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Thursday, August 22, 2013 – Daily News Obituaries RICHARD A. COON Richard A. Coon, born on September 15, 1993. He was a resident of Corning, CA, most of his life and most recently of Red Bluff. He was preceeded in death by his father, Ralph A. Coon and is survived by his mother, Holly Coon, stepfather Albert White, brother Jacob P. Coon, and stepsister Cassara White of Bishop, CA. Services will be held at Family Bible Church at 609 Marin Street in Corning at 10:00 AM on Friday, August 23, 2013. There will be a pot luck following Services. Death Notices Death notices must be provided by mortuaries to the news department, are published at no charge, and feature only specific basic information about the deceased. Paid obituaries are placed through the Classified advertising department. Paid obituaries may be placed by mortuaries or by families of the deceased and include online 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. Conrad Franco Conrad Franco, of Red Bluff, died Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013 at St. Elizabeth Community Hospital. He was 69. Hoyt-Cole Chapel of the Flowers is handling the arrangements. Published Thuresday, Aug. 22, 2013 in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Nayeli Ortiz Nayeli Ortiz, of Corning, died Friday, Aug. 16, 2013 in Orland. She was 22. Hoyt-Cole Chapel of the Flowers is handling the arrangements. Published Thursday, Aug. 22, 2013 in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. METH Continued from page 1A phetamine is a dangerous drug severely affecting the health of our neighbors, and its abuse is frequently a motivating factor behind the violence and criminal activity that residents encounter. We will assist our law enforcement partners and provide resources to prosecute those who endanger the honest and hard-working citizens of Butte County." The complaint alleges that Federico Aguilar was the head of an organization distributing methamphetamine in Butte County and within the Eastern District of California. This organization was identified through information provided by confidential sources, surveillance of the organization's members, drug purchases made by undercover law enforcement officers and DUI Continued from page 1A Task Forces and more than 115 local police departments across the state will be setting up DUI checkpoints and saturation patrols to deter potential impaired drivers and take those under the influence off the road. Specially trained officers will be on hand to detect drivers court authorized wiretaps of Aguilar and his associates. The complaint alleges that couriers transported pound quantities of methamphetamine from Mexico to Butte County and at the direction of Aguilar, members of the organization then sold these drugs to local associates for further distribution and sale. This case began with information developed by officers of the BINTF who asked the Sacramento office of the Drug Enforcement Administration to join the investigation. Other participating agencies included the California Highway Patrol, Butte County Sheriff's Office, Chico Police Department, Butte County Probation Department, Butte County District Attorney's Office, the California Department of Justice Bureau of Gambling Control, and the U.S. Marshal's Service. under the influence of alcohol as well as legal or illegal drugs. In 2011, 774 California drivers with a blood alcohol content of .08 or higher were killed in alcoholimpaired crashes. A firsttime DUI conviction can cost up to $10,000 in fines, legal fees, and insurance increases. For more information on all OTS efforts and the Avoid campaign, visit us at www.ots.ca.gov. Assembly panel passes bill on sex abuse lawsuits SACRAMENTO (AP) — Some victims of childhood sexual abuse would have one more year to file civil lawsuits against private or nonprofit organizations that employed their alleged abusers under a bill that passed a key legislative committee Wednesday. The bill already passed the Senate and is similar to a 2002 bill that passed during the height of the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal. That bill briefly allowed sex abuse victims to file lawsuits after the statute of limitations had expired and led to $1.2 billion in settlements from Catholic dioceses statewide. SB131 by Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, heads to the full Assembly after passing the Assembly Appropriations Committee on a 12-4 vote. It would lift the statute of limitations for one year for a group of alleged victims who were 26 and older and missed the previous window to file lawsuits. Beall introduced the legislation after hearing from people who said they had been victims of sexual abuse as children and had been unable to seek restitution. The National Center for Victims of Crime, which sponsored the bill, and other supporters say victims might take years to acknowledge that they were molested. The Catholic Church has vigorously lobbied against the measure. In Los Angeles, Archbishop Jose Gomez used the church newsletter to urge local Catholics to contact their legislators. Representatives of the church and