Potter Valley REMINISCE hosts SUNDAY ‘Ukiah’s Unique Urban Forest’ Mendocino ..........Page A-8 Jan. 15, 2006 ..................................Page A-3 World briefs .......Page A-2 Mendocino County’s The Ukiah local newspaper Monday: Mostly cloudy Tuesday: Sunshine followed by clouds $1 tax included DAILY JOURNAL ukiahdailyjournal.com 54 pages, Volume 147 Number 281 email: [email protected] Flood sewage situation not as PAIN at the pump bad as feared Ukiah fuel prices By BEN BROWN The Daily Journal among the highest HOPLAND – It didn’t get as bad as it could have in N. California when the sewage pump station near Feliz Creek was damaged during the flooding New Year’s weekend, By LAURA CLARK said Evert Jacobson, general manager of Hopland The Daily Journal Public Utilities. The yo-yo effect of gaso- “By accident, we had a good thing happen,” said line prices has people at the Jacobson, referring to the overflow at the pump sta- pumps perturbed, to say the tion that pushed most of the sewage downstream least. before floodwaters destroyed the electric generator “It seems like we are being that provided power to the pump. gouged,” Debra Phenicie, of If the pump had not been shut-down by flood Redwood Valley, said waters, Jacobson said, the sewer plant would have Saturday as she filled up her wound up processing half the river. vehicle’s gas tank at Express When the homes around Feliz Creek flooded, Mart on South State Street -- river water began to pour down toilets and bathtub one of the cheapest places in drains, flooding the sewer system with river water, town, with regular unleaded pushing raw sewage in the pump down the line and priced at $2.48 a gallon. Quest to the treatment plant, Jacobson said. Mart on the other end of town, The station stopped pumping water at 3 a.m. Dec. was a penny cheaper on 31, the same time people were being evacuated from Saturday, with the same grade the areas. The pump was not reactivated until Jan. 2, of fuel selling at $2.47 a gal- lon. See SEWAGE, Page A-14 “They (the oil companies) have a corner on the market and they are basically taking Tyler Stoffel/The Daily Journal advantage of the fact that peo- Arnulfo Gomez, Food Bank drive ple need gas to get around. above, fills his truck Why is it all of a sudden the with gasoline prices are going up? We were Saturday afternoon at raises $80,956 at $2.19 per gallon right USA Gasoline at The Daily Journal’s Holiday Food Bank Fund before Christmas; now all of a State and Talmage. At Drive has concluded, with a final total of sudden it’s at least 28 cents right, Joelle Burgess $80,956.42, exceeding its goal of $75,000. more per gallon,” Phenicie and Jim Malloy This annual effort raises critical funding for the added. pause after putting Ukiah Community Center Food Bank that it can According to a new report $5 of gasoline in get nowhere else. The Daily Journal’s Holiday from AAA of Northern their car. Malloy said Food Bank Fund Drive keeps the Food Bank California, the statewide aver- for him higher gas doors open, the refrigeration going, pays its small age cost of a gallon of regular prices require a staff and keeps the Food Bank maintained. In unleaded has increased by 13 choice between other words, with this drive we pay the bills, and cents in the last week or so. driving and smoking every dollar counts. The average statewide price cigarettes. The final donors are: Gino Moretta, $500, in California for regular Mary Lou Leonard and Andrew Stein, $250, unleaded gas is $2.36, up 7 Leonard and Joanne LaCasse, $200, Joe and cents from the last AAA gas to AAA. South Lake Tahoe, where reg- different cities -- South Lake Kayla Wildman, $200, Jeffers Spas and Pools, price report on Dec. 13. That The most expensive aver- ular unleaded gas sells for Tahoe is followed by Eureka $200, Michael Riddell: Riddell Construction, price is 40 cents more than age gasoline price in Northern $2.62 per gallon. According to at $2.57 and Ukiah, the third $150, Raymond and Verna Jacobs, $100, Randy Californians were paying on California communities where AAA -- which in its report lists and Linda Maddox, $100, Phyllis Curtis, $100, average a year ago, according AAA monitors fuel costs is in the average gas prices in 25 See GASOLINE, Page A-2 Menton Builders, $100, Anonymous, $100, See FOOD BANK, Page A-14 Free residential storm damage cleanup program ending soon By SETH FREEDLAND 4:30 p.m. Thursday to make an appoint- The Daily Journal ment for an official “County Disaster Mendocino County Solid Waste Debris Monitor” to come to their resi- Division will not provide free storm dam- dence and issue a “Disaster Debris age cleanup to flood victims after 4 p.m. Receipt,” otherwise