1998

 

July

 

 

Record news summaries for July 2, 1998

 

¥ Fandango off to a good start

¥ Modoc students about average in nation

¥ Duck Races hits water July 4, 2:30 p.m.

¥ Modoc median income one of lowest

¥ Rite Aid has plans to build store in Alturas

¥ Forest Service says be careful with fire on 4th

¥ Obituaries

¥ Savage

¥ Pepperdine

¥ Saxman

Fandango Days roll into Alturas

 

It's Fandango Days this weekend in Al turas and ev erything is pointing to good times.

Cal Pines will light up the night on Fri day, July 3 start ing with a barbecue from 3 p.m. - 8 p.m.

At 9:30 p.m. the annual fireworks show will begin over Cal Pines Lake, com pliments of the California Pines Property Owners As sociation. Watch the show at lake side.

Head to downtown Al turas on Saturday morning to witness the Fandango Days Pa rade roll down Al turas' Main Street at 11:00 a.m. and spill into Veter ans' Park for ac tivities from 12:00 noon until 4:00 p.m.

In keeping with the "Alturas Trails to Rails" 1998 theme, six Southern Pa cific Railroad employees who worked for SP for 40 plus years each in Alturas, have been named as Parade Grand Marshals. Those folks in clude Alturas resi dents John Simpson, Paul Robison, Norton Smith, Paul Liv ingston, Genevieve Drown and Janis Smith, who re sides in Redding, since her retirement from SP.

The Alturas Lions' Club Barbecue will be gin serving their barbecued tri-tip steak at noon on the park patio.

See classic autos during the eighth annual Classic Car Show on the lawn behind the Modoc County Museum. Don't forget to enter the drawing for the classic '58 restored Chevy pickup to be given a lucky ticket holder.

The park will be filled with games, food, a petting zoo brought by Peg Woodrich and the campers from the Wood 'n Peg Ranch, an old-fashioned melo drama on the park stage at 2:00 p.m. with lawn seating, and the Great Pit River Duck Race start ing at 2:30 p.m.

A horseshoe pitching tournament will be ongoing. The second annual three on three basketball tournament will begin at 3 p.m. in the Griswold Gym at Modoc High School, for all teams which registered in ad vance. Games are expected to continue through the early evening.

Modoc County Museum will host an Open House Sat urday evening from 4 p.m. - 7 p.m. with demonstrations by Native American drum mers, flint-knapping and beading, plus tatting, wool carding, weaving, quilts, basketry, metal working, pottery and an ex hibit of side-saddles.

Stock Car Races will be gin with time tri als at 6:00 p.m. at Cedarville Fair grounds. Racing starts at 7:00 p.m.

 

Sunday events

 

Railroad Fun Day opens Sunday, July 5, with Friends of the Alturas Railroad Mu seum hosting concessions, live music, a his torical NCO photo display plus motor car rides on the half mile of track already laid and a railroad collectible swap op portunity.

Travel to the old site of Calandor Pines Mill near the Alturas Airport to take part. The building which will be used as the future site of the Alturas Railroad Mu seum has been cleaned by volunteers and made safe for the public. Temporary track has been laid inside the building where antique handcars will be set up for rides.

The red engine, with an estimated value of 175,000 to 200,000 dollars is "virtually new" and parked outside the old mill building. It will have steps to give the public a chance to exam it. Admis sion is free.

The actual museum to house vintage rail equip ment may take five years to complete, but grants have been submitted toward the process.

Sunday morning at 9 a.m. the Fandango Golf Tournament will start at Arrowhead Golf Course.

Stock Cars will race Sun day afternoon in Cedarville with time trials at 2 p.m. and races at 3 p.m.

The California Pines Lodge will be host ing a wide range of ac tivities both Fri day and Sat urday. [see their ad for details].

For Fandango informa tion or Parade en try forms stop by Alturas Chamber of Com merce office, 522 So. Main St., Alturas.

This year's Fandango celebration is co-sponsored by the Alturas Chamber of Com merce, Friends of Wrymoo, California Pines Lodge and the Modoc County Tobacco Coalition.

 

 

State test scores show Modoc near average

 

Recently released test scores show that students in the Modoc Joint Unified School District are pretty much average when com pared with their peers across America. There were areas of strength and weakness and areas where Modoc students were in the middle of the pack.

Students throughout the country in grades 2-11 took the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) exams this past spring. The STAR tests all students on reading and math and also tests high school students in the areas of science and social studies.

The good news locally is in the area of science and social studies at Modoc High School. In those areas a sizable ma jor ity of students scored at or above the 50th percentile for the nation.

One-half of the students in the nation as a whole will score above the 50th percentile and one-half will score below. Therefore, any time Modoc has over half of it's students scor ing above the 50th percentile, it is doing better than the na tion as a whole.

For example, 68 percent of last year's 11th graders at MHS scored better than one-half of the nation in the areas of social studies and science, 53 percent of those same 11th graders also scored above the 50th percentile in math and reading as well.

Another strong class was last year's 4th graders who posted a mark of 63 in reading and 61 in math.

An area of low performance was in middle school math where only 37 percent of last year's 7th graders and 39 per cent of last year's 8th graders scored above the 50th per centile for math.

Modoc Superintendent Craig Drennan said those low numbers didn't come as a great shock. He said the District knew there was a weakness in math at those grade levels and pointed out that changes were made this past spring to remedy the sit uation. The District is begin ning a three-year plan that will focus on getting all stu dents ready for algebra by the 9th grade and even have some of them taking the sub ject in 8th grade.

"We've made some curricu lum changes knowing that there were areas we were weak in," Drennan said.

Another low mark for Modoc came in 2nd grade reading where only 38 percent of stu dents scored above the na tional 50th percentile.

Looking at a total of 26 dif ferent categories in 10 differ ent grades, Modoc scored at 50 or above in 12 of the 26 cate gories when compared against the national average. Those numbers are generally much better than the numbers for the State of California as a whole. California students only scored above the national 50th percentile in seven of the 26 categories.

Those State numbers could have been even lower since they did not include the scores for students who are not profi cient in English, a group that constitutes about 20 percent of the students in California. There is currently a court ac tion filed by the Oakland and Berkeley school districts about whether the test scores of stu dent who are not proficient in English should be released. A hearing in that case is sched uled for July 16.

Drennan emphasized that the current numbers for Modoc are "a snap-shot of a moving vehicle."

He said the numbers would be more valuable if the same test were given over several years and trends for each class could be spotted. However, that will not happen. Next year California will give it's own test which is designed to better measure what is taught in California's curriculum, which many say is different from the rest of the nation.

 

Duck race starts 2:30 p.m. winner gets great truck

 

The Great Pit River Duck Race starts at 2:30 p.m. Saturday and the winner will drive off with a brand new Chevy pickup.

The yellow racing ducks are dropped into the Pit River at the Estes Street Bridge and the finish line is at the Main Street bridge. There are areas all along the river for spectators to watch, thanks to the clean-up and weeding ef forts of the Devil's Garden Conservation Camp.

The Alturas Rotary Clubs will be setting up Duck Central at the corner of Carlos and Main at 9 a.m. Saturday and will have soft drinks and goodies for sale.

As of today there are some ducks left for sale, at Alturas Tire, Coast to Coast and Modoc Motor Parts. There are just a few ducks left, and people are asked to call Bill Madison at 233-3432 to check on availability and location.

The 3,000 ducks, at $25 each, have sold out each year of the Great Pit River Duck Race, the primary fundraiser of Rotary. Funds from the race are earmarked for the Youth Park fields between Fourth and Eighth Street in Alturas. Those fields are home to Little League, Senior League, Men's and Women's softball, Modoc Youth Soccer, Modoc High School baseball and softball, outdoor basket ball and the Junior Livestock arena.

Several new ballfields and soccer fields are under construction at the present time, with grass planting set to begin very soon. There is a possibility that the fields could be in use, at least in the practice stages by next spring."

In two years the Duck Race has raised over $60,000 for the ballfield projects, and another $30,000 is expected from this race. In total, the duck races nets $75,000 but more than $41,000 is expenses.

The first prize win ner will get a choice between a 1998 Chevy 4x4 step side pickup or a 1998 Chevy Silverado Extra-Cab two-wheel drive pickup, each val ued at about $26,000.

Also new for this year is a great sec ond prize of a 1998 fish ing boat and trailer with a value of $8,071.

Gold Crown Sponsors, those people who buy at least 10 ducks, will also have another shot at winning one of two Polaris Express four-wheel ers. Only Gold Crown spon sors have a shot at the four-wheelers.

The race is sponsored by both the Noon and Sunrise Rotary Clubs of Alturas.

The following is an order of other prizes in the Duck Race: third, $2,500 worth of custom lumber from High Desert Milling; fourth, Monitor Stove from Ed Staub and Sons; fifth new roof, sid ing or rain gutter ($1,000 value) from J.S. Roofing; sixth set of four tires from Les Schwab, $600; riding lawn mower from Coast to Coast, $568.41; Power lift/recliner from Home Medical, $500; One year on-line service from High Desert On-Line, $359 value; 25 tons of drive way gravel from Fitch Sand and Gravel, $350; Husquvarna chain saw from Modoc Engines, $330; custom bar becue from Surprise Valley Rotary, $300; 18-speed mountain bike from D&L Distributing; one dozen donuts weekly for a year from the Donut Shop, $260; $250 gift cer tificate from the Belligerent Duck; 55 gallon aquarium setup from Tahiti North, $250 value; three watt cell phone from Modoc Motor Parts, Napa, $225; The Big One fire works kit from Village Video, $199; Zenith 13 inch color television from Phillips Appliance, $199; Weekend retreat for two at Cockrell's High Desert Lodging, $150; free muffler and tail pipe, Ron Campbell, Inc. $125; complimentary two-night stay for two at the Best Western Trailside Inn, $110; CB Radio and gift cer tificate from High Desert Electronics, $109; one night stay for two at Mill Creek Lodge, $100; one free pair of Vans or Skechers from Family Footwear, value up to $100; Outdoor plant stand from Gary's Woodworks, $100; and one pair of Oakley Sunglasses from Tom Krauel, OD, $100 value.

 

 

Modoc near last in state median income

 

Modoc County ranks 56th out of 58 counties in median in come for people filing joint returns, according to the State Franchise Tax Board. Only Imperial and Colusa Counties rank poorer than Modoc.

Modoc's median income for joint returns was $28,848, well below the state median of $46,243. The county fares a little better when all returns are considered, moving to 49th at $19,764, still well below the state median of $25,336.

