The word of the day is “Subjects”.

The phrase of the day is “Life’s a bitch and then you die.”

June 18th, 2025 (Originally Published)

(Republished on June 19th, 2025, with public comments to come)

Ridgecrest California

There were many excellent comments at a well-attended (“100+-“) city council meeting on Wednesday night. The video will be timestamped so you can listen to the entire presentation and the glorious beatdown by members of the leadership in Ridgecrest, who also gave a well-deserved scolding to Councilman Kyle Blades and others who participated in the scheme to change the process of SGMA adjudication.

It was great to see former council member Lindsey Stephens and Sophia “Sam” Merk of the BLM Roundtable give public comments. Sam asked “what will you do” if the IWV Water District’s “science” is more accurate?

Not one member of the public spoke in favor of the legislation. More to follow.

PS: The Groundwater Authority’s lobbyist from Capitol Core, Michael McKinney, oozed stinky back-room politics. Look at his backdrop, he’s a disgrace to USC and he probably has a severe case of little man syndrome. Peace brother.

Sorry Not Sorry, this is WAR!

Let’s be clear, your City Manager and the City Attorney allowed a one-sided presentation (a sales pitch) by Michael W. McKinney, the founder, CEO and President of Capitol Core Group, i.e. a high-falutin lobbyist influence peddler from Sacramento, to come into your house and sell you on the merits of AB 1413 and AB 1466 while insulting your intelligence, debating with you and stinking up the joint.

The citizens of Ridgecrest and the Indian Wells Valley slapped the s**t out of Mr. big-wig from Sacramento and sent him back to his lair with an excuse that he lost this battle to a bunch of dumb-ass low-IQ desert dwellers living in the critically over-drafted, underserved and disadvantaged community of Ridgecrest California. (none of which is true)

And it’s fair to say the entire Indian Wells Valley also believes that Ron Strand, Ricca Charlon, Scott Hayman and Kyle Blades are in a heap of trouble and Michael W. McKinney should stick it where the sun don’t shine, but that’s just my opinion. (You too Eric Bruen – Former Mayor – City of Ridgecrest)

The video is now available on the City’s YouTube page and the meeting begins with the Pledge of Allegiance and Invocation by Councilman Solomon Rajaratnam. The two presentations on the meeting agenda follow, a quick Service award and a presentation by Capitol Core’s Michael McKinney. Members of the public then spent over an hour speaking their minds and asking questions.

To the Burroughs High School Class of 2025

Congratulations on your graduation from the Sherman E. Burroughs High School in Ridgecrest and China Lake, California. Many of you are heading off to college, where you will be indoctrinated and groomed for corporate personhood in an economic system now referred to as “Stakeholder Capitalism”.

Political Science 101: “Life’s a bitch and then you die”

Today’s lesson is titled “Life’s a bitch and then you die”. You’re about to learn why it’s always been this way, and we blame it all on the attorneys and the lobbyists. Without them, the system couldn’t exist in its present form because everyone needs an attorney. The politicians are their salesman, and you are their subjects.

I’m absolutely positive the above phrase was written by a godless, immoral, conniving and heartless attorney and his lobbyist, and sold to a politician by said lobbyist and then it became “the law”.

And it’s true, you are their subjects and this is the end of today’s lesson. You’ve lost the war. Thank you for coming.

I thought I should add a postscript in this lesson that not all attorneys are bad people, and none of the attorneys in our water war are necessarily bad or heartless people. I once chatted with a public defender after a first-degree murder trial while we were riding down an elevator. He told me we did the right thing after finding the defendant guilty of the lesser offense of 2nd degree manslaughter, a dangerous offense. A knife was the murder weapon, and the defendant probably served only 5 years, and we deliberated for over 7 days after a 3-day trial. It was ugly. It wasn’t easy convincing the other jurors, but he told me “we did the right thing”, and he was absolutely correct. He was a good attorney in a world where top notch attorneys are rarely public defenders unless they do pro-bono work, as many of them do.

We need good attorneys on our side in this water war, and as Scott O’Neil said prior to the closed session meeting last week: “Do the right thing!” and Maybe we need to find a good attorney and sue all of them.

