Here are some recent vehicle accident reports, as provided by the Willows area office of the California Highway Patrol.
Friday, Feb. 4:
12:05 a.m., John Ray Brown, 38, of Willows, was driving a 2001 Dodge south on Interstate 5 to the County Road 27 off-ramp at a high rate of speed. Due to the driver’s speed, he was unable to slow or stop his vehicle and proceeded through the intersection, where he traveled off the roadway and collided with a wire fence. Brown reportedly fled the scene on foot prior to the CHP’s arrival. According to Officer Vasquez, Alcohol and/or drugs are believed to have contributed to this accident.
Friday, Feb. 11:
10:20 p.m., Michelle Giesbrecht, 45, of Willows, was driving a 2015 Tesla west on County Road 48, west of County Road P, at about 60 miles per hour. As she traveled, the right side of her vehicle struck an unseen black cow. Following the impact, the cow walked away and did not appear to the driver to be injured. According to Officer Gilliam, Giesbrecht was wearing her seatbelts at the time of the accident and was not injured.
Thursday, Feb. 17:
7 p.m., Kyle McClintock, 56, of Orland, was driving a 1998 Toyota pickup west on Highway 32, west of Highway 45, at an unknown speed. Traffic ahead of McClintock came to a stop for a vehicle waiting to make a left turn onto a private drive. McClintock failed to stop and swerved into the eastbound lane, causing his Toyota to collide head-on with a 2011 Mercedes GL350 driven by James Peterson, 47, of Chico. McClintock was transported with moderate injuries by ambulance to Enloe Medical Center. Peterson experienced pain to his left arm and shoulder. According to Officer DeFrancesco, both drivers were wearing their seatbelts at the time of the accident.
Tuesday, Feb. 22:
1:20 p.m., Kathryn Harmer, 72, of Willows, was driving a 2002 Chevy Cavalier east on Highway 162, west of County Road QQ, at about 65 miles per hour. She began to slow in order to make a left turn onto Road QQ. Evan Hutson, 34, of Willows, was driving a 2017 Ford F250 pickup east on Highway 162, approaching Road QQ at about 65 miles per hour. He did not see that traffic directly ahead of him was slowing until it was too late. Once he noticed the slowing traffic, he applied his brakes and tried to avoid a collision, but was unable to do so. The front of the Ford struck the rear of the Chevy. According to Officer Cushman, both drivers were wearing their seatbelts and neither driver was injured.
Francisco Medina was just 18 years old when he committed an act that not only robbed Christopher Clark of his life, but robbed himself of his own young adulthood.
It has now been more than 22 years – well over half of Francisco Medina’s lifetime – since Medina murdered Clark in the streets of downtown Willows.
For Medina, what could have been a period of joyous milestones – graduations, engagement and marriage, and births of children – is instead a period dominated by walls, locks and guards, the sole purposes of which are to totally stifle individual liberty, thereby making all significant milestones (with the possible exception of that final milestone, death) impossible.
On October 28, 1999, Medina gunned down Christopher Clark, 19, near Sycamore and Butte Streets in Willows. Medina was reportedly assisted by four others, two of them juveniles.
It was reported that Clark and Medina belonged to rival gangs. One of Medina’s fellow gang members (and provider of the weapon with which Clark was shot), parolee Edwin Speer, is said to have taken a beating from Clark or Clark’s gang, thereby making revenge the motive for the murder.
Medina was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. His first parole hearing took place in 2013, and, obviously, parole was denied.
In 2017, he was convicted of another felony: possession of heroin in prison. This added two more years to his sentence.
On August 14, 2020, another parole hearing for Medina was conducted. Again, parole was denied.
Most recently, a parole hearing for Medina was held on February 18, 2022. The parole board denied his chance for release for three years, at which time he will be well into his 40s.
And over these three years, the one precious life he will ever know, will continue to waste away behind the walls of prison.
Trey King, who escaped from the Tehama County Jail early Friday morning, was recaptured late Sunday afternoon in Placer County.
