Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/478363
perimeter of properties to a street or sidewalk, the department said. Ad- ditionally, there must be 30-feet-wide cross breaks every 50 feet. "Please remember to remove all weeds, debris, and rubbish that could be expected to burn or may cause a life and safety haz- ard," the department said. While the Fire Depart- ment has issued the guide- lines as a reminder, there could be penalties for property owners who don't comply with weed abate- ment standards. Those not in compliance after June 1 could receive a 10-day notice to com- ply. Afterward, fire miti- gation efforts performed by the city could come at the expense of the prop- erty owner. "Help us keep the city safe ... by minimizing the fire danger in your area," the department said. Residents should call the Fire Department at 527-1126 with any ques- tions. Drought FROMPAGE1 Latham:RhondaAnn Latham, 48, died Wednesday, March 11, 2015at her Red Bluff resi- dence. Arrangements are under the direction of Red Bluff Simple Cremations & Burial Service. Published Friday, March 13, 2015in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Levin: Helen Levin, 90, of Red Bluff died Wednes- day, March 11, 2015at Red Bluff Healthcare Center. Arrangements are under the direction of Hoyt-Cole Chapel of the Flowers. Published Friday, March 13, 2015in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Deathnoticesmustbe provided by mortuar- ies to the news depart- ment, are published at no charge, and feature only specific basic informa- tion about the deceased. Paid obituaries are placed through the Clas- sified advertising depart- ment. Paid obituaries may be placed by mortu- aries or by families of the deceased and include on- line publication linked to the newspaper's website. Paid obituaries may be of any length, may run multiple days and offer wide latitude of content, including photos. DEATH NOTICES By Fenit Nirappil The Associated Press SACRAMENTO The top Republican in the Califor- nia Assembly announced a government reform pack- age on Thursday that she said would help make gov- ernment more accountable and transparent. Minority Leader Kris- tin Olsen, who lives in a Modesto suburb, said the bills by GOP lawmakers would overhaul legislative rules from the early 1900s. She told a Sacramento Press Club luncheon none of the ideas were new, with many similar proposals de- feated in recent years. Republicans face tough odds in passing substantial legislation because Demo- crats control both cham- bers of the Legislature. For the fifth straight year, Olsen is pushing a constitutional amend- ment overhauling how a bill becomes a law. ACA1 would end the practice of lawmakers approving bills that have been hast- ily overhauled or changed at the last minute by re- quiring measures to be printed three days before a vote. Under the current sys- tem, proposals emerge on the final days of the leg- islative session without a chance for the public to comment or attend hear- ings, or even for lawmak- ers to even read the bills. The amendment, which would have to be approved by voters, would also allow bills to go before commit- tees two weeks after in- troduction instead of one month. The existing rules result in a sleepy start to each nine-month session. "There is absolutely no reason for lawmakers now to not be able to get to work much sooner," Olsen said. Another constitutional amendment, ACA5, would switch the Legislature to a two-year budget cycle, meaning lawmakers could only propose non-budget related bills on alternate years and spend the other devoted to the budget and holding oversight hearings. Other proposals intro- duced by Olsen's caucus would offer whistleblower protection for legislative staff who report corrup- tion and cap the number of bills each lawmaker can in- troduce at 20 in a two-year session rather than the cur- rent 40. Also Thursday, Olsen broke from Republican activists and GOP pres- idential contenders who have blasted a set of rig- orous academic standards in schools known as Com- mon Core. Olsen said she is a strong supporter of the education overhaul's goals of expanding critical think- ing and problem solving and blasted myths about Common Core, such as a rumor that it would man- date the collection of chil- dren's DNA. SACRAMENTO Assembly Republican leader pushes legislative reform package By Amy Taxin The Associated Press SANTA ANA A judge Thursday ordered the Or- ange County district attor- ney's office removed from the case of convicted mass killer Scott Dekraai after finding there were serious violations of the defendant's due process rights. Judge Thomas M. Goeth- als ruled that the case will be handled by the state at- torney general's office, but he also stayed the order to allow time for an appeal. Goethals said "false and or intentionally mislead- ing testimony" was pre- sented and the district at- torney's office is "legally re- sponsible" for the acts of its agents. He