The Ukiah Child Dies in Accident
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La Russa says Your health: FORUM it wasn’t dirt Ask Dr. Gott English immersion works .............Page 6 ..............Page 3 ...................................Page 4 INSIDE Mendocino County’s World briefly The Ukiah local newspaper ........Page 16 Tomorrow: Mostly sunny 7 58551 69301 0 TUESDAY Oct. 24, 2006 50 cents tax included DAILY JOURNAL ukiahdailyjournal.com 16 pages, Volume 148 Number 198 email: [email protected] Car hits shoe store Child dies By BEN BROWN in accident The Daily Journal Employees at Rod’s Shoes in Riding in open truck bed the Pear Tree shopping center got quite a surprise Monday By BEN BROWN morning when Mark White, 46, The Daily Journal of Laytonville, lost conscious- One child died and two others suffered injuries ness and drove his white Ford when the 2004 Ford pick-up they were riding in over- Mustang convertible over the turned on Highway 1, north of Kinney Road at 1:20 curb and into their front door. p.m. Sunday. The vehicle accelerated Joseph Daniel Whisenant, 11, of Sacramento, was across an estimated 15 feet of killed in the rollover. His body was transferred to sidewalk before it collided with Chapel on the Sea. the front of the store. Sheri A 13-year-old girl, also from Sacramento, was Gouber of Ukiah, who wit- transferred to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for nessed the accident, said she treatment for major injuries. The third child, a 10- saw the Mustang drive over the year-old girl from Manchester, suffered minor curb and then slow before col- injuries and was taken to Mendocino Coast District liding with the storefront. Hospital for treatment. “He just accelerated right The other children’s names were unavailable at over the curb,” She said. press time. Ukiah Fire Capt. Pete Bushby According to reports from the California Highway said White appears to have a Patrol, the driver, Berit Johansen, 62, of Manchester, medical condition that caused was southbound on Highway 1 at an estimated 55 him to lose consciousness just mph. Riding in the bed of the truck were the three before the accident. Bushby said children, all of whom were unrestrained. White was disoriented after the Johansen drifted onto the western shoulder of the accident and said he didn’t freeway and, according to reports, over-corrected to know what had happened. the left and then the right and lost control of the truck. “It looked like he was in gear The vehicle slid across the roadway and struck a and he just went forward into dirt embankment and fence, causing it to overturn. the building,” Bushby said. The children were ejected from the truck-bed and Gouber said she saw the dri- the 11-year-old boy suffered fatal injuries. ver of the Mustang slumped Johansen suffered moderate injuries and was taken over the steering wheel as the Ben Brown/The Daily Journal to Mendocino Coast District Hospital for treatment. car accelerated towards the Firefighters from the Ukiah Fire Department work carefully to extract the driver of a The accident is still under investigation although storefront. white Ford Mustang convertible that crashed into Rod’s Shoes in the Pear Tree shop- CHP officers have determined that drugs and alcohol Tire marks on the sidewalk ping center Monday morning. were not a factor in the crash. Johansen was not arrested at scene because of her near the Mustang’s rear tires frames were bent. Broken glass “We heard the crash and ran Fire Department carefully indicate that White continued to injuries, although the CHP expects to ask the littered the sidewalk around the outside,” Rose said. extracted White from the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office to file accelerate after he collided with car and the door was bent in its The Mustang’s engine was Mustang and placed him on a the building. There is no indica- charges against her. frame and had to be removed. still running when she got out- backboard. Ben Brown can be reached at [email protected] tion that White tried to stop Desirée Rose, who works at side and smoke was coming before he hit the store, Bushby They then carefully pushed the Radio Shack next door to from the vehicle. Rose said she the car back from the storefront, said. Rod’s Shoes, was in the store called 911 and then turned off The plate-glass windows wary of the large, jagged shards with her boss when the accident the engine. of plate glass hanging loosely in Ukiah graffiti were shattered by the force of occurred. Firefighters from the Ukiah the impact and the aluminum the warped window frames. White was transferred to Ukiah Valley Medical Center vandal arrested for treatment. No one else was injured in the accident. One