Top San Francisco Area Local News Stories
Source: MedleyStory
A North Bay couple fighting an all too familiar battle to keep their home is asking for help that will keep them and their stable of miniature horses from leaving their ranch.
Angel and Faberge are just two of the tiny horses that live on Lovepatch Farms in Penngrove. But they might be forced from their home within a few weeks.
About 40 miniature horses live on the ranch.
The horses are the star attraction for the many senior and children's tour groups that have traveled to Sonoma County to enjoy the companionship of these playful animals for the past three decades.
But now Lovepatch Farms faces foreclosure.
Lee Romero and her partner Cory Vandergeld were able to lease back their property after going through a short sale three years ago.
But now the owner says unless the couple can come up with about $500,000 to buy it back, they'll have to leave.
"I don't know what we're going to do," said Romero. "Ultimately we would like to purchase the property back and continue doing the tours and community outreach."
Not only short on the needed funds, they also can't find another, less expensive property to care for their prized horses.
"Down in my heart I have a feeling God is with us," said Vandergeld.
Despite their financial trouble, they don't want to sell their treasured animals.
"We will never ever bring them to an auction house. Auctions are pretty much populated by kill buyers," said Romero. "They buy them by the pound and they don't care."
Both Cory and Lee said they feel overwhelmed and aren't sure what to do as an April deadline nears
"I do a lot of praying," said Vandergeld. "I know He's pulling all the strings and turning all the buttons to make things work, so I have faith."
The property owner said he's tried to work with the couple to come up with a solution, but nothing has worked out.
The couple says they're hoping they can learn how to set up a non-profit so they can continue their work with kids and seniors.
Published: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:34:51 -0800
Whether you're looking for an alternative to flowers and candy this Valentine's Day or just want to vent some frustration -- the Great San Francisco Valentine's Day Pillow Fight is the place to be.
The annual event will take place Tuesday evening at Justin Herman Plaza and participants should be ready to start swinging at 6 p.m.
Tuesday marks the seventh year the feathers will be flying and Department of Public Works spokeswoman Gloria Chan said city workers will be ready for the post-fight cleanup.
Chan said last year's attendance was not as high as previous years and the cleanup did not take long.
The free feather fight has garnered high marks on the review website, Yelp, earning four and a half stars.
Some of the past participants offered tips for newcomers. Some tips include bringing fresh, soft pillows and hunting down the Valentine's Day couples.
"Always hit the obvious Valentine's Day couple," Lanie L. said. "Because destroying cuteness is fun with pillows."
Another reviewer, Gen D., posted her displeasure with some of the pillows.
"To those that brought tempurpedic pillows," she said. "May ugly monkeys gnaw on your face! They're freaking bricks!"
Published: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 23:43:07 -0800
The owner of a popular South Bay nightclub was out on bail Monday night after being accused of raping one of his patrons. The club owner's lawyer adamantly denies the charges.
The Myth Taverna in San Jose is one of two downtown nightclubs owned by a man accused of raping one of his patrons. But the alleged crime did not happen there.
The unidentified 27-year-old alleged victim claims it happened in the club owner's 4,000-square-foot Los Gatos home in January. It is the home of night club owner Gholam "Ray'' Shafazand, where his lawyer says the woman had stayed before.
"I'm not getting into the facts of what happened or didn't happen, other than to say she certainly wasn't raped." said attorney Anthony Pagkas.
Pagkas said the woman was a friend of his client. He said she had been at the Myth Taverna on the night of the alleged rape and asked nightclub security to take her to Shafazand's home when the club closed.
The lawyer says throughout that night Shafazand's wife and daughter were also in the house. In court papers, the alleged victim says she went to sleep in a guest bedroom and woke to find her clothes being pulled off and was eventually raped.
"So many of the outrageous allegations made by this woman are a complete farce," said Pagkas. Shafazand is free on $100,000 dollars bail.
The sheriff's department has revoked his concealed weapons permit.
Arraignment on one count of rape is scheduled for Thursday. His lawyer said he will plead not guilty.
