the distinction of being the first Mexican restaurant in Ontario. Except, however, that back in the 1930s, advertising a restaurant as a "Mexican" restaurant would be bad for business. (As I learned during my tour of the museum, the desegregation of Ontario public schools was a controversial issue in the 1940s.) So Ramon referred to his business as a "Spanish" restaurant - at least until he had a regular clientele.

I learned a lot of this while waiting for my order. Two articles - one from the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin's David Allen, the other from a local Upland newsletter - told of the history of the restaurant. (I couldn't find the Allen article that is at the tables of Ramon's Cactus Patch, but Allen has written about the restaurant several times, most recently here.)

The food is nothing fancy (no Chinese fusion here), but is very good.

I just regret that I waited so long to visit the place.

Ramon's Cactus Patch, like the museum, has limited hours. It closes for two hours every afternoon, and it is closed all day Sunday.

So how was your Saturday morning?

The second E is Education

(Continued from previous post.)

So after my Ingress/RunKeeper game play, I ended up back in the parking lot from which I had started.

This was the parking lot for the Museum of History and Art in Ontario.

I hadn't been here in several years, so I timed my Ingress/RunKeeper game play so that it would be completed by about noon - the time that the museum opens. (Check the museum's schedule; it is not open every day.)

From now until April 7, the north end of the museum includes an exhibit entitled "Seaweed, Salmon, and Manzanita Cider." This is a discussion of the foods eaten by the California Indians. The exhibit is described as follows:

The foods of California's Indian peoples were - and still are - as varied as the landscape, as are the methods of preparing them. Now, a new exhibition tells the story of foods important in the lives of Native Californians, including fish, shellfish, seaweed, meat, vegetables, berries, fruits, flowers, nuts, seed and salt.

Other than the seaweed, salmon, and cider, two other foods caught my eye. The first was acorns. The exhibit talked a lot about grinding acorns and making acorn bread.

The second was something that I didn't realize was a food. Perhaps you've seen the commercials for the Chia-Pets and similar items.

[PICTURE SOURCE, LICENSE]

Well, it turns out that the Chia seed is edible - and that Indians ate it. Luckily for them, they didn't have late night television.

The permanent part of the collection includes a variety of items related to the history of the city of Ontario. I had remembered the Hotpoint portion of the exhibit from a previous visit, but I spent most of my time in the "Roads" section. While Route 66 did not traverse Ontario (it went a few miles north of Ontario, through Upland), there were three U.S. routes that did go through the city, including routes 60, 70, and 99. Initially, all three of them went down Holt Boulevard, but then Route 60 was moved south, to Mission Boulevard. Eventually U.S. Route 60 was decommissioned in California, and the number was used for a state freeway a couple of miles south of downtown Ontario. Route 99 also became a state route, but you have to go all the way to Bakersfield to find it.

The relocation of U.S. Route 60 to Mission Boulevard resulted in a reconfiguration of the city of Ontario - one that adversely affected the businesses on California Street. So after I left the museum, I drove west on California Street. And after my exercise, and after reading about the delicious Chia seed, I was hungry.

(To be continued.)

(empo-plaaybizz) The first E is Exercise

I use a number of applications on my Android phone, including the two applications Ingress and RunKeeper.

I've previously mentioned Ingress in this blog (and have mentioned it more frequently in some of my other blogs). If you haven't heard of it, it's a location-based game from Google that can be played on Android phones. It's best described as a 21st century version of geocaching, except that in this case the caches are virtual. Ingress still requires you to move around in the real world, however, and visit particular locations to play the game.

I haven't mentioned RunKeeper in this blog, but I have discussed it in my Empoprise-BI business blog. One such discussion can be found here. RunKeeper, like Ingress, uses the GPS properties of your phone, but in the case of RunKeeper they are used to track your exercise, including (of course) running, as well as other exercises such as walking.

