Highland Tutors

About Highland

Highland takes pride in its magnificent picturesque scenery. The snowcapped peaks of the San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains flank Highland. As such it is perfectly located for easy access to partake in skiing and a number of other ‘winter’ sports. In stark contrast, it is also very close to the high temperatures of Palm Springs, so Highland offers its residents the full gamut of recreational activities.

Highland is also home to the increasingly popular San Manuel Casino, which draws in visitors from all across California and beyond. Highland tutors acknowledge that ‘gaming’ was not always available for its residents. Each state has varying laws on what types of gambling, if any, are allowed. California does not allow casinos, but Tribal Casinos located on Indian land even if that Indian land is in California is legal. This loophole came to light after an incident in the 1970s where a married Chippewa couple living on Indian lands in Minnesota received property tax bill from the local county. They did not understand why they should be forced to pay this tax notice and went to seek legal advice. The case escalated all the way through the court system, until after losing over and over again they took the case to the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled, authored by Justice Brennan, that states do not have authority to tax natives on their own reservations. It also says that states do not have the authority to regulate Native activities on their reservations. According to Highland tutors this opened the floodgates and savvy Natives and tribes began opening and operating Indian bingo casinos across the US within a few years. Some of the largest casinos in California include the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, the Morongo Resort and the Chumash Casino.

Highland also has an extensive trails system linking to the Santa Ana River Trail. The City of Highland offers an adopt-a-trail stewardship program allowing the community to actively become involved in the care and maintenance of the City Of Highlands Trails System. Highland tutors are currently encouraging volunteers to assist City staff by monitoring and maintaining the City’s Trail System and are reaching out to various groups within the community to assist including scouts, horseback riding groups, walking groups or any community groups that regularly access the trails system. A volunteer would be expected to walk and monitor their adopted section in order to report trail problems, this includes both natural decay, like erosion or weather damage as well as vandalism, illegal activities, missing signage or safety issues. They would also be responsible for conducting maintenance in their trail section, this would include removing trash, debris, weeds, and cleaning up benches , bridges, stairs and drainage ditches.