Published: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:51:24 -0800
Police in Vallejo were searching for at least two gunmen Monday night after a wild shootout in front of a strip mall wounded three innocent bystanders including a three-year-old little girl.
Vallejo police said the gunmen unleashed a hail of bullets on a stretch of Springs Road at around 7 p.m., injuring several people who were inside a nearby nail salon.
Officers remained on the scene at 10 p.m. collecting evidence.
A row of businesses in a strip mall was in the line of fire. At least five bullet holes were visible from the front of the nail salon.
It was sheer terror inside the Back in Style Beauty Salon where Laura Holloway was working with a client.
"I heard them from the outside and then they got louder and louder," said Holloway. "So I just got on the floor and protected my baby. That's all I could do."
Holloway said she doesn't believe the salon was the intended target, but rather that the business was simply in the line of fire of dueling gunman on the street.
The business next door to the beauty shop, a nail salon, was also hit.
Witnesses said three people inside Tina's Nails were injured: two women and a three-year-old little girl.
The mother of the young victim was too upset to talk with KTVU. She paced back and forth holding her daughter's small pink shoes.
The woman was trying to figure out a way to get to Oakland's Children's Hospital, where the child was taken by medical helicopter.
Witnesses described hearing a few shots, then a flurry of gunfire that made it impossible to count the number of shots.
"It was very, very scary," said Holloway. "I don't know [how many shots]. It was too many. I couldn't tell. I just got on the floor. It was too much."
"There's a lot of bullet holes in the glass and in the chairs and stuff and a lot of bullets in the walls," said Back in Style owner Rominida Lofton.
In the hours following the incident, police were continuing to search the area, using a ladder to get onto the roof of the strip mall to search for clues.
No additional information on the seriousness of the injuries sustained was available, but police did say that one of the victims was struck by more than a single bullet.
Published: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:07:22 -0800
Burlingame police have arrested a female student whose threatening email caused Burlingame High School to evacuate on Friday.
The girl is believed to have used a male student's online account to send an email to school administrators that claimed he had a gun, a bomb and to shut down the school, according to Burlingame police.
The school was put on lockdown at about 2 p.m. and the campus was evacuated and searched, police said.
No explosives were located and the lockdown was lifted, police said.
Officers detained the boy whose email account was used, and he cooperated with police.
There were no weapons in his possession and based on his statements to investigators, no arrest was made, police said.
A subsequent investigation led police to a female student who was contacted and arrested Monday, police said.
The girl is believed to have used the boy's email account when he logged on to a school computer and momentarily walked away from his workstation on Friday, police said.
She was arrested for making criminal threats and falsely reporting a bomb.
The suspect, whose identity was not released because she is a juvenile, was released on bail, police said.
Published: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:00:42 -0800
Freddie Solomon, the former Miami Dolphins and 49ers wide receiver who became known as "Fabulous Freddie" and committed himself to community service for decades, died Monday. He was 59.
The 49ers announced the passing of Solomon, who lived in Florida and had battled cancer over the past year. He played on the first of the franchise's four Super Bowl championship teams in the 1980s during an 11-year NFL career.
"The 49ers lost a member of our family today. We'll miss you, Freddie Solomon," 49ers CEO Jed York posted on his Twitter account.
The Dolphins selected Solomon in the second round of the 1975 draft out of the University of Tampa. He spent his first three NFL seasons with Miami and his final eight in San Francisco, finishing with 371 receptions for 5,846 yards and 48 touchdowns in 371 games.
During his stint in San Francisco, Solomon also ran for 329 yards and three TDs as an important member of late Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh's West Coast offense.
"Freddie was very influential to me and my career, and taught me about work ethic and professionalism. He inspired me to go out there every day and emulate him," Hall of Fame wideout Jerry Rice said.
After his football career ended, Solomon worked for two decades in community relations with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office in Florida, where he mentored youth and taught vital life lessons through football fundamentals.
