Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/313716
ByDonThompson TheAssociatedPress SACRAMENTO A former California fire battalion chief who eluded authorities for more than two weeks has been arrested in the stab- bing death of his girlfriend, SacramentoCounty Sheriff's Sgt. Lisa Bowman said in a statement Friday. She could not immediately provide additional informa- tion on the arrest of Orville "Moe" Fleming. Fleming had been wanted since the body of 26-year- old Sarah June Douglas was found May 1 inside the south Sacramento home they had shared for the past two years. Authori- tiessayFlem- ing, 55, had c o n s i d e r - able outdoor skills, was familiar with California's mountains because of his ca- reer as a wildland firefighter, and had keys to state fire fa- cilities throughout the state. He was fired from his job as a battalion chief and in- structor with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection after fail- ing to show up at work for a week after the slaying. "We are pleased that this search is over and the Sher- iff's Office has apprehended Mr. Fleming," said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Pro- tection. "We will continue to support the sheriff and the district attorney in any way we can as the judicial pro- cess continues." Investigators previously said Fleming moved in with Douglas after meeting her as an escort who advertised on the Internet. SACRAMENTO Firechief arrested in stabbing death Fleming The Associated Press SACRAMENTO In one of the strongest signals yet of a rebounding economy, Cal- ifornia's unemployment rate has dipped below 8 percent for the first time in nearly six years, the state Employ- ment Development Depart- ment said Friday. California's jobless rate for April was 7.8 percent. It was last at that level in Sep- tember 2008, when the rate was 7.9 percent. Job growth across a wide swath of industries, includ- ing construction, financial services, hospitality and mining, led to an increase of 56,100 jobs over the pre- vious month. The health care and education sectors saw the most growth, while information services and government employment posted declines. Manufacturing held steady for the month, al- though the number of jobs in that sector declined com- pared to the same period last year. The latest unemployment rate was an improvement from March, when it was 8.1 percent, and from the same period a year ago, when Cal- ifornia's jobless rate stood at 9.1 percent. In all, California has added more than 1.3 million jobs since officials say the national recession ended in February 2010. Despite the improvement, the state's unemployment rate remains above the na- tional average of 6.3 percent and nearly 1.5 million Cali- fornians remain out of work. The positive numbers also can be deceptive, said Michael Bernick, a former director of the Employ- ment Development Depart- ment who is a fellow at the Milken Institute economic think tank. He said the addition of 56,000 jobs for the month does not necessarily reflect what is happening in the la- bor market. Many employ- ees now work part time, on contract or on a specific project and then move on, he said. That means they lack the stability and long-term benefits of traditional full- time employment. "It's not the stable, long- term employment," he said. "It's a different type of employment, but it's still counted if you're hired 20 hours a week, if you're hired as a project employee." The employment picture also varies widely through- out California. The counties with the highest unemploy- ment rates, led by Imperial at 21.6 percent, are all inland counties that rely heavily on agriculture. Those with the lowest rates are all along the coast, with a specific con- centration in the San Fran- cisco Bay Area. Marin County, just north of San Francisco, has the state's lowest unemploy- ment rate at 3.9 percent. CALIFORNIA ECONOMY State jobless rate at lowest level since 2008 The Associated Press SANTA BARBARA The Boy Scouts of America must turn over 20 years of old person- nel files to a plaintiff in a sex- ual abuse lawsuit to settle an authenticity dispute, a Cali- fornia judge ruled Friday. SantaBarbaraCountySu- perior Court Judge Donna Geck ordered the Boy Scouts to give the plaintiff's attor- ney the original files from 1971 to 1991. The plaintiff's attorney had copies of those files from a third party, but the Boy Scouts had stalled in authenticating them. The files will remain sealed to the public, and it's unclear how many of them will actually be allowed as evidence at trial. In court papers, attorney Tim Hale said he obtained the files from 1971 to 1991 secondhand from another attorney who tried a case against the Boy Scouts de- cades ago. The Boy Scouts have already authenticated similar files from 1991 to 2011 that Hale hopes to use in his civil case, which goes to trial in October. SEX ABUSE Boy Scouts to turn over files in case By Julie Watson The Associated Press SAN DIEGO Some evacua- tion orders were lifted early Friday in an area near the fiercest of several wild- fires in San Diego County, as crews building con- tainment lines around the blazes hoped cooler tem- peratures will help them make further progress. County officials said res- idents of two neighbor- hoods of San Marcos were allowed to return home. A flare-up Thursday in the north San Diego suburb prompted more than 18,000 new evacuation notices as flames raced through tin- der-dry brush on hillsides. That fire was 10 percent contained Friday morning. Fires have destroyed at least eight houses, an 18- unit condominium com- plex and two businesses since Tuesday. The hard- est-hit areas were in San Marcos and Carlsbad, a suburb of 110,000 people that lifted evacuation or- ders late Thursday. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protec- tion spokeswoman Lynne Tolmachoff said Friday that sparksfromfaultyconstruc- tionequipmentworkingona graded field caused the first of the string of blazes. The fire that erupted Tuesday and charred more than 1,500 acres in the Rancho Bernardo suburb was ruled accidental. The causes of eight other wild- fires that broke out the next day and another large blaze at Camp Pendleton that started on Thursday have not been determined. Firefighters found a badly burned body Thurs- day in a transient camp in Carlsbad — the first appar- ent fatality — and a Camp Pendleton Fire Department firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion. To the north, crews bat- tled two fires at Camp Pendleton, including the one that broke out Thurs- day and grew overnight from 600 acres to 8,000, base officials said. It was 10 percent contained Friday. The second fire, sparked Wednesday on the eastern outskirts of the Marine base, scorched nearly 10 square miles of dry brush. That blaze was 23 percent contained Friday. This week's unseason- ably early wildfires have driven tens of thousands from their homes and shut down schools and amuse- ment parks, including Legoland, which reopened Thursday. The flames have caused more than $20 mil- lion in damage. In Escondido, just south- east of San Marcos, Al Said stood in front of his spared home on Friday and pointed out two burned neighbor- ing houses. He chose not to evacuate and used a gar- den hose to help firefight- ers save his home. "By the grace of God and the hard work of these fire- fighters, they came in and they saved my house right here," he said. Firefighters who have worked in temperatures sometimes topping 100 de- grees this week were ex- pectedtogetreliefonFriday. The forecast called for tem- peraturestopeakaround90 and lighter winds. It could take months to find the causes of the blazes concentrated in the northern San Diego and its northern suburbs, from the coast to areas 10 to 15 miles inland. San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said arson will be among the many possibilities that investiga- tors will examine. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA First of major San Diego-area fires accidental GREGORYBULL—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Firefighter Jimmy Anderson, of Cal-Fire Lions Valley, pulls hose through a devastated home a er a wildfire on Friday in Carlsbad. SATURDAY, MAY 17, 2014 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM |NEWS | 7 A