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chitecturefirmhasshown "good and sufficient cause" for an exemption, or vari- ance, by its Americans with Disabilities Act con- sideration, that not grant- ing an exemption "would result in exceptional hard- ship to the applicant," and that the exemption "will not result in increased flood heights, additional threats to public safety or extraordinary public ex- pense..." The location for the Starbucks is proposed to be "substantially" im- proved. Starbucks FROMPAGE1 By Martha Mendoza TheAssociatedPress SANTACRUZ A Silicon Valley suc- cess story turned sordid this week with the arrest of an upscale pros- titute who allegedly left a Google executive dying on his yacht after shooting him up with a deadly hit of heroin. Forrest Hayes, 51, was found dead by the captain of his 50- foot yacht Escape last November. At the time, a simple obituary described him as a beloved hus- band and father of five who en- joyed spending time with his fam- ily and on his boat. On Wednesday, that got a lot more complicated as Alix Tichel- man, 26, of Folsom, stood hand- cuffed and mumbling in red jail scrubs facing manslaugh- ter charges for her role in Hayes' death, as well as drug and prosti- tution charges. She is being held on $1.5 million bail. Surveillance footage from the yacht shows everything, police said, from when she came aboard until after Hayes collapsed. That's when Tichelman picked up her clothes, the heroin and needles, casually stepping over Hayes as he lay dying. She swallowed the last of a glass of wine, lowered a blind and walked back on the dock to shore, police said. Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark said Wednesday that Hayes had hired Tichelman be- fore, and that their Nov. 23 en- counter "was a mutually consen- sual encounter including the in- troduction of the heroin." Clark said it appears this might not have been the first time she left someone in trouble with- out calling 911 or trying to help. Without elaborating, he said his agency is cooperating with po- lice in a different state on a sim- ilar case. "There's a pattern of behavior here where she doesn't seek help when someone is in trouble," he said. News vans gathered outside Hayes hilltop estate overlooking the glittering Monterey Bay on Tuesday. The five-bedroom home is on the market for $4.2 million. The yacht has been sailed out of the harbor to the Bay Area. Hayes' widow has not spoken publicly and a blog created in his memory was deleted Tuesday. On the web- site, friends and co-workers were seemingly unaware of how he died. They fondly described their time together, Christmas parties on his boat, engineering teams at Sun Microsystems, traveling to China for Apple and most re- cently at Google, where they said he was involved in the Glass eye- wear projects. "He had life wired, he really liked his job, was spending a lot more time with his family, cruis- ing around in his boat. I am really grateful that Forrest's last mo- ments were happy ones," wrote a friend in December. SANTA CRUZ Call girl charged with manslaughter By Henry C. Jackson The Associated Press WASHINGTON Farmers and ranchers who suffered heavy livestock and graz- ing losses over the last three years due to extreme weather have been quick to take advantage of newly availabwle disaster relief funds, the U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture said Wednesday. As of July 2, the agency has distributed more than 106,000 payments totaling $1.2 billion in relief funds in three months, the prog- ress report said. That's a little less than half the $2.5 billion the USDA es- timated would be spent on cases from 2011 to 2014. The funds encompass sev- eral programs for disaster relief included in the farm bill, which was approved in February. Among the communities anxious for the funds to be- come available were South Dakota ranchers who suf- fered historic losses dur- ing an unusual early-sea- son blizzard last October. An estimated 43,000 cat- tle and other livestock died, with individual ranchers suffering, in some cases, more than $1 million in losses. The storm also af- fected farms and ranches in North Dakota. USDA did not provide data for individual states, so it wasn't clear which were quickest to take ad- vantage of the new pro- gram. Forty states, including the Dakotas, have begun to receive disaster pay- ments that expired in 2011 but were retroactively re- newed when Congress passed the new farm bill this year. The funds are available to help ranchers and farmers who have suf- fered through blizzards, persistent droughts and other unexpected weather conditions. That includes many states in southern Plains, like Texas, which dealt with severe drought in 2011 and 2012, and Cal- ifornia, which is still in a drought. Most of the disaster re- lief programs will remain available until early next year for those filing for losses from 2011 until early 2014. But the USDA will stop accepting applica- tions for Emergency Assis- tance for Livestock, Honey- bees and Farm-Raised Fish Program, known as ELAP, on Aug. 1. The other programs, including one for live- stock losses suffered due to drought or adverse weather, and a tree assis- tance program, will con- tinue to take retroactive applications until next year. The programs will provide the same relief for future disasters until the farm bill expires in 2018. Agriculture Secre- tary Tom Vilsack said the progress report released Wednesday showed that the relief programs were moving smoothly. At the request of President Barack Obama, he said, he expe- dited USDA's implementa- tion of the program, with applications accepted in April, just 60 days after the farm bill was signed into law. Vilsack said the agency had set ambitious goals and that it was now operating efficiently to deliver relief. "Farmers and ranchers who waited two and a half years for a farm bill are now getting some relief," Vilsack said. AGRICULTURE Deadcattle in Sulphur Creek in western South Dakota are seen during a flyover of areas hard hit by a snowstorm that killed thousands of animals. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS By Don Thompson The Associated Press SACRAMENTO Brown lawns and dusty cars could become the norm in California as state regulators consider unprec- edented $500-a-day fines for water-wasters, after acknowl- edging that voluntary steps to reduce consumption amid a his- toric drought haven't worked. Water regulators are set to consider the draft emergency regulations when they meet in Sacramento next week, invok- ing for the first time manda- tory statewide restrictions on residential outdoor water use. A combination of manda- tory and voluntary restrictions has resulted in a statewide wa- ter use reduction of 5 percent through May, far short of the 20 percent sought by Gov. Jerry Brown. Regulators are hopeful that Californians, with some nudg- ing, will respond as they did during the drought of 1976 and 1977. Brown happened to be gov- ernor then, as well, and called for statewide conservation mea- sures. About a third of the state's residents responded, enough to voluntarily reduce water con- sumption by about 20 percent, according to an archived re- port from the state Department of Water Resources. "I like to say, having a brown- ing lawn and a dirty car is a badge of honor," State Water Resources Control Board Chair- woman Felicia Marcus said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. About 30 percent of the state's water suppliers already have im- posed mandatory restrictions that include limits on outdoor irrigation, washing vehicles and filling ornamental fountains and swimming pools. The regulations the board will consider Tuesday aim to put muscle behind conservation ef- forts and would give more au- thority to law enforcement to impose the restrictions, though it will be up to local govern- ments on how and when to act. Urban water agencies would have to require mandatory re- strictions on outdoor water use, if they have not done so already. Agencies without water plans would have to restrict outdoor irrigation to no more than two days each week or take other mandatory steps to conserve the same amount of water. Statewide regulations would prohibit landscape watering that causes runoff onto side- walks or streets, washing side- walks, driveways and other hard surfaces, using a hose to wash a vehicle unless the hose has a shut-off nozzle and using drink- ing water in a fountain or dec- orative water feature unless the water is recirculated. Violations would be punish- able by fines of up to $500 a day, although most cities are likely to have a sliding scale that starts with a warning and builds for repeat violations. The board is initially target- ing outdoor use because that accounts for much of the water waste, Marcus said. The California Department of Water Resources estimates that cities and suburbs use about a fifth of the state's wa- ter in most years. About half of the urban water use is outdoors. Agriculture is by far the greatest water user, account- ing for 75 percent of the state's consumption. Kevin Wattier, general man- ager of the Long Beach Water District, said the agency al- ready has mandatory restric- tions but added that his dis- trict's starting $50 fine is too small to bother enforcing. He said the possibility of heftier penalties alone should stop guz- zlers. Tim Quinn, executive direc- tor of the Association of Cali- fornia Water Agencies, said he doesn't expect fines to be im- posed by local agencies on a large scale, but said the regula- tions would push Californians to take the drought seriously. "The word 'voluntary' doesn't say 'serious' to most people; the word 'mandatory' does," Quinn said. Marcus, the water board chairwoman, said the proposed regulations are reasonable steps that all residents should take. "What we're proposing here as an opening salvo is the bare minimum," Marcus told report- ers during a conference call. "If it doesn't rain later this fall, we certainly will consider more stringent measures." She said board members might require efforts to stop leaks that account for an es- timated 10 percent or more of water use, or stricter landscape restrictions, or encouraging water agencies to boost rates for consumers who use more than their share of water as a disincentive. "We're not trying to spank people. We're trying to ring a bell and get people's attention," she said. "We have communities struggling for water and bath- ing out of buckets," Marcus said. It's fair, she said, for the state to require that at a mini- mum, "that people don't water sidewalks, that people don't let their water run when they're washing their car." DROUGHT STATE HOPES FINES UP TO $500 SLOW WATER WASTE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A sign alerts visitors to water conservation efforts at the Capitol. State water regulators are considering fines up to $500for excessive water use for things like irrigating lawns and car washing due to the state's severe drought. RancherstakingadvantageofUSDAdisasterprogram Thefamilyof Roger"Perk"Perkins is having a celebration of life for Perk's family & many friends. Come lift a glass & share a nibble on July 12 th from 2-6 pm at Indian Oaks Ranch 21930 So.Wallen Rd., Red Bluff Bringyourselfandyour"Perk"storiestoshare THURSDAY, JULY 10, 2014 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 7 A