Pomona Medal of Dishonor

A scandal is a'-brewin' involving one of the directors of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District, the public agency that wholesales water to the Claremont, Pomona, and other local areas.

The Daily Bulletin reports that Three Valleys director Xavier Alvarez was charged with a misdemeanor yesterday for falsely claiming he had won a Congressional Medal of Honor. Alvarez denies the charge.

The article states the charge stems from public comments Alvarez made at a July 23rd Walnut Valley Water District meeting. The comments were reportedly captured on audio tape.

Alvarez's biography on the Three Valleys website (click on "Meet the Board" on the left) claims that he is a member of American Legion Post 1000 and the American Veterans. But in the Bulletin article, Alvarez admits he was never in the military.

Alvarez is a close political ally of Pomona mayor Norma Torres and ran unsuccessfully for Pomona City Council in 2002.

On a couple of modest web pages first noticed by the Insider late last Spring, but apparently posted around a year ago in connection with Alvarez's run for the Three Valleys seat, there is a reference connecting Alvarez to the Congressional Medal of Honor claim. (Note: Alvarez had this page taken down today.) We realize that this website is NOT Alvarez's own work--and that the claim here is not his own--but taken as a whole the site appears to show his collaboration. It also shows that the "story" of the Medal has been on the street for some months.

Here are the links. Don't expect the pages to stay up too long after they are noticed here. Remember how long it took the City of Claremont to pull the plug on its website after we posted the paystubs found on it? First Alvarez webpage. Second Alvarez webpage. Third Alvarez webpage with reference to Medal of Honor.

(Note: Alvarez had these web pages taken down less than six hours after our humble post. Watch this space for new links; we saved the web pages and have screenshots.)

See the removed web pages HERE.

Alvarez represents Pomona on the Three Valleys board. The elected board represents the cities of Azusa, Claremont, Covina, Diamond Bar, Glendora, Industry, La Verne, Pomona, Rowland Heights, San Dimas, Walnut and West Covina.

The Three Valleys board meets the third Wednesday of each month at its building at 1021 Miramar Ave. in Claremont.