"Freddie Solomon was a dear friend and a great teammate," Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana said. "There was no one who gave more on and off the field than Freddie. The kindness he demonstrated was inspirational to all that knew him, and a joy to be around. The warmth of his smile will be forever imbedded in my mind and heart."
Solomon was born on Jan. 11, 1953, in Sumter, S.C. He is survived by wife, Dee; mother, Bessie Ruth Solomon; brothers Richard, Oneal and Roger; and mother-in-law Mae Jeffers.
"I am deeply saddened by the passing of my dear friend Freddie Solomon today," former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. said. "My heart goes out to Dee, his family, the 49ers football family, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office and football fans everywhere. Freddie and I have been friends for 35 years, and he was one of the most gentle and best men I have ever met in my life."
Funeral services were scheduled for Friday at Saint Lawrence Church in Tampa, Fla.
Published: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:17:30 -0800
In January of last year, a pregnant Union City woman escaped a fire by jumping from a second story-window right into the arms of her husband in a remarkable story of courage and survival.
KTVU recently caught up with the couple one year later in Union City to learn how they recovered from their ordeal and to meet their baby boy.
A recording of the frantic 911 call from Alyssa Mesa, the then mother-to-be who was trapped by flames, illustrates the danger of the fire put her in just over one year ago.
"Help! Help me!" Mesa can be heard crying after being connected with the 911 operator.
The operator asked Mesa if she can get out of the apartment, not knowing that the victim was six-months pregnant and in the second story of her apartment.
Several seconds go by before the operator gets a response.
"I just jumped from a second-story building," Mesa can be heard saying on the recording.
Mesa came out of the window and landed in the arms of her husband waiting below in a parking lot.
"He's my hero," said Mesa during a recent interview discussing the incident. "He saved me and he saved Jacob."
Jacob is the nine-month-old son of proud parents Alyssa and Paul Mesa. Jacob was born happy, healthy and unharmed by his mother’s ordeal the night of the fire, much to his parents’ relief.
Paul walked through fire to escape the burning building, but the smoke was too much for Alyssa.
"He was telling me to jump. Just the way that he looked … it was just hard," remembered Alyssa. "Because the look on his face was ‘I need you to jump.'"
Alyssa shattered her heel during the jump, while Paul received a concussion. But none of that mattered.
"We needed each other," said Paul. "At that moment we thought we'd lost each other,"
Jacob's birth was a miracle to them.
The couple lost their home and all of their belongings in the fire. But amidst the ashes, crews ended up finding Alyssa's wedding ring completely intact.
"It's amazing because it's the symbol of our love and we lost everything," said Alyssa.
"At least we have each other. That's the important thing," said Paul.
The Mesas are staying with Paul's family for now, but are looking for their own home. One fully equipped with smoke detectors and several escape routes.
They also told KTVU that someday they'll tell their son Jacob the incredible story about how he came into the world.
Published: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:36:24 -0800
A 19-year-old man was arrested for allegedly shooting another man in the back in San Francisco's Hunters Point neighborhood on Sunday morning, a police spokesman said Monday.
Joshua Atoa was arrested in connection with the shooting, which occurred around 6 a.m. Sunday in the first block of Harbor Drive, police spokesman Sgt. Mike Andraychak said.
However, the shooting was not reported until more than three hours later when the 20-year-old victim's bleeding became worse and authorities were called to the victim's relative's house, located near where the shooting had occurred, police said.
The victim was taken to San Francisco General Hospital to be treated for his injuries, which are not considered life-threatening, Andraychak said.
The victim initially told officers he was shot by an unknown suspect, but later admitted to his family at the hospital that the shooting was in retaliation for an apparent slight made by the victim's cousin toward a female neighbor. The family members then relayed that information to police.
On Sunday morning, the female neighbor lured the victim outside of the relative's house where he was shot and allegedly told that his cousin would be the next shooting victim, according to police.
Officers responded to the neighbor's house but could not find the female or suspected shooter. They next went to a home in the 1300 block of Revere Avenue believed to be the residence of the shooter, but did not find the pair there either, police said.
