Red Bluff Daily News

August 19, 2011

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Obituaries BEVERLY ANN MCFARLAND (1922 – 2011) co, California and died peacefully on August 16, 2011 in Red Bluff, California. She is survived by her children, Joan Dickerson and husband John of Redding, CA, Bon- nie Budd of Foster City, CA, nephew Greg Huckabee of Vermillion, SD, two grandchildren and three great grand children. Beverly and her husband of 53 years, John B. (Jack) McFarland, moved to Corning, CA in l948 where they op- erated an olive orchard for over fifty years. She served as manager of the Corning Chamber of Commerce for sever- al years and Jack was a former County Supervisor of Tehama County. They loved to cruise and traveled exten- sively around the world. Jack passed away in 2001. A private family memorial service will be held at a later date. Beverly will be buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, CA beside her husband, Jack. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memo- ry to the Shriner's Hospital for Children, 2425 Stockton Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95817. MILDRED ELIZABETH FORD Mildred Elizabeth Ford, 88, of Red Bluff passed away on August 16, 2011. Mildred was born June 25, 1923 in Weedville, PA., she moved to Red Bluff eleven years ago from Rancho Tehama where she lived for 20 years. She also lived in Stanton, CA and Emporium, PA. Mildred enjoyed her crafts, photo albums, playing cards, RISK Continued from page 1A and her secret sisters. She was a longtime member of the First Methodist Church, Ladies Auxilary of the VFW, and the Pink Ladies of St. Elizabeth Hospital. Mildred is survived by sons Thomas C. Ford and wife Marcella of Santa Rosa, CA and Robert W. Ford and wife Jane of The Dalles, OR, daughter Donna L. Ford and her partner Pat Strain of Mabank, TX, and Donna Wentz and husband Donovan of Red Bluff, 8 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren, brother Jerald Bilodgau of Bloom- field, CO, sisters Beverly Avgrill of Emporium, PA, Dorores Lawrence of Corvallis, OR, and Emilie Anderson and husband Stan of Warren, PA. She is preceded in death by her parents Dolph and Nancy Bilodhau, 3 broth- ers and 3 sisters. A Memorial Service will be held on Tuesday, August 23, at 10:00am at the Community Center at the Rio Vista Mo- bile Estate in Red Bluff. Internment will be at the Newton Cemetary, Emporium, PA. Death Notice Beulah Grootveld Beulah Grootveld of Red Bluff died Thursday, Aug. 18, 2011 at Lassen House. She was 88. Hoyt-Cole Chapel of the Flowers is handling the arrangement. Published Friday, Aug. 19, 2011, in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. action by the state Legislature. The report underscores what Cal- STRS officials have been saying for years, said Ricardo Duran, a spokesman for the fund. ''The issues are long-range ones, but the longer it takes to develop a plan, the more costly will be the solution,'' Duran said in an email. The long-term financial health of public pension funds has been a hot political topic across the nation, SACRAMENTO (AP) — A bill to keep protesters away from funerals was one step closer to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk after a unanimous vote Thursday by the California Assembly. The measure by Sen. Ted Lieu responded to a series of protests by the Westboro Baptist Church, a Topeka, Kan.-based group that has picketed military funerals around the country and contends the deaths reflect God's punishment for tolerating homosexuali- ty. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the group's right to protest in a ruling in March on a lawsuit filed by the family of a slain service- man. If signed into law, the California measure would make it a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, to protest within 1,000 feet of a funeral for one hour before or after a cere- mony. Protesters also would not be allowed to use amplified sound and would have to stay on public prop- erty. The Supreme Court examined the circum- including during California budget negotiations this spring. Some Democratic lawmakers still hope to pass a limited pension reform pack- age in the California Legislature this year, while GOP legislators have introduced a proposed constitutional amendment covering a broad pack- age of pension changes. Assembly approves bill limiting funeral protests stances of the Westboro Baptist Church protest in reaching its decision, not- ing picketers were 1,000 feet away from the funeral ceremony, on public land and not audible or disrup- tive to graveside mourners. Lieu, a Torrance Demo- crat and U.S. Air Force vet- eran, used the circum- stances of that protest as the basis for the restrictions in his bill. ''I accept the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court has the power to render harmful decisions, but protesters should not be able to dis- rupt actual funeral ser- vices,'' Lieu said in a state- ment after Thursday's vote. Lawmakers approved the bill 72-0 with bipartisan support. The state Senate also gave nearly unanimous backing in June to SB888, but must approve minor amendments before the bill can go to the governor. The American Civil Lib- erties Union opposed the bill in committee as an infringement on