The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 23

Business: Agencies urge Norton conversion sr D3 Inside: Man pleads innocent to drug chargeB2 Catharine Hamm Asst. Managing EditorMetro (909) 386-3874 Fax (909) 885-8741 January West Valley r. Inland Family mourns loss of two killed in fire 'I' Gregg Patton 1 andt -J I r.il Mil" Kristen and Bridgette Simon, ages 3 and 2 years, died in a Jan. 20 blaze. By Maria C.

Hunt The Sun's Rialto Bureau RIALTO Investigators still are searching for the cause of a fire that killed two children last week, and family members are trying to cope with the loss. "We're trying to keep real busy and get things together," Karen Thompson, the children's grandmother, said Tuesday. "There's nothing else we can do." Kristen and Bridgette Simon, ages 3 and 2 years, died Jan. 20 in the blaze that destroyed the family's mobile home in Parkside Villa, 1155 S. Riverside Ave.

Parents James Simon, 27 and Kim Beck, 23, rescued two other children Mathias, 3 months, and James, 4. Graveside services will be held at noon Thursday at Green Acres Memorial Park, 11715 Cedar Bloomington. Thompson said her family has raised just $700 of the nearly $1,900 needed to bury the children and is hoping for help from the community. Her daughter and son-in-law may not have been perfect parents, but the family is tired of accusations that they were responsible for the blaze, Thompson said. "It was their 4-year-old that started it," she said.

"They were asleep, but they were home. Their son woke them up and they just couldn't get it put out." Investigators are not commenting about the case. In addition to police and lire investigators, a detective hired by the company that insured the trailer home is looking into the case. San Bernardino Deputy Coroner Gabriel Morales said an autopsy revealed that the girls had inhaled smoke for several minutes before they died. The rest of the family was treated for minor burns at San Bernardino County Medical Center and released.

Rialto Detective Peter Sorenson said anyone with information about the fire can call him anonymously at (909) 820-2521. The American Red Cross is accepting donations for the Kristen and Bridgette Simon Fund. Money orders payable to Green Acres Memorial Park and Mortuary can be sent in care of the Red Cross, P.O. Box 183, San Bernardino 92402. Sun lile photo Kristen Simon, 3, and Bridgette Simon, 2, were killed when the family's mobile home caught fire.

Crime Clean sweep WD: $31.5 duddDDdodh Principal helps parents' watchful eyes It's around middle-school age when many kids begin to regard their parents in a new light. That is, that's when their parents become extraordinarily out of touch, strange beings who can't hear or see or talk reasonably. Thirteen-year-olds also seem to get it in their heads that this condition is contagious. Anyone who spends too much time in the company of parents is sure to catch the disorder. And to be seen in public with a parent is a tortu-ousdeath by humiliation.

Leave it to a school principal to ingenuously exploit this social phenomenon. At Shandin Hills Middle School, Harold Vollkom-mer has begun a program called Parent Watch, a disciplinary measure in which a student's parent can accompany a wayward child every step of the way during a school day, if the parent so desires. From class to study hall to lunch to class. Side by side. The buddy system.

Yecch. "No, it's not a popular program with the kids," Vollkommer said. "But some parents get very enthusiastic about it. They'll hold the student's hand. You can imagine the reaction." Vollkommer conceived the program as an option for students who aren't getting the discipline message.

It has some obvious benefits over, for example, suspension. "It gets the parent involved. YiA "art tV VTSSSS-ssa A usually quiet house on Mountain Drive was the site of Monday's cocaine raid. By Ed Hayward Sun Staff Writer SAN BERNARDINO So little usually went on at the beige stucco house on Mountain Drive that neighbors once mistook smoke rising out of the chimney for a house fire. But there was more going on inside than neighbors suspected, police say.

A multiagency task force raided the single-family house at 41 17 N. Mountain Drive on Monday night and seized cocaine worth $31.5 million on the street. Three people were arrested, authorities said. Residents in the quiet neighborhood on county land north of San Bernardino were stunned by the 9 p.m. raid.

"It's spooky that something like that would go on in your neighborhood and you wouldn't know about it," said Sandy Sage, who lives across the street with her two children. "It's freaking me out." After a day of surveillance prompted by an informant's tip, members of the Los Angeles Interagency ALAN LESSIGThe Sun San Bernardino County Fire Agency Battalion Chief Henri Brachais looks at abandoned tanks found along with several junked cars on property off Rock Way in Lytle Creek on Tuesday. The inspection was part of an environmental sweep in Lytle Creek that turned up more than 300 violations, rangingfrom illegal tenancy to dumping raw sewage. Property where violations were found will be checked again in two weeks to be certain cleanup is completed, said James E. Wells, head of the county's abatement task force.