Investigators asked family members at both homes to encourage the pair to turn themselves in, and at about 10:30 p.m. Sunday, Atoa and the female, his 17-year-old girlfriend, came to the Bayview Police Station and surrendered to police.
Atoa was booked on suspicion of attempted murder and violation of his probation for robbery charges, Andraychak said.
The 17-year-old was interviewed and later released to her parents pending further investigation, police said.
Anyone with information about the case is encouraged to call the Police Department's anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444 or send a tip by text message to TIP411.
Published: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:03:40 -0800
Keeping the Oakland Police Department under the watch of a Federal monitor for alleged civil rights violations is costing taxpayers millions of dollars more than they bargained for.
Using the California Public Records Act, KTVU went through nine years of records to find out exactly how that money's really being spent.
The stakes have never been higher for Oakland Police to fight crime, to restore the department's reputation, and to protect people's civil rights.
"This is not the police force that they were ten years ago," said Oakland resident Marcus Johnson.
Johnson says he was harassed by police around the same time the Riders scandal rocked OPD. That was when four officers were accused of beating and framing mostly African-American suspects. Neither of two jury trials resulted in any convictions of those police officers. But settling a civil lawsuit cost the city more than $10 million. And taxpayers are still on the hook for more.
KTVU requested all of the expenses filed by Federal monitors who were appointed by a federal judge to oversee the Oakland Police Department since 2003. What was supposed to be a five-year, $4 million program has dragged out nine years costing more than $6 million.
The current monitor, Robert Warshaw, and his staff have billed the city for almost $1.5 million since 2010. That includes $70 dollar cab rides from SFO to Oakland, $300 parking bills, and some first-class airfares. One round-trip flight from Richmond, Virginia to San Francisco cost nearly $2,000.
"The officers don't pay for this. The taxpayers do. And that's one of the reasons we're fed up with the police department's ability to comply with this agreement," said attorney Jim Chanin.
Chanin was one of the attorneys who drew up the original settlement agreement with OPD. Chanin recently asked a judge to consider a federal takeover of the department because it's made barely half of the 51 specific reforms it promised in 2003. He also has new concerns with the handling of Occupy Oakland protests last year.
"They're just letting this go on and on. Blaming us or anybody but themselves for the fact that the police can't comply with a very simple agreement that's been complied with by a host of other law enforcement agencies throughout the United States," said Chanin.
Oakland Mayor Jean Quan issued a statement saying the city is committed to making reforms at a faster pace. But some question whether all of the extra scrutiny might be making it tougher for officers to do their jobs.
For example, let's say an officer is working in East Oakland and gets a call of shots fired. He drives up to the scene and pulls out his gun and points it before his life is actually in danger. One authority told us he could already be in violation of the court order and face punishment.
"Yes, you can get bogged down in bureacracy. Yes, you can put form over substance. I think the issue ultimately has to be, are police doing their job properly?" said attorney John Scott who is another architect of the court order.
Scott says it comes down to accountability and leadership at OPD, starting with Chief Howard Jordan who was in charge of compliance under the previous two police chiefs.
"Were they encouraging command staff to passively get it done?" asked Scott. "Were they standing in the way? And if they weren't, then the question becomes, why did Chief Howard Jordan not get it done?"
Chief Jordan declined KTVU requests for an interview.
But Oakland resident Johnson says today's officers on the street give him hope.
"They have told me they want to feel like they're part of the community and I see them as that now as opposed to ten years ago," explained Johnson.
Published: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:43:37 -0800
Vandals targeted the new auditorium at an elementary school in Richmond and caused an estimated $1 million in damage.
Vandals shattered windows, dumped paint and flooded the floors with thousands of gallons of water of the new Nystrom Elementary School.
The school, a $4-million building, was on schedule to open in two weeks. A 2005 bond measure paid for the new school.
But now the school can't open for several months.
Inside the auditorium, paint was splattered on the floor, the walls, on the projection screen and cameras. About three dozen windows were shattered by rocks, which were scattered around the building.
