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California witness spots hovering blue-colored disc-shaped object | Page A2
Weather: 53o/36o | Volume V | Issue III
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Brandon Karnes is a prop on his college’s rugby team. He has been playing the sport since he was a freshman in high school. | Photos courtesy of the Karnes family
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Be informed: Landslides and Mudslides See more on page D1
Helen Hunt Jackson recognized on Walk of Fame
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EDUCATION | Page D1
D EDUCATION
C VALLEY BEAT
CLERGY CORNER Canceling God
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“Steel Magnolias” Redux | Page C4
Thursday, January 19 - January 25, 2023
A FAITH
Players from many different Nations play with the Indigenous Warriors Rugby Club. Here, at a December event in Arizona, Brandon and Dustin Karnes are at the far left representing the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians.
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Brandon Karnes, left and his father Dustin Karnes during an Indigenous Warriors Rugby Club event last month in Arizona.
Soboba family enjoys the demanding sport of rugby SOBOBA BAND OF LUISEÑO INDIANS | CONTRIBUTED
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or those that are unfamiliar with the intense sport of rugby, it can best be described as a game of passion that’s full of action, excitement and beauty, as well as unpredictable moments and dramatic resolutions on the field. Rugby is governed by laws,
not rules. The laws of the game are designed to produce an entertaining and free-flowing contest for possession in an attempt to score the most points. Rugby is a close-contact team sport that originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. The game is played between two teams of 15 players each, using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular
field called a pitch. Dustin Karnes started playing rugby about seven years ago. While coaching soccer, the men’s rugby team Siouxland Swine out of Nebraska were practicing on the field across from his team. “I knew a few of the players and they kept asking me to come try it out. I was soon on the team,” Dustin, of South Dakota, said.
“Rugby is not a very popular sport here in the Midwest but you can always find a team to play on.” Dustin, 43, currently plays the position of prop for the Indigenous Warriors Rugby Club. Props are part of the group that is collectively referred to as the pack, or the forwards. This group’s main goal is to win possession of the ball. These players are usually
the heavyweights of the team, using their bulk and strength to try to overpower their opponents. A rugby team has another group as well, the backs or back line. Dustin’s son Brandon donned his first pair of rugby cleats as a high school freshman. Now a senior at Iowa State University,
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California sees extensive storm damage as weather calms JOHN ANTCZAK AND CHRISTOPHER WEBER | AP NEWS
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ey roadways remained closed and officials estimated thousand of homes were seriously damaged in California as weeks of wild weather that flooded roadways, collapsed hillsides and toppled countless trees finally became calm Tuesday. Tallying the damage will take time, but the number of houses and other structures that will be red-tagged as uninhabitable could be in the “low thousands,” said Brian Ferguson, spokesperson for the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. The damage is spread across 41 of California’s 58 counties, Ferguson said. In unincorporated Santa Barbara County, after more than 60 inspections at properties that sustained damage from mudslides and downed trees, four homes were red-tagged and 32 were yellow-tagged as needing
extensive repairs, said Kelsey Buttitta, the county’s communications manager. “Also we’re seeing a lot — a lot — of damage when it comes to roads,” she said, estimating that more than a dozen are fully closed. “Some roads are completely washed away.” There is no estimated reopening date for State Route 154, a key north-south artery in the county that is inundated with mud and rocks, Buttita said. Nine atmospheric rivers since late December caused power outages, flooding, levee breaks, washouts and landslides nearly statewide. At least 20 people were killed. Light rain and snow showers lingered Tuesday in some areas across California, but the skies were finally largely clear. A shot of precipitation from a quick system was predicted for Wednesday or Thursday, followed by a dry period, the National Weather Service said. Forecasters cautioned that al-
though the midweek rainfall will be light, it could be enough to cause problems because the state is so saturated. Flood warnings remained in effect for the Salinas River in Monterey County and parts of Mariposa and Merced counties in the Central Valley. Officials in Ventura County said it could take up to three weeks to clear the only road into the remote canyon community of Matilija in the Los Padres National Forest near Ojai. Repairs could take six months. More than 70 residents were evacuated by helicopter, but a handful have refused to leave, according to the Ventura County Sheriff ’s Office. “Towering piles of rock and mud reach over 40 feet (12 meters) tall in some locations, blocking access to roadways and leaving residents isolated to the canyon,” the sheriff ’s office said in a weekend statement. To the north in Berkeley, eight homes were red-tagged after a sodden hillside collapse Mon-
CALIFORNIA WEATHER: One of the most significant storms of the season hit Big Bear Mountain Ski resort, with 17" of snow over the last two days in Big Bear Lake, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023. The snowfall came just in time for one of the biggest ski weekends of the year. In a three-week series of significant winter storms, the ninth atmospheric river is churning through California on Monday, leaving mountain driving dangerous and flooding risk high near swollen rivers even as the sun came out in some areas. Heavy snow fell across the Sierra Nevada. | Courtesy Photo of Big Bear Mountain Resort day, sending mud onto properties, including one belonging to Marjorie Cruz. No injuries were reported.
“You can’t describe what it’s like to wake up in the morn-
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Man Accused Of Hurling, Rock slide snarls traffic on Abandoning Dog Near Hwy 74 near Mountain CenTemecula: Charges Pending ter; roads in unincorporated tion with these counts at the time Riverside County closed he was taken into custody for the CNS | CONTRIBUTED
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30-year-old man accused of hurling his dog over a razor-wire security fence at a cell phone tower in Winchester and abandoning him was slated to be arraigned Tuesday on unrelated charges of driving under the influence, while prosecutors continue to review the animal cruelty allegations. Robert Arturo Ruiz Jr. of Winchester was arrested and booked into the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta on Thursday on suspicion of felony animal cruelty and willful abandonment. Ruiz is being held in lieu of $15,000 bail. According to court records, Ruiz has unresolved misdemeanor charges pending for driving under the influence and driving on a suspended license. There was a warrant out for his arrest in connec-
alleged act of animal abuse. The defendant was slated to be arraigned on the misdemeanors Tuesday afternoon at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta. "We have not filed in the case," Riverside County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Amy McKenzie told City News Service concerning the felony animal cruelty charges sought by the Department of Animal Services. "We cannot give any comments regarding the charging decisions in this case, as it is still active." Department of Animal Services spokesman John Welsh said that sheriff 's deputies and officers tracked Ruiz down to a residence in the 33000 block of Leon Road in Winchester, where he was taken
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CNS | CONTRIBUTED
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rock slide snarled traffic Monday on Highway 74 between Mountain Center and Hemet. The hazard was reported about 10:30 a.m. roughly 2 miles west of Mountain Center, south of Coldwater Creek, near McGaugh Road, according to the California Highway Patrol. The agency said officers and Caltrans crews were en route to the location as of 11 a.m. Drivers contacted the CHP, saying they were having to go around the rocks and other debris. The location has been pummeled by downpours over the last two days, amid the latest winter storm. It was not immediately known
whether the highway might have to be partially closed at the site until the roadway is cleared. Multiple roads throughout unincorporated areas of Riverside County were closed because of mud, wash-out damage, standing water and other hazards stemming from the weekend-long storm activity, officials said Monday. Bautista Road, between Fairview Avenue in Hemet and the Cal Fire Conservation Camp to the south, was shut down Saturday amid heavy rains that left parts of the roughly 9-mile corridor caked with mud and other debris, officials said. More than half of the road is within the San Bernardino National Forest. According to transportation of-
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