Remember When

120 years ago

A dispatch was sent from Alturas to postmaster N.S. McKinsey to notify him the liquor ordinance had been repealed.

70 years ago

Another step in the acquisition of a site for a Lassen National Forest headquarters building was taken with instructions from Washington to have the deed recorded to the premises on Grand Avenue.

This could seem to indicate the property has been accepted by the Bureau of Forestry and the last obstacle removed in their erection of a building that would permanently locate the Lassen National Forest Administration in Susanville.

45 years ago

Improvements to the Susanville Airport were included in the Federal Aviation Agency National Airport Plan for 1966. Among the improvements were acquisition of land, reconstruction and extension of the runway and construction of a taxiway and apron.

30 years ago

Susanville’s Riverside Park and two local schools were to be aesthetically improved through the use of trees in a cooperative demonstration project designed to educate the public on the use of trees in city areas. The idea was to go beyond just providing shade, as the trees were to be placed as barriers and buffer areas to direct traffic and hide unsightly storage areas at the three sites.

20 years ago

Lassen County District Attorney Mark Nareau scored his first victory only a day after being sworn into office when the Lassen County Board of Supervisors approved a motion to allow Nareau to hire employees for two newly-created positions. Susanville attorney Ridgely Lazard was hired as a deputy attorney for $48,000 per year.

Lazard will spend 70 percent of his time prosecuting cases at the California Correctional Center with the state picking up its portion ($3,750) of his salary.

15 years ago

A former Lassen County Planning Commission chairman with no prior agricultural experience is in default for a $295,000 loan he got in 1993 from the county to start a Wendell hog operation. Robert O. Elliot was the only applicant for the economic development grant which came from the California Department of Housing and Community Development in the form of a loan to start a company called California Pork.

According to information from the Board of Supervisors, Elliot did not meet the requirements mandated by the state for the loan and the county had already repaid $190,000 while Elliot had paid only $25,000. First California Pork was bogged down by construction problems and then 200 brood hogs died, a terrible blow to the then-young operation.

10 years ago

Lassen County’s troubled, publicly owned utility company asked the state for the money to end its financial woes, according to a resolution written by the Lassen Municipal District’s General Counsel, Susanville attorney Frank Cady.

Five years ago

Trains were running again within 24 hours of derailment in Nubieber at 5 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 8, according to Lassen County Emergency Services Chip Jackson.

“A freight train northbound from the Westwood area headed to Klamath Falls was switched into the siding in Nubieber,” Jackson told the Board of Supervisors Tuesday, Jan. 11.

The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad freight train ran into grain cars on the siding. Jackson said the accident involved seven locomotives and 57 cars.

Last year

Two women were found dead, apparent victims of gunshot wounds in an apartment in the 900 block of Paiute Lane at roughly 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 22.

According to a press release from the Susanville Police Department, officers responded to a call of suspicious circumstances at the Paiute Lane apartment complex. Arriving at the scene, officers received no response from inside the apartment.

Officers gained access and located two dead women inside, both the apparent victims of gunshot wounds. The SPD's Investigation Unit then responded to handle the investigation and processing of the scene.

120 years ago
Mr. Mapes, from the Tule Confederacy, was up from that place last Saturday and from him we learned that the accident involving the Bidwell and Amedee stage last week was caused by the driver taking out the brake blocks.

As is customary when traveling on muddy roads, the driver removed the brake blocks in order to make the wagon run easier on the horses.

When the stage arrived at the top of the hill, the driver failed to replace the brake blocks, so when the stage started down the grade, the team was unable to hold the load, and there was nothing left for them to do but run.

70 years ago

C.W. Morrill, Lassen County coroner and administrator, won the first legal skirmish in Superior Court as he defended himself against five charges of misconduct in office in accusations filed by the 1940 Lassen County Grand Jury. Judge A.K. Wylie, of Alturas, sustained the demurrer and granted a motion to strike from the record the second accusation against Morrill of making avocation for veteran’s exemption when he possessed property worth more than $5,000.

It was argued that this, even if it were true, was a personal business affair and was beyond the scope of the grand jury and had nothing to do with Morrill’s conduct in office or his retaliation to the public.

135 years ago
There was quite an earthquake last Thursday at 11:35 p.m. The shock was heavy, and it lasted more than 20 seconds. The vibrations were from southwest to northeast.