Ofland Litigation Policy

Ofland Litigation Conflict of Interest

The Desert Trumpet editorial staff feels it’s important to maintain transparency with our readers. That’s why we always disclose potential conflicts of interest at the bottom of our articles. However, we are facing a conflict with the Ofland litigation we reported on earlier this week, which we feel requires a special note.

Desert Trumpet is an accountability publication, so it might not surprise our readers that some staff felt it necessary to hold our public officials to account by joining litigation. As we disclosed on the article about the Ofland litigation, our Associate Editor Kat Talley-Jones, our Administrative Associate Heidi Heard and our Editor-in-chief Cindy Bernard, are on the organizing committee of Indian Cove Neighbors, which, with the Center for Biological Diversity, is co-litigating a CEQA lawsuit against the City of Twentynine Palms and the Ofland Resort. Indian Cove Neighbors is a coalition of residents living in and near the Twentynine Palms neighborhood of Indian Cove. This is their mission statement:

We advocate for the preservation of our starry skies, diverse plant and wildlife and the rural quality of our neighborhood. The border with Joshua Tree National Park demands special consideration by the City when evaluating the future development of open space in Indian Cove as well as in other neighborhoods south of Highway 62.

The core staff joined this litigation because they contend that the Planning Commission and City Council failed the future of Twentynine Palms by not considering or requiring that Ofland perform a full environmental impact report. They also have stated that playing favorites for one developer through spot zoning violates the 2012 General Plan, and they have argued that the Plan needs updating through an organized community-wide process.

So how is Desert Trumpet planning to cover this litigation given the obvious bias on the part of our core staff? We will be working with writers who are not represented in the lawsuit, and ideally, who live outside of Twentynine Palms. Eleanor Whitney, who lives in Flamingo Heights, will be covering the lawsuit for Desert Trumpet. And writers who are not parties in the lawsuit will handle any needed copyediting for now. However, we are seeking a non-staff copyeditor for this coverage — please email us if you are interested!

That said, the editorial staff understands that our readers may have concerns, and we invite you to call us out by commenting on the articles or emailing me at editor@deserttrumpet.org if you feel our coverage crosses the line. We also continue to welcome letters to the editor that follow our recently posted letters policy.