UHS boys’ RELIGION basketball Saturday Faith community news takes on Piner ...................................Page 3 .............Page 6 Feb. 3, 2007 INSIDE Mendocino County’s World briefly The Ukiah local newspaper ..........Page 2 Sunday: Partly sunny and warm 7 58551 69301 0 Monday: Partly sunny 50 cents tax included DAILY JOURNAL ukiahdailyjournal.com 14 pages, Volume 148 Number 300 email: [email protected] UPD officer, teen hurt in head-on By KATIE MINTZ Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. The Daily Journal Officer fell asleep while driving home after shift According to CHP Officer Two Potter Valley residents, Robert Simas, a helicopter could one of them a Ukiah Police duty at the time, was northbound The CHP report said Waide- Golding was southbound on not land at the scene of the acci- Department officer, sustained on East Road near Pine Avenue lich drifted across the center lane East Road at an unknown speed dent due to fog. major injuries in a head-on colli- in Potter Valley when he fell of the roadway, then awoke, at the time of the accident. The East Road was closed for sion on East Road Friday morn- asleep at the wheel of his 1997 braked and pulled to the right in report said Waidelich had been nearly two hours while emer- ing. Jeep Wrangler. an attempt to avoid hitting an going 45-50 mph. gency personnel responded to According to the accident UPD Capt. Trent Taylor said oncoming vehicle. The front-end Both drivers suffered major the accident, and traffic was report filed by CHP Waidelich was on his way home of a 1988 Mazda MX-6, driven injuries and were transported by diverted to West Road by Investigating Officer Patty about 7 a.m. in his personal vehi- by Maxwell Golding, 17, of ambulance to Ukiah Valley Mendocino County road crews, Benedetti, UPD officer Noble cle after finishing a standard, 12- Potter Valley, collided with Medical Center for treatment. Waidelich Waidelich Jr., 28, who was off- hour patrol shift. Waidelich’s vehicle. Golding was then airlifted to See HEAD-ON, Page 14 LEGAL STRIKE THREAT UPDATE UKIAH UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT Chadwick County announces hopeful retirement strike can 35-year career with be averted By BEN BROWN district nearing close The Daily Journal By LAURA MCCUTCHEON The county is hopeful negotiations with the Mendocino County Public Attorney’s The Daily Journal Association will avoid a threatened strike kiah Unified School District that could hamper criminal prosecution in Superintendent Ray Chadwick has the county, said Assistant County Uannounced he will retire in June. Executive Officer Alison Glassey. Chadwick’s educational career with the “We hope to return to the bargaining district began in 1972 when he took a table, and I have high hopes that we will teaching job at Pomolita Middle School. come to a resolution,” Glassey said. From there he gradually worked his way up On Thursday, the MCPAA voted 28-0, the educational ladder. He became an with three members absent, to strike on assistant principal at Ukiah High School, Feb. 28 if they do not receive a contract then the director of Continuing and that brings salaries closer to market rate, Alternative Education, and then the said Deputy District Attorney and principal of Pomolita, during which time MCPAA President Matthew Finnegan. the school earned a California “If they don’t come back to the table Distinguished School award. with a satisfactory offer, we walk,” he In 2000, Chadwick was promoted to said. UUSD assistant superintendent, and lastly, The MCPAA, which is now affiliated in 2004, he was appointed superintendent with the Teamsters Union, local 856, rep- of the district. resents attorneys in the Mendocino However, Chadwick’s first experience County District Attorney’s Office, the with the school district began in the third Submitted photo Public Defenders Office, the Alternate grade when his mother enrolled him in Ukiah Unified School District Superintendent Ray Chadwick will retire in Defenders Office and the Child Support Frank Zeek Elementary School. After going June after 35 years with the district. Attorney’s Office. through the local school system, he The MCPAA is asking that salaries be graduated from Ukiah High School in 1966 brought closer to the market rate for pub- and went away to college. He earned a ‘We want to travel, and we have all sorts of projects planned around the house. lic attorneys in the surrounding five coun- bachelor’s degree in history from Sonoma ties. State University and a master’s degree I’d also like to take my guitar playing skills to at least the mediocre level.’ Deputy District Attorney and MCPAA from the University of San Francisco. Negotiator Brian Newman said salaries Asked why he chose a career in are between 16 percent and 45 percent education, Chadwick said “I always wanted RAY CHADWICK on his retirement plans lower in Mendocino County than they are to be a history teacher. I actually received a in surrounding areas. scholarship in high school that was a scholar and a gentleman and I can “Superintendent Chadwick, he’s very “Being out of market is a concern for earmarked for a student who wanted to go honestly tell you that Ray Chadwick is a competent in both the business and the all employees,” Glassey said. “The county into teaching. scholar, an educator and a gentleman,” educational aspects of the school district. is responding to the extent that it is fiscal- “I’ve enjoyed most all of it, but I had the Tichinin added. He knows how to get the right things done ly responsible to do so.” most fun coaching basketball for 15 years,” Chadwick’s executive assistant, Beryl at the right time and he’s a nice person The county has offered the MCPAA a Chadwick said. Hewitt, too, had only good things to say besides, which makes it a pleasure to come similar deal to the one accepted by the The Mendocino County Office of about her boss. to work everyday,” she said. Service Employees International Union in Education has a special honor in store for “I have been there since 1982 and I have His plans for retirement? January. That contract included a 3 per- Chadwick in advance of his retirement. worked with several superintendents and “Pretty much the usual,” Chadwick said. cent cost of living increase every year for “I have observed him and his heart and one of the nice things about Superintendent “We want to travel, and we have all sorts of the next three years with a possible raise how he supports children and learning. I Chadwick is he is somebody who is projects planned around the house. I’d also of 5 percent, an offer the MCPAA finds was very privileged to provide him with competent on the job and he is also a nice like to take my guitar playing skills to at unacceptable, Finnegan said the honor the county board and I will person,” Hewitt said. “Anyone who is in least the mediocre level.” Finnegan said the county has been bestow upon him in March,” MCOE the working world knows you can get one The UUSD board is considering a negotiating in bad faith, canceling meet- Superintendent Paul Tichinin said, referring of those without the other, but Ukiah proposal from the California School Boards ings and sending a negotiator who was not to a proclamation honoring Chadwick as Unified has been really lucky with a association to conduct a search for empowered to make deals, but was mere- Mendocino County Schoolmaster of the number of superintendents who have the Chadwick’s replacement. ly a messenger between the MCPAA and Year 2007. gold standard of these two qualities Laura McCutcheon can be reached at the county. “People many times say that someone is combined.” [email protected]. Additionally, the county has acted ille- gally by trying to take money from See LAWYERS, Page 8 Man jailed after reportedly shooting at neighbor Note to readers: The Daily Journal neighbor Lyle Galliani, 52, of Fort reports. Coast area and the county Special Some readers may FORT BRAGG -- Robert Isaac Bragg at around 8 p.m. Thursday. Sheriff’s deputies responded to Weapons and Tactics Unit which have received their Daily Vargas, 49, of Fort Bragg, was arrest- Galliani walked up the driveway to Vargas’ house and found that Vargas includes a crisis negotiator. The nego- Journal later than usual ed on charges of assault and attempted talk to Vargas about the accident, and had barricaded himself inside. When tiator contacted Vargas, who eventual- today, due to a Friday murder after he allegedly fired a gun at then Vargas allegedly shot at Galliani, deputies approached, Vargas threat- ly surrendered peacefully. power outage in Lake- another Fort Bragg resident and then who felt pain in his calf and fled the ened to shoot the law enforcement Vargas was arrested on suspicion of port, where the newspa- barricaded himself in his house on scene, calling 911. officers, according to the report. attempted murder, assault with a dead- per is printed. Fawn Lane in Fort Bragg. It was later determined that Galliani Deputies withdrew and called for ly weapon and shooting in a negligent We apologize for any According to reports from the was uninjured, and it is suspected he backup, which included Fort Bragg manner. He is being held in the inconvenience the delay Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, may have been hit by a ricochet or Police Department officers, sheriff’s Mendocino County Jail on a $250,000 may have caused. Vargas drove into the fence of his fragment, according to sheriff’s deputies from Willits and the South bond.