Neighboring counties were a little higher on the scale. Lassen County has a joint median income of $40,955 and a median of $27,296 for all returns, ranking 23rd and 11th re spectively. In Siskiyou County, the median income for joint returns is $30,462, ranked 52nd; and for all returns it's $19,684, ranked 51st.

Median income is that point when one half of the tax re turns are above and one half are below the midpoint. Median income represents the income reported by a typical California individual or couple.

The Bay Area counties of Marin, Santa Clara, Contra Costa and San Mateo have consistently reported the highest median income. For instance, Marin had the top median for joint returns with $72,953.

Of interest: Los Angeles County taxpayers filed 26.4 per cent of all tax returns in the state.

 

Rite-Aid store planning for Main

 

Rite-Aid is planning to build a store in Alturas, with pro jections to start construction this year, according to Alturas/Modoc County Planner Scott Kessler.

While firm construction dates have not been set, the store will go on the Main Street lot east of Jerry's Restaurant, be tween Plumas Bank and Gil's. The store will be set back about 80 feet from Main Street, said Kessler. Trees, land scaping and decorative street lights are in the plans.

The Rite Aid store will be similar to other stores through out the northwest, said Kessler, but at 11,000 square feet will not be as large as some stores.

The company has sent Kessler's office a building site plan, but has not yet filed for a building permit. Kessler ex pects the project to speed up in the near future.

 

Make fire safety part of July 4 plans

 

Many adults and children will be celebrating Indepen dence Day this weekend by using fireworks. Modoc Na tional Forest asks the public to make fire safety a part of their July 4 and Fandango Days Celebration.

Dan Bouse, Forest Fire Prevention Officer, said that although the woods seem green, recent days of winds are quickly drying a bumper crop of grass. Safe and sane fireworks are allowed in some counties, but all fire works are prohibited on fed eral lands.

If you use fireworks on your home property, be sure that an adult is supervising use of the fireworks and that they are used in a cleared or lawn area with water and shovel ready should the unex pected occur. Soak all fire works devices in a bucket of water after use to be sure noth ing hot is remaining for chil dren to touch, and check the area one more time before leaving where fireworks are used.

If you are planning a trip to national forest land, Bouse urges you to remember camp fire safety. A campfire permit is required for public lands. Clearances around your fire must be at least 10 feet away from trees, brush, etc. Even with the exceptionally wet year, the Modoc NF has al ready experienced its first fire from an abandoned campfire. The 1997 fire sea son brought 20 human-caused fires on the Modoc's protection area and the leading cause was abandoned unextin guished campfires. Before you leave your campfire, douse it with water, stir and feel it with the back of you hand to be sure that no hot spots still ex ist.

Remember, only you can prevent forest fires.

 

Obituaries

 

BETTY SAVAGE

 

Betty Jean Savage, former owner of Fabrics Etc. in Al turas and a supporter of Alturas community activities for many years, died at Merle West Medical Center in Klamath Falls, Ore. on June 27, 1998, after battling a chronic pul monary disease she had dealt with for several years.

As an accomplished pi anist, Mrs. Savage's talents were enjoyed by the public during several Modoc Per forming Arts Theater pro ductions. She was not one to often play publicly, but played more for her own fami lies' enjoyment. She often played her own ar range ments and enjoyed "jamming" with local musi cal friends on occasion or for reunions. Her favorite music included Classical, Broadway show tunes and Jazz.

Born on March 6, 1931 in Beaumont, Calif. to Orlie and Mae [Jacobs] Brown, she was reared in the Beaumont area and lived in several other California locations with her family before her parents purchased a ranch the Bieber area. Betty or "B.J." as friends called her, graduated with a class of five from high school in Bieber. After high school she at tended University of the Pacific in Stockton, where she ma jored in music. Before she graduated from college, she mar ried Robert "Bob" Savage in Beaumont, Calif. on December 1, 1951. The two have shared almost 47 years of marriage.

When they moved to Alturas, Betty became involved in her community as a Cub Scout, Brownie and 4-H Leader while their children were growing. She also became a league bowler and later, as the owner of Fabrics, Etc., she chose to sponsor a bowling team. She took up golfing and was a member of the Arrowhead Golf Club at its start and through the years. She was also a sorority sister of Iota Master Chapter of Beta Sigma Phi.

She created the name Fabrics, Etc., and opened the shop next to the Niles Hotel. She later moved the business to Daft's Twelfth Street Mini Mall until she decided to sell the busi ness about 13 years ago. Once Bob retired, the two enjoyed traveling.

Mrs. Savage was very creative, not only musically, but with her garden at the family home. She loved to select the colors and design the landscape each season and decorate for the holidays. Passers-by always enjoyed looking at her handiwork. Her family and working in her yard with her husband brought her pleasure as well as going camping, playing golf and keeping in touch with friends.

She wanted her friends and family to gather, not to mourn her passing, but to remember the good times and enjoy shar ing those times and memories with one another. With that in mind, family and friends are welcome to Bob and Betty Savage's home, at 910 West Second Street in Alturas on Sun day, July 5 at 2 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be directed to the Modoc High School Music Department, care of Karen Siegel or to the Modoc County Library.

Mrs. Savage is survived by her husband, Bob Savage of Alturas; son Paul Savage and wife Susan of Beaverton, Ore.; daughters Wendy Ledesma and husband Max of Moreno Valley, Calif.; daughter Janice Savage and com panion Poco Forrest, Alturas; sisters Winifred Pfeiffer of Sonora; Joyce Zugelder, Beaumont; brother Larry Brown of Twenty-nine Palms; grandchildren Rebecca, Jessica and Nicholas Ledesma of Moreno Valley; Sean and Dylan Sav age of Beaverton, Ore.

 

 

Carroll Pepperdine

 

 

Carroll Pepperdine, 73, of Yreka, died on June 21, 1998. He was born October 14, 1924 in Eureka, Calif. He moved from Alturas to Yreka in 1952, where he was owner/operator of Jolley's Club Saloon for 27 years. Carroll was married to Carol Kemp and the couple made their home in Yreka. he was a member of the B.P.O. Elk's 1980 in Yreka, a member of the E. Clampus Vitus Humbug Chapter #73 and the Siskiyou County Historical Society. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II.

In addition to his wife, Carol Pepperdine of Yreka, sur vivors include a son Terry Pepperdine of Paradise and a daughter Karen Riordan of Maxwell; brothers Milo Pepper dine of Likely, Phillip Pepperdine of Fallon, Nev. and Nolan Pepperdine of Sacramento, five grandchildren, four step-grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his first wife Nelda, in 1983.

Funeral services were held in Yreka June 24, with inter ment following at the Evergreen Cemetery.

 

 

Dorothy Robinson Saxman

 

True Modocer Dorothy Frances Kistler Robinson Sax man, from a long-time Modoc family and a resident of Modoc County most of her life, died of a heart attack on June 24, 1998 at Modoc Medical Center, Alturas, Calif. She was 86.

Born to Molli [Hudspeth] and Irvin Wilson Kistler on Feb. 27, 1912 in Cedarville, Calif., she attended high school in Westwood for a time and Surprise Valley High School.

In 1928 she married Orin Paul Robinson and the couple lived in Lake City on what was known as the Robinson Ranches. They had three children, Betty Nell, Basye Paul "Tuffy" and Irvin Cressler "Sport". Her husband Paul pre ceded her in death in 1954, after 26 years of marriage and her son Irvin "Sport" preceded her in death in 1956.

In 1957, she sold the ranches and moved to Alturas for a short time, then moved to Winnemucca, Nevada where she spent 10 years.

On March 7, 1959, she married Peter M. Saxman in Guerneville. They moved to Alturas in 1969. She enjoyed be ing a homemaker and liked to cook. In 1983, her husband Peter preceded her in death, after 24 years of marriage.

Mrs. Saxman enjoyed reading, doing crossword puzzles, making afghans for friends and family and doing crafts. She was a private person, but proud of the 50-year member ship pin she received from the Order of Eastern Star.

She was able to live in her home and take care of herself until the morning of her death.

She is survived by her son Basye Paul Robinson and wife Betty of Sacramento; daughter Betty N. Smith and husband Floyd of Alturas; seven grandchildren, two great-grand children and two nephews.

A private graveside service was held at the Cedarville Cemetery at 1 p.m. on June 27. The Rev. Ben Zandstra offi ciated.

Memorial contributions may be made to the charity of the donor's choice.

Record news summaries fo July 9, 1998

 

¥ Forest Service says $70,000 saving if BLM moves in

¥ Ducks raced faster this year

¥ Pair of 12-year-olds nabbed for car theft

¥ Big flag needs more than stitches

¥ Obituaries:

¥ Fisher

¥ Veverka

¥ Renner

 

The forecast:

Look for partly cloudy and warm days through Monday with highs in the 90s and 80s and lows only in the 50s to high 40s.

Combining FS, BLM will save $70,000 in rent

 

Wanted - a roommate to share an 18,000 square foot apartment with a federal em ployee. Current lease runs in 1999, then goes up 30 cents per square foot through 2004. Preference given to those who share common interests with the current tenant. No smok ers and no pets. Free parking and all amenities included. If interested call Smokey Bear.

At their Tuesday meeting, the Modoc County Board of Su pervisors heard from the For est Service about their search for a co-tenant to share the large building they are in along Highway 299. The leading candidate to share the space is the Bureau of Land Management.

Chris Knopp, Acting Direc tor of the Modoc National For est, told the board that because of downsizing in the Forest Service, there is plenty of space in their building and having a co-tenant could save $70,000 per year.

"The BLM is our first choice because of our similar missions," Knopp said. He also pointed out that the two organizations could share ex pertise as well as equipment.

Knopp stated, "As far as the Forest Service is concerned, we're all thumbs up," for hav ing the BLM as a co-tenant. However, he also said later, "This is not a totally clear-cut decision."

BLM Director Tim Burke said he will be making a de cision today (Thursday) about whether to move the BLM out of its current location.

Some on the Board raised the issue of whether the County governments input really mattered to either Federal agency.

"Does it make a differ ence?" Chairman Joe Colt asked. Supervisor Ron McIntyre echoed the senti ment with the question, "Why are we being asked anyway?"

Supervisors Pat Cantrall and Ben Zandstra said that even if it didn't make a dif ference, it was good for the county and the agencies to be talking with each other and hearing opinions.