Police believe vandals got into the building by breaking windows Sunday afternoon and they're looking at anyone who could potentially benefit from this incident.
"We're looking at a possible disgruntled employee, maybe of the construction site, maybe of the project," said Richmond police Lt. Bisa French. "We're not accusing anybody of anything, but we're looking at this broadly. Not just who are the kids who came and did this."
Charles Ramsey, West Contra Costa Unified School District board president, said this is the second time this has happened in the past six weeks.
"Somebody's sending a message that they don't like this community," Ramsey said. "They don't want to see it uplifted and they want to see these young kids punished."
French said police haven't ruled out the possibility of this being a random act of vandalism by kids, but given its deliberate nature it's unlikely.
The police department is offering a $10,000 dollar reward for information leading to an arrest.
Published: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:32:06 -0800
The AIDS Memorial Quilt is back in its hometown for its largest San Francisco exhibition since the project moved across the country more than a decade ago.
Local organizers began showing 40 sections of the massive quilt Sunday, and plan to hold free exhibitions around the city until Feb. 20.
The quilt was conceived by gay rights activist Cleve Jones. It has grown from 1,900 panels, each representing an AIDS victim, in 1987 to more than 44,000 panels today. It's managed by the Names Project Foundation, which moved its headquarters from San Francisco to Atlanta in 1999.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that dozens gathered Sunday to see the quilt sections at the AIDS nonprofit in the Castro district. Some visitors cried as they listened to each name being read aloud.
Published: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:45:08 -0800
The roommate of a man who was found stabbed to death near the railroad tracks in unincorporated Hayward last week was arrested on suspicion of murder, an Alameda County sheriff's spokesman said Monday.
The suspect, 54-year-old handyman Michael Wyatt, previously served 10 years in state prison on a manslaughter conviction for killing another roommate in Oakland, sheriff's Sgt. J.D. Nelson said.
James Nobles, 59, was found dead around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday near the 500 block of Hampton Road in the Cherryland neighborhood, Nelson said.
Sheriff's investigators learned that Nobles lived in the 700 block of Hampton Road, a short distance from the spot where his body was found.
Further investigation led them to suspect that Wyatt was involved in the murder, and Nelson said it is believed that Wyatt killed Nobles in the home then dumped his body during the night.
Investigators served a search warrant at the home on Friday.
Wyatt turned himself in to the Hayward Police Department on Sunday, and was taken to the sheriff's Eden Township Substation in San Leandro, where he cooperated with investigators, Nelson said.
Wyatt is being held without bail at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, and is tentatively scheduled to be arraigned at the Hayward Hall of Justice on Wednesday afternoon.
Because of his history, Wyatt is being held in a cell by himself, Nelson said.
He said Wyatt had been free on parole from state prison for about five years after completing his sentence for killing his former roommate.
Published: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:26:32 -0800
Authorities are searching for two inmates who escaped from a women's jail in Santa Cruz Monday.
The women, Sara Marko, 20 and Brittany Beus, 22, escaped from the Blaine Street Women's Facility, and were last seen near Felker Street, along the San Lorenzo River levee, police said.
Both were wearing jail clothing. Police are urging anyone who spots the women to call 911 immediately.
Santa Cruz police Deputy Chief Steve Clark said no streets have been shut down and no homes evacuated, but he advised residents in the area to be especially cautious and report any unusual people or activities.
He said the women are not believed to be armed.
Published: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:16:27 -0800
A moderate earthquake struck Northern California's coast Monday afternoon, rattling nerves around the Oregon border but yielding no immediate reports of major injuries or damage, officials said.
The magnitude-5.6 quake struck at 1:07 p.m. about 18 miles inland in an unincorporated part of Humboldt County, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicenter was a rural area near the small community of Weitchpec on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation, about 240 miles north of San Francisco and about 60 miles south of the Oregon border.
The temblor was widely felt within a 100-mile radius, according to the USGS website.