found the district at- torney's office had a conflict of interest stemming from loyalty to law enforcement partners at the expense of its statutory obligations. Goethals also limited the evidence that can be pre- sented during the penalty phase of Dekraai's case. Dekraai pleaded guilty to killing his ex-wife and seven others in a 2011 shoot- ing rampage at a hair salon in Seal Beach. The case is headed toward the penalty phase in which the death penalty is a possibility. Dekraai's lawyer, Scott Sanders, declined to imme- diately comment on the or- der pending any appeal. The ruling followed a yearlong courtroom duel over allegations that au- thorities misused jailhouse informants, hid evidence and lied on the witness stand. The case highlights chal- lenges related to the use of jailhouse informants often known to be unreliable and long decried by defense at- torneys. But the extensive hearing delving into the systematic use of snitches has been unprecedented, prompted other case re- views and could lead de- fense lawyers in Orange County to raise similar claims, legal experts said. Last year, Dekraai's law- yer accused prosecutors of trying to cover up a jail- house informant program that had trained snitches to sidle up to high-profile defendants to elicit infor- mation in violation of their constitutional rights. After months of testi- mony, the judge barred prosecutors from using an informant's testimony and found they failed to turn over crucial evidence about the snitch to Dekraai, but let the case proceed. The case was proceeding toward the penalty phase when Sanders, an assistant public defender, uncovered new jail records detailing inmates' movements that he believed could shed light on how authorities had used the snitch to chat up his client. It also raised questions for him about why prosecu- tors had failed to turn over evidence related to Dekraai, and the honesty of sheriff's deputies, who did not previ- ously disclose the existence of the records during testi- mony about how inmates' movements were tracked. The records prompted Sanders to renew argu- ments that his client can't get a fair trial from county prosecutors. "The willingness to en- dorse the brazenly false tes- timony of witnesses because it is perceived as helping to secure a penalty phase trial demonstrates a conflict," he wrote in a brief filed ahead of Thursday's hearing. While prosecutors con- cede the hearing has cast an unflattering light on the use of jailhouse informants, they said the newly-uncov- ered records didn't reveal anything new about why Dekraai and the snitch had been housed in adjacent cells. In addition, since the in- formant's testimony isn't being used, "any taint has been decisively cut out," se- nior deputy district attor- ney Howard Gundy wrote in a brief. Lt. Jeff Hallock, a spokes- man for the Orange County Sheriff's Department, de- clined to comment on the proceedings while they are underway. Matt Cherry, executive director of Death Penalty Focus, said it's too soon to know whether the hearing will have an effect beyond the county, but the discov- ery of decades of jail re- cords might prompt defense attorneys in Orange County to seek a review of old cases involving snitches. "It's not just the ongo- ing cases where it may be raised," said Cherry, whose group opposes the death penalty. "We need to look at past cases and find out if there's people who are now in jail, who may not be in jail if the prosecutors had acted legally in their cases and not withheld information." ORANGE COUNTY Judge removes DA's office from mass murder case LOS ANGELES TIMES — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Scott Dekraai listens while his attorney addresses the court during a motion hearing in Santa Ana In an Orange County courtroom. By Brian Melley The Associated Press LOS ANGELES A Los An- geles County battery re- cycling plant with a long history of violations of air pollution and hazardous waste laws will close under an agreement with federal prosecutors that requires the company to spend $50 million to clean up the site and surrounding neighbor- hoods. The deal will result in the immediate and perma- nent shuttering of the Ex- ide Technologies plant, Act- ing U.S. Attorney Stephanie Yonekura said Thursday. The agreement, which pre- vents criminal prosecution, was designed so the com- pany could emerge from bankruptcy and afford the cleanup rather than being forced to liquidate. "If the company was no longer viable, we would no longer be able to achieve the immediate result of the fa- cility's closure, and the gov- ernment would be left hold- ing the bag for the cleanup," Yonekura said. "In short, this is the best solution for a very difficult environmen- tal problem." The cleanup will be over- seen by the California De- partment of Toxic Sub- stances Control, which said Thursday it would issue an order to close the facility af- ter finding it cannot oper- ate in compliance with pub- lic health and