High DesertOBITUARIES 2 HORSE TAlk 3 OPINION 4 NEwS 5, 7 wEATHER 6 NEIgHBORS 8

ThursDAY, JAnuArY 4,

2007

B1

Page edited by Justin D. Beckett

MEgAN’S lAw REgISTERED SEX OFFENDERS

NAME: gordon, Edward JosephLast known address:15200 block of AshHesperia, 92345Date of Birth: 10-22-1960Sex: MaleHeight: 5’5”

Weight: 145 lbs.Eye color: BrownHair color: BrownEthnicity: White

OFFENSESOffense Code: 288(a)Description: Lewd or lascivious acts with child under 14 years

This information on registered sex offenders is prepared by the California Department of Justice as required by state law. For more details, visit MegansLaw.ca.gov. Offender profiles appear every Tuesday and Thursday.

Last known address:11000 block of Waterwood St.Apple Valley, 92308Date of Birth: 07-16-1935Sex: MaleHeight: 5’9”

Weight: 285 lbs.Eye color: BrownHair color: GrayEthnicity: Hispanic

OFFENSESOffense Code: 288, 288(a)Description: Crimes against children/lewd or lascivious; Lewd or lascivious acts with child under 14 years

NAME: gochicoa, Manuel

Last known address:11400 block of BegoniaAdelanto, 92301Date of Birth: 11-11-1946Sex: MaleHeight: 5’7”

Weight: 210 lbs.Eye color: BrownHair color: BlackEthnicity: HispanicKnown Aliases: Martin Orapeza

OFFENSESOffense Code: 288 Description: Crimes against children/lewd or lascivious

NAME: Viera, Ysidro Martin

A lifelong team player

I n B r I e f

Photo Courtesy Sandy DubinJoe Carmichael, poses for a photo during with the Project Care Inc. participants in 2004. Carmichael helped found the group that helps keep seniors active.

Cable rates ready to jumpBy rYAn Orr

Staff Writer

T h e n e w l y f o r m e d C o m m u n i t y Services District in Helendale has big plans, but the most pressing

issue in their quest for independence is to find a general manager.

Currently Helendale’s services such as trash collection and sewer maintenance are still contracted to the county, which is acting as interim general manager. Presi-dent of the CSD board, Milo Stormo, said that they plan to take over from the coun-ty within six months.

“It means we have a lot of work to do,” he said.

Once a general manager is hired and they find a suitable office location it will be a lot easier to get things accomplished, said Vice Pres-i d e n t o f t h e b o a r d C r a i g Schneider.

Hiring a gen-e r a l m a n a g e r wil l be an im-p o r t a n t f i r s t s t e p i n e s t ab -l i s h i n g i n d e -pendence from the county, which will no longer be obli-gated to help the CSD as of June 30.

“The goal is to get as independent as quickly as possible,” said Schneider.

In the second half of 2007, the general manager will be charged with the task of hiring an operational staf f, which Sch-neider estimates will be between eight and 12 people.

An ad hoc committee made up of CSD board members Sandra Perea and Sch-neider will release their ad for a general manager at tonight’s board meeting.

“It should be someone who has a lot of experience in special districts,” said Sch-neider.

The general manager of the CSD will assess community growth, make timely recommendations to the board, manage the budget and earn upwards of $100,000 plus benefits. The ad for the position will be posted on government Web sites and in newspapers.

After settling into an office with a gen-eral manager, the CSD will be able to implement its large-scale plans such as tertiary water treatment and replacing 30-year-old service pipes. Schneider said that he estimates about 150 pipes break each year.

Sandra Perea is also part of the waste-water ad hoc committee, which will en-sure that the community has a sufficient water supply. She said that an immediate issue is ensuring compliance with pend-ing drinking water standards.

Ryan Orr may be reached at 951-6277 or rorr@vvdailypress.com.

“The goal is to get as independent as

quickly as possible.” CrAig SChneider Vice president of Helendale

CSD board

Helendale CSD has work cut outBringing in general manager seen as community’s key to success

Employees recognize suspected burglar

APPLE VALLEY — A man was arrested on suspicion of burglary when authorities Wednesday linked him to two separate inci-dents in December, officials said.

