Written by Detective Monte Wednesday, 05 May 2010 22:36

On Friday, April 30, 2010, Dino-Rex was ready to go and was transported from Ding Masters to Cabazon Elementary School. The ride was provided by H.E.L.P. who offered the use of their truck.   Dino-Rex was too tall and had to be strapped down with this head sticking out of the truck.

Once at Cabazon Elementary, it took four of us (big strong men) to move him from the parking lot to the campus courtyard. The area was prepared and Dino-Rex was secured to the ground where he will serve as a proud mascot.

During the installation, classes of students who were in the area stopped to see the giant cartoon-style T-Rex.  And yes, they all wanted to touch him as well.

The students were excited to see such an animated T-Rex on their campus! I heard some of the students comment "He's so big!"  "Wow!"  "I didn't know he was going to be so big" and "How come he's holding a book?"

The question about why Dino-Rex was holding a book came up a few more times during the installation so I decided to tell them why Dino-Rex was holding a book.

I told them millions of years ago, dinosaurs roamed the earth and used to read books all day long so they could learn.

For some unknown reason, the dinosaurs became extinct and so did reading books. Now that Dino-Rex is on campus, he wants to remind students to read lots of books so they can learn and be smart like dinosaurs...  "That's my story and I'm sticking to it"                                                          See additional pics on the IMAGE GALLERY.

Written by Detective Monte Thursday, 29 April 2010 19:08

WOW..the final step for Dino-Rex was the Ding Master's paint room. The concept, design, construction and painting of Dino-Rex has been an awesome journey for me and those who were involved.

Over the past month or so, I tried my best to keep you "up-to-speed" with  what was happening. I hope this blog was useful (and fun) for you as we moved toward the goal of bringing a mascot back to Cabazon Elementary.

Update:

About two weeks ago, Charles and Rob (Ding Masters) contacted Josh Mediak, a professional tattoo artist for Lefty's Tattoo shop in Orange County and told him Dino-Rex needed to be painted. When Josh heard about the Bring Back Dino cause, he committed to the project without reservation. Josh was humbled by the offer and insisted on donating his artisitc talents.

On Wednesday, Josh  arrived at Ding Masters with over 40 cans of professional grade acrylic spray paint in his art box. Josh had every color imaginable!  He also had several custom-made spray-tips  which allow him to spray the paint in a variety of  patterns. Josh spent just over seven hours painting Dino-Rex.

Watching Josh paint was a unique experience for me as he moved around Dino and waved the paint can as only a professional could. As a tattoo artist, detail is everything!

Speaking ot talent, Josh also creates custom designs for show cars and trucks and has created many wall murals for busineses.  Believe it or not, he also designs and paints custom spray paint cans, which he sells for about $40 each. Who would have thought???

Take a look at the image gallery and you will see Josh's artwork. The Cabazon Kidz will be happy to know people like Josh care about their school.  You can meet Josh at the dedication assembly on Friday, May 7th at 10 AM. as he writes the names of each sponsor in the book Dino-Rex is holding.  Thanks again Josh!

Written by Detective Monte Wednesday, 28 April 2010 21:30

On Monday, Klaus completed the construction portion of Dino-Rex and turned him over to Rob and Charles at Ding Masters. Ding Masters offered to paint Dino-Rex for no charge as a gift to the Cabazon students.  It took four of us to lift Dino-Rex onto the trailer. Once on the trailer, he was  strapped down for the short trip. As Dino-Rex made his way down Ramsey Street, many heads were turned to see the giant T-Rex.

As you know, Dino-Rex was made with lots of heavy metal, re-bar, metal pipe, and metal lath. To make him even stronger, Ding Masters will cover the metal lath with thick texture coating.

Ironically, the texture-coating used by Ding Masters is called "Raptor" bed liner coating, made by UPOL. This is the stuff used for truck bed liners and is, well pretty darn indestructible.  Raptor bed liner coating is tintable and was custom mixed (green) for Dino-Rex.

Once the Raptor paint has dried, Dino-Rex will be custom painted by Orange County tattoo artist, Josh Mediak. Josh is also a spray-paint artist who has a unique talent for painting wall murals and show cars.

Written by Detective Monte Friday, 23 April 2010 21:15

Help Cabazon Elementary School celebrate the return of their new mascot Dino-Rex!