At about 5:30 p.m., an off-duty Butte County Sheriff’s sergeant spotted King walking on Highway 65, just north of Lincoln, southeast of Yuba City.
King was reportedly walking away from a vehicle, attempting to hitch a ride. He did not offer any resistance and is now back in the Tehama County Jail.
At the time of his escape, King’s charges included assault with a deadly weapon (a vehicle) with great bodily injury likely (a felony), evading a peace officer with wanton disregard for safety (a felony), possession of known stolen property (a felony), driving with a license suspended for driving while under the influence (a misdemeanor), carjacking, and resisting or obstructing an executive officer (a felony). He was also originally charged with attempted murder and violation of parole, but those charges were dismissed.
King now faces an additional charge alleging escaping from jail (a felony).
William Keys
It was alleged that after escaping, King received help from Bethany Gaylord and William Keys. Gaylord is not listed among the Tehama County Jail inmates, but Keys is.
Keys, 41, is charged with allegedly being an accessory to a crime, and violation of probation (both felonies). His bail is set at $15,000.
Early Friday morning, Trey Cleveland King of Corning escaped from the Tehama County Jail when deputies opened a door as inmates took trash out for a work detail.
King ran past the deputies. A deputy gave chase, but lost sight of him.
King was in jail, awaiting his day in court, for an incident that occurred in November, 2021.
On Nov. 12, King allegedly stole a big rig in Red Bluff. At about 11:30 a.m. on that day, the big rig was spotted on Paskenta Road by a California Highway Patrol officer.
When the officer pulled the big rig over, the driver threw it into reverse and rammed the patrol vehicle, disabling it. The officer sustained some injuries as a result of this collision.
Other law enforcement officers soon located the big rig and a pursuit entered Red Bluff. King reportedly attempted to ram law enforcement vehicles several times.
King allegedly jumped out of the big rig and stole a Ford F-150 pickup. He drove to Interstate 5, where he reportedly began driving south on the northbound side of I-5.
Officers were able to shut down the freeway, and King got out of the pickup and attempted to escape on foot. Officers were able to catch him.
King was booked into the Tehama County Jail on charges alleging attempted murder (a felony), assault with a deadly weapon (a vehicle) with great bodily injury likely (a felony), evading a peace officer with wanton disregard for safety (a felony), possession of known stolen property (a felony), driving with a license suspended for driving while under the influence (a misdemeanor), a parole hold, carjacking, and resisting or obstructing an executive officer (a felony). The parole hold and the attempted murder charge were dismissed.
Early Friday afternoon, the Tehama County Sheriff’s Office reported that Bethany Gaylord and William Keys were arrested on charges alleging they helped King to escape.
The Tehama County District Attorney’s Office said King did not have a weapon when he escaped but should be considered dangerous. If King is seen, the public is advised not to approach him, but to call 911.
King has been arrested many times in the past. Charges have ranged from drug violations to vehicle theft and many other crimes.
Although it was later dropped, his recent charge of violation of parole indicates he has also been sentenced to prison.
King apparently does not have a history of encounters with law enforcement in Glenn County. Nevertheless, he is certainly capable of making it this far south.
It is said that one picture is worth a thousand words.
However, I suspect that I will write substantially more than a thousand words concerning the booking picture I requested from the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office last week – a booking photo I was denied, I should add.
At about 9:12 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 11, I called the sheriff’s office to have a booking photo emailed to me – a routine procedure I have done countless times in the past, both during the 26 years I contributed to The Sacramento Valley Mirror and during the year or so I have been producing this website.
With one exception, which I will describe shortly, I have never been denied a photo. That all changed on Friday.
After I requested the booking photo, I was told by the person with whom I was speaking that she had to check to see if it was okay for her to send the photo. She said that a “new law” had been passed that prevents law enforcement agencies from releasing booking photos.
I had a pretty good idea what law she was referring to. I told her that Glenn County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Brandy McDonald had already investigated this matter and that it may be worthwhile to talk to her.
My phone number was taken, but as 4 p.m. approached, I still had not heard back. So, at 3:56 p.m., I called again.