free speech. Backers say at least 40 other states have passed limits on funeral protests. Westboro pastor Fred Phelps has challenged some of them. 4 GOP lawmakers show office budgets Autopsy: Toddler taken by father was shot twice SACRAMENTO (AP) — Four Republican law- makers broke ranks with legislative leaders and released their complete office budgets, defying a committee controlled by the Assembly speaker that has said such docu- ments are not public records. Freshmen GOP law- makers Shannon Grove of Bakersfield, Tim Don- nelly of Twin Peaks, and Kristin Olsen of Modesto released their office spending records to The Associated Press because they said such records should be open. Later Thursday, Assemblyman Allan Mansoor of Costa Mesa posted his monthly spending records on his Assembly website. ''I'm just doing what I feel in my heart is right, just trying to make sure the public is getting what they're supposed to be getting. It's their money,'' Grove said Thursday. ''I would hope that the entire Assembly would do the same.'' A feud over access to the budgets has embroiled members of the state Assembly and shined a light on the Legislature's longstand- ing, secretive practices. The first three mem- bers of the minority party who released their records spent less than $400,000 each, not including their pay. The figures are modest com- pared with the budgets of Democrats and more senior lawmakers, who sometimes get hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional funds based on their committee assignments and leader- ship posts. Each lawmaker in the Assembly is given an official base budget of $263,000. They also get an additional allocation that is not reflected in some of the documents. Grove and Olsen's allocations this year are $60,000 each, while Donnelly's and Man- soor's are $50,000. The money goes to help pay for their staffs. Grove, Olsen and Donnelly said the docu- ments detailing their budgets were written by legislative leaders and highlight the lack of transparency in the Leg- islature, since many costs are obscured. For example, district office rent, travel to and from district offices and the capital, and the costs for those who use state vehicles appear in sepa- rate documents than the ones that detail staff salaries and Capitol expenses. For Grove and Don- nelly, those costs are around $30,000 each so far this year. For Olsen, the figure is about $50,000. The issue arose from a feud between Assem- bly Speaker John Perez and a fellow Democratic lawmaker but has since erupted into a debate over the Legislative Open Records Act, a 1975 law written by law- makers that allows the Legislature to decide what records it will release or keep secret. Assemblyman Antho- ny Portantino, D-La Canada-Flintridge, claims Perez, D-Los Angeles, slashed Portan- tino's office allowance when he refused to vote for the state budget. As a result, his staff members face a six-week layoff this fall. Perez accused Portan- tino of overspending. In response, Portantino sought details of law- makers' budgets from the Assembly Rules Committee, which over- sees legislative records. The panel, however, said current budget docu- ments are not subject to the law because they could include prelimi- nary, unofficial drafts. Instead, the commit- tee released documents that present an incom- plete and at times con- tradictory picture. The figures show some rank- and-file Republican law- makers with more lavish budgets than the Assem- bly speaker or the Democratic heads of powerful committees. The Los Angeles Times and Sacramento Bee have filed a lawsuit seeking to force disclo- sure of up-to-date records. The individual office budgets are not the only area of disparity in the Assembly, where Democrats who control the Legislature deter- mine much of the spend- ing. Separate documents, posted at Perez's direc- tion, show the salaries of Democratic caucus staff members total about $9.9 million a year. By comparison, staff mem- bers of the Republican caucus make a total of $4.9 million. Caucus staff members help their respective leaders promote legisla- tive agendas. In all, at least 58 leg- islative staffers make more than $120,000 a year. Nearly 20 of them work for the Democratic caucus, and four work for the GOP caucus. Some Democratic lawmakers with high- profile committee assignments spend more than $1.6 million on salaries alone. Because Democrats have not released complete bud- gets, a thorough compar- ison is impossible. The budget docu- ments released to the AP show Grove's highest paid employee makes $48,000 a year, Donnel- ly's top earner is paid $55,615, and Olsen's highest earner is paid $96,000. A separate AP request for budget details is pending in the state Sen- ate. Since lawmakers returned from summer recess this week, many from both parties have been embroiled in an internal debate over what records should be made public. In response to the controversy, Perez on Monday announced he is creating a task force to study the issue. He asked Assembly- woman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, chairwoman of the rules committee, to report back by Janu- ary. Perez's spokes- woman, Robin Swanson, did not return a phone message Thursday seek- ing comment. Assembly Minority Leader Connie