Local

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—- Because San Bernardino County has flattened the COVID-19 curve and secured the resources needed to continue keeping the novel coronavirus under control, dine-in restaurants, stores and malls can now reopen with safety measures throughout the county after a state-ordered shutdown that lasted more than two months.

“San Bernardino County businesses and residents worked very hard and made tremendous sacrifices to make this moment possible,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Curt Hagman. “Your efforts to keep our community safe and healthy have paid off. We can now proceed significantly further toward resuming our normal lives.”

“This virus is still very present throughout our county, state and nation, so we must remain vigilant by physical distancing, wearing face coverings, and washing our hands often. But our goal of minimizing illness and building the capacity to protect the vulnerable, serve the sick, and track the virus in our communities has been achieved,” Hagman said.

“We owe a debt of gratitude to our public health and healthcare professionals, who are putting in long hours on the front lines of this battle, and to our County Government team for working around the clock in support of those efforts,” he said.

The California Department of Public Health on Saturday, May 23, approved the county’s request to reopen more businesses as part of the governor’s accelerated phase two. The county submitted a revised request to move into the next phase on Friday, May 22 based on the new criteria announced by the state on Monday, May 18.

As part of the accelerated Stage 2 phase of the state recovery plan, destination retail stores, including shopping malls and swap meets, and dine-in restaurants can now reopen in San Bernardino County. Businesses that plan to reopen are required to follow state guidance detailed at https://covid19.ca.gov/industry-guidance/. Gyms, hair and nail salons, barber shops, movie theaters, sports and entertainment venues, libraries, bars and wineries, hotels and motels, and public swimming facilities won’t be authorized to reopen until stages 3 and 4.

Drive-in and virtual worship services and faith-based counseling services are authorized to proceed, and the governor said additional guidance for religious services will be announced on Monday, May 25.

The governor on Monday announced new benchmarks counties had to achieve to accelerate business reopening. The announcement came shortly after San Bernardino County sent the governor two letters seeking flexibility in charting a course for recovery. One letter was signed by the Board of Supervisors and the mayors of the county’s 24 cities and towns, the other was a joint letter from the counties of San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange and San Diego, which combined account for about a third of the state’s population.

“Our efforts clearly made a difference,” Hagman said. “Our goal now, besides achieving additional openings, is to keep our businesses open by continuing to keep our curve flat by taking precautions and avoiding unnecessary risk.”

The county is helping small businesses operate safely and stay open through the COVID- Compliant Business Partnership Program. By agreeing to enforce physical distancing, require customers and employees to wear face coverings, and practicing prudent hygiene, small businesses can receive up to $2,500 to implement those measures. Businesses can apply through the county’s COVID-19 website, http://sbcovid19.com.

Businesses should also heed county and state guidance for a safe and sustainable reopening:

San Bernardino County Readiness and Reopening Plan:

http://www.sbcounty.gov/Uploads/CAO/Feature/Content/San_Bernardino_County_Readiness_a nd_Reopening_Plan_-_FINAL_Update_5-22-20.pdf

State guidance for dine-in restaurants: http://www.sbcounty.gov/Uploads/CAO/Feature/Content/guidance-dine-in-restaurants.pdf

State guidance for shopping centers: http://www.sbcounty.gov/Uploads/CAO/Feature/Content/guidance-shopping-centers.pdf

State guidance for retail: http://www.sbcounty.gov/Uploads/CAO/Feature/Content/guidance-retail.pdf

The County today announced the reopening of places of worship with new State- specified guidelines. Under the new State guidance, issued this morning, places of worship can hold religious services, including funerals, if attendance is limited to 25 percent of a building’s capacity, but no more than 100 attendees.

“This is a great first step for our residents of faith who have refrained from gathering for more than two months,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Curt Hagman. “The COVID- 19 virus is still very present throughout our county. With places of worship, dine-in restaurants, stores, and malls now suddenly open, it is more important than ever that we practice physical distancing, wear face coverings in public, and frequently wash our hands to protect ourselves and those around us.”

The State issued new guidance for religious services and cultural ceremonies, https://covid19.ca.gov/pdf/guidance-places-of-worship.pdf, that encourage organizations to continue online services and activities, especially for the protection of those who are most at risk from COVID-19, including older adults and people with specific medical conditions.

