Student candidates to challenge College District trustees
By LEIGH MUZSLAY

SAN BERNARDINO - It's new school vs. old school in this November's San Bernardino Community College District Board of Trustees election.

Four current board members with 68 years on the board between them want their spots back. And three students, all with community college experience, hope to bring fresh perspective to the board.

"Instead of fighting against established ways of thinking, I'd like to come in with new energy and new ideas,' Riverside Community College student Arthur P.K. Anderson said.

Anderson attended San Bernardino Valley College for two years, serving as a senator then president of the Associated Students. But he transferred after becoming frustrated with disorganization at the school.

"Services at (Riverside Community College) are more student friendly,' Anderson, 24, said. "I don't think the board is aware of a lot of the problems.'

Anderson, who lives in San Bernardino, plans to declare his intention to run today.

Dawn E. Crawford, a San Bernardino Valley College student, is also running as a protest of sorts. She decided to run after signature problems halted her effort earlier this year to recall all seven of the district's trustees.

Crawford, a former student senator, has sparred with the community college district over alleged violations of her civil rights.

She has filed a lawsuit against the college and the district, along with several complaints with state and federal officials, charging the college has attempted to retaliate against her for asserting her civil rights. "Our current board members are corrupt,' Crawford, 32, said. "Even if I'm outvoted, I'll be there to blow the whistle. They vote in a block. No one's there to act as a watch dog I'm the perfect person for doing that.'

Cal State San Bernardino graduate student Mark A. Sheppard also plans to file papers to run for the board today. A community college graduate, Sheppard said he wants to help the district "maximize its resources' during the state budget crisis.

Sheppard is working on his master's degree in public administration and works for the Baldy View Chapter of the Building Industry Association.

The 34-year-old Redlands resident also spent 3 years as a district representative for state Senate Republican Leader Jim Brulte of Rancho Cucamonga.

Incumbents Charles H. Beeman of Highland, Allen B. Gresham of San Bernardino, Carleton W. Lockwood Jr. of Redlands and Mary E. Sampson of Colton say they want to finish what they've started on the board.

For example, San Bernardino Valley College is in the middle of a major reconstruction project.

This is "a project we started over 10 years ago,' Beeman, 72, said. I want to see it to the end, and it'll be done by the time this term is over.'

The current board, incumbents said, will know best how to handle problems such as the state budget crisis.

"Alan (Gresham) and I both feel that it's important we keep the members on the board who are familiar with this,' Beeman, a board member for 20 years, said. "We have stability and that's what we want to keep.'

Sampson, who is wrapping up her first term on the board, agreed.

"I think we compliment each other with our skill sets,' Sampson, human resources director for Riverside Transit Agency, said. "We really mesh well.'

Conservative spending, she said, has kept the district afloat.

"The board has been able to keep the district in a real good financial condition,' Beeman said. "We're not laying anybody off. We're continuing to take anyone that comes in and give them an education.'

Carleton W. Lockwood Jr., first elected to the board in 1991, said it's important to stick things out during tough financial times.

"We aren't jumping the ship when water seems to be leaking,' Lockwood said.

He plans to declare hisintention to run today, he said.

Lockwood, 47, is president of Lockwood Engineering Co. in Rialto.

Board Vice President Allen B. Gresham was first elected to the board in 1971. He is the senior partner in the law firm of Gresham, Varner, Savage, Nolan & Tilden.

He is on vacation this week and could not be reached for comment.

Hotel's relocated residents worried

FIRE: They fear city help will end. The Sunset's owner is eager to reopen.

01:05 AM PDT on Wednesday, June 30, 2004

By KAREN GAUDETTE / The Press-Enterprise

SAN BERNARDINO - It could be a matter of days or several weeks before the fire-damaged Sunset Hotel in downtown San Bernardino is able to reopen its doors to the dozens of low-income men, women and families who called it home.

