UHS girls Weekend ELECTIONS OFFICE varsity soccer entertainment Ballot signatures being verified .............Page 6 ..............Page 3 ....................................Page 1 INSIDE Mendocino County’s World briefly The Ukiah local newspaper ..........Page 2 Tomorrow: Partly sunny; H 76 L 40 7 58551 69301 0 THURSDAY Oct. 25, 2007 50 cents tax included DAILY JOURNAL ukiahdailyjournal.com 16 pages, Volume 149 Number 199 email: [email protected] Downed line on Gobbi sparks outage By BEN BROWN and closed the westbound lane fic lights on State Street at the The Daily Journal of Gobbi Street to give electri- Gobbi Street and Standley City of Ukiah electrical cal workers room to safely Street intersections. The light Posted online employees worked to repair a remove the line and repair the at Mill Street and State Street at 11:54 a.m. downed power line that damage. was still working Wednesday Wednesday knocked out electricity to parts City of Ukiah Risk morning. of south and west Ukiah Assessment Manager Sue ukiahdailyjournal.com Wednesday morning. Goodrick said the outage was See OUTAGE, Page 15 The line fell near the inter- isolated to parts of Main section of Gobbi Street and Street, Gobbi Street and MacLeod Pappidas/The Daily Journal Main Street at about 10:10 School Street. City of Ukiah linemen Shawn Sauers, left, and Dan a.m. Wednesday. Firefighters The power outage affected Quarles work together on a power pole while appren- from the Ukiah Fire businesses and homes in south tice Randy Hufman in the foreground works with a sev- Department and Ukiah Police and west Ukiah as well as ered power line on Gobbi Street between Main and officers responded to the call knocking out electricity to traf- Marshall streets Wednesday. ‘NATIONAL PRIZE-WINNING THEME QUILTS’ AT MENDOCINO COLLEGE Longtime RV fire chief dies The Daily Journal Delbert Phelps, 77, of Redwood Valley, died Wednesday at a local hospital. He was the well-known retired fire chief of the Redwood Valley-Calpella Fire Department. Phelps was born June 30, 1930, in a house across the street from the Redwood Valley firehouse. A lifelong Redwood Valley resident, Phelps start- ed fighting fires the year he turned a teenager and responded to fires for more than 50 years. He started his firefighting career as a volunteer in the Redwood Valley department Phelps in 1943 and hired on with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (the fire division now known as CalFire) in 1944. During 10 years with CDF, Phelps was a firefighter, fire truck driver and crew foreman, before returning to Redwood Valley to become a charter member of the department in 1953. In Redwood Valley, Phelps served six years as a firefighter, 18 years as a captain and train- ing officer, one year as assistant chief and 17 years as fire chief. He retired from the Redwood Valley-Calpella department in 1995, with a total of 1,769 training hours, responding to 3,931 incidents. In 2005, the Redwood Valley-Calpella Fire Department renamed its firehouse for him in a MacLeod Pappidas/The Daily Journal surprise dedication ceremony that February Deanna Apfel explains that her quilt “Safari” was inspired by her trip to Africa. Apfel and 10 other quilt artists will attended by many, many friends and family. have their work shown at the Mendocino College Art Gallery beginning today and lasting until Dec. 13. Phelps leaves his wife, Jeannie, who he eloped with to Reno on Nov. 30, 1948, his Exhibit opens this afternoon daughter, Linda Phelps-Wilson, and son, David Phelps, all of Redwood Valley. By ZACK SAMPSEL A funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at The Daily Journal the Delbert Phelps Firehouse in Redwood Surrounded by a sea of highly-artistic quilts adorning Valley. A procession will travel from the ser- the walls at the Mendocino College Art Gallery, Deanna vice to the Ukiah cemetery, and a gathering Apfel, member of the Mendocino Quilt Artists Guild, will follow, back at the firehouse. sums up her thoughts on the display rather succinctly. “These aren’t bed quilts by any means,” she said. At the newest display in the Mendocino College Art Gallery, it’s an explosion of the rainbow as national prize- RV water filings See QUILTS, Page 15 move to county Vicky Groom stands in front of “Jealous of Ginger,” a quilt she made which features the By ROB BURGESS dancing figures of Ginger Rogers and Fred The Daily Journal Astaire. At Tuesday’s Mendocino County Board of Supervisors meeting, the board forged an agreement which reassigned the water rights filings of the Redwood Valley County Water District to the county. The board, sitting as the Mendocino County Water Agency, approved the measure unani- Absentee ballot signature verification under way mously after a presentation by Water Agency First ballots to