Colton Ca

From the hillside cemetery, you can look down, through the rows of red cedar and palms, upon much of San Bernardino and Colton. One recent day, Keith Hubbs stood near his brother's grave, and pointed out that it was a rare, crystal-clear afternoon. Looking north, the snow-capped San Bernardino mountains framed the spectacular setting. "It was like this the day we buried Kenny," he said. "Except the wind blew so hard at his funeral.

Colton city officials this week placed the police chief on administrative leave, saying the action was the result of a five-month investigation into accusations that he created a hostile work environment and abused his position. The chief, Ken Rulon, was escorted out of police headquarters and ordered to turn in his badge and gun Tuesday afternoon. Rulon's lawyer, Bradley Gage, said his client was being punished for reporting a councilman's alleged wrongdoing to prosecutors in the summer.

A small machine gun used by a carjacker who was killed by police in Colton on Tuesday was the same gun used to kill two Rancho Cucamonga teenagers last weekend, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department determined Wednesday. "They feel very confident this is the same man who shot my son," Diahann Harris said. Blake Hudson Harris, 18, and Christopher Heyman, 17, were passengers in a car that was riddled by gunfire Sunday morning near the 210 Freeway in Rancho Cucamonga.

Sand dunes, not sugar, attract the endangered Delhi Sands flower-loving fly. Unfortunately for Colton, it has plenty of the former -- and it's costing the blue-collar San Bernardino County city a bundle. A swarm of the endangered fly lives on a habitat-protected swath of dunes in the city's west side. For years, city officials have wanted to join the rest of the rapidly expanding Inland Empire and cash in on the area's growth. But every time the city has tried, the fly has killed the buzz.

California's great peaks--Whitney, Shasta, Mammoth Mountain--dwarf tiny Mt. Slover. Even a century ago, before miners blasted so much of it away, Mt. Slover was scarcely more than a molehill. It stood 700 feet tall, base to summit, on an arid plain in what is now Colton. The mountain's size and shape have been vastly altered. Nearly 100 million tons of rock have been carved away, leaving a steep, conical mound gouged with terraces. The flattened summit is now 300 feet high.

A Colton police officer shot and killed a man Monday after the two fought twice on city streets, authorities said. The officer stopped the man, who was not identified, at the Valero Food Mart and Liquor store at Mill Street and Pennsylvania Avenue after determining that he had numerous active arrest warrants, said police spokesman Mark Owens. Owens said the man had a "physical fight" with the officer, then broke away and ran.

Local police and the FBI on Thursday continued their search for evidence and suspects involved in the slayings of two men whose decaying bodies were found buried under a concrete slab in the backyard of a home in Colton. Authorities still had not determined how the men died, although Colton Police Chief Kenneth Rulon described the investigation into the Tuesday night discovery as a drug-related homicide case.

Sand dunes, not sugar, attract the endangered Delhi Sands flower-loving fly. Unfortunately for Colton, it has plenty of the former -- and it's costing the blue-collar San Bernardino County city a bundle. A swarm of the endangered fly lives on a habitat-protected swath of dunes in the city's west side. For years, city officials have wanted to join the rest of the rapidly expanding Inland Empire and cash in on the area's growth. But every time the city has tried, the fly has killed the buzz.

Seven oversized billboards rise from the valley floor like steel totems of Southern California culture, hawking cars and casinos and other emblems of easy living to motorists rushing through a major freeway interchange in southwest San Bernardino County. But for residents of Colton, a quiet blue-collar town nestled along the edges of the Riverside and San Bernardino freeways, the billboards symbolize something darker: greed and corruption.

Two Riverside men were arrested on suspicion of felony evading and suspicion of car theft after leading police on a chase in Colton that ended when the car they were driving collided with a light pole and burst into flames. Robert Reyes and Andrew Ramon Delatorre, both 22, ran from the scene at Rivera Street and Columbia Avenue. Reyes was taken into custody. A Colton police officer fired at Delatorre but missed. Delatorre was captured after a short foot chase.

Colton police have arrested an 18-year-old man on suspicion of shooting two men to death outside a house on West Fur Street late Sunday, officials said. Police, responding to a report of gunshots, found Jesus Hale of Highland and Robert Chavez of San Bernardino, both 18, dead on the sidewalk just before 11 p.m. Officers saw Rudy Ramos of Colton running from the scene, and he was booked on suspicion of murder at West Valley Detention Center.

A city councilman in scandal-plagued Colton, where several former elected officials have gone to prison for exchanging political support for cash, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of charging thousands of dollars to the city for motel rooms and calls to phone-sex hotlines. San Bernardino County prosecutors accused Ramon M. "Ramie" Hernandez, a youth minister who was elected on a platform of restoring voter trust, of 24 felony counts of misappropriation of public funds.

Colton carries the name of an obscure railroad man, but a famous family helped put the Inland Empire town on the map. The Earps have lived in these parts for more than 130 years, mostly keeping to themselves and keeping quiet about their famous ancestors who won the shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Ariz., in 1881.

A Colton police officer shot and killed a man Monday after the two fought twice on city streets, authorities said. The officer stopped the man, who was not identified, at the Valero Food Mart and Liquor store at Mill Street and Pennsylvania Avenue after determining that he had numerous active arrest warrants, said police spokesman Mark Owens. Owens said the man had a "physical fight" with the officer, then broke away and ran.

More than 1,000 Colton High School students boycotted classes for two hours Thursday to protest the transfer of three assistant principals and a crackdown on student lingering. Some students climbed onto a campus roof and others threw objects, but there were no injuries, violence or expulsions, said Colton School District spokesman Michael Townsend.

Two Riverside men were arrested on suspicion of felony evading and suspicion of car theft after leading police on a chase in Colton that ended when the car they were driving collided with a light pole and burst into flames. Robert Reyes and Andrew Ramon Delatorre, both 22, ran from the scene at Rivera Street and Columbia Avenue. Reyes was taken into custody. A Colton police officer fired at Delatorre but missed. Delatorre was captured after a short foot chase.

A decision on whether to build a sewage-sludge treatment plant in Colton has been postponed until March, Orange County Sanitation District officials said. The district is seeking new ways to treat its sludge, or bio-solids, after many agricultural counties banned its use as fertilizer, citing health and aesthetic concerns. The board was supposed to vote on the Colton proposal this month.

A former Colton mayor indicted in an ongoing corruption investigation in San Bernardino County has pleaded guilty to bribery in U.S. District Court, the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles said Tuesday. Karl Gaytan, 48, accepted more than $40,000 in bribes from commercial real estate developer Allan Steward between March 1997 and January 2000, according to federal court documents.

A topless club in Colton that is battling the state over its logo -- a replica of a freeway sign -- is now under fire for using billboards with a photograph of a woman wearing only a tool belt. Getty Images, which owns one of the world's largest photo collections, says it owns the rights to the image and has demanded that Club 215 either pay to use the photo or remove the billboards.

One of two men found stabbed to death and buried beneath a concrete slab in a Colton residential neighborhood Jan. 27 has been identified as 37-year-old Luis Sepulveda, authorities said Thursday. Colton police, the FBI and police from Montgomery County in Maryland are investigating the deaths. Colton Police Chief Kenneth Rulon said authorities believe the slayings are drug-related.