In The
News
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1. Old Fire deserves own documentary
Our view: One
exists chronicling Panorama Fire, but there is none for worst fire in county's
history.
12/02/2005 SB Sun
Those who fought the Panorama Fire a quarter century ago are still
amazed by its intensity. Even as they know it's a terror that will rise
again.
On its anniversary on Thanksgiving Day last month, locals still remembered
the shock and awe of the monster that roared out of the foothills into north San
Bernardino on Nov. 24, 1980, taking four lives and burning more than 300 homes.
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2. Millions for Cedar Glen OK'd
$10 million to go
for redevelopment
SB Sun Staff Writer
12/06/05
More than two years after being ravaged by the Old Fire, the small
mountain community of Cedar Glen should see some progress toward rebuilding
after the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a $10 million loan to
kick-start restoration efforts.
"I hope you understand the importance this loan means to this community,"
said Coral Grimwood, who lost two homes when the Old Fire roared up Hook Creek
Road, destroying more than 300 homes in that one area in October 2003.
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3. Cedar Glen Wildfire Recovery Gets $10-Million County
Boost
By Ashley Powers, LA Times Staff Writer
December 7, 2005
At a time when residents in Cedar Glen, a mountain
community devastated by the 2003 wildfires, are growing frustrated with sluggish
efforts to rebuild, San Bernardino County supervisors approved a $10-million
loan for paving roads, upgrading water service and aiding businesses.
The 4-0 vote Tuesday came after delays and an attempt to slash funding to
$2.4 million.
[more
HERE]
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4. Cedar Glen loan deserves an answer
To rebuild or
not? OUR VIEW: Residents waiting to see whether they can start over should be
given more consideration.
12/04/05 SB Sun
More than two years after Cedar Glen residents were burned out of their
homes in the Old Fire, the county Board of Supervisors continues to hem and haw
over a $10 million redevelopment loan that would pay for the improvements needed
before the community can rebuild.
Residents have been reluctant to try their luck again, with a water
system that is broken down and roads that are impossibly narrow. To address the
situation, a disaster redevelopment area was created last year that would allow
property taxes to be used for public-works projects, housing assistance and
economic development.
5. Emergency-readiness summit
FEMA asks if SB
County is prepared
Joe Nelson, SB Sun Staff Writer
12/03/05
Earthquakes. Fires. Floods.
Residents of San Bernardino County probably already know how vulnerable
the area is to all three.
The magnitude 7.3 Landers temblor in 1992, the Old Fire in October 2003 and
the subsequent flooding two months later on Dec. 25 that killed 16 people proved
it.
6. Danger zone
Disputed project gets supes' OK Our
view: Supervisors seem to think nothing of approving yet more homes for
fire-prone areas.
11/25/2005 SB Sun
Worried mountain residents turned out en masse last week for the Board of
Supervisors' consideration of the largest housing project since the Old Fire
burned through the area two years ago.
The community's dismay at the prospect of crowding yet more homes next to
an area almost incinerated by the biggest fire in the county's history seemed
hardly to register with supervisors, who, as usual, appear more intent on
pleasing developers than appeasing safety concerns.
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7. Old Fire documentary
[letter written
to The Sun from TOM TOMKINS, Vice president and general manager,
Charter Communications]
We applaud and agree with the Dec. 3 editorial "Old Fire deserves own
documentary." In fact, Charter Communications stands ready to further this cause
by offering the full support of its in-house production team.
We start by offering our own documentary, "After the Firestorm," as an
excellent beginning. This hour-long program was created in the aftermath of the
wildfires and showcases not only the devastation of the fires, but also the
countless acts of heroism and effective response from our area police, sheriffs
deputies and firefighters.
[more
HERE ... scroll
to bottom of page]
A link to a description of the film and it's award can be found
HERE
(scroll down to find it)
The video can be purchased for $10 or the DVD for $15 (+$2 S/H)
HERE or:
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8. THE NEW DEAL: On Their Own in Battered New
Orleans
What Bush said would be one of the largest public
reconstruction efforts ever is becoming a private affair, leaving the tough
choices to residents as their risks increase.
December 4, 2005
By Peter G. Gosselin, LA Times Staff Writer
Laurie Vignaud faces a double dilemma: If she rebuilds her wrecked
ranch house at 1249 Granada Drive in the great suburban expanse south of Lake
Pontchartrain, will her neighbors do the same? And even if they do, will that
guarantee their Gentilly neighborhood does not end up an isolated pocket in a
diminished, post-Katrina New Orleans?
Nothing in Vignaud's 46 years, not even her job as affordable housing vice
president with Hibernia Bank, the region's biggest financial institution,
prepared her for this problem. From her relocated offices in Houston, she
recently confessed, "It's scary."
[more
HERE]
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9. New Homeowners Rolling the Dice on State's
Rivers
Officials say old Central Valley levees could fail,
causing heavy flooding. The governor replaced outspoken regulators.
November 20, 2005
By Tim Reiterman and Virginia Ellis, LA Times Staff Writers
LATHROP, Calif. — On one side, the murky San Joaquin River slides past
a tree-shaded bank. On the other, the red clock tower of the newly erected City
Hall rises among hundreds of tract homes under construction.
All that separates the river from its new neighbors in the Mossdale Landing
subdivision is a weedy earthen levee that sprang leaks in the state's 1997
floods, blanketing the area with water. Despite repairs, government officials
say residents stand a 1 in 4 chance of new flooding in the next 30 years.
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10. U.S. Plan Urged for Coverage of
Catastrophes
CALIFORNIA AND THE WEST: Proponents say a federally
backed insurance fund is needed to deal with a major earthquake or another
Hurricane Katrina.
November 16, 2005
By Marc Lifsher, Times Staff Writer
BURLINGAME, Calif. — Supporters of a national catastrophe insurance
plan have a sales pitch for taxpayers who don't live in a hurricane zone or on
an earthquake fault: It could happen to you.
State regulators, insurance executives and industry experts gathered in the
Bay Area for a two-day conference were nearly unanimous Tuesday in their belief
that a nationwide, federally backed insurance fund was needed to give homeowners
and businesses the ability to rebuild after a catastrophic earthquake, a major
terrorist attack or another Hurricane Katrina.