Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/86254
Death Notices are published at no charge, and feature only specific basic information about the deceased. Paid obituaries are placed through the Classified advertising department. Paid obituaries may be placed by mortuaries or by families of the deceased and include online publication linked to the news- paper's website. Paid obituaries may be of any length, may run multiple days and offer wide latitude of content, including photos. Death notices must be provided by mortuaries to the news department, Charles Lester Downs Charles Lester Downs of Red Bluff died Monday, Oct. 1, 2012, at Enloe Medical Center, in Chico. He was 95. Hoyt-Cole Chapel of the Flowers is handling the arrangements. Published Friday, Oct. 5, 2012, in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Spencer Damon Ryals Spencer Damon Ryals died Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2012, in Red Bluff. He was 54. Red Bluff Simple Cre- mations and Burial Service is handling the arrange- ments. Red Bluff, Calif. Published Friday, Oct. 5, 2012, in the Daily News, Amemorial service will be held for Dwight Evans at 3:30 p.m. at the Red Bluff Union High School Performing Arts Center. EX (Continued from page 1A) her from stealing his possessions. Nagahara intentionally ran the victim over with her 2001 Ford Escort, which caused him to strike the windshield of the vehi- cle, shattering it. Both the victim's injuries and damage to the bicycle substantiated the victim's story. Officers found Naga- hara in a local trailer park with the victim's stolen property. The windshield of Naga- hara's vehicle was caved APPLE (Continued from page 1A) adult divisions, which anyone can enter. "The contest starts at 10 a.m. and pies have to be there by 9:30 a.m., but anyone can enter," Zimmerman said. "Just show up." Mike Quinn of KXLR and Mike Krueger and Chelsey Kay of Channel 7 will be judging the contest while Cal Hunter of the KBLF radio station will be Master of Ceremonies for the day's events. Local talent will be providing live music throughout the day including students from Manton School's Blue Grass Music Program, she said. The Wild Card Band featuring Larry Reaves, Dennis Cadigan, Randy Morehead, Linda Hasley and Patti Anglin; Down Other groups include CITY (Continued from page 1A) eight years, which will generate a savings of around $16,000 per year to the general fund. The contract must receive judicial validation before it goes into effect since the city is not allowed to take on obliga- tions without voters approval unless the oblig- ation was imposed by law. Attorney Andy Hall explained that the city will essentially file a lawsuit against everyone and seek a default judgment. The court will then validate the terms meet the law. The process should in and appeared as though it had been struck by the body of a full grown adult. There was also a clear bicycle tire mark on the front license plate of the vehi- cle. Nagahara was arrest- ed for the charges of assault with a vehicle, robbery and corporal injury and booked into the Tehama County Jail, where she was being held on $130,000 bail as of late Wednesday. Home String Band; Vio- lin player Matthew Songmaker of Shingle- town; On The Fly Band and Shingletown Bound. Music will range from blue grass and country to old time fid- dle, Celtic, gospel and various classics. A special raffle with 100 percent of the pro- ceeds going to Pon- derosa Fire victims will take place throughout the day. Prizes include $100 gift certificates from local businesses and one nights stay at local bed and breakfasts. For more information on the festival or to donate to the raffle call Zimmerman at 474- 5151 or Corey Liv- ingston at 474-1387. ——— Julie Zeeb can be reached at 527-2153, extension 115 or jzeeb@redbluffdailynew s.com. Follow her on Twitter @DN_Zeeb. take between three and four months. • The council allocated $5,895 to the police department for the pur- chase of three computers to upgrade computers in dispatch to handle GIS and traffic software upgrades obtained through a grant. • The council accepted and allocated $5,000 in Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Team grants. The money will be used to provide video surveillance for a secure Sex Registrant interview room. • The council adopted a resolution authorizing a Letter of Understanding with the Shasta Cascade Hazardous Materials Response Team for a term through 2017. In a staff report, Fire Chief Jon Bennett said membership in the team is in essence an insurance policy for the city since full hazmat team deploy- ment is rare, but plausible. Fees for membership agencies are based on their full time population. Red Bluff's current year share is $1,407. The cost is covered by a Depart- ment of Homeland Securi- ty Grant. • Mayor Forrest Flynn proclaimed Oct. 18 as Lights on Afterschool Day. The SERRF After- school Program will use the day to hold special events at all of its sites to promote college and career readiness through a superhero theme. Tax group sues to block state's firefighting fee SACRAMENTO (AP) — A tax- payer group, joined by plaintiffs throughout California, filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to block a fee that is being assessed on more than 800,000 property owners to raise money for fire prevention. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is seeking a declaration about whether the fee is valid and seeks refunds for those who paid the fee and filed a claim with the state. The lawsuit, filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, claims that the $150 annual fee being assessed on 825,000 rural properties is actually an illegal tax that required a two-thirds vote of the Legislature rather than the simple majority vote it received in 2011. Targeted property owners began receiving the tax bills in August. The association's president, Jon Coupal, criticized the fee as an exam- ple of what he termed budget ''gim- micks'' by Democrats who control the Legislature. The fee passed without Republican support. Brown's 2011 signing message asked lawmakers to clarify the bill's lan- guage. They didn't, and the administra- tion began collecting the fee under the provisions of the original bill. ''When this thing is all done, it's going to be a monumental waste of time and money,'' Coupal said. The association was joined in filing Coupal noted that Gov. Jerry the lawsuit by 11 plaintiffs from nine counties and hopes to have it certified as a class action. It names as defen- dants the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, which is deciding who will pay, and the state Board of Equalization, which is send- ing out the bills. ''The fee provides a much needed and a stable funding source to prevent these devastating wildfires, especially like those we've seen this year,'' responded Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the state's firefighting department. ''Preventing fires saves lives and homes and we know that this ''When this thing is all done, it's going to be a monumental waste of time and money.'' — Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association President Jon Coupal funding is essential.'' The state has sent out about 300,000 bills and received 12,674 appeals so far. Nearly 60 percent of the appeals claim the fee is an illegal tax. Other appeals dispute the number of structures on the property, ownership of the property or say the property is not within the state responsibility area. So far this fire season the depart- ment has spent $148 million on large, out-of-control wildfires that can rage for weeks. That exceeds the $93 mil- lion allotted for such fires in the state budget, and the balance will come out of the state's budget reserve. The two Republicans on the five- member Board of Equalization, Michelle Steel and George Runner, issued statements praising the associa- tion's attempt to overturn what they call an unfair and unconstitutional tax. The fee was imposed on those who own property within the 31 million rural acres covered by the state's fire- fighting agency, a responsibility area that includes about one-third of the state. The Office of Legislative Counsel ruled that the charge on property own- ers is a fee because it directly pays for specific state services. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office recom- mended that the state collect money from homeowners who directly benefit from the state's firefighting efforts. The taxpayers association contends that calling the assessment a fee is a way to skirt the provisions of Proposi- tion 13, which requires that taxes be passed by a two-thirds majority. Coupal said it appears to be the first Friday, October 5, 2012 – Daily News 9A such lawsuit brought against the state since voters approved Proposition 26 in 2010, which allowed the Legislature to use a simple majority to pass fees that pay for services. It is expected to raise $84.4 million for the state fire department in its first year. Bills are being sent this fall to more than 825,000 rural property own- ers, although about 95 percent will receive a $35 discount because they already pay a local fire protection tax. ''I'm already paying taxes. If you pay over $4,000 a year on piece of property, they should protect me,'' said Seferino Hernandez, who lives on 10 wooded acres near Placerville in El Dorado County and is a plaintiff in the lawsuit. ''They call it a fee but it's a tax as far as I am concerned. I'm on a small income but they keep adding taxes and taxes.'' The association contends the fee is inequitable because it affects owners of homes if they are within the state responsibility area, regardless of their fire risk. Even the fire department in the Mendocino County community of Laytonville is a plaintiff because the fire station qualifies as a ''habitable property'' under the law. It has a kitchen and sleeping quarters for fire- fighters. Yet, ''they probably have fire risk covered for their building,'' Tim Bittle, legal director for the taxpayers associa- tion, joked during a Thursday confer- ence call with reporters. Those who protest may be the only ones to get their money back if the fee is ruled illegal, the association said, although it plans to ask that the state be required to return the money even to those who do not formally object. owners pay their full bills on time, then file a protest. STATE BRIEFING California opts out of federal sex offender law SACRAMENTO (AP) — California is sticking with its own first-in-the- nation sex offender registry instead of complying with a 2006 federal law that sought to create a seamless 50-state tracking program. The state Department of Justice says state legisla- tors made no attempt to meet the federal standards