Conway, R-Tulare, under pressure from her own caucus, sent a letter late Wednes- day to Skinner asking for the immediate release of accurate, up-to-date bud- get figures. She said it is essential that Californians have access to information about how their tax dol- lars are being spent ''in order to judge our per- formance and hold us accountable.'' On the floor of the state Assembly Thurs- day, Portantino praised the Republican lawmak- ers who took the politi- cally risky step of releasing their office budgets. In an interview, he said he would contin- ue ''to press for com- plete transparency and end this silliness and move on to solving the problems of the state of California.'' Portantino has sub- mitted a proposed reso- lution that would force leaders to adopt budgets in public meetings and create a more uniform system for doling out funds. The rules commit- tee declined to hear it on Thursday. SACRAMENTO (AP) — Preliminary autopsy results on a Sacramento man and his 2-year-old daugh- ter who were found dead after he disappeared with her show that both suffered gunshot wounds. The El Dorado Sheriff's Office says Mourad ''Moni'' Samaan died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. But it hasn't yet determined a cause of death for Madeline Samaan-Fey. Lt. Brian Golmitz says she suf- fered two gunshot wounds but also may have had car- bon monoxide poisoning. The FBI issued an Amber Alert last Friday after Samaan allegedly abducted the child, who had been the subject of a bitter court custody battle. Authorities say Samaan fled upon learning that the girl's mother had been awarded full custody. After an extensive search, their bodies were found inside Samaan's SUV on family property in the wood- ed Grizzly Flat area. Small town mayor arrested on perjury, conspiracy SACRAMENTO (AP) — A small-town Northern Cali- fornia mayor has been arrested on charges of perjury and conspiracy for trying to profit on a redevelopment property he approved. The El Dorado County district attorney's office filed a complaint Thursday against 53-year-old Placerville Mayor David Machado. Machado is accused of buying a property after he voted to establish a redevelopment zone in 2010. The complaint accuses the mayor of trying to hide that conflict of interest by passing the property to his son. Prosecutors say Machado did work on the property without permits and used his position to avoid city inspec- tion. He rented the property out until a fire struck in February. That's when Machado allegedly removed unpermitted floor board heaters before inspectors arrived. Machado was being held in jail at $30,000 bail. Senate approves university transparency bill SACRAMENTO (AP) — California lawmakers are sending Gov. Jerry Brown a transparency bill that stems from a legal dispute over a university speaking contract with Sarah Palin. The state Senate on Thursday approved SB8 on a 36-1 bipartisan vote. The bill would require founda- tions set up by California's universities and college systems to disclose financial records, contracts and correspondence under the public records law. Sen. Leland Yee, a Democrat from San Francisco, says the bill will ''ensure sunshine and accountabili- ty'' over billions of dollars administered by the Uni- versity of California, California State University and community college systems. Red Bluff Simple Cremations & Burial Service Family owned & Operated Honor and Dignity 527-1732 722 Oak Street, Red Bluff, FD Lic. 1931 Beverly was born on December 21, 1922 in San Francis- CORNING Continued from page 1A home had been burglarized at the same address, logs said. A shot- ADOBE Continued from page 1A The Ide Mercantile shop will offer visitors a place to purchase pioneer toys, lemonade, ice cream and sarsaparilla. Just across the Bridge of Time on the modern side of the park members of the Ide Adobe Interpre- tive Association will be gun and other miscellaneous items were stolen after a culprit entered the motor home through a back window. Investigators are looking at one suspect in connection with both incidents, said Sheriff Dave Hen- selling hot dogs, chips and sodas with proceeds going to the park. "Our group is working hard to keep Ide Adobe Park open and to make this one of the best Adobe Days ever," said Interpre- tive Association President Brett Southwick. "We will have information available on what visitors can do to help keep the park open." All proceeds from sales, donations and Friday, August 19, 2011 – Daily News 9A cratt. More information is expected to be made available when the investigation is complete. -Andrea Wagner admissions will go to sup- port future interpretive programs at Ide Adobe, Southwick said. The association's table will have postcards handy that people can fill out to be mailed to legislators. For those who cannot make it out to Adobe Days, there will be post- cards in the visitors center or people can send an e- mail to ideadobe@gmail.com and they will receive a post card in the mail. Admission for the event is $2 for adults and $1 for children ages four to 11. Children younger than four are free. For more information, call 529- 8599. ——— Julie Zeeb can be reached at 527-2153, extension 115 or jzeeb@redbluffdailynews. com.

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