Category: News

Casino Night 2025 was held on Thursday, September 18, from 5-9 p.m. at Mill Creek Cattle Company’s Diamond Jim’s Saloon and Banquet Hall, 1874 Mentone Boulevard. “Casino Night is always our biggest fundraiser,” said Chamber/COMET Secretary and acting Chairperson/President Angie DeLaRosa at the last Chamber meeting. Although the casino people were a little late arriving with two blackjack tables, two craps tables and one poker table, the tables were kept busy, according to Warren Wendel, Chamber/COMET Treasurer.

Wendel also stated that 95 tickets were sold and eight sponsors donated various amounts to support the Chamber and COMET. “We thought it would be a fun evening,” said Roxie, who had driven with friend Gary all the way from Palm Desert just for the event, adding that “Gary lives in Oceanside.”

Mill Creek donated the all-you-can-eat buffet of several kinds of meat; rolls and muffins with honey butter; a large salad; and warm apple cobbler, ensuring that the Chamber and COMET receive as much of the revenue as possible. Mill Creek’s Saloon bar was also thriving. Treasurer Wendel will give the final amount the Chamber/COMET gained, in his financial report at the Chamber/COMET meeting next Tuesday, September 30, at 7:00 p.m., in Mill Creek’s Saloon/Banquet Hall.

At MACA’s quarterly meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, September 9, “ham” or shortwave radio operators Ken Alan and Ralph Squillace encouraged audience members to engage in shortwave radio as an alternative to landlines or cell phones in an emergency, when the power is off. It doesn’t require electricity, they stated, and anyone may listen to a shortwave radio at any time. They and the handy-talkies Alan demonstrated are inexpensive, they added. Repeater stations, similar to those cell towers, are located in the mountains, they provided.

In order to talk on a shortwave radio, however, they stated that one must be licensed but licensing no longer requires proficiency in Morse code – just a knowledge of the alphabet. If the applicant does not pass the exam the first time they may retake it. Even children are broadcasters, Alan provided.

A licensed operator may use a “handle,” or pseudonym; or they may use the call letters they are given upon being licensed, although some operators know each other by a first name. Licensees may choose their call letters, they added.

Both presenters are experienced radio announcers who interviewed locals for a June 30 podcast on Sunday at Mentone Days, as reported in MM’s article titled “MORE ON MENTONE’S 138TH BIRTHDAY PARTY,” published on 7/2/25. The podcast is available at https://apple.co/4np4tLs. The duo continue to publish podcasts.

Alan is, additionally, a volunteer examiner for licensing. For further information about licensing or equipment or anything connected with ham radio, contact Alan:

MACA’s next meeting will be in January or February, its President, J.P. Gutierrez, announced. MACA, the Chamber and COMET are dark in November and December. MM

Everyone is invited to bring food and attend the following Western-style program this Saturday, which will feature country and religious music:

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On Saturday afternoon, July 13, the Redlands Humane Society held a Celebration of Life at her ranch, The Centre at Greenspot 9350 Amethyst in Mentone for approximately 50 relatives, neighbors, Society and Mentone Chamber members as well as her ranch hands and others whose services she used in her ranch. The guests were treated to a street taco bar and was hosted by Rosemary Estupinan, Society treasurer and Board member. Ranch hands Maria Barrera, Santiago Luis and his son, Manuel, were visibly upset at the loss of their friend and employer. “They treated me like a son,” said Arnell Jackson of the Orbakers; he stated he also helped and has lived on the property for more than 15 years. “She appreciated whatever people did,” he added.

The reverse of the printed program bearing the above image stated:

“Jan was a remarkable woman whose love for horses and animals was matched only by her kindness and dedication to others.

“Her many equestrian accomplishments reflected not just her talent, but her unwavering spirit and grace. She found great joy in teaching children to ride, patiently passing on her knowledge and love of horses to the next generation. Her legacy will live on in every life she touched – in the arenas she graced, the students she inspired, and the gentle strength she shared with all who knew her.

“She married Richard Orbaker in 1973 and had a stepson, Kevin Orbaker.  When Rich was injured and closed Redlands Feed in 2004, Jan helped him continue to run his business and kept it running till her passing.