To reopen for religious services and funerals, places of worship must:

• Establish and implement a COVID-19 prevention plan for every location, train staff on the plan, and regularly evaluate workplaces for compliance.
• Train employees and volunteers on COVID-19, including how to prevent it from spreading and which underlying health conditions may make individuals more susceptible to contracting the virus.
• Implement cleaning and disinfecting protocols.
• Set physical distancing guidelines.
• Recommend that staff and guests wear cloth face coverings, and screen staff for temperature and symptoms at the beginning of their shifts.
• Set parameters around or consider eliminating singing and group recitations. These activities dramatically increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission. For this reason, congregants engaging in singing, particularly in the choir, and group recitation should wear face coverings at all times and when possible, these activities should be conducted outside with greater than 6-foot distancing.

Not adhering to all of the guidelines in their entirely could result in the spread of illness and the re-closing of places of worship. In 21 days, the State Department of Public Health, in consultation with the County Department of Public Health, will review and

assess the impact of the religious services guidelines and provide further direction as part of a phased-in restoration of activities. This 21-day interval accounts for seven days for religious communities to prepare and reopen in addition to a 14-day incubation period of COVID-19.

Local information about COVID-19 can be found on the County’s COVID-19 website, http://sbcovid19.com.

The House of Representatives passed the Heroes Act, a bill to provide relief to first responders, frontline workers and Americans affected by the spread and economic effects of the coronavirus crisis. The bill includes nearly $1 trillion for state, local, territorial and tribal governments to ensure first responders, police officers, teachers, and other key municipal and frontline workers avoid pay cuts or layoffs. The bill also establishes a Heroes’ Fund of $200 billion to give hazard pay to frontline workers, provides additional stimulus payments of up to $6,000 per family, and funds an additional $75 billion for coronavirus testing, treatment and prevention efforts. If the bill is enacted, the most recent estimates indicate that cities within California’s 31^st Congressional District and the County of San Bernardino would be eligible for over $1.9 billion in combined federal funding over the next two years, with the following individual allocations:

Local Coronavirus Relief Fund	2020 Allocation Estimate	2021 Allocation Estimate
Colton	18,017,068	9,008,534
Fontana	100,408,635	50,204,318
Grand Terrace	4,141,809	2,070,905
Loma Linda	8,024,920	4,012,460
Rancho Cucamonga	49,168,937	24,584,468
Redlands	23,561,313	11,780,657
Rialto	58,071,493	29,035,746
San Bernardino	162,878,418	81,439,209
San Bernardino County	824,817,734	412,408,867
Upland	30,545,657	15,272,829
Estimated Total CA-31 Funding	1,279,635,986	639,817,993

“As a former mayor, I know firsthand how our communities are suffering as a result of the damage this virus has done to local economies. The Heroes Act ensures that our first responders and frontline workers won’t go unpaid while they work to keep our community safe, and provides additional relief to help Inland Empire residents meet the economic hardship our region is facing. I was proud to vote for this bill because San Bernardino County residents cannot afford to wait any longer for Congress to step up and provide solutions to this crisis,” said Rep. Aguilar.

Rep. Aguilar serves as the Vice Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, the committee responsible for allocating federal funding.

CHINO, CA— Family members and advocates will gather at a “Car Caravan Protest” on Saturday, May 23, 2020 at 12:00 pm at the California Institution for Men (CIM), then drive to nearby California Institution for Women (CIW), to highlight ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks at both prisons and to call for the compassionate release of incarcerated people in response to the deadly epidemic.

WHO: Families and supporters of incarcerated people, F.U.E.L. (Families United to End LWOP), Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition, Families Against Solitary Confinement, California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP).

WHAT: COVID-19 Car Caravan Protest against prison failures to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks and deaths. This event will respect social distancing measures, with participants either staying in their cars or keeping six feet away from each other with masks on at all times.

WHERE: Outside of CIM Prison in Chino, CA (14901 Central Avenue, Chino, CA 91710)

WHEN: Saturday, May 23, 2020 at 12 noon PST

Over the past week, CDCR has reported an explosion of cases at both overcrowded prisons: 398 new infections and five preventable COVID-19 deaths at CIM (112% population capacity) and a developing crisis at nearby CIW (110% capacity), where more than 60 people have been informed of their positive statuses and hundreds more await their results.

