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VIOLENCE Continued from page 1A was reported in the parking lot at Washington and Pine streets in Red Bluff. Officers responded around 2 a.m. Saturday and found a man unconscious on Pine near the intersection with Wash- ington. Witnesses said the victim was struck in the face one time by a man and fell to the ground, striking his head on the pavement, a release said. The suspect fled the area on foot. During the fight, a woman reportedly sprayed people nearby with tear gas or pepper spray before fleeing on foot, the release said. The victim was taken to St. Elizabeth Community Hos- pital before being flown by helicopter to Mercy Medical Center in Redding for further treatment. Red Bluff Fire Department personnel treated several people at the scene for exposure to tear gas. Suspects have been identified, but the case is still under investigation, the release said. Anyone with information about the altercation is asked to call police at 527-3131. Gang activity was reported early Sunday morning in Corning. Officers were called around 1:48 a.m. Sunday to the 800 block of Fairview Avenue in Corning due to reports of shots fired, according to a release from the Corning Police Department. Witnesses reported seeing a white Nissan Maxima speeding from the scene and several people running from the area. Officers spotted three people running a few blocks from the scene and commanded Andreas Rodriguez Avala, 20, to stop. Avala told officers he had been at a party and was stand- ing in the driveway when reported members of the Norteno street gang confronted him and his friends and attacked them, the release said. One of the suspected gang members fired a single shot from a handgun into the air, the release said. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call Corning police at 824-7000. The investigation is ongo- ing and no suspects were in custody as of Sunday morning. Staff report RATE Continued from page 1A cent. In other industries, pro- fessional and business ser- WEED Continued from page 1A operations.” Efforts include the removal of trash and debris used in cultivation, WALK Continued from page 1A “This is the worst dis- ease in history,” she said. It is called the “long goodbye” because it takes away people’s lives piece by piece over many years, she said. It costs so much to the families, emotionally and finan- cially. Lassen House offers 86 homes, often for those who have Alzheimer’s, Ashby said. Many resi- dents helped with the flea DMV Continued from page 1A cants agreed to be donors, com- SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — This county’s presiding superior court judge stood at the lectern and looked out at the bank of television cameras and assembled press. She took a deep breath. ‘‘This is the saddest and most heartwrenching day I have experi- enced in my professional life,’’ said Judge Katherine Feinstein, the daughter of California’s senior U.S senator. As San Francisco’s top judge, it fell to Feinstein to close the court’s $13.75 million budget hole. On Monday, she announced that she was laying off 40 percent of the court’s work force and shuttering 25 of 63 courtrooms and all but putting the civil division out of business. It will now take up to five years for some lawsuits to come to trial and an average of 18 months to finalize divorces in San Francisco. Lines to pay traffic fines in person are expected to be daunting. And it still could get worse. Feinstein warned that further cuts could be on their way in January if optimistic revenue projections don’t materialize. ‘‘We will be a shell of what we once were,’’ she said. San Francisco is not alone in its dramatic dismantling of its court system because of California’s bud- get disaster. Courts in all 58 counties are grappling with a third straight year of budget cuts that have reduced spending by an unprecedented 30 percent over that period. Hundreds of workers have been laid off across the state and thousands more placed on unpaid furloughs. Clerk’s offices open late and close early and an increasing number of counties are closing courtrooms for good. Planned upgrades or replacements of decaying courthouses that serve as focal points in small-town Cali- fornia are being delayed, scaled back or even canceled. ‘‘It has never been worse,’’ said Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who took over as the state’s top judge in January after serving as trial court judge and appellate jurist since 1990. On Friday, embattled judicial branch leaders apportioned $350 million in cuts throughout the branch. The cuts were caused by Sacramento lawmakers slashing the courts’ $3 billion budget by more than 10 percent to close California’s record deficit. The Judicial Council, which con- trols the courts budget, ordered trial courts to cut their budgets by almost 7 percent. It also ordered cuts to the Administrative Office of the Courts and the state’s two highest courts, including the California Supreme Court. With the exception of San Joaquin County, courts in the other 56 counties aren’t making such severe cuts as San Francisco. Still, the public can expect longer lines at courthouses, longer waits for docu- ments and frequent delays in having its day in court throughout the state. Shasta