The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • 17

The Sacramento Bee Saturday May 7 1994 StUMMM CmiMKMA EDITORIALS Obituaries SECTION Tax protest goes overboard: Jail for assaulting IRS agents tended to address citizen tax grievances (Bellon) believed the seizure was improper remedies other than self-help were the judge observed Burrell also found Bellon guilty of of the houseboat and of assaulting another federal officer Eight days later Bellon went to the Lake Shasta marina where the boat was moored awaiting public auction He cut the heavy chain that IRS agents had used to secure it and drove it away The boat was later recovered and sold Less than two weeks before the inci dent involving Smith Bellon confronted Brian Yeskovich a US Department of Labor agent investigating a wage-and-hour complaint against a firm owned by father In a scene similar to the one with Smith Bellon blocked the exit from his office Becoming increasingly belligerent and hostile Bellon called the agent a liar and threatened to beat him up i Finally feinted to the right and slipped out to the said Assistant US Attorney Mark McKeon i grabbed her She struggled vigorously but in vain as Bellon pulled her into the house dragged her into the living room and threw her on a couch are under Bellon told her Bellon thwarted repeated attempts to get out of the house Finally while Bellon was retrieving sunglasses from the front porch where they had fallen during the melee she darted out and made her escape In finding Bellon guilty of assault Burrell pointed out that Bellon did not avail himself of a number of civil procedures in By Denny Walsh Staff Writer If tempted to make a arrest of the next Internal Revenue Service agent you deal with consider the case of Richard Allen Bellon When IRS Revenue Officer Bonnie Smith went to Redding home to serve documents relating to the seizure of his houseboat to satisfy unpaid taxes Bellon dragged her into the house informed her she was under arrest and refused to let her leave Friday he was sentenced to five months in federal prison five months of house arrest and a year on probation for that and two other instances in which he had run-ins with federal officials Evidence at a two-day trial in February before US District Judge Garland Burrell Jr showed that Smith 61 and 5 feet 3 inches tall handed the 6-foot Bellon 28 one of the documents before he told her she was trespassing and shut the door in her face As she tried to slide the second document between the door and its frame Bellon opened the door and i I i i I i 1 I I i i i Spanish news with local focus chief quits cites probe Grand jury investigates union allegations By Leslie Layton Bee Correspondent OROVILLE Police Chief Gary Grant whose department has been under investigation by the Butte County grand jury for months announced Friday his retirement effective July 1 In a statement issued by Grant and distributed by his attorney Robert Aaronson of San Francisco the chief indicated the grand jury probe had reopened in the department and he believed he should step do wn as police chief deserves a focused strong police department and so long as the past is compulsively revisited the city is denied the statement reads Grant declined Friday to accept telephone calls or comment further on his resignation which was announced within the department early that day caught us off said Sgt Bret Smith president of the Oroville Police Officers Association think he was looking at the overall interests of the city the police department and himself But taking a wait-and-see decision to retire came after the chief spent part of April 27 and 28 testifying before the grand jury Aaronson said adding that the chief would probably return to give more testimony in the near future The grand jury investigation was apparently triggered by the police April 1993 no-confidence vote against the chief At that time the union issued to the City Council a 308-page document outlining police concerns with the department Although the document been made public it reportedly contained allegations that grant funds were mishandled sexual harassment within the de- Please see RESIGN page B4 Rain washes away record but notj the drought alert By Edgar Sanchez Bee Staff Writer It rained like this in 111 years at least not on this date 1 Just when Sacramentans had put away their umbrellas they had to pull them out again Friday when 108 inches of rain fell downtown by 5 pm breaking a record for the date The old record for May 6 089 inches had stood since 1883 unusual to have this much rainfall in Donald Noxon a forecaster for the National Weather Service said just before the old mark fell at midafternoon Normal rainfall for the entire month of May is 029 inches he said which works out to about 001 inches per day As of 5 pm 069 inches of rain had splashed jpto McClellan Air Force Base while Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield had 067 inches Reno reported 028 inches But record rain was just a drop in the bucket in water crisis affect our