Community RELIGION sports digest Saturday Faith community news ...................................Page 3 .............Page 6 Feb. 24, 2007 INSIDE Mendocino County’s World briefly The Ukiah local newspaper ..........Page 2 Sunday: Breezy with rain 7 58551 69301 0 Monday: Rain 50 cents tax included DAILY JOURNAL ukiahdailyjournal.com 14 pages, Volume 148 Number 321 email: [email protected] Strike looms for public attorneys Meeting between By BEN BROWN with less than a week left until a attorneys in the surrounding five the Public Defenders Office, the The Daily Journal potential attorneys strike. counties. Alternate Defenders Office and the county, union ends After more than nine months of The MCPAA met with the county The MCPAA is affiliated with the Child Support Attorney’s Office. negotiations, the Mendocino County Thursday to try to reach a contract Teamsters Union, local 856, and rep- MCPAA President and Deputy without agreement; Public Attorneys Association has still that would bring union members resents attorneys in the Mendocino no more talks set not signed a contract with the county, closer to the market rate for public County District Attorney’s Office, See ATTORNEYS, Page 2 UKIAH CITY COUNCIL CALSTAR: SAVING LIVES FROM A HELICOPTER Ordinance on sewer inspection amended By KATIE MINTZ The Daily Journal On Wednesday night, the Ukiah City Council further refined its ordinance meant to cut down on infiltration and exfiltration in the sewer system by requir- ing inspections and repairs to sewer later- als when a property is sold. However, councilmembers agreed it’s still not the perfect solution. “We have a problem that we as a com- munity have neglected for decades and now we’re finally in the position where we’re forced to address it at the point of sale,” Councilman John McCowen said. According to city staff, parts of the city’s sewer system are more than 100 years old. Damage to the system is evi- denced by daily sewer flows, which in the summer run about 3 million gallons a day and in winter storm events can reach 20 million gallons a day as the result of storm water entering the sewer system through Isaac Eckel/The Daily Journal cracked and broken pipes or improperly CALSTAR flight nurses Rob LaCount, right, and Brent Murphy perform the daily inventory of medical supplies on the sealed or connected joints. CALSTAR helicopter on Thursday. CALSTAR, the only air ambulance based in Mendocino County, is responsible for “I think most of us agree it isn’t the best about 500 transports a year. way to address it, but it’s the one that we’re stuck with right now given the con- sent decree,” McCowen said of the man- date that resulted from the settling of a Air ambulance transports 500 yearly lawsuit filed against the city by Northern California River Watch in 2004 that By LAURA MCCUTCHEON shifts per week. practice flight nurse -- meaning basically alleged raw sewage was being discharged The Daily Journal Pilots are required to have at least 3,000 we decide what to do and we do it. And I from the city’s collection system and infil- hours in a helicopter, a commercial license love flying in helicopters.” trating the Russian River, ALSTAR landed in Ukiah almost and instrument rating. They work seven, “I think that’s a prerequisite,” Brent To comply with the decree and reduce nine years ago and has been saving 12-hour shifts and then have seven days Murphy -- also a CALSTAR Flight Nurse - infiltration, the city has required inspec- lives ever since. off, Likens said, “which beats working for - said in response to LaCount’s comment tions of sewer laterals -- the pipes that C connect a building to the city’s sewer main The local nonprofit California a living,” he added with a chuckle. about helicopters. “I’ve always looked at it Shock/Trauma Air Rescue -- one of eight in Asked what he likes about his (the helicopter) as my little office with a -- since Jan. 17, but the exact standards for California -- is responsible for about 500 profession, Likens, who has been with great view of the world,” Murphy said. inspection and completing repairs are yet transports a year, according to Paul Likens, CALSTAR for 20 years and a pilot for 38, “You can get the autonomy as an to be determined, as city staff is currently one of its pilots. said “I like that it’s challenging and it’s advanced practice nurse in another setting, collaborating with stakeholders, such as If a patient needs specialty services, interesting.” but nothing beats flying out at 2 a.m. to be contractors and Realtors, to define lan- getting the patient to definitive care is The two flight nurses on duty Thursday on the side of the road at a car accident guage that would work for all. critical and is oftentimes where the air said they like saving lives, and they clearly with someone’s life in the balance and Councilman Doug