Remember When for the week of 11/13/18
95 years ago
Some Susanville residents suggested that a road carved on a bluff overlooking the town be called “Lookover Loop.”
While the alternative title was popular with many, the Monticola Club members opposed it since the club planned and funded the road.
Today, the road is referred to as Inspiration Point.
45 years ago
An 85-car freight train overturned near Ravendale, causing 10 cars to explode, which ignited a major brush fire.
Bureau of Land Management fire crews extinguished the fire, which occurred on the Southern Pacific Railroad.
35 years ago
Summer Cheesemen was named the director of Lassen-Plumas Mental Health Department to replace Don Huggins who resigned, citing job-related stress.
Cheesemen told the Lassen County Board of Supervisors he could save the county money if he served as the department’s psychiatrist and other staff positions were consolidated.
30 years ago
An Oroville man was shot to death in Westwood, and after an extensive search, his body was discovered in a nearby wooded area.
Guy Andrew Ballez, 22, was fatally shot at an Ash Street residence and transported to a forested area 10 miles away.
Sheriff’s officials had two suspects in custody, but no arrests had yet to be made in connection with the murder.
25 years ago
Susanville residents will soon be paying more to take a shower, as the Susanville City Council voted to increase water rates by 10 percent.
According to Public Works Director Harry Harvey, since acquiring the water system in 1985, the city has only initiated one rate increase of 5 percent, which went into effect in October 1991.
20 years ago
One politician may sue to stop new construction and modernization of Lassen High School.
“This is the wrong place to expand the high school,” said Everd McCain. “They are boxing themselves into a corner. The problems will still be there a year or two from now when it is completed and overcrowded.”
The fifth district county supervisor was the only person to protest the environmental impact of the ambitious new construction and modernization planned at the high school’s Main Street Susanville campus.
Six years ago
The annual Christmas tree lighting at the Magical Country Christmas celebration, put on by Lassen County Chamber of Commerce and the Historic Uptown Susanville Association, was in jeopardy, according to Susanville City Administrator Jared Hancock.
The organizers for the event asked for the city’s help in finding a solution to maintain the tree lighting, since the practice at the time was no longer feasible for safety and maintenance reasons.
One solution discussed was a box in front of the Elks Lodge, which could hold a 40 to 50 foot framework that could allow lights to be put up and taken down.
Last year
On Nov. 1, Candace Beason, a visiting Lassen County Superior Court judge, denied a motion filed by Autumn Paine, a deputy Lassen County public defender, seeking a new trial for David Richard Bates — convicted of voluntary manslaughter Sept. 20 for the May 25, 2016 killing of Michael Hubbard at the Whispering Pines Stables on Highway 36 just west of Susanville.
The judge also denied Paine’s request for “an evidentiary hearing granting the defense (and the prosecution if it wishes) access to juror contract information in order to prepare for said hearing” and a transcript of all the testimony at trial.
According to the court file, Beason acknowledged the “court has read and considered the defense’s motion and the people’s opposition” and denied the new trial, evidentiary hearing and the transcript. The judge also heard arguments from both sides during the proceeding.