The 20-year-old, whose name was not released, was arrested inside the Ralph’s grocery store off Highway 18, following an argument with employees at nearby Longs Drugs, said Detec-tive Anthony Padfield of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s De-partment Apple Valley station.

In early December the man is said to have stolen $200 to $300 worth of

goods from Longs Drugs, and later in the month, he took roughly the same amount of goods from Sally Beauty Supply, Padfield said.

Wednesday morning, the man returned to Longs Drugs, where store workers recognized him and told him to leave. They watched him go into Ralph’s and called au-thorities, who located him inside.

Employees from both locations positively identified the 20-year-old Victorville resident as the burglar, and he was booked into Victor Valley Jail, Padfield said.

Cajon Pass construction to slow freeway traffic

DEVORE — Major freeway clo-

sures as part of the Devore 2 project will resume this weekend.

Beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday, Caltrans will close the connection between northbound Interstate 15 and southbound Interstate 215 and reduce lanes on northbound I-15 from three to one between Glen Helen Parkway and Kenwood Av-enue. The Glen Helen Parkway on ramp will also be closed. Caltrans will open these roadways again by Monday at 4 a.m.

On weeknights lanes on the southbound side are closed from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m., and northbound lanes are closed from 10 p.m. until 8 a.m. Traffic is limited to one lane in each direction.

The project — which began in August and is scheduled to end ear-ly this year — is the final phase of a $26 million reconstruction effort to repair pavement and add a three-mile truck-climbing lane.

Tree disposal available across Victor Valley

VICTORVILLE — Now that Christmas is over, a second life awaits holiday trees.

Residents of Victorville and Hesperia can leave their natural, unflocked trees at the curb to be recycled.

In Victorville, trees — which must be cut to four-foot lengths

— will be picked up on residential customers’ regular trash days this week and next.

Those with Dumpster service in Victorville apartments can drop off trees from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the San Bernardino County Fair-grounds near Gate E.

For Hesperians, trees will be picked up on customers’ regular trash days now through Jan. 19.

In Adelanto, trees will be col-lected curb side now through Sat-urday. For more information, call Victorville Disposal at 245-8607.

In Apple Valley, trees can dropped off at Lion’s Park or in a lot west of the Apple Valley Fire Protection District station on Headquarters Road just off Central and Outer

Highway 18. Trees will be accepted through Saturday.

Thoughts from hard-core commuters are needed

Is your commute two hours or longer? Do you get up at “dark-thir-ty” and drive to Ventura or Long Beach every morning? Do you buy books on tape in bulk? Do you car-pool with other lucky commuters?

Please share your extreme commute story with Tatiana Prophet by either e-mailing at tprophet@vvdailypress.com or calling 951-6222. If you would like your story to be considered for an article, please share your story by noon on Tuesday.

Carmichael helped elderly people keep active and connected

John Carmichael was a staff sergeant in the Marines during the Korean war, a fire station captain at the Barstow Marine Corps Lo-

gistics base, and a triathlete who carried the Olympic torch for the

Los Angeles Olympics. But people who knew him said Carmichael’s strength truly shone when, as a hos-pice patient in his 70s, he sat among a group of elderly women at the Hesperia Senior Campus making dolls and other toys for children.

Carmichael, who went by the first name “Joe,” died on Dec. 27

at the age of 78 after battling can-cer but will be remembered, friends and family said, for his faith-based, upbeat approach to life and his ef-forts to keep elderly people active through Project Care Inc. Carmi-chael was instrumental in launch-ing the program, in which elderly people make toys for children, and

recruiting people who were con-vinced that they were too sick or disabled to contribute to society.

Project Care Inc.’s Chief Execu-tive Officer, Sandy Dubin, pins a small sheet of paper with a quote from Carmichael to each toy or

CaRmIChael/B5

“It’s quieter since Joe’s not here. he was

always the one that got them motivated, not

focused on their illnesses.”

elizAbeth Colon

Director of admissions and marketing for Hesperia

Senior Campus.