"It's so much nicer to have an entity involve us in what they are doing," Cantrall said. "Thank you very much for coming."

Zandstra added, "These kinds of conversations go a long way towards enhanced communication."

Knopp told the Board that while the Forest Service has been directed to co-locate, there is "also some discre tion" that can be exercised and that can be influenced by the Board.

Burke said, "We do like to get advice and counsel from the Board." He also point out that he has appeared before several other groups in the community to get their input.

Burke said that when he has appeared before other groups some have expressed the con cern that the Forest Service and the BLM will join to gether to form a "Super Agency" that will rule over Modoc County. Burke said this would not happen. In stead, he theorized that his the

Forest Service, BLM, Natural Resources Conservation Ser vice Farm Service Adminis tration and Rural Develop ment could all be put in the same building, the people of Modoc would have "one-stop Federal shopping."

Chariman Colt expressed a concern about whether the BLM would be downsizing be cause of the move. Burke re sponded that the BLM is actu ally looking to increase its staff in Alturas.

The Supervisors also had a concern that if the Forest Ser vice doesn't find a co-tenant, the Forest Service might just move the entire Alturas opera tion down to Susanville. Knopp said the Forest Service would be staying in its cur rent building either way and was merely looking for a chance to save some money.

In other matters before the Board on Tuesday:

Sexual Harassment Pol icy: The Supervisors adopted a sexual harassment policy that defines sexual harass ment and provides complaint procedures. There was some question about whether the County has been operating without such a policy. Some of the supervisors said they could remember passing one a couple of years ago, but Ad ministrative Services Direc tor Mike Maxwell said there was not a current policy on the books.

The policy lists four differ ent types of harassment: ver bal, physical, visual (derogatory pictures, writ ings, etc.) and sexual favors - that is, offering employment or benefits in exchange for sexual favors.

Supervisors may be held liable under the policy if they fail to take corrective action when they know, "or reason ably should know" that one of their employees is being ha rassed. Supervisors may also be liable if they retaliate against an employee who has complained about sexual ha rassment.

The policy provides for two different complaint proce dures. One if an informal procedure where the com plainant is "encouraged, whenever possible, to confront and inform the harasser his or her behavior is unwelcome, of fensive, and if continued will lead to a formal com plaint."

The formal complaint pro cess requires filing a form with the complainant's super visor, or if the supervisor is the harasser, with the supervi sor's supervisor. Employees may also take confidential matters directly to the Admin istrative Services Director. Once a formal complaint is filed an investigation will take place. The findings of the investigation will be re ported to the Administrative Services Director who will take appropriate action, which may include dismissal of the harassing employee.

El Nino: Supervisor Nancy Huffman is concerned that the wet spring has hurt lo cal farmers, particularly those growing potatoes and sugar beets in the Tulelake area. She said they have still not been able to plant and things might be bad for them come harvest time. She asked the county to look into apply ing for emergency disaster relief.

Sheriff Bruce Mix reported to the Board that a recent Pres idential Act covering the time of February 2 to April 30 de clared all California counties disaster areas except for Lassen and Modoc.

As to future damages, dis aster relief is not available for crops that are privately in surable. Most crops grown in Modoc County are insurable.

Modoc Medical Center: MMC has a new interim Ad ministrator, Kent Allend of Lutheran Hospital Group. The hospital has also decided to change its emergency room physician provider to go with Valley Emergency, the group that had the lowest bid for the contract. Valley Emergency operates out of Oakland and has 22 other similar con tracts.

MMC sustained a loss of $79,553 in May and since in ception has a negative bal ance of $3,420,631.

 

Ducks were quicker for this year's race

 

 

U.S. Congressman Wally Herger stood nearly waist deep in the Pit River Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and fielded the yellow racing ducks coming into the chute.

The ducks were dropped into the river from about eight feet high at the Estes Street bridge and it took them less than 15 minutes to make the trek to the Main Street Bridge where hundreds of people were waiting. Last year the ducks got stalled because of low wa ter levels in the Pit River, but that was not a problem this year as the river is running freely because of an excep tional water year.

Walt Sphar, of Likely, had the first duck to cross the fin ish line and won the new 1998 Chevy Pickup. Sphar chose the two-wheel drive model. He was presented the keys to his new truck by Herger.

"Walt always donates gen erously to the community, so this is kind of a repayment," said Duck Race Chairman Billy Madison. "Overall, the Duck Race went very well and we were pleased. All the ducks were sold and we'll be able to add over $30,000 to the Youth Park funds."

All the proceeds from the Duck Race go to the Alturas Rotary Youth Park. Grass is ex pected to be planted very soon and it may be possible to use the new ballfields by next spring. The Alturas Rotary Sunrise and Lunch Clubs sponsor the Duck Race and have made the Youth Park its key benefactor. Plans include four new baseball/softball fields, soccer fields, conces sion stands, re strooms, and a playground area. This was the third annual Duck Race and more are planned.

"We are still going to need more funding, but the com munity's support of the Duck Race takes the Youth Park vi sion from just being a dream and is making it a reality," said Madison. "We can't thank the community enough for its support."

Most of the winners of the 27 prizes in the Duck Race were local folks, said Madison. He also praised the support the Duck Race gets from out-of-the-area buyers who choose to help Modoc's youth.

The second prize of a fish ing boat was won by Bob Gudgel, Alturas. The Gold Crown race saw Farm Credit of Alturas win the 4x4 quad and Edna Brown of Alturas, won the other quad.

A complete list of the win ners is as fol lows:

1998 Chevy pickup - Walt Sphar, Likely; 1998 Fishing Boat - Bob Gudgel, Alturas; Custom Milled Lumber - James Reed, Alturas; Monitor Stove - Cliff Grove, Tulelake; New Roof, Siding or Rain Gutter - L & B Ranch Supply, Alturas; Set of Four Tires - Jane Copp, Adin; Lawn Mower - Renae Sweet, Alturas; Power Lift/Recliner Chair - Larranaga Trucking, Alturas; One year free On-Line Service, Phyllis Broberg, Soquel; 25 tons of Driveway Gravel - Lynn Harris, Alturas; Husqvarna Model 51 Chainsaw - Jason Viehdorfer, Alturas; Custom Barbecue - Allen Keller, Alturas; Mountain Bike, 18 speed; Pat McMeechan, Jamestown; One dozen donuts weekly for one year, Jeanne Pearcy, Alturas; Gift Certificate, Modoc Steel & Supply, Alturas; Cellular Phone - Karen Carroll, Rancho Cordova; Aquarium set up, Rod Gately, Alturas; "The Big One" fireworks kit, Dennis and Nancy Netoff, Alturas; Zenith 12" Color TV, Joseph Potts, Alturas; Weekend Retreat for Two, Andy Hoxsey, Yountville; Free Muffler and Tail Pipe, Ed Staub & Sons Petroleum, Inc., Alturas; Two night stay for two, Dave Lee Trucking, Chico; CB Radio & Gift Certificate, Ken & Norma Franklin, Alturas; One night stay for two/ Bed & Breakfast, Kerr Mortuary, Alturas; One free pair of Vans or Skechers, David Hinze, Jr., Cedarville; Outdoor Plant Stand, William and Barbara Ogle, Alturas; One pair of Oakley Sunglasses, Mary Beth de Goede, Fresno.

Gold Crown Race: 1998 Polaris Magnum 4x4, Farm Credit Bureau, Alturas; '97 Polaris Xpress 400, Edna Brown, Alturas

 

Juveniles picked up for stealing, wrecking car

 

A pair of 12-year-old boys was picked up by Alturas Police this week after allegedly stealing a Forest Service car and wrecking it early Monday morning.

Chief of Police Larry Pickett said the boys, both from Alturas, went into the U.S. Forest Service Office about three days earlier and took a set of keys off the vehicle sign-out board.

Sometime Sunday night, probably around midnight the boys went to the Forest Service Building and tried the keys on several cars in the parking lot until they found the Plymouth sedan the keys fit. Then took the vehicle and drove to Canby, about 19 miles. On the way back from Canby, they lost control of the car and ran it off the road. Neither of the boys was hurt and they were picked up by the Highway Patrol and taken home.

An investigation by City Police resulted in the boys being charged. They were returned to the custody of their parents pending formal proceedings.

 

Big flag needs more than stitches

 

The giant red, white and blue stripes are waving in the wind and looking great in all their glory at the moment, because they've been repaired just before Fandango's Fourth of July Celebra tion.

But, it won't be long until its ragged edges begin showing from the flapping winds. The giant Alturas flag which flies over Plumas Bank is now five years old and wearing thin. The original "Big Flag" was first flown in 1988.

"When it starts tearing up, we bring it down right away for repair," says Gordon Heughen of Alturas, who serves as the tailor for flag repairs, a job he did in the U.S. Navy. Heughen serves as the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post Commander and Dis abled American Veterans Treasurer in the community where one often wears many hats with various organizations.

"Over a period of time, we've had to cut off four feet of ragged edges, fold them under and hem them each time. The flag that's fly ing now is the big one which started out at 30 by 50 feet at a cost of $1500. A smaller flag which is used is 20 by 30 feet, and was pur chased for $700.

It's time to build up the account to fund the purchase of the next Big Flag, to keep it flying over Alturas' Main Street.

What the veterans organizations are hop ing, is that the community will consider making donations toward the depleted "Big Flag" account fund which was established at Plumas Bank several years ago.

The three local veterans groups, Disabled American Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion all put dona tions in toward the purchase of the new U.S. Flags this year, which lined Alturas' Main Street from the Memorial Day holiday through the Fourth of July.

Portions of the proceeds they have raised through their Fandango Days booths of con cessions will go toward the Big Flag account.

Anyone who would like to make a dona tion to the D.A.V. Flag Account, set up at Plumas Bank, may do so to 500 North Main Street, Alturas, CA 96101. For more informa tion contact Gordon Heughen at (530) 233-4610 or Wilbur "Tiny" Swisher, D.A.V. Com mander, at (530) 233-3757.

 

 

Obituaries

 

Ervin Leonel Fisher

Ervin Leonel Fisher, an Alturas native, died July 1, 1998 in a Pinole, Calif. hospital, at the age of 84 years. Mr. Fisher had worked as a carpenter at Selby's Ore Refinery in Crockett, Calif. for 23 years. He was active in the Pinole community where he served as the Eucharistic Minister of St. Joseph's Catholic Church, of which he was a member. He was a member of the BPOE, Elks Lodge #1251 in Richmond; the Society of the Crown of the Divine Holy Ghost of Vallejo and a member of the West Contra Costa County Unified School District Board. He married Marie Baptista and the two enjoyed traveling, and became affiliated with the Good Sam and Winnebago Clubs.

Mr. Fisher was born to Charles and Edith [Hammond] Fisher on June 21, 1914 in Alturas, Calif., where he was reared. He served in the U.S. Army from 1933-1937.

In addition to his wife Marie of Pinole, he is survived by many cousins, nieces and nephews.

Wilson and Kratzer Mortuary was in charge of ar rangements and services.

 

 

Jack Wesley Veverka

 

California Pines resident Jack Wesley Veverka died from surgical complications on June 30, 1998 in Alturas, Calif. He was 60 years of age.

Born July 21, 1937 in San Jose, Calif., he graduated from high school in Los Gatos, Calif. and entered the U.S. Air Force. He served with the U.S. Air Force until 1962. His career work was as a Communications Specialist for ITT.

Mr. Veverka had made his home in Modoc County for the past 12 years and was a member of the B.P.O.E. Elks Lodge 1756, Alturas.

He is survived by his mother Bertha Veverka of San Jose; sister Carol of San Jose; brother Dave Veverka of Lincoln; son Jon Veverka of Alturas and daughter Laurie Veverka of Alturas; grandchildren Robert, Jack, Crystal and Brandon Veverka, all of Alturas.

 

 

Lillian Jeannette Renner

 

Former Alturas resident Lillian Jeannette Renner of Woodland, died July 4, 1998 at the age of 88, in Concord, Calif.

Born to John and Ellen Ballard on March 2, 1910 in Al turas, Calif., she was reared in Alturas and graduated from Modoc Union High School. She married Charlie Renner in 1928 in Alturas and when she turned age of 22, in the year 1932, the Renners left Alturas.

Her career led her to become the Deputy Superintendent of the Yolo County School District. Mrs. Renner was a member of the Order of Eastern Star and served as a Director for the Rainbow Girls organization through Eastern Star in Yolo County. Her husband Charles and their only child, a son, Edwin Renner preceded her in death.

Services were held July 8 at graveside at the Woodland Cemetery.

Mrs. Renner is survived by her sister Wilma Norris of Alturas; three grandchildren, Dr. "Chip" Renner and Dr. Betsy Renner of Concord, Calif. and Carolyn Renner who lives on the East Coast.

Record news summaries for July 30, 1998

 

Modoc Forest gets new boss

Modoc Joint Unified tough for administrators

Lightning blasted Modoc, no major fires

New playgrounds for county parks

County wants groundwater comments

The forecast:

It will cool off some over the next week, with highs into the mid-80s and lows in the high 40s. Partly cloudy skies and a possibility of thunderstorms remain through Monday.

Scott Conroy named as new MNF Supervisor

 

Scott Conroy has been se lected to the top leadership post as Forest Supervisor on the Modoc National Forest head quartered in Alturas, Forest Service officials announced Tuesday.

 

"Scott's strong and bal anced background in all as pects of natural resource management, at both local and national levels, will be very valuable to the forest and surrounding communities," said Pacific Southwest Re gional Forester Lynn Sprague. "These skills, and his demonstrated leadership abilities and resource experi ence, make him an excellent choice as the Modoc's Forest Supervisor. I look forward to working with him."

Conroy is a 1977 graduate from the University of Idaho and holds a Bachelor of Sci ence Degree in Forest Re source Management. He re ceived a Master of Science Degree in Natural Resource Management from the Uni versity of Nevada, Reno, in 1988.

He is no stranger to eastern California. His first perma nent position was on the Beckwourth Ranger District of the Plumas National Forest in 1978, where he served until 1990 when he transferred to the Bridgeport Ranger Dis trict of the Toiyabe National Forest. From 1995 to 1998, he worked at the Forest Service's national headquarters in Washington D.C. on the Range Management staff. His principal responsibilities in these assignments have been in the areas of range land, watershed, wildlife and fish, and timber manage ment. Currently he is serv ing as a Brookings Institution Legislative Fellow in the of fice of Senator Harry Reid handling the Interior and Re lated Agencies appropriations bill and other legislation and issues related to natural re sources and public lands.

"My wife, Lorna, and I are very excited about coming to Modoc County and the Modoc National Forest. We lived and worked in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains in Plumas and Mono Counties for 17 years. Coming to Modoc County is like coming home for us," Conroy said. "We have enjoyed our visits to Modoc County in the past when we helped the Modoc Chapter of Ducks Unlimited at their annual fund-raising dinners and I have particu larly enjoyed bird hunting in the area. We already have friends in Alturas and we look forward to making many more."

Scott is also looking for ward to undertaking the For est Supervisor assignment. "The Modoc National Forest employees are recognized for their expertise and profes sionalism in solving natural resource issues, and the community and forest have a well-known reputation for working together to resolve issues for the benefit of the community and national for est," he said.

Lorna is a loan documenta tion specialist for Century National Bank in Washing ton, D.C. She has worked in the banking industry for 20 years in positions such as loan administrator, opera tions office, and customer re lations. Before moving to Washington, Lorna was branch manager for the Bank of America in Bridgeport, California.

Scott's reporting date is October 11. Chris Knopp, Lake Tahoe Basin Manage ment Unit, is serving as Act ing Forest Supervisor for the Modoc National Forest in the interim.

county wants groundwater commentMJUSD continues to sput ter in hiring of good administra tors

By Geoff Griffin

Special to the Record

 

The Modoc Joint Unified School District is currently tak ing a summer course in economics and getting a first hand lesson in Adam Smith's famous law of supply and de mand.

 

The District is currently trying to hire a principal for Modoc Middle School since Principal Pete Swanson is leav ing MMS to take a job in Alaska. The District has al ready advertised the position and been through one round of inter views, but hasn't found any candidates it is pre pared to make an offer to.

The problem, according to Superinten dent Craig Dren nan and School Board Presi dent Bill Hall, is that there is a large group of school districts chasing after a very small number of available principal candidates who have appro priate adminis tra tive credentials.

"There's fierce competi tion right now for administra tors," Drennan said. "There were over 200 vacancies in the state last year. Not many peo ple are going into ad minis tra tion and there has been a great deal of retirement lately.

"The competition is very stiff and we're trying to keep our side of it selective as well."

Drennan also said that a recent publica tion of educa tional job listings had five newspaper size pages of open ings for ad ministrator posi tions.

On top of the shortage of candidates, there is also the is sue of attracting people to Alturas, not always the first choice of can didates who may have never even heard of the place.

"Many people don't recog nize the value of living in Al turas," Drennan noted. "They're more likely to look at what they are used to, and they're used to being in city ar eas."

Hall stated that in the first round of in terviews for the MMS job, the District only had one applicant with an ad min istrative credential, and a small number of appli ca tions from other candidates who do not have administra tive cre dentials. He also noted that the demand for ad ministra tors has reached the point where many other dis tricts are hiring principals who do not have administra tive cre dentials.

That point struck home for the Modoc District when MHS Dean of Students Jim McLaughlin recently re signed his post. He will be taking a principal job at Lay tonville High School even though he does not hold an ad ministrative cre dential ac cording to Hall. Though McLaughlin will be in a new position and town in Lay tonville, some things will still be famil iar. His new boss will be former MHS Principal Bob Larkins, now the Su perin tendent in Lay tonville.

"We're sorry to see him go and we wish him well in his promotion," Drennan said of McLaughlin.

After conducting a round of interviews recently, the Board did not find anyone it wanted to make an offer to for the MMS Principal job.

If that scenario seems fa miliar, it is. The same thing happened in the summer of '97 when the District was look ing for a principal for Modoc High School. No of fers were made after the first round of in terviews. An offer was made after the sec ond round of interviews but the candi date decided not to accept. It wasn't until the third round of interviews that the Board de cided to hire current MHS Principal Duke Pasquini.

Hall admitted that the Dis trict is "in more of a dire straight" this time around than it was last summlin was able to stand in and han dle the principal duties re quired to prepare for the com ing year and at the be ginning of the year, while the middle school has no such person handling those duties. Never theless, Hall said that the long hiring process at the high school taught him it's better not to be in a rush when it comes to an important posi tion.

"I learned a lesson," he said. "You need to feel com fort able about a decision."

As for the coming school year, Drennan said the posi tion will continue to be adver tised and that he hopes to have an other round of interviews during the week of Au gust 17 or August 24.

Hall said that the Board is also consid ering a variety of solutions to the problem.

"There's a lot of ideas floating around," he said. "There may be some alterna tives we can come up with."

 

Lightning kept forest crews running

 

A week of thunderstorms kept Modoc National Forest fire crews running over the past week, but no fires got out of hand.

 

According to USFS's Carol Sharp, there were 21 lightning caused fires on the forest, and one human-caused fire.

The largest of the fires occurred July 26 on the Doublehead District and burned about two acres. There were three light ning fires that day.

On July 22, the forest charted three light ning fires and on July 23 the skies erupted to cause six small fires. On July 24 there were two lightning fires.

July 25 was a busy day as lightning caused three fires and man stepped in to cause an other. Three lighting fires hit the Lava Beds July 27 and there was one fire in Newell on July 28 where the Forest Service assisted.

The Forest is currently sending fire crews to Washington and Oregon to battle major fires in those states.

According to Sharp, the forest is drying up quickly and with more lightning predicted, crews will probably be on their toes this week as well.

 

 

County seeks input on groundwater control ordinance

 

While much of Modoc's surface water flows south, the county is trying to slow any exportation of groundwater and is seeking the public's opinion on a proposed new local law.

 

The Groundwater Extraction and Exportation proposed ordinance is not yet set for public hearing, but the County Land Use Committee will be holding informal sessions in Davis Creek, Likely, Adin and Tulelake through August.

The first meeting will be held Monday, August 3, at the Davis Creek Fire Hall, 7:30 p.m. Sean Curtis said the Land Use Committee is looking for comments on the ordinance. The ordinance does not affect surface water.

"It's important to the county that we hear from the public prior to adopting the ordinance so we're all on the same page and agree with the language," said Curtis this week. "We're trying to get the draft ordinances out to the public, primarily in county offices and libraries."

The major concern of the county, said Curtis, is adopting an ordinance that protects the county's groundwater re sources. The ordinance would require a permit before any groundwater could be exported past county lines. That per mit would have to address several issues, including neigh bors, the overall aquifer health, stability impacts and others.

