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ByDonThompson The Associated Press SACRAMENTO California officials are considering allowing inmates with vi- olent backgrounds to work outside prison walls fight- ing wildfires, and the idea is generating concerns about public safety. The state has the na- tion's largest and oldest in- mate firefighting unit, with about 3,800 members who provide critical assistance to professional firefighters. That's down from about 4,400 in previous years, however, and so prison of- ficials are looking for ways to add inmates. Now, only minimum-se- curity inmates with no his- tory of violent crimes can participate. Starting next year, the California Depart- ment of Corrections and Rehabilitation is proposing adding inmates convicted of violent offenses such as assaults and robberies, if their security classification level has been reduced af- ter years of good behavior. Enlargingthepool Officials also are seek- ing to allow inmates who have up to seven years left on their sentences in- stead of the current five. Arsonists, kidnappers, sex offenders, gang affili- ates and those serving life sentences for murder and other crimes would still be excluded. "All it does is enlarge the pool of inmates we look at, but it doesn't change the nature of the inmate that we put in camp," Correc- tions spokesman Bill Sessa told The Associated Press. "We still are not going to put an inmate in camp that has a violent attitude." The changes are pend- ing final approval within the Corrections Depart- ment. They still have not been sent to the Depart- ment of Forestry and Fire Protection, which says it also must sign off. The proposal comes at a time when the overall prison population is smaller and drought has created the potential for explosive wildfires like the ones that recently roared through the Sierra foothills and com- munities north of Napa, in northern California. Mike Lopez, president of the union representing state firefighters who over- see inmates at fire scenes, supports a robust inmate program but worries about what the proposed changes could bring. "Any acceptance of crim- inals with a violent back- ground calls into question the security of our mem- bership," he said, adding, "at what risk is CalFire willing to go to get those inmates?" CalFire spokeswoman Janet Upton said her agency and corrections of- ficials formed a committee this summer to consider how best to keep the fire- fighter program adequately staffed. She wouldn't com- ment on the proposed changes other than to say "nobody is interested in seeing this program go away." The inmate firefight- ing program started dur- ing the civilian manpower shortage of World War II and now includes a small number of women and ju- venile offenders. Volunteers must be healthy and pass a two-week physical fitness training program before they complete two weeks of classes on fighting fires. Problems proliferate Even using only nonvio- lent inmates has resulted in hundreds of assaults and batteries, along with weapons possessions, in- decent exposures and other crimes among inmate fire- fighters in the last 10 years, according to data com- piled by corrections offi- cials and provided at the AP's request. Officials said the rate is much lower than in higher-security prisons. State Sen. Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, a former parole commissioner, said it is "unconscionable" to add to the risk by using inmates with a history of violence. "They're weighing this minor good against a major bad of compromising jus- tice and the safety of our citizens," Nielsen said. Harriet Salarno, founder of Crime Victims United of California, said she is also concerned but fears the state has no choice. "This is very, very dan- gerous, but when you have a forest fire, what can you do?" she said Monday. "You need manpower to fight the fires, so we're now putting dangerous criminals out there." Inmate firefighters are housed in 43 unfenced, minimum-security camps scattered across the state. They are guarded by a few correctional officers but while fighting fires are overseen only by unarmed CalFire captains who di- rect the inmates as they use hand tools to chew through brush and timberland to create firebreaks to stop advancing flames. An average of nine in- mates escape from the camps each year but since 2011 all but one has been recaptured. The inmates often are used in rough, remote or environmentally sensitive terrain that is inaccessi- ble to bulldozers. They ac- counted for nearly one of every five state, federal and local firefighters battling the recent Lake County and Sierra foothills fires. INMATES AND PUBLIC SAFETY Californiamayallowinmate firefighters with violent pasts RICHPEDRONCELLI—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE A California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation inmate work crew builds a containment line ahead of flames from a fire near Sheep Ranch. By Paul Elias The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO Three transients accused of us- ing a stolen gun to rob and kill a Canadian backpacker and a yoga instructor two days apart were sent back Monday to Northern Cali- fornia from Oregon, where they were arrested. Authorities say Sean Michael Angold, 24, Mor- rison Haze Lampley, 23, and Lila Scott Alligood, 18, killed backpacker Audrey Carey, 23, in San Francis- co's Golden Gate Park on Oct. 3. They also are ac- cused of gunning down tantra yoga teacher Steve Carter, 67, whose body was found Oct. 5 on a popu- lar hiking trail in Marin County, 20 miles north of the city. The three suspects were arrested last week at a soup kitchen in Portland, Oregon. They are traveling under guard from Port- land and are expected to be booked in jail Monday, Marin County sheriff's Lt. Doug Pittman said. They could make their first court appearance Tues- day, Pittman said. California prosecutors must decide where Lamp- ley, Angold and Alligood will stand trial first — Marin County or San Fran- cisco. Both county prosecu- tors said they expected to charge each of the three suspects with murder. A