I have run hot and cold on both Ingress and RunKeeper. However, during the last week I've had the opportunity to get re-acquainted with both applications. (I can't tell you why I've had this opportunity, at least not yet; I should be able to discuss the opportunity in this blog at a later time - perhaps in July.) Basically, I'd use RunKeeper to get out to a particular point, and then I'd play Ingress.

In the ideal world, I'd be able to use Ingress and RunKeeper at the same time. That way I could play the Ingress game, and record my exercise while doing it in RunKeeper. However, I couldn't figure out how to do this; Ingress is a notoriously sensitive game, and if you leave it to do something else, the game is no longer active.

Finally, my boneheaded brain determined that if I started RunKeeper first, and THEN started Ingress, I should be able to use both applications simultaneously. I tested my theory in Montclair this morning, and discovered that it worked.

So I was off to downtown Ontario.

As I have previously mentioned, downtown Ontario has a number of Ingress "portals" where you can play the game. So I parked in a parking lot near one of these portals, started RunKeeper, started Ingress, and set off to play the game.

I didn't visit every Ingress portal in downtown Ontario - there were two that I skipped - but during my walk, I was able to visit six Ingress portals in the vicinity of Euclid Avenue. I walked approximately 0.8 miles during my Ingress gameplay, which is better than nothing.

So after doing that, I ended up back at my original starting point.

(To be continued.)

Rich Blocks, Poor Blocks for western San Bernardino County

From http://www.richblockspoorblocks.com/, a website that lets you enter a city name (or an address) and display income or rent information for that geographic area.

The Roman Gadass and a Tech Parody

Loren Feldman lives in New York and spends time in Los Angeles, but doesn't spend a lot of it in the Inland Empire or the eastern San Gabriel Valley. He is, however, obviously familiar with the area - to a point.

Feldman is no fan of Jeremiah Owyang or other self-styled "community managers," so when Feldman heard about Monday's "Community Manager Appreciation Day," his creative juices got flowing and he wrote this.

As part of his comment on the so-called Community Manager of the Year, Feldman wrote:

Mr. Mauran received his award at a gala even held at the Motel 6 in Pamona, CA, who graciously gave the Motel 6 ballroom in exchange for blog posts from attendees.

And no, I didn't send a spelling flame to Feldman for misspelling Pomona. In the grand scheme of things, I don't think he cares how Pomona is spelled.

Since Pomona is in our backyard, I figured I'd see if there actually was a Motel 6 in Pomona. Turns out that there is - on Garey Avenue, right by the intersection of the 60 and the 71.

I even found a Google Maps picture of the motel.

This prompted me to write something of my own on Google+:

After the impressive Community Manager Awards, held in the ballroom of the Motel 6 in Pomona, California (as ably reported by +Loren Feldman - see link in comments), the assemblage of distinguished community managers went to a swank reception at the Pomona Branding & Social Media Appreciation Park (seen on the right of the picture below, right next to the Motel 6). Attendees subsequently attended an informal gathering, organized by the Pomona Police Department and held at Pomona Police Headquarters. After the all night affair, one attendee remarked, "I got to experience the same thing that I do to the sheep - I mean customers."

Then, because most Google+ readers are not familiar with the specifics of Pomona, I linked to an old David Allen story that detailed how the Pomona Library closed, and then reopened with some of the former workers now employed as part-time hourly staff.

It's enough to make a Roman goddess - whoops, gadass - want to cry.

I need an Upland reporter, preferably young, to investigate a non-corpse

Dan Seifert shared a long-ish Laura June article in The Verge entitled For Amusement Only: the life and death of the American arcade. It's an extensively researched article that not only discusses the one-decade heyday of the video games arcade, but the long history before and after that decade, ranging from the years of Prohibition to the present day.