By hILLArY BOrruDStaff Writer

Charter set to raise costs on movie, family packs as market reforms loom in near future

By ErIK DErrStaff Writer

VICTORVILLE — Cable custom-ers looking for rate decreases af-ter the state’s new telecommunica-tions competition law went into effect the first of the year may be surprised by bigger bills, at least in the near future.

Charter Communications, the

primary cable and Internet ser-vice provider throughout the High Desert, has announced across-the-board fee increases for all but a few service options.

Tom Tomkins, vice president and general manager of the company’s Inland Empire region, said the in-creases, slated for Feb. 1, are needed to cover ongoing improvements to its service infrastructure.

Charter, the nation’s third-biggest cable company, last raised service fees at the beginning of 2006.

The company is raising the cost of its popular “Movie” and “Family

and Information” tiers, from $5 to $10 per month. Charter’s BIG pack-age will go up from $56.99 to $61.99, while the biggest package will rise from, $74.99 to $84.99. The Sports and Latino tiers will continue at $5 a month, whereas monthly costs for basic cable service will be in-crease by $1.45 and expanded basic service by 55 cents.

The Feb. 1 rate changes will not affect customers who previously purchased promotional deals.

Tomkins said his company, the sole cable franchiser in Victorville and Hesperia and the majority pro-

vider in Apple Valley, provides ser-vices to an estimated 140,000 custom-ers throughout the Inland Empire. Of those customers, upwards of 95 percent have purchased more than one service.

As well, 78,000 of Charter’s Inland Empire customers use high-speed Internet.

California’s cable deregulation law, signed by the governor and enacted Jan. 1, clears the way for phone companies like Verizon and AT&T to obtain cable franchise

Cable/B5

Weather is for the birds

Different species of birds flock together to get a drink and a bath on a warm Wednesday outside the Target in apple Valley.

Aaron J. walker / Staff Photographer

Teen crosses AtlanticThough he can't drive a car, a

British teen successfully sailed solo across the ocean 5

Boy lands in Antigua after record-breaking voyage that started in the Canary Islands

S T. J O H N ’ S , A n t i g u a (AP) — A British teen on Wednesday became the young-est person to sail solo across

the Atlantic Ocean, reach-ing the Carib-bean is land of Antigua af-ter a six-week voyage.

M i ke Pe r-h a m , 1 4 , raised his fist triumphantly to a crowd of Antiguan of-f i c i a l s a n d s u p p o r t e r s as he docked o u t s i d e S t .

John’s on the southeastern side of the island.

Perham said he was lone-ly at times but not afraid as he made the crossing in the Cheeky Monkey, his 28-foot sailboat. He helped pass the time by studying and chatting on a satellite phone.

“It has been a fantastic journey. It has been a great experience,” he said. “I truly

enjoyed it.”Perham, who was trailed by

his father in another sailboat, set sail Nov. 18 from Gibral-tar and made brief stops for repairs in the Canary Islands

and Cape Verde.Perham broke the record

held by Sebastian Clover, also of Britain, who was 15 when he sailed solo from the Canary Islands to Antigua in 2003.

Daily Press, Victorville, Calif. nEws Thursday, January 4, 2007 PAGE B5Page edited by Justin D. Beckett

VICTORVALLEY

RECYCLING

(760) 244-5437

TOP $$$ PAID FORCOPPER, BRASS &

ALUMINUM

WE ACCEPT ALLELECTRONIC COMPONENTS

INCLUDING MONITORS,TVS, VCRS, CELL PHONES

FOR DROP OFF ONLYNO CHARGE!!

Local

Competitors

Coupons Accepted

Up To Our Highest

Coupon Price

FAST,

FRIENDLY

SERVICE!

17474 CATALPA STHESPERIA

$169CRV CANS

INC.

PER LBREG.

$1.45 LB

WITH THIS ADMUST PRESENT COUPONAT TIME OF RECYCLINGOFFER EXPIRES 1/31/07

Main Street

“I”

Ave.

Bear Valley Rd.