Groundwater means all water beneath the surface within the zone below the water table in which the soil is completely saturated with water, but does not include water which flows in known and definite channels.

"Much of the farm production of county depends upon the use of groundwater to produce crops which significantly contribute to the gross value of all agricultural crops and agricultural production of the county," the draft ordinance states. "It also provides water to several communities in cluding Alturas, Ft. Bidwell, Lake City, Cedarville, Eagleville, Tulelake, Newell, Canby, Adin, Lookout and Day."

According to the ordinance, surface water supplies will be used conjunctively with groundwater, meaning the surface water will be diverted in times of relatively high flows and groundwater will be used during dry periods.

"In this regard, the greatest readily and economically available asset the County has in dealing with its water needs is its groundwater," the ordinance says. "Loss of the groundwater would result in additional surface water needs. It is vital that the groundwater be preserved so that its capacity will be available for future conjunctive use."

The county is looking to secure prudent water manage ment practices that avoid overdrafting the water resource while maintaining local control of the groundwater. The county would be highly concerned if the state had control of groundwater.

Under the proposed ordinance, a permit would be required to export water outside of Modoc, directly or indirectly. Some of the items covered in the permit would be the effects on the aquifer including: hydraulic gradient, hydrology, percola tion, permeability, piezometric surface, porosity, recharge, safe yield, specific capacity, spreading water, transinissiv ity, usable storage, capacity, water table and zone of satura tion.

If the ordinance passes, it contains a penalty clause that would carry of fine of up to $5,000 per separate violation. A person would be deemed to have committed separate viola tions for each and every day or portion of a day in which the violation continued.

The county will assess the public opinions expressed dur ing these informal meetings in August, and will probably adopt the ordinance later this fall following formal public hearings on the issue.

 

County parks get ting new play grounds

 

New playground equip ment is scheduled for instal la tion at six county parks this summer, and soon.

 

According to county Department of Public Work's Rick Hironymous, the weather has kept his crew busy on other items, but they are now ready to start installing the play grounds.

County parks in Alturas, Canby, Cedarville, Adin, Lookout and Newell will be getting the new playgrounds.

The new equipment, all safety approved and of new start-of-the-art design will replace some very old and in some cases, broken down, playground units.

All parks will get units that include swings, spring an i mals, slides and climbing apparatus.

The change in the park equipment was prompted be cause existing equipment did not meet safety standards. The new playground will be installed in the near future, said Hironymous, with work starting in Alturas.

 

August

 

 

 

Record news summaries for August 13, 1998

 

• Refuge fire burns nearly 10,000 acres
• Local elections heating up for November
• Oops, wrong serial number, no murder weapon
• Hospital hires new clinic group
• Diagonal parking set for Modoc High
• New twists set for Modoc Fair

 

The forecast:

Sunny today with slight chance of thunderstorms, highs in the 100s. Look for cooling trend Friday through the weekend, into 80s Sunday.

 

Refuge Fire burns 9,700 acres of dry grass and brush

 

The Refuge Fire burned 9,700 acres of mostly brush and grass before being controlled by firefighters August 7 at 6 p.m.

The fire started onlife Refuge, west of Tulelake, from an equipment spark. It burned mostly Modoc National Forest lands and no struc tures were lost.

The fire had a perimeter of 23 miles and so far has cost over $450,000 to contain and mop up. More than 600 firefight ers from a variety of agencies battled the blaze.

According to fire incident commander Mike Welch, the potential for the fire to spark another blaze in the tall dry grass outside the fire lines was so high the fire crews mopped up 500 to 600 feet inside the fire line. Normal mop up is 100 feet.

Agencies involved in the fire fighting effort were U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, California Department of Forestry, California Department of Corrections, Oregon Department of Forestry, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management.

Federal state and local fire fighting agencies are urging the public to be extremely cautious when working in or en joying the great outdoors. The wet winter and spring has produced a continuous cover of tall grass which readily ig nites. They suggest removal of vegetation from working ar eas with caution and spraying the work area with water to lessen the chance of a flying spark reaching dry grass.

Smokers can prevent wildfires by disposing of smoking materials properly -- in vehicle ashtrays, or if on foot, by crushing smoking materials in bare mineral soil.

Travelers should make sure they don't park their cars over high grasses. Campers and hikers must maintain and make sure their campfires are totally out and homeowners should remove all dry grasses from around structures. The wet winter and spring has produced an abundant cover of grass and vegetation that is now drying out quickly.

Fire agencies in Modoc County reported two small fires August 5 caused by mowing equipment hitting rocks. Use extreme caution when using equipment in grassy areas.

 

Candidates enter fray for Nov. 3 lo cal elec tions

 

Interest in local school board races peaked last Friday and several people came out and tossed their hats into the ring.

In Surprise Valley's Joint Unified School District, in cumbents from Cedarville, Rick Hironymous and Gene Erquiaga have filed papers. Bill Tierney filed in Cedarville to make that election a race. Kevin Wood has filed for a short term in Eagleville. Fort Bidwell's Linda Schadler also filed and will be unopposed.

The nomination period is over and all races are set.

In the Modoc Joint Unified School District incumbent Bill Hall has filed for one of two seats. Incumbent Maxine Sonnevil did not file. Velda Moore, Barry Kinman, VeeAnn Ambers and Jerry Cooley have filed for election in that district.

There are three seats open on the Tulelake Basin Joint Unified School District, two full terms and one short term expiring Dec. 1, 2000. The short term is of Joan Loustalet, and the full terms are of Jerry LeQuieu and Tamara Staunton.

LeQuieu and Janet Orr have filed for the short term. Staunton, Loustalet, Roy E. Wright, Barbara Binderup, and Ava Edgar have filed for the long term seats.

There are three seats open on the Modoc County Board of Education: those of Trustee Area two's Sharon Colt, Trustee Area three's Dixie Server and Trustee Area five's Marcella Haynes. All three of those board members have filed for re election and as of this date are not being challenged.

The Big Valley Joint Unified School District has three openings this year, two full terms and one short term. Full term seats are open in Adin and Bieber and one Adin area representative will run for a short term until Dec. 1, 2000.

In addition, Lookout and Adin voters will help select three Lassen College Trustees.

In addition to the school elections, there are elections for two members of the Surprise Valley Hospital District, two members of the Mayers Memorial Hospital District, three members of the Cedarville Water District, two members of the Newell Water District, three members of the Hot Springs Irrigation District, two members of the South Fork Irrigation District, two members of the Tulelake Irrigation District, three members of the Adin Community Services District, two members of the California Pines Community Services District, one member of the Daphnedale Community Services District, and two members of the Canby Community Services District.

In the Cal Pines CSD, Randy Faver, Marvin Kitchen and Bob LaGabed have filed for election.

Various fire districts have elections to fill board member openings as follows: Adin, one; Alturas Rural, three; Canby, one; Cedarville, three; Davis Creek, one; Eagleville, one; Ft. Bidwell, one; Lake City, one; Likely, one; Lookout, one; Tulelake, two; Willow Ranch, two.

 

Oops, wrong serial number, no murder weapon in Lookout

 

A mistake in jotting down a rifle serial number has been corrected by local law en forcement and as it turns out the 30-30 rifle found at Bob Shaw's Lookout Ranch August 1 was not a murder weapon from Willits -- it was one of his neighbors.

Now, just why a neighbor would place three long guns in the entry way of a home on the Shaw Ranch was a little odd, but Sheriff Bruce Mix said it was nothing sinis ter.

Mrs. Shaw said the incident still un nerves her, and just wished the neighbor would have left a note with the guns. The blood on the guns was apparently from the neighbor's scratch or injury.

Mix said the Shaws had left the ranch for a couple of hours. When they returned to the home adjacent to theirs on the ranch they discovered the three guns in a entry hall.

According to Mix, the 30-30 and a shotgun each had blood stains on them. A .22 caliber rifle was also discovered. When law en forcement initially called in the serial num bers on the 30-30 it came up as one used in a murder in Willits recently. Mix said the serial number was reported wrong and when it was ran with the correct number, it showed it as belonging to the neighbor.

According to Mix, the murder in Willits involved a man shooting a girlfriend, but the boyfriend is in custody.

 

Hospital hires new clinic, ER team

 

Modoc Medical Center has hired Valley Emergency Physicians of Oakland to cover the Emergency Room and Clinic at the facil ity. There are some changes in doctors be cause of the new contract, and the hospital is hoping to transition those physicians in quickly.

The new contract replaces a contract that was held for years by Dr. Mike Denny. One doctor, Sam Medrano, M.D., will continue working in Alturas. According to Hospital Administrator Kent Alland, the transition will be effective September 1. The new ar rangement, said Alland, will bring about some changes for patients who have been see ing a particular clinic physician, who will no longer be working at MMC.

"We are sorry about this and regret any inconvenience or disruption this may cause," said Alland. " We also express our appreciation to all the doctors who have been so faithful in their service and commitment to the residents of this area."

According to the hospital, Doctor Denny's contract was up for renewal in September and bids for medical services he has been provid ing were received from three firms. Valley Medical Physicians' bid was the most com petitive. Valley has been in business for 18

years and enjoys an outstanding reputation, according to the hospital. The physicians who will be practicing at MMC are experienced rural California practitioners who are certi fied in primary care and emergency medicine.

Dr. Peter Beoris is the executive director of Valley and oversees similar operations to Modoc in 28 rural communities, all but one of which are in California.

The new physicians will be introduced to the community prior to their arrival for duty. Dr. Beoris has visited the community and will be returning to work with the staff to co ordinate quality assurance activities and administrative relationships prior to the September start up.

 

 

Diagonal parking set for High School

 

The Alturas City Council Tuesday approved the first reading of a change in the city parking ordinance that will allow diagonal parking on the north side of Modoc High School.

In cooperation with the high school, the city opted to allow students to park di agonally on the south side of East 10th Street between Main and Court. Students and staff had been parking perpendicular on that street, and city staff be lieves diagonal is much safer. The law will take ef fect at the start of this school year.

The school and city worked together this sum mer on a project in that area to install curb, gutter, sidewalk and new pave ment. That area was a muddy mess last year.

Some good news came from City/County Planner Scott Kessler, who told council members that the Army Corps of Engineers has finally certified the Pit River levee in Alturas as meeting flood protection requirements.

What that means, said Kessler, is that area in downtown Alturas will not be placed in a flood plane and property own ers won't be required to meet pro jected extra flood plane re quirements when remodel ing or building. Had the levee not been certified, said Kessler, there would have been some ma jor and expensive requirements placed on downtown build ing. According to Kessler, it was a five-year effort to get the certification in place.