Health line doctor debuts, discusses coughs Metropolitan Apprehension Crime Task Force or LAIMPACT raided the house and found 315 kilograms of cocaine and $20,000 in cash, said L.A1M-PACT Agent Rob Castro. A 52-year-old Mexican man, a 37-year-old Cuban woman and a 39-year-old Mexican man were arrested on suspicion of possession of narcotics for sale, Castro said. They were being held on $5 million bail each at the West Valley Detention Center. Their names were not released pending further investigation into the case, Castro said. He said the bust fit a recent pattern of drug storage discoveries outside Los Angeles County.

The task force recently seized $263 million in cocaine in Rubidoux. "Thirty-one million is a large seizure for us the largest we've made in the San Bernardino area. What we're finding is that we're seeing a lot of the drug dealers moving out to the rural counties from L.A. because there is so much pressure in L.A. County." The task force includes officers from police, sheriff, state and federal agencies including San Bernardino police and the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department.

The task force focuses on narcotics trafficking and violent crimes. Neighbors saw little unusual at the house, and some said the tenants recently had spruced up the property. 1 "Nobody lived in the house for the longest time," Sandy Sage said. "They moved in and cleaned it up for the most part and put in a pool a Doughboy. 1 thought they were caretakers because you hardiy ever saw them." i Bourne was concerned that she hadn't called her doctor.

"He or she will know how bad your pneumonia was to begin with and may decide you have another type of lung infection." A tingling deep in her throat and a dry cough that had lasted for weeks drove Cathy Pawlowicz, of San Bernardino to call Bourne. The physician said a sinus infection or some type of asthma might be the cause ofher discomfort. Then Pawlowicz told Bourne something that really brightened his hours-long session: She quit smoking 11 months ago. "That's just great," he said. "Your lungs will be mostly back to normal after a year.

In the meantime, give your doctor a call about that tingle in your throat." She promised. He grinned. The next Health Line will be Feb. 23. The subject will be headaches.

fever is too high. (A cough that lasts a week could be trouble. And a persistent fever of 101 is too high.) The first call Bourne received was from a Colton woman who said, between coughs and wheezes, that she has a cold she just couldn't shake. "I've had this puppy since Christmas," said Kathryn Bassford. "It sounds like allergies may be involved," Bourne said.

People with allergies are particularly susceptible to infections, he said. He told her to see a doctor because her symptoms had lasted more than a week. And she should stop smoking even that one cigarette after dinner. Judy Bowling, 44, of Fontana diagnosed with viral pneumonia five weeks ago, still feels very sick. "I hate to bother my doctor but my chest still hurts me.

My left lung fills up." Dr. Robert Bourne answered calls on The Sun's Health Line with medical advice. By Marilyn Leary Sun Medical Editor There's a whole lot of sickness going around, even if the county health department swears it's not the flu. San Bernardino County hasn't had a single case of influenza, said county epidemiologist Sarah Mack but judging from calls to The Sun's Health Line on Tuesday, something out there has residents by the throat. Many callers to Dr.

Robert C. Bourne, a specialist in family medicine who practices in Colton and is associated with the Beaver Medical Clinic, were parents asking how to tell when coughs are serious or when a Transplant patient leaves hospital in record time ly would have killed him. for one thing," Vollkommer said. "And the student doesn't miss class time." Theoretically, it's not bad as a deterrent, either. "Kids can feel very uncomfortable with their parents around," Vollkommer said.

"I'll get a kid in my office and tell him the next time I have to see him, he'll be coming to school with his mom or dad. They've seen the parents around the campus. They know it happens." Eighth-grader Henry Rodriguez knows. His mom, Sadie Rodriguez, used blank spots in her schedule as a hairstylist to become one of about 30 parents who have gone back to school this year. She spent parts of several days over a couple of weeks visiting all of his classes.

She said Henry wasn't "working up to his capabilities," and she was getting notes about him talking in class. "Some minor things, but I didn't want them to become major," she said. "When I told him I was going to class with him, he said, 'No. you don't have to do I said: 'I guess I do. I'm going to be like sticky gum.

I'm going to be with you "He was embarrassed at first, but the kids got used to seeing me. And my son there was a big change. I said, 'See, now why don't you do it without me being Not surprisingly, Vollkommer said parents have responded well to the offer, even those who have had to take time off from work to participate. "Some have had to juggle their schedules, but they want to do it," Vollkommer said. "We've had very few no-shows.

