Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/281401
Staff report A 1974 Volkswagen Bee- tle caught fire around 3:15 p.m. Wednesday at the In- terstate 5 off ramp inter- section with South Main Street, snarling traffic. When f iref ighters ar- rived the car was burn- ing on the east edge of the northbound lanes, causing traffic to back up past St. Elizabeth Community Hos - pital to the sought and Lu- ther Road to the north. Firefighters controlled the fire in about 10 min- utes and traffic was back to normal in about 20 min- utes, according to a press release issued Thursday by Red Bluff Fire Depart- ment. The car, owned by Cindy Brown of Red Bluff, was being driven by her grand - son, 17-year-old Kiernan Brown. The teen told firefight- ers the car suddenly quit running and caught f ire while driving. He and a passenger were able to get out of the car and push it to the side of the road before firefight - ers arrived. An inspection revealed a fuel leak in the engine com - partment in an area where there had been recent re- pairs done to the fuel sys- tem. The car was a total loss and no injuries were re- ported. Public Safety Car fire blocks South Main; no injuries Courtesy photo A car burns Wednesday aernoon on south Main street near the off ramp of Interstate 5 in red Bluff. traffic was blocked for about 20 minutes. to have some serious prob- lems." Jenny Svejda, Red Bluff High's agriculture depart- ment chair, previously said the grant has enabled the school to run its farm, which includes a livestock barn, ol - ive orchard and storage fa- cilities. "You hear a lot of your elder ag teachers talking about what times were like before these funds were available," Svejda said. "And if you visit many agri - cultural programs around the state, you've seen what they've been able to develop because of the money. So by taking that all away again, where would that leave the students in 10 years?" Nielsen, according to the news release, is also advo - cating for the passage of As- sembly Bill 2033, which was introduced by Assemblyman Rudy Salas, D-Bakersfield, in February. The bill "would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation relating to agriculture career technical education," according to the bill's text. The grant cut in the pro - posed budget doesn't neces- sarily mean it's going away for good. Brown will submit a revised budget in May, and then a budget could be en - acted in the summer months. AG from Page 1 coffers. If passed by voters, the tax would need to be re- newed again in six years. Police Chief Paul Nan- fito had asked the council in December to place the tax measure before voters. He said an informal survey con - ducted by his department in the spring of 2013 showed Red Bluff voters would sup- port the tax to increase law enforcement services. City staff later said the tax should be used to up - grade the fire department's aging equipment. The council chose not to specifically earmark the tax revenue for those purposes because that type of vote would have required two- thirds proposal. I n st ead t he cou nci l pushed for a general tax raise that would require only a simple majority of voters to pass. However un - der state law revenue from such taxes can not be specif- ically earmarked. That led to an addi- tional advisory measure, where voters will be asked if 85 percent of the revenue should be used for public safety departments. That amount typically ref lects what percent of the general budget is al - ready spent on police and fire. The only argument raised by a council member was re - garding the advisory mea- sure. Councilman Clay Parker said the advisory measure wasn't even worth the pa- per it would be printed on, since it meant nothing. He voted against the advisory measure, but supported all other aspects related to the tax ballot measure. C o u n c i l m a n Wa y n e Brown defended the advi - sory measure, saying it was another way to show voters what the council's intentions was for the tax and for vot - ers to be able to tell future councils where they wanted the money spent. Two weeks after direct - ing City Manager Richard Crabtree to draw up the proper documents for the tax measures there was lit - tle discussion amongst the council itself in regards to putting it before voters. Councilman Rob Schmid said he wanted to go on re- cord in support of the tax, but he also offered a warn- ing. "My biggest concern is instead of building our public safety, we end up giving it away as raises as pay incentives for one thing or another," he said. Schmid said he believed voters would pass the tax if they believed it would go toward upgrading pub - lic safety. He said tax pay- ers would not be happy if they found out they had taken money out of their own pockets to give some - one else a raise. Parker said he didn't necessarily believe that was true. He said while raises weren't the intent of the tax proposal, he be - lieved some would sup - port increasing wages so the city could attract and maintain better personnel in the future. "It will be our job to help educate and at least put forth our intent with this ballot measure," Mayor Daniele Jackson said. Tax from Page 1 November ballot measures Transactions and Use Tax: to support