dubbed a “passport,” Saturday, Jan. 21, officials said. before using the Ukiah Valley Transfer The Residential Disaster Debris Station at no charge. Program allows residents to dispose of The receipts divide garbage varieties disaster debris at the Ukiah Valley into appliances, electronics, wood, scrap Transfer Station, 3151 Taylor Drive in metal, tires and miscellaneous. Ukiah. Flood victims must call 467-2552 by See CLEANUP, Page A-14 Amy Wellnitz/The Daily Journal (Right) Mendocino County Department of Transportation Deputy Director Paul Cayler meets with disaster debris monitor Bill Nash Friday at the Ukiah Valley Transfer Station. The last day to make an appointment to apply for a Disaster Debris Receipt, shown at left, is Thursday. Supes’ packed year no match for internal debate RECENT ACTIONS BY In an intimate workshop in a narrow con- Still, the calendar of action items is impres- BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ference room at Mendocino County head- sive: There will be a Planning 101 workshop; quarters -- so intimate in fact, the local press another workshop on a new structural review By SETH FREEDLAND was nearly literally breathing down supervi- MATTER OF FACT of planning programs; a session on the mental The Daily Journal sors’ necks -- county executive officers pre- health restructure; an overhaul of the execu- At the previous week’s sented the board with its proposed 2006 tive office; a session on clerk of the board Board of Supervisors meeting: work-plan. staffing; a planning session on mental health; • The county took a long- SETH a session on planning matters including a new awaited leap forward by mov- Because the public sat behind the supervi- ing to update its finance sys- sors, it was hard to tell -- but it sure seemed FREEDLAND work-plan for the UVAP, general plan and other issues… tem. Executive office staffers like their eyes bugged out of their heads, car- said the committee in charge of toon-style. (deep breath) …a workshop looking at an overview of the project “took wishful think- In possibly the most optimistic govern- ing and made it reality.” A com- mental plan since JFK swore to put man on the moon within a decade, John the budget process, an A-87 explanation and state budget impacts; the issuing of the second quarter budget report; a session on restructuring for the Air petitive bid will be issued, with Ball and Alison Glassey molded the supervisors’ previously stated desires into an anticipated estimated total a statuesque calendar of workshops, meetings and planning sessions. Quality Management District; a session on a new ordinance for Emergency Services Coordination; a workshop on the Criminal Justice Master Plan, a cost to the county above Hyperbole aside, there’s quite a bit on our supervisors’ plate this year -- $300,000. although County Executive Officer John Ball is confident the work-plan is doable. See FREEDLAND, Page A-12 See BOARD, Page A-12 A-2 – SUNDAY, JAN. 15, 2006 DAILY DIGEST Editor: Jody Martinez, 468-3517 The Ukiah Daily Journal [email protected] FUNERAL NOTICES Gasoline [\ Jordon. She worked as a Continued from Page A-1 DR. MARGARET Psychotherapist for over GANNON JENSEN 30 years providing love and highest on the list, is at $2.47 Dr. Margaret Gannon support for many families. per gallon, a 16-cent increase Jensen, born December 31, She will be greatly missed over last month’s average. 1946 in Xenia, Ohio passed by her six siblings and her The majority of the cities away unexpectedly at her large extended family. listed in AAA’s report saw an home in Willits, California Family and friends are increase of between 2 cents on January 3, 2006. She invited to attend a celebra- and 7 cents over the last was the beloved partner of tion of her life on Sunday, month. Ukiah’s increase was Mary E. Farkas; the devot- January 15, 2006, 2:00 the highest and parallel to ed mother of Mary p.m., at the Ukiah Senior Marysville and New York Elizabeth Murdoch and Center. In lieu of flowers, City, according to the list pro- Kristen Margaret Jensen; the family requests dona- vided by AAA. the adored and loved tions be made to the Ukiah All this likely comes as no “Nana” of Caroline, Senior Center, and to surprise to Arnulfo Gomez, of Matthew, Katherine, and Project Sanctuary. Ukiah, who said he was in Santa Rosa last week and gasoline prices there were Please sign the guest book at www.ukiahdailyjournal.com. around $2.20 per gallon. Funeral notices are paid announcements. For information on “A guy I work with said he how to place a paid funeral notice or make corrections to funeral notices please call our classified department at 468- went up to Oregon and it was 3529.