Afterwards, they usually say, 'I'll comeback if I need In the end, Sadie Rodriguez, a widow raising three children, saw it as a great opportunity to show her son that she was willing to commit time to his future. "We need to stop thinking about working all the time and making money," said Rodriguez, who now does general volunteer work around the school on her days olT. "We need to get involved with our children and show them we care. "When kids would ask me why I was following Henry, I said it wasn't to be mean or to punish him. It was because I loved him." Uh-oh.

The most contagious malady ofthem all. Patton is a Sun reporter. Readers may write to him at The Sun, 399 I) San Bernardino 92401, or Tax (909) 885-8741. His phone number is (909) 386-3tf6. HOW TO HELP A trust fund has been set up to help Anthony Vigil pay the $30,000 to $40,000 cost of his pancreas transplant.

Contributions can be sent to The Anthony Vigil Trust Fund, attention Frankie Barring-ton, Security Pacific National Bank, 400 W. Foothill Upland 91786. Medicare will pay the estimated $30,000 cost of the kidney transplant. for what I've been given," said Vigil, 29, who lives in Rancho Cu-camonga. Wahlstrom said Vigil's new kidney and pancreas began to function immediately.

"He is off insulin and his blood sugar is normal, but he'll be checked three times a week. That's crucial. His anti-rejection drugs are working well," Wahlstrom said. The transplant was done because Vigil had life-threatening, out-of-control diabetes. His pancreas couldn't control the amount of sugar in his blood.

That destroyed his kidneys and eventual this year, is head of the Transplantation Institute at Loma Linda University Medical Center, the only Southland hospital that performs the operation. Some 60 hospitals nationwide offer the combined surgery to di-abetics whose kidneys have failed, as Vigil's had, or only a pancreas to people with uncontrolled brittle diabetes. Before the surgery, Vigil, a Chaffey College student, predicted he would do well. "I expected to recover, but it's kind of overwhelming anyway. There is alwiiys the risk of rejection, but it's a small price to pay By Marilyn Leary Sun Medical Editor LOMA LINDA Anthony Vigil, who underwent a combined kidney and pancreas transplant Jan.

16, was the only person who wasn't surprised Tuesday that he was ready to go home just 1 1 days after the operation. Even his surgeon, Dr. Erik Wahlstrom, called the extremely early discharge "a dream situation." Wahlstrom had expected to keep Vigil hospitalized at least another two weeks. Wahlstrom, who expects to do 10 to 20 combined transplants An hour before he was due to go home, Vigil, with his mother, Mary Vigil of Upland at his side, faced a barrage of cameras and made a plea for others to donate organs so people like him can live. "I'd just like to tell the family of the donor how very grateful I am.

I am more sorry than I can say for their loss," Vigil said. "But they've given me a second chance at life. God bless them. God bless them." This day in history Update LOTTERY JANUARY 27 Second suspect arrested in Redlands murder FANTASY 5 5,8,26,29,36 DAILY 3 Not available DECCO Picked Tuesday na na 0 na na Lotto Information (909)938-4545 (English) (909) 938-4565 (Spanish) (619)492-1720 (English) (619)492-1742 (Spanish) said. Rebecca Adele Patterson, 34, was kidnapped at gunpoint Jan.

14 from an apartment in the 200 block orNew York Street, police said. She was shot and her body was found Jan. 15 on Alessandro Road near San Timoteo Creek. Police earlier arrested Gilbert Honesto Cabral. 23.

of San Bernardino, for investigation of murder, residential robbery and kidnapping. Julie Farren Police arrested a second suspect a 28-year-old San Bernardino man on Tuesday morning in connection with the alleged kidnapping and slaying of a woman in Redlands a week ago. Ricky Gonzales, 28, was arrested about 7:30 a.m. at his home in the 1200 block of Lau-relwood Street in San Bernardino, said Red-lands police Sgt. Fernando Arias.

Gonzales was being held for investigation of murder, residential robbery and kidnapping, police I ONE YEAR AGO: Vandals cause an estimated $1 million in damage to the county social services office in Victor-ville. I 10 YEARS AGO: A big winter storm hits San Bernardino County, triggering a flood watch. I 20 YEARS AGO: State Sen. W.Craig Biddle says Gov. Ronald Reagan's administration has changed its attitude and may not close Patton State Hospital for several years.

I 60 YEARS AGO: Heavy rain ends drought conditions at Big Bear Lake. Compiled by Karen Whifc.