Advocates and family members who organized the car caravan are calling for the expedited release of incarcerated people vulnerable to COVID-19, beginning with those age 50 or older and people with underlying medical issues, regardless of conviction type; testing for all incarcerated people that want one, as well as mandatory, daily testing for all staff entering the facilities; better protective equipment for all people in the facilities; better sanitation practices, through means other than compelling people in prison to work grueling cleaning shifts; and enforced but non-punitive social distancing protocols for all incarcerated people and staff.

A source at CIM who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation said, “In early May, when we asked why guards were not wearing masks, the captain responded by saying it was not mandatory. As of now, it is mandatory and still some guards are not wearing them.”

CIM has been the most severely affected by COVID-19 of all the prisons in the state, with an outbreak raging inside since early April. 

Since mid-March, community organizers have warned federal, state and local officials that if they failed to urgently act to reduce prison populations, an outbreak of the coronavirus in both CIM and CIW would be inevitable. Now, people in both prisons –– especially the aging and medically vulnerable –– face the possibility of severe illness and death as a direct result of the inaction by Governor Newsom and CDCR. 

REDLANDS, CA—- As the Covid-19 pandemic continues, the City of Redlands Senior Services Division has teamed with the Redlands Community Foundation to establish a “Meals for Seniors Fund.”

To date more than $3,000 has been raised, which has provided 500 meals to Redlands low-income seniors who are at high risk and are unable to leave their homes.

Additional financial support is still needed to continue to provide support for the senior meals program.  Donations collected are used to provide a Meals on Wheels service with Senior Services Division employees and volunteers delivering lunch and providing a daily welfare check-in Monday through Friday.

Every $30 donation provides meals for one senior citizen for a week. A separate supplemental package including food and sanitation supplies is also available for pickup at the senior center.

Donations to the Meals for Seniors fund may be made on line at: https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/meals-for-seniors1/redlandscommunityfou.

Donations may also be made payable to the Redlands Community Foundation and mailed to:   PO Box 8908, Redlands, CA 92375.

Contact your tax professional to determine if your donation is tax deductible.

RIVERSIDE, CA—- COVID19 has taken a toll on our World in several different ways; from economics to families not able to say their final and proper good-byes to loved ones lost during this time due to the limit of how many people can attend funeral services. Speaking of funeral services, how prepared are you for when that times comes? Will your family be able to bury with a peace of mind knowing that everything for a suitable memorial is covered?

Some will say, “Yes, of course!”, many will say no, and some will say that they have life insurance, so doesn’t that cover funeral expenses? While Life insurance is great, it is different from pre-need insurance. Life insurance is for the living, while pre-need is for those who have passed. Life insurance seeks to give a degree of coverage and peace of mind for survivors of the insured; it is perpetual meaning that as long as you are alive you pay life insurance.

FEP Consultants helps clients to understand the difference between the two. Once clients know how life insurance and pre-need differs, FEP Consultants guides them in setting and locking in their desires on how they would like their life to be celebrated. For example, pre-need identifies cremation and burial. All that determines the casket, flowers, hearse, mortuary, embalming and more. The purpose of pre-need is to create peace knowing that all of your wishes are accounted for.

“I sleep much better knowing that Porsha will be available to present my heirs with my final wishes for less than what I used to spend daily on Starbucks,” Veronica Lawrence, FEP client, explains. “No car wash or selling dinners for loved ones. They can mourn and celebrate my life without having to experience additional or unnecessary financial or emotional stress or hardship. Best decision I made.”

FEP Consultants is the premier pre-need provider for memorial and burial services. They help families to keep their dignity. One of the most loving gifts you can give your loved ones is making arrangements in advanced. There is no need for car washes, selling dinner plates, creating GoFund Me accounts or just flat out begging. FEP Consultants can meet anyone’s budget; with them “no detail is too small”.

“What encouraged me to get a policy was seeing people holding signs asking for donations to bury a family member that had passed away,” Darryl Gross, FEP client, stated. “I couldn’t allow my family to go through such heartache and stress.”

