Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/162168
Friday, August 30, 2013 – Daily News 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. William Wesley 'Wes' Janes William Wesley 'Wes' Janes died Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2013 at his home in Corning. He was 77. Arrangements are under the direction of NewtonBracewell Funeral Home in Chico. Published Friday, Aug. 30, 2013 in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Car wash Saturday in Chico A community car wash Saturday will benefit a Chico family whose 13-year-old boy was diagnosed with brain cancer in May. It will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Church on the Esplanade, 1119 Esplanade, corner of First Avenue and Esplanade. Byron Wagner, who also has Aspergers syndrome, is due to start 9th grade at Chico High this fall. The Wagner family, made up of his mother and former Daily News staff writer Andrea and little brother Edward, moved back to Chico in June after Byron had a 5-centimeter tumor removed from his right frontal lobe. Doctors diagnosed the tumor as glioblastoma multiforme, a very aggressive type of brain cancer that is often fatal. The family has exhausted their savings and other financial resources and is reliant on donations to keep afloat while Byron undergoes treatment at U.C. Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. Doctors ordered six weeks of daily radiation along with chemotherapy that will continue for a year. This car wash would help sustain the family's needs through the treatment, while mom will not be able to work. Donations raised at the car wash will go for housing costs, vehicle maintenance and other financial needs. Firefighter collapses and dies on Calif. wildfire MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — The governor of Oregon has ordered state flags lowered to half-staff to honor a fire crew foreman who collapsed and died, apparently of natural cases, while working on a wildfire in Northern California. The Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department says Oscar Montano-Garcia of Medford, Ore., collapsed Sunday during a lunch break while assigned to the Nabob fire in the Rogue River Siskiyou National Forest. Emergency personnel were unable to revive him. Sheriff's spokeswoman Jayme Lynch says the contract firefighter's death was not related to the fire. The Mail Tribune reports four Oregonians are among the 77 people nationwide who have died while fighting wildfires this year. Embezzler was hired by CA high-speed rail agency SACRAMENTO (AP) — A woman who embezzled $320,000 from a California state agency was later hired by the state's High-Speed Rail Authority — and she said nobody asked about her background. Carey Renee Moore spent two years in state prison after pleading no contest to felony grand theft in 2007. Prosecutors said she embezzled $320,000 in 2005 when she worked as a procurement officer for the Department of Child Support Services and used it to buy a television, hot tub and other items, including pornographic videos, handcuffs, whips and chains. Moore, who at the time was called Carey Renee Aceves, was working for the state Board of Equalization when she was arrested in 2007. She was in the process of being fired but resigned before the action became final and so no record of her crime was placed in her personnel file, The Sacramento Bee (http://bit.ly/141r1Z6 ) reported Thursday. In 2011, Moore was hired by the High-Speed Rail Authority. Her job included making travel plans for officials. Her state job application didn't ask whether she'd been convicted of a crime because the State Personnel Board had removed that question and transferred it to supplemental forms for jobs that required background checks, such as law enforcement. Nobody else asked Moore whether she had a criminal background and ''I wasn't going to get a job if I said it,'' Moore told an unemployment insurance appeals judge last October. ''I went through State Personnel Board language to make sure there was no reason I couldn't or shouldn't do this,'' she said. FIRE The Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park has burned its way to the Continued from page 1A sixth largest wildfire in the state's history, and now Total fire personnel on stands at 192,737 acres Thursday stood at 898. burned. About 9,300 firefighters are battling 10 major CalFire reports 4,500 wildfires throughout the residences are threatened state, according to Cal- and evacuations are in Fire. effect. The wildfire is 30 percent contained, and full containment has been pushed back to Sept. 20 because of warm weather. The Orleans Complex fires in Siskiyou County has burned 21,217 acres and is 45 percent contained. The Salmon River Complex fire in Siskiyou 7A County is 95 percent contained and has burned 14,720 acres. The Corral Complex fires in Humboldt County stands at 11,828 acres and is 17 percent contained. The American Fire in Placer County has burned 26,194 acres and is 97 percent contained. remove trees in emergency situa- Bluff understood it may be taking on liability. tions. LIMB Tehama County Chief Administrator Bill Goodwin said at the time Rich Greene can be reached at way. the county had no rush to complete 527-2151, ext. 109 or The city maintained the right to its project, as long as