Ukiah Daily Journal from Ukiah, California • Page 1

City hall to be site of candidates night Page3 Backfire set to protect tourist town Page 12 WEATHER Temperatures Yesterday 100 55 Last year 85 49 Rainfall Overnight none Year to 0.00 Last year to date 0.00 MENDOCINO COUNTY Increasing coastal fog and low clouds tonight. Fair inland. Lows in the 40s to mid-50s. Morning coastal low clouds and fog Friday with partial afternoon clearing. Sunny inland.

Highs from the upper 50s and 60s near the ocean to the mid-90s inland. Ukiah Daily Thursday, September 8, 1988 isss, oonrey, me. 'Journal Vol. 128 No. 121 12 pages Serving Mendocino County, Cal 25 Cents Can you read this? City OKs fee hikes for landfill, other services Evin Johnson Tanya McCurry and her 7-year-old son, Jason, of Boonvllle, read the bulletin board at the Mendocino County Library.

But to many people, the notices are a Jumble of unrecognizable symbols. Today is International Literacy Day In 1966, UNESCO members proclaimed Sept. 8 International Literacy Day. Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors joined workers, schools and organizations worldwide and proclaimed today Literacy Day in Mendocino County. The proclamation recognizes the printed word as a "vital component in our daily lives." Supervisor Norman de Vail estimated nearly 7,000 citizens in the county may be "functionally illiterate." Many youth graduate from school without functional reading skills, according to Roberta Valdez, director of the Adult Literacy Program of the County Library.

Valdez hopes that recognizing Literacy Day on a countywide level will highlight the existence of the literacy campaign both locally and nationwide. She said during the last program year, 162 adult students participated and volunteers gave 6,400 hours to the program teaching reading and writing skills to adult learners. The UNESCp ideal to eliminate illiteracy is not reachable without the concerted efforts of the public schools and the adult education program, Valdez said. For more information regarding the Adult Literacy Program, call the library in Ukiah, Willits or Fort Bragg, or call 463-4155. College approves $7.1 million budget By SUZI BRAKKEN Journal Stall Writer Mendocino College this fall expects to receive construction funds that almost match its operating fund budget for 1988-89.

College trustees approved a $7,1 million general fund budget Wednesday night, along with a proposed $6.9 million spending plan for construction. Most of the construction money is earmarked for a two- phased physical education complex scheduled to be built in January. The construction funds, however, are dependent upon state voter approval of Proposition 78, which provides a $600 million bond for higher education capital construction. "I don't want to make a political statement, but if they don't pass, we don't build," said Mendocino College President Leroy Lowery. The $7.1 million general fund budget is up 3.9 percent from last year's budget of $6.7 million.

Increasing enrollment at the college has continued to push up state revenues, which are based on "average daily attendance" or ADA figures. The college's ADA figure jumped from 1,406 last year to 1,506 expected this year. In actual numbers, the college's enrollment on opening day grew from 2,881 last year to 3,035 this year, an increase of 5 percent. The number of full-time students has grown from 489 last year to 580 this year, a 19 percent increase. "We are now beginning to see more of the recent high school graduate that will be transferring to a four-year school," said Dean of Students Joe Madrigal.

An increase of $320,000 in state revenues will enable the college to hire a director for each of the college's centers in Willits and Lake County. Previously, the centers were staffed by one person who rotated duties between both sites. Both full-time directors will now administer the centers, help in academic advising of students, and work to increase the college's "presence" in the community through public relations. The personnel change is expected to cost about $25,000, according to Lowery. Increased enrollment this past year enabled the college to hire three new teachers and a counselor.

Those people, plus two other classified positions, are reflected in the new budget. Salaries and benefits make up 68 percent of the 1988-89 budget. College employees this year received a 4.7 percent cost-of-living raise, which matches the increase the cost-of-living increase provided by the state. See COLLEGE, Back Page By RANDY FOSTER Journal Stalf Writer The Ukiah City Council voted Wednesday to raise fees it charges users of the city's landfill site, engineering services and community development division. On a 3-1 vote (Councilman Fred Schneiter dissenting, Councilman Jim Wattenburger absent) the council approved landfill gate fee hikes as much as 90 percent higher than old fees after a public hearing during which no one appeared to speak.

Included in the new rates is a charge of $4.50 for pickup truck loads and small, single-axle trailers; $2.75 for material delivered in cars or station wagons; and $2 for 20-gallon garbage cans and $3 for 55-gallon garbage cans. Rates for the city's refuse hauler will remain unchanged. The new rates are scheduled to take effect Oct. 1. In early August, the council postponed a public hearing on the landfill gate fee hikes because no one showed up to testify and because Ward man pleads not guilty By RANDY FOSTER Journal Stalf Writer Former county employee Raelene Wardman this morning pleaded not guilty to charges she embezzled more than $100,000 from the county auditor's office while employed there.