VICTOR VALLEYRECYCLING

17474 CatalpaCatalpa ➥

DIVERSIFIED GLASSCAN:

Clearly the best.™

244-7884

• CERTIFIED MILGARD DEALERAAMA CERTIFIED

DID YOU KNOW

- Increase Your Homes Resale Value- Save You $$$ On Your Heating

& Cooling Bills- Reduce Noise- Offer You A Lifetime Guarantee As

Long As You Own Your Own Home

Visit Our New Showroom11774 Hesperia Rd., Ste. C, Hesperia

DiversifedGlass.net

WHICH IS MORE BEAUTIFUL: THE WINDOWS

OR THE ENERGYTHEY SAVE? BOTH!

FREE ESTIMATES

Your Distributor

Fast, precise set-up. Adjusts easily to fitunique landscapes. This is one sprinklerthat offers hundreds of solutions.$199

Wind Sensor. Adjustable wind control.12-35mph shut down. 24VAC, 5 amp.$6253

The economical, scaled-down rotor andspray alternative designed for mid-rangeareas of residential & commercial sites.$825

EC6001 6-Sta. Simple. Convenient.The versatile controller that deliversHunter quality to smaller sites.$5967

PS

PGM

PGP®

Setting the standard for contractors anddesigners. The world’s best-sellingresidential and light commercial rotor.$1055

SRC

SVCSmart Valve Controller. Reliablesingle-station control without theneed of electric connection.$6496

Wind-Clik®

G.A. OSBORNEPIPE and SUPPLY

WHOLESALE – OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

18485 STODDARD WELLS RD., VICTORVILLE(760) 243-1443 • (760) 245-0916Prices subject to change without notice. Limited to stock on hand.

Water Well Drilling

(909) 867-2483

HARICH ENTERPRISES INC• Vertical Well Drilling • Pump Service

• Horizontal Well Drilling • Water Testing

General Engineering Contractors“Serving All The Desert Communities”

Se Habla Español

Can Start Immediately

BARBBARB STSTANTONANTON“Vo i c e o f t h e H i g h De s e r t ”

Tune In Mon.-Fri.Noon - 3 p.m. to listen

to interesting discussionson topics concerning

the High Desert.

www.talk960.com

CALVA JOnEs Calva A. Jones, 86, beloved

mother of Jo Anne Eide, passed away peacefully Dec. 26, 2006.

Born in Nova Scotia, Canada, April 15, 1920, Calva came to the United States with her family as a child. She moved from Illinois to California in 1955, and had been a resident of Spring Valley Lake since 1979.

Calva was the grandmother of Bob Butcher and his wife, Brenda, and great-grandmother of Kirstin and Kevin Butcher.

She was preceded in death by her two sons, Scott and Laine Stone and her husband, Jack Jones.

We all loved her and will hold her memory in our hearts.

wILLIAM CALDErOnEApple Valley resident Wil-

liam “Bill” Calderone, 72, died Dec. 30, 2006.

Memorial services will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at Todd Memorial Chapel in Pomona.

Todd Memorial Chapel is han-dling arrangements.

CArL MEYErHesperia resident of 22 years

Carl Meyer, 87, died Dec. 28, 2006.There will be no services.Desert View Funeral Home is

handling arrangements.

nELsOn sChELGELSan Bernardino County resi-

dent of 60 years Nelson Cooper Schelgel, 73, died Dec. 31, 2006.

Graveside services will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at Sun-set Hills Memorial Park, 24000 Waalew Road in Apple Valley.

Sunset Hills Mortuary is han-dling arrangements.

sOCOrrO VAsQuEZFormer Apple Valley resident So-

corro Vasquez, 85, died Jan. 3, 2007.Visitation will be held at

9 a.m. Monday, with a rosary at 9:30 a.m., at Desert View Funer-al Home. Services will follow at 10 a.m., with burial following at Desert View Memorial Park.

Desert View Funeral Home is handling arrangements.

Some obituaries in this section are paid for by families of the deceased, who also provide the information. The Daily Press is not responsible for the accura-cy of the information published in paid obituaries. Short death notices are also offered, and these are free of charge.

