An abandoned house full of graffiti, west of Barstow. Photo by funkandjazz on Flickr. Creative Commons

The City of Barstow is looking to fix itself up, and will be hosting a series of community meetings to gather input from the public.

Plenty of folks driving through Barstow while en route to Las Vegas don’t have a high opinion of Barstow, thinking of it merely as a hellhole they have to gas up at before reaching Sin City.  Having frequented Barstow plenty of times myself on our trips to the desert, I have a special affinity for the place.   To me, Barstow is an oasis, not a hellhole.

That said, I appreciate the City of Barstow’s desire to change its look, and I think it will be successful.  All they need is your input.  The first meeting, on Jan. 24, asks the question, “How do we see Barstow now?”   It will be at the Barstow City Council Chambers at 200 E. Mountain View.

Each meeting focuses on a specific question.  The next meeting (February 23) asks, “What do we want for the future of Barstow?”  The final meeting is on March 24, and will feature the various designs proposed for beautifying Barstow.  Please refer to the flyer below, as each meeting is at a different location.

Click here for the flyer.

Meth and bondage, photo from 1Up.

A trucker was sentenced in Mississippi to six years in prison for desecrating a corpse and arson.  The corpse was his brand new fiance, a prostitute from Barstow, Calif.  She died in Barstow.

Mark Andrew Rice was a long-haul trucker who had visited Barstow prostitute Natasha Carpenter a few times on his many trips.  Finally, in 2009 he fell in love and decided to pop the question.

Natasha had similar feelings for Mark, and said, “Yes.”

To celebrate, the newly engaged couple decided to rent a motel and have a wild night of meth and bondage, in which Mark got to enact his fantasies.   By the end of the night, Natasha had allegedly suffocated to death.  Mark panicked, bought “all the meth his dealer had,” and headed to Mississippi where he had family.    The body was underneath a tarp onboard the truck.

His plan was to say goodbye to his family, and then kill himself.  However, his original plans were foiled and he instead decided to set ablaze, himself, Natasha’s corpse, and the truck.  Mississippi law enforcement later pulled him out of the burning truck.

Had Natasha died in Mississippi, he probably would’ve been convicted of manslaughter, according to one article from the Associated Press.

The incidents themselves took place in 2009, while Mark’s conviction occurred on December 12, 2011.  The two years he spent in prison will count as time served.

Water rates increasing, image from City of Los Alamitos

Seven hundred people showed up to a series of meetings hosted by Golden State Water Company to explain their proposed 29.83 percent increase in water rates.

News of the water rate increase has left many in the High Desert angry, and Barstow residents in particular are even more upset because their rates will be the highest in all the desert.

Neil Derry, the San Bernardino County Supervisor in charge of Barstow, showed up at one of the meetings and announced that he has requested the California Public Utilities Commission to deny the increase in water rates.  Similarly, the entire Barstow City Council also rejected the increased rates.

Golden State Water maintains in a notice to its customers that, “These increases are necessary to keep up with increased purchased water and pumping costs which are out of GSWC’s control.”

In addition, Golden State Water says the rates will also cover other fees, including taxes, supplies, operating and maintenance, administrative, and recovery for the depreciation of their equipment.  Golden State also plans on replacing five miles of pipelines in the area, constructing new reservoirs, and maintaining a number of water tanks in the area.

Check the links above for more information about water rates in the High Desert.