My call was taken by someone else this time. I was told, “The person who was dealing with that is not here, so let me see if I can get ahold of them and find out what is going on.”
She explained that she had heard about my call but she had moved on to something completely different. As did the person earlier in the day, she took my number and said she would then get back to me.
As I did that morning, I mentioned, “Back in August, Lt. McDonald checked into this and she found that it just applies to law enforcement agencies posting booking photos on social media.”
The woman from Friday afternoon responded that she would see what she could confirm and then give me a call back one way or the other. Unfortunately, no call was received.
I called the sheriff’s office a third time at 4:45 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 14. I was told, “I did check with the undersheriff, he spoke with me, and we were not allowed to send that to you.”
The “new law” in question is AB 1475, signed by Governor Newsom on July 23, 2021. AB 1475 places limitations on law enforcement agencies only, preventing them and them alone from posting booking photos on social media, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
When an issue came up regarding a booking photo in August, Lt. McDonald took a little bit of time to actually do some research. On August 4, 2021, she sent me the email below:
“Hey Larry,
“Looks like this only pertains to us [the sheriff’s office] publishing booking photos on social media so shouldn’t be a problem. I will be in touch soon. Thanks!!”
The text of AB 1475 begins with the next paragraph. Bolds show that this law concerns (1) only the sharing of booking photos on social media, and (2) even more specifically, it concerns only the sharing of booking photos on the law enforcement agencies’ own social media pages.
AB 1475:
“Existing law requires law enforcement agencies, departments, or entities to consider specified best practices regarding the downloading and storage of body-worn camera data, including prohibiting agency personnel from uploading recorded data onto public and social media internet websites, when establishing policies and procedures for the implementation and operation of a body-worn camera system.
“This bill would prohibit a police department or sheriff’s office from sharing, on social media, booking photos of an individual arrested on suspicion of committing a nonviolent crime, as defined, unless specified circumstances exist. The bill would require a police department or sheriff’s office that shares, on social media, a booking photo of an individual arrested for the suspected commission of a nonviolent crime to remove the information from its social media page, upon request, unless the same specified circumstances exist. [Editor’s Note: Read that again: ‘its social media page’.]
“The bill would require a police department or sheriff’s office to remove the booking photo of a person who has committed any other crime from social media if the individual’s record has been sealed, the individual’s conviction has been dismissed, expunged, pardoned, or eradicated pursuant to law, the individual has been issued a certificate of rehabilitation, the individual is found not guilty of committing the crime for which they were arrested, or the individual was ultimately not charged with the crime or the charges were dismissed.
“The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
“SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
“(a) In our criminal justice system, suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty.
“(b) In recent years, law enforcement departments have begun to use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Nextdoor to communicate with the public.
“(c) Some departments post the booking photos of suspects on their social media accounts even though the suspect is no longer at large or an ongoing threat to public safety.
“(d) Information posted to these social media accounts can remain on the internet for years, seriously affecting the life of the person depicted.
“(e) In 2016, the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals stated, in Detroit Free Press Inc. v. United States Department of Justice (829 F. 3d 478, 482) that booking photos are more than just ‘vivid symbols of criminal accusation, booking photos convey guilt to the viewer,’ effectively ‘eliminating the presumption of innocence and replacing it with an unmistakable badge of criminality.’
“(f) The Sixth Circuit also noted that booking photos are ‘snapped “in the vulnerable and embarrassing moments immediately after [an individual is] accused, taken into custody, and deprived of most liberties,”’ putting them in the realm of ‘embarrassing and humiliating information.’
“(g) Section 1 of Article 1 of the California Constitution protects the privacy of Californians, including limiting the disclosure of arrest information unless that disclosure serves a compelling state interest (Central Valley Ch. 7th Step Foundation, Inc. v. Younger (1989) 214 Cal.App.3d 415, 151).
“(h) In July 2020, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott instituted a department directive against the release of booking photos in most circumstances because their publication creates an ‘illusory correlation for viewers that fosters racial bias and vastly overstates the propensity of black and brown men to engage in criminal behavior.’