JONES

O B I t u a r I e s

craft piece made by partici-pants; the toys are distributed through churches, hospitals and other organizations. “Atten-tion everyone, we are no longer going to sit here in our wheel chairs wasting away,” it reads. “We might have cancer, stroke, Parkinson’s, heart problems, ar-thritis, polio and other age re-lated maladies but we still have our dignity and we will still be active in our community.”

Carmichael was still “buff” in his mid-70s and also start-ed the exercise program at the campus, said his daughter, Louise Miller. He was a hand-some man, whose good looks probably attracted some of the female participants to Project Care Inc., she said. Following his death, Miller and her four siblings spent more time con-soling women care givers and residents at the campus than

each other, she added. Carmichael and his wife,

Margie, were both diagnosed with stage four cancer within months of each other, Miller said, despite a lifetime of healthy choices such as avoid-ing cigarettes and even red meat. The couple moved from Barstow to Spring Valley Lake in 2000, then to Hesperia Senior Campus in 2004. Margie died before her husband.

“When the residents would say, ‘Oh, I only have one [good] hand,’ he would say, ‘Well use the other,’” said Sandy Dubin, the Chief Executive Officer of Proj-ect Care Inc. She could not have started the organization without Carmichael’s help, Dubin said.

Carmichael was the first Hesperia Senior Campus resi-dent to throw his support whole-heartedly behind her idea for the program, Dubin said. “I did what

he told me,” she said. He showed up on the first day

with a bucket in his lap in case he felt sick, she said, but all he said

was “I’ve got my scissors.” When the group, which Dubin started with her own money, ran out of cotton stuffing for the dolls, Car-

michael joked, “How many of you need your pillows?”

“It’s quieter since Joe’s not here” said Elizabeth Colon, director of admissions and marketing for Hesperia Senior Campus. “He was always the one that got them motivated, not focused on their illnesses.”

“Saying that my dad left a mark is an understatement,” Miller said, who remembered even as a child hearing her father remark on old people sitting around. Her father could have felt bad towards the end of his life, she said, “but when you live a faith-based life, you don’t have time.”

Carmichael is survived by five children, eleven grandchil-dren and seven great-grand children, according to his Daily Press obituary.

hillary borrud may be reached at 951-6234 or hborrud@vvdailypress.com.

Carmichael: Former fire station captain started exercise program to keep peers fitFROm B1

Photo Courtesy Sandy DubinJoe Carmichael, left, helps another participant in Project Care Inc. to assemble a toy for a child.

agreements for the entire state, instead of contracts for each city or county. The legislation is designed to streamline the permitting processes compa-nies will still need to follow in individual jurisdictions.

The effects of the law likely won’t be felt for some time. Although the law is in effect now, full compliance won’t be required of municipalities un-til the beginning of 2008. And there are hints that cities may challenge the legality of the law.

Charter has been the only ca-ble franchiser in Hesperia and Victorville for nearly 15 years. But, that isn’t because the com-pany managed to shut out other competitors; rather, no other companies opted to go through the permitting processes, said

officials from both cities.“Nobody else has applied,”

said Victorville City Clerk Car-olee Bates.

But, Kevin Laverty of Verizon Communications hints that may soon change.

“We are engaged in a multi-year build of our fiber-optic net-work and...will begin to build in Victorville this year,” he said.

Verizon, which recently be-gan offering digital services in Apple Valley and has pen-etrated an estimated 15 per-cent of the digital data mar-ket in California overall, has announced it will also begin development in selected new homes in Hesperia.

erik Derr can be reached at 955-5358 or ederr@vvdailypress.com.

Cable: No other companies applyingFROm B1 ADElANTO

• A report of shooting at an inhabited dwelling was taken around 12:29 a.m. Saturday in the 14500 block of Indian Paintbrush Road. Officials found five shell cas-ings from a firearm on the street outside the home. Three rounds hit the garage door and one hit the stucco next to the garage.

• A report of a burglary was taken in the 18500 block of Casaba Road around 8:42 a.m. Saturday. Authorities tracked the suspect to the home next door, and found two of the victim's blankets on the suspect's bed. The suspect was also found to be an armed and dangerous parolee at large.

