Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/359768
politicalcareerbyrunning for Tehama County District Attorney. In stark contrast to his later life, Engle was known as a fundamental- ist "religious radical" at Chico, straitlaced in per- sonal habits and contemp- tuous of cigarettes and al- cohol. He graduated from San Francisco's Hastings law school and eloped with his first wife Hazel in 1933. So as not to compete with Red Bluff's established at- torneys, he moved to Corn- ing, set up a law office and won the 1934 district attor- ney election at age 23. In 1942, Engle ran suc- cessfully for state sen- ate, representing Tehama, Glenn and Colusa coun- ties. California then had a severe farm worker short- age. Among his accom- plishments in Sacramento was legislation that con- verted county fairgrounds into housing for Mexican "braceros." In May 1943, longtime Rep. Harry Englebright of Nevada City, the No. 2 House Republican Leader, suddenly died. Engle won the special election to fill the vacancy mainly be- cause two Republican challengers, including En- glebright's widow, divided the GOP vote. Many assumed that "Clair" was a feminine name; it is derived from his aunt Clara, who aided his birth. Engle liked to tell of an old miner who refused to vote in the '43 election because he figured that all three candidates (Clair, Jes- sie and Grace) were women. Engle represented a vast congressional district en- compassing 18 counties from the Oregon border through the Sierra foot- hills to Death Valley. The nation's only larger dis- trict in the 1940s was in Nevada. An avid pilot, En- gle connected with his far- flung constituents by fly- ing between towns. "I fly up and down that district as long as my clean shirts hold out," he would say. When he visited the Ko- rean War front in 1952, he insisted on flying a combat mission. His second wife Lucretia, "Lu," was a con- gressional secretary and a fellow pilot. Thus began a 21-year congressional tenure. En- gle focused on water, pub- lic electric power, mining and natural resource policy on the House Interior com- mittee, rising to chairman of that body in the 1950s. With beaver-like diligence, he advanced and added to the Central Valley Proj- ect, the vast irrigation and flood control venture. The Sacramento Valley distri- bution canal network and the Folsom/American River Project were among his ma- jor contributions. Engle legislated in an era when man still was con- quering the natural west, conservation science was nascent and environmental impact reports were nonex- istent. Flying over the Cen- tral Valley in 1955 with a reporter, Engle was irked by infertile brown patches and spoke of his vision to turn the entire valley a lush green. He pointed with pride to dams that enabled the verdant farms, "They're cement and steel. Something you can out and stomp around on." He justified damming the Trinity River and diverting its "ocean run-off" to the Sacramento River "to keep those salmon from gettin' sunburned." Today salmon populations in both water- sheds have collapsed. Engle believed that lo- cal issues elected him, so if no local issue existed at election time, "I go out and create one." A Republican who became a Democrat circa 1936, Engle carefully crafted a bipartisan profile. Under California's cross-fil- ing law, he often won both parties' nominations and appeared on the Novem- ber ballot unopposed. He angered organized labor, a traditional Democratic base, when he favored the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act. He defended his position in Redding, Roseville and other union strongholds. Like most politicians during World War II, En- gle favored Japanese in- ternment. Two camps, Tule Lake and Manzanar, were in his district. He also worked to tighten Califor- nia's "alien land laws" that restricted property owner- ship by Asians. Of Engle's early years in Congress, historian Say- les wrote, "Attracted to the centers of power in the House cloakroom, he built strong political and per- sonal ties to southern del- egations, particularly the Texans, a factor both in his rapid rise in the leader- ship establishment and in his rich, metaphoric lan- guage." Standing five feet, seven inches, he was known as "the Little Giant in Pol- itics." His flamboyance made him "the only ac- tive volcano in the House," a reputation bolstered by the fact that Mt. Lassen, the only active volcano in the then-48 states, was in his district. Engle was emerging as a national political figure. Paul F. Healy of the Satur- day Evening Post profiled him in a 1955 article titled "Wildcat in Washington." The article said, "Engle is usually trailed by a billow- ing cloud of cigar smoke as he hurries through Capitol corridors. And he is a fig- urative ball of fire when pushing legislation in com- mittee sessions or in cloak- rooms … He is