Mendocino County’S World Briefly the Ukiah Local Newspaper
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Weekend SPORTS entertainment Thursday SULL wins area tournament ...................................Page 6 .............Page 3 July 10, 2008 INSIDE Mendocino County’s World briefly The Ukiah local newspaper ..........Page 2 Friday: Hot H 101º L 56º 7 58551 69301 0 Saturday: Sunny H 99º L 56º 50 cents tax included DAILY JOURNAL ukiahdailyjournal.com 16 pages, Volume 150 Number 92 email: [email protected] FIRE UPDATE Containment Invasion? or tech aid? reaches 65% Local residents react to new Google feature that lets anyone see their home on the Web The Daily Journal By ROB BURGESS Firefighters continued to work to con- The Daily Journal tain the remaining fires still burning Thanks to a controversial feature that has uncontrolled in the county Wednesday as been added to the popular Google Maps high temperatures continued to batter the search engine, scaling a substantial height is fire lines. no longer necessary to invoke the phrase, “I By 7 p.m. Wednesday, the Mendocino can see my house from here.” Lightning Complex fires had burned In fact, anyone can probably see your 51,200 acres, with 37 fires still burning, house from here -- and from street level, no and containment at 65 percent. less. Additional firefighters, some from as “It’s kind of scary that someone could just far away as Canada, joined the fight go and see that,” said Jennifer Nix, of Ukiah, Tuesday, bringing the total number of as she peered at a laptop screen showing a firefighters on the lines to 1,863, backed street-level view of her home Wednesday up by 168 fire engines, 67 water tenders, morning at the Coffee Critic. “There’s my 30 bulldozers, 15 helicopters and one air house right there. I think it’s really inva- tanker. sive.” As they headed out to the lines To gather the photos for the now year-old Wednesday, firefighters were confronted add-on, Mountain View-based Google ini- See FIRE, Page 14 tially used vehicles with mounted digital cameras to take pictures up and down the LIGHTNING FIRE STATS streets of major metropolitan areas. The company has now expanded the feature to Stats on the Lightning Complex Fire cities of all sizes. as of 7 p.m. Wednesday In order to view a street level shot of an Size - 51,200 acres address that has an archived photo attached Fires - 37 to it, users need only to visit the service’s Contained - 65 percent Web page at maps.google.com, type in the Injuries - 36 desired address and click on the “Street Structures destroyed - 2 view” link that pops up. Structures threatened - 335 “I was really surprised at the invasiveness Estimated cost - $27.2 million of the whole program,” said Randy Source: Cal Fire Daugherty, of Ukiah. “It’s not that I’m trying to hide anything, but I was told about Big Brother years ago.” Indeed, privacy concerns have caused a No relief in string of lawsuits to spring up in the wake of the feature’s release. Most recently, a west- ern Pennsylvania couple sued Google in April, saying pictures of their home that air quality appear on the street view feature violated The Daily Journal their privacy, devalued their property and Air quality alerts remained in effect for caused them mental suffering. much of Mendocino County Wednesday Aaron and Christine Boring said the as measurements taken by the Mendocino images of their home on the Google site had County Air Quality Management District to be taken from their long driveway, labeled ranged from moderate to unhealthy. “Private Road,” saying that violated their Smoke from lightning sparked wild- privacy. fires has blanketed parts of Mendocino “It’s tricky,” said Eric Weston, of Ukiah, County for nearly three weeks now, keep- as he used the function for the first time. “If ing air quality poor. On Wednesday morn- you like playing on it for fun it is OK, but it ing, the air quality in Ukiah was measured is also a way for people to get a look at prop- in the moderate range, further north, in erties they wouldn’t otherwise be allowed to Covelo, and east, in Boonville, air quality see.” was measured in the unhealthy range. Not all reaction to the Web site has been Several wildfires were still burning in negative from users past and present. the Boonville and Covelo areas on “I can’t wrap my mind around being anti- Wednesday. social,” said Jim Ronco, of Ukiah. Sarah Baldik/The Daily Journal According to air quality reports, winds Mike Wright and Nancy Caven look for a photo of Mike’s home in Willits on the are expected to blow out of the northwest See STREET VIEW, Page 14 Google Maps Web site at the Coffee Critic Wednesday morning in Ukiah. and northeast for the rest of the week and will generally push any smoke from wild- fires south. The ridge of high