Wardman, 43, of Redwood Val- ley, who is free on her own recognizance, is scheduled to appear in court again during a preliminary hearing on Oct. 4. Deputy Attorney General Ronald Smetana of the Major Fraud Unit, which is prosecuting the case, said a discovery motion will be filed Sept. 29. Wardman is charged with seven counts of embezzling public funds.

She was arrested July 28 and booked on charges she embezzled more than $100,000 while employed as a trusted employee of the county auditor's office. Some of the missing money was detected July 18 by a county worker computerizing county auditor's files. Wardman allegedly wrote checks from accounts to which she had access to a phony company. Checks she later allegedly cashed. The funds were reportedly drawn from several school and special district accounts maintained by the auditor's office.

Wardman resigned her position with the county shortly after the missing funds were detected. The courthouse was awash with rumors Wardman planned to skip the country, and an arrest warrant setting bail at $2 million was issued in her name on July 28. She was arrested at her home the same day without incident. During later court hearings, Wardman's bail was first reduced to $25,000 earlier this month. She was later released on her own recognizance, provided she did not leave the county without official permission.

The case was heard this morning by visiting Anderson Justice Court Judge Eric Labowitz. Ukiah Justice Court Judge Henry Nelson, who had set original bail for Wardman at $2 million, disqualified himself from the case because his wife and Wardman were coworkers in the auditor's office. Wardman was a long-time employee whose position amounted to that of a deputy county auditor. She was bonded, but a bond payment to the county would be made only if she is convicted. She is being represented by attorney Duncan James.

Mayor pushes Palace plan By RANDY FOSTER Journal Stall Writer The city will have to "bend over backwards" to keep county government from leaving downtown Ukiah, Mayor Colleen Henderson said Wednesday, and an empty Palace Hotel may be the city's trump card. "The only practical anchor we have now it's there and I don't want to lose it is county government," Henderson said. "If we want them as the anchors downtown, we'll have to bend over backwards to woo them," she said. "We need to lead them down the Perkins Street path." Henderson persuaded the City Council to send a letter asking county supervisors to seriously consider the Palace and other downtown locations in their pursuit of a new government operations center. Henderson has enthusiastically See PALACE, Back Page some council members wanted to forewarn county supervisors.

The fee hikes were necessary because county supervisors refuse to pay a yearly $172,000 bill charged by Ukiah for non-city residents' use of the landfill. City Manager D. Kent Payne said as much as 70 percent of the site's business volume comes from non- city residents. The $172,000 was intended to compensate Ukiah citizens for the decreased life expectancy of the landfill caused by heavy non- citizen use and to help defray future See FEES, Back Page Evan Johnson Patty and Don Llpmanson leave Justice Court this morning. Lipmansons enter not guilty pleas in marijuana case By SUZI BRAKKEN Journal Stall Writer County Board of Education member Don Lipmanson and his wife, Patty, this morning pleaded not guilty in Justice Court to charges that they grew and sold marijuana.

Lipmanson, 42, filed a discovery motion to obtain more information about the Aug. 4 raid at his Navarro home during which law enforcement officers allegedly found 13 marijuana plants growing on the property. He and his wife contend that the helicopter search that led to their arrests may have been illegally conducted. A hearing on the discovery motion is scheduled for Oct. 7 at 9 a.m.

"We're trying to find what led to (the raid), who was present, and what means were used," said Dave Nelson, an attorney representing Patty Lipmanson. Nelson said he wants to know at what height the helicopter flyovers were made to determine whether or not the evidence obtained in the raid can be suppressed. Nelson added that using a helicopter to search for marijuana is "clearly an uncommon method." He added that the searches are most commonly done in fixed- wing aircraft. Helicopter flyovers by law cannot be made less than 500 feet above a private residence without a search warrant, but the limit may not apply to a criminal case, according to Dave Basncr of the District Attorney's office. Lipmanson claims his property was repeatedly subjected to helicopter flyovers.

"Our Fourth Amendment rights were seriously and repeatedly violated by helicopter flights over our house week after week during the month of July," Lipmanson said after his court appearance. "Without cause (these flights) disturbed chickens near our property and shook treetops. This was in violation of our privacy rights." Lipmanson said he also wants to investigate the contradictory statements made by officers in terms of the numbers of plants and sizes found. The school trustee last month was charged with cultivation of marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale. He has publicly denied the possession charge, and claims the charges against him are an attempt by his political enemies to get him off the board.

But Lipmanson this morning showed no intention of resigning from his county school board duties. "I hope people do not assume I've done wrong until that has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt," Lipmanson said. He added that as a trustee, he has been outspoken in his support for drug counseling for youth through the Mendocino County Youth Project. "There's a big distinction between what adults and kids do," Lipmanson said. "Adults should be free to make choices." Anderson Valley Judicial District Judge Eric LabowiU is acting as Ukiah Judicial Court judge in the case..