Dino-Rex T-shirts Just $5 each

(8.75% CA sales tax included)

Make checks payable to: AMA Enterprises

(please include quantity and shirt size on check)

Youth Sizes: S-M-L

Adult Sizes: S-M-L-XL (XXL add $1)

Written by Detective Monte Thursday, 15 April 2010 07:54

Below is a letter sent to Cabazon Elementary School by a parent whose daughter and friend attended Cabazon Elementary from 1993 to 1999. Along with the letter was a generous donation to the Bring Back Dino fund.   Thanks to Alice L. Miranda for thinking of the Cabazon Students.

Written by Detective Monte Wednesday, 14 April 2010 16:01

Today, while on campus at Cabazon Elementary, Mrs. Norman showed me a hand-written letter which was mailed to the school along with a generous donation for the Bring Back Dino fund.   

The letter was written by Vivian-Lee Nyitray and husband Douglas Oliver. Vivian-Lee is a  Professsor at UCR (University of California Riverside) and addressed the letter specifically to the students at Cabazon Elementary.  Mrs. Norman thought the students should know about the letter, because it spoke about the importance of making good choices.   

Below is the text of the letter: 

Dear Cabazon Elementary School Students-

My husband and I were very sorry to read in the Press-Enterprise about the vandalism at your school. We hope you can put this check toward your new Dino.  The people who did this made a bad choice and made lots of you unhappy. Please know that you can make good choices in life and make yourselves and others happy.  I hope to see you all at UCR someday!

Sincerely,

(Professor) Vivian Nyitray and (Mr.) Douglas Oliver 

Written by Detective Monte Tuesday, 13 April 2010 19:51

As promised, I will post updates as artist, Klaus Duebbert brings life to Dino-Rex. As you can see, Klaus has completed the jaw and teeth and is now working on the rest of the head. The arms and front claws are outstretched, but he will have to make a slight bend to create the elbow.  Remember, Dino-Rex will be holding a GREAT book so he can encourage students to read and make good decisions.

At each stage of the building process, Klaus checks his T-Rex model for authenticy to make sure the features are true to what the students wanted, a "T-Rex with teeth." Sorry Barney!

For the eyes, Bear created a special clay mold for the glass eyes.  Bear and Klaus wanted Dino-Rex's eyes to be special. Klaus will melt chunks of colored glass to pour into the mold. When cooled, the glass eyes will be attached with metal eyelids.

As I stood next to what will soon be Cabazon Elementary School's new mascot, I am humbled to be part of this cause. I am also reminded of how many people got behind the Bring Back Dino cause.

If you are a student, keep doing good things, never stop learning, and keep reaching for your goals, because people care about YOU!

To see more photos of Dino-Rex click HERE.

Written by Detective Monte Tuesday, 06 April 2010 19:18

Today, I received a call from Klaus Duebbert, who is creating our new "Dino-Rex" mascot for Cabazon Elementary School. Dino-Rex is the name we came up with, which combines the original mascot name and the most popular name Cabazon Kidz came up with.

Klaus said he was working on the design and the inside core of Dino-Rex and asked me if I wanted to come by and snap a few photos of his progress.

I was very impressed!  Dino-Rex is 7-feet tall and about 9-feet in length!  Klaus used a plastic T-Rex model he purchased from the Cabazon Dinosaurs museum to make sure Dino-Rex was realistic in design.

Klaus is currently building up the inside core (armature) and will build upon that by adding more and more steel re-bar and metal support rods.  Dino-Rex's feet and claws are awesome!

I uploaded today;s photos on the IMAGE GALLERY for you to see.  I will keep snapping photos as Klaus progresses.

Written by Detective Monte Thursday, 01 April 2010 19:16

We are proud of our Banning Elementary students for stepping up! As mentioned early on, the Bring Back Dino fundraiser was more about the journey than the destination.

We gave students at all four elementary schools a couple of challenges to work on during the 30-day fundraiser.  One challenge was to commit to reading 60 minutes a day, and the other was to be artistic and color a dinosaur page. This was a personal challenge that each student had to make.

Many students "stepped up" and took the "30-day Reading Challenge" where they committed to reading  60 minutes per day for 30 days. (A reading log to keep track is available on the KIDZ PAGE).  Many students also participated in the Dino Coloring Contest (coloring pages are also on the KIDZ PAGE).

The reading logs are not due until the end of the 30 days, but students have already turned in several coloring pages to be displayed.  The artwork is currently on display at two locations for the public to enjoy.  To see the awesome student artwork,  come into The Haven Coffee House (Ramsey Street. x San Gorgonio Avenue) or the Starbucks in Banning (Ramsey Street x 22nd Street).

