News & Notes

last updated: February 11, 2008 02:26:49 AM

Council looks to put teeth in dog laws

Dangerous dogs could send their owners to jail under a Modesto City Council proposal to ratchet up penalties for canine attacks. It's designed to give the city's animal control officers more authority to seize vicious dogs and to put a leash on reckless owners.

Saving Sierra sheep worth cost, some say

Saving the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep could cost at least $26.7 million over the next 20 years, a new federal study estimates. Environmentalists and federal officials consider it a good investment to protect this shaggy, endangered mammal that can meander from Tuolumne to Tulare counties and across to the Sierra Nevada's remote east side.

Turn on your lights, CHP warns drivers

California Highway Patrol officials are reminding drivers to turn on their lights during bad weather when the visibility drops to less than 1,000 feet. Drivers who don't do so are breaking the law. The California Vehicle Code requires that headlights be on not only when it's dark, but also during rainy or foggy weather, when visibility is reduced, or when windshield wipers are on continuously, according to the CHP. Officer Tom Killian, a CHP spokesman, said some drivers inadvertently break the law because they're used to their vehicles' lights automatically coming on when it's dark. Other drivers think the daylight running lights are enough, but they're not, Killian said.

Yesteryears

75 YEARS AGO: Modesto Mayor L.L. Dennett proposed a back-to-the-bicycle movement as an effective way to decrease the number of city-owned cars and thus slash government expenses. Dennett's back-to-the-bicycle suggestion was made after he saw that a month's repair bills totaled almost $200 for city-owned automobiles.

50 YEARS AGO: A new movie technique, filming action aboard a moving train, was introduced in shots for the movie "Man of the West" along the right of way of the Sierra Railroad Co. near Jamestown. Exterior filming had been done with Julie London, Gary Cooper and Arthur O'Connell in the starring roles. It was the first time the filming technique was used in a Western movie.

25 YEARS AGO: The Turlock Guest Home and Las Palmas Estates on Colorado Avenue were shut down by a temporary suspension order of the state Department of Social Services, forcing more than 80 residents to find lodging elsewhere.

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