other institutions, including private schools and the State Alliance of YMCA, say it unfairly applies only to private groups. Those who may have been abused by a public school employee are not covered by the bill. ''It discriminates against victims of child sexual abuse,'' Ned Dolejsi, executive director of the California Catholic Conference, said in a statement. ''It discriminates against private and nonprofit organizations like the church. It continues to protect public schools and government workers from lawsuits filed by victims and it even prevents victims from suing their actual abuser.'' BUMP Continued from page 1A "Can we do the fist bump again," Merhoff can be heard asking Obama in the video as he met him for a third time. Obama obliged and, for reasons no one will ever truly know, with no rehearsal, both Merhoff and Obama pounded fists and at the exact same time decided to make the explosion motion afterward. Merhoff said that's what makes his fist bump even better than the rest, because it wasn't even planned ahead of time. Just a fist bump Merhoff said he counts himself fortunate that he was able to meet the President of the United States that day. While he appears on the video to be smiling and having a good time, and he admits he was, Merhoff said he was doing so with a lot of others on his mind. "I'm representing other guys who might not be able to meet him (because they were in combat)," he said. "I don't take that for granted at all." Merhoff said that's why he chose to do something fun with the president. It was a special moment for the president to visit the troops for the COUNCIL Continued from page 1A The council will face the challenges of dealing with just a 4-member body again in the upcoming months. Mayor Wayne Brown announced at the end of the meeting he would be gone until Nov. 15. Community Development Department The reorganization of the Building and Planning departments into a single Community Development Department received unanimous support Tuesday. On June 18 councilmembers Daniele Jackson and Rob Schmid voted against the plan. The reorganization combines the departments that were split in 2003, with an emphasis on saving money out of the city's depleting General Fund. City staff estimates the move would save the General Fund around $80,000 as a downsized management team could have salary compensated through the city's enterprise funds. Harrop said the city had already lost around $13,000 in General Fund savings, because the council had failed to approve the proposal in June. He questioned why those who voted against it didn't move forward with the idea to see how their concerns played out. Those concerns included one from Schmid, who said he had reservations about building issues bin Laden anniversary in Afghanistan, Merhoff believes, as it was his highest of all bosses coming by to tell the troops he's there with them. "Politics aside, he's your Commander in Chief." Merhoff said. Merhoff said he also doesn't understand criticism that Obama has received over the years regarding his occasional fist bumps not being presidential. "He's a human. He's coming over to see solders — breaking monotony." Viral Merhoff's video has yet to go viral. He's been attempting to get celebrities to being resolved by somebody without a building background. Schmid praised the city's existing building department for preventing more appeals from happening, but questioned whether there would be an increase in the future. Jackson asked whether the city would solicit applications for the new department's head. City Manager Richard Crabtree said the proposal left that decision up to him and he was likely to appoint from within. Police Vehicles The council authorized the lease of three new marked police SUVs at the request of Police Chief Paul Nanfito. Brown was the lone dissenter. The city will pay a total of $126,425 over the next three years from the General Fund. The vehicles will replace sedans being used with more than 90,000 miles. A third vehicle has had extensive electronic problems. Two of those three vehicles will be used by detective and school resource officers, who have been driving even older vehicles. The city has historically favored purchasing vehicles outright, typically around two a year. However purchases have slowed since the budget cuts of the 2008. Nanfito presented a 5-year plan that would phase back in outright vehicle purchases in the fourth and fifth years. Ford Motor Company's municipal finance program will allow the 7A retweet the video link with mixed results. He even donated to a Spike Lee Kickstarter project, which resulted in the film director retweeting the video. As of Wednesday the YouTube video had just 7,233 hits. But the number of hits isn't as important to Merhoff as one thing — letting people know that while serving in Afghanistan he produced the greatest recorded exploding fist bump with the president. Rich Greene can be reached at 527-2151, ext. 109 or rgreene@redbluffdailyne ws.com. department to purchase the leased vehicles for $1 at the end of the 3year program. The purchase price for one of the new vehicles is around $42,000 through a state bid. The leases