Community Center for ON THE MARKET sports digest Life Choices Guide to local real estate ..........Page A-7 ............Page A-3 ...................................Inside INSIDE Mendocino County’s World briefly The Ukiah local newspaper ......Page A-2 Tomorrow: Breezy with partial sunshine 7 58551 69301 0 FRIDAY July 20, 2007 50 cents tax included DAILY JOURNAL ukiahdailyjournal.com 46 pages, Volume 149 Number 102 email: [email protected] West Nile Virus case in county UKIAH CITY COUNCIL The Daily Journal Mendocino County. So far, only one death has cautions to protect ourselves and The California Department of Human cases of West Nile been reported; an elderly woman our families from mosquito bites. Public Health announced this have been reported in four coun- in Kern County died of the virus Even though the likelihood of Marijuana week that 25 people have been ties. The bulk of the human cases in early July. serious illness from West Nile diagnosed with the West Nile have been reported in Kern “This unfortunate death Virus, including one in County in Southern California. reminds us that we must take pre- See VIRUS, Page A-12 ordinance amended By ZACK SAMPSEL MENDOCINO ECOLOGICAL LEARNING CENTER The Daily Journal The City Council gave the city more options for cracking down on marijuana growing Wednesday night. The council voted to amend its marijuana cultivation ordinance after a summer of discussions and presentations about enforcement and punishment options for those in violation of the ordinance. The previous ordinance allowed only for med- icinal marijuana to be grown indoors at a maxi- mum of 12 mature or 24 immature plants per par- cel. As well, the ordinance identified elements such as odor, repeated responses by law enforce- ment, excessive noise and other effects upon neighborhoods that could warrant a violation. Before Wednesday’s meeting, violations of the ordinance prior to the amendments could be pun- ished as misdemeanors, which carried a possible sentence of six months in jail, or an injunction could be sought by the city attorney. The new amendments add more enforcement options, but do not change the number of plants allowed to be grown. As had been discussed in previous City Council meetings, the amendments to the ordinance create a procedure allowing city code officers to handle nuisance complaints. The new procedure, which can be enforced by an inspection and nuisance abatement warrant issued by the Superior Court, would begin with a notice from a code enforce- ment officer that describes the location and spe- cific conditions that constituted the violation. After receiving the notice, the person who is growing the marijuana, be it tenant or owner, will have three business days to appeal the notice. If the appeal is not filed within three business days, the violation becomes final. As well, a hearing, See MARIJUANA, Page A-12 MacLeod Pappidas/The Daily Journal MELC director Maximilian Meyers holds a handful of productive soil that has been built over three years of sheet composting. Recent rain Center teaches means more sustainable living water in lake By ZACK SAMPSEL Sonoma County Water Agency The Daily Journal to cut Lake Mendocino releases The Mendocino Ecological Learning Center, nestled in the hills south of Willits, is teaching the public about living sustain- By BEN BROWN able lifestyles, and is leading by example. The Daily Journal The MELC is located on 31 acres of land and is almost com- The Sonoma County Water Agency has pletely sustained, meaning the MELC maintains its own waste, announced it will be reducing the flow of water water and energy. Even on cloudy days when the partially solar- out of Lake Mendocino over the next week in powered facility’s solar panels aren’t picking up much sun, the order to preserve water from a recent rainfall. MELC continues to power itself with the help of hydroelectric SCWA will be reducing flows out of Lake power from a nearby stream. A work in progress, two toilets stand in a cobb struc- Mendocino by 30 cubic-feet-per-second to 225 The MELC was founded in 2003, and in its short history it ture at the MELC property. When finished, the waste -- cubic-feet per-second. The reduced flows are has helped educate hundreds of people from all over Northern or “black water” -- will be fed to worms, whose waste, expected to preserve 600 acre-feet of water in California and beyond about living a sustainable lifestyle. The in turn, will be used to feed young fruit trees. the lake gathered from brief rainfall earlier this goal of the MELC is to reach as many people as possible while week. also reaching out to people who would not normally choose to Meyers’ father, Hari, is there, and, in addition to the family, The