police and fire staffing, replace police and fire equipment, enhance rec- reation and parks, and for other general fund purposes, shall a quarter percent transactions and use tax ("sales tax") be adopted for a period of six years, subject to an- nual audits? Advisory measure: If the voters of the City of red Bluff approve a transactions and use tax, should the City Council allocate 85% of proceeds of the new tax to the improvement of police and fire services and allocate the remainder to support parks, recreation and other general fund services? Ballot language Dugan: Debbie Lynn Dugan, 61, of red Bluff, died thurs- day, March 6, in Nevada. Arrangements are under the direction of Neptune society in reno. published Wednes- day, March 19, 2014 in the Daily News, red Bluff, Calif. Lewis: Charles e. Lewis, 73, of red Bluff died sunday, March 16, in red Bluff. Ar- rangements are under the direction of red Bluff simple Cremations & Burial service. published Wednesday, March 19, 2014 in the Daily News, red Bluff, Calif. Lourence: Donald raymond Lourence, 66, of red Bluff, died sunday, March 16, at his home. Arrangements are under the direction of red Bluff simple Cremations & Burial service. published Wednesday, March 19, 2014 in the Daily News, red Bluff, Calif. Weaver: elizabeth e. Weaver, 89, of red Bluff, died Monday, March 17, at Brentwood skilled Nursing. Arrangements are under the direction of hoyt-Cole Chapel of the Flowers. pub- lished Wednesday, March 19, 2014 in the Daily News, red Bluff, Calif. Death notices must be pro- vided by mortuaries to the news department, are pub- lished at no charge, and fea- ture only specific basic infor- mation about the deceased. Paid obituaries are placed through the Classified adver- tising department. Paid obit- uaries may be placed by mor- tuaries 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 con - tent, including photos. Death Notices the deputy's slaying. "I wish you weren't here, and I wish I wasn't here," a tearful Allman said. The incident began in Eu - gene, Ore., early Wednes- day, when authorities said Chaney stole a black BMW and forced the car's occu- pants into the trunk, the Press Democrat of Santa Rosa reported. T he occupa nts , who had not been located as of Wednesday night, may have escaped or been freed at some point, Allman said. Around 10:30 a.m., the sheriff's office received a call from the owner of Con - fusion Hill, a tourist destina- tion along Highway 101 north of Leggett, about 400 miles south of Eugene. John Mills, 55, told the Press Democrat he had found Chaney urinating within a fenced park area. When Mills told him to leave, he cursed, drove away, but then returned with a shotgun, Mills said. Mills, who had grabbed a baton, hit the shotgun as Chaney came through the entrance, causing the weapon to discharge, he told the Press Democrat. Chaney fired again through the door before fleeing to his car and driving away. "I was pissed," Mills said. "I wanted his head on a pike." Mills said he was able to get off one shot at Chaney from a handgun. Sheriff's of - ficials said Chaney was likely not hit. Chaney was spotted a short time later by a sheriff's deputy, but got away during a chase that reached speeds of more than 100 mph, ac - cording to sheriff's officials. Del Fiorentino encountered him a little before noon just north of Fort Bragg in Cle - one, a rural area that is a mix of homes, forest and open fields. Chaney opened fire with an AK-47-style assault ri - fle, spraying Del Fiorenti- no's vehicle with bullets, All- man said. Lt. John Naulty, a Fort Bragg police officer who was searching for Chaney nearby, heard the gunfire and arrived at the scene to find Chaney going through the deputy's vehicle. Allman said Chaney fired six or seven rounds at Naulty, who returned fire. Chaney was later found dead. U.S. Highway 1 near MacKerricher State Park was closed during the search for Chaney, and the park evacuated, the Press Demo - crat reported. School officials also kept students who live in the Cle- one area on campus as a pre- caution, as law enforcement vehicles swarmed the area. What prompted Chaney's alleged rampage was not clear. He had a run-in with law enforcement on March 6, when police stopped his ve - hicle and found that he had no vehicle insurance. They also discovered firearms, including a modified AR-15, and body armor in the glove box and trunk, according to The Register-Guard of Eu - gene. Citing police records, the paper said Chaney was arrested and released the same day. Del Fiorentino, once a wrestling coach at Fort Bragg High School, began as a deputy with Mendocino County in 1988, spent 10 years with the Fort Bragg Police Department and re - turned to the sheriff's office in 2000. California Attorney Gen- eral Kamala Harris paid tribute to the deputy late Wednesday night. "His tragic death is a stark reminder of the danger our brave men and women in law enforcement face every day to keep our communities safe. Deputy Del Fiorentino will never be forgotten by the people of California," Harris said in a statement. Deputy from Page 1 by Don thompson The Associated Press SacrameNto » California is the top target in the U.S. for international criminal en- terprises that operate from