will be for Ford's new Explorer-based SUV police vehicle. Nanfito said the vehicles' aging conditions were a safety issue for not just his staff, but for residents of Red Bluff. Nanfito had asked the council to consider a leasing option on June 18 before the city adopted its final 2013-14 fiscal year budget. He said it would take between four to six months to receive the vehicles and have them properly equipped. Police Vehicles The council authorized another budget appropriation that was presented the night of the final budget hearings, approving the new hire of a full-time 40-hour worker for the Wastewater Collections Maintenance Division. The position will be paid out of the Sewer Enterprise Fund. Public Works Director Bruce Henz said the position was needed to keep in compliance with a number of upcoming regulatory changes from the state. Rich Greene can be reached at 527-2151, ext. 109 or rgreene@redbluffdailynews.com. US judge clears way for Nev. tribe's mustang sale RENO, Nev. (AP) — A federal judge cleared the way Wednesday for a Nevada tribe to sell 149 mustangs over the objection of critics who claim the unbranded animals are federally protected wild horses that should not be auctioned off for possible slaughter. U.S. District Judge Miranda Du lifted an emergency restraining order she put in place last week temporarily blocking the sale of any adult horses without brands among the more than 400 recently gathered near the Nevada-Oregon line. After hearing conflicting testimony during a hearing in Reno Wednesday about whether the mustangs exhibited wild behavior, Du ruled the U.S. Forest Service acted appropriately in determining the Fort McDermitt PaiuteShoshone Tribe is the animals' rightful owner and can't be stopped from selling them. Earlier Wednesday, Du indicated in a related case that she's unlikely to grant a blanket prohibition on any roundups from a big herd near the Oregon line because government land managers insist they don't intend to gather any more mustangs there for at least two years. She said there doesn't appear to be a legal basis to grant horse advocates' request for a temporary injunction regarding roundups in the U.S. 'Unless someone can prove they are not a wild, a horse that exhibits wild horse behavior and is not branded, it is a wild horse' — Katherine Meyer, attorney for horse advocates Bureau of Land Management's Owyhee horse complex given BLM's representation that none of the more than 1,000 mustangs there will be gathered for two or three years. Du said written orders would follow in both cases. In regard to the BLM, she said she would consider during a regular court schedule in the months ahead the claims by Wild Horse Education leader Laura Leigh of Reno and others that such roundups are illegal because the agency has failed to provide the necessary documentation that the federal rangeland in question is overpopulated with mustangs. The Fort McDermitt tribe sold the majority of the more than 400 horses it had gathered during an auction on Saturday at the Fallon Livestock Exchange about 60 miles east of Reno. The 149 that carried no brands were held out of the sale that made the animals available to purchase for slaughter after Du granted an emergency order late Friday night sought by the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign and others based on allegations the mustangs originated on national forest and BLM land and therefore protected under the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971. ''Unless someone can prove they are not a wild, a horse that exhibits wild horse behavior and is not branded, it is a wild horse,'' Katherine Meyer, a lawyer for the horse advocates, said via a telephone hookup from Washington. But Du concluded the opponents of the sale had failed to prove a temporary injunction should remain in place after a longtime member of the horse campaign who routinely monitors wild horse roundups and a Nevada state brand inspector offered contradictory testimony about whether the horses without brands exhibited such characteristics. ''It's the exact same behavior I've observed at roundups,'' said Deniz Bolbol, a horse advocate who examined the horses at the Fallon auction yard last weekend. ''These horses showed no signs of having familiarity with humans and every sign of fear of humans,'' she said. ''They moved in a group clustered together and circled together consistent with undomesticated, unbroken horses. They were bashing their heads against the chute trying to escape.'' But Chris Miller, a Nevada brand inspector, testified to the exact opposite. ''They didn't want to try to escape from us, which you'd expect a wild horse to do,'' Miller said. ''We were able to walk among them within a few feet and the horses were not excited.'' It wasn't immediately clear when the remaining unbranded horses being held in Fallon would be put back up for auction. Erik Petersen, a Justice Department lawyer representing the Forest Service and BLM, said the opponents had no legal basis to prevent the private sale of the horses. ''These horses are tribal horses and they have the full right to gather up their horses whenever they want to,'' he said.