“For over 29 years, Jan served as the heart and soul of the Redlands Humane Society. As President, she dedicated herself tirelessly to fostering and adoption events, ensuring countless animals found loving homes. Her compassion knew no bounds – she lovingly cared for cats in her cattery until their final days and extended her care to dogs, burros, pigeons, Soda Pop (a pot belly pig), and Hercules (the goat). Jan had a special bond with all animals, but especially with Noodles, her longtime loving horse companion, Goggles, her beloved cat, and Boomer, her loyal dog. She loved them deeply and cared for them with unwavering devotion until the very end.

“Jan served as the Chair of the Mentone Chamber of Commerce  from 2022-25 and Vice-Chair from 2020-21 where she played a key role in community engagement. Her leadership extended to active participation in hallmark events such as Mentone Days and the International Film Festival – both of which celebrate the region’s rich culture and spirit. In recognition of her outstanding service and dedication, Jan was honored as the 2025 Women of Distinction for the Mentone area, an award presented by Assemblyman James Ramos of the 45th Assembly District.”

A table held photos of many of Jan’s competitions, some from her early childhood, and several of her awards.

Celebration guests were invited to write their memories of Jan, which were then read by another guest. Those memories included knowing her for more than 20 years; having many conversations with her while performing horseshoeing or other services for her or just sitting by the barn; attending meetings with her, other than the Chamber meetings; riding horses with her, including as children and other family holidays; her teaching them riding and other skills; knowing her to take in and rehome stray animals; or being present in Chamber and COMET or Society meetings. Jan had adopted her favorite cat, “Goggles” from another guest: “She was kind of a mentor to me because of her vast knowledge of animals. I will for sure miss her! When I come up here now I see her everywhere up here and I miss her so so much.” One young former student and weekend ranch hand remembered that she told Jan she could do something with Jan’s horse that she couldn’t do, failed at it and Jan then told her that she “broke the horse”! Others knew her as a neighbor for many years. “She took a trailer and hauled burros from central California so they could be saved,” stated one.

Jan leaves to mourn her brother, Greg Woodbury; stepson, Kevin Orbaker; cousin, Suzanne Owens; second cousin Sarah Owens; and her ranch hands. MM

The hosts of the podcast MM reported on in its previous article, Ken Alan and Ralph Squillace, have posted the podcast at https://apple.co/4np4tLs. If you prefer listening on your computer, the URL is https://podcasts.apple.com/us/search?term=calbiz.

The podcast highlights several features of the party, a couple of which MM omitted.

However, two of their stated misconceptions are that Mentone is a “suburb” of Redlands(!) and that it is a city or town, both of which have to be incorporated under the law. Otherwise, many thanks to these gentlemen, who highlighted the Chamber’s efforts to raise money to protect Mentone’s future. MM

The Mentone Chamber of Commerce celebrated Mentone’s 138th birthday on Sunday, June 29, 2025, at the Portuguese-American Club (“PCA”), from 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m.

“We made money this year,” stated Angie DeLaRosa, the Chamber’s acting chair since its chairwoman’s passing earlier in June. “We had several sponsors,” she added. According to the banner out front they included the Cherry Valley Nursery, Johnny’s Tacos, Mentone Beach Liquor, Hovey Tile Art, San Bernardino County Supervisor Dawn Rowe, Arthur’s Restaurant, Farmer Boys in Redlands, Stater Bros, Cuca’s Restaurant, Wilbur’s Power Equipment, Tractor Supply in Highland, Cota’s Tire Service, Corky’s Restaurant in Highland, A Noteworthy Realty and the Mill Creek Cattle Company, which also set up a tent with a buffet line.

Many other vendors were set up on the walkway and the lawn; some sold coffee mugs decorated with original photography, some sold Tupperware and Avon products, and there were decorated boxes and different kinds of food. Bands played outside most of the afternoon: “Skeeter Man” from 12:00-1:00; “Heather in Blum” by The DUO from 1:00-3:00; and “Random Play” Band from 3:00-4:00. MACA President J.P. Gutierrez and his family manned the History of Mentone tent.

In the air-conditioned building alcoholic drinks, sodas and water were available and artist Ron Caraway’s work was exhibited, all afternoon. From about 4:15 or 4:30 several Aztec dancers, the majority being women, demonstrated their worship dances and other dances, accompanied by a couple of large drums. At least 8 dancers participated in each dance, the dancers often switching to the drums while other drummers danced. At least two Aztec demonstrators also blew conch shells as they danced; all had bells on their legs, which rang as they walked and danced. All also had large feather headdresses, with the men’s headdresses including an animal skull. They shook rattles as they danced. The dancers invited the audience to join them; several audience members accepted the invitation.