The Humboldt County Sheriff's Department and Eureka Police Department sent deputies and officers to check on residents, but dispatchers said there were no immediate reports of emergencies. Things also seemed fine on the Hoopa reservation, according to Byron Nelson Jr., the tribe's vice chairman.
"It was just a mild shaking. It wasn't a sharp jerk," said Sgt. Gene McManus of the Del Norte County Sheriff's Department, a neighboring agency that also saw no immediate problems.
Children's building blocks tumbled at Weitchpec Elementary School, but the staff and students took the shaking in stride.
Kate Lowry, the school's sole teacher, told The Associated Press in a phone interview that she, her aide and the 19 children followed their earthquake drill procedure and filed out of the building.
"We were still moving as we were walking across," Lowry said. "Once we got down in the field, it had stopped."
At nearby Pearson's Grocery Store, Karen Pearson watched cans fall off the shelves as a man yelled for people to get out.
"It was very scary because you have no control of these things," Pearson said. "Hopefully it's over."
Debbie Bailey, who owns an office supply shop in Hoopa, about five miles from the epicenter, said only a few items fell off shelves there. She described the jolt, which lasted four or five seconds, "like a pick-up-and-move, like a soft wave."
Seismologists say the far-northern coast of California is the most seismically active area in the state, but the potential for damage and injuries there is smaller because it's less populated.
The most damaging earthquake in recent years occurred near Eureka on Jan. 9, 2010, when a magnitude-6.5 temblor caused more than $40 million in damage and one serious injury -- an elderly woman who fell and broke her hip. It was followed a month later with a magnitude-5.9 quake in the same region that caused much less damage.
Lainey McDonald, who was standing in the office of her roofing supply company in Eureka, said Monday's rumblings did not feel as bad as those past events.
"I was asking myself, `Is it really still going or is it my knees?"' McDonald said. "It was still going. It definitely got my attention."
Published: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:40:46 -0800
A Monterey hotel employee who accidentally mixed together two chemicals caused a hazardous materials incident Monday morning that sent 30 people to the hospital and prompted the evacuation of hundreds of guests, a city spokeswoman said.
At about 9:15 a.m., the Monterey Fire Department received a call reporting a hazardous materials incident in the basement of the Portola Hotel, located at 2 Portola Plaza, Monterey city spokeswoman Anne McGrath said.
The incident occurred in or near a barrel in the laundry room, where employees were working. Thirty employees were taken to various hospitals in the area. One guest requested to be evaluated as a precautionary measure prior to his flight, McGrath said.
Most of the people who were transported reported experiencing respiratory problems.
All 210 hotel guests were evacuated, along with five or six employees at the adjacent Monterey Conference Center. No conferences were in progress at the time.
The hotel was closed as of 4:15 p.m. but McGrath said it would reopen as soon as the county hazardous materials team removed the barrel from the laundry room.
The release of chlorine gas was caused by an employee who mixed together acid and bleach, McGrath said.
Published: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:39:56 -0800
The search for more human remains in what appears to be a mass grave used by two men known as the "Speed Freak Killers" was suspended because of rain Monday, a day after authorities unearthed hundreds of bone fragments.
The grisly discoveries were made at an old well near the rural Northern California town of Linden. Death row inmate Wesley Shermantine had claimed the well could hold 10 or more victims from a killing spree during the 1980s and 90s.
Along with bones, searchers dug out clothes, a purse and jewelry, on Sunday. The items were found 45 feet deep in the well on an abandoned cattle ranch, San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department spokesman Les Garcia said in a statement.
Investigators, public works employees and volunteers have found more than 300 human bones and had planned to resume the search Monday, Garcia said.
Searchers will resume digging and sifting through the dirt and cataloguing their finds Tuesday, weather permitting, he said. The search is going at a "slow and tedious" pace and is expected to last several more days, Garcia said.
Meanwhile, the sheriff's department has set up a telephone hotline -- 209-468-5087 -- for people who suspect their loved ones fell prey to the killers.
Investigators can also be emailed at coldcase@sjgov.org. The department on Monday asked that email messages include names, phone numbers, the name of the missing person and case number.