the city of Red rgreene@redbluffdailynews.com. Continued from page 1A POT eighty-two marijuana plants were identified and eradicated. Continued from page 1A This case is the product of an investigation by the ty. One hundred and United States Forest Ser- DA Continued from page 1A room — details no investigator remembered sharing with him. He also circumvented the normal process to seek financial victim assistance for Garibay, arousing suspicion in his own office. Police found Adams' behavior unusual, ''as he has never involved himself in an investigation in this manner,'' the affidavit said. Adams, the former president of the California District Attorneys Association, also appeared to try to steer investigators to at least one of two other men with whom Garibay was involved: her boyfriend of 12 years and the father of her 14month-old daughter, who was angry Garibay followed through with the vice, the Trinity County Narcotics Task Force, and the California Highway Patrol. Assistant United States Attorney Christiaan Highsmith is prosecuting pregnancy and had given her at least $40,000 not to reveal that the child was his; and another man who allegedly abused her the night before the fire, prompting her to call 911. In text messages he sent to Garibay after the fire, Adams told her to make sure she told police about the latter lover ''and their history of domestic violence,'' the affidavit said. The district attorney's office has recused itself and turned over the investigation to the state attorney general's office, which declined to comment. Adams did not return a telephone message from The Associated Press, and the Sutter County district attorney's office had no official comment. Yuba City police also did not return calls seeking an update on the status of the investiga- the case. If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum statutory penalty of 40 years in prison and a $5 million fine. tion. In an interview with the AppealDemocrat last week, Adams denied lying to police and any involvement in the house fire. ''As far as my position in office, I never did anything illegal, unprofessional or unethical,'' Adams said. The newspaper said he declined to answer questions about his relationship with Garibay, acknowledging only that the two had a ''friendship.'' Adams told police he was home with his family on the night of the fire, the affidavit said. Garibay's attorney, Roberto Marquez, also did not return a call from the AP seeking comment Thursday. ''Just because someone has a promiscuous kind of life doesn't make them any less of a victim,'' Garibay told the newspaper. Prison plans expose rift with key Democrats SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — They began the year with a legislative advantage no party had seen in 80 years in California — a two-thirds supermajority in both houses of the Legislature. Yet since then, the Democratic leaders of the state Senate and Assembly have sparred over important legislation dealing with water, environmental protection, the Public Records Act, municipal corruption and more. They couldn't even agree on when to recess the Legislature for the summer, choosing different breaks that caused momentary disarray and confusion. Now they are at odds and in a sniping mood on how to respond to a federal court order to reduce California's prison population by the end of the year. Time is running out to find a compromise, and the stakes couldn't be higher, with federal judges poised to override state law and order early releases of convicts. The gulf between Assembly Speaker John Perez of Los Angeles and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento also could jeopardize this year's key pieces of legislation just as they are heading for their final votes in the last two weeks of the regular legislative session. The Assembly Budget Committee on Thursday unanimously advanced a temporary prison fix supported by Perez, Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, both of the Legislature's Republican leaders, and statewide law enforcement and civic groups. The proposal calls for spending $315 million from the state's $1.1 billion budget reserve this year, and $730 million over two years, to lease beds in private prisons and county jail cells to meet the court's order of reducing the inmate population by another 9,600 inmates. Perez told Capitol Public Radio on Thursday that he has been side-stepping Steinberg to talk privately with senators of both parties and believes there are enough votes to pass the governor's plan. A day earlier, he and Brown dismissed the alternate plan presented by Steinberg, which focuses on beefing up rehabilitation and drug and mental health treatment programs as a way to turn more people away from a life of crime. The Senate leader said the governor's plan will not even be considered in his chamber, raising questions about whether lawmakers can agree on any plan that would satisfy the federal judges before this year's legislative session ends Sept. 13. Next week, the Senate Budget Committee is expected to advance Senate Democrats' alternative proposal to give counties $200 million this year, and eventually $300 million annually, for programs Steinberg said will lower the rate at which parolees are returned to prison. After the spat erupted publicly this