Other special features included a Mentone Days podcast with two interviewers from 12:30 until they had an hour of interviews with Angie DeLaRosa, Artist Ron Caraway, Joyce Caraway, Jan Forrester and Marie Reynolds providing information about Mentone or Caraway’s art. “We will cut it down to half an hour,” said Ralph, one of the interviewers. Another inside feature was a fun photo booth with funny props from 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Caraway provided approximately 35 pieces of his work on the exhibition wall; his art ranged from pencil drawings to oils and acrylics. The art utilized styles from the 1600s to the present, in the form of landscapes, still lifes and surrealistic figural pieces, which ranged in size from 10″x12″ to 40″x50.” Some of his paintings were homages to, or parodies of, Saturday Evening Post’s illustrator Norman Rockwell’s work, where Caraway, an African-American, painted Black people in place of the White people Rockwell had painted, “in order to show inclusion,” he explained. Other of his artwork showed famous people of years ago and nowadays, all demonstrating Caraway’s quirky sense of humor. “The art display was fantastic. It was very impressive. I felt like we were at a museum,” stated Angie DeLaRosa. “This is about one-quarter of my existing work,” Caraway informed attendees, and added “My art is also on Instagram.” Prints of several of his pencil drawings were available for purchase.

Mentonites are reminded that the next Chamber event is the Casino Night on September 18, and after that is the Mentone Film Festival on November 8 and 9.

Janice Lynn Orbaker passed away on June 19, 2025, at her ranch, the Centre at Green Spot, 9350 Amethyst Ave., Mentone, MM recently learned. According to Legacy.com, she was taken care of by Sunset Funeral Care of Redlands; neither published an obituary. On echovita.com she is listed as having been 74 years of age, born in January 1951. “She was a very private person,” said Angie DeLaRosa.

DeLaRosa announced the Chamber’s chairwoman/C.O.M.E.T.’s president’s death during the Chamber’s meeting Tuesday evening, June 23. Previously its vice-president, Jan was elected to their leadership in early 2022, after the previous president, Gabe DeLaRosa, passed away in December 2021.

DeLaRosa said she had taken Jan to receive the Woman of Distinction honor just a few weeks ago; Jan was apparently quite ill at the time.

She was also the President of the Redlands Humane Society, which has not yet responded to MM’s phone messages inquiring about their planned Celebration of Life. She is listed on FaceBook as having given a speech about pet adoption in April 2017.

Jan boarded, bred and raised champion Arabian and 1/2 Arabian horses, having moved to Mentone in 1975 with her late husband, Rich, who was active in the Mentone Area Community Association up to the end of his life.

According to the Centre’s website, which expresses her life better than MM could, Jan had “a lifetime of show horse experience. She started riding lessons while in kindergarten and began show competitions while in first grade. It was those very early years that convinced her that she wanted to devote her life to training and showing.

“Janice began going to every show within riding distances of her home. Dedicated to her calling, she made every attempt to improve both herself, and her horses. Once a horse trailer was purchased, Janice began expanding her show experience.

“She took all of this training and experience into her college life, and quickly established herself as a leader of the intercollegiate show horse team at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Janice and the team succeeded in back to back high points awards. A major accomplishment for the team, and for Janice and her career. Her college years were not only filled with the show team, but included in depth equine education and learning through course curriculum.  

“Janice began her professional training and showing career in 1974. It was at that time the she began working with horse owners to deliver one-on-one personal training, and setting show goals for both their horses and the riders. Since then, Janice has continued to grow her clientele, and the show circuit, showing and winning at such prestigious events as the US Nationals, Canadian Nationals, and Scottsdale.”

And, according to Rich’s FaceBook page, the Centre is a “preeminent horse care and training facility, located on 12 acres next to the Mill Creek Riverbed,” which employs several people. Further according to the FaceBook article, the couple had shown horses at “U.S. and Canadian national shows, garnering the Top Tens at the national competitions” and “many, many Regional Top5’s and championships for the Centre and its clients.” The Centre was also said to provide “individual training, instruction and care to horses and riders.” According to the Centre’s website, in 2021 the California State Assembly had presented the Centre with a Certificate of Recognition as one of the 2021 businesses of distinction for “contributing to the success and sustainability of the community in which it does business.”

