The Ukiah Local Newspaper

Zito pleased Weekend UDJ FOOD BANK FUND DRIVE to remain in entertainment Donations still needed Bay area .............Page 6 ..............Page 3 ..................................Page 1 INSIDE Mendocino County’s World briefly The Ukiah local newspaper ..........Page 2 Tomorrow: Intervals of clouds and sun 7 58551 69301 0 THURSDAY Jan. 4, 2007 50 cents tax included DAILY JOURNAL ukiahdailyjournal.com 14 pages, Volume 148 Number 270 email: udj@pacific.net Judge retiring after 24 years on the bench in Mendocino Co. By BEN BROWN judge. “We have a wonderful group of Justice Court, defeating now much of his time “riding the circuit” The Daily Journal Labowitz will retire Friday after dedicated people in the court system, deceased District Attorney Norman in other courts around the state. When Eric Labowitz dons his 24 years as a judge in Mendocino both the judges and the staff through- Vroman. Labowitz ran unopposed Labowitz served as a Mendocino judges robes on Friday, he will be County. During that time he has out the county,” Labowitz said. for three additional terms. County Superior Court judge from doing so for the last time as a worked every assignment in the sys- He got his start in 1982 when he There were seven justice courts in Mendocino County Superior Court tem and in every court location. was elected to the Anderson Valley the district, and Labowitz spent See JUDGE, Page 14 NEW YEAR BRINGS NEW LAWS PROTECTING DOGS CITY OF UKIAH Power poles A dog’s life improves in need of By LAURA MCCUTCHEON The Daily Journal replacement New laws serving as a Big storm could bring watchdog for man’s best friend by aiming to keep dogs off some of them down chains and all animals out of hot cars sound like music to the ears By KATIE MINTZ of local animal advocates. The Daily Journal While there are some excep- Without replacement or repair, a number tions, Health and Safety Code of city of Ukiah wooden electric poles could section 122335 prohibits a per- fall over in stormy conditions, according to son from chaining -- or restrain- Interim Public Utilities Director Jeff Gould. ing in any way -- a dog to a dog “If you get in heavy windstorms or if you house, tree, fence or other sta- get into a large snowstorm that really loads tionary object for more than up the poles, you could have a series of poles three hours a day. (The law does fall, and they could fall on cars, they could not prohibit people from walk- fall on houses, or they could create large out- ing a dog on a hand-held leash.) ages,” Gould told the Ukiah City Council in Penal Code 597.7 prohibits December, as part of a presentation on the leaving an animal unattended city’s electric system infrastructure. inside a motor vehicle -- in hot There are about 1,500 electric poles in the or cold weather -- with lack of city, and an inspection of half the poles done adequate ventilation, without several years ago found that 163 of them food or water, or other circum- needed to be replaced. Should an inspection stances that could endanger the of the remaining half yield similar results, animal. more than 20 percent of the city’s poles “Moderately warm tempera- would need attention, primarily due to natur- tures outside can quickly lead to al aging. deadly temperatures inside a According to Gould, most of the city’s closed car. For example, within poles are between 30 and 40 years old and one hour an outside temperature have begun to rot below the ground line due of 72 degrees Fahrenheit can to wet soil conditions, creating weak points cause unhealthful conditions at their bases. inside a vehicle that can While the poles often look fine up above, adversely affect the health, he said their bases are diminished, and could safety, or well-being of an ani- lead to failure, placing the general public at mal. ... With the vehicle win- risk of injury or property damage, as well as dows left slightly open, an out- potentially injuring electric crew members side temperature of 85 degrees attempting to climb them. can cause a temperature of 102 Gould’s presentation included the devel- degrees inside a vehicle within See POLES, Page 14 10 minutes, and 120 degrees within half of an hour. A healthy dog, whose normal body tem- Shopping spree perature ranges from 101 to 102.5 degrees, can withstand a body temperature of 107 to 108 proceeds go to for only a short time before suf- fering brain damage or death,” states the bill text. Buddy Eller Ctr. Sheryl Mitcham, shelter By BEN BROWN director at the Humane Society The Daily Journal For Inland Mendocino County, A local