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Monday, September 19, 2011 – Daily News 7A Obituaries GERALDINE LA RUE PYLE MULFORD Geraldine La Rue Pyle Mulford was born on July 18, 1930 in Zionsville, PA to William and Minerva Pyle. She went with Jesus, her Lord and savior on August 5, 2011. She married Alvin H Mulford, Sr. on April 6, 1947. They lived in New Jersey until 1959 when they moved to Los Molinos, CA and later moved to Red Bluff. They lived there until 1992 when they moved to Yuma, AZ. Geraldine was always there to help those who needed her. That included helping Santa Claus in her role as Mrs. Claus. While in Red Bluff, Alvin and Jerry as she was called, proudly wore the beautiful red suits that she made every Christmas season for 20 years. Visiting children and nursing homes with their care gifts containing ginger- bread cookies and other goods baked by Mrs. Claus. Graveside services will be in the Los Molinos Cemetary on September 24th at 1:00 pm, where her ashes will be buried in the gravesite next to her precious week old son William who died in 1962. There will be a service and gathering of friends and family immediately following at the Gerber Bible Fellowship on the corner of Samson and Ventura in Gerber, CA. Jerry, as she was known and Alvin lived in Yuma, AZ and were loved by so many at their church Desert Grace. She is survived by her loving husband of 64 years, Alvin PAROLE Continued from page 1A participated in the pro- gram since it began in November, said Angela Hawken, an associate pro- fessor of public policy at Pepperdine University, who is evaluating Califor- nia's program. The immediacy and certainty of being sent to jail for every parole viola- tion has seemed to work where the delayed threat of a new and even longer prison sentence had failed in the past, said Hawken, who also has studied simi- lar programs in Hawaii and Washington state. California plans to H. Mulford, Sr. of Yuma, AZ and children Barbara Bloxham and husband Ron of Santa Maria, CA, Linda Zerfas and husband Billy of Meridian, ID, Alvin Mulford, Jr and wife Lee of Houston, TX, Richard Mulford and wife Cindy of Paradise, CA and Joanne Button and husband Richard of Chico, CA. She is also survived by sister Ruth Stoudt of Washington, NJ. She had 15 grandchildren, 25 great grandchildren and 1 great grandchild and many nieces and nephews. PATH Continued from page 1A assembled around 10 a.m. Saturday and sang Amazing Grace before the Rev. Mary- ly Adair, of St. Peter's Epis- copal Church, delivered the invocation. The walk commenced to Main Street and headed north to the Cone and Kim- ball Plaza before returning to River Park. Participants wore plain white T-shirts that indicated they were "part of the solu- tion" to the problem of homelessness in Red Bluff. PATH operates a woman's transitional home on Sale Lane — PATH Sale House — and establishes a winter shelter in several area churches. Those interested in dona- tion to PATH's efforts can mail donations to PATH at PO Box 315, Red Bluff, Ca. 96080, or call Klein at 527- 6439. CARE TO COMMENT? At redbluffdailynews.com, scroll to the end of any story, click the link and type away. expand the program as it attempts to reduce correc- tions spending and fix overcrowded conditions in its 33 adult prisons. The effort takes on new urgency after the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year upheld a lower court order requiring the state to reduce its prison popula- tion by about 33,000 inmates over two years to improve conditions. Under the state's trial program, recently released criminals are required to show up at a parole office for drug testing as often as six times a month for 13 months. Those who test positive for drug use, skip appointments with their parole officers, fail to attend 12-step or anger- management programs, or have other technical viola- tions are handcuffed immediately and sent to jail for up to six business days. Those sent to jail more than three times within a short period are generally considered for a drug treatment programs or returned to state prison. Those who commit new crimes or more serious violations, such as fleeing, also can be sent back to prison. Corrections officials did not know whether felons who had served lengthy prison sentences would respond to a two- or three-day stay in county jail. But, Lee Seale, the department's deputy chief of staff, said the immedi- ate disruption to their lives seems to get their atten- tion. ''I've seen offenders burst into tears and plead, 'Not now,''' Seale said. ''They get very sick and tired of it.'' Not everyone thinks the experimental program is the answer. State Assem- blyman Jim Nielsen calls it ''logically absurd.'' Nielsen, a Republican who served nine years as chairman of the California Board of Prison Terms in the 1990s, said it is foolish to expect better results when four-month prison sentences are replaced by short jail terms. That is especially true when nei- ther period of incarcera- tion provides any rehabili- tation, he said. ''They talk about flash incarceration; that means going in for just a short period of time,'' Nielsen said. ''Oh, so that's going to work when even longer consequences don't work?'' California is the first to experiment with using such a rapid incarceration program for parolees. Washington state started a similar program in Seattle in