Two more wildfire seasons will pass before fix to federal funding kicks in
WASHINGTON – Western U.S. residents could endure two more lethal wildfire seasons before the implementation of a widely praised fix to
Members of the Nevada Division of Forestry make their way past trees covered in fire retardant in December while putting out hot spots from the Thomas Fire in Montecito. how the federal government funds fighting and preventing wildfires.
The fix, included in federal budget legislation approved last week, was hailed as a long-sought antidote to funding troubles that have plagued the region’s firefighting efforts for years.
Wildfires killed a record 46 people in California and destroyed or damaged more
A San Francisco-based attorney held a press conference on the steps of the Sutter County Courthouse Wednesday morning announcing a lawsuit and alleging that Yuba City’s school district threw its students to a “wolf” of a teacher.
The suit names the Yuba City Unified School District, Superintendent Doreen Osumi, former superintendent Nancy Aaberg (who served in the position for 11 years) and Sutter County Supervisor and former physical education teacher Jim Whiteaker. It demands a jury trial and seeks monetary damages for negligence, dangerous condition of public property, battery, sexual battery, false imprisonment, distress and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
This is the second lawsuit filed against the school district and Whiteaker in regards to allegations of battery and misconduct. This suit, filed in Sutter County Superior Court on Tuesday, is filed on behalf of Jane Roe, the unidentified 14-year-old girl who alleged in January that Whiteaker grabbed her buttocks.
Whiteaker has maintained that he used his knee to break up two girls he thought were fighting, and that his knee touched the girl’s hip.
Whiteaker was placed on leave and in February, and after hearing from several women claiming battery and misconduct against him, the Yuba City Unified School District Board voted to initiate the termination process. Whiteaker, who has denied all allegations, has an administrative hearing scheduled at the end of July, in front of a panel of three individuals: an admin-
istrative law judge and two individuals who meet specific legal requirements, including teaching experience in the same subject, who will decide if he should indeed be dismissed.
The plaintiff’s attorney, Paul Matiasic, told about a dozen people that the school district and its teachers and administrators were lawfully standing in as parents while children were at school.
“Here, the Yuba City Unified School District abandoned their obligations in loco parentis and threw these students to the wolf that was Jim Whiteaker,” Matiasic said.
He also said that when administrators should have been sounding the alarm or involving police, they instead turned a blind eye. In addition to monetary compensation for therapy and pain and suffering, he hopes the suit will lead toward a sweeping policy change at the district.
“Unfortunately, this cancer that is invading this particular school district is not limited to Jim Whiteaker,” Matiasic said. “In fact, it is a problem that is endemic to the district as a whole.”
Though the suit was filed in connection to the latest allegation, it lays out a timeline of a dozen other alleged incidents dating back to 1993. In regards to a 1998 allegation that Whiteaker groped a girl’s chest while consoling her about something, the suit alleges the district concurred that his actions were inappropriate, in violation of policy, and that appropriate personnel action was taken. It states that there’s no indication of such action.
It also alleges that the district, Osumi, Aaberg and others breached their duty of care owed to the student by failing to adequately hire, supervise, retain and control Whiteaker; failing to adequately and completely investigate Whiteaker once complaints had been made; failing to alert law enforcement; and creating a toxic environment and atmosphere where Whiteaker’s alleged conduct was ratified and condoned. It also points to Whiteaker’s reach in the community, alleging that Osumi and Whiteaker served together as commissioners on the Sutter County Children and Families Commission and Osumi contributed to Whiteaker’s campaign for supervisor.
Attorney Roberto Marquez, representing Whiteaker, said his client was acting within his reasonable job duties in breaking up what he believed was a fight and encouraging the girl to go with him to the office to report the incident when he saw she was upset.
“Why would my client do all this if he had a guilty conscience? To me, that speaks volumes,” Marquez said Wednesday.
Marquez said aside from the 1998 incident, and a 2014 allegation that Whiteaker inappropriately filmed a student, he had never heard of any of the old claims.
“I would bet money there are no independent corroborations for these allegations,” he said.
Marquez also said he is confident there will be no charges filed against Whiteaker, saying a criminal case “would be easy to destroy.” The latest allegation, San Francisco attorney Paul Matiasic addresses a crowd of about a dozen people at the Sutter County Superior Courthouse on Wednesday morning about a lawsuit filed against the Yuba City Unified School District, Superintendent Doreen Osumi, former superintendent Nancy Aaberg and Sutter County Supervisor and former Yuba City High School physical education teacher Jim Whiteaker.
according to Matiasic, has been turned over to the Attorney General’s Office due to a conflict of interest with Sutter County District Attorney Amanda Hopper. Hopper did not respond to an email or text message from the Appealdemocrat.
Marquez said Whiteaker wants closure and that the situation has caused him distress and anxiety.
“It’s really hard to be in Mr. Whiteaker’s position, because you’re having to defend yourself against allegations that are 20-plus years old,” he said. “All you have at your disposal is to deny it... But the public wants more.”
In an email Wednesday, Osumi said the district was served with the lawsuit that afternoon but had not yet reviewed it. She said it has been forwarded to the district’s attorneys for review and appropriate legal response.
“We cannot comment on pending litigation or on personnel matters,” Osumi said. “What I can say is that our District has a
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very clear and very strict policy in place related to any conduct that calls student safety into question. It is our policy and our expectation that any such conduct be reported immediately and acted on decisively.”
When contacted by the Appeal-democrat on Wednesday afternoon, Aaberg said she was “completely unaware” of the suit and that she wouldn’t comment at this time.
Michael Trezza, who filed a $500,000 claim against Whiteaker and the district in connection to a 2014 videotaping allegation, said he is still attempting to obtain the police report made after the victim contacted police about the incident.
“The Police Department could bear some responsibility for what has happened to multiple students who had contact with Mr. Whiteaker, and its lack of cooperation is certainly raising suspicion,” Trezza said. The winning numbers from the California State Lottery on Wednesday: