The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • 20

i A 20 Th Sacramento Bee Final Thursday March 1995 FROM PAGE ONE Trial: Kaelin testimony undercuts planted-blood claim THE LATEST INFO For the latest report on the OJ Simpson trial call BeeLine 552-5252 and choose category 1404 scene on Ins driveway and in his foyer When they returned to estate Kaelin said he last saw Simpson standing at the door of his Bentley not inside the home Kaelin said he went to his room as soon as they returned und called a friend Thq lime of that call was 937 pm according to phone records The time is critical because attorneys contend he have time to commit the murders and meet a limousine driver at lOiG pm But prosecutors contend he could have murdered the two victims at 1015 pm and returned home in time to meet the driver Kaelin said he was on the phone with his friend Rachel Ferrara about 10:40 pm when he heard three loud thumps coming from the other side of his wall near an air conditioner Kaelin said he was scared but a few minutes later went to investigate He said he twice entered the darkened walkway from where the thumps emanated but never reached the point where the bloody glove was found lin told him that Simpson suid God you were here and can say that 1 was at home when this thing huppened" Kaelin denied ever making thut statement but said he did stay at home for a few days the Mayings Kaelin did stick to his story about when he last saw Simpson the night of the murders and when he heard the thumps on his bedroom wall that the prosecutors contend was the defendant failing against air conditioner Prosecutors contend the collision caused Simpson to drop the bloody glove police detective Mark Fuhrmun found outside Kaolin's room the next morning Kaelin said Wednesday that Simpson and he went to McDonald's around 910 pm June 12 He said they picked up hamburgers and Simpson ate his meal on the way back from the restaurant Clark asked if Kaelin noticed any cuts or injuries at each point where he could have seen hands during that trip Kaelin said he Prosecutors say left middle finger was cut during the killings causing him to drop blood at the murder been planted by police from a vial ol blood collected from Simpson hours after Kaelin saw the drops testimony about events the day after the murders revealed eflorts by Simpson and his attorneys to establish an alibi for the defendant before he was charged with the slayings Kaelin said Simpson two of his attorneys and his administrative assistant telephoned him at the home ol his lriend Grant Cramer the day after the murders Police already had questioned Simpson about the double homicide when Simpson called Kaelin When Kaelin returned to the Simpson estate that night he said Simpson was watching a television report about the murders and said his houseguest could say they went to together and then Simpson went into his house But Kaelin said he told Simpson that he did not see Simpson go into the house He said lawyers met with him two day later interview ing him for nearly two hours about the events on the day of the murders He said he met again with Simpson Continued from page A1 with his former wife being over Prosecutors contend Simpson murdered Nicole Brown Simpson because she had finally severed their relationship for good a fact they say was confirmed when she include him in a family dinner after the recital Simpson has denied committing the murders and his attorneys say he had a new girlfriend Paula Barbieri But Kaolin said Wednesday Simpson told him he wasn't sure Barbieri was "the one" He also testified that Simpson spoke to a Playboy playmate Tracy Adell that ua She has previously said Simpson called to ask her out on a date on June 12 testimony on Wednesday also bolstered police reports that investigators tound blood drops later linked to the defendant leading into Simpson's home Kaelin said he stepped carefully around blood drops he saw in the foyer of Simp- son's house the morning after the murders His testimony undercuts the defense suggestion that these drops could have investigators last summer and then ith Simpson's lawyer Hubert Shapiro within the last month Defense lawyers rarely conduct such extensive interviews with a prosecution witness Prosix'utor Marcia Clark apparently ehciUnl this testimony to try to explain her difficulty in getting the answers she sought from Kaelin The 36-year-old divorced father of one seemed evasive at times and had trouble presenting testimony that was consistent with what he said at preliminary hearing Clark tried to challenge him with statements that Kaolin's friends attributed to him including claim that Kao How wet has this year been? In terms of past precipitation records in Sacramento the 1994-95 water year is approaching the top ten Storm: Fierce weather forces closure of 1-80 many schools