Santa Monica Daily Press
❑
Tuesday, March 29, 2005 ❑ Page 7
STATE STATE BRIEFS
Is hunting ban endangered?
Book ’em somewhere else
CATS’ TALE, from page 1
By The Associated Press
COLTON, Calif. — Cities will soon lose state reimbursements for half the cost of booking suspects into county jails and officials in Colton, which gets about $100,000 a year in reimbursement money, fear the loss of funds will mean further public service cuts. California cities are expected to lose about $38 million in booking fee reimbursements under a state law that takes effect July 1. Booking fees are charged a city every time a police officer makes an arrest and delivers a suspect to county facilities. Cities will now be forced to pay all booking costs. San Bernardino County said it costs $192.92 per booking. “In my opinion, it’s a need to feed the bad government and politicians in Sacramento on the backs of cities again,” Councilman Richard De La Rosa said. “Just in the Police Department alone, that’s more than one police officer. We’re either raising fees or cutting services,” Councilman John Mitchell added. Nearby, Fontana stands to lose nearly $400,000 a year in booking fee reimbursements. “It’s going to have a significant budgetary impact on us. The more we pay (in) booking fees, the less officers we can hire,” said Fontana Councilman Frank Scialdone, who is Fontana’s former chief of police.
Dam property owners cashing in By The Associated Press
CHINO, Calif. — Flood control engineers need five properties around Chino and Corona to complete expansion of Prado Dam, but soaring real estate prices have the landowners holding out for bigger buyouts. The Orange County Flood Control District offered $44 million for 275 acres owned by the five holdouts, but the property owners want much more. The Koning family, for instance, was offered $1.83 million by the county for 37.5 acres in Chino. The Koning family said the property, which includes two homes and a horse ranch, is worth $10 million. The other three Chino properties are commercial dairies and a Corona property is home to a paintball park. All the owners have argued that their properties are worth far more than the county has offered. Adding to land value is the area’s transformation from dairy land to lucrative home sites. Some 10,000 homes are planned for an area rezoned residential and bordered by the Chino Valley Freeway, the Riverside Freeway and Norco. The Orange County Flood Control District needs the property because raising the earthen Prado Dam 28 feet will inundate more land behind it. Engineers claim about 3,500 more acres would be covered by the reservoir in case of a 200-year flood. The dam controls the flow of water from San Bernardino and Riverside county watershed down the Santa Ana River through Orange County and to the ocean along Huntington Beach’s southern border. County officials and property owners were at loggerheads over sale of the land for nine months before the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted in January to condemn the properties under its powers of eminent domain. The five holdout families are among nearly three dozen property owners involved in negotiations since 1993. Some 380 acres already have been purchased through voluntary sales of homes, small ranches and dairies at a cost of about $40 million. In a process to take several more years, officials are seeking 1,660 acres from 280 landowners, including those already purchased. Total land costs have been estimated at $206 million, but that is expected to grow because of the market-value disputes. The Board of Supervisors wants a judge to decide because of the chasm between the county and property owners, Supervisor Chairman Bill Campbell said. “We were getting nowhere, and we need to keep this project on track,” Campbell said.
