VOICES: Turtle Tales by Margaret E. Furman

Road rage, pipe bombs, potholes, gridlock and high speed chases down the freeway are traffic conditions that are present on the High Desert as they are down below. Only the relative number of incidents and the degree of impact on our life style is debatable. Just reciting the list makes me stress out.

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A VIEW FROM MAIN STREET

It's interesting to see how differently the Mojave Water Agency's board of directors and the Hesperia City Council handled respective controversies regarding one of their own. Recently, MWA director Richard Hall, who is also on the Hesperia Recreation Park District board, was accused of failing to pay up on an employee contract he had with a woman he met on a single's Web site. Although Hall's situation is still being looked at, the MWA board of directors asked Hall to resign his position.

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Frontier Homes celebrates with open house soiree

There was a fountain of chocolate, drinks from the bar, a colorful selection of culinary goodies -- coconut shrimp, bruschetta and pasta primavera, to name just a sample -- and, of course, a long, red carpet.

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VOICES: TAD HONEYCUTT

It wasn't all that long ago that High Desert residents had to pack up the family and drive 45-minutes down the hill to do anything but our most basic shopping. Fortunately, those days have long since passed. Now, instead of going to the shopping centers and theaters down the hill, those retail, dining and entertainment opportunities have, literally, come to our neighborhoods.

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Ready, set ... talk

As a member of the Victor Valley College faculty, Mimi Sawan of Guardian Medical was accustomed to addressing people, but her fear of public speaking never really went away.

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VOICES: GIL ZANK

The Coffee Club resulted from a Regional Ambassador meeting in 1993. There, I met an ambassador from San Bernardino who mentioned a weekly event they had -- at that time 75 to 100 people were attending at 7:30 a.m. -- for free coffee and donut holes. It was very successful.

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SHERIFF'S LOG

Unknown suspects are identified by race only for the purpose of aiding identification.

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Mr. Podegracz (et al) goes to Washington

Hesperia officials are looking to put more of residents' tax dollars to work on major city projects. They aren't looking to raise taxes, however, but to bring some federal tax revenue back from Washington.

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ROOM TO GROW

Hesperia's explosive growth rate has meant local government has had to scramble to keep up with demand for services, whether it's having enough classrooms for students, staff at the city planning department able to meet the needs of builders or a library large enough for a city of 80,000 residents.

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School district moves from portables into former Main Street medical building

For years, the Hesperia Unified School District's administrators, who oversee everything from hiring teachers to what food gets served in the school cafeteria, have been squatting on the edge of Mesa Grande Elementary School's campus.

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Oxford Owls land in their own nest

Hesperia's sixth graders got their own schools this year, separate from the student bodies of the city's elementary and middle schools. But the best laid plans of mice and educators often go awry, and both sixth grade academies ended up living under the same roof due to construction delays.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Should churches and synagogues be owned and operated by the government? Should church and synagogue attendance be compulsory? Should taxpayers be taxed for the support of churches and synagogues?

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SHERIFF'S LOG

Unknown suspects are identified by race only for the purpose of aiding identification.

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HESPERIA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT POLICE LOG

* A female person was cited for battery and annoying a child at Ranchero Middle School.

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Another cheerleader photo

Here's an additional photo of the victorious Sultana High School cheerleaders.

Sultana cheerleaders top of the California pyramid

Sultana cheerleading coach Dale Ford's letterman's jacket has arms armored with state championship patches. For the second time in two years, Ford will have to find room for another patch in the shape of the state of California.

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Middle school under lockdown after apparent false tip to CHP

Ranchero Middle School was under lockdown last Friday morning after law enforcement authorities received an anonymous call that a gunman was in a classroom at "Rancho" Middle School. The tip proved to be apparently false.

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ExCEL program means grants for teachers and scholarships for students

The Hesperia Unified School District's ExCEL program not only pays off for students who take part in the program, which provides additional for students based on their specific educational needs, but it's also providing Hesperia's teachers with more resources and, starting this year, graduates with scholarships to help continue their education.

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In Brief

The westbound Main Street #2 lane between 9th and 11th Street will be closed between 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on March 14-16. The closure will allow for street improvements required for a new development project along the north side of Main Street.

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'Our kids are in very good hands'

After shadowing Hesperia Junior principal Larry Silverman for most of a school day last Wednesday, Alan E. Adams experienced an epiphany: Today's public schools are different than when he was a student decades ago, but that's OK.

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