Although the wet months are not over this year this is the 12th wettest year on record Year-to-date as of 4 pm Wednesday: 2773 The wettest years fn Sacramento The water year begins July 1 and ends June 30 Below are the wettest water years on record measured in inches of precipitation 40 3749 361 38 3635 1 I 33 8 3279 3265 3227 3194 3183 2975 4 7 277 5 4 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Normal water year: 1861 Inches Based on a 30-year average ft tiLwii 1982- 1852- 1861- 1849- 1889- 1867- 1981- 1885- 1957- 1940- 1985- 1994- 1992- 1983 1853 1862 1850 1890 1888 1982 1886 1958 1941 1988 1995 1993 The National Weather Service didn't begin to compile statistic in Sacramento untl 1877 but accepts the earlier nunbere at reliable The wettest months on record compared with this year's wet months Totals measured in inches in Sacramento 16 1862: 1504 1 As of Wednesday 4 pm: about 724 1235 i aK 1986: 1850: 10 Bee Jose Luis Villegas Wet and wild Continued from page A1 pours of rain The tiny town's economy was even softer with Interstate 80 shut down Rnsv's Cafe was empty Wednesday aUernoon except fur the hired hands 7 "We're just sitting here with a deck of lamented employee Karen Wheeler Many foothill schools were dosed including those fn Grass Valley Nevada City Alta and Foresthill I-K) the region's main transportation artery was gosed to all traffic before dawn Wednesday from pfne miles east of Auburn to the Nevada state line -about bo nnles It was still closed late Wednesday with no opening time in sight gOn Highway 50 chains were required between Pollock Pines east of Placemlle and Meyers in the Lake Tahoe Basin During periods of particularly intense snowfall traffic was held up briefly at Meyers and Twin Bridges Large trucks were not allowed over Echo Summit according to Mohammed Rayy an an engineer for the California Department of Transportation The rain-sodden roadbed of Hghway 70 gave way about 10 miles east of OroviUe forcing the closure of that route through the Feather River Canyon Interstate 5 remained open but with wind warnings in the Siskiyou mountains and over Elkhorn Bridge Caltrans officials closed state Highways 44 and 36 on Wednesday morning after multiple minor accidents in a- much as 5 feet of fresh snow said Rick Schultz a state traffic officer in Susan ville "It wasn't any one incident it's the weather It just safe to drive out there" Schultz said Meanw hile schools in Truckee closed for the second day in a row Many ski areas shut down too suffering from too much snow and high wind Truckee normally bustling with tourists stopped bustling a ghost town" said Jim Stuart a clerk at the L'S Post Office in downtown Truckee pretty much staving off the One to 2 feet of snow fell in great blinding sheets around Truckee and Lake Tahoe so fast so hard that snowplows couldn't keep up Even greater amounts fell at higher elevations Florence Cox made it to work at Donner Ski Ranch but just barely "Me had to stop a couple of times" she said "Me had sideways snow today So much snow fell that some people started shovel-rg treir roofs Most were occupied however simply trying to find their driveways and sidewalks March is known for rough weather in the mountain- March 1 9ft 2 marked the region's heaviest -now tall history one that dropped 15m feel of mow in 1 1 days March 1991 was so snowy and wet it was called the Mareh Miracle Now there is March 1995 Wednesday was the filth straight day of measurable precipitation in the region At Dormer ftjmrmt about 6 feet of new snow has fallen smte Saturday "Iriis is ctrtdinly a good storm hut it d-sii't so far that it a record snowfall" said Randall UsternuU-r a hydrologist at the Central Siena Snow Laboratory on Donner Summit where total snowfall this -ed-on has been feet 1852: 14 IJ iqcu-Q5 13-4 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 October November December January Source: National Weather Service Sacramento 19 Clinton MacDonald 24 takes advantage of Wednesday's ample wind and water as he wind surfs just off the Yolo Causeway MacDonald a University of California Davis graduate student in atmospheric science usually wind surfs near Rio Vista or Bodega Bay But on Wednesday MacDonald and a friend spent hours surfing across a 3-foot-deep lake created by the current storms February March Bee graphicMitchell Brooks ville 2500 Chico 300 and Red Bluff 85 The weather outlook calls for showers and a chance of thunderstorms through today with scattered showers tapering off after midnight according to Staudenmaier of the National Weather Service this is the last one of these storms for a he said out of here Friday anc have several days of dear 1 Bee staff writers Jon Engellenner Dale Vargas and Wayne Wilson and Bee correspondents Catherine Gibbs Leslie Layton and Jane Braxton Little contributed to this report SETTING IT STRAIGHT