Bill Maze, R-Visalia, is scheduled for a hearing Tuesday by the Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee. It would require the Department of Fish and Game to conduct an annual lottery for the 116 hunting licenses, the equivalent of two per county. The department would also set up hunting zones in which the licenses could be used. California has barred sport hunting of mountain lions since 1972, first through a series of moratoriums and then through Proposition 117, a ballot measure approved by voters in 1990. An attempt to overturn Proposition 117 failed in 1996. Maze said hunting is needed to control a growing lion population that is coming into increasing contact with humans and domestic animals. His witnesses for the bill will include people who’ve been attacked by the cats, he said. The lions are “becoming much more brave,” Maze said. “They are straying into yards and picking off people’s pets. My huge concern is if they’re willing to attack a large dog we’re just waiting for the tragedy ... of these cats picking off a child.” Santa Monica resident Shannon Parker was the 12th victim of a mountain lion since 1986 when last summer, she was attacked while hiking in central California. Parker suffered deep lacerations to her right thigh and injuries to both eyes during the attack, according to officials with the California Department of Fish and Game. Parker lost her right eye and underwent reconstructive surgery. The lion, which weighed about 70 pounds, left a bloody trail as it fled and was later shot and killed by U.S. Forest Service officers and wardens from the Fish and Game department. The bill’s critics say that sport hunting is not a good management tool. The Department of Fish and Game hasn’t taken a position on the bill, but a spokesman, Mike Wintemute, said mountain lion attacks are still very rare, although there have been an increase in the number of mountain lion sightings. There have been only 15 verified mountain lion attacks on humans in California and six deaths since 1890, according to the department. Bees, deer and lightning are a greater threat to humans. The department issues depredation permits to kill lions that threaten life or property. The number of permits climbed from four in 1972 to 331 in 1995. Last year there were 231, resulting in the killing of 115 lions. The department estimates that there are 4,000 to 6,000 lions in California, up from about 2,000 in the 1970s, but Lynn Sadler, president and chief executive officer of the Mountain Lion Foundation, said no one really knows how many there are or how many are needed to maintain a healthy environment. “When people talk about the web of live, it’s not a bad metaphor,” she said. “You pull out one thread and if it’s the wrong thread the whole thing falls apart.”
DONATE Your Vehicle Tax deductible. No DMV hassle.
The call is free! And so is the pick-up!
American Red Cross
1-866-7REDCROSS 1 - 8 6 6 - 7 7 3 - 3 2 7 6
Cars • Boats • RVs • Cars • Boats • RVs • Cars • Boats • RVs
Making teeth white and beautiful for a smile that’s bright and beautiful. Mo Koshki, D.D.S. General & Cosmetic Dentistry
(310) 395-1261
1260 15TH Street #805, Santa Monica, California 90404
The lions are being squeezed into smaller and smaller areas by human population growth, she said, but people who live in rural areas can avoid attracting lions by doing things like bringing pets in at night and installing motion sensor lights. “This generation will make a choice,” she said. “Do we want lions ... in California or do we want to do what 38 other states have done, which is drive them into extinction? If we choose to save them we have to make some other land-use choices and learn how to behave so we can live in proximity with each other.” The bill faces long odds. It needs four-fifths majorities to pass the Legislature. And if it clears that hurdle it could be attacked in court on the grounds that it doesn’t further the purposes of Proposition 117. Here’s what else is going on at the Capitol:
SECRETARY OF STATE: Former Sen. Bruce McPherson could become California’s 29th secretary of state this week. The Senate has already approved Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s nomination of the Santa Cruz Republican to replace Kevin Shelley as the state’s chief elections official, and the Assembly Rules Committee is expected to vote Tuesday. Assembly Speaker Fabin Nunez, D-Los Angeles, said he also wants a vote by the full Assembly this week. That probably will happen Thursday. TRAVELING GOVERNOR: Sen. Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks, said Schwarzenegger shouldn’t lose his powers as governor when he leaves the state. He’s proposed a constitutional amendment that would end the practice of the lieutenant governor or one of the Legislature’s leaders becoming acting governor when the governor travels out of California. The measure is opposed by Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, who’s served as acting governor for 101 days in the 16 months Schwarzenegger has been in office. In an age of terrorist attacks, a governor who was out of state could be cut off and unable to communicate with, or return to, California to deal with problems here, said Steve Green, a spokesman for Bustamante. The amendment is scheduled to be considered Wednesday.
BE PREPARED. DON’T LEAVE ANYTHING TO CHANCE. MAKE YOUR WISHES KNOWN. LIVING WILLS ADVANCE HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVES
LAW OFFICES OF NICHOLAS TEPPER
(310) 963-0636