safe havens in Eastern Eu- rope, Africa and China, ac- cording to a report being re- leased Thursday. Along with trafficking in drugs, guns and people, criminals are also turn - ing to cybercrime to target wealthy, innovative busi- nesses and financial institu- tions in the state, California Attorney General Kamala Harris said in the report. "California is a global leader on a number of fronts and, unfortunately, trans - national criminal activity is one of them," the report states. Harris said the report is the first to outline the ef - fects of international crim- inal organizations on Cal- ifornia residents and busi- nesses. She was set to formally release the 181-page report during a news conference with other law enforcement officials in Los Angeles. It was obtained in advance by The Associated Press. "These organizations have taken advantage of the technological revolution of the last two decades, as well as advancements in trade, transport and global money transfers, to substantially in - crease the scale and profit- ability of their criminal ac- tivities in California," the re- port states. It says California leads all states in the number of com- puter systems hacked or in- fected by malware; victims of Internet crimes and iden- tity theft; and the amount of financial losses suffered as a result of online crimes. The state also is partic - ularly vulnerable to thefts of intellectual property be- cause of its leading role in developing new technolo- gies and mass-media enter- tainment. "Many of these breaches have been tied to transna- tional criminal organiza- tions operating from Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Israel, Egypt, China, and Nigeria, among other places," the re - port states. California's gross domes- tic product of $2 trillion, sig- nificant foreign trade activ- ity and border with Mexico also makes the state a tar- get for international money- laundering schemes. The report estimates that more than $30 billion is laundered through the state economy each year. Some is filtered through legitimate businesses or by using virtual currencies such as bitcoin. But the re - port says backpacks and duffel bags stuffed with cash have been seized more fre- quently since Mexico began toughening its money-laun- dering laws in 2010. California should alter state law to make it easier for prosecutors to crack down on money laundering, the report says. Unlike fed - eral law, state law currently requires prosecutors to prove that a suspect delib- erately carried out a finan- cial transaction in a way de- signed to hide the fact that the money came from or was used for a criminal ac- tivity. The report also recom- mends that the Legislature change state law to let pros- ecutors temporarily freeze the assets of transnational criminal organizations and associated gangs before seeking an indictment. califorNia Report: State is top crime target in U.S. More criminals also turning to cybercrime, says AG Kamala Harris The Associated Press SacrameNto » California consumers will soon be un- able to buy certain types of rat poisons because regu- lators have determined the chemicals used in them pose a danger to other wildlife. Department of Pesticide Regulation spokeswoman Charlotte Fadipe says that ro - denticides containing second- generation anticoagulants — which prevent blood from clot- ting — must be removed from store shelves by July 1. After that date, Fadipe says, only pest-control com - panies and trained profes- sionals will be able to pur- chase those types of poisons. The problem with the poi- sons, which consumers can place inside and around their homes, is that after the rodents eat them, other animals — including family pets — may then eat the ro - dents and also die. Some species that have been adversely affected by the poisons are the San Joa - quin kit fox, the barn owl, the raccoon, the bobcat and the coyote. PeSt coNtrol California regulators restrict sale of rat poisons R ed Bluff Simple Cremations & Burial Service Now Offering Eco-Friendly urns at economy friendly prices. 722 Oak Street, Red Bluff, FD Lic. 1931 527-1732 LILLIAN ORAL FLOURNOY 1927 ~ 2014 Lillian, 86, of Tehama passed away quietly at home, March 7. Born to Opal Fay and LeRoy D. Woolsey of Capay Rancho, Tehama County. She is survived by her five children, Theresa Tausch of Corning, Lynne Johnson of Gerber, Sid Flournoy of Kirkwood, Alan Flournoy of Paskenta, and Chris Flournoy of Tehama. She is also sur- vived by sisters, Maxine Perters of Willows, Evelyn Peters of Corning, brother, LeRoy Woolsey of Wallowa, Oregon, 13 grandchildren and 20 great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband Donald (Buvie) Flournoy and sister, Gloria Gillespie of Portland, Oregon. Lillian loved reading, gambling, doing crossword puzzles with her sister, Maxine over the phone, playing dominoes, visiting her friends at the beauty parlor, and watching game shows. Her greatest joy was having family stop by to visit. She will leave a huge void in the lives of her children who loved her very much. There will be a celebration of life and pot luck at the Paskenta Hall, April 18, 2:00pm, for close friends and family. Obituaries FrIDAy, MArCh 21, 2014 reDBLuFFDAILyNeWs.CoM | neWS | 9 a