County, for example, is limiting its clerks hours to one-day a week at a remote courthouse. Small claim parties in the Tule- lake resort area of Siskiyou County and those accused of misdemeanor crimes and infractions will now have to drive 26 miles to have their cases resolved since the closing of a courthouse there. The story is the same throughout California. Even the Cow County Judges Institute, which is a forum for rural judges, is being canceled next year to save $25,000. Then there’s San Joaquin Coun- ty, the crime-plagued capital of the Central Valley, home to Stockton, always among the top ten cities in foreclosure rates. Among other sig- nificant cuts to its overwhelmed court system, San Joaquin is plan- ning to stop deciding all small claims cases. More than 3,000 were filed last year. The county is pleading with state court leaders for extra funding so it can reopen its Tracy courthouse and restart hearing small claims cases. ‘‘It’s horrible for litigants,’’ Pre- siding Judge Robin Appel said. ‘‘These people simply will not have their day in court.’’ Still, nowhere is the news as bad as it is in San Francisco. After fur- loughing workers, reducing hours and exhausting its reserves to meet deficits the last two years, Feinstein said San Francisco courts had few options left to close a $13.75 mil- lion deficit for the coming fiscal year. So 11 of its 12 court commis- sioners and 200 of 483 workers will be let go on Sept. 30. In addition, 25 of its 61 courtrooms will be shut- vices had a 1.1 percent decline. Other industries had slightly more jobs or stayed the same. There are 3.8 percent fewer people without jobs in Tehama County com- Monday, July 25, 2011 – Daily News 5A pared to this time last year. In surrounding coun- ties, Butte’s unemploy- ment rate was 14.1 per- cent, Shasta’s was 15 per- cent and Glenn’s was 16.2 percent. with the goal of making the lands available for safe recreation with clean and healthy natural resources. “We ask for the public’s patience and understanding as we conduct these operations and reclaim our public lands,” the release said. market by donating money or items to sell. Some of the items includ- ed frames decorated and crafted by guests among the 18 booths set up under shade umbrellas and tents. There were so many people she couldn’t keep track, despite it being very hot out, Ashby said. After the success of this year’s event, Ashby is certain the group will do another flea market next year, she said. For now, it is planning an annual luau dinner The state’s unemploy- ment is at about 12.1 per- cent, nearly 3 percent higher than the national unemployment rate of 9.3 percent. — Staff report For more information, call Spe- cial Agent Michelle Gregory, public information officer of the California Department of Justice, at 916 869- 0413 or send an email to michelle.gregory@doj.ca.gov. -Andrea Wagner Aug. 19. Organizers will raffle a basket of items donated by local busi- nesses during the event. The basket is estimated to be worth $1,500, she said. All of the money goes toward the Alzheimer’s Memory Walk, to be held in Chico Oct. 1. The walk donates money to the Alzheimer’s Association, which is working to find a cure for the disease. Linda Huckaby, activi- ty director for Lassen House for the last nine years, is looking forward pared to 34 percent of renewals by mail and 22 percent of license applicants at DMV offices. Less than 1 percent of people who elect to donate end up having State’s courts endure third year of cuts tered for good, leaving the city with more judges than courtrooms. ‘‘We are judge rich and staff poor,’’ Feinstein said. Since criminal cases must be heard in a timely fashion to comply with speedy trial laws, all of San Francisco court closures will occur in the civil division, which will be left with only three courtrooms to conduct trials. ‘‘The civil justice system in San Francisco is collapsing,’’ Feinstein said. Feinstein said that when court opens for the first time Oct. 3 after the cuts go into effect ‘‘we will be a shell of what we once were.’’ Cantil-Sakauye has largely left it to each county to decide how to implement the cuts ordered by the Judicial Council. That’s in contrast to two years ago when the council ordered every court regardless of its finances to close one day a month. The closures caused widespread dissent and a group of council critics formed the Alliance of California Judges, which alleges that court leaders have made bad spending decisions. The alliance took particular exception to a $1.9 billion statewide computer system that project members argue is unneces- sary and problem plagued. The alliance has called for the cancella- tion of the project, which it says has already cost the branch about $600 million. Instead, judicial leaders are halt- ing funding for a year of the so- called California Court Case Man- agement System, or CCMS. ‘‘Once again, court leadership has decided to preserve the central bureaucracy...The one year suspen- sion of CCMS does nothing to rec- tify the mismanagement, lack of oversight and waste,’’ the alliance said in a statement.’’ The chief justice said the com- puter system ‘‘is being looked at like everything else.’’ In the meantime, the newly mint- ed chief justice said she looks for- ward to the day where she can focus on deciding cases rather than spending her days whittling down California’s judicial system. She acknowledges that whatever budget decision she makes will upset someone. ‘‘I do understand the frustra- tion,’’ she said. ‘‘I’m frustrated, too.’’ Skiing in late July? Sierra resort opens for day RENO, Nev. (AP) — Hundreds of skiers and snowboarders are expect- ed to hit the slopes as a Sierra Nevada ski resort opens for the day Satur- day. Boreal Mountain Resort spokeswoman Jody Churich says a record seasonal snowfall is allowing the latest opening ever at her resort located atop Donner Summit near Truckee, Calif. Such late openings in the season are extremely rare in the Sierra. The latest date of operation for a Sierra resort is believed to be Aug. 13, 1995 at Mam- moth Mountain, just east of Yosemite National Park, after an unusually snowy winter. Boreal reported receiving about 66 feet of snow this season, sur- passing its record of 55 feet set in 1994-95. The resort on Saturday will reopen a chairlift accessing one run and one terrain park. to the walk, she said. “I’m team captain every year,” she said. The team raised almost $1,300 last year, she said. This year, they want to raise even more. Because of that dream, or goal, they’ve chosen “Ageless Dreamers” as their team’s theme, Huckaby said. For more information about the fundraising effort, call Lassen House Assisted Living and Memory Care at 529- 2900, or visit them at 705 Luther Road, in Red Bluff. their organs harvested because so few scenarios leave people brain dead, with oxygen still pumping to organs and tissues keeping them alive for transfer. Feds aim to combat family violence on reservations FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice has unveiled a legislative proposal that would stiffen federal sentences for certain domestic violence crimes in Indian Country and expand tribes’ authority to enforce pro- tection orders against non-Indians living on reservations. The proposal seeks to address crimes on tribal lands that officials say have reached epidemic rates. One-third of all American Indian women will be raped in their lifetime and nearly three of five have been assaulted by their partner, the Justice Department says. In addition, murder rates are 10 times higher than the national average for Native women. ‘‘Not surprisingly, abusers who are not arrested are more likely to repeat and escalate their attacks,’’ U.S. Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli said. Tribal leaders, police officers and prosecutors are all too familiar with this cycle of violence, and Justice Department officials say it’s time to address it. The agency is proposing fixes it hopes Congress will consider in reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act first passed in 1994. Though no one has committed to spon- soring the proposed amendments, the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee and other lawmakers say they’re review- ing them. Only federal prosecutions can lead to serious penalties for major crimes involving Native Americans on tribal lands. Justice officials want to expand the types of reservation crimes over which the federal government has jurisdiction. They so doing so would bring sentences more in line with those faced by defendants in state courts who commit the same crimes, and give prosecutors better tools for deterring the offenses. The crimes include assault resulting in substantial bodi- ly injury, which would carry a five-year sentence. The max- imum penalty for assault or an attempt to assault by stran- gulation or suffocation would increase from six months to 10 years. Anyone found guilty of assault by striking, beat- ing or wounding could be imprisoned for a year. Federal prosecutors have declined to pursue some assault cases committed against women on reservations because the injuries were not serious enough to constitute a felony. Tribal officials say the authority they most look forward to acquiring is over non-Indians in domestic violence cases. According to Justice Department officials, tribal police often wrongly assume they cannot arrest a non-Indian sus- pect. The agency wants to clarify that an arrest should be made even if tribes cannot prosecute non-Indians in crimi- nal cases. The proposed amendments would give tribal courts the ability to enforce protection orders against non-Indians, regardless of where the order originates. Lorena Halwood, who works with domestic violence victims on the Navajo Nation, said family abuse violates not only the law but the traditional Navajo way of life, which preaches harmony and talking with one another to mitigate problems. She stood with others in the Navajo Nation’s cap- ital this week, asking tribal lawmakers to support legislation that would specifically criminalize domestic violence for the first time on the reservation. ‘‘A lot of the victims have come to accept there’s nothing anybody can do,’’ she said. Halwood’s work with domestic violence spans 16 years, creating a network of safe houses for victims awaiting trans- port to one of two shelters on the 27,000-square-mile reser- vation, the size of West Virginia. She’s seen broken jaws and noses, sexual assault and rape cases, and has made 2 a.m. visits to the emergency room.