pressure that has resulted in hot temperatures in the county is expected to keep the smoke from dispersing during the week. Delbar organizing river commission meeting Those especially sensitive to air pollu- tion, such as people with cardiovascular By ROB BURGESS Sonoma and Humboldt counties one as the demands of Sonoma last year, the Sonoma County Water and lung ailments, are advised to avoid The Daily Journal charged with addressing issues County on our water are drastically Agency, with the support of Delbar going outside as much as possible. First District Supervisor Michael regarding the Russian and Eel impacting those of us here in and Mendocino County, was suc- Conditions are expected to be worse at Delbar is organizing a July 31 River watersheds. Mendocino (County),” Delbar said. cessful in receiving permission night as smoke settles into the valleys, meeting of the Eel/Russian River With worries escalating over Delbar is also requesting that the from the State Water Resources according to air quality reports. Commission to address the coun- water availability for late summer Sonoma County Water Agency seek Control Board to reduce flows from Public Health officers do not recom- ty’s water woes. and fall, Delbar said he is looking relief from the state to reduce flow Lake Mendocino. mend using masks unless ash is falling Delbar currently chairs the com- to his neighbors in Sonoma County release requirements out of Lake Delbar said the reduction in from the sky, and only masks rated n-95 mission, an organization of repre- to assist with water conservation. Mendocino. or higher will provide any benefit, sentatives from Mendocino, “This issue is clearly a regional With similarly dry conditions See WATER, Page 14 according to air quality reports. ’Copters play vital role in fire fight By SARAH HOUSE The Cal Fire helicopters carry 300 work from the firefighters. for The Daily Journal gallons of water each trip and are one “These helicopters have been very Since lightning sparked 127 fires of the more convenient and useful effective and very valuable,” in Mendocino County last month, fire fighting aircraft for many rea- Boudreaux said. Cal Fire has attempted to put out the sons. First, they can carry massive This method of using aircraft to flames using as many methods as amounts of water and fire retardant. fight fires has been used as much as possible. Doing everything from They also can fly low to the ground possible during the fires. However, it having fire trucks and ground fire- or water and hover when other air- is difficult because the helicopters fighters to using aircraft, there has craft such as air tankers can’t. cannot be flown at night, they have been a lot of progress made in fight- The helicopter pilot controls the limited flying time per day, and with ing these fires. release of the water, letting it out in the limited water resources, the However, one method is said to increments using a button in the air- have been the most helpful: heli- craft. A fire captain rides along with See COPTERS, Page 14 copters carrying water to drop on the the pilot to determine when and fires. There are different types of fire where to drop the water for the most fighting aircraft and depending on effect. Photo submitted by Jay Bromley their body size, they can carry more According to Cal Fire’s Tracy A Cal Fire helicopter fills its or less water and fire retardants than Boudreaux, these helicopters have bucket while fighting the others. been the most help, along with team- Mendocino Lightning Com- plex’s Baxter Fire. 2 – THURSDAY, JULY 10, 2008 DAILY DIGEST Editor: Jody Martinez, 468-3517 The Ukiah Daily Journal [email protected] Clinton, flew to New York on Wednesday along with tial nominee-in-waiting, as well as fellow SHERIFF’S REPORTS his vice presidential searcher Caroline Kennedy. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and Kennedy’s son, The following were The world briefly Clinton, mentioned as a possible running mate, Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island. compiled from reports and Obama were to appear together at two fundrais- prepared by the ers there Wednesday night. Gunmen kill 3 policemen in Mendocino County The flight came on a day in which Obama Sheriff’s Office: Prosecutor says new DNA tests touched off new speculation about his choice of a attack on U.S. consulate in BOOKED -- Benjamin clear JonBenet Ramsey’s family running mate by making an unannounced morning Turkey; 3 attackers also dead Kaream Sabastian, 36, of stop at the downtown building where another mem- Ukiah, was booked into jail in her 1996 slaying ber of his vice presidential search team, Eric Holder, ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — Gunmen believed on suspicion of possession BOULDER, Colo.