Remember When

120 years ago   

Dennis Wood went out to Indian Creek for a day’s sport. He reports the fishing is good and he caught 60 fish in a few hours.   

A couple of young women in Susanville disguised themselves as gypsies and made a fortune-telling round among their friends. The imposition was a decidedly clever one and was not detected.

120 years ago   

Quite a number of casualties were reported at Alturas during the horse races and baseball game on July 5. No less than four people were run over by horses and quite a few were hit by baseballs. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured.

70 years ago   

The cattle rustling in Lassen County is still absorbing the attention of authorities. Its seriousness is accentuated with the arrest of the sixth and seventh alleged stock thieves in the area in the past five years.   

One of the men was also connected with the slaughter of deer and calves. Authorities found veal and a deer heart in his refrigerator.

45 years ago   

The Lassen County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution voicing dissatisfaction with the regulation set forth by the state Department of Social Welfare, thus joining forces with supervisors from other California counties demanding more control and greater management flexibility in county welfare departments.

30 years ago   

The Susanville Elementary School District met in a closed session to determine whether to refile a competency proceeding hearing against a former Diamond View School employee. The employee had been removed after charges of unprofessional conduct had been raised. An earlier competency hearing had been marred by what a judge ruled to be “procedural flaws.”

25 years ago   

The awarding of the bids for wine and beer concessions at the Lassen County Fair drew considerable fire from local bidders attending a board of supervisors meeting. The local bidders questioned the bidding process that allowed out-of-county bidders to “come in and take money out of the county.”   

A San Francisco area firm was awarded the bid, but the supervisors said nothing could have been done to correct the situation at the time, although they would see what could be done the following year to protect the local bidders.

20 years ago   

After a month-long investigation, the Lassen County Joint Narcotics Task Force capped its first major drug operation with the July 18 arrest of eight Westwood residents. The arrests were made after an informant purchased cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana. Additional arrests were expected in the next few days.

10 years ago   

California’s Department of Mental Health has given Lassen County’s Mental Health Department 15 days to respond to concerns regarding the department’s alleged failure to comply with legally-mandated licensing requirements for some staff members.   

Nora Romero, a media spokesperson for the California Department of Mental Health, told the Times the state’s chief of program compliance for the northern region had received a number of letters regarding the alleged use of unlicensed personnel by the Lassen County Mental Health Department.

Five years ago   

Fire officials threw everything they had at a 12-acre fire that erupted on Susanville’s South Street at 4 p.m. on Thursday, July 15.   

“You can’t take chances,” said Bob Bare, a captain with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Susanville office, who was acting as a fire information officer at the Susanville Interagency Fire Center on Friday, July 15.   

“After seeing what’s going on down there at Carson City, you don’t want to let any of these things get anywhere,” Bare said. “And the winds were a little bit of a problem yesterday. That’s why it got as big as it did.”   

The blaze broke out in a shop at the end of South Street on the south side of the dirt Hobo Camp Road. The cause is still under investigation.

A year ago   

Last week’s news that the Novel H1N1 flu virus, formally known as the swine flu, had finally hit Lassen County served as a reminder to residents that the virus is still a concern, if only a moderate one.    

After confirming a 57-year-old Lassen County woman is the first in the county to be hospitalized with a confirmed case of Novel H1N1 virus, Lassen County Public Health Nurse Laura Warren said residents should continue to take the same precautions recommended for seasonal flu to avoid coming in contact with the virus.    

These precautions include common sense flu-prevention measures like covering your mouth when coughing or sneezing, keeping hand sanitizer at the ready, and frequent hand washing, said Warren.   

Plumas, Tehama, Butte and Humboldt counties have also reported confirmed cases of Novel H1N1, which Warren said is normal as the virus circulates the northern part of the state in the same manner as other respiratory viruses.    

As of press time, there are 1,658 confirmed cases in California, with only 233 of those cases requiring hospitalization. Twenty-three have died, though all with a previous underlying condition.

90 years ago   

The Census Bureau made public the preliminary announcement of the population on Lassen County as returned by the census taken in January. It showed the population had nearly doubled during the decade between 1910 and 1920. According to the figures, Lassen County had 8,507 residents while the city of Susanville had 910.

120 years ago   

An examination of the swarms of locutsts which descended on the Honey Lake Valley last week 120 years ago were found to be members of a 17-year species which is not particularly destructive to crops.

70 years ago  

An inquest was found to be necessary into the questionable and sudden death of a 48-year-old newcomer to Susanville after his body was discovered behind a Main Street establishment.   

The death was said to be alcohol-related and witnesses said the man had been on the premises for several hours consuming large quantities of liquor.   

Witnesses also said the man drank eagerly, talked freely and acted rationally, arousing suspicion after consuming what was as an “abnormal amount of hard liquor.”

45 years ago
    California Governor Edmund “Pat” G. Brown announced the appointment of California State Senator Stanley Arnold, of Susanville, as judge of the Lassen County Superior Court. Arnold will take over from Ben vs. Curler, who recently retired.

30 years ago
    Long-term educational advantages was the keynote term in use at a Lassen Community College governing board meeting where a proposal for the possible merger of Lassen and Feather River colleges was discussed. The proposal annexing Feather River to Lassen was one of a number of alternatives suggested by a feasibility study.

25 years ago   

The Susanville City Council voted 4-0 to support the expansion of the California Correctional Center.   

The council said adopting the resolution would have a desirable economic impact for the city by providing greater employment opportunities and creating more service-type jobs.   

The city also took the stand that by expanding the center, money would have been saved by taxpayers throughout the state.

20 years ago   

The Sierra Army Depot called a temporary halt to its bomb destruction program after a number of small “bomblets” were found to have “escaped” from the demolition zone. The depot had been destroying cluster bombs and each one carries 444 antipersonnel bomblets.   

The bomblets are baseball-sized steel balls designed to disperse and explode as individual units once the main bomb has been deployed.   

The army expected about 200 of the bomblets would be discovered on BLM land nearly a mile from the demolition pits.
    
10 years ago   

The Dyer Mountain Committee was ecstatic last week when it delivered 3,099 signatures asking for a November initiative vote on a four seasons resort to Lassen County Clerk Theresa Nagel’s office.   

But the project’s detractors said the battle is far from over and the board of supervisors said they want a report from staff on what the initiative could do the county’s general plan.

Five years ago   

Plans to ratify former Susanville City Administrator Newell Sorensen’s retirement agreement stalled when Councilmember Doug Sayers questioned how much the agreement was going to cost the city. According to assistant to the city administrator Luann Rainey, the agreement was misplaced and recently rediscovered. It was placed on the Tuesday, June 29 agenda for ratification.   

However, Rainey and City Attorney Kathleen Lazard were not at the Jan. 14 closed session meeting where the agreement was discussed. There is also no copy of closed session minutes of that meeting.

A year ago   

Six suspects who were arrested after a marijuana investigation turned gun fight will be prosecuted in federal court by the United States Attorney’s Office Eastern District of California in Sacramento.    

The incident, which occurred on federal land in the Dixie Valley area on Tuesday, June 16, left one suspect dead and injured Lassen County Sheriff Sergeant Dave Martin and deputy Dave Woginrich.