All of the US has turned to Aurora, Colorado after a Friday morning shooting left more than a dozen movie-goers dead. But while the latest massacre has scarred millions of Americans, it’s also just another item added to a list of gruesome sprees.

According to an ongoing tally kept by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the United States is experiencing an average of around 20 mass shootings each year. While Friday morning’s incident inside of a Aurora movie theater has perhaps the unfortunate distinction of being the most violent in recent memory — taking no fewer than 12 lives and injuring around 50 more — it is only yet only one example out of many that has marred society this year.

The Aurora massacre is believed to be one of the worst incident on American soil since a rampage at Virginia Tech in 2007 left 32 people dead. The Fort Hood, Texas massacre two years later also ended with massive bloodshed, as well, with 13 people losing their lives in that event.

Since 2005, however, the Brady Campaign says that these events are occurring, at least on some scale, in remarkable numbers.

According to the campaign, who brands itself with the slogan “sensible gun laws save lives,” the Aurora incident is already the sixth mass shooting in the month of July alone.

Only three days earlier, 17 people were injured in Tuscaloosa, Alabama after a gunman opened fire in a downtown bar. One week prior, three people were killed and two were injured after another rampage erupted during a Dover, Delaware soccer tournament.

In Chicago, Illinois, where the homicide rate for June 2012 was 50 percent higher than just a year earlier, three separate outbursts in only the last 20 days have left four people dead and at least another 13 seriously hurt. So far in 2012, more people have been killed in the metropolitan Midwest city than the number of US servicemen in Afghanistan.

Earlier this month, two suspects fired at least 61 bullets in an outburst in Queens, NY that, while yielded no fatalities, left several people injured — including children. At the time, the Wall Street Journal reported that the NYPD recorded 730 shooting incidents this year alone, showing a 12 percent increase from the same time in 2011.

“Children are becoming victims more and more in these communities,” Rev. Taharka Robinson, founder of the Brooklyn Anti-Violence Coalition, told the Huffington Post after the NYC mass shooting weeks ago. “If you can have an individual spray bullets where children are playing nearby, there’s something wrong. We need to get to the root of the problem.”

It’s been a sentiment echoed countless times in recent years, especially after the 1999 Columbine, Colorado massacre reintroduced mass shootings as a mainstream issue. Despite continuing pleas, though, the Brady Campaign’s statistics seem to suggest that little is being done to curb the crime.

According to Brady, the number of homicides in America that occurred in 2012 as a result of mass shootings totaled 50, even before Friday’s massacre in Colorado.

Attention Yucca Valley high school and junior high students! Participate in your local government!

The Town of Yucca Valley is currently recruiting to fill seats on its 2012/2013 Youth Commission.  The Youth Commission was established in 1995 to serve as an advisory group to provide recommendations on youth related issues in Yucca Valley.  This youth led advocacy group enhances the quality of life for Yucca Valley teens by advising the Town Council and the public on issues relating to youth policies, programs and opportunities.

The Youth Commission meets in general session once a month on the first Monday at 6:30 p.m. from October through June.  Commission members also participate in a monthly workshop on the third Monday, as needed.  Last year Commissioners assisted with Community Services Department special events, produced two Teen Connectionvideos, held a middle school forum, and designed a Social Host Ordinance brochure to help promote the new law.  Visit the Yucca Valley Youth Commission page on Facebook for information on the past year’s activities.

The deadline for submitting an application is Tuesday, September 4, 2012.  Applications are available at the Yucca Valley Community Services Office, Town Hall and the Hi-Desert Nature Museum during regular business hours.  Applications can also be printed from the Youth Commission page on the Town’s web site at  HYPERLINK “http://www.yucca-valley.org” www.yucca-valley.org.  The application, along with an essay and two reference letters, should be submitted to Town Hall or Community Services Office by the deadline date and will be reviewed by Town staff and the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Commission with recommendations to the Town Council.