almost con- tinually in motion. He walks briskly and purpose- fully, shoulders back and chest out, generally keep- ing about ten paces ahead of everyone else." The Post observed, "When he opens his mouth, Engle is as refreshing as the air in the mountain hinterland that elected him. There have been com- plaints that he 'always puts on an act,' Western-prose- cutor style, at public com- mittee sessions, but there's no denying it's an enter- taining show. For Engle owns and operates the most picturesque vocabulary in the House. He speaks al- most entirely in vivid met- aphors, borrowed largely from two worlds he knows at firsthand — the world of the aviator and the world of the cowboy, rancher and farmer." "[E]xamples of his ver- nacular are gleefully col- lected and circulated among House members and newspapermen as 'Englei- sms,'" the Post explained. "Two words he uses with great relish were both in- spired in Engle by the sight of cautious politicians at work. One word is "huff- chuff," which means to strut around in pompous self-importance without committing oneself. The other is "chugurum," which is used to describe the stammering, throat clear- ing of double-talk noises emitted by a politician sud- denly put on the spot." Of recalcitrant bureaucrats, he said, "harass 'em, burn 'em, sweat 'em and give 'em hell." He warned commit- tee witnesses, "I'm sure go- ing to throw a skunk into your henhouse" and that he would pounce on them "like a turkey on a snake." In his leisure time, Engle studied Shakespeare. In the late 1950s, Engle decided to run for U.S. Sen- ate. He polled fellow Cali- fornia Democratic con- gressmen and learned that none was interested in run- ning, especially because the powerful William Knowl- and, the Senate Republican Leader, was the incumbent. His wife "Lu" later said, "[A]s he was a boy from the northern mountains, he would make a good sac- rificial goat." Engle's timing was for- tuitous. Knowland decided to run for governor, essen- tially forcing then-Gov. Goodwin Knight to trade places and run for Senate. Aided by a national Demo- cratic landslide in 1958, En- gle defeated Knight hand- ily as then-Attorney Gen- eral "Pat" Brown trounced Knowland. Engle was the first Democrat to occupy that Senate seat in the 20th century. In the Senate, Engle worked well with Cali- fornia colleague Thomas Kuchel (R-Anaheim). To- gether they passed the San Luis water project and West Coast electric power inter- tie and designated Point Reyes National Seashore. As a member of the Sen- ate Commerce committee, Engle promoted aviation and trade with Asia. He advanced California's Cold War military-industrial complex on the Armed Ser- vices committee. Engle won urban support with his ad- vocacy for civil rights and federal aid to public transit. When John F. Kennedy be- came president in 1961, En- gle had a key role in select- ing California's political ap- pointees and judges. The late Judge John Purchio of Hayward was a Democratic power broker in that era, serving as an intermediary between En- gle and Pat Brown during political feuds. In a 1996 interview, he recalled En- gle's preferred manner of conducting business one- on-one: he would pull out a favorite liquor bottle and pound it onto the table. Drinks and stories would flow for hours, including such "Engleisms" as "His- tory is like whiskey. It de- pends on who the distiller is" and "I'm as happy as a fox with two tails." Engle's world changed in August 1963, after he un- derwent brain surgery to remove a tumor. The right side of his body was par- alyzed and his speech im- paired. In a 1977 interview with U.C. Berkeley's oral history program, wife "Lu" said, "[W]hat pure hell for a man, an attorney, in pol- itics, a very fluent speaker, to be struck with aphasia." Engle missed many votes over the following weeks. When the Senate posed for its first official portrait in September 1963, Engle was the only senator absent. He made a rare public appear- ance that November to pay tribute to President Ken- nedy's casket. Speculation swirled that Engle was not up to running for re-elec- tion in 1964. Engle announced in De- cember 1963 that he would run, but this did not dis- suade Democratic chal- lengers. State Control- ler Alan Cranston and ex-White House Press Sec- retary Pierre Salinger ulti- mately ran; Attorney Gen- eral Stanley Mosk consid- ered it. Lu Engle bitterly recalled in 1977, "I really truly felt he was going to get better and so did he. … They could not wait. It seemed like indecent haste to me … They grabbed for the reins before he had ever let loose." On April 13, 1964, the "New York Times" re- ported, Engle "tried to in- troduce a resolution and couldn't speak. The Senator rose to his feet, assisted by two aides, stood silently for a minute and then uttered an unintelligible sound. … After sitting in his