Pre-need is completely transferrable, it goes whenever you go. Pre-need protects you from the negative effects of inflation by locking in the price of your service. It is customizable, allowing you to make changes according to the individual. Most importantly, you pay pre-need off; life insurance you can’t pay off.

For more information about Pre-need services and how you can set yours up, please contact Porsha Harris at (951) 269-3556 or visit www.fepconsultants.org.

Edited By Naomi K. Bonman via CAIR-Greater Los Angeles

On Monday, May 18, 2020, the community lost one of its pivotal leaders, Dr. E. Abdulmu’min. He was also a was a pillar of the American Muslim community in the Inland Empire.

“My father Dr. Abdulmumin was something to everyone. He was a pillar to his community, always giving to others, a mentor and a father figure to many,” Rabyya Abdulmumin, daughter of the late Dr. Abdulmumin stated. “He always had a smile on his face, he laughed and made others laugh. He more than anything loved Ramadan. For as far my memory goes back my dad spent every Ramadan feeding others. He spent every Ramadan night at the front row praying taraweh prayer. May Allah reward him for his good deeds and give him the highest level of Jannah.”

In 2000, Dr. Abdulmumin established the DuBois Institute which specialized in nurturing and empowering youth and families, especially within the underserved African American community in Riverside’s Eastside community.

Dr. Abdulmumin was a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and professor with more than 35 years of university teaching experience and working with youth and adults in the community, educational, mental health and juvenile/criminal justice settings.

He was a compassionate, respected, and loved servant leader within the African American, Muslim, and larger communities.

“Imam/Dr. E.M. Abdulmumin is the man that found me Wayward and full of Rage and introduced me to Islam. When I wasn’t even allowed to attend school along with general population, he encouraged me to attend college where I would later earn a bachelor’s degree from the University of Laverne in behavior science,” Keasuc Hill explained. “He saw in me a leader of people when I had forgotten that I was even a person. He flipped the prison industrial complex by doing the undoable; he transformed a population of juvenile delinquents into grown men. He was my Mentor.”

We are saddened by his loss. We pray Allah has mercy on him for he has returned to his Lord during the blessed month of Ramadan. We also pray that Allah makes these difficult times easy on his family and we offer our sincere condolences to them and to the many people who loved Dr. Abdulmumin.

Verily, to Allah we belong and to Him we shall return.

• 

• 

• 

By Brian Robin via The San Bernardino Sun

SAN BERNARDINO – DeJuan Moon came back for seconds, heaping his foam clamshell container with chicken thighs, beef ribs, macaroni and cheese and baked beans. It would disappear into Moon’s 6-foot-1, 190-pound frame as quick as it appeared.

And as soon as any of the items disappeared off the foil containers, more reappeared. Because no containers and no trays were allowed to stay empty for long. And no San Bernardino Valley College football players were allowed to leave hungry.

“Take more. We’ve got plenty,” boomed a familiar voice from behind a large barbecue trailer.

The voice, along with the barbecue trailer attached to a pickup, belonged to rapper Warren Griffin III — better known as Warren G — who spent his Saturday afternoon feeding SBVC football players the best meal most of them had since the coronavirus pandemic shut the world down.

For at least one day, one of the architects behind the hip-hop masterpiece “Regulate” was going to eliminate the hunger of college students – some of whom were marooned thousands of miles away from home.

Griffin heard about the situation from SBVC assistant coach Merle Cole Jr., the former Long Beach Poly mainstay and mentor to the likes of former Jackrabbits football standouts Leonard Russell, Hershel Dennis, Chris Lewis, DeSean Jackson and Darrell Rideaux, among hundreds of others. Griffin and Cole go back more than 30 years and talk every week.

When Cole told Griffin that coaches were buying their players groceries -– when they weren’t standing in food-bank lines -– Cole said the next words out of Griffin’s mouth were, “Hell, no. I’ve got to do something for these guys. Can you make it happen?”

Cole, along with SBVC head coach Daniel Algattis, made it happen. Algattis said Cole called him and texted him at 6:02 a.m. on a recent morning to explain his plan. Algattis said after calling SBVC athletic director Dave Rubio and explaining how this could happen “in a responsible way,” Rubio signed on. Within an hour, Algattis had the approval of SBVC president Diana Rodriguez.

