120 year ago   

Last Friday night near Lookout, a 150-ton haystack belonging to Mike Craven was consumed by fire. One of the hired hands slept on the stack and placed his pipe on the hay beside him when he went to bed.

A decision by the state labor department put a damper on the Lassen County Fair. The department refused to issue permits to boys under the age of 16, barring them from participating in any rodeo events. The fair was forced to cancel the Junior Rodeo. The Pony Express races for both girls and boys were also eliminated.

45 years ago   

A meeting of the Lassen County Trustees Association was held to discuss the possibility of bringing educational television to the schools in Lassen County. A firm of radio consulting engineers had already completed a feasibility survey which indicated that Channel 9 of Redding could be received with an adequate signal on Diamond Mountain.   

The signal from Diamond Mountain could then be transmitted to serve the schools in the communities of Clear Creek and Westwood, and then later Chester, Greenville and Lake Almanor could be added to the service.   

The signal from Diamond Mountain could also be picked up on Antelope Mountain, east of Susanville, and then be transmitted to schools in Susanville and the Honey Lake Valley.

30 years ago   

Dignitaries, officials and residents were on hand to witness the groundbreaking ceremony for the Susanville Geothermal Project held at the intersection of Lassen Street and the Susan River. The city’s energy project was an attempt to initially heat a number of public buildings with geothermal energy.

25 years ago   

Lassen National Forest officials reported the breeding habitat for an endangered species was critically reduced by people illegally cutting firewood in an area closed to all cutting. The report stated an important habitat component for a pair of breeding bald eagles had been cut and removed.    

The Lassen National Forest was trying to provide a critical breeding and wintering habitat for the bald eagles at the time and hoping to help remove them from the endangered species list.

20 years ago   

Layoff notices began going out to Lassen County employees only days after the county’s 1990-1991 budget was revealed. County Administrative Officer Bill Bixby faced budget requests of $11.5 million.    

He recommended cutting that amount to $9.5 million and even those cuts did not create a balanced budget. At least 34 jobs were scheduled to be lost, and there could be others, depending upon what course the Board of Supervisors decides to take.   

“We will not be able to fund all state mandates in the coming year,” Bixby said. “The one mandate which we will meet is for a balanced budget.”

10 years ago   

One of the biggest methamphetamine labs ever to turn up in Lassen County went down Aug. 5.   

During a Saturday afternoon raid, three men were arrested and methamphetamine, with an estimated street value of more than $300,000, was seized.   

According to a press release from the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, the agents squashed a “large scale Mexican National organization methamphetamine operation.”

Five years ago   

On Wednesday, Aug. 11, the Lassen County Health Department received a report that an American goldfinch collected near the Diamond Mountain Golf Club tested positive for West Nile Virus.   

It is now known that mosquitoes in our local area are capable of infecting humans with WNV. To date, there are no known human cases of WNV in Lassen County.

Last year   

State budget cuts to education are hurting Lassen County schools and local districts will continue to monitor the situation in the upcoming year.     

School districts have laid off classified and certificated staff, and have made cuts in classroom supplies.    

In addition, a 20-percent state cut to home-to-school transportation has forced some districts to make cuts to their transportation services.    

On Tuesday, July 28, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger finally signed a state revised budget of $24 billion budget with more than $16 billion in spending reductions. The state has also announced an $8 billion deficit for next year’s budget cycle.     

According to State Superintendent Jack O’Connell, the budget includes $6.1 billion in cuts in Proposition 98 funding, which is added to the $11.6 billion in school funding cut just last February and will result in very real consequences for students.