A June 16 fire at the residential hotel on G Street badly damaged one room and critically burned the room's tenant, 36-year-old Sarah Clymer. She was in fair condition Tuesday at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, said Jorge Valencia, a hospital spokesman.

San Bernardino fire officials confirmed that the blaze began in Clymer's second-floor room and are investigating whether arson was the cause.

The fire displaced about 70 residents. Most have been staying in local motels with financial help from the city and charities such as the Red Cross.

Veno Nathraj, who runs the Sunset Hotel for owner Protea Hotel Inc. of Anaheim Hills, said he has met with electricians, fire-alarm companies and other subcontractors in the nearly two weeks since the fire to assess damage.

Many workers have told him that it could take at least a week each to replace doors, drywall and fire alarms and fix the roof, which firefighters cut open to release heat and smoke, he said.

In the meantime, Nathraj said he is asking city fire officials to allow him to board up the hotel's second floor and reroute elevators to avoid it during construction. He hopes to reopen first- and third-floor rooms to residents, many of whom worry about being able to find affordable housing until the Sunset reopens, he said.

"Our main concern isthe safety ofanybody staying in the hotel," he said. "It'snot just putting heads to beds, to make sure when they put their heads on the beds, that they are safe."

Doug Dupree, the city's fire marshal, said safety concerns likely make Nathraj's proposal unfeasible. However, he plans to meet with Nathraj today to gauge the damage and discuss his options, he added.

"There may be something we can do, but I'm not sure," Dupree said. "I need to see what he has finished and what still needs to be done."

Dawn Crawford, a Riverside Community College student who lived at the Sunset for the $500 monthly rent that helped make ends meet, said many fellow residents are in limbo. Some are worried that the city would end its financial help this week because a large number of the residents receive their checks on the first of the month.

Many survive on monthly aid checks of about $700, Crawfordsaid. The Sunset is one of their few options because most other places require that tenants earn two or three times the monthly rent, she added.

City Attorney James Penman said the city, as it has during past disasters, has temporarily housed evacuees using money required by law for low- and moderate-income housing.

Penman said the Salvation Army and the San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health are working with evacuees to find housing. The city will fund emergency housing for as long as a month on a case-by-case basis, he added. The city began paying the residents' motel bills on June 19.

This month's fire was the latest incident to befall the 111-unit hotel, which sits among senior housing, residential motels and a Greyhound bus station in a neighborhood where transients are a common sight. In late 2002, a fire at the Sunset left four dead and injured about 18 people.

Under its previous ownership, the hotel was cited for nonfunctioning smoke detectors and fire alarms and flimsy doors that were not self-closing.

The hotel's alarms worked properly in the latest fire, officials said.

Built in 1968, the hotel is not required to have fire sprinklers, but Nathraj said he is considering installing them in the future.

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Fire again strikes residential hotel

SAN BERNARDINO: One woman is burned, and the building is evacuated. In 2002, four people died.

12:57 AM PDT on Thursday,June 17, 2004

By RICHARD BROOKSAND ELENA ARNOLD / The Press-Enterprise

SAN BERNARDINO - For the second time in 18 months fireravaged a downtown hotel Wednesday, this time forcing the evacuation of about 55 residents andcritically burning a woman who police said may have been smoking in bed.

Fire officials said the burned woman, 36-year-old Sarah Clymer, is a smoker who was alone in her room at the Sunset Hotel.

"She was burned from the waist up. She's very critical," said San Bernardino police Detective Dave Dillon. "It looks like she was possibly smoking in bed. There's no evidence of foul play at this point."

The blaze at 8:18 a.m. drew every firefighter, fire engine and ladder truck in San Bernardino to North G Street, just north of the Carousel Mall. Fire crews contained the flames to Clymer's second-floor room.

Two other hotel residents were overcome by smoke. A 50-year-old woman was taken to Community Hospital of San Bernardino for treatment, fire officials said. A 57-year-old woman refused medical attention. Their names were not available.