Being a Youth Commission member provides a unique opportunity to experience the Town’s government procedures and voice your ideas.  Apply today!!  For more information contact the Community Services Department at (760) 369-7211.

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Morongo Basin – Between February 21 and June 6, 2012, deputies from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, assisted by Investigators from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC), officers from the California Highway Patrol and representatives from several community groups conducted numerous operations throughout the Morongo Basin intended to reduce the availability of alcoholic beverages to minors.

During the grant cycle, eight enforcement events – including both shoulder tap and minor decoy operations – were conducted. One educational program, administered by ABC, was held at the Yucca Valley Community Center on May 10, 2012. During this program, ABC licensees were invited to attend training on legal issues related to alcoholic beverage sales, use of false identification, drug use and abuse and more. Approximately two dozen representatives of area licensees attended the free four hour training session.

During minor decoy operations, an underage decoy is sent into licensed premises and, under the supervision of a sworn law enforcement officer, attempts to purchase alcoholic beverages. Decoys are instructed to provide their true and show their true identification, if asked. Four separate minor decoy operations were held during this grant cycle. During the operations, decoys attempted to purchase alcoholic beverages 54 times. The decoys were successful on five separate occasions. In each of these cases, the clerk or employee was issued a citation for providing alcoholic beverages to a minor. Administrative cases against each of these five businesses were forward to ABC for possible action against the establishment’s liquor license.

During shoulder tap operations, an underage decoy, under the supervision of a sworn law enforcement officer, waits outside a licensed location. The decoy approaches customers as they enter the business and asks if the customer will purchase them alcoholic beverages. Decoys are instructed to provide their true age if asked. During the grant cycle four shoulder tap operations were held. During these operations, over 500 people were asked by decoys to purchase them alcoholic beverages. Nine people were arrested for providing alcoholic beverages to minors during these operations.

Although the ABC grant has now closed, the Morongo Basin Sheriff’s Station and allied agencies remain dedicated to reducing the accessibility of alcoholic beverages to minors. Providing alcoholic beverages to minors is a serious crime, with those arrested facing a minimum of a $1000 fine, 24 hours community service and possible jail time.

These operations were funded and made possible by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control through the department’s Grant Assistance Program (GAP). ABC is a department of the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency.

The Hi-Desert Nature Museum is pleased to host Michelle Lorimer, PhD candidate at the University of California at Riverside, as part of their Brown Bag Lunch Lecture Series. While preserving the missions and Spanish history for new residents in Southern California in the 1880s, early promoters often de-emphasized the experiences of Native Californians in these institutions. Within this construct, Native people tended to exist as quickly vanishing shadows of the region’s past. This lecture will examine the construction of an idealized and romanticized Spanish mission history in Southern California and its impact on understandings and misunderstandings of Native Californians. This presentation will be held on Thursday, July 26, starting at noon; admission is free and iced tea will be served. The Brown Bag Lunch Lecture Series is held every second and fourth Thursday, June through August.

For more than 45 years the Hi-Desert Nature Museum has been dedicated to the process of education by exploring the natural, artistic and cultural heritage of the Morongo Basin and High Desert. The Museum seeks to inspire wonder, discovery, understanding, and responsibility in its community and visitors through exhibits, programs, and collections in the arts, history, and natural sciences. The Hi-Desert Nature Museum is located in the Yucca Valley Community Center Complex at 57116 Twentynine Palms Highway. The Museum is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Admission is free; donations support the educational mission of the Museum. For more information, contact the Hi-Desert Nature Museum at (760) 369-7212 or see our web site at www.hidesertnaturemuseum.org. Visit us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Yucca Valley – Mayor pro tem Isaac Hagerman has submitted his resignation from Town Council effective July 20, 2012.  In his letter, Councilmember Hagerman expressed his appreciation to the residents of the community.  “To the residents of the Town, I say thank you for allowing me the honor to represent you these past two years,” Hagerman wrote. “I arrive at this decision with mixed emotions, but at this time in my life I need to focus my time and energy on my sons and my job,” wrote Hagerman.