chair for a few minutes, Senator En- gle was virtually carried from the chamber by his aides." His condition worsened after a second brain oper- ation on April 24th. Engle formally dropped out of the race four days later. Engle's wife and brother endorsed Salinger. But the most poignant moments in Engle's politi- cal career were yet to come. On June 10, 1964, the Sen- ate voted to end a weeks- long Southern filibuster of the landmark civil rights bill. Engle was wheeled into the Senate chamber, providing a climax to the legislative drama. Unable to speak, he voted "aye" by raising an arm and point- ing to his eye. He cast a sim- ilar vote nine days later in favor of final passage. En- gle's actions are featured in "200 Notable Days," a book about Senate history, and in most accounts of Civil Rights Act passage. Clair Engle died in Wash- ington on July 30, 1964. President Lyndon Johnson said, "Clair Engle was set apart by the qualities of in- telligence, compassion and integrity which made him an unusual person and an exceptional public servant." That evening the "Daily News" front page an- nounced, "SEN. CLAIR EN- GLES DIES SUDDENLY: Red Bluff's Leading Citi- zen Loses Battle With Brain Tumor." An editorial stated, "While at the Nation's cap- itol [Engle] built a reputa- tion as one of the most col- orful individuals to stride the halls of Congress. His- tory will record this. But in Red Bluff the memory of Clair Engle is deeply etched on the hearts of his Tehama County friends and neigh- bors." Secretaries in the Te- hama County District At- torney's office placed black ribbon on his portrait in mourning. A memorial service was held at Fort Myer, Virginia on Aug. 1. Much of official Washington attended, in- cluding President and Mrs. Lyndon Johnson and Chief Justice Earl Warren. On Aug. 2, Engle's casket was transported to Red Bluff, where his body lay in honor in the Tehama County courthouse rotunda over- night. On Aug. 3, his burial took place before a crowd of 3,000 at Oak Hill Cem- etery, officiated by a Meth- odist bishop and minister. A large congressional dele- gation attended along with Gov. Pat Brown and other dignitaries. Red Bluff Mayor Wil- liam Fleharty and the Te- hama County Board of Su- pervisors declared it a day of mourning; banks and the post office closed dur- ing the funeral. A condo- lence line formed at the Red Bluff Elks Lodge. Gov. Brown appointed Salinger, the Democratic nominee, to Engle's va- cant Senate seat. Salinger lost that November to Re- publican George Murphy, a movie actor. Both of Engle's parents outlived him. Yvonne En- gle Childs, a daughter from his first marriage, today re- sides in San Francisco. Clair Engle's legacy has faded over the past half century. Soon after his death, a federal law desig- nated the reservoir behind Trinity Dam as "Clair En- gle Lake" to memorialize "his outstanding leadership and great service," includ- ing his role in authorizing the Trinity project in 1955. However, in 1997, Con- gress and President Bill Clinton stripped Engle's name and re-designated it "Trinity Lake." Sen. Bar- bara Boxer and Rep. Wally Herger (R-Marysville), heirs to Engle's public offices, sponsored the legislation, an extraordinary repeal of a congressional honor. Proponents claimed that the change was necessary to alleviate confusion to tourists. Rep. Vic Fazio (D- West Sacramento) voiced concern, "The committee report states the intention to name a suitable Central Valley Project facility for Clair Engle in exchange for the change of name for this lake. … I hope Congress will find a suitable substi- tute as quickly as possible." Yet 17 years later that promise remains unful- filled. The Clair Engle Papers comprise 226 boxes at the CSU Chico's Meriam Li- brary. Among the artifacts is a giant billboard from the '58 race. Audio-visual ma- terials are now being dig- itized. Engle's story returned to the news in 2009 as Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) coped with and finally suc- cumbed to brain cancer. Aside from his grave, in Tehama County today about the only tribute to Engle is his portrait hang- ing in the district attorney's office, one photo among nearly 30 others. William B. Ide, president of the 1846 California Re- public, was a local states- man of arguably compa- rable stature. However, he died before establishment of Tehama County in 1856. JasonA.Bezisisalawyer from Lafayette, in Con- tra Costa County. He is writing a book about Sen. Thomas Kuchel, Engle's California colleague. He can be reached at jbezis@ yahoo.com. Death FROMPAGE1 ing Wednesday a Tehama County Superior Court judge heard the testimony of California Highway Pa- trol Officer James Keffer, who obtained Burrone's phone records, found no evidence that Burrone ap- plied his brakes before he struck the slowed or stopped Nissan and said a witness