/End lesson

The Ridgecrest City Council Meeting Begins…

The “subjects” in the Great Indian Wells Valley Water War have been beaten and demoralized for over 10 years. They’re about to give up, and then something happened. The young and possibly former councilman Kyle Blades snuck off to Sacramento to do the attorney’s dirty work. And the subjects rose up and re-engaged the battle, and it was a beautiful thing to watch.

Blades was the attorney’s willing dupe, and he knows virtually nothing about SGMA, like many most of the legislators in Sacramento.

The meeting you are about to watch is one of the finest examples of citizen involvement, civic duty and engagement that you will ever see, and the subject matter of the presentation on AB 1413 and AB 1466 represents a college-level course study on politics, SGMA (the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act) and the meaning of democracy in a Constitutional Republic: it’s all about your water.

You’d almost think the council meeting was run by a PhD in Political Science, because it was. Mayor Travis Endicott is a likeable former college professor as well as a former naval intelligence officer. He’s a veteran, and his favorite holiday is Independence Day on July 4th.

A presentation for Service Awards was the first of the two presentations, and two of Ridgecrest’s finest were given 25-year service awards. Sergeant Ryan Marrone and Officer Elizabeth Franco have honorably served the City of Ridgecrest for most of their lives, and I’ve met both of them (no tickets or arrests). These are your fellow citizens and they’ve been doing the job of protecting and serving you for 25 years. Thank you for your service! (6/20/2025 Updated with Ranks)

Next comes the presentation on AB 1413 and AB 1466 by Capitol Core, the lobbyist that was hired years ago to represent the GA in Sacramento. They’re the guys that raise the money and lobby politicians to hire lawyers to write the laws that the politicians then sell to you as a bill of goods.

I’m going to listen to the public comments in this meeting and pull quotes from each and every person that spoke during the presentation, and you can come back here in a day or two and see what I mean. This was great, the stuff of legends!

“The truth is that we, the people of this entire valley plus on up north through Inyokern for starters, all people who own this water, live here on this ground, use (pump up) the water under our land, etc., etc., actually own their own land, etc. i.e., NOT the City of Ridgecrest or any of the other entities that are trying to steal our land.  Unfortunately, I am not in a position right now to stand up and “kick ass” if you will pardon the expression and won’t be for a while.  I will jump in as soon as I can because we have to just stop and this crazy stuff that has somehow been handed out to all these people who are trying to go “around” whatever legal authority they think they have…which they do not…! – Lorry Wagner, Inyokern

­Show Up and Speak Out! ­

Below is an Op-ed by the Ridgecrest Area Association of Realtors, the Ridgecrest Chamber of Commerce and the Indian Wells Valley Economic Development Corporation who are all opposing the legislation.

Who wrote and sponsored the two bills?

These are the two bills in question, AB 1413 and AB 1466. Without going into the details of the bills, they’re obviously accumulating a large number of opponents in Sacramento and locally as well.

• https://legiscan.com/CA/bill/AB1413/2025
• https://legiscan.com/CA/bill/AB1466/2025

The two Bills that were written and produced by attorneys at the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority (and City of Ridgecrest) and their lobbyist Capitol Core (for and on behalf of others) have ignited a firestorm of protests throughout the State of California.

The Ridgecrest Area Association of Realtors, the Ridgecrest Chamber of Commerce and the IWV Economic Development Committee have all signed an OpEd in the Daily Independent registering their strong opposition to the bills as well as the $394 million cost of the “AVEK” pipeline and the Groundwater Authority’s imported water project.

Searles Valley Minerals provided the information on the two Bills outlined and highlighted below.

Thanks for your updated article. Interesting that it will be Ron Strand’s presentation. Interesting that “… The bill also requires courts to get a report from the GSA on groundwater use in certain basins, which will be treated as strong evidence. Smaller or less-resourced parties may find it harder to challenge GSA actions, leading to an imbalance in how groundwater rights are adjudicated” – Bob and Shirley Kirkpatrick, Ridgecrest

Kern County Attorney Hall and Former Ridgecrest Mayor Bruen Spreading False Rumors

In addition, rumors that Ron Kicinski, a board member on the Indian Wells Valley Water District, was kicked out of Assembly members office were apparently started by Phill Hall, the attorney for Kern County on the GA, and former Mayor Eric Bruen via his political organization’s Facebook page.

