The State - News from May 12, 1988

A San Diego Superior Court judge ruled he does not have the authority to invalidate a June ballot measure that would create a new county from San Bernardino County’s high desert region. Judge James R. Milliken also said he was not shown enough evidence to prove the Mojave County Formation Commission, which sponsored the initiative, failed to meet legal requirements for outlining the financial separation that would occur if approved. “It’s my view . . . that this court lacks jurisdiction over (acts of) the commission because it’s a legislative body and this is a political dispute,” Milliken told attorneys. The initiative, which will appear as Proposition A on San Bernardino County ballots June 7, would create Mojave County from approximately 19,000 square miles north of the San Bernardino Mountains.