“(i) The Legislature finds that publishing booking photos on social media when there is a low risk to public safety is detrimental to the right to a fair trial because it diminishes the presumption of innocence and potentially violates privacy rights of Californians without a commensurate benefit to public safety.
“SEC. 2. Section 13665 is added to the Penal Code, to read:
“13665. (a) A police department or sheriff’s office shall not share, on social media, booking photos of an individual arrested on suspicion of committing a nonviolent crime unless any of the following circumstances exist:
“(1) A police department or sheriff’s office has determined that the suspect is a fugitive or an imminent threat to an individual or to public safety and releasing or disseminating the suspect’s image will assist in locating or apprehending the suspect or reducing or eliminating the threat.
“(2) A judge orders the release or dissemination of the suspect’s image based on a finding that the release or dissemination is in furtherance of a legitimate law enforcement interest.
“(3) There is an exigent circumstance that necessitates the dissemination of the suspect’s image in furtherance of an urgent and legitimate law enforcement interest.
“(b) (1) A police department or sheriff’s office that shares, on social media, a booking photo of an individual arrested for the suspected commission of a nonviolent crime shall remove the booking photo from its social media page within 14 days, upon the request of the individual who is the subject of the social media post or the individual’s representative, unless any of the circumstances described in subdivision (a) exist.
“(2) A police department or sheriff’s office that shares, on social media, a booking photo of an individual arrested for the suspected commission of a crime identified in subdivision (c) of Section 667.5 shall remove the booking photo from its social media page within 14 days, upon the request of the individual who is the subject of the social media post or the individual’s representative, if the individual or their representative demonstrates any of the following:
“(A) The individual’s record has been sealed.
“(B) The individual’s conviction has been dismissed, expunged, pardoned, or eradicated pursuant to law.
“(C) The individual has been issued a certificate of rehabilitation.
“(D) The individual was found not guilty of the crime for which they were arrested.
“(E) The individual was ultimately not charged with the crime or the charges were dismissed.
“(3) This subdivision shall apply retroactively to any booking photo shared on social media.
“(c) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following Meanings:
“(1) ‘Nonviolent crime’ means a crime not identified in subdivision (c) of Section 667.5.
“(2) ‘Social media’ has the same meaning as in Section 632.01, except that social media does not include an internet website or an electronic data system developed and administered by the police department or sheriff’s office.” [Emphasis added by the Editor.]
With only a few exceptions, such as when the person accused of a crime is a minor, booking photos are still public records. The Glenn County Sheriff’s Office cannot legally refuse to release most of its booking photos.
AB 1475 prevents the sheriff’s office from posting most booking photos of people accused of committing nonviolent crimes on its own Facebook page. (Yes, the sheriff’s office has a Facebook page.) It does not prevent Citizen John Doe from posting booking photos on his own Facebook page, and it most assuredly does not prevent websites like The Glenn County Observer, newspapers, and televised news broadcasts from receiving upon request and using booking photos however they want.
AB 1475 has not removed booking photos from the realm of public records. Given its glaring error, I sincerely hope that the next time I call the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office for a booking photo, I will not be turned away again.
And by the way, the picture I was refused was worth 1,776 words.
The American flag hangs from the Orland Fire Department’s ladder truck at the annual spaghetti feed fundraiser on Saturday, Feb. 5. Glenn County Observer photo by Larry Judkins.
By Larry Judkins
Glenn County Observer
This is why we should all support our local fire departments.
Firefighters from all over Glenn County spent much of Saturday evening, Feb. 12, waging battle against a structure fire southeast of Orland.
The fire was in the Orland Fire Department’s district. At about 6:24 p.m., the dispatcher in Corning sent out the call.
Emergency responders reported heavy smoke in the area of County Roads P and 15. They also reported heavy traffic on County Road 15 and requested the California Highway Patrol be called to provide traffic control.
At about 6:26 p.m., the structure was reported to be “fully involved.” Mutual aid from Artois and Willows was requested.