reportedly saw Burrone holding a device above the steering wheel of his Ford F-250 pickup in the moments leading to the crash. Burrone's attorney, Rol- land Papendick, walked through the phone re- cords with Keffer, asking if they show whether Bur- rone had opened any re- ceived text messages. Kef- fer said they didn't. Pa- pendick also said Burrone did not show "gross negli- gence" in the crash, citing previous court cases. Judge Matt McGlynn said it was for a jury to decide whether negligence or gross negligence was shown, and added that a reasonable person would be aware that texting or reading a text while driv- ing could result in death or injury. McGlynn said, however, that it was for the court to determine whether there is probable cause that a crime was committed. McGlynn said it is un- lawful to write, send or read a text message while driving, noted that no skid marks were found from Burrone's vehicle at the scene and that a witness told an officer that he ob- served Burrone looking at a device before the crash. Based on those facts, he said, he would hold Burrone to answer on the vehicular manslaughter charge. A charge of involuntary manslaughter was dis- missed earlier in the hear- ing, and Burrone had his bail reduced from $60,000 to $20,000. Burrone is next sched- uled to appear in court for a pretrial or settlement conference on Sept. 15. The defendant remains out of custody. Trial FROM PAGE 1 tal Apartments, where he was arrested on suspicion of felony charges of forced oral copulation, false im- prisonment with violence and sexual battery, accord- ing to the release. Banks was booked into Tehama County Jail on Wednesday with bail set at $140,000. Assault FROM PAGE 1 DAILYNEWSFILE A roadside memorial for 5-year-old Gunner Langenderfer stands in May near State Route 99E and Sherman Street in Los Molinos. The man charged with vehicular manslaughter in Gunner's death was bound over for trial Wednesday. The Associated Press BURNEY Wildfires, like earthquakes, are a fright- ening fact of life in Cali- fornia, just more predict- able. So as thousands of firefighters made prog- ress in taming more than a dozen blazes that have pockmarked the northern half of the state, fire offi- cials and anxious residents of drought-afflicted rural communities breathed a shallow sigh of relief they knew might not last long. Light rain and an in- fusion of personnel and equipment from as far away as San Diego allowed fire crews to continue gain- ing momentum Wednes- day on a pair of wildfires that exploded over the weekend in a national for- est filled with moisture- starved fallen trees and have burned more than 110 square miles, officials said. The two fires burn- ing about 7 miles apart in Shasta and Lassen coun- ties were among nine ma- jor wildfires that erupted in a 24-hour period last week, most sparked by lightning. Firefighters "are a finite resource, and we hit all the fires that we can as quickly as we can and we are suc- cessful most of the time keeping the fires at less than 10 acres," said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Jim Mackensen. "When you get that many fires in remote locations and they all hit at once, we ran out of folks essentially, so they got bigger and we had to play catch-up a little bit." Eight homes, a historic post office and a restaurant were lost in the smaller of the two fires that started in Lassen National Forest and threatened Burney, a town of about 3,000 peo- ple in Shasta County. An evacuation advisory for Burney was lifted on Tues- day, and about 2,000 or so people in nearby com- munities who were under mandatory evacuation or- ders were allowed to re- turn home, California De- partment of Forestry and Fire Protection spokes- man Tom Piranio said. "Firefighters continue to make great progress in strengthening contain- ment lines and mopping up hot spots around the perimeter," he said. The spread of the sec- ond blaze had also slowed enough that people living in its path who had been evacuated since Friday night were allowed to re- turn home on Tuesday af- ternoon. Cooler temperatures and scattered show- ers also helped firefight- ers hold the line on four fires that have torched 51 square miles of wilderness and range and prompted evacuations in the state's farthest reaches, includ- ing one that started in Oregon. The precipitation was a mixed blessing, however. THE WEST Amid respite, West readies for more wildfires CynthiaBeatty April 28, 1958 - July 24, 2014 Cynthia Beatty passed on July 24, her battle over. She fought with a smile, now she can rest. Survivors are daughter Rebeca and 2 Grandchildren, mother, Mary Radford, father Jim Logue, brothers, Bob and Fred. No services planned at this time. Obituaries THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 2014 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM |NEWS | 7 A