WEEICENDER:Fiddle and 'Bango' Contest set for Saturday MORE IN WEEKENDER: Ironstone Vineyards in Murphyshosts antique andclassic car show fundraiser; Exotic Animal Expo at Sonorafairgrounds
THE MOTHER LODE'SLEADING INFORMATION SOURCE SINCE 1854 • SO NORA, CALIFORNIA
THURSDA Y SEPTEMBER 24, 201
Fowler trial
tiiitte Fire
TOD AY'S READER BOARD
Former principal, friend testifies
BRIEFING
HomecomingSummerville High School students gear-up for big game, dance.A2
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— A high-speed motorcycle chase that began when a man failed to stop for an officer Wednesday afternoon ended with the suspect being tasered and later arrested.A3
By TORI THOMAS The Union Democrat
Victims ID'd-The identities of two men who died in connection with auto accidents have been revealed.A3
OplnlOn — Guest opinion from director of Tuolumne County Behavioral Health: Overcoming barriers to treat opioid abuse.A4
HEALTH • KEEPING IT SAFE: Medical center, CHP to offer training on proper use of car seats.B1 • UPCOMING EVENT: Kids the focus of health fair, bike rodeo.B1 • CHECK IT OUT: Open house set Monday for SRMC fitness center.B1 • DR. OZ:Being happy is strong medicine.B1
Guy McCarthy/ Union Democrat
American Red Cross volunteer Dick Brown confers with Glencoe resident Angela Rader, whose family lost two homes to the Butte Fire, Wednesday at the Calaveras County Government Center in San Andreas.
Woman evacuated from blaze; said it burned two of her family's homes By GUY McCARTHY
A former principal of a now 15-year-old boy accused of killing Leila Fowler in April 2013 testified Wednesday that he was "bright" but "underachieving." The boy was 12 years old at the time Leila, 8, was found in a pool of blood in her V alley Fo w ler Springs home April 27, 2013. She had been stabbed 22 times, mostly in the chest, and suffered at least 14 poke wounds. The defendant, whose name is not being used because he is a juvenile, was arrested in May 2013 and charged with second-degree murder in connection with Leila's death. Dressed in black, he occasionally looked around the Calaveras County Superior Court Department 3 courtroom, but mostly looked directly ahead. Lisa McInturf, who remembers the defendant from the
The Union Democrat
See TRIAL / Back Page
Angela Rader wiped a tear away Wednesday as she recalled the firestorm that consumed two homes that were in
her family for five generations, in Glencoe off Valentine Gulch Road. Rader and her family members were in the direct path of the Butte Fire two weeks ago as it blazed up out of the North Fork Mokelumne River drainage and into Calaveras County. "It's amazing how hot that fire was," Rader, 41,said during a visitto a disaster-rel ief station set up at Calaveras County Government Center in San Andreas. "It just ripped right through there. We left Wednesday, the day it started. With my 15-year-old there was no way I was taking chances with his life." The Butte Fire was first reported at 2:26p.m. Sept. 9 near Charamuga Ranch and Butte Mountain Road. Rader saidshe believes the blaze burned her family's homes to the ground two or three days later.
SPORTS • JUMPERS SWEPT: Columbia falls to Taft at Oak Pavilion.C1 • LEGEND REMEMBERED:When all's said, Yogi Berra was one of a kind.B1 • NFL: Raiders' Carr looks to build off win; Kaepernick: 49ers want him to 'be myself this year.'C1 • NHL: Lawyer for Kane accuser: Evidence bag secretly left in door.C1
NOTICES
Event canceled — A Calaveras County Master Gardener Open Garden Day scheduled for Saturday in San Andreas has been canceled due to a Calaveras Local Assistance Center event. The next Open Garden Day will be held Oct. 24.
By GUY McCARTHY The Union Democrat
NBNS:editorLouniondemocrat.corn FEATUR ES: featurealuniondemocrat.cor n SPORTS: aporlaluniondemocratcom EVENTS ANDWEEKENDER: weekend erluniondemocrat.corn LElTERS: letiersluniondemocratcom CAlAVERAS BUREAU:770-7197 NEWSROO MFAR 5324451 SUBSCR IBERSERVICES: 533-3614
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sues park By ALEX MacLEAN The Union Democrat
One way in, oneway out
grandparents built these houses." ''We live in a wooded area, so it's one Rader said Wednesday was her second way in andone way out," Rader told time visiting the disaster-relief station. American Red Cross volunteer Dick Brown. "It was a hot fire. My greatSee FIRE / Back Page
Amador County before it spread into the North Fork Mokelumne River canyon and roared into Calaveras County. Two fatalities have
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Mark Twain Medical Center 209.754.3521 marktwainmedicalcenter.org
Saturday, September 26 7 AM to Noon• At the Hospital
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The company that lost a $2 billion concessions contract at Yosemite National Park is suing the federal government over disputedassets reportedly worth tens of millions. Delaware North, based in Buffalo, New York, filed a lawsuit earlier this month in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims seeking damages from the federal government following the National Park Service's decision in June to award the lucrative concessions contract at Yosemite National Park to the Philadelphia-based hospitality giant Aramark. DNC Parks and Resorts Inc. at Yosemite, a subsidiary of Delaware North, has run food,lodging,retailand recreational operations atthe park since 1993. The company claims it should be compensated for its intellectual property and intangible assets,
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Dignity Health,.
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Structures destroyed by the Butte Fire are left in ruins Wednesday above burned forest between Jesus Maria and Mountain Ranch.
Watershed damage from the Butte Fire is a concern across the 110-square-mile been attributed tothe fire, burn area, especially where and more than 800 structhe slopes are steep and emp- tures, including 465 homes, ty into waterways. have been counted as deIn the charred North Fork stroyed. Mokelumne River drainage, The cause of the Butte Fire post-fi re erosion is being ad- remains under investigation. dressed by multiple agencies, PG&E officials last week said including East Bay Munici- a live tree may have contactpal Utilities District, Pacific ed oneofitspower linesnear Gas & Electric and the Bu- the point of ignition for the Guy McCarthy / Union Democrat reau of Land Management. Butte Fire. The Union Demo- Butte Fire damage to watersheds is evident Monday The Butte Fire started on both sides of the North Fork Mokelumne River in Sept. 9 east of Jackson in See DAMAGE / Back Page Amador County.
PHONE: 770-7153,984534
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Delaware North
Erosion a concern in Moke River, burn area
NEWS TIPS?
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Yosemite assets
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