week, Steinberg postponed the Senate's confirmation of two of Brown's appointees to key positions in the prison system. The governor's nominations will expire unless they are confirmed before the Legislature adjourns for the year. ''There are questions about this administration's commitment to dealing with recidivism in California,'' Steinberg spokesman Rhys Williams said. Beyond the prison stalemate, the two leaders publicly aired their differences in recent weeks over other major issues facing lawmakers. Steinberg is pushing changes to the landmark California Environmental Quality Act to curb lawsuit abuse, but Perez told reporters nothing is likely to happen on it this year. They differ on the size and scope of what currently is an $11.1 billion water bond on next year's ballot and earlier this year were at odds over how to undo the damage from a budget bill that threatened the public's access to government documents. Despite the drama, political veterans predicted the leaders eventually will resolve their differences on vital issues. It helps that Democrats have a two-thirds majority in the Senate, allowing Steinberg to ignore minority Republicans, while Perez is just one vote short of a supermajority in the Assembly after voters handed Democrats uncontested control of state government last fall. ''I used to have arguments with speakers; they used to have arguments with me. When it's all over, something seems to happen,'' said California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton, the blunt-speaking and often mercurial Senate leader from 1998 until 2004. Steve Maviglio, spokesman for Perez and two former Assembly speakers, said there is a natural tension between the two houses no matter who is in charge because lawmakers come from different political districts and represent competing constituencies. ''It's less about parties and more about long-simmering rivalries between the two houses,'' he said. Court upholds first ban on gay-to-straight therapy SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court sided with California on Thursday and upheld the first law in the nation banning a psychological treatment that seeks to turn gay youth straight. In a resounding, unanimous opinion, a threejudge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the state law barring the so-called gay aversion therapy legal in every respect. The judges said trying to change a minor's sexual orientation through intense therapy appeared dangerous, and that California lawmakers properly showed that the sexual orientation change efforts were outside the scientific mainstream and have been rejected for good reason. ''One could argue that children under the age of 18 are especially vulnerable with respect to sexual identity and that their parents' judgment may be clouded by this emotionally charged issue as well,'' Judge Susan Graber wrote for the court panel. The California Legislature cited reports, experts and anecdotes involving suicides, substance abuse and other behavior by young recipients of the therapy before members voted last year to ban it for minors. ''Efforts to change a young person's sexual orientation pose critical health risks, including depression, shame, decreased selfesteem, social withdrawal, substance abuse, self-harm and suicide,'' Lambda Legal, which defends gay rights, said in an email statement about Thursday's ruling. The activities of pastors and lay counselors who are unlicensed but provide such therapy through church programs are not covered by the law. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has signed a similar law that would also outlaw the therapy in his state. Liberty Counsel, a Christian legal aid group that represents supporters of the practice, said it will either ask a larger panel of the court to reconsider the decision or petition the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case. Liberty Counsel is also fighting the New Jersey law. ''The minors that Liberty Counsel represents do not want to act on same-sex attractions, nor do they want to engage in such behavior,'' the group said in an email statement. ''They are greatly benefiting from this counseling.'' Liberty and other backers of the therapy argue that lawmakers have no conclusive, scientific proof that the therapy does harm. When California Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown signed the law, he said the therapy was ''quackery,'' and sessions trying to change a minor's sexual orientation have ''no basis in science or medicine.'' The court ruling on Thursday resolved two conflicting lower decisions while reinstating the ban. Those decisions came after judges wrestled with the legality of the state law that backers said punishes licensed therapists for trying to change the sexual orientation of minors. The 9th Circuit said lawmakers relied on sufficient credible data to pass the law, including scientific reports, expert testimony and anecdotal evidence. No mainstream psychological organization supports the treatment. The Legislature also considered evidence that the practice is safe and effective, but the overwhelming consensus was that it was harmful and ineffective, Graber wrote for the panel. ''On this record, we have no trouble concluding that the Legislature acted rationally by relying on that consensus,'' she said.