Stacy Chase, City Public Works Director, told the council street crews were using some of 25 truckloads of grindings (ground up asphalt) donated by Caltrans to repair damaged streets and fill potholes. The primary streets getting atten tion are Fourth, East, Court, Josephine, West C, Warner and Thomason.

Chase told council mem bers Tuesday that Thomason and Warner were being fixed because they were well used by tourists. One goes to a trailer park, the other to the golf course. He also said the wet spring will probably mean they won't have time to get all the road work done they'd had planned for the year. A dry fall would be helpful, said Chase.

Councilman George Andreasen said the Railroad Museum raised enough funds in its fund raiser to buy a switch. He also said that Union Pacific called him and do nated another switch for the museum. Andreasen said the railroad is making progress and the switch will allow track to be built to move the cars and en gines into the buildings at the mill site.

 

Modoc Fair has some special twists this year

 

The Modoc District Fair has several new events this year, including a Destruction Derby, Sprint 100s racing and a va riety of entertainers.

The Fair starts August 20 and runs through August 23 at the Fairgrounds in Cedarville. The Destruction Derby is the highlight for August 22 as things start crash ing at 8 p.m. The Sprint 100s race is set for August 21 at 7:30 p.m. and it will be fol lowed by the Modoc Street Stockers racing.

One of the featured acts this year is American Made, a country band known through out the state and nationally. The band was voted Band of the Year by the California Country Music Association in 1992 and had the record of the year for 1993: Forty Miles from Lonely. The band is also a previous Marlboro Country Music Talent Roundup win ner. The band will be per form ing on the park stage Friday and Saturday night and has three shows daily.

Friday, August 21 will be gin with Kid's Day, free to all kids 12 years and under. Pay one price, $10 per person for unlimited rides at the Mid way of Fun Carnival from 1-11 p.m. Fun with clown and magician, Roundhouse Ronny, enjoy come dian/juggler/unicyclist Chaz Marquette and Dan Wiles, rope walker/juggler/stilt-walker. Contest, games and fun will be fea tured at the Park Stage.

This year the Junior & Se nior Horse Show will be start ing Thursday, August 20, Halter Classes, Junior Showmanship, Junior & Se nior Saddle Mount Classes, such as, Trail Horse, Hunter Hack, English Pleasure, En glish Equitation, and West ern Pleasure. The Thursday Junior Show will also include Gymkhana Classes. A Spe cial High Point Buckle will be given to the winner in each age group of the Junior and Senior Saddle Mounts. Fri day's Horse Show will open with Cutting Classes - Open Cutting, Non Pro, and Two-Handed and Junior Stock Horse.

As in the past, the Saturday Rancher's Day will be high lighted by competitions among the area's best cowboys in pursuit of the cov eted Tro phy Saddle. Events offered, during Rancher's Day are Working Cow Horse, Snaffle Bit, Ranch Horse, Penning and Open Team Branding and Mixed Team Branding. Winners of each of the Cut ting Classes and Rancher's Day Events will re ceive beautifully hand-crafted belt buckles made by Jim Dunn of Frontier Supplies, Inc. from Auberry.

Local ranches, the Jim Cockrell and the Bob Cockrell Ranch provide all the cattle for the Rancher's Day Events. Seventy percent of the entry fees will be Jackpotted out, plus, added state monies.

Prize money will be paid one place for ev ery five en tries. Also, available to out of town partic ipants are stalls and RV spaces. Eddy Lynn Kemble will be available to answer any questions about the Horse Show Events (530) 279-2315.

Thursday night, August 20, is the crowd pleasing Basque Barbecue with entertain ment by the singing trio "The Palominos." The BBQ will begin at 5:30 p.m. and the cost is $8.00 for adults and $5.50 for 12 & under. In addition to the BBQ, the ever popular Sheep Dog Trials will be held in the Jeanne Stevenson Memorial Arena beginning at 7:00 p.m.

Park Stage entertainment is featured all day, everyday. The fair will be featuring Legendary Country Singer, Myron Reed with his easy listening country sound. En joy a variety of songs by a new up and coming vo calist Char ity Allen and The American Made Band, whose enthusi asm and energy captivates and entertains any audience.

A new addition to the fair is the Midway Tent Stage, lo cated on the Midway roadway under the shade trees. This stage will also feature a vari ety of entertainment through out the afternoons.

This year the Pee Wee Showmanship, sponsored by the Modoc County Cattle women, will take place on the Livestock Lawn, for children three through eight years old. Animals that will be shown are ponies, calves, lambs, goats, rabbits, chickens and ducks.

Friday night, August 21, will feature an evening of Sprint 100's at the Modoc Fair Speedway, races starting at 7:30 p.m. Racers from Wash ington, Oregon, Nevada and California will be competing for the $4,000 purse. Pre-Sale tickets are available at Coast to Coast, Alturas and Page's Market and the Fair Office in Cedarville with prices being: $8.00 Adult, $5.00 12 & under. Pre-Sale tick ets will also be good for FREE admission on Friday - Just show ticket at the front gate. Following the Sprint 100's, the Modoc Street Racing Association will be taking their turn on the Speedway.

Saturday, August 22 will be Senior Citizen's Day free to everyone 60 years and over. The Cedarville and Alturas Rotary Clubs will be sponsor ing the Senior Luncheon to be held in the Dance Hall. The annual Styx Men's Invita tional Softball Tournament will be in full swing. Demonstrations and enter tainment will be featured all day at Louieville and the Park Stage. Starting at 4:00 the Surprise Valley FFA BBQ will be held at the Park Stage Lawn area. Tickets for the BBQ are $10.00 for Adults and $7.00 for 12 years and un der.

Surprise Valley Rotary sponsors the Demolition Derby at 8:00 p.m. on the track at the Speedway. Tickets are $8 for Adults, $5 for 12 years and under and six and under are free. The evening will conclude with a country dance fea turing local band "Heart less" located at the Dance Hall.

Sunday, August 23 is Pa rade Day on Main Street, fol lowed by the annual Junior Rodeo. Cowboys and Cowgirls will be competing in tough Rodeo Events.

Louieville offers a collec tion of historic buildings moved from the surrounding area and restored by the Cedarville Rotary Club. This Old Western Town will come to life - complete with black smith, wool spinners, quilt display and boothill.

Record news summaries for August 20, 1998

• Cedarville business destroyed by fire
• Modoc Fair opens for 1998 run and fun
• County to close Eagleville Airport
• MJUSD predicts black in for 1998
• Reward offered in Likely burglary
• Lost River, Modoc Indian War play opens

 

The forecast:

Partly cloudy skies are the view through Monday, with highs in the 80s and lows in the mid to high 40s. There is a chance of afternoon thunderstorms through the weekend.

 

Fire de stroys Arreche shop in Cedarville

 

Modoc County Sheriff Bruce Mix is inves tigating the cause of a fire that destroyed Arreche Enterprises in Cedarville August 13. The fire was reported at 11:25 p.m. and fire-fighters had it under control by about 2 a.m. Crews remained at the scene until late the next morning.

Mix said there are several "interesting" concepts sur rounding the fire, but he can't point any fingers yet.

John Love, a former employee of Arreche Enterprises, who sustained severe burns was found near the fire scene the next morning. Mix said he was found in a van behind the Chevron station across the street about 11:30 a.m. Friday.

Mix said a person Love was apparently with was arrested alleging arson, but was later released pending the results of a State Fire Marshal's investigation. No one has been charged in the case.

According to Mix, the man was seen leav ing the fire scene in a white Toyota 4-Runner just prior to fire fighters' arrival. Witnesses said he sped from the scene just before a pop and a loud explosion was heard. He was headed west. He and Love both reside in Alturas.

The cause of the fire remains under inves tigation. Mix hopes the State Fire Marshal will shed some light on the fire source and cause.

Business owner Louie Arreche said he didn't believe the blaze was started by arson ists, but agreed there were some weird cir cumstances surrounding the fire. He said Love had called him and asked to use a trailer hitch and had ap parently gone to pick up the hitch that night.

Arreche said there was no bad blood be tween he and Love, and said he just couldn't believe someone would purposely set fire to his business.

"The one thing I want to do is commend the Cedarville Fire Department for its quick ac tion and keeping the fire from getting to my neighbors' homes and businesses," said Arreche. "They did an incredible job. The fire was very hot and dangerous and could have spread quickly."

According to Arreche, investigators have determined the

fire started in front of a tractor in the shop. Just how the fire started has not been deter mined.

According to Mix, Love stated that he had tried to open the door of the shop and when it did open the fire exploded and blew him backwards. Mix said he hasn't yet learned why his friend left the scene without Love, didn't help Love get medi cal help, or why Love stayed in the van behind the Chevron rather than seeking help. He suspects Love was suffering from shock.

Love was transported by ambulance to Surprise Valley Hospital, stabilized then flown to a burn center in Portland, Oregon. He is in serious but stable condition with third de gree burns on parts of his body.

According to Mix, two residents called in to report the fire late Thursday night and an other resident, Darrol Hill, saw the flames and sounded the Cedarville Fire Alarm.

The rear of the shop was totally engulfed when firefight ers arrived. They suspect the fire had been burning for about 30 minutes before they arrived.

According to Mix, Dan Ross, Cedarville Fire Chief said the fire was made more dan gerous because of oil, fuel and chemical containers in the shop. While the fuels did not catch fire, the shop was destroyed and the smoke damage to taled the remainder of the business.

Six tractors, tools and other equipment in the shop were destroyed in the blaze. Intense heat, smoke and fire caused total damage in the front retail section of the business.

Two engines, two trucks and 15 firefight ers from the Cedarville Fire Department re sponded as well as assistance from the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

 

Fair opens today, set for good week end run

 

Get ready for a full week end of fun at the Modoc District Fair in Cedarville, starting today and running full bore through August 23.

Fair Manager Jeanne Grove is excited about the venue this year, and expects larger crowds to take in the event. There's every thing from livestock shows, rodeos, barbe cues, dances, live mu sic, a destruction derby, auto races all the way to the tran quillity of the exhibits. Those exhibits include flowers, vegetables, art, argicultural items, booths, woodworking, sewing, baking, crafts of all sorts, and commercial ex hibits.

