Eagles Weekend LOCAL WEST NILE CASE women’s entertainment Horse tests positive soccer preview ......................................Page 1 ............Page 6 ..............Page 3 INSIDE Mendocino County’s World briefly The Ukiah local newspaper ..........Page 2 Tomorrow: Sunny and warm 7 58551 69301 0 THURSDAY Aug. 24, 2006 50 cents tax included DAILY JOURNAL ukiahdailyjournal.com 16 pages, Volume 148 Number 137 email: [email protected] Mendoza to stand trial on murder By BEN BROWN trial on charges of murder in connec- deadly weapon with the special alle- there was no evidence presented to The Daily Journal tion with the April 13 stabbing death gations that the assault was commit- prove Mendoza went to the parking Mendocino County Superior Court of David “Joe” Garcia in the parking ted with a knife and that it caused lot with the intention of killing Judge David Nelson on Wednesday lot of the Happiness Is bar. great bodily injury. Garcia. found there was sufficient evidence to Mendoza will also be held to Mendoza’s attorney, Public hold John Mendoza, 21, of Ukiah, for answer for charges of assault with a Defender Linda Thompson, argued See MENDOZA, Page 16 WORKING FOR A LIVING Brown San Diego Restored relic Westside Reaction remains mixed to identified $8/hour By BEN BROWN The Daily Journal minimum The Ukiah Police Depart- By KATIE MINTZ ment has positively identified the remains found Friday on The Daily Journal the grounds of a west Ukiah Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneg- home as belonging to Ukiah ger announced earlier this resident Brown San Diego, week that he would support who disappeared from the legislation to raise home of his adult son on March California’s minimum wage - 14, 2005. - currently set at $6.75 an Positive identification was hour -- to $8 an hour by Jan. made by a forensic odontolo- 2008, topping the rate nation- gist in Cloverdale, who com- wide. But the news, welcome pared the teeth to more than 1 million of FOLLOW-UP of the body to California’s lowest paid resi- San Diego’s dents, has also received some dental records. mixed reviews. No official cause of death Local small business has been determined but UPD owner Robin Collier, who has Detective Sgt. John McCut- run Cheesecake Momma in cheon said the autopsy revealed Ukiah for nearly 10 years, no apparent trauma and the said she is conflicted about death is not being considered the proposed 20 percent suspicious. increase spread over two “The gentleman had signifi- K.C. Meadows/The Daily Journal years. cant medical issues,” McCut- This 129-year-old square grand piano was a mice-infested ruin before months of work by Spencer “As a human being, I want cheon said. Brewer and Agustin Cano at the Ukiah Music Center. everyone to be able to make a San Diego, 83 at the time of livable wage, but as a small his disappearance, had been business owner, I feel like the diagnosed with diabetes and deck is already stacked Alzheimer’s and it was not Piano ready to make music again against me,” Collier said. believed he would have sur- “Yes, I want to see people By ZACK SAMPSEL make more money -- vived long without his medica- The Daily Journal tion. Police believe these ail- absolutely. I happen to be in a ments to have been the cause of his week, one of Covelo’s business that’s very sensitive San Diego’s death. oldest residents will be to payroll and insurance It’s not known how long San T returning home. increases.” Diego’s remains were lying in Spencer Brewer and Agustin Cano The implications that stem the grass on the grounds of a of the Ukiah Music Center, began from paying a higher mini- house at the end of West restoring Hannah Bouscal’s 129- mum wage, such as resulting Standley Street, but year-old Henry F. Miller square higher Worker’s McCutcheon said that, based grand piano in February and now it’s Compensation payments on the state of the remains, they ready for its long-awaited she’ll have to make to the had been there a long time and homecoming. government, she said, are that it was likely San Diego Bouscal, 90, was born in Covelo what she resents. died soon after he disappeared. “The Workman’s Comp and lived in Ukiah 40 years, opening and payroll taxes are enor- An official coroner’s report the first Ukiah Beauty College in is pending. mous,” Collier said. “That’s 1963. She later moved back to her what really leaves me high Ben Brown can be reached at childhood home. [email protected]. and dry, and feeling upset and The piano was part of that scared.” childhood, although she never She suggested tax breaks