Teenager admits to employee at Rod’s Shoes saw numerous acts of vandalism the car accelerating towards her The Daily Journal and fled to the back of the store, Mendocino County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Bushby said. suspect in multiple instances of graffiti on North State “It was fortunate that it was Street Thursday. early in the morning and there Since September of this year, Sheriff’s deputies weren’t many people there,” have been investigating multiple acts of vandalism in said Ukiah Police Detective the form of gang-related graffiti sprayed onto busi- David McQueary. nesses between the Carousel Industrial area and The accident is under investi- Calpella. gation, but McQueary said it is Sheriff’s Deputy Derek Scott pursued several leads unlikely that White will face in his investigation into the responsible parties. On criminal charges, although he Thursday, Scott arrested a 15-year-old boy, a resident will likely have to undergo an of Ukiah, on suspicion of vandalism. According to Sheriff’s reports, the suspect lived in evaluation of his driving privi- the area and admitted to committing numerous acts of leges by the Department of vandalism. Motor Vehicles. White had a The case has been forwarded to the Mendocino valid drivers license at the time County District Attorney’s Office and the Mendocino of the accident. County Probation Department for prosecution. The impact of the white Ford Mustang convertible against the front of Rod’s Shoes Ben Brown can be reached at The Sheriff’s office asks that anyone who notices shattered windows and warped the frames Monday. [email protected] new graffiti contact the office at 463-4086. School districts lose money when kids go on vacation Mexico a common Travel Monitor. Apparently there ly tagged, fall as “the new summer.” said. who take advantage of the short are more bargains to be had off-sea- Ukiah Unified School District “If they turn in the completed term independent study option. holiday season son, as well as smaller crowds and Superintendent Ray Chadwick said school work they receive academic Good thing, because apparently destination shorter lines. he hasn’t noticed an increase recent- credit and we get to claim the atten- Mexico is a popular getaway during Fall, in particular, is becoming ly in the amount of parents taking dance,” he said, meaning the district the holidays.“There are a number of By LAURA MCCUTCHEON increasingly popular for family their children out of school, but he gets paid for the time the student families that return to Mexico dur- The Daily Journal vacations and now accounts for 24 did say a number of families in the was gone. Schools districts receive ing the holiday season, and we have There’s money to be saved by percent of all family vacation time district, on an annual basis, return to state education dollars based on a pretty elaborate independent study taking vacations in the fall, but it in the United States, according to Mexico during the holiday season. every day of a child’s presence at program set up with the government can be at the expense of the educa- the Travel Industry Association. Students of these families, and school. “If families don’t apply for of Mexico,” Chadwick said. tional system if children take trips That’s second only to summer, others, are supposed to go on short independent study, or if the student “We actually have an agreement without being on short-term inde- which accounts for 33 percent of term independent study if they are doesn’t return the work, then we where Mexican national teachers pendent study. Three out of five par- family travel. AAA’s travel vacation going to take off five days or more. don’t receive any credit for atten- work with them on their assign- ents say they’re willing to take their package bookings are up 9.3 percent In doing so they are given assign- dance and the student gets behind,” ments from Ukiah Unified while children out of school for a vaca- compared to last year, according to ments by their teachers for the peri- he said, noting, there has been an they are in Mexico,” he said. tion, according to a new study pub- the travel organization which recent- od of time they miss, Chadwick increase in the number of families lished in the 2006 National Leisure See SCHOOLS, Page 16 95* SaberFAST DSL for $11 Per Month 800-989-8851 • www.saber.net * Terms & conditions apply. 2 – TUESDAY, OCT. 24, 2006 DAILY DIGEST Editor: K.C. Meadows, 468-3526 The Ukiah Daily Journal [email protected] BOOKED -- Carlos POLICE REPORTS Castillo Quiroz, 24, of Potter FUNERAL NOTICES The following were Valley, was booked into jail on compiled from reports suspicion of driving under the [\ ing on a small in- and by pets Ro- October 6, 2006.