“We thank Councilmember Hagerman for his service.  Each of us understands the commitment of time that this job entails.  For Isaac to focus on his sons and work is understandable,” said Mayor Dawn Rowe. “The Town, as always, will continue to provide leadership in addressing our community’s important issues and priorities without distraction.”

Mayor pro tem Hagerman provided his resignation letter to Yucca Valley Mayor Dawn Rowe earlier today.

“The Town has received Mr. Hagerman’s resignation and will move forward to address the vacancy consistent with state law,” said Yucca Valley Town Manager Mark Nuaimi.  Under State law, the Town Council has 60 days to call a Special Election.  That Special Election must occur no sooner than 114 days after being called by the Council.  “Although there is an election in November, the timeline mandated by State law will push a Special Election to fill this vacancy to March 2013 at the earliest,” said Nuaimi.

Councilmember Hagerman concluded his resignation letter by thanking his colleagues on the Council.  “To my colleagues on the Council, thank you for your leadership, mentoring, and commitment to this community.  I know that I leave this leadership role in very capable hands. Please know that you are all in my thoughts and prayers,” concluded Hagerman.

Theatre 29 will present the second of their special “Original Play” series on two consecutive Thursday Friday and Saturdays, at 7:00 pm August 3,4,5 and 10,11,12. The play, “Actress”, by Twentynine Palms resident Josh Lazar will make its West Coast debut at the Morongo Basin’s premiere live theater venue.

“Actress” was developed at the Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York, won the Connecticut Playwrights Festival Award, and was produced at the Church Street Theatre at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Lazar is a lawyer, high school English teacher, journalist and playwright. “Actress” is his first play. Other plays which have been performed in Los Angeles include “Mammitus”, “Before Santa Claus”, “Confession”, “The Apartment” and “The Letter”. His most recent play, “Brooklyn Y”, won the Best Comedy award last year at the Playwrights Express Festival at First Stage Theatre Company in Los Angeles.

Lazar and his wife Kathy, also a lawyer, have been avid Theatre 29 goers for years and were thrilled when Actress was selected for the 2012 season.

Lazar comes from a family immersed in theatre. His mother had roles on and off Broadway for several years, including in “I am a Camera,” and his uncle, Steven Hill was a noted TV actor and the original lead in the Mission Impossible TV series.

Lazar said, “”Actress” was written as homage to world of theatre, and the tortuous road that actors travel in pursuing their dreams. “Actress” is also about giving up those dreams, and the road to self-acceptance. If there is a motto to the play, it is this: You can achieve anything, as long as you are willing to pay the price to get there”.

In the play, Sparks fly when the younger “prodigal” daughter of a conservative local judge, who ran away from her small home town in Minnesota to become an actress in Hollywood, returns after 10 years to star in the town theatre’s production of the same play her talented older sister, who gave up acting to marry a farmer, starred in her senior year in high school. Old wounds resurface, rivalries ignite, and each character must come to terms with the truth of their own past before the curtain descends.

The show features a seasoned cast of up and coming performers with strong theatrical backgrounds, Mark Colbenson as “Gene”, Claire Burgi as “Regina”, Gage Maverick “Jim”, Veronica Kelly “Bell, and Jennie Floyd as “Hedda”.

In June, Theatre 29 debuted their special Original Play series with “The Memory Jar” by Kurt Schauppner in an effort to give local playwrights an opportunity to see their work on stage and allow area audiences to see compelling new theater. Now, with “Angel”, Josh Lazar brings his prodigious talent to the Twentynine Palms stage to complete the series.

Tickets for “Actress” are available online at www.theatre29.org or by calling the Theatre 29 box office at 760-361-4151.  Ticket prices are $12 for adults; $10 for seniors and military; and $8 for students.

Theatre 29, a 501 ( 3 ) non-profit all-volunteer Community Theatre, is located at 73637 Sullivan Road, (right around the corner from Barr Lumber) in the City of Twentynine Palms.