Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/587166
COURTESYPHOTO A demonstration day was held on Saturday for fire prevention week at the Rancho Tehama fire station. Visitors had a chance to check out fire equipment and get questions answered, including how to become a volunteer. CALFIRE DEMONSTRATIONHELD IN RANCHO TEHAMA Newsom is partnering with the Law Center to Pre- vent Gun Violence on the November 2016 ballot initia- tive, which also allows him to remain visible ahead of a gubernatorial run. Newsom, an early advocate of gay marriage, also is advocat- ing to legalize recreational marijuana in California. "Stuff doesn't just have to happen," Newsom said Thursday, responding to comments by Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush about a recent mass shooting on an Oregon col- lege campus. "We have the ability to step in with some common sense. We have the ability to protect our fami- lies." NationalRifleAssociation spokeswoman Amy Hunter said Newsom's effort would chip awayat Second Amend- ment rights. "His ballot initiative pro- posal does nothing but pro- hibit access to the most ef- fective methods for self-de- fense, with no measurable positive effect on stopping crime or improving public safety," Hunter said. The initiative would ask voters to make five changes to state law: —Banpossessionoflarge- capacity magazines with 11 rounds or more. Owners would be required to sell them to a licensed firearms dealer,takethemoutofstate or turn them in to law en- forcement to be destroyed. State law already bans man- ufacturing or selling maga- zines that hold more than 10 rounds. — Create background checks for ammunition pur- chases. Ammunition deal- ers would need to conduct a background check at the point of sale for all ammuni- tion, anddealers wouldneed a license similar to those re- quired to sell firearms. — Require reports on lost and stolen guns. California would join 11 other states in requiring that lost or stolen firearms be reported to law enforcement. — Require felons to re- linquish weapons. Califor- nia courts would set up a clear process on surrender- ing guns. The measure's au- thors say that more than 17,000 Californians prohib- ited from owning firearms currently have guns. — Ensure reports to the federal firearms database. The California Department of Justice would have to no- tify the federal government on residents who are prohib- itedfromowningguns.Now, the state reports voluntarily. Gun control advocates welcomed California's pro- posal, pointing to the lack of political will at the fed- eral level. Newsom made his announcement in San Fran- cisco near the site of a 1993 gun massacre that helped spur federal restrictions on assault weapons. "Congress has failed to pass even the most basic laws to help keep guns out of dangerous hands and save lives," said Kate Folmar, spokeswoman for Every- town for Gun Safety, a group foundedbyformer NewYork Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "The states have and will continue to take action to reduce gun violence despite thegridlockinWashington." Brandon Combs, presi- dent of the Firearms Policy Coalition, pledged to cam- paign against the proposal. "If Gavin Newsom wants to declare war on law-abid- ing gun owners and Second Amendment rights, we're certainly going to bring the fight to him," he said. Polls have shown Cali- fornia voters are generally more supportive of restrict- ing access to guns than vot- ers in other states. Guns FROM PAGE 1 RICH PEDRONCELLI — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at the Californians for Safety and Justice conference in Sacramento. The Associated Press YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK Yosemite National Park and Google Maps have teamed up to allow people to explore the park's fea- tures and learn about its history and geology. Google Maps on Thurs- day is launching street view imagery of the Mar- iposa Grove of Giant Se- quoias, Mirror Lake, Brid- alveil Fall, and many other popular destinations. The first installment, El Capitan street view, was released in June. El Capitan is one of the world's largest gran- ite monoliths and attracts rock climbers from around the globe. Street view al- lows people to have a first- person view of climbing El Capitan using state-of-the- art video and still photog- raphy, park officials said. The imagery of the Mar- iposa Grove of Giant Se- quoias, currently closed for restoration, gives a virtual tour of the famed trees. RECREATION Explore Yosemite National Park with new Google Maps By Janie Har The Associated Press SANFRANCISCO Two mas- sive wildfires that burned up parts of Northern Cal- ifornia, killing six people and forcing the evacuation of thousands of people, did nearly $2 billion in dam- age, according to a global insurance company. A report by London- based Aon Benfield found a wildfire in Lake County caused at least $1.5 billion in damage while damage from another fire in Calav- eras and Amador counties was estimated at $450 mil- lion. The two fires, started days apart in September, burned more than 200 square miles and killed six people. The fire in Lake County, about 90 miles north of San Francisco, destroyed nearly 2,000 structures, including some 1,300 homes. Aon associate director Steve Bowen said Thurs- day that the estimates could increase, even as the state enters what is consid- ered peak fire season. "These are tentative numbers," he said. "I would not be surprised if these get adjusted upward." The California Depart- ment of Insurance does not have damage