thought the grand instrument would for small business owners be TRAINING BURN AT DAM really be hers. Brewer and the piano’s owner, 90-year-old Hannah Bouscal, offered as an incentive for A live fire training burn is Ethel Cummins, a former teacher looked over the piano at Brewer’s workshop this week. It will trav- creating jobs. scheduled between 6 a.m. and from Mina, about 25 miles north of el back to its home in Covelo after Brewer tunes it. “I feel like if the money 10 p.m. Thursday at the Lake Covelo, originally purchased the belongs anywhere, it’s in the Mendocino Dam pending fire piano around 1915. neighbors, and she recalled first taught herself how to play. employees’ pocket, not in the conditions. Flames and smoke “Somehow she managed to get seeing the piano in the Cummins Bouscal said around 1960 the government’s,” Collier said. are expected to be visible that piano over a dirty, bumpy road, living room. Bouscal spent much of Cummins family moved from Mina “There should be some bal- throughout the Ukiah and one wagon wheel wide,” Bouscal her early years with the Cummins’ into town in Covelo and brought the ance.” Redwood Valley areas. said. children in school. She said she She employs 22 people, The burn will be part of a Bouscal’s family were Cummins’ always enjoyed the piano and even See PIANO, Page 16 most of whom make more “joint training exercise” involv- ing the California Department See WAGE, Page 16 of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Ukiah Valley Fire District, the Ukiah City Fire Depart- ment, the Hopland Fire Depart- ment, the Redwood Valley- Horse in Covelo contracts West Nile virus Calpella Fire Department and the Potter Valley Fire Depart- By JAMES ARENS was a horse in Covelo that tested posi- been vaccinating the horses like Africa, west Asia, the Middle East, tive for WNV, the first case this year in crazy,” said Roni McFadden, office and more recently in North America. ment. The Daily Journal Training burns like this help Mendocino County. manager of Michelsen and Witt Large Human infection with WNV may firefighters hone their skills and The mere mention of the West Nile But the good news is that this year Animal Practice in Redwood Valley. result in serious illness. Experts will also function as a con- virus (WNV) in or around an area can there have only been 17 cases of WNV “All of the 17 horses this year that test- believe WNV is a seasonal epidemic trolled burn to remove vegeta- stir up great concern in many people’s for horses reported in California, and ed positive were not vaccinated, so in in North America that tends to flare up tion from the face of the dam, minds. The bad news is that, according Mendocino County has the same num- comparison to last year it shows that in the summer and continues into the allowing for better visibility for to the state, last year there were 456 ber of cases this year so far as it did all the vaccine is doing its job.” fall. the dam’s upcoming annual confirmed cases of WNV in horses in of last year for horses: one. The West Nile virus is transmitted earthquake inspection. California, and this past week there “For the past several years we’ve by mosquitoes and is most common in See WEST NILE, Page 2 2 – THURSDAY, AUG. 24, 2006 DAILY DIGEST Editor: Jody Martinez, 468-3517 The Ukiah Daily Journal [email protected] bound on Highway 101 when FUNERAL NOTICES POLICE REPORTS she turned her vehicle right The following were for unknown reasons. The [\ family present on Monday, Car Driver, rac- A memorial service will compiled from reports vehicle went off the road and August 20, 2006. ing at Ukiah and Lakeport be held on Saturday prepared by the Ukiah onto the shoulder, overturned Lex was born in Petaluma, Speedways. Lex August 26, 2006 at 2:00 PM Police Department. To and came to rest on its wheels CA on February 1, will be remembered for his at the Fair- anonymously report in the northbound lane of traf- 1960. devotion and dedi- grounds in Boonville, fol- crime information, call fic pointing southeast. Lex had lived in cation to his friends and lowed by a pot luck 463-6205. Daskquith was treated at Yorkville for the last 30 family. He would of- lunch. the scene and then transported years. ten say “Isn’t life great”. Memorial donations may ARREST -- A 16-year-old to Redwood Memorial He graduated from high Lex is survived by his be made to Lex’s boy was arrested on suspicion Hospital for further treatment school and attended wife Amy Burger of son Nathan Burger in care of battery in the 100 block of for moderate injuries.