Remember When for the week of 12/3/19
120 years ago
The more things change, the more they stay the same. One hundred years ago, a Lassen County newspaper editor complained, “The vagaries of California legislation are remarkable. They might be said to be laughable if they did not cost the people so much hard cash.”
The editor railed about expensive highway laws which could not be enforced, a countywide ordinance prohibiting the shipment of game out of the county — despite the fact such laws had been declared unconstitutional by the state supreme court — and a new voter registration law set to go into effect on Jan. 1, 1900. The editor referred to this legislation as “bungling.”
95 years ago
Jimmy Morrison, known around Susanville as SP Jimmy, was shot by an unknown Native American who demanded his money.
Morrison encountered the Native American in his yard, but he said he didn’t understand what the man wanted. As Morrison stooped to pick up some blocks laying in front of his house so he could build a fire before he retired, the Native American fired a handgun. The bullet grazed Morrison’s head, but he was able to return home after receiving medical treatment. Morrison was either “unable or too scared” to identify his attacker from two or three suspects rounded up by Sheriff Parker.
70 years ago
A 50-foot Christmas tree adorned with colored lights was erected by a volunteer crew of city firemen at the corner of Main and Lassen streets. The firefighters added extra limbs to the tree after some boughs were broken when a fire truck slipped in the mud as the tree was being raised, damaging it and leaving “a rather scraggly appearance.”
45 years ago
A timber company executive told California legislators, “We have the necessary laws and sufficient knowledge to increase greatly the contribution of the commercial forest lands of the national forests to the nation’s welfare.”
George Craig, executive vice president of the Western Timber Association, also told the legislators although the opportunity was there, “much of the effort is being stifled by the actions of preservationists” — whom he called those who want to prevent “the optimum use of timber resources.”
30 years ago
California Highway Patrol Commander Maury Hanningan said the state’s new drunk driving law declared an all-out war on drunk drivers.
He said the state’s new lower threshold of .08 percent blood alcohol content which went into effect Jan. 1, 1990, was a more accurate indicator than the current threshold of .10 percent. Hanningan said medical research shows drivers are a menace when they reach .08 percent. The commander said under the old regulation a 160-pound person could probably consume four drinks in a two-hour period, but under the new regulation, consumption would drop to three drinks in a four-hour period.
20 years ago
Did the California Department of Corrections’ new use-of-force policy leave the state’s correctional officers in harm’s way?
The question was one of increasing concern in Susanville in the aftermath of a bloody brawl at the High Desert State Prison Facility D Yard that resulted in the injury of nearly two dozen inmates and correctional officers.
According to Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman from the California Department of Corrections’ Sacramento headquarters, about 150 inmates were on the HDSP Facility D Yard when officers responded to an assault incident involving three white inmates. A prisoner-made weapon was found and a weapons search of all inmates on the yard was ordered.
Last year
Milwood Florist & Treats Pet Supply is a family run business operated by Sam and Patti Glass, along with their daughter, Bre. Their shop is full of unique and stunning gifts, and brimming with beautiful flowers inside and out. The people you’ll meet there are beautiful inside and out, too.
Case in point: Bre was holding down the fort, while her parents were out of town, by managing three businesses and filling floral orders when the Camp Fire broke out. While juggling her professional and family obligations, Bre put everything on hold to create a fundraiser to assist those affected by the Camp Fire. She organized a fundraiser using social media and printed flyers in order to devote her design skills to creating bouquets for “Flowers for Hope.”