“We have a food bank on campus that does a great job helping out our students in general, and thank goodness we have that,” Algattis said. “Warren said he has this barbecue rig and some food and let’s get some things together and help some families in the area. Let’s start with your team and your boys.”

Along with the barbecue trailer, Griffin came with 50 pounds of chicken, 40 pounds of beef flank and short ribs and mountains of beans and mac-and-cheese. He also came armed with a foodie’s nature instilled by his father, a former Navy cook who spent his off time creating dishes.

Enough of the spices rubbed off on Griffin, because he created his own barbecue business, Sniffin’ Griffin’s BBQ, that keeps him occupied when he’s not touring or in the studio. Cole said Griffin was so eager to help that he volunteered to drive his barbecue rig to individual homes.

“These kids are out here from out of state and they can’t get home because of the current situation with this pandemic. They can’t get to their families and eat good meals,” said Griffin, who lives in Lake Elsinore. “Coach Cole hit me up and we were talking about how the kids have to go to food banks and the like. I said ‘Let me come over here and feed them. I want to cook for them and feed them, fill their tummies up and let them know they have support here.’

“This is very important to me. I’ve been in positions where I couldn’t eat like I wanted to or do things like I wanted to because I didn’t have help. Just to be able to help people going through that same situation is very important to me. Just to show them you have support and it’s out of love.”

Freshman defensive back Tre Williams, who is from Apopka, Fla., felt the love with every bite.

“I haven’t had a home-cooked meal in so long,” he said. “I’ve been eating out, McDonald’s, Burger King, using my food-stamp card. This is a really nice meal.

While it was a difficult decision, Decently & In Order Ministry will not be able to host a 2020 Pastor’s Breakfast after receiving updates from the National Orange Show Events Center due to concerns with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. While we know this is disappointing, we hope you can understand the steps we’re taking to help keep our friends in ministry and attendees safe.

The new date for the 20th Annual Pastors Breakfast has been scheduled for May 8, 2021 at 8:00 a.m.at the National Orange Show Event Center.

Please accept our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience this may cause. The health and well-being of our friends in the ministry are of immense importance to us and our top priority is to protect your health and the public’s well-being. Thank you for understanding during these difficult and unprecedented times.

In His Righteousness,

Cyndie Smith-Barnes for 
Evangelist Jerry Musgrove

Decently & In Order Ministry

P.O. Box 672

Highland, CA 92346

CHINO, CA––On May 13th, CDCR released a statement identifying a new outbreak of Covid-19 at the California Institution for Women (CIW) in Chino, California. Less than five miles away, at the California Institution for Men (CIM), the disease has swept through the population, with 398 confirmed cases and at least five deaths. 

While CDCR has yet to release the number of new cases in the women’s prison, advocates at the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) have heard from incarcerated individuals that more than 50 individuals have been made aware of their positive statuses, as hundreds more wait to hear their results. One incarcerated individual who tested positive stated: “Almost my entire unit just tested positive. Some of them are canteen workers, kitchen workers, and workers who have been sewing masks. People who interact with everybody. We are terrified. This entire prison needs to be tested.”

Since mid-March, advocates have been demanding action to prevent an outbreak at CIW. In letters to prison and state officials, CCWP exposed dangerous conditions at CIW, including a lack of access to protective and preventive supplies and a blatant disregard by prison staff of CDCR’s own policies. Further, the state refused to listen to advocates and public health experts who warned that the only way to prevent outbreaks in prison is to reduce population density by expediting releases, especially for those at highest risk of the deadly effects of Covid-19. 

While CDCR claims it instructed prisons to “conduct additional deep-cleaning efforts in high-traffic, high-volume areas” and to institute social distancing practices “wherever possible,”  incarcerated people indicate that CIW staff failed to implement such policies and that social distancing is impossible in prison. In California’s overcrowded prisons, all spaces are high-traffic areas, but people report that not even the showers at CIW are being regularly cleaned or disinfected. Similarly, while guards were instructed to wear masks and social distance, CCWP continues to receive reports of guards refusing to adhere to these policies.

The devastating, needless deaths at CIM present a dire warning for prison administration and the State of California. The state must expedite release for vulnerable populations. At the same time, elected officials must ensure that CDCR goes beyond advertising preventative measures and actually implements meaningful, life-saving policies, including widespread testing.