be opened Friday by sifting through the trays of ballots received secured until they can be opened. General Manager Roland Sanford on the issue. each day and weeding out any envelope Absentee ballots can be opened seven “What this agreement does is transfer the The Daily Journal two water rights applications by Redwood Signatures on absentee ballots are being marked “spoiled.” working days prior to Election Day, making All envelopes that are marked “spoiled” are Friday the first day ballots can be opened. Valley to the county,” he said. verified daily by Mendocino County Election Sanford said the resolution affects a pair of Department staff for the Nov. 6 election as canceled and ballots reissued and mailed out Wharff said she invites the public to the same day. observe these procedures. water rights applications the water district had part of the Absentee Ballot Procedure, accord- in the works. ing to Assessor/Clerk/Recorder Marsha A. All absentee envelopes are date stamped, Absentee ballots that are mailed in must be and each envelope has a bar code on the voter received at the Elections Office by Election “It has to do with the Mill Creek Project, Wharff. which was designed to divert water from Mill If the signature style varies greatly a letter label which is scanned the day it is received. Day, Nov. 6. and can also be brought into the Each signature is verified against the signature Elections Office at 501 Low Gap Road, Room Creek to Redwood Valley,” he said. “The pro- is sent to the voter with a new voter registra- ject involved Mill Creek dams which fell in the tion card for the voter to update his or her sig- the department has on record. 1020 or any polling place. county.” nature. These envelopes are kept apart from the The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on The Redwood Valley County Water District If the envelope is not signed, a letter goes verified envelopes until signatures can be ver- Nov. 6. filed an application with the State Water out with a photocopy of the unsigned enve- ified. Every effort is put forth to make sure all For more information about where the clos- Resources Control Board in March of 2000 for lope, asking the voter to sign in the designated votes are counted, Wharff said. est polling place to you is, or for any addition- the right to export water from the drainage of signature area. Once the signatures are verified, the al information, the County Clerk’s Office can The department has processed voted ballots envelopes are sorted into precinct order and be reached by calling 463-4371. See WATER, Page 15 2 – THURSDAY, OCT. 25, 2007 DAILY DIGEST Editor: Jody Martinez, 468-3517 The Ukiah Daily Journal [email protected] Sheriff’s Office at 8:48 a.m. POLICE REPORTS Tuesday. FUNERAL NOTICES The following were Those arrested by law enforcement The world briefly officers are innocent until proven guilty. compiled from reports People reported as having been arrest- [\ Darlene loved her fam- law Don and Mary prepared by the Ukiah ed may contact the Daily Journal once ily, cooking special family Gentry of Chiloquin, OR, Police Department. To their case has been concluded so the meals, cherished sister Doris Borders Simultaneous results can be reported. Those who feel anonymously report the information is in error should con- her numerous special of Wieser, ID and numer- bombings strike crime information, call tact the appropriate agency. In the case friends over the years, ous nieces, neph- Baghdad, killing 463-6205. of those arrested on suspicion of dri- enjoyed watching and feed- ews, grandchildren, great- ARREST -- Charles ving under the influence of an intoxi- ing the birds that grandchildren and at least 8 people cant: all DUI cases reported by law Stanley, 24, of Ukiah, was enforcement agencies are reported by visited her home. She also great-great grandchildren. BAGHDAD (AP) — arrested on suspicion of bat- the newspaper. loved her dogs She was preceded Nearly simultaneous bombs tery of a spouse, threats and Boo, Taz and Tigger. in death by her parents struck commuters in a pre- intimidation in the 700 block CORRECTIONS Darlene was a devoted Romaine and Ailie dominantly Shiite area on the of South State Street at 10:09 wife and mother who Cooper, brother Melvin southeastern edge of Baghdad a.m. Tuesday. The Ukiah Daily Journal reserves worked at several jobs in Cooper, sister Myrna on Wednesday, killing at least ARREST -- Dale this space to correct errors or make addition to being a McKeehan and sons Tracy eight people and wounding McAllister, 47, of Ukiah, was clarifications to news articles. homemaker and was mar- Gentry and David Significant errors in obituary notices two dozen, police and hospi- arrested on suspicion of or birth announcements will result in ried on August 15, Smith, Jr.