esti- mates, but spokeswoman Nancy Kincaid said Aon has a reputable record. "They're probably pretty close; it's hard to say," she said. According to the state insurance department, Lake County residents have filed claims for about 750 homes that were de- stroyed and nearly 2,100 homes that were damaged. The fire in Calaveras and Amador counties, about 125 miles northeast of San Francisco, did not do as much damage to struc- tures. Combined, victims of the two fires have filed claims for more than 1,000 homes that were destroyed and more than 3,200 homes that were damaged. Fire officials have yet to determine a cause in ei- ther fire. On Wednesday, Insur- ance Commissioner Dave Jones announced that most insurers have agreed to expedite fire claims, for example, by advanc- ing money for living ex- penses as people search for paperwork to back up claims. NORTHERN CALIFORNIA 2 wi ld fir es ca us e ne ar ly $2 billion in damage The Associated Press CORONA Two friends say they rescued a dog by rap- pelling more than 100 feet down a mine shaft in Southern California. Michael Schoepf and Nick Gladden were off- roading last week near Lake Mathews, about 60 miles southeast of Los An- geles, when they discov- ered an abandoned mine and shined a flashlight into it. They saw a pair of eyes looking up at them. Using sections of nylon rope tied together, Glad- dencarefullyloweredScho- epf down. Schoepf tells the Press-Enterprise newspa- per (http://bit.ly/1NenBoF ) that the pit bull climbed right onto him and he brought the animal to the surface. Keri Berka of Happy Tails Animal Hospital says it treated the dog for some scratches and traumatic glaucoma in its left eye, whichcouldhavehappened if it fell down the shaft. They hope to find the an- imal's owner. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LEONARD ORTIZ — THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER Nick Gladden, 25, le , and Michael Schoepf, 23, accompany Corona, a 1-year-old female pit bull they rescued from a mine sha , on a visit to the Happy Tails Animal Hospital in Garden Grove as Dr. Keri Berka looks over the animal. Friends rescue dog by rappelling 100 feet into mine sha By Don Thompson The Associated Press SACRAMENTO California's corrections chief is defend- ing the state's use of in- mates with violent pasts to fight drought-fueled wild- fires, while promising to mend relations with critics who fear the prisoners cre- ate a public safety danger. "This is not the time to do any retrenching with the fires we've been having — and there's no need to do any retrenching because there haven't been any problems," Corrections Sec- retary Jeffrey Beard said. A state senator and head of the union repre- senting the state's profes- sional firefighters are call- ing for investigations after the department revealed this week that about 1,400 of the state's 3,700 inmate firefighters have previous convictions for violent of- fenses. Corrections officials had said for years that only nonviolent prisoners were allowed in the program. Beard said nothing has changed despite the disclo- sure. "The kind of people we're putting out now are the kind of people we've been putting out for the last 10- 15 years, and they've done well and I think have re- ally helped the state of Cal- ifornia in a difficult period of time," he told The Asso- ciated Press in a telephone interview late Wednesday. Department records pro- vided to the AP show there has been violent behavior including assaults, batter- ies and riots in the lightly guarded camps that house firefighters, but officials said the rate is far less than in higher security prisons. Inmates periodically walk away from unfenced camps, but they are usually recap- tured quickly. State Sen. Jim Nielsen of Gerber called for an over- sight hearing by the Senate budget committee where he is the ranking Republi- can. He wants the Califor- nia Department of Correc- tions and Rehabilitation to disclose the criminal histo- ries and any acts of violence by inmate firefighters. Officials with the Califor- nia Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the union representing profes- sional firefighters who over- see the inmates both said they were surprised by this week's disclosure. Union President Mike Lopez also called for an investigation and said his union will bring it up in labor talks. Beard said he intends to talk with them and with Nielsen to explain that the department is now consid- ering no changes other than letting inmates participate if they have up to seven years left to serve on their sentences, up from the cur- rent five years. That's vital as the state tries to maintain the na- tion's oldest and largest in- mate firefighting unit de- spite having fewer non- violent inmates in state prisons, he said. The state now uses about 3,700 in- mates to cut fire contain- ment lines in remote areas, but that's down from about 4,400 in previous years. Nearly 40 percent have committed a violent crime. Amid adverse publicity, the department backed off this week from a proposal to expand the number of inmates who could qualify for the fire camps despite having been convicted of crimes that are deemed vi- olent under the state penal code. CALIFORNIA Prisons chief defends using violent inmates to fight fires IL — RICH PEDRONCELLI Jeffrey Beard, secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, discusses California's prison system during an interview in Sacramento. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2015 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 9 A