The office of Assemblyman Gregg Hart (Democrat-District 37 Santa Barbara) who is a sponsor of the legislation, was contacted and his staff denied that anyone was removed from the office.

The Kern County Board of Supervisors held an emergency meeting in Bakersfield on May 2nd, over the objections of County Supervisor Philip Peters (District 1), who also sits on the board of the GA, and who gained no support from his fellow supervisors after they heard public comments. At the end of the meeting, Peters demanded to know who had called the meeting as it was apparently called without his knowledge. Supervisor Peters did not get an answer.

Exposed by Kern County Supervisor David Couch in Bakersfield

Pictured above is Kern County Supervisor David Couch grilling representatives of the City of Ridgecrest, including Councilman Scott Hayman (left) City Manager Ron Strand (middle) and Councilman Kyle Blades (right). Supervisor Philip Peters is screen-captured on the right after his efforts were soundly rejected by the Kern County Board of Supervisors. Councilman Blades’ screen-capture is immediately following his successful rejection of Councilman Skip Gorman’s attempt at holding a public discussion. “I feel pretty good” Blades said after killing Gorman’s proposal. (Creepy)

Brown Act Violations and Conspiracy to Commit Fraud

The City of Ridgecrest is also alleged to have engaged in violations of the Brown Act as well as Conspiracy to Commit Fraud after the city’s attorney had previously invoked attorney-client privilege in order to block members of the Council from speaking publicly or voting during an agenda discussion.

The activities behind the Groundwater Authority’s “legal strategy” of sponsoring the legislation have been linked by the City Attorney, who is also the attorney (aka dual agent) for the Groundwater Authority. The adjudication case currently before the Superior Court of the State of California is probably handled by another attorney, not the City Attorney or the Groundwater Authority’s attorney.

Are Keith Lemieux’s agency relationships and disclosures in writing and signed by all the parties he represents?

https://roadrunner395.com/2025/06/16/controversy-in-the-city-of-ridgecrest-is-this-a-mere-brown-act-violation-or-conspiracy-to-commit-fraud-and-a-federal-crime-california-assembly-bills-1413-and-1466

If Keith Lemieux is running the whole show, then he has another problem. Practicing “Dual Agency” is an inherent conflict of interest and would likely be frowned upon by any court and by the California State Bar Association. That’s a real problem for Mr. Lemieux. An attorney at the center of a “Conspiracy to Commit Fraud” has a very big problem.

Indian Wells Valley Water District’s “Science” is Better Than the GA’s “Rigged Numbers“

George Croll, the General Manager of the Indian Wells Valley Water District explained during the June 9, 2025, IWV Water District meeting, “they prohibit the courts from looking at the science”.

The bills will have the effect of prohibiting the judge in the adjudication from making determination of the validity of the geohydrology and the models which estimate the recharge, overdraft and amount of groundwater in storage in the Indian Wells Valley groundwater basin.

“The GA’s Legal Strategy” and the Invocation of “Attorney Client Privilege”

The “legal strategy” has also been used by the City Attorney, Keith Lemieux, to effectively silence any and all discussion by members of the City Council before the public as an Agenda item, fearing the Council may vote to oppose the legislation.

Councilman Skip Gorman made a request to bring the two Bills to an agenda item during the May 5th council meeting however City Clerk Ricca Charlon unexpectedly required a consensus to approve the agenda item and only Mayor Travis Endicott raised his hand in support. Councilman Hayman, Rajaratnam and Blades refused to discuss the matter, and there was no further discussion on the two bills.

Scott O’Neil Catches Them in the Act in Sacramento

The controversy involving Councilman Kyle Blades became known to residents of Ridgecrest after he gave testimony during a meeting of the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife hearing on the Bills. Scott O’Neil, the Executive Director of the Indian Wells Valley Economic Development Corporation noticed Councilman Blades’ testimony while subsequently watching video of the meeting and brought Blades’ testimony to valley resident’s attention via a Letter to the Editor in the Daily Independent newspaper in Ridgecrest, calling it an “egregious” potential violation of the Brown Act.

We don’t think that it was anything but flagrant disrespect for the Brown Act and an egregious violation of the law, regardless of what the city or the Kern County District Attorney says. If any of them had any respect for you or the law, they wouldn’t have done what they did.

The Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority Be Damned

The people of the Indian Wells Valley and residents in the City of Ridgecrest have had no voice in the matters of the legislation or the actions taken by the city and the Groundwater Authority until now, nor have they had the opportunity to weigh in on AB 1413 and AB 1466 until tonight’s meeting. Local control is a sick joke that the GA is your GA. It’s not.

Mr. Scott O’Neil of the IWV Economic Development Corporation is a Bit Perturbed (very pissed off)

Local @warriors anticipated the City’s obfuscation tactics, so saving the live feed’s “url” for the historical record was an easy decision to make. The publisher of Roadrunner395.com noted “this is how they roll” at the City of Ridgecrest and the IWV Groundwater Authority. “Ridgecrest is a dark cesspool of very stinky corruption and cover-ups, led by the City Manager Ron Strand and his ex-sister-in-law, City Clerk Ricca Charlon” he told the administrator of the Facebook KZGN political discussion group in Ridgecrest.

It appears that the Ridgecrest City Council will avoid a debate or vote approving or disapproving the actions of Councilman Blades, and the council members won’t have to go on the record as to whether the City of Ridgecrest supports or rejects the legislation in Sacramento, while the legislators will think “Ridgecrest” supports the legislation, thanks to Kyle Blades.

The Bills have passed the State Assembly and move on to the State Senate.

Obfuscation and Cover-ups at the City of Ridgecrest

The Groundwater Authority cancelled their June meeting and the Ridgecrest City Council held a closed-door meeting a week ago, on June 11th, which lasted for five hours. The city (Ricca Charlon) has not posted the video on their YouTube channel as of today, and public comments given by O’Neil prior to the closed-door session have not been heard by any but a handful of residents on the Roadrunner395.com website. This is called burying the evidence for all you legal beagles.

Daily Independent Op Ed

A nearly $395 million pipeline might be coming to your backyard, and so might the bill.

In 2024 Clean Energy Capital, a firm with expertise in analyzing water, energy, and infrastructure projects, developed a cost estimate for the proposed Imported Water Pipeline Project by the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority (IWVGA). The Imported Water Pipeline proposes to convey treated water from the AVEK pipeline in California City to a new Terminus Tank in the vicinity of Ridgecrest.

Clean Energy Capital’s estimate? Building this pipeline will cost nearly $395 million, and on top of that, it will cost millions more just to run and maintain it. That’s a heavy financial load for local residents to carry for years to come. Read the entire report here: https://www.iwvwd.com/cec-imported-water-pipeline-project-cost-analysis-61568e9b-f0f4-4a92-96a4-4034b5640739. While some federal funding may be available through the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), it is limited and not guaranteed and even with Federal Grant funding it will cost IWV residents some $18 million every year. Simply put, that will double your water bill and then some.

To make things worse, state legislation, promoted by our local Groundwater Authority seeks to guarantee the construction of this pipeline. The bill would lock in the Groundwater Authority’s current claim for sustainable yield, ignoring newly developed science, paving the way for construction of the pipeline regardless of financial or community concerns.

As leaders from the Ridgecrest Area Association of Realtors, the Indian Wells Valley Economic Development Corporation, and the Ridgecrest Chamber of Commerce, we’re deeply concerned about how this will drive up the cost of living. Higher water bills mean more expensive housing, tougher times for local businesses, and a hit to the whole economy.

We’re asking everyone to take a hard look at the numbers, think about what this really means for our wallets, and get involved in this conversation. Going ahead without full transparency about the costs? That’s a risk we can’t afford to take.

Ridgecrest Area Association of Realtors Board of Directors

Indian Wells Valley Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors

Ridgecrest Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors

As usual, please send your comments, feedback or corrections to publisher@Roadrunner395.com, and send your tips to the good folks below:

Investigations (Bakersfield)

661-868-5851 Phone

Pichardoj@kernda.org (Jeanette at the front desk)

Lt. Perez – dperez@kernda.org

Re: Conspiracy to Commit Fraud in the City of Ridgecrest AND the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority

How Do I File a California Freedom of Information Act Request?

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For instance, to obtain a public record from the State Bar of California, you may complete the Public Records Act Request Form and send it by electronic mail to PRA@calbar.ca.gov or mail it to:

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