January. Pennsylvania also plans a program for parolees. Hawaii's program is for offenders who were placed on probation rather than given a prison sen- tence. About three-quarters of California's nearly 106,000 parolees could qualify for the program, officials say. Larry Winters credited the program with helping him break a 40-year hero- in addiction — until he recently was arrested again on a drug posses- sion charge. Winters, of Sacramen- to, was returned to prison twice after his parole in July 2009. He's been sent to prison 11 times since 1985. He was placed in the experimental program in November, and soon obtained a driver's license, a mobile home and a job. ''The things that don't happen when you have an addiction, start happen- ing,'' said Winters, 65. Seale said Winters could be brought back into the program after his release from custody. Supporters of the pro- gram say it is the swift- ness and certainty of the punishment that seem to make the difference. Parolees outside the pro- gram are tested on aver- age once per month, and a positive drug test may or may not result in revoca- tion of their parole. That is being replaced with a system in which parolees face a potential penalty every time, with- out exception. It's too soon to tell whether the program also is deterring new crimes or parole revocations, but supporters point to the success of a seven-year- old program in Hawaii that sends probation vio- lators to jail for short peri- ods instead of to state prison. Participants in Hawaii's Project HOPE were 72 percent less like- ly to use drugs, 55 percent less likely to be arrested for a new crime and 53 percent less likely to have their probation revoked, according to an assess- ment of the project last year by Pepperdine and the University of Califor- nia, Los Angeles. California is trying the same program for parolees, who are general- ly more hardened crimi- nals. Parolees are trying to rebuild their lives after years in prison, while pro- bationers often keep their jobs and families intact even if they serve time in local jails. State officials expect to share preliminary results from the program at the American Society of Criminology annual meet- ing in Washington, D.C., in November. So far, just 2 percent of participants are testing positive said for continued drug use. ''Anything under a third is great; 2 percent is remarkable,'' Hawken, the Pepperdine University researcher. Hawaii's program saved more than $4,100 for each offender, researchers found, because as a group they spent one-third as many days in prison for break- ing probation rules or committing new crimes. Hawken said California could save substantially because it is the nation's largest state prison sys- tem. Parole violators who are not participating in the program are returned to prison for an average of nearly four months instead of going to county jail for a few days at a cost to the state of $77 a day. California's prison costs are the nation's highest at an annual aver- age of $44,688 per inmate, compared to an average of $29,000 among 33 states surveyed by the Pew Center of the States in 2008. California also has the nation's second-highest recidivism rate, with near- ly 70 percent of parolees returning to prison within three years. Only Min- nesota has a higher rate, according to an April report by the Pew Center. Hawaii Circuit Court Judge Steven Alm, a for- mer U.S. attorney, said in an interview that he start- ed the program in cooper- ation with local police and prosecutors in 2004 out of frustration. He said he often faced a choice between ignoring techni- cal violations or sentenc- ing offenders to prison for terms that were dispropor- tionately harsh. He modeled the pro- gram on the way he had been raised as a child. ''If you misbehave, there was a consequence immediately,'' he said. Reno air race crash scene shows violence of impact RENO, Nev. (AP) — The scene of a Reno air race crash that killed nine people reveals the violence of the plane's missile-like impact — a crater in the tarmac roughly 3 feet deep and 8 feet across with debris spread out over more than an acre. From a tour of the site Saturday evening, it appeared that the 1940s- model plane went straight down in the first few rows of VIP box seats, based on the crater's location. The plane hit about 65 feet in front of the leading edge of the grandstand where thousands were watching Friday as the planes sped by just a few hundred feet above the ground. Some members of the crowd have reported notic- ing a strange gurgling engine noise from above before the P-51 Mustang, dubbed The Galloping Ghost, pitched violently upward, twirled and took an immediate nosedive into the crowd. The plane, flown by a 74-year-old veteran racer and Hollywood stunt pilot, disintegrated in a ball of dust, debris and bodies as screams of ''Oh my God!'' spread through the crowd. The death toll rose to nine Saturday as investiga- tors determined that sever- al onlookers were killed on impact as the plane appeared to lose a piece of its tail before slamming like a missile into the crowded tarmac. Noah Joraanstad, 25, said he watched in horror as the vintage plane came hurtling toward where he was sitting in the VIP sec- tion. He started running, then was blown off his feet. Flying shrapnel hit his in back, barely missing his spine and kidney. He had nine stitches in his head and was covered