According to the Humane Society, Rich had operated a pet store, which closed, but he continued to provide pet supplies to the Society. At present, Jan’s employees have told DeLaRosa that they are continuing to operate her horse ranch. Jan had appeared before LAFCO at least twice in 2023, to comment on behalf of the Chamber.

The couple are not known to have children together.

MM will provide more information about this prominent, longtime Mentone resident when MM receives it.

As a member, Mentone receives emails from California (un)Incorporated: “Salida got some coverage – May 28, 2025

Today’s Modesto Bee had an article by Kathleen Quinn entitled “Salida has sought city status for decades but faces challenges.” As an item of journalistic coverage of the plight of unincorporated areas, it’s fairly good. Both California (un)Incorporated and our Salida colleague, Katherine Borges – were accurately presented. What the article got right is that the process of municipal incorporation in California is overly difficult. Changing that is pretty much why we exist as an organization.

Last March the Salida Municipal Advisory Council received a presentation about Modesto’s latest predatory annexation foray into Salida. {photo credit: Kathleen Quinn, “Salida has sought city status for decades but faces challenges”, Modesto Bee, May 28, 2025}

We have a few nit picks with the article. We present them here for clarification:

• Mountain House’s incorporation was the result of thoughtful long-term planning and subseqquent investment by San Joaquin County. It took 30 years to come to fruition and the new city is the ONLY city out of 423 in California that doesn’t derive any revenues from the property tax component of motor vehicle license fees (VLF). While we applaud San Joaquin County for its foresight, we remain unconvinced that it needed to take so long. And we share the City of Mountain House’s concern that it should not be denied VLF-related revenues.
• Initiating the “make a city” process via signature collection is unrealistically expensive.
• While a community does not have to have one or more special districts in place as a precursor to becoming a city, it does help. Still, we are aware of many cities where the special district(s) have not been involved or have been overlooked by the local LAFCO. That said, California (un)Incorporated wants no harm to come to a special district as the result of an incorporation.
• Financial feasibility studies required by Local Agency Formation Commissions (LAFCOs) are usually done by consultants and have often been used as a club to beat up on citizens who wish to form a city. that’s because it is all too easy for a LAFCO to overestimate the costs and underestimate the revenues. While our initial orientation is to view Stanislaus County’s LAFCO as ethical, we cannot say the same about LAFCOs elsewhere. LAFCOs often make cityhood proponents pay for the consultants who write those financial documents, but they do not give the payees any control over the consultant’s work. And in the case of some LAFCOs, outrageous declarations like “they must pay a premium price for a city manager” can thus get baked into the analysis to mislead the public.
• Misleading financial analysis was a core theme of the East Los Angeles report cited in the article. For instance, LA County claimed some of its areawide services as municipal costs East LA would have to undertake. Contact our East LA colleagues for more information.

Overall, though, we are thankful that the Modesto Bee has put a spotlight on our friends in Salida. We hope the Bee will find the courage to follow through by trying to find out why state laws are used to fight proposed new cities in California.”

Mentone needs to become a city to stay out of Redlands but LAFCO makes it impossible by its enforcement of the rule that, if Redlands objects to LAFCO hearing a request to be deleted from Redlands’ sphere of influence – Yucaipa or Highland could have been chosen instead of Redlands – LAFCO has to take the request off calendar, costing Mentone $5,000 for nothing.

B.R.A.V.E
Veterans Resource Luncheon & Job Fair Day

In an effort to keep you informed, I am sharing information about the Arrowhead United Way’s Veterans Resource Luncheon & Job Fair Day. This information and resource event features a wide range of services for veterans, including federal, state, and county support, job opportunities, and more. Please share this email with anyone who may be interested. 
 

Please contact Arrowhead United Way at (909) 884-9441 for further information.
 
Warm regards,

ROSILICIE OCHOA BOGH
Senator, 19^th District

My Legislation       |  Contact Me

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Website:  https://sr19.senate.ca.gov/

Capitol Office 1021 O Street, Suite 7220 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4019

Redlands District Office 1758 Orange Tree Lane, Suite B Redlands, CA 92374 (909) 335-0271