Although burned wiring and heat and water damage are likely to keep the hotel closed for several days until repairs can be made, officials said a working smoke alarm system helped prevent a catastrophe like the one that killed four people and injured about 18 others at the same hotel in December 2002.

"The fire alarm system was completely upgraded," said Fire Marshal Doug Dupree. "It was going off - horns and strobes - when our guys first got here."

Residents react

The fire was eerily similar to the 2002 disaster, said Norma Adair, who occupied the same second-floor room during both blazes. Among the differences: The way she reacted.

Adair recalledrunning from door to door to make sure her neighbors got out safely during the first fire. This time, she didn't see a reason to even roll out of bed.

"No smoke came in my room," she reasoned. "I have a window to jump out of if I have to."

But ground-floor resident Alles Lund, 78, wasn't as stoic.

"Ijust moved in yesterday," she said after escaping with only her red housecoat and a pack of Liggett cigarettes. "I was getting ready to take my shower and (the fire alarms) went off ... and the firemencame flying through my door!"

Others weren't sure whether to stay or flee.

"Certain (residents) will pull the alarms, so you get a lot of falsealarms," said first-floor resident Dawn Crawford, 33. "This (alarm) is maybe the third one in the last few months."

When she noticed the horns and flashing lights, Crawford got dressed, ambled outdoors - and saw the smoke, she said.

She also saw the burn victim.

"As I was leaving, I saw her sitting on a brick wall in front of the hotel," said Crawford.

"Her hair was singed. You could see burns on her arms."

Despite the two fires, Crawford said she wants city officials to recognize that significant improvements have been made at the hotel by new owners.

"So I hope the city doesn't come down hard on them. Not everyone here is mentally ill," said Crawford, who said she is a college student and knows of many residents who are retirees.

"People come here because it's very low rent."

Signs around the building warn that alcohol, drugs, coffee makers, hot plates - and lit cigarettes - are not allowed in the rooms, residents said.

Some residents ignore the rules, said Lillie Miranda, 57, who moved into her third-floor room two weeks ago, undeterred by stories of the 2002 fire.

"It doesn't matter where people live - in an apartment (or) in a house. They're still going to be faced with the same danger," she said. "Look at all those people in the mountains who lost their homes last year."

Support for hotel

Even before firefighters rolled up their hoses Wednesday, some Fire Department and city officials were expressing cautious support for the renovated hotel.

"Obviously, itwill get a good inspection again," said City Attorney James Penman.

"But since everybody got out (alive), I think that's a good sign."

Since the hotel's renovation after the last fire, the Sunset has been one of the safer places in the city, especially for the mentally ill and other people with limited money and housing options, said Penman.

"And nobody wants to see 55 families, many with mental challenges, sleeping on the street and in the parks," he said.

City officials still would like the hotel to be retrofitted with fire sprinklers, said Penman.

State law does not require retrofitting for the 86-unit hotel that was built in 1968. Under more stringent city codes, sprinklers would have been required if it had remained closed for more than a year after the previous fire. Instead, it reopened last November - just short of a year.

But there are plans to install sprinklers, said Veno Natraj, who said he and his wife bought the building in January.

"At all our (five) hotels, we try to have fire sprinklers," he said. "That's a must."

There also are plans to install a pool and spa, said Natraj, and to reopen the hotel's restaurant so a continental breakfast can be served several times a week.

"If guests feel they are respected, they take care of things better," he said.

If he reopens the restaurant, some churches and the Salvation Army are likely to be willing to provide and serve the food, he said.

Some Sunset Hotel residents already eat meals at the nearby Salvation Army kitchen, officials there said.

Salvation Army Maj. Russell Fritz said he visited the Sunset about a month ago and agrees that such hotels fill an important niche for people on limited incomes.

"It's no Hilton, but obviously it's safe," said Fritz, who also is a police chaplain.

"All the people got out of there. And the fire was contained to one room."