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Aug. 31,
2010
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New
News
9-01-10

Photos by Walt Caldwell



Early morning fire
and explosion destroys residence in Burney
Kenn Fisher and
Bubbles Meadows were asleep in their home behind Richard Lake and
Associates
Bookkeeping office when a loud explosion from their garage below them
woke them up at approximately 2:30 a.m.
The couple ran
out and down the stairs to find their garage door had
been blown completely off the building and was against their pickup.
Fire was coming out of the garage.
Bubbles ran upstairs and managed to get her cell phone and return
before the fire rolled up and started the second story home on fire.
Firefigters from Burney were un the scene in less than five minutes
followed by Cal Fire engines, but the home was fully involved in flames.
Fire Chief Ray Barber says the cause is still under investigation.
The family lost all of their possessions including two pickups, a car
and a boat.
Barber estimates the loss to be $200,000 for the building, $30,000 for
contents, $40,000 for the pickups and $10,000 for the boat.
8-31-10
Update on Lunbery retrial
Attorney Juliana
Drous, the San Francisco judge who represented Kristi Lyn Lunbery
through the five year appeals process and won her a new trial told
Shasta County Superior Court Judge Wilson Curle she wanted to represent
Lunbery at her new trial.
In Yesterday's
hearing in Curle's courtroom. Lunbery's attorney at the original trial
Public Defender Jeff Gorder told the judge his office was legally bound
to represent her. The
The 9th District
panel of Judges overtuned Lunbery's original verdict because of
attorney incompetence.
The representation
may have to wait until such time as a trial judge is named.
Bail
was
set at $500,000 with a bail reduction hearing set for September 8.
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Front
Page this week:
Burney
Water District
Tenative agreement reached
The
Burney
Water
District’s Board and it’s employees announced Thursday
night that they had agreed to agree on a two year contract.
Following a closed session, the board announced that the two sides had
reached agreement on the proposals both sides felt were important and
had been sticking points.
While the actual wording will take a couple of weeks to finalize and
the other issues resolved, the two sides agreed to switching the
employees health insurance from the district’s current carrier to the
Union’s Insurance.
The district will pay the $816 premium and that figure will be the cap.
The district will reduce the amount the employee’s contribution to
their retirement over the two years.
They also agreed to allow the wording the board wanted to its
management rights in the district’s lay-off policy.
No agreement has been reached on a flex alternative work schedule and
some other non-economic issues, primarily changes in the personnel
manual.
The Union also said they would drop the labor complaints involving
negotiations, but would have to confer with employees regarding charges
which involved employees.
“We’ve taken the noise off the table,” Management’s Chief Negotiator
Willy Rodriquez says.
Maggie Campbell, Chief Negotiator for the Union could not be reached
for comment.
Comments
American Idol hopeful sets sights on the stars,
singing for those who can’t be with her
By
Walt
Caldwell
Mountain Echo editor
SAN FRANCISCO – She’d sang in a Catholic Church Choir before and to an
awful lot of farm animals as she grew up, but the 24-year-old Sonoma
woman, who came from a large, closely knit family, was inexperienced
when it came to large crowds. Not only that her passion was opera and
classical. Her song – Ava Maria.
A pretty novice with a nasty scar on her neck was one of 9200 to try
out for a spot in competition for the 10th season of American Idol
competition at AT&T Park in San Francisco. At the end of the
tryouts she walked away with a chance to perform in the next round.
The more than just mildly proud of great-niece, Carmina Salcido, Elaine
Yates of Burney, is extremely proud.
“I think she’ll be able to make the top 12, Elaine’s husband Rowdy
says.
Read the rest
of the story in the current issue, Subscribe
Comments
Lunbery
brought back to
Shasta County for re-trial
REDDING — Kristi Lyn Lunbery, 41, of Burney was booked
into Shasta County Jail the afternoon of August 25, transferred from
prison to reportedly be tried again for the 1992 murder of her husband
Charlie Bateson at their home in Burney.
Lunbery confessed in 2001 during a lengthy interrogation by Shasta
County Sheriff’s Major Crime detectives. She later recanted her
confession but was sentenced to 19-years to life.
A Panel of three judges from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
overturned the conviction May 25.
The panel found that Lunbery had incompetent counsel representing her
because they failed to present testimony from an expert who would
possibly have explained why Lunbery would confess to a crime she didn’t
commit, and found that the judge violated both the 6th and 14th
amendment to the United States Constitution when he refused to allow
testimony from individuals who could have testified that the crime was
committed by another individual.
The State and County had the option of having the case presented to the
entire 9th circuit Court of Appeals, petition the Supreme Court of the
United States to review the case or return it to the Shasta County for
re-trial. District attorney said he would have to study the case to see
if he was going to retry it if the state declined to go forward with it.
Lunbery’s attorney was unable to attend initial court proceedings
Thursday. Public defenders appeared with her in a brief court
proceeding which was continued to Monday afternoon.
Comments
Mayers gets
patients from Mercy
BURNEY — Matthew Rees, Mayers Memorial Hospital District’s new CEO
attended his first board meeting Wednesday afternoon.
Dick Nemanic, a member of the audience congratulated Rees and pointing
out that the board had hired Rees to manage the district, encouraged
the board to allow him to do just that, without interference.
Travis Lakey, the hospital’s Director of Finance, and board member
Allen Albaugh both reported that the cash in the bank and cash reserves
were up again this month and the accounts payable had been reduced a
little.
Albaugh also reported that they had gained five long term patients from
Mercy Medical Center in Mount Shasta. Director of Nurses for Long Term
Care, Sherry Wilson RN reported that Mayers would also get a
significant amount of equipment from the facility which is closing its
long-term care section.
Board President Mike Kerns lauded Terri Pena RN who had been acting CEO
until Rees’ coming on board. She has returned to her position as
Direcector of Nurses, Acute Care, Sherri Wilson, Director of
Nurses, Long Term Care, Keith Earnest Chief Clinical Officer, Marleen
McArthur, board secretary, and Erik Nielsen Facilities Manager for the
wonderful job they had done keeping the facility moving forward for the
past several months.
Read the rest
of the story in the current issue, Subscribe
Comments
Deficit
preliminary budget passed
BURNEY
— The Burney Water District passed a preliminary budget which shows a
net loss for the fiscal year without comment Thursday evening.
The four members of the board present were obviously preoccupied by
what turned out to be the later closed session and announcement of a
tentative agreement with their employees, There were no questions or
requests for clarification regarding the income or expenses which
comprised the $1,104,758 the document represented or the $239,485 it
falls short in meeting all of its needs.
It was pointed out that the budget was just preliminary.
The employee agreement, if signed, will reduce the proposed labor costs
of $510,693. Outside of labor costs, the largest single expense is
PG&E pumping costs, projected at $191,000 and depreciation at
$220,000.
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