Re: Broken windows at Freedom trail head !

Well, here we are again back to the same issues involving Mike Castro and the Bowen Ranch. The biggest problem that we ran into last time is that San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department and District Attorney's office do not follow the law and not only that but the BLM and USFS didn't either and Congressman Lewis went along with all this.

I came to believe Mike Castro to be a confidential informant based on letters from the BLM and USFS and the lack of any legal accountability for his criminal actions. It didn't seem to matter what he did even two attempted murders, chasing people on his motorcycle causing serious injury, chasing people with guns, creating a road block on a public road where armed confrontations occurred, a suspicious death that he had some involvement in based on the coverup of the rental car.

When the Los Angeles Times reporter wrote about the situation in July 2002, Reporter Emmett Berg wrote:

"Mike Castro takes your money for the privilege of crossing his property outside his weathered cabin in the furrowed high desert several miles southeast of Hesperia. Castro's property, an old ranch, lies athwart a trail to the popular Deep Creek hot springs at the bottom of a narrow canyon along the northern boundary of the San Bernardino National Forest.

You can also walk a long five miles to the hot springs on the Pacific Crest Trail, but Castro's property offers the easiest access, along with a secure place to park--for a fee. If you try to cross his land without paying the $4-per-person toll, chances are Castro will catch up with you somewhere out on the crinkled outback he prowls on his dirt bike, armed with a pistol, on the lookout for scofflaws.

The only full-time enforcement is carried out by Castro. He has no authority beyond his property. But he maintains a semblance of order, picking up trash, tracking down lost hikers and notifying authorities when creek-side conduct threatens to get out of hand.

Land management officers also credit Castro.

"We hear that Castro has taken a very hard line in enforcing Forest Service and BLM rules," said Barry Nelson, the Bureau of Land Management's chief ranger for the Barstow district. "There's no question it helps our management efforts."

And that is the way it is in SB County. It is the wild west and is to this day. However, recently the FBI and the State Attorney General are looking into corruption in the county.

I still have the deed to the Bowen Ranch house, but it would take an attorney and thousands of dollars to enforce it and even then Mike Castro owns the land surrounding it and we are in the wild west.