man who won a shopping spree at thinks the new laws are great. the Ukiah Grocery Outlet donated some of “I am all for these laws,” she his winnings to the Buddy Eller Center. said. “It’s terrible to leave a dog Charles Rice won the shopping spree in a on a chain. There are kennels drawing Dec. 14. On Friday, he was given that keep them safe. On a chain, two minutes to collect as much as he could, I have heard of dogs wrapping said Ukiah Grocery Outlet Office Manager themselves around a tree and Amanda Portlock. choking to death. They wind Portlock said Rice told her before he start- themselves so tight it just ed that he intended to give a portion of his chokes them,” she said, before Isaac Eckel/The Daily Journal winnings to the center. recalling an incident in July New state laws protecting dogs have taken effect with the start of the new year, includ- The donations included coffee and meal where a dog and her seven pup- ing one that prohibits chaining a dog to a stationary object for more than three hours bars, Portlock said. pies were brought to the a day. Here, Zeus, a rottweiler up for adoption at the Humane Society for Inland Rice collected almost $700 in groceries. Humane Society after a woman Mendocino County, graciously demonstrates. The Humane Society, which does not Portlock said she didn’t know exactly how rescued them from her neigh- chain the dogs in its care, applauded the new laws. Sheryl Mitcham, shelter director much of his winnings Rice was giving to bor’s yard. at the Humane Society For Inland Mendocino County said, “I am all for these laws. It’s charity but said it was “probably close to terrible to leave a dog on a chain. There are kennels that keep them safe. On a chain, half.” See LAWS, Page 14 I have heard of dogs wrapping themselves around a tree and choking to death.” Rice turned over his donations to the Buddy Eller Center at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Ben Brown can be reached at udjbb@pacific.net. Food Bank Fund Drive tops $77,000; donations still needed The latest donations to the UDJ stands at $77,086.34. to get it to the Food Bank. You can Policy Advocates, based on a 2005 closet run by local churches since Holiday Food Bank Fund Drive The goal for this year’s Fund also send your check directly to the survey by UCLA. 1978. include: $250, Frey Vineyards, Drive is $85,000. Ukiah Community Center at 888 N. • The Ukiah Food Bank anchors a • The Food Bank is administered LTD.; $200, Anonymous; $100, To give to the Food Bank this State St., Ukiah, 95482. network of organizations that are by the Ukiah Community Center, Roger Vincent; $50, Bill & Susie year, write your check or money UKIAH FOOD BANK FACTS helping to address the nutritional now part of Community Resource Johnson; $50, Forrest & Dorris order to: UCC Food Bank and bring • Nearly 50,000 people in Lake needs of our low-income neighbors. Centers of Mendocino County. Awtrey; $50, Janet & Thomas it to the Daily Journal at 590 S. and Mendocino counties are touched • The Ukiah Food Bank was • The Ukiah Daily Journal began Tipton; $10, Anonymous; totaling School St. or mail it to us at P.O. Box by hunger or food insecurity. This is established in 1985, centralizing and $710. The Fund Drive total now 749, Ukiah, 95482 and we’ll be sure the estimate of California Food expanding the operations of a food See FOOD BANK, Page 14 2 – THURSDAY, JAN. 4, 2007 DAILY DIGEST Editor: Jody Martinez, 468-3517 The Ukiah Daily Journal udj@pacific.net FUNERAL NOTICES The world briefly [\ was a native of Men- He was preceded in docino County, being born death by his beloved wife near Willits on of fifty one years Marie. He February 15, 1913. He is survived by his Arrests reported in Saddam New video shows 5 security graduated from Hop- two sons Gary and his wife execution video; U.S. says contractors who were land High School as the Lou Anne of lone member of it’s South Carolina and Paul former leader dignified to end kidnapped in southern Iraq 1931 class. and his wife Linda of BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi authorities BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Four Americans Charles served his coun- Ukiah. He is also survived reported the arrests Wednesday of two guards and an Austrian abducted in November in try as a Navy Radio by his grandson and an official who supervised Saddam southern Iraq spoke briefly and appeared unin- Technician in the Pacific Donald Charles Shimmin Hussein’s hanging and said the guard force jured in a video believed to have been record- during World War II.

Load more