The address was given as 7020 County Road 15. PG&E was also asked to respond.
At 6:28 p.m., it was announced that the residence was unoccupied. Everyone was out of the house.
Orland Fire Chief Justin Chaney reported that the involved structure was an approximately 3,000 square foot, two story home. He requested that the Corning dispatcher request mutual aid from the Hamilton City and Capay fire departments.
At about 6:34 p.m., a request went out to the entire county for water tenders. At 6:38 p.m., the Bayliss Fire Department announced it was responding.
At 6:41 p.m., the Corning dispatcher reported that PG&E had about a 10-minute estimated time of arrival. The dispatcher also said the (propane?) gas company employee was on the way, but a Glenn County Sheriff’s deputy stated that the gas to the property had already been turned off.
At 6:48 p.m., the Glenn-Codora Fire Department announced it was responding.
At roughly 7:30 p.m., Chief Chaney said the fire was contained to about a third of the house. Mop-up would continue for a couple of hours.
Units gradually began to be released from the scene.
For the Orland Fire Department, this was the 99th incident it has responded to this year. However, not all of Orland’s units were back in quarters when, at 9:29 p.m., the call for the 100th incident was received: a transformer fire with fire to the power pole near County Road P and Malton Switch Road.
Back at the structure fire on County Road 15, at 9:38 p.m., Chief Chaney reported that the property had been turned over to the owner. The remaining fire units were released.
On Friday, Feb. 4, The Observer published a story about a pair of accidents that occurred on Interstate 5 earlier in the day.
The first of these accidents was a fatal rollover that happened at about 12:40 p.m. on I-5, south of County Road 20. (See Feb. 4 story and update published on Feb. 9.)
The second occurred at about 1:27 p.m. on I-5, north of County Road 20. On Feb. 8, the California Highway Patrol sent out a news release regarding this incident.
According to the CHP, two big rigs were traveling south on I-5 in the slow lane, north of Road 20, approaching the scene of the previously mentioned rollover on the northbound side of the freeway. Sandhu R. Singh, 49, of Tracy, driving a 2013 tractor with a 2012 trailer, was ahead of Harmandeep Singh, 29, of Stockton, driving a 2017 tractor with a 2012 trailer.
As Sandhu Singh approached the scene of the first accident, he slowed down to about five miles per hour. Harmandeep Singh did not immediately notice that Sandhu Singh had slowed down, and only at the last moment attempted to swerve around Sandhu Singh, but was unable to avoid a collision.
The front of Harmandeep Singh’s tractor struck the rear on Sandhu Singh’s trailer. One of the saddle tanks on one of the semis ruptured in the accident, causing diesel fuel to spill on the ground.
Harmandeep Singh sustained some minor injuries (cuts to his head and arm) in the collision. Sandhu Singh was uninjured.
“Haley is alive,” rejoiced her mother, Denise Mitchell, on Monday, Feb. 7.
Ruth Haley Word, then-35, of Willows, vanished without a trace in early January. Just over a month after filing a missing person report, her mother finally heard her voice again.
According to her post on Facebook, Denise Mitchell was sitting at home, wondering what happened to her daughter. “Is she alive? Is she gone? Is she hurt? Is she fighting for her life?”
Then, all of a sudden, she received a random phone call from a man named Rick, who said that he “thinks he has my daughter.” He said the only number that he could get out of her was Mitchell’s.
At first she thought it was a joke. Then she started crying and asked him to let her speak with her daughter.
The first words Mitchell heard were, “Mom?” It was Haley and Mitchell broke down even harder.
According to her mother, Haley sounded distraught, confused, and very tired. Mitchell told her it’s going to be okay, she’s going to be safe now, and she was coming to get her.
According to Mitchell, Rick was a truck driver. He told Mitchell he had just lost his daughter in a situation similar to Word’s, and he couldn’t leave her on the sidewalk so he tried to help her.
The only number he could get from Word was her mother’s. He talked to Mitchell on the phone and told her he was going to take her to his truck.