set by the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safe- ty Act despite the threat of a loss in federal grant money. value of the federal law and said California's cost of complying would far exceed the lost federal funding. Experts questioned the ing offenders who failed to comply with the new feder- al registration regulations. The bulk of the cost, about $25 million, would have been for local law enforcement agencies to assess and more frequently re-assess offenders' risk of committing new crimes to meet the federal require- ments, the board projected. The board, made up of Opponents: Brown's initiative 'smoke and law enforcement and treat- ment experts, also said Cal- ifornia's registration sys- tem was superior to that required by the federal law. The federal law requires that an offender's per- ceived risk of committing a new crime be based solely on his or her previous crime, while California relies on a range of indica- tors. They include the offender's criminal history, age at the time of the offense and the type of vic- tim. State justice officials said California stands to lose nearly $800,000 this year. The grant money pre- viously had been used for drug enforcement but would have been diverted to sex offender manage- ment, registration and vic- tim notification programs under the federal law. Only the state's portion of the grant will be lost, the department said; grants to local law enforcement are unaffected. Offender Management Board, which advises the governor and Legislature, estimated in 2008 that it would cost the state at least $32 million to comply with the federal law, not includ- ing the cost of incarcerat- The California Sex FAIR looked a lot larger than what they've had in Red- ding the last couple of years." excellent on the flat D track in the main arena and the tractor pulls were a huge hit with a great show for spectators, he Outlaw Kart races did The board said the fed- eral requirement ''is far less reliable'' than Califor- nia's method. would require California to begin publicly naming many juvenile sex offend- ers on its Megan's Law website, which the state board said was counterpro- ductive. It also would have had to add several addition- al crimes to the list of those requiring criminals to reg- ister as sex offenders. ''California should absorb the comparatively small loss of federal funds that would result from not accepting the very costly and ill-advised changes to state law and policy required by the (federal) Act,'' the board said in its 2008 report. The federal law also said. The Destruction Derby, a long-time tradition, drew quite a few spectators and had a good car count, Eid- mirrors' SACRAMENTO (AP) — Opponents of Gov. Jerry Brown's November tax ini- tiative began airing their first television commercial Thursday, hammering the governor's claim that the billions of dollars it would raise will go directly to schools. California's minimum school funding guarantee, the LAO said the governor and state Legislature would decide how to spend the rest of the funds, which could be used for an array of different programs. ''Our ad pulls back the He recommended that property The No on Proposition 30 campaign calls the initia- tive ''all smoke and mir- rors'' and says Californians ''will never know where the money really goes'' if voters approve the quarter-cent increase in the statewide sales tax and higher income taxes on people who make more than $250,000 a year. The campaign had planned to begin airing commercials next week but moved up the spots after Brown's Proposition 30 campaign began airing its own TV ads on Wednesday, spokesman Aaron McLear said. The commercials will air in major markets throughout the state. Some of the TV com- mercials supporting the governor's initiative say ''Sacramento politicians'' won't be able to touch the $6 billion a year it would raise, a claim that runs counter to an analysis of the initiative by the nonpartisan Legislative Office. Analyst's While the new revenue will boost the amount of funding schools get under veil on the Yes on Prop. 30's claims,'' said Joel Fox, pres- ident of the Small Business Action Committee. ''Prop. 30 doesn't provide any new funding for education and is really nothing more than a shell game that gives Sacra- mento politicians more money to spend on other programs.'' The Small Business Action Committee is the group raising most of the money to defeat the gover- nor's tax initiative and pass a separate initiative, Propo- sition 32, which would restrict unions' ability to automatically deduct dues for political purposes. It received an infusion of $9.9 million on Wednesday from Charles Munger Jr., a Stan- ford physicist and the son of a leading executive with Berkshire Hathaway who previously gave the com- mittee $4 million. The campaign for Propo- sition 30 said the new ad included ''shameful lies.'' ''Prop. 30 stops an immediate cut of more than $6 billion to our schools and colleges this year,'' Califor- nia Teachers Association President Dean Vogel said in a statement. The budget Brown signed into law includes $6 billion in education cuts that would take effect if the ini- tiative fails, a provision that was included to help the governor win support for Proposition 30. man said. ——— Julie Zeeb can be reached at 527-2153, extension 115 or jzeeb@redbluffdailynews. com. Follow her on Twitter @DN_Zeeb.