Community COMMUNITY sports digest Friday Local happenings .....................................Page 3 ............Page 7 Aug. 1, 2008 INSIDE Mendocino County’s State cuts The Ukiah local newspaper ..........Page 2 Saturday: Sunny H 87º L 52º 7 58551 69301 0 Sunday: Mostly sunny H 88º L 51º 50 cents tax included DAILY JOURNAL ukiahdailyjournal.com 36 pages, Volume 150 Number 114 email: [email protected] Arrest made in Father, son saved from fire Covelo Two city workers driving by fight flames and awaken sleeping residents of trailer torture 19-year-old woman allegedly terrorized in her own home The Daily Journal A man wanted for alleged- ly kidnapping and torturing a Covelo teenager last month was arrested in Humboldt County Tuesday. Jack Towers, 35, of Covelo, had been on the run from law enforcement for more than a month when he was arrested by California Highway Patrol officers. Towers is alleged to have kid- napped and tortured a 19- year-old Covelo woman on June 29. According to sheriff’s reports, the woman arrived at the Round Valley Fire Department at 11:20 on June 29 and told firefighters she had escaped from her own home after being held there by Towers against her will. According to sheriff’s reports, the woman told police that on June 27 she had been with Towers and another man at a house in Humboldt County when Towers alleged- ly beat her and threw her into a ditch after an argument. Towers also allegedly showed the woman a large knife and threatened to kill her, according to sheriff’s Sarah Baldik/The Daily Journal reports. Paul Smith and his 6-year-old son Adam are thankful as they sit on the edge of their deck, Towers and the other man which caught fire from a smoldering barbecue ember Thursday morning. The pair were then allegedly stripped the awakened by two city employees who spotted the fire while driving by the residence. end of an electrical cord and tried to shock the woman with it, but she pulled away and the By BEN BROWN minutes of spreading to the trailer. cord came out of the wall. The Daily Journal By the time firefighters arrived, Fowler had the Towers then forced the Firefighters say the quick reactions of two city of fire under control and had kept it from spreading. woman to return to her home Ukiah employees likely saved the life of a father Beristianos said the fire would have spread quickly in Covelo with him where he and son living on East Gobbi Street after the deck if it had reached the trailer and that the home had no allegedly continued to beat of their home was set on fire by their barbecue and smoke detectors. her and at one point poked her nearly spread to the residence. “These guys saved those people’s lives,” in the head and body with a Ukiah Valley Fire District Capt. Jay Beristianos Beristianos said of Fowler and Hamblet. shotgun while threatening to said the two men, Parks and Recreation Director Smith said he was indebted to Fowler and kill her, according to police Tom Hamblet and Service Worker Joe Fowler, were Hamblet. reports. driving by the trailer at 1001 E. Gobbi St. at about “I truly appreciate them saving me and my son,” The woman had injuries 7:30 a.m. Thursday when Fowler noticed the fire on he said. consistent with the attacks the trailer’s deck. Beristianos said the fire also underlines the described, according to sher- “We jumped out and grabbed the fire extinguish- necessity of smoke detectors for all homes. iff’s reports. She said she was er and started putting out the fire on the deck,” Hamblet said he was just glad he and Fowler locked with a chain to a large Hamblet said. were able to help and keep the fire from causing further damage and any loss of life. iron ball for about an hour Fowler worked the fire extinguisher while Hamblet called the fire department and pounded on “It was an exciting morning,” he said. before Towers gave her the Ben Brown can be reached at [email protected]. key to the padlock so she the trailer’s door, trying to alert whoever was inside. When the homeowner, Paul Smith, came to the door could release herself. he said he and his son, Adam, had been asleep. According to sheriff’s reports, “He wasn’t aware there was a fire going on,” Smith lost a quarter of his porch, but Towers continued to beat the Hamblet said. thanks to two city of Ukiah Parks and woman throughout the Hamblet said the flames were burning high when Recreation employees he and his son still See ARREST, Page 16 he and Fowler arrived and said they were within have a home and their lives. ‘We all live in the watershed’ MENDOCINO LIGHTNING COMPLEX UPDATE ON AGENDA Local water agencies sponsor Water District board