• A report of a burglary was taken from the 11800 block of Begonia Road around 10:11 a.m. Saturday. Someone entered the

victim's home through a side window and stole two televi-sions, a computer monitor and a digital camera.

• A report of shoplifting was taken at the Circle K on Cham-berlaine Way around 6:06 p.m. Saturday. Four 18-packs of Bud Light beer, valued at $92, were stolen. Later that evening depu-ties took another report from the location around 9:40 p.m. when two more 18-packs of Bud Light were stolen.

• A report of an assault was taken from the 14700 block of Daisy Road around 12 a.m. Sun-day. The caller tried to break up a fight in her yard and was punched in the face.

• A report of vandalism was taken in the area of Palmyra and Dana streets around 12:02 a.m. Sunday. Someone keyed the vic-tim’s car and the damage is esti-

mated to be roughly $600.• A report of a residential bur-

glary was taken around 5:23 p.m. Monday in the 18100 block of Bell-flower Street. Someone entered the home through an unlocked front window and stole a laptop. The victim said the $700 laptop was a Christmas present.

• A report of fraudulent use of an access card was taken from the 19000 block of Dennis Street around 4:26 p.m. Tuesday. Some-one used the victim's credit card and charged items from Amazon.com totaling $944 to the card.

• A report of stolen property was taken from the 17100 block of Raccoon Avenue around 11:19 a.m. Wednesday. The call-er said that over the weekend someone stole four rear license plates from the Home Gallery parking lot. The plates were en-tered as stolen.

C O p L O g s

british teen sails across Atlantic solo

The Associated PressYoung british sailor mike Perham, who is 14, pictured upon his arrival to St. John’s, on the Caribbean island of antigua, on Wednesday. Perham’s solo journey in a 28 foot sailboat is to give him a world record as the youngest person to sail solo across the atlantic Ocean.

“It has been a

fantastic journey. It has been a

great experience.”

Mike PerhAMNew record

holder

WASHINGTON (AP) — The first Muslim elected to Con-gress says he will take his oath of office using a Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson to make the point that “religious differences are nothing to be afraid of.”

Democratic Rep.-elect Keith Ellison decided to use the cen-turies-old Quran during his cer-emonial swearing-in on Thurs-day after he learned that it is kept at the Library of Congress across the street from the Capi-tol. Jefferson, the nation’s third president and a Renaissance man who collected books about many different topics and in many different languages, sold the Quran to Congress in 1815 as part of a collection.

“It demonstrates that from the very beginning of our coun-try, we had people who were visionary, who were religious-ly tolerant, who believed that knowledge and wisdom could be gleaned from any number of sources, including the Quran,” Ellison said in a telephone in-terview Wednesday.

“A visionary like Thomas Jefferson was not afraid of a different belief system,” Elli-son said. “This just shows that religious tolerance is the bed-rock of our country, and reli-gious differences are nothing to be afraid of.”

Members of the House of

Representatives are sworn in officially on the floor of the House, where they simply raise their hands and swear their oath to protect the Constitu-tion. Many members use a holy book for a ceremonial swear-ing-in later in their chambers.

Some critics have argued that only Bibles should be used for the swearing-in cere-monies. Last month, Republi-can Rep. Virgil Goode warned that unless immigration is tightened, “many more Mus-lims” will be elected and fol-low Ellison’s lead. Ellison was born in Detroit, Michi-gan, and converted to Islam in college.

Ellison said an anonymous person wrote to tell him about the Quran, and he arranged with the Library of Congress to use it. The chief of the Li-brary of Congress’ rare book and special collections divi-sion, Mark Dimunation, will walk the Quran across the street to the Capitol and bring it back after the ceremony.

Ellison’s decision to use Jefferson’s Quran was first reported Wednesday by The Washington Post.

Jefferson was born in Al-bemarle County, Va., in what is now Goode’s congressional district. Goode’s office did not return phone and e-mail mes-sages left Wednesday.

Congressman to use Jefferson’s Quran