San Francisco resi- dent reported the theft of his handgun from his un- locked car parked in the Fisherman's Wharf neigh- borhood on Oct. 1, police Lt. Toney Chaplin said. The stolen gun was found dur- ing the arrest of the three suspects, Chaplin said. Detectives had tracked them to Portland through the navigation system of Carter's stolen car, investi- gators say. Carter had driven to the hiking trail with his dog on the evening of Oct. 5. He was robbed, and his dog also was shot, investiga- tors said. SA N FR AN CI SC O Trio accused of killing 2 people head to jail MULTNOMAH COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE — PORTLAND POLICE The three suspects who were arrested Wednesday in Portland, Ore., in the killing of Steve Carter, a tantra yoga teacher, on a hiking trail in Marin County. From le are Sean Michael Angold, 24; Lila Scott Allgood, 19; and Morrison Haze Lampley, 23. JIM WEBER — THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL VIA AP People wait outside the Regional Medical Center, Sunday in Memphis, Tenn. Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong said Memphis Police Officer Terence Olridge was killed a er being shot multiple times while off duty on Sunday. By Adrian Sainz The Associated Press MEMPHIS, TENN. Terence Olridge was heading to his job as a police officer when he and a neighbor were in- volved in an argument that escalated into a shootout in a normally quiet neighbor- hood in suburban Memphis, authorities said. Shot multiple times, Ol- ridge tried to make it back to his house to get help. He was later taken to a hospi- tal, where he died Sunday afternoon — becoming the second Memphis police offi- cer to be killed in a shooting in less than three months, police said. Details about what caused the altercation be- tween Olridge, 31, and Lo- renzo Clark, 36, in the sub- urb of Cordova are still not clear. But police said Mon- day that Clark has been charged with being a con- victed felon in possession of a firearm in connection with Olridge's death. He has a court appearance Tues- day. Court records do not show if Clark has a lawyer. Authorities are still in- vestigating the shooting, Memphis police spokesman Louis Brownlee said. He de- clined to say whether more charges would be filed. Olridge, who joined the department in September 2014, had a fiancee who is four months pregnant, Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong said. After the shooting, Clark surrendered peacefully, po- lice said. A court affidavit says Clark told police he had a 9mm Glock handgun in his pants, took the gun out and started firing sev- eral shots in the street. The affidavit says Clark fired "several shots which re- sulted in a death." Clark was sentenced to just under 2 years impris- onment when he pleaded guilty to reckless endanger- ment with a deadly weapon and unlawful possession of a weapon in a public place in March 2003, Shelby County court records show. Olridge is one of four Memphis officers have been shot to death in just over four years and the second fatally shot in the past 2 months. Man gets weapon charge in fatal shooting of officer MEMPHIS By Sergio Bustos The Associated Press MIAMI Republican presi- dential candidate Jeb Bush on Monday proposed re- pealing and replacing Presi- dent Barack Obama's health care law with one that would increase tax credits for individuals, allowing them to buy coverage pro- tection against "high-cost medical events." But the two-page pro- posal, which would give more power to states to regulate health insur- ance, con- tained no specific de- tails on how many peo- ple could be left without coverage. It does, however, guarantee coverage for peo- ple with pre-existing health conditions, which is part of Obama's 974-page fed- eral health law. Bush was expected to release more details Tuesday, during a three-day swing through New Hampshire. The Bush campaign says the former Florida gover- nor's plan, in broad terms, would accomplish three goals: promote innovation, lower costs and return power to states. In a statement, the Bush campaign slammed Obama's health care law, saying it "epitomizes why Americans are fed up with Washington." "Jeb believes we must re- peal Obamacare and offer a conservative vision and plan of health care for the future," said Allie Bran- denburger, a Bush spokes- person. Under Bush's plan, in- dividuals could get higher tax credits for purchasing health insurance and would be allowed higher contribu- tion limits on health savings accounts for out-of-pocket expenses. He also would overhaul the regulations im- posed by the Food and Drug Administration to help spur innovation in the health care industry and would put limits on malpractice lawsuits. And he would put caps on federal payments to states and create a "transi- tion plan" for 17 million peo- ple "entangled" in Obama's Affordable Care Act. Bush also proposes to limit the tax-free status of employer-provided health insurance, an idea labor unions fiercely oppose. Polls show Bush attract- ing single-digit support in New Hampshire, where he's trailing GOP rivals Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson. Nationally, Bush is mired in the mid- dle of the pack of Republi- can competitors. Bush offers plan to repeal, replace health care law POLITICS Bush isbeingheldwiththe Dairyville Orchard Festival October17th • 10am-4pm @ LassenView School Craft Booths & Game Come learn how much fun 4-H can be EveryoneWelcome TehamaCounty4-H OPEN HOUSE GOLDENRULE SMALL ENGINES (530) 526-8121 796 Antelope Blvd., Red Bluff (Enter from Trinity Ave.) Come by and see us today! YourLocalToroDealer! Parts and Sales! The U.S Fish & Wildlife Service is committed to providing access to all of its programs, activities and facilities for all participants, including individuals with disabilities. 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The Saturday Market (formerly Frontier Village Farmer's Market) Your community Year-round Certified Farmers & Artisan Market in The Home Depot parking lot, Saturdays 8-12:30 | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2015 8 A