drought watch much" said Matt Colwell a runoff forecaster with the state Department of Water Resources California Resource Secretary Douglas Wheeler Please see WEATHER page B3 Joaquin Cano above left and Xochitl Arellano are anchors for a local Spanish-language newscast At left Arellano also works as a reporter BeeBryan Patrick Channel 48 (KSTS) to its lineup Although KSTS is currently seen in some parts of Sacramento on Channel 47 the cable connection makes it official: will now go head-to-head against Spanish-language newscast in the 6 to 6:30 pm slot in Sacramento County Arellano the lead anchor and news director for Noticiero Unired believes presence will make her program even better any business when the competition arrives every effort is made to improve the she said Joe Cruz KSTS vice president and general manager said the station which is owned and operated by Telemundo Spanish-language Please see SPANISH pageB4 Modesto station aims broadcast at valley Latinos By Edgar Sanchez Bee Staff Writer MODESTO By any standard the newscasters for break the mold: All are immigrants and they deliver the news live in Spanish from a recycled news set in a studio surrounded by vineyards and almond groves They seldom engage in And the boss is a former country singer Every weekday at 6 pm tens of thousands of people in greater Sacramento tune in Channel 19 (KCSO) For half an hour they watch as Xochitl Arellano and three co-anchors broadcast their reports with an emphasis on Sacramento happenings duced in upper central valley specifically for valley Latinos But competition is on the way In a few weeks Sacramento Cable will add the programming of San Most of the viewers in an area stretching from Merced north to Yuba City do not speak English and for them watching this program is vital It is the only Spanish-language television newscast pro Despite lack of leads search for fisherman continues had planned to go last Saturday He never arrived at a Grass Valley motel where he had guaranteed a reservation with his credit card for last Saturday night When the pharmacist come home on Sunday friends and family alerted authorities and began searching for Nishimoto Please see LOST page B3 ert Nishimoto fervently hoped that his zest for the outdoors cost him his life Nishimoto 55 has not been seen by anyone since he left alone for Sierra County on a weekend fishing trip one week ago a beautiful area why he likes said friend Alan Shimizu of a secluded region on the Downie River near Downieville where Nishimoto By Marcos Breton Bee Staff Writer Robert and Barbara Nishimoto moved to Sacramento seven years ago to make a fresh start to live in the Arden Arcade neighborhood and to indulge his passion of fly fishing On Friday as dozens of volunteers mobilized for what could be a treacherous search friends and family of Rob TalkRadio fires Collins will carry syndicated pair INSIDE Losing their faculties B5 Early retirements are saving millions for UC and CSUS but some departments are being decimated as few new professors are being hired By Dan Vierria Bee Staff Writer Chris Collins morning talk show host at AM 650 TalkRadio (KSTE) and one of the top names in Sacramento radio for the past 15 years and Ron Dobson the afternoon-drive host were fired Friday according to station manager Michael Espinoza Espinoza said Collins and Dobson will be replaced next week by nationally syndicated Tom Leykis and Enid Goldstein a former talL host at KGO (AM 810) He charac- terized the lineup changes as the next step forward for the station we looked at the ratings this is really a directional said Espinoza looking for an entertaining yet informative lineup that has even more dynamic hosts We feel this new lineup will carry us into the show based in Los Angeles (KMPC) and distributed by Westwood One Entertainment will debut nationally on Monday (3-7 pm) while local show will launch Thursday in a newly created noon to 3 pm slot Afternoon talk host Geoff Metcalf will replace Collins in the mornings beginning Thursday with various fill-in hosts working Monday through Wednesday just working here in the time slot I was in (9 am to said Collins about going head-to-head with nationally syndicated talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh heard on rival KFBK (1530 AM) never ever be able to repay the station for giving me this talk radio Collins said he had been looking for other talk opportunities in recent months and his departure will allow him to tke a more se rious look at jobs in Chicago do a fill-in at WMVP from May 23-28) Detroit and Portland Ore Prior to his 15-month stint at AM 650 TalkRadio Collins worked more than 13 years as a top-40 disc jockey at KSFM 1025 (FM) Dobson while sensing there might be changes said he had not planned on being relieved of his job quite so soon NBA playoffs are my immediate plans Blazers all the way" said Dobson they say look into some things and explore my options" Gates blamed In beating B5 A former deputy police chief blames his style for the Rodney King episode Weather B2.