Friday, August 21 will be gin with Kid's Day, free to all kids 12 years and under. Pay one price, $10 per person for unlimited rides at the Mid way of Fun Carnival from 1-11 p.m. Fun with clown and magician, Roundhouse Ronny, enjoy come dian/juggler/unicyclist Chaz Marquette and Dan Wiles, rope walker/juggler/stilt-walker. Contests, games and fun will be fea tured at the Park Stage.

This year the Junior & Se nior Horse Show will be start ing Thursday, August 20, Halter Classes, Junior Showmanship, Junior & Se nior Saddle Mount Classes, such as, Trail Horse, Hunter Hack, English Pleasure, En glish Equitation, and West ern Pleasure. The Thursday Junior Show will also include Gymkhana Classes. A Spe cial High Point Buckle will be given to the winner in each age group of the Junior and Senior Saddle Mounts. Fri day's Horse Show will open with Cutting Classes - Open Cutting, Non Pro, and Two-Handed and Junior Stock Horse.

As in the past, the Saturday Rancher's Day will be high lighted by competitions among the area's best cowboys in pursuit of the cov eted Tro phy Saddle. Events offered, during Rancher's Day are Working Cow Horse, Snaffle Bit, Ranch Horse, Penning and Open Team Branding and Mixed Team Branding. Winners of each of the Cut ting Classes and Rancher's Day Events will re ceive beautifully hand-crafted belt buckles made by Jim Dunn of Frontier Supplies, Inc. from Auberry.

Local ranches, the Jim Cockrell and the Bob Cockrell Ranch provide all the cattle for the Rancher's Day Events. Seventy percent of the entry fees will be Jackpotted out, plus, added state monies.

Prize money will be paid one place for ev ery five en tries. Also, available to out of town partic ipants are stalls and RV spaces. Eddy Lynn Kemble will be available to answer any questions about the Horse Show Events (530) 279-2315.

Thursday night, August 20, is the crowd pleasing Basque Barbecue with entertain ment by the singing trio "The Palominos." The BBQ will begin at 5:30 p.m. and the cost is $8.00 for adults and $5.50 for 12 & under. In addition to the BBQ, the ever popular Sheep Dog Trials will be held in the Jeanne Stevenson Memorial Arena beginning at 7:00 p.m.

Park Stage entertainment is featured all day, everyday. The fair will be featuring Legendary Country Singer, Myron Reed with his easy listening country sound. En joy a variety of songs by a new up and coming vo calist Char ity Allen and The American Made Band, whose enthusi asm and energy cap tivates and entertains any audience.

A new addition to the fair is the Midway Tent Stage, lo cated on the Midway roadway under the shade trees. This stage will also feature a vari ety of entertainment through out the afternoons.

This year the Pee Wee Showmanship, sponsored by the Modoc County Cattle women, will take place on the Livestock Lawn, for children three through eight years old. Animals that will be shown are ponies, calves, lambs, goats, rabbits, chickens and ducks.

Friday night, August 21, will feature an evening of Sprint 100's at the Modoc Fair Speedway, races starting at 7:30 p.m. Racers from Wash ington, Oregon, Nevada and California will be competing for the $4,000 purse. Pre-Sale tickets are available at Coast to Coast, Alturas and Page's Market and the Fair Office in Cedarville with prices being: $8.00 Adult, $5.00 12 & under. Pre-Sale tick ets will also be good for FREE admission on Friday - Just show ticket at the front gate. Following the Sprint 100's, the Modoc Street Racing Association will be taking their turn on the Speedway.

Saturday, August 22 will be Senior Citizen's Day free to everyone 60 years and over. The Cedarville and Alturas Rotary Clubs will be sponsor ing the Senior Luncheon to be held in the Dance Hall. The annual Styx Men's Invita tional Softball Tournament will be in full swing. Demonstrations and enter tainment will be featured all day at Louieville and the Park Stage. Starting at 4:00 the Surprise Valley FFA BBQ will be held at the Park Stage Lawn area. Tickets for the BBQ are $10.00 for Adults and $7.00 for 12 years and un der.

Surprise Valley Rotary sponsors the Demolition Derby at 8:00 p.m. on the track at the Speedway. Tickets are $8 for Adults, $5 for 12 years and under and six and under are free. The evening will conclude with a country dance fea turing local band "Heart less" located at the Dance Hall.

Sunday, August 23 is Pa rade Day on Main Street, fol lowed by the annual Junior Rodeo. Cowboys and Cowgirls will be competing in tough Rodeo Events.

Louieville offers a collec tion of historic buildings moved from the surrounding area and restored by the Cedarville Rotary Club. This Old Western Town will come to life - complete with black smith, wool spinners, quilt display and boothill.

 

 

County to shut down Eagleville airport

 

In a close 3-2 vote on Tuesday, the County Board of Supervisors chose to close the Eagleville airport.

After Board members Ben Zandstra and Ron McIntyre voted for closure and Nancy Huffman and Pat Cantrall voted to keep the Eagleville airstrip open, Chairman Joe Colt broke the tie with a no vote.

The airport is currently in very poor condition and an estimate on getting the airstrip in working order was around $56,000 with about $45,000 of that amount being picked up by the State.

Eagleville ranch owner John Metzker is currently the only party that uses the Eagleville Airport on a regular basis, but he suggested that if the airstrip was repaired, other parties might use it as well. He read a letter from Simplot Corporation which owns two ranches in Eagleville. The letter stated that Simplot would like to use the Eagleville airport if the runway were maintained and also pointed out that sometimes it has had to land smaller aircraft on county roads.

In voting in favor of keeping Eagleville open, Cantrall pointed out that Modoc County would continue to receive $10,000 per year from the State, very little of which would be needed for upkeep at the Eagleville facility. The rest of the money would be a benefit to the County for use in bigger airports such as Alturas and Cedarville. She also noted that this has been the practice in the past, and that it's time to pay smaller airports like Eagleville back.

"We get $10,000 a year for that airport which we've been spending on other airports," Cantrall said. "We've been taking from the Eagleville kitty to benefit other airports."

Cantrall also said that the Eagleville airport could help the County to create more business, something that the Boards has been claiming is a priority.

However, for those who voted for closure, Cantrall's arguments were outweighed by the feeling that keeping the airport open would require too much money directed at too few people, particularly when there is an airport just up the road in Cedarville.

"In all good conscience I can't support this motion," Surprise Valley Supervisor Zandstra said. "Putting this kind of money into the Eagleville airport makes me feel like I'm working for the Forest Service...It's totally out of proportion to what's needed."

The County now has a total of five airports, located in Alturas, Cedarville, Newell, Adin and Fort Bidwell.

In other matters before the Supervisors:

Anti-Trapping Initiative: The Board adopted a resolution opposing an Anti-Trapping Initiative which might soon be placed on the California ballot. The Initiative has also been opposed by other rural counties. Cantrall told the Board that the Initiative would go as far as to ban mouse traps and sheep collars.

Tobacco Money: The Board approved a contract with the state that will pay $150,000 to the County Tobacco Education Program.

 

MJUSD remains in black for coming year

 

The Modoc School District Board reviewed their budget for last year and previewed the budget for the coming year at their meeting held on Monday night.

In the 1997-98 fiscal year that ended June 30, the District has total revenues of $7,688,200 and total expenses of $7,587,046. The difference between the two amounts left a positive balance of $101,154. The District also had $1,551,714 in the reserve fund at the end of the year.

The projected revenues for 1998-99 are $7,436,299. That figure is 3.3 percent lower than the revenues for last year. Modoc Superintendent Craig Drennan said the District is using a very conservative estimate at this time just to be on the safe side. Right now the District is listing revenues it is sure it will get. There are other funds that are likely to come in, but are not fully guaranteed at this point.

Drennan also noted that the State of California has still not passed a budget for the coming year. He said that various proposals could significantly alter the amounts of money the District would receive and pay out.

The projected expenses for the coming year are $7,395,104, a 2.5 percent decrease from last year.

In other matters before the Board:

New Principal: The District has hired Steve Iverson as the new Principal for Modoc Middle School. Iverson has been a principal in Westwood and will begin working at MMS this coming Monday.

GATE Program: The Board heard a report from Kathleen Fowler, the Director of the Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) program at Alturas Elementary. Last year the pro gram had four fifth-graders and 11 fourth-graders and en gaged in a variety of interesting programs such as playing the stock market and getting international pen pals.

Of particular note was the groups participation in the state-wide News Bowl Competition. Alturas finished fifth in all California even though the group of mostly fourth graders had to compete as a fifth grade team.

The competition required students to read newspapers and follow the news over a period of three months and then take a multiple choice test on current events. Fowler said the only area the team didn't do well in was sports. (Hey par ents, you need to start having those kids stay up late to watch Sports Center on ESPN.)

The members of the News Bowl team were: Alisa Weber, Vince Hower, Bud Groff, Julie Miller, Vanessa Rosenthal, Nat Futterman, Travis Wood, Whitney Baker, Sean Jacobs, Ross Montague, Joey Catania, Juan Castro, Max Wise, Ross Cockrell and Myriah Busch.

RISE Programs: Resources for Indian Student Education (RISE) informed the Board of programs they will be running in the coming school year. The program also now has a satellite office in Fall River.

RISE will be offering tutoring Mondays through Thurs days from 3-6 p.m. There will also be a reading class for pre-schoolers and kindergartners every Friday from 2-4 p.m.

Fridays from 4-10 p.m. will be a "Social Time" for all RISE students and will feature a play station, pool table, videos and a kitchen for making snacks. This time is con sidered a privilege and all students will be required to have a signed report from all of their teachers stating that they are up to date in all of their classes. As the year moves on, RISE students will also be able to invite friends to these activities.

RISE will also be taking their "Medicine Wheel Project" throughout the State RISE will train groups as far south as Los Angeles in how to use the program.

Accreditation: Should Modoc High beware the Ides of March or will they have the luck of the Irish? It could go ei ther way since the Accrediting Commission has set its visit to MHS for March 15, 16,17 in 1999.

 

$1,000 Reward offered in Likely Garage burglary

 

Late night of August 13, burglars struck the Likely Garage owned by John Abbate and made off with thousands of dollars worth of tools and equipment.

Modoc Sheriff Bruce Mix is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the bur glars.

According to Mix, Abbate had worked until about 10 p.m. that night. Sometime after he closed up, the burglars forced their way through the front doors which face the highway, but are opposite of town and loaded the equipment. Mix said they stole a roll-away tool chest and tools, computer engine analyzer, other tool

 

Lost River gets set for open ing

 

The rehearsal pace is re ally starting to pick up for the world premiere of Lost River, a stage play written by Ben Van Meter, directed by Charles "Chip" Massie and produced by Dee Green.