environmen- tal safeguards. Exide said it entered the agreement after the state said it probably would re- ject the company's per- mits to operate a hazard- ous waste facility. The plant never went through the full regulatory process for an op- erating permit. "They've operated un- der a learner's permit for 35 years," said Angelo Bellomo, environmental health direc- tor for Los Angeles County. The 15-acre plant 5 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles had been idle for a year amid legal and environ- mental battles, but its own- ers hoped to reopen. The company had said it was spending $25 million on the cleanup and emphasized that its output of pollutants met public health standards even when it sometimes fell short of environmental reg- ulations. Local, state and federal officials have for years cited Exide for emitting too much lead and arsenic and for vio- lating hazardous waste laws in and around the plant and on the highways where its trucks traveled. Neighbors concerned about their health have be- come vocal in recent years about the plant's lack of reg- ulation, and have called for its closure. "Our long nightmare is over," Msgr. John Moretta of Resurrection Church in Boyle Heights said on behalf of community groups that have protested the plant. "We have attended dozens and dozens of meetings and hearings always fighting for what we saw as something obvious: Exide was poison- ing our community and had to be closed." The agreement will hold Exide responsible for us- ing $38.6 million it agreed to set aside last fall for clo- sure and cleanup of its site and another $9 million for cleaning up soil around 216 surrounding homes. After those homes are cleaned up, the company will expand cleanup to other areas, fed- eral prosecutors said. Cleanup is expected to take at least five years. In the non-prosecution agreement, the company ad- mitted it violated four felo- nies on a daily basis for 20 years by trucking battery waste from Los Angeles to a facility in Bakersfield that wasn't permitted to receive hazardous waste, prosecu- tors said. If it doesn't follow through with the deal in the next 10 years, the company or its successor could face charges of illegal dump- ing, storage and transpor- tation of hazardous waste and for illegally transport- ing hazardous waste to an unpermitted facility, which each carry fines of up to $500,000 per day for each violation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph John said the de- cision was a tough one for prosecutors, but it made more sense for the commu- nity. "We decided that the right thing to do was not worry about sending one or two people to jail for a year or two, but rather prevent another 50- to 100-year sen- tence for 110,000 people," Johns said. Political pressure was mounting on Exide, which operated under interim sta- tus since the 1980s and was being cited for violations even as it sat idle for the past year. Earlier this week, state Senate leader Kevin de Leon of Los Angeles sent a letter urging the Department of Toxic Substances Control to deny a permit to the re- cycler. "There is no reason why this facility should continue to operate," De Leon wrote. A few days before De Le- on's letter, the U.S. Environ- mental Protection Agency cited Exide for four new vi- olations of the Clean Air Act, according to an EPA viola- tion notice obtained by the Los Angeles Times, which first reported the closure Wednesday night. Exide, based in Milton, Georgia, said 130 jobs would be lost by permanently clos- ing the plant. The company operates in more than 80 countries and employs about 10,000 workers. Information from: Los An- geles Times, http://www. latimes.com/ LA C OU NT Y Ba tt er y re cy cl er t o cl os e in d ea l wi th f ed s NICK UT — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The entrance of the Exide Technologies recycling plant in Vernon is seen. of my enthusiasm for this device and potential," said Germar. "The value of Mr. Germar's expertise and commitment to bringing this product to market is immeasurable," said Marc Lewis, Sochule's chief ex- ecutive officer. According to the re- lease, Sochule released HelloTel app in October and acquired Social Me- dia 180 in November. This month, it plans to launch Proximitel, cus- tomer relationship man- agement online software for the hospitality and re- tail sectors, the release said. Sochule will be demon- strating Anonabox at the South By Southwest Festi- val Friday in Austin, Texas. The financial terms of the purchase were not an- nounced. Tech FROM PAGE 1 GARYZIMMER 1937 ~ 2015 Gary'sdeathhasleftalonelyplaceinourhearts. He is survived by his loving & devoted mate of 21 years, Jeri Ward, sons; Scott, Guy, Greg and Pat, grandchildren: Garry, Chris, Shelby, Miles, Jordan, Dalton, Bridget, Shane, & Grace; great grandchildren; Anthony and London. Obituaries FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2015 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 9 A ★