in avia- tion fuel that burned his skin as spectators tried to wash it off. When he looked around, the plane was just gone. ''The biggest pieces I could see, it looked like just someone sprinkled Legos in every direction,'' Joraanstad told The Asso- ciated Press from his bed at Northern Nevada Medical Center. The crash killed the pilot, Jimmy Leeward, and eight spectators. So far, two have been identified. Michael Wogan, 22, of Scottsdale, Ariz., had mus- cular dystrophy and was in a wheelchair the VIP sec- tion when the plane crashed, the family said Saturday. The Washoe County, Nev., medical examiner identified the other victim as Greg Mor- com of Washington state, a first-time spectator at the show, according to KOMO-TV. Officials said 69 people were treated at hospitals, including 46 who have been released and 31 who remain there. Six were in critical condition Sunday morning. Doctors who treated the injured said it was among the most severe situations they had ever seen because of the large number of peo- ple wounded, including at least two children younger than 18 who are not among those in critical condition. Injuries included major head wounds, facial trau- ma and limb injuries, including amputations, doctors said. ''I've seen more patients, but never this many patients with this number of severe injuries,'' said Dr. Michael Morkin, chief of Renown's emer- gency department, who trained at Cook County General Hospital In Chica- go. ''It was traumatic,'' he said. National Transportation Safety Board officials were on the scene Sunday to determine what caused Leeward to lose control of the plane, and they were looking at amateur video clips that appeared to show a small piece of the aircraft falling to the ground before the crash. Witnesses who looked at photos of the part said it appeared to be an ''elevator trim tab,'' which helps pilots keep control of the aircraft. Reno police also pro- vided a GPS mapping sys- tem to help investigators recreate the crash scene. ''Pictures and video appear to show a piece of the plane was coming off,'' NTSB spokesman Mark Rosekind said at a news conference. ''A component has been recovered. We have not identified the component or if it even came from the airplane ... We are going to focus on that.'' Investigators said they also recovered part of the tail section, where the tab is located. Questions were raised, too, about modifications to the plane made to make the plane more aerodynamic so it would go faster with- out a bigger engine. In a podcast uploaded to YouTube in June, Leeward said major changes were made to the plane before this year's race. He said his crew cut five feet off each wing and shortened the ailerons — the back edge of the main wings used to control balance — to 32 inches, down from about 60 inches. ''I know the speed. I know it'll do the speed. The systems aren't proven yet. We think they're going to be OK,'' Leeward said. The Mustang that disin- tegrated into the crowd had minor crashes almost exactly 40 years ago after its engine failed. Accord- ing to two websites that track P-51s that are still flying, it made a belly landing away from the Reno airport. The NTSB report on the Sept. 18, 1970, incident says the engine failed during an air race and it crash landed short of the runway. P-51 historian Dick Phillips of Burnsville, Minn., said Saturday the plane had had several new engines since then as well as a new canopy and other modifications. Some credit the pilot with preventing the crash from being far more dead- ly by avoiding the grand- stand section with a last- minute climb, although it's impossible at this point to know his thinking as he was confronted with the disaster and had just sec- onds to respond. Investigators also said they'll be looking at the health of Leeward. Friends say the owner of the Lee- ward Air Ranch Racing Team was in excellent health. His website says he has flown more than 120 races and served as a stunt pilot for numerous movies, including ''Amelia'' and ''The Tuskegee Airmen.'' The National Champi- onship Air Races draw thousands of people to Reno every September to watch various military and civilian planes race. Local schools often hold field trips there, and a local sports book took wagers on the outcomes. It is the only air race of its kind in the United States. Planes at the yearly event fly wingtip-to- wingtip as low as 50 feet off the ground at speeds sometimes surpassing 500 mph. Pilots follow an oval path around pylons, with distances and speeds depending on the class of aircraft. The FAA and air race organizers spend months preparing for air races as they develop a plan involv- ing pilot qualification, training and testing along with a layout for the course. The FAA inspects pilots' practice runs and briefs pilots on the route maneuvers and emergency procedures. The crash marked the first time spectators had been killed since the races began 47 years ago in Reno. Twenty pilots including Leeward have died in that time, race offi- cials said. The disaster prompted renewed calls for race organizers to consider end- ing the event because of the dangers. Officials said they would look at every- thing as they work to understand what hap- pened. Another crash, on Sat- urday, came at an airshow in Martinsburg, W. Va., when a post-World War II plane, a T-28, crashed and burst into flames. The pilot was killed.