sponsored his trip to Board of Supervisors’ next Mendocino County to discuss water issues with the expert’s presentation on water issues public. meeting Tuesday in Willits By BEN BROWN The earth is 70 percent water, Dolman said. Of that, 97 percent is undrinkable seawater and 2 per- By ROB BURGESS The Daily Journal In addition to Willits and Ukiah, the cent is locked in the polar ice caps. The remaining 1 The Daily Journal board has previously held meetings on Well-managed watersheds will be the lifeboats in percent is all the drinkable water on earth, and close Next Tuesday, the Mendocino County the coast in Point Arena and Fort Bragg. which individual communities can ride out climate to half of it is already polluted, he said. Board of Supervisors plans to take its The meeting is scheduled to begin change, biologist and self-described water geek “It’s absolutely finite,” Dolman said of water. “It’s show on the road. with a welcoming introduction by the Brock Dolman said Thursday. infinite in its cycle, but its volume is finite.” Open session of the board’s first meet- city council, mayor and city manager of Dolman is the director of the Water Institute of the In order to make sure a watershed remains healthy ing of August will start at 11 a.m. at the Willits. Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. The Mendocino Mendocino County Museum, 400 E. County Water Agency and the Redwood Valley See WATER, Page 2 Commercial St. in Willits. See COUNTY, Page 16 Matsen Insurance Of Ukiah Have Become Debbie & Marsha 520 S. State St. Will Continue To Serve Ukiah & Mark Davis Insurance “ONE” Their Clients @ Mark Davis Insurance 462-9725 2 – FRIDAY, AUG. 1, 2008 DAILY DIGEST Editor: Jody Martinez, 468-3517 The Ukiah Daily Journal [email protected] Schwarzenegger orders cuts DEATH NOTICES • Arnold Ernest Bloom, 85, of Covelo, died Sunday, July Part-time, temporary jobs or more than triple the gap of the previ- 10,300 would receive pink slips immedi- 20, 2008. Arrangements are under the direction of Anker- ous year, according to the National ately. The others might be exempted Lucier Mortuary. eliminated; federal minimum Conference of State Legislatures. because their jobs are deemed crucial to • Janet Hincker, 71, of Willits, died Tuesday, July 29, 2008. wage ordered for others California is the last state with a fiscal public safety. Arrangements are under the direction of Anker-Lucier year that begins July 1 that still does not Schwarzenegger also cited a 2003 Mortuary. By DON THOMPSON have a budget. It is facing a $15.2 billion California Supreme Court ruling allow- Associated Press Writer deficit, dwarfing that of all other states. ing him to slash the pay of regular full- SACRAMENTO — With California’s The next highest at the start of the fiscal time employees when the state lacks a suspicion of manufacturing a cash dwindling and legislators still debat- year was New York’s, at $5.2 billion. budget. By law, those workers must be POLICE REPORTS ing a new budget, Gov. Arnold controlled substance, posses- Schwarzenegger’s cuts exempt public paid at least the federal minimum wage The following were sion of concentrated cannabis Schwarzenegger eliminated thousands of safety agencies such as police and fire of $6.55 an hour and will be reimbursed part-time and temporary state jobs compiled from reports and a probation violation by departments and prisons but will have an once a budget is approved. prepared by the Ukiah the Mendocino County Thursday and ordered that 200,000 state immediate effect everywhere else. Department heads were ordered to workers receive the federal minimum Police Department. To Sheriff’s Office at 9:50 a.m. Hiring, overtime and contracting will be develop a list of exempt employees by wage. anonymously report Wednesday. halted, and tens of thousands of employ- Friday. crime information, call BOOKED -- Margarette His move had been expected since last ees will feel the squeeze. week but starkly illustrated the cash The first paycheck to be affected by 463-6205. Alta Halfacre, 66, of Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, a the minimum wage order would be in ARREST -- Yucchih Tang, Lakeport, was booked into jail problem facing the nation’s most popu- Democrat, said she was disappointed lous state. Schwarzenegger apologized to early September, but state Controller 20, of Ukiah, was arrested on on suspicion of driving under with the decision to defer the pay of full- the influence and being under state workers but said he had no choice. John Chiang, a Democrat, sent a letter to suspicion of battery of a time employees until a budget is signed.