So he did. He kept Mitchell on the phone with him and her daughter fell asleep.
Mitchell said she didn’t really know what to do, but she headed to Folsom. She also kept in contact with Rick while her daughter slept.
“I got his name, I got a vehicle he was driving, and I got an address,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “I decided to call the police because I didn’t know if Haley would wake up and run.
“I didn’t know this guy and I also didn’t trust anything at this point,” Mitchell wrote. The police were there within three minutes and they made Word stay in custody at the parking lot until Mitchell got there.
The police initially said that Mitchell could take her daughter back to Glenn County, but when Mitchell arrived in Folsom, the police called back and said that Glenn County had contacted them and told Folsom police to take Word into custody and she will be transported to Glenn County on Tuesday.
Mitchell wrote, “I asked if they could just wait because we had just gotten into Folsom.” She wanted to see her daughter, but they said she was already taken into custody.
Looking at the positive side, Mitchell said, “Just knowing that she is alive is a great thing. Thank you, Jesus.
Mitchell added, “I want to thank all of these people and all of the people who love her, and for all they have done for her, all the prayers, all the people looking for her. Everyone, I can’t say the right words.
“But she is alive and I also asked the police if she was refusing to go or resisting. They said no, that she wanted to go.
“So, friends and family, thank you so much for everything.”
Mitchell ended her post as she had begun: “Haley is alive.”
Upon hearing this news, one reader commented, “Now let’s get her help.”
Another wrote, “Please try to get her into a rehab once she is released from custody. Contact Salvation Army and K-Love’s Teen Challenge. (They have rehabs for all ages.)”
On Thursday, Feb. 10, at 9:55 a.m., Word, now 36, was booked into the Glenn County Jail. She was taken into custody at the Sacramento County Jail.
She was booked into the Glenn County Jail on five misdemeanor warrants and one felony warrant. Charges on the misdemeanor warrants were for allegedly disobeying a court order. The felony warrant alleged disobeying a lawful order of the court. Total bail for the six warrants was set at $61,000.
Brenda Kay Richardson died on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. The oldest of five children, she was born in Texas to E.M. Evans and Sylvia Knee Lingenfelter on March 14, 1944.
She married Carl D. Wolfe and they had five girls together: Vickie Verry (Victor) of Philadelphia, Tenn., Rhonda Johnson (Harvey) of Fairale, W. Va., DeLena Bowes (Clayton) of Willows, LeaAnn Wolfe (Bob See) of Pigeon Forge, Tenn., and Carla Verry (Lyle) of Durham.
She moved to Willows in 1978, where she worked as a bartender/cocktail waitress and made lifelong friends. Brenda was a faithful member of the Faith Bible Church for many years.
She found peace and love in her faith and God. She loved her church family.
She is survived by all her girls, two younger brothers, 15 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by both of her parents, a brother and a sister.
Both the Willows Office of the California Highway Patrol and the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office have released additional information regarding the fatal accident on Interstate 5 on Friday, Feb. 4:
According to the CHP, at about 12:40 p.m. on Feb. 4, a man was driving a 1996 Chevy pickup south on I-5, south of County Road 20, in the fast lane at about 70 miles per hour, when his right rear tire blew out. He was unable to maintain control of his vehicle, which traveled into the center median and crashed into the oleander bushes.
The pickup spun and overturned. The driver, who apparently was not wearing his seat belts, was ejected from the Chevy and sustained fatal injuries.
According to CHP Officer Roach, neither alcohol nor drugs appear to have been a factor in this accident.
According to the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office, at 12:44 p.m., Deputy Goodwin responded to I-5, north of the County Road 25 overpass, for a report of a vehicle rollover with a person possible ejected. The deputy arrived on-scene, where an off-duty medical worker was performing life-saving efforts on a man.
Orland Fire Department and Westside Ambulance personnel also responded to the scene, where the man was pronounced deceased. The decedent was released to the care of Sweet-Olsen Family Mortuary of Orland.
The man was identified as Eldon Edward McGowan, 64, of Lower Lake.
The Glenn County Observer 