Sunday marked the fourth straight day that remains were found with the help of a map prepared by Shermantine, who along with childhood friend Loren Herzog became known as the "Speed Freak Killers" after their arrests in 1999. The map led to burial locations in San Joaquin and Calaveras counties.
Shermantine was convicted of four murders and sentenced to death.
Herzog was convicted of three murders and sentenced to 77 years to life in prison, though that was later reduced to 14 years. An appeals court tossed his first-degree murder convictions after ruling his confession was illegally obtained.
Herzog was paroled in 2010 to a trailer outside the High Desert State Prison in Susanville. He committed suicide outside that trailer last month after Sacramento bounty hunter Leonard Padilla told him Shermantine was disclosing the location of the well along with two other locations.
A piece of a human skull and bones found Saturday at the San Joaquin County well will be sent to the U.S. Department of Justice in the hopes of identifying them through DNA testing, Garcia said.
Dental records identified remains found Thursday in Calaveras County, near property once owned by Shermantine's family, as those of 25-year-old Cyndi Vanderheiden, who disappeared in 1998.
Another set of remains was found Friday in the same area, and the parents of 16-year-old Chevelle "Chevy" Wheeler, who disappeared in 1985, said authorities told them that's where their daughter was believed to be buried. Paula Wheeler also said investigators told her the remains were clad in the same clothes she remembers seeing her daughter wearing the day she disappeared.
Published: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:44:25 -0800
Occupy Oakland protesters sought to draw connections between police actions at recent demonstrations and what they say is a history of misconduct by the department at a forum held at the Grand Lake Theater on Thursday.
Protesters gathered at the theater near Lake Merritt for Occupy Oakland's "Citizen Police Review Board" event, which was organized after a meeting by the city's official police review board on recent protests was canceled.
One topic of discussion was the threat of the Oakland Police Department being placed under court-ordered federal receivership because of delays in making reforms required by a 2003 class action settlement.
In that case, a group of 119 Oakland residents had alleged that a number of police officers who called themselves "the Riders" made false arrests, beat suspects and planted evidence, among other abuses.
The deadline for implementing the reforms was initially 2008, and was later extended to 2010 -- but 10 of the 51 required changes still have not been made.
U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson last month gave a court-appointed monitor more power over the Police Department and said he would not rule out receivership if the reforms weren't implemented.
Jim Chanin, one of the attorneys who represented the plaintiffs in the Riders case, spoke at Thursday's Occupy event, saying that if he does not see major reforms by the department this year, he will press the judge to place the department under federal control.
"It's taken too long," Chanin said. "We're going to move for receivership if there's not a radical improvement in this calendar year."
Chanin said the department appears to be unable to accomplish the reforms on its own.
"They really don't have very good perceptive powers about what they can do themselves," he said.
Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and Police Chief Howard Jordan released a statement last month saying there would be "swift and decisive action" to implement the reforms.
"We are committed to taking action and making demonstrable progress on the reforms necessary to ensure that we meet our collective goal," Quan and Howard said in a statement.
Chanin also compared the recent clashes with protesters to an April 1, 2003, protest at the Port of Oakland at which police fired less-then-lethal weapons on protesters attempting to disrupt the operations of two shippers with government contracts related to the Iraq War.
He said that after the 2003 protest, he helped draft a new crowd-control policy for Oakland police with the American Civil Liberties Union. He read from that policy during Thursday's event, and charged that police had repeatedly violated it during Occupy Oakland demonstrations.
"Not only was there no medical aid on site, in some cases people who tried to give medical aid were themselves gassed by police," Chanin said.
Following Chanin's talk, Occupy Oakland protester and citizen journalist Spencer Mills, who streams protests online, played video clips to show instances of when he said officers violated the crowd-control policy.
Among the clips was footage of tear gas and smoke grenades being fired on crowds on Oct. 25, including at protesters attempting to help a wounded demonstrator on the ground. There was footage of police using batons on protesters on the ground and firing a beanbag round at a demonstrator filming police.
"The goal here is not to demonize the police," Mills said.