Opening night is just one week away for the large cast of local actors taking part in this play about the fascinating 19th Century Modoc Indian War. The war was fought in and around what is now "Lava Bed National Monu ment" near Tulelake. The very small Modoc Tribe was able to hold off thousands of U.S. Army troops for months by using a stronghold in the lava beds.

The two main characters in this saga are Captain Jack, Chief of the Modoc Tribe, played by Laurence Harlan, and General Canby of the U.S. Army, played by Curt MacAdoo. Both men want peace, but they will only find tragedy. Both end up being killed by a conflict that they allowed others to drag them in to.

The story is narrated by Jeff Riddle, a man with a Modoc mother and a white father, played by Alan Cain.

Mike Halderman has constructed a beautiful stage set right on the shore of Cal-Pines Lake, where the four performances will take place. The shows on Thursday, Fri day and Saturday (August 27-29) will begin at 8:00 p.m., and the sunset off to the right of the stage makes for a pic turesque setting. Lost River will also run on Sunday, Au gust 30 at 3:00 p.m.

Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for seniors and stu dents. There will be regular seating but patrons may also bring their own lawn chairs and blankets to get closer to the action. For reservations or more information call 233-5600 or 233-5842.

Record news summaries for August 27, 1998

 

• School starts next week for most
• Rite-Aid store plan approved
• Lost River premier is this week
• New Principal comes to Modoc Middle School
• Groundwater key issue for county
• Obituary: Stevenson

The forecast:

Sunny skies with a few clouds over the mountains are in line today with temperatures increasing over the weekend. Lows should be in the 40s and 50s and highs in the 90s.

School bells signal end of long summer

Once again it's that time of the year that students dread and parents are more than ready for - the start of a new school year.

Modoc and Big Valley School Districts will open their doors this coming Monday, August 31, while Surprise Valley students have already completed three days of school, hav ing started on Monday, August 24. Schools around the County generally have about the same number of students that they had last year.

The only school that saw a significant increase was Modoc High. At this point, enrollment numbers are only es timates at best. Over the next couple of weeks the numbers will be adjusted up and down slightly. New move-in stu dents who are just now registering will add to the numbers, while previously registered no-shows who have moved over the summer will decrease the totals.

Modoc High ended last year with 307 students, but is planning for 335 to start this fall. MHS has a new Counselor in John Shirley, while Aurelio Danko will take over at Warner High. She will also be teaching two English classes at MHS.

The 270 or so students who show up at Modoc Middle School next week will get to meet a new principal, Steve Iver son, as well as a new sixth-grade teacher, Jay Carrithers.

Alturas Elementary has a projected enrollment of 460 and several new teachers. New Kindergarten teachers are Lanell Warnock and Mariah Cremer. Karen Littler will join the faculty as a third grade teacher while Susan Cameron will be teaching fourth grade.

There will also be several teaching changes in the outly ing Modoc District Elementary schools. Janice Lauppe will be moving from MMS to teach at South Fork Elementary in Likely. Deanna Tanner will be new at Arlington Elemen tary in Canby and Connie Badgley will be starting at State Line Elementary in New Pine Creek.

The Modoc District will also be starting the Alturas Community Day School this year, with Trace Callaghan as the school's first ever teacher.

In the Big Valley schools, the K-3 school in Adin has a projected enrollment of 110, Big Valley Intermediate (grades 4-8) is planning on 168 students, and Big Valley High will have around 106 students walking its halls. Big Valley Superintendent Boyce McLain has assumed the prin cipal duties at BVHS.

Surprise Valley Elementary has an enrollment of 148, down a few from last year. Regina McDaniel has joined the faculty there as a first grade teacher. Surprise Valley High School has 70 students, about the same as last year. Joanne Danielson will be taking over the duties of the SV District Continuation School.

 

Rite-Aid store plan ap proved

 

The Alturas City Planing Commission approved the site and construction plans last Wednesday for a new 11,000 square foot Rite-Aid store on Main Street.

According to Planner Scott Kessler, the plans were ap proved following a construc tive, give-and-take meeting. The store will be located at Fifth Street between Main and Court Street. That lot is currently vacant land between Plumas Bank and Gil's Gas.

Kessler said the company agreed to land scaping, as well as paving Fifth Street be tween Main and Court and in stalling curb, gutter and sidewalks. The parking lot for the store will be paved, but that may wait until next spring.

Kessler said he expects building permit application to ar rive soon and construction to start in the next two to three weeks. It's possi ble, said Kessler, that the store would be open in December.

 

Premiere of Lost River is tonight at Cal-Pines

Tonight Modoc County will make history by reviewing its history. Tonight at 8:00 p.m., on the banks of the Cal-Pines Lake, will be the time and place for the world pre mier of Lost River: The Story of the Modoc Indian War.

The play, written by Ben Van Meter, di rected by Charles "Chip" Massie and pro duced by Dee Green, re counts the in credible story of the Modoc Indian War. In that war, a small band of In dians were able to hold off thousands of soldiers for sev eral months by hiding out in the lava beds near pre sent-day Tulelake.

The story features two fas cinating and tragic lead charac ters on both sides of the battle, General Canby, played by Curt McAdoo, and Captain Jack, played by Lawrence Harlan. Each wants to help the other but both are held back by others less peaceful views. Their relationship ends with both of them being killed dur ing the Modoc War of 1872-73.

While both men are strong leaders who want to find a peace ful compromise, they also both have weaknesses that will lead to their mutual downfall. Captain Jack (played by Stan Yagi), Scar face Charlie (Rurik Davis), and Curly-Headed Doctor (Jeran Brown) humiliate Captain Jack and make him promise to kill General Canby when it has became ap parent that Canby will not grant the Modocs a reserva tion on Lost River or in the Lava Beds.

"Captain Jack is tragic in a Shake spearean sense," said Massie, the director of the pro duction. "He knows what is right and best in the long run, but because of intense pres sure from his people, he makes a deci sion he knows is bad. He does it because he re spects his people and their wishes."

Eventually Jack kills Canby at a meeting at the "peace" tent, and other Mod ocs kill Reverend Thomas (Ken Ballard) and seriously wound white settler A.B. Meacham (Dee Green).

The shootings lead to thou sands of U.S. Army troops seeking to hunt down Captain Jack and bring him to trial. Members of the army include: Captain Jackson (Kerry Davis), Major Curtis (Geoff Griffin), Corpo ral Jones (Jennifer Lucier), Private Bacon (Jodee Roberts) and General Gillem (Lawrence Shippen).

In the end, the same few Modocs who pushed Captain Jack into doing the wrong thing, help the U.S. Army track their Chief down so he can be brought to trial.

The script for Lost River skillfully avoids the pitfalls that have plagued attempts to dramatize relations between Native Ameri cans and white settlers during the 19th Cen tury. For many years, white settlers were portrayed as heroic while native Ameri cans were viewed as savages. On the other hand, more re cent attempts to be "politically cor rect" have gone overboard the other way in showing all Indians as no ble and morally superior and all whites as greedy and mur derous.

The historically re searched Lost River script shows that on both sides of this tragic history, there were those who wanted to live to gether peacefully as well as others who were hostile to those who were different from them. For example, white set tler Fairchild (Alex Chionetti), his wife (Aloha Pettit Schaefer), and daugh ters (Tiffany Ford, Tiffany Gwinn and Jeanetta Lucier) are a family who want to live in peace with the Modocs.

The main narrator is Jeff Riddle, played by Alan Cain, a man whose father (Ben Casad) was a white settler and whose mother (Melody Wind song Sheline) was a Modoc Indian. In a telling scene, white soldiers killed in the Modoc War come to join Modoc "ghost" narrators, played by Nathaniel "Chief" Forrest, Margaret Forrest and Rosemary Forrest Nelson, at an other worldly campfire where the story is told from. The scene effectively shows that what ever the two sides were fighting over, in the long view of history, the vio lence and fight ing only brought them the same end.

As Captain Jack states at his trial in the final scene, "There are good and bad men in all tribes and races. Good men want peace. Bad men want war."

Other characters in the play include: Court Baliff (Midge Dier), Kmukamtch (Marya Gates), Carnival Barker (Karen Hays), Travis Bean (Dennis King), Louise Canby (Shirley Jo McAdoo) and young Jeff Riddle (Jeremy Lucier).

The Modoc children will be played by Tanesh Almanza, Frank Almanza, Alyssa Al manza, Dakota Holloway, Ryan Colt, Adrean Francis and Dustin Barlese.

The play will also feature the Rising Na tion Drum mers, composed of Lisa Craig, Sarah Wyatt, Jacie Matzke, Ann Marie Sanchez, Christo pher Craig, Matt Wyatt and Director Dr. April Go Forth.

The crew consists of Assis tant Director Nancy Ballard, Stage Manager Sandy Boldon, Set Design and Tech nical Direction by Mike Hal derman, Costume Design by Nancy North-Gates, Props by Karen Hays, Make-Up by Kerry Davis, Lighting and Sound by Nick Contaxis and Program by Tracy Massie.

Lost River will play Thursday, Friday and Satur day, Au gust 27-29 at 8:00 p.m. and on Sunday, August 30 at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for seniors and students. There will be regu lar seating but people can also bring their own lawn chairs and blan kets to get "close to the action" as Massie puts it.

For further information or ticket reserva tions call 530-233-5600 or 530-233-5842.

 

New principal takes over at Modoc Middle School

 

Steve Iverson was looking for a middle school principal job in a place with mountains and outdoor recreation nearby. Modoc School District was looking for a middle school principal. It couldn't have gone any better in Iverson's opinion.

"It has just all worked out," Iverson said with a shrug and a smile.

Iverson has been the principal in Westwood for the past twelve years in a school that had grades 7-12. However, he had started his career as an elementary school teacher and wanted to get back to working with kids below high school age. Being an avid outdoors man, he also wanted to find a job in a small town in the mountains.

"There aren't many middle school positions in the mountains," Iverson said. "There are a lot of positions down in the valleys."

Iverson said he had also met people who had lived in Al turas in the past "who really spoke highly" of the town.

At the same time, Modoc got an experienced principal at a time when credentialed administrators are in short supply and many districts are having to hire non-credentialed peo ple.

Iverson said he is looking forward to working with the 11-14 year-olds who will populate MMS and the "level of enthu siasm" that age-group brings to school each day.

"It's a really important age," Iverson noted. "It's an age wher