agency is anticipating that outdoor resi- study, practice or work in the fields of Ecology, Ecological interns can be seen roaming the grounds of this environmental dential and agriculture water use will drop over Design and Permaculture. megaplex. the next 10 days because of the rain. Maximillian Meyers is the executive director of the MELC Determining the spot for this learning center was a much “It is our hope that residents turned off their and manages the 31-acre center from his wheelchair, but that more involved process than just picking any house from a real irrigation systems due to the rain this morning,” hasn’t slowed him down. estate listing. Maximillian said that after finally buying the SCWA Principal Engineer Chris Murray said Meyers is the executive director for the MELC, but on the property that would become the learning center he spent a year earlier this week. “The agriculture community grounds it’s apparent this is a team effort. Meyers’ wife not only can also assist by not irrigating for a full day due helps out with the ongoing projects at the center, but also See MELC, Page A-10 to the rain.” According to SCWA reports, conserving all available water is especially important because the agency has not yet met its goal of a 15-per- cent reduction in flows out of the Russian River mandated by the State Water Resources Control Board in June. Potter Valley man suspected of sexual assault The board ordered that diversions be reduced The Daily Journal Sheriff’s Detective Tim Goss investigated according to sheriff’s reports. by 15 percent in order to guarantee that there Mendocino County sheriff’s deputies the case and learned that Merlin Gale Yttrie, Yttrie was arrested on suspicion of lewd will be water available for recreational opportu- arrested a Potter Valley man on charges of 75, of Redwood Valley, was alleged to have acts with a child and sexual penetration with a nities and fisheries for the 600,000 residents of sexual assault for allegedly molesting a young abused the victim, a 10-year-old girl, five foreign object and booked into the Mendocino Sonoma and Marin counties. girl five years ago. years ago on several different occasions while County Jail on a $75,000 bond. As of Wednesday, SCWA had reduced diver- According to sheriff’s reports, deputies the victim was living with Yttrie, according to sions by approximately 10 percent. were alerted to the allegations of sexual sheriff’s reports. Detectives believe that Yttrie may have had Water levels in Lake Mendocino have been assault on July 3, when they were notified by On Wednesday, Goss and sheriff’s contact with other children during the same an increasing problem over the summer due to a the Ukiah Police Department. UPD notified Detective James Schnitzius interviewed Yttrie time that these alleged sexual assaults took combination of low rainfall, little winter snow- the Sheriff’s Office after determining the about the charges. During that interview, place and are encouraging any other victims to pack and a reduction in the diversion of water alleged incident took place in Potter Valley. Yttrie confessed to having assaulted the girl, contact the Sheriff’s Office at 467-9159. See RAIN, Page A-10 A-2 – FRIDAY, JULY 20, 2007 DAILY DIGEST Editor: Jody Martinez, 468-3517 The Ukiah Daily Journal [email protected] Stocks climb following mostly upbeat earnings reports By TIM PARADIS short order. AP Business Writer Dow Jones industrials close above 14,000 for first time Bonds showed little overall movement. The NEW YORK — Wall Street moved soundly Alcoa Inc. had lost interest kept the Dow Jones figure out ‘Is this a head-fake or is this the real yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note higher Thursday, sending the Dow Jones indus- industrial average from extending its gains. deal?”’ was flat at 5.03 percent from late Wednesday. trials to their first close above 14,000 as The flurry of corporate news Thursday coin- The Dow rose 82.19, or 0.59 percent, to The dollar was mixed against other major cur- investors kept jitters about the economy at bay cided with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s 14,000.41. The blue chip index danced around rencies, while gold prices rose. and focused on a string of upbeat earnings return to Capitol Hill for the second day of his the 14,000 mark during the session, having The stock market’s rise came even as oil reports. midyear report to Congress in which he said first reached it on Tuesday but not closing moved higher. Light, sweet crude settled up 87 The Standard & Poor’s 500 index also had a problems such as foreclosures among holders above that level until Thursday. The Dow’s cents at $75.92 per barrel on the New York record close.