For my purposes, I will reproduce a very small excerpt from the article:

Arcades in the late 1970s and early 1980s held a particular place in the American way of life. Like shopping malls and roller skating rinks, they were safe, isolated areas where kids and teenagers could hang out, and, with a reasonable amount of money, spend hours without their parents. Bill Disney, a pinball enthusiast and owner of The Pinball Gallery in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, says of his younger years that "most parents, they basically didn’t know what their kids were doing any time of the day. They were on their bikes, out the whole day," and "they didn’t care where they were." This laid-back attitude varied by family, as well as by geography, but the relative autonomy of older children in the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, and early 1980s, was much greater than it would be moving into the ‘90s. Films of the early ‘80s such as E.T. and The Wizard show typical, American kids, left to their own devices, playing video games and capturing aliens with their friends while their parents are at work.

But the major thesis of the article can be summed up in the title: arcades in this form are now dead. Laura June defines the classic video arcade as a dark place, inhabited by young people, that only has video games. No food or drink, except perhaps for a stray vending machine. And by using this definition, most of the classic video arcades ARE dead.

But I suspect there may be at least one that is still standing. But, due to the "inhabited by young people" thing, I'll need someone to check this out for me.

In Upland, California, just east of Upland High School, there is a long-standing establishment called James Games. Despite the fact that I actually know James (who sold the business long ago), I have never set foot in the place, despite the fact that I lived within a quarter mile away from it in the mid 1980s, and that I literally lived down the street from it in the mid 1990s.

If someone is ready to take on the glory that is involved with being an official Empoprises correspondent, could someone venture in to James Games and let us know if it's still a video arcade place in the traditional sense?

If you know something about the 2013 version of James Games, you can post your comments here on this blog post, or you can write your own blog post in your own blog and let me know about it, or you can send me an email. I have a Gmail account under the name "empoprises."

In the meantime, here's the Yelp page for James Games: http://www.yelp.com/biz/james-games-upland.

Staying in the Ontario Airport area for $15 a night

Travel can be costly, but if you know what you're doing you can cut down on your costs. It just takes a bit of effort.

The writer of The Perpetual Traveler blog, Glenn Campbell, ran into some unexpected expenses when he arrived at Ontario airport too late to miss his flight. This meant that he wouldn't be able to get a flight out until the next day...and also meant that he'd have to find a place to stay. He had only been to Ontario Airport once before, but he surmised (correctly) that he wouldn't be able to sleep at the airport itself. But as he approached the airport to turn in his rental car, he hit upon a solution:

I had no real worry that I would find a place to camp. I knew that the airport was in a relatively sterile industrial area, away from any housing and probably without any homeless population. The aerial photos showed lots of open land and landscaping where I could easily hide. I could resolve exactly where after I dropped the car.

Campbell had a sleeping bag, but it didn't seem to be suitable for outdoor camping, so he bought a second one for $15. He dropped off his supplies in a field before turning in the rental car, then returned to the field afterwards.

More here.

I bet that Jeff Pope disagreed with David Courtney on one thing

If you haven't already read it, KGGI deejay Jeff Pope wrote a touching recollection of David Courtney, longtime announcer who suddenly passed away.

Pope has known Courtney for years and years, since they both worked at Metro Networks (some of you may recall the days when Pope did traffic on X103.9). Pope's post mentioned several favors that he received from Courtney over the years, including opportunities to announce both Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks games.

Pope then says:

Later, when I got the PA announcing job with the Ontario Reign 4 years ago, I sent him an e-mail, thanking him for helping me get the gig (thinking he had called someone with the Reign to recommend me for the job)

He responded, "I never contacted the team, you got that job all on your own."

I suspect that Pope disagreed on that point. Perhaps he technically got the Reign job on his own, but he probably wouldn't have gotten it if it hadn't been for the favors that David Courtney provided in the past.

There's much more in Pope's post - read it here.

P.S. Years ago, I knew two small businessmen in Rancho Cucamonga who got Rick Monday to record their business answering machine greeting. Not sure what happened to Steve Louderback and Alan Smith...