Prizes donated by local businesses will be awarded to students who participate through a prize drawing. Photos are on the IMAGE GALLERY.

Written by Detective Monte Monday, 29 March 2010 22:12

Because Bring Back Dino was a 30-day fundraiser, we're not going to stop now!  We kicked-off  the fundraiser on March 12th and will end it on April 12th.  As you know, the $3,000 mark was set to cover the cost of constructing and installing a new dinosaur mascot for Cabazon Elementary School.

We anticipated that donations may exceed our goal and we planned to use any additional funds specifically for on-campus student activities. With budget cuts and funding issues, many of the extra-curricular activities for students have been put on hold.  Cabazon students  could sure use the extra funds for playground sports equipment, art supplies and items for their gardening or science projects that have been put on hold due to lack of funding.

As you know, when Cabazon Elementary School was vandalized back in January, besides destroying Dino, the vandals also destroyed the concrete trash containers,  items in the library, and ransacked a third-grade classroom.

Many of the Cabazon students had to be relocated to other areas of the campus until the clean-up and damage was taken care of. Without question, the experience was traumatic for many of the Cabazon students, teachers and staff members.

Bringing Back Dino was just part of the plan of reassuring students that the Pass community cares!  Student activities have already been implemented such as a 30-Day Reading Challenge and Dino Coloring Contest (Kidz Page). Other activities are planned for the next 2-3 weeks to keep the students involved and reassure them that their school is a safe place.

Cabazon Elementary is planning a public assembly for early May, to celebrate all that has transpired through this cause.  Watch for updates until then!

Written by Detective Monte Monday, 29 March 2010 16:43

GREAT News! Our goal to raise $3,000 to "Bring Back Dino" has been reached!  Thanks to all of the sponsors, our goal was met in 14 days!

Thanks to all students, teachers, staff members, parents and others associated with the Banning Unified School District who supported our fund-raising efforts.

A special thanks goes out to Mac McCabe for developing and hosting our Dino website and to Paul "Bear" Bradford who was one of Dino's biggest supporters. This was a great example of  "community teamwork" and the exciting thing is, Dino's coming back!

Please check out our SPONSORS page for a complete list of sponsors. Most of the sponsor names have a link to their business website, so check out their sites and let's support our local businesses in the San Gorgonio Pass!

Written by Detective Monte Thursday, 25 March 2010 19:44

I don't know about YOU, but I can't help looking to the north side of the I-10 Freeway in Cabazon to see the "ginormous" dinosaurs.  As a kid, my brothers and I always looked forward to seeing them as my dad drove us to/from Apple Valley.

Today, every once in a while, I have to get off the freeway and park next to my old-time favorite, "Mr. Rex." Over the years, the two dinosaurs have become a famous landmark for many Californians.

When the "Bring Back Dino"  project was just getting started, I thought it would only be fitting to visit my famous friend, Mr. Rex, and see if he would point me in the direction of his owner. I honestly felt like I was going to see the "Wizard of Oz." This was a weird experience for me...

To be safe, I didn't go alone.  I took my friend, Mac Macabe from DiscoverThe Pass.com. with me. We parked next to Mr. Rex and it was clear from the start that he was not talking. We then ventured over to the T-Rex museum and spoke to a nice young man who was working. Just as we thought, NO ONE CAN EVER SEE THE OWNER!   We promised each other that we would not give up easy and figured that we had to get our message to him through someone else...We left a BringBackDino flyer and some additional information with the nice man and we left, not knowing if we would ever hear from anyone. the good news is we were still alive!

Well, Dorothy must of clicked the heels of her ruby slippers for us because on Wednesday, Mr. Rex's owner sent a small yellow package addressed to the students of Cabazon Elementary School.  The package was small, but packed with 30 www.CabazonDinosaurs.com postcards. Each postcard was a FREE Museum pass for one student and four guests to come to the T-Rex museum.  I was very impressed!  The passes could now be used as drawing prizes for Cabazon students who participate  in the 30-Day Reading Challenge and Dino Coloring contest!

Our story gets even better... there was something else inside the small yellow package. Another smaller white envelope. Inside the white envelope was a check written out to Cabazon Elementary School "Dino Fund"  The check amount was for $1,000!  Now that's what I call a GREAT story!

Paul "Bear" Bradford delivered the check to Mrs. Norman who according to Bear, was heard saying,  "There's no place like home, there's no place like home."