Crane had asked that ambulance comes in. like the fact that they do so from inside a doing what you need to do to save their in addition to a visual inspection by cam- CALSTAR shows up on scene “when helicopter. life,” Murphy said. it’s a more critical patient,” Likens said, To be more specific, CALSTAR Flight Among other procedures generally See SEWER, Page 14 “for instance, if there’s a fall greater than Nurse Rob LaCount said he likes “saving performed by a doctor, advanced practice 15 feet, a vehicle accident where there is a people’s lives, reducing their disability and fatality in the car, or where there is the autonomy of being an advanced See CALSTAR, Page 2 COLLISION FOLLOW-UP significant intrusion in the vehicle.” And CALSTAR can go where most vehicles can’t. For example, Likens said, about two Second driver years ago a woman who lived above the snow line had an arm pinned while trying to remove a camper shell from her vehicle in crash ID’d and couldn’t free herself. The Daily Journal “She wasn’t seriously injured, but the The Mendocino County Coroners exposure to the snow would have been life- Office has identified the second victim of threatening” had she not gotten out of there a head-on crash on Highway 101 in time, Likens said, noting she also had Wednesday morning that killed both dri- young children with her. vers. CALSTAR flight nurses need a Anthony Gene Whelihan, 49, of minimum of five years experience in Eureka, was the driver of the 2004 Dodge critical care. They work 24-hour shifts, two 2500 4x4 that collided with a 1996 Freightliner driven by Royce Brent Benjamin Granadoz, 46, of Manteca. Both men were killed when their vehi- CALSTAR pilot Dale Farr is one of cles collided on Highway 101 near Bell four pilots at the Ukiah CALSTAR, Springs road at 6 a.m. Wednesday after which is headquartered at Ukiah Whelihan’s vehicle crossed into the north- Municipal Airport and responds to bound lanes for unknown reasons, accord- medical calls where access is limited ing to CHP reports. or severe trauma is involved and Whelihan was wearing his seat belt; time is of the essence. Granadoz was unrestrained and was thrown from the cab, according to CHP reports. 2 – SATURDAY, FEB. 24, 2007 DAILY DIGEST Editor: Jody Martinez, 468-3517 The Ukiah Daily Journal [email protected] Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the alleged arms smuggling and outside interference. SHERIFF’S REPORTS International Atomic Energy Agency, offered few The U.S. ambassador to Iraq issued a rapid apol- The following were The world briefly details about his upcoming trip, which other agency ogy, and an embassy spokesman said al-Hakim was compiled from reports officials said would likely occur in the second week not singled out. But Shiite reaction to the detention prepared by the of March. Still, his announcement was significant was quick and sharp, with some officials suggesting Mendocino County because it signaled the North’s willingness to sub- it was a veiled warning about the limits of ties to Sheriff’s Office: White House to oppose any ject its nuclear program to outside scrutiny for the Iran. “What happened is unacceptable,” Shiite law- ARREST -- William Senate Democratic effort first time since withdrawing from the maker Hamid Majid Moussa told Al-Forat televi- Brown, 52, of Willits, was to revoke war authorization Nonproliferation Treaty in January 2003, just sion. “The Iraqi government and the American booked into jail on suspicion weeks after ordering nuclear inspectors to leave. forces must put an end to such transgressions,” of domestic violence, violat- WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hailed the Shiite lawmaker Hamid Majid Moussa told Al- ing a court order and violating Friday it would oppose any attempt by Senate invitation — which came five months after the Forat television. probation on Buckeye Road Democrats to revoke the 2002 congressional reso- North conducted its first nuclear weapon test — as in Willits at 8:30 p.m. lution authorizing the war in Iraq and to restrict a “good beginning,” an interpretation shared by the Passenger train derails Tuesday. U.S. troops to a limited mission as they prepared to U.S. administration. According to reports from withdraw. The Bush administration argued that in northwestern England, the Mendocino County changes in the resolution were unnecessary even U.S. detains Shiite political numerous injuries Sheriff’s Office, Brown got though it was drafted in the days when Saddam into an argument with the vic- Hussein was in power and there was an assumption scion on return from Iran; LONDON (AP) — A passenger train derailed tim, a 49-year-old woman, — later proved false — that Iraq possessed ambassador promises probe late Friday in northwestern England, seriously because she would not give weapons of mass destruction.