were unable to heat their homes because of power outages would arrive later in the evening concerned about people being without Winston said Red Cross officials also said that some older residents in particular were finding it difficult to deal with power outages Fallen trees also blocked access to some Paradise homes Wednesday Winston said Early Wednesday a falling tree destroyed a Cohasset home Over a 24-hour period ending late Wednesday more than 190000 of Pacific Gas and Electric 45 million electricity customers had suffered outages and about 42000 still were in the dark said spokesman Lyle LaFaver There were 13000 customers with outages in the Sierra foothills still without power Twice that number were affected during the day Some customers would not have power restored at least until today LaFaver said Among those areas in Northern California with sustained outages were Paradise with 1000 Oro- The weather system that ravaged the state Wednesday barged in from the Gulf of Alaska It is headed for the Rocky Mountains today and in its wake wall leave wintry temperatures in Northern California Frost is expected in areas of the lower foothills and the Sacramento Valley said Mike Staudenmaier of the National Weather Service Results of the most recent precipitation other than local flooding were not expected to be dire "We don't think this is going to be too exciting as far as the big picture is said Alan Jones of the flood center Weather caused havoc in Butte County where the Red Cross opened a shelter at the Seventh-day Adventist School in Paradise for residents of homes that had lost power or were damaged by falling trees Although no one was using the shelter early in the day Jane Winston manager of the Butte County chapter of the Red Cross predicted families who Accuracy is a fundamental of journalism It is The policy in this standing feature to promptly acknowledge errors Mistakes should be called to the attention of the editors involved by calling (916) 321-1001 ICVIE: Sauter says bolstering local programming could help fund raising board of directors were looking for in this era of reduced funding on the mood in Washington we believed the candidate for this job should come from outside the PBS sysj Elmets said looked for some' one with commercial broadcasting expe rience is a real sea change for KVIB and I believe for Elmets said have to do things differently We thought he was the type of person who could provide the leadership and whq had the contacts and creativity to help financially challenged institution get As odd as it may sound for a network executive to take a job running a local public TV station Sauter said he became interested in the Channel 6 job a few months ago because it was something he had never done before Sauter stepped down as president of Fox News a little more than a year ago when it became clear the network was not going to mount a full-scale news operation about it and say Sauter said purpose here is to make sure whatever funding we do get is used judiciously and with Sauter said that for public television to survive it needs strong local stations not operations just pass signal along then go out with begging bowls to pay for If stations like Channel 6 can develop shows aimed at Sacramento his suggestions include talk shows town meetings or a news show the entire PBS network becomes strengthened he said Sauter and Channel 6 board members also said better local programming could help the station raise money Its current budget is about $85 million annually with about $800000 of that coming from federal grants have to at least say the Sauter said have an obligation to talk about some kind of commercials whether we ever do it or Douglas Elmets the head of Channel search committee baid outlook and experience were what the sta Continued from page A1 Sauter 59 said his inexperience may be one of his best attributes for the job is all new to he said never done it before so I come with a totally fresh perspective also come to it with a fairly good knowledge of programming and an individual who has absolutely no qualms about walking into a room and asking for The Channel 6 general manager job became vacant last August when John Hershberger quit Sauter will be paid $150000 annually and will stay at least two years Sauter who is married to former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Brown called himself a "tax-abhorring bureaucrat-dreading in a newspaper interview last year He said Wednesday that given the desire of Republican leaders in Congress to cut funding for public broadcasting his philosophy is appropriate for local public stations people start talking about cutting government I cannot be a hypocrite Van Gordon Sauter who is married to Kathleen Brown says he became interested in the Channel 6 job because it represented a new challenge i.