"HINKLEY -- Underwater home mortgages plague the High Desert at an approximate rate of 60 percent, according to real estate website Zillow.com. But in Hinkley, residents say the entire town is dealing with mortgages above their current assessed values."

"Resident Julie Heggenberger spent her entire life in Hinkley. Her dad was the town’s first fire chief, built the only fire station in the area and her family was part of the original hexavalent chromium water contamination settlement with Pacific Gas & Electric in 1996.

Hinkley is her home, Heggenberger said, and she never envisioned leaving — until recently, when her latest extended hospital visit related to Crohn’s disease left her at her sickest point."

Brooke Self reports for the Victorville Daily Press November 18, 2012. [2]