Community Weekend COUNTY BUDGET sports digest entertainment Good news – and bad news ..........Page A-6 ...........Page A-3 ..................................Page A-1 INSIDE Mendocino County’s World briefly The Ukiah local newspaper .......Page A-2 Tomorrow: Mostly sunny and hot 7 58551 69301 0 THURSDAY Aug. 30, 2007 50 cents tax included DAILY JOURNAL ukiahdailyjournal.com 18 pages, Volume 149 Number 143 email: [email protected] Electronic voting machine decision no problem locally By ROB BURGESS Mendocino County. “The Diebold, Hart, InterCivic the purposes of conducting early vot- Vote Act.” The Daily Journal On Aug. 3, Bowen issued a decer- and Sequoia direct recording elec- ing and to allow counties to have one Mendocino County Clerk Marsha Secretary of State Debra Bowen tification and partial recertification tronic systems were all decertified,” DRE machine in each polling place Wharff said this change will have lit- reduced the number of electronic of the Diebold Touchscreen Voting she wrote in a press release the same on Election Day for the purpose of tle effect on the county’s polling voting machines in California earlier System, allowing for only one per day. “The Diebold and Sequoia DRE complying with disability access this month, with minimal impact to polling place. systems were recertified solely for requirements of the Help America See VOTING, Page A-14 Check almost BANK’S $10,000 MEMORIAL DONATION costs county WILL HELP PROVIDE resident $1,600 Sheriff’s Offices urges caution Humane when dealing on Internet, by mail The Daily Journal A Mendocino resident was almost scammed out of more than $1,600 when a fake check was delivered to pay for the haven for rental of a vacation home. The victim had been contacted over the Internet by a man identifying himself as Franklin Lombado, who said he wanted to rent a vacation home that the man owns in animals Mendocino. By ZACK SAMPSEL According to reports from the Mendocino The Daily Journal County Sheriff’s Office, Lombado rented “It was heartbreaking last year to see the home for four days but never arrived. the dogs without proper coverings. We The victim contacted Lombado by e-mail, tried to shield them from the rains, but it concerned that something may have hap- was difficult,” said Sheryl Mitchum, pened to him. executive director for the Humane Society Lombado began a correspondence with of Inland Mendocino County. the victim and eventually sent him a com- Luckily, with help in the form of a puter printed check for $2,500 from “Allied $10,000 matching-funds donation from the Technology Group INC” via FedEx. privately-owned Bank of Stockton, the Sheriff’s deputies contacted the bank the dogs at the Humane Society should be check was drawn against and found out the getting a new home within the year. check was fake. The Humane Society is located at 9700 An e-mail from Lombado that preceded Uva Drive in Redwood Valley. This the check instructed the victim to cash it, nonprofit organization works to provide keep $865 to pay for the unused reserved shelter and homes for dogs and cats looking to be adopted. See CHECK, Page A-14 The matching funds are dedicated to the memory of lifelong Hopland resident Charlie Shimmin, who recently died at age MacLeod Pappidas/The Daily Journal 93. He worked most of his life with the Third-generation banker Paul Schimmin holds Dusty, who is currently seek- CHP will be Savings Bank of Mendocino County, but it ing adoption at the Humane Society of Inland Mendocino County. At his was his relationship with the Eberhardt suggestion, the Bank of Stockton donated $10,000 to the organization in out in force family of the Bank of Stockton and his son honor of his father, Charlie Schimmin. Paul’s desire to commemorate his father that helped provide the Humane Society over holiday with this opportunity. The Bank of Stockton will be The Daily Journal “I know this is something that would be matching all donations to the The California Highway Patrol will be very special to him. I know he would be observing a maximum enforcement period very pleased,” said Paul Shimmin, the Humane Society’s building during the holiday weekend. third-generation banker, who, with the From 6 p.m. Friday until 12 a.m. Tuesday, help of his wife, Linda, the Bank of fund. The nonprofit wants the CHP will have 80 percent of all uni- Stockton and the Humane Society, worked to replace the 17 cages at formed personnel on California’s highways to organize the project. enforcing traffic laws. Paul Shimmin said that following his the Humane Society. With Officers will be concentrating on stopping father’s death, the Bank of