The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin is a daily newspaper based in Ontario, California, serving the Pomona Valley and southwest San Bernardino County. The Daily Bulletin is a member of the Southern California News Group (formerly the Los Angeles Newspaper Group), a division of MediaNews Group.
The coverage area for the Daily Bulletin includes Pomona, San Dimas, La Verne and Claremont in Los Angeles County, Chino, Chino Hills, Montclair, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga and Upland in San Bernardino County.
History
Progress Bulletin
On October 7, 1882, The Pomona Times was founded by W. D. Morton and H. N. Short. In November 1885, Morton sold out to Charles E. Summer. The paper almost ceased after six weeks due to financial difficulties and fire destroyed its office. Col. Frank P. Firey rescued the paper with his own funds. On May 28, 1885, Charles I. Lorbeer joined Firey as a co-owner while Stowell remained as editor and manager. and soon bought out Tinsely as well. Messenger sold his Times stake on August 27, 1902 to C.B. Roberts. H.H. Kinney bought the Times interests of Roberts on November 7, 1906. He became the sole owner after Wasson died. A year later the King family expanded the paper from a weekly to a daily. On April 1, 1916, the Pomona Progress bought and absorbed the Pomona Review. On April 1, 1927, the morning Bulletin and the evening Progress merged to form the Progress-Bulletin. and Richardson then succeeded him as company president.
The Daily Report
On December 16, 1885, the first issue of the Ontario Record was published. It was founded by brothers E.P. Clarke, editor of the Riverside Daily Press, and A.F. Clarke. The first issue was printed in Pomona. A decade later the Clarkes announced Record had been sold to a Mr. Houghtaling of New York so they could devote more time to their Riverside paper. In 1896, the Clarke brothers sold the Record again, this time to Robert C.P. Smith and A.A. Piddington. Smith bought out his partner after a year.
In 1901, the Ontario Record, owned by R.C.P. Smith, merged with the Ontario Observer, owned by Irving S. Watson, to form the Ontario Record-Observer. A year later banker George Chaffey bought the business and installed Shirley L. Holt as editor. Shirley left in 1904 to operate the Whittier News and was succeeded Robert O. Brackenridge. By then the paper had been renamed back to the Record.
In 1906, Fred E. Unholz bought the paper from Brackenridge, and sold it in 1909 to S.W. Wall and P.W. Tournson. Unholz soon reacquired ownership and on September 12, 1910, launched a daily edition of the Record called The Daily Republican. He sold the paper again in October 1911 to Harry L. Allen and Crombie Allen of Greensburg, Pennsylvania. The name of the Republican was changed on January 1, 1912, to The Daily Report.
On August 1, 1930, the Allen brothers announced the sale of the newspaper to Mr. and Mrs. Frank B. Appleby, from La Grande, Oregon, who had moved to Ontario with two young sons. Appleby had published newspapers in Washington, Iowa, and in La Grande. Appleby died on July 26, 1936, in the family summer home at Laguna Beach. His obituary in the Los Angeles Times noted that the Daily Report "is known as one of the most progressive and attractive-looking newspapers in Southern California." At that time, the circulation was about 4,000. and was thenceforth known as Jerene Appleby Harnish. The company went on to launch the radio station KOCS, both AM and FM.
Daily Bulletin
On March 30, 1965, Almon T. Richardson, owner of the Pomona Progress-Bulletin, purchased the Ontario Daily Report from Mrs. Jerene Appleby Harnish and her family. Mrs. Harnish was then given the honorary title "publisher emeritus". At that time the Report<nowiki/>'s daily circulation was 28,000, and the sale price of the company was $5 million.
In 1967, Donrey Media acquired The Progress-Bulletin Publishing company. A.T. Richardson was board chairman and his son C.T. Richardson was acting general manager. The sale included two dallies (Progress Bulletin of Pomona and The Daily Report of Ontario) along with six weeklies: Upland News, Montclair Tribune, Cucamonga Times, La Verne Leader, San Dimas Press and The Diamond Bar Walnut Valley Bulletin. In 1972, A.T. Richardson died. In 1999, Digital First Media took control of the paper. After 30 years of operations from its Ontario Office, the Daily Bulletin moved to Rancho Cucamonga in 2015.
Oregon Smith Controversy
In 1953, Mrs. Jerene Appleby Harnish and other partners of the Daily Report sued Ontario City Councilman Oregon Smith for slander because Smith said at a City Council meeting that the newspaper "without question" had been following "the Communist Party line". Superior Judge Raymond H. Thompson decided in favor of Smith, whose attorney was California politician Jack B. Tenney. The judge dismissed the case because there was "no limitation" on the statements that a city council member could make during a meeting. The decision was upheld by a District Court of Appeals in January 1956, and later by the California Supreme Court.
Afterward the newspaper published an article on January 16, 1958, stating that, had the decision gone the other way, "the public would have no protection against malicious statements made by unscrupulous members of any minor legislative body." On March 3 an editorial claimed that Smith had made the charge of communism "without regard to good morals and honesty." Smith sued for $3 million, charging libel. He later amended the complaint to include the newspaper's references to him going back as far as 1949. Judge Jesse W. Curtis Jr. dismissed the complaint in February 1958.
Smith filed another suit in January or February 1957, alleging that the unsuccessful 1953 action against him by the Daily Report had been a malicious prosecution. He sought more than $1.5 million in damages.
This latter suit was dismissed by Judge Richard B. Ault of San Diego Superior Court on motion of attorney Tenney on behalf of Smith. Tenney told a reporter that an out-of-court settlement had been made, but a defense attorney denied the statement and said the plaintiff had moved for dismissal to avoid "long and costly court proceedings".