He alleged, however, that Oakland police have shown a lack of control.
Mills has also been a vocal critic of violence coming from protesters, and has shouted on his streams at protesters throwing bottles, denouncing them as "cowards."
Protesters have been violent toward police on a number of occasions, including during a Jan. 28 demonstration in which the Police Department claimed its officers were pelted with bottles, metal pipe, rocks and other objects. That same day, a group broke into and vandalized City Hall. Hundreds were arrested.
Before Mills spoke, Stan Oden, a professor at Sacramento State University and a former Black Panther, drew connections between protests today and those in the 1960s.
Patrick Caceras, assistant to the city administrator, appeared on behalf of the city of Oakland and the official Citizens Police Review Board, and told the crowd that, given recent developments, the review board forum had needed to be postponed.
Caceras said the forum would be rescheduled, but that new considerations came up after the Jan. 28 demonstration. For example, he said, prosecutors sought stay-away orders to prevent protesters who were arrested that day from returning to Frank Ogawa Plaza, and because of that they would not have been able to legally attend any meeting at City Hall.
He said the city is looking to find a venue that will allow everyone to attend, and to focus on more recent protests as well as demonstrations on Oct. 25 and Nov. 2.
Police Chief Howard Jordan was invited by protesters for a question-and-answer session, but did not attend Thursday's meeting.
Published: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:54:13 -0800
A man was stabbed by someone trying to sell him marijuana in San Francisco's Lower Nob Hill neighborhood early Sunday morning, police said.
The stabbing was reported at 3:18 a.m. Sunday near Bush and Larkin streets.
Police said that when the 27-year-old victim declined the marijuana offer, the suspect pulled out a knife and stabbed him once in the side, according to police.
The suspect, a man in his 20s, fled and remains at large.
The victim was taken to San Francisco General Hospital to be treated for his injuries, which are not considered life-threatening.
Anyone with information about the stabbing is encouraged to call the Police Department's anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444 or send a tip by text message to TIP411.
Published: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:07:03 -0800
Sikh community leaders have told the U.S. Attorney in San Francisco that they face workplace discrimination and hate.
Sikhs, a religion often confused with Islam, told U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag on Sunday that they constantly struggle with discrimination and bigotry.
The Contra Costa Times says Haag's visit to the Sikh Center in El Sobrante was designed to assure them the federal government is ready to respond to reports ranging from hate crimes to identity theft.
Haag was told Sikh's face severe workplace discrimination and there was concern the FBI doesn't specifically track anti-Sikh hate crimes, lumping them in with anti-Muslim crimes.
Haag promised to discuss the concerns with FBI officials.
Published: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:30:39 -0800
Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes and the Oakland Athletics have agreed to a $36 million, four-year contract.
Agent Adam Katz confirmed Monday the outfielder had reached agreement on a deal, with details still to be finalized. This is a significant move for Oakland, which now has the steady hitter it sought to boost the roster heading into 2012.
Cespedes will earn $9 million per season. He can become a free agent at the end of the contract.
The team also has expressed interest in slugger Manny Ramirez.
The A's, hoping to be given clearance from Major League Baseball to relocate to San Jose and construct a new ballpark, have been in rebuilding mode this winter. Oakland traded starting pitchers Gio Gonzalez and Trevor Cahill and also All-Star closer Andrew Bailey.
Cespedes toured the Miami Marlins' new downtown ballpark last Wednesday, and appeared to have other suitors, as well.
In a surprising move, it was the A's who made a splash and outbid some big-spending clubs.
Cespedes played for Cuba in the 2009 World Baseball Classic and is projected to be ready for the majors. Cespedes said six teams were interested in signing him: the Marlins, Baltimore, Detroit, Cleveland and the Chicago Cubs and White Sox.
Major League Baseball has said it has been told Cespedes' agent that he has obtained an unblocking license from the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Yahoo! Sports first reported the agreement.
Published: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:02:26 -0800
RossCalifornia.com
HOTELS • REAL ESTATE • JOBS