Stockton help from the community it and ticketing drivers who are speeding, dri- approached him asking of a way to do ving without seat belts and driving under the something in memory of Charlie Shimmin. hopes to utilize all of the influence. “I suggested that we set up some sort of Last year, 46 people were killed in Labor matching funds, although I had no idea matching funds. Day weekend traffic collisions statewide and they’d send a check for $10,000,” Paul 1,749 people were arrested on suspicion of said. driving under the influence. The Bank of Stockton will be matching (Above) Bullwin- One of those fatalities was a Sonoma all donations to the Humane Society’s kle, an American County woman who died in a rollover acci- building fund with the hopes of replacing Bulldog, greets a dent near Comminsky Station. the 17 cages at the Humane Society. With visitor with wag- To reinforce the importance of following help from the community, Mitchum and ging tongue and traffic rules, CHP Commissioner Mike Shimmin are optimistic they’ll be able to tail. (Left) Siblings Brown will be working with his officers to utilize all of the matching funds. Sandy and Hops enforce traffic laws on Interstate 5. Brown Shimmin said the initial discussions are stand on the dirt will be patrolling from Woodland to San to replace the 17 cages with 28 new ones and gravel of their Diego. at the shelter. He said the Humane Society current cages. The Officers with the Oregon and Washington will be looking to rearrange the current Humane Society Highway Patrols will also be participating in space to fit more cages, resurface the plans to pour con- an MEP in their states over the weekend as gravel floors with cement and enclose crete flooring in part of a three-state campaign called “Stay each of the cages to provide shelter during each cage and add alive on I-5.” rainy and hot days. a roof in order to The Labor Day weekend MEP is part of a Construction has yet to start, but avoid winter mud. Combined Accident Reduction Effort holi- See HUMANE, Page A-14 day operation. CARE is a joint program with the nation’s highway patrols to promote safety during holiday weekends. County unveils its ‘good news ... bad news’ budget By MIKE A’DAIR $215 million. This is an increase of reduced, mostly through problems Beltrami was understating it. At Then the board directed that the The Willits News approximately $9 million over last we’ve been having with the Mental the beginning of the day on Monday, auditor’s office vigorously pursue The County of Mendocino has a year’s budget. Notwithstanding the Health Department. On the plus side, the board had a balanced budget, but soliciting A-87 payments from vari- new budget. At press time on dollar amount, the real significance Governor Schwarzenegger reinstated several financial commitments ous districts, such as water districts Tuesday, the final total of the budget of the budget lies in how tight it is. the Williamson Act, so those funds remained unfunded. Beltrami report- and sewer districts, which use coun- had not yet been determined, but a “With this year’s budget, there is are there. On the negative side, he ed that an additional $100,000 of ty equipment or resources to perform source within the administration cen- good news and there is bad news,” has reduced funding in a lot of areas. interest income had been found, and their tasks. Those funds, which have ter confirmed that the final appropri- said Interim CEO Al Beltrami. “This So the net is, we do not have the flex- that was added to the box that indi- ations would total in the vicinity of year’s budget carry-over has been ibility we had hoped for.” cated what monies were available. See BUDGET, Page A-14 A-2 – THURSDAY, AUG. 30, 2007 DAILY DIGEST Editor: Jody Martinez, 468-3517 The Ukiah Daily Journal [email protected] FUNERAL NOTICES [\ time she could of- Chico State. Ken He attended school in ing friends. attend Funeral Services ten be found relaxing was an Information Willits, and after gradu- He was preceded in on Wednesday, August 29, at home or at the Technology Engineer and ating from high school in death by his parents and 2007 6:00 P.M. at casino. worked in Windsor CA and Alameda served in two sons, Steve and Doug. Daniels Chapel of the She was loved by her Folsom CA. He the U.S. Navy in underwa- Roses, 1225 Sonoma many sisters, daugh- loved working on comput- ter demolition as a [\ Ave, Santa Rosa, and on ters, grandchildren, nieces, ers and was an avid frogman. PINOLA, ERNEST H “Cas” August 30, 2007 at nephews, and Beatles collector and fan. After World War II, Del Pinola, Ernest H “Cas” 1:00 P.M.