SMART CROSSING HALTED » BEAUTY OF FOUNTAINS » Water NFL TRAINING CAMP » Return

Plans for SR’s Jennings Avenue elements can be focal points, of Jon Gruden to Raiders gives
put on hold over safety. A3 bring tranquility to garden. D1 reason for fan optimism. C1
WINNER OF THE 2018 PULITZER PRIZE

SATURDAY, JULY 28, 2018 • SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA • PRESSDEMOCRAT.COM

RP hires public safety auditor

ASSET SEIZURES » Probe
will be launched into
department complaints
By JULIE JOHNSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Rohnert Park has hired a police
auditor to conduct a broad inquiry
into the practices and policies of its
public safety department amid a se-
ries of complaints about the seizure
of drugs and money on Highway 101
by officers operating far outside city
limits.
The city has tapped former Oak-
land Police Chief Howard Jordan to
investigate specific complaints from
people who had their property tak-
en during traffic stops conducted by
Rohnert Park police personnel.
The inquiry will include a wider
examination of police practices and
policies, City Manager Darrin Jen-
kins said Thursday.
“We need to get to the bottom of
things, what was happening,” Jen-
kins said. “My intention is to figure
out concrete things we can do to im-
prove our practices and procedures
in our department. I’m keeping an
open mind.”
The announcement comes three
weeks after The Press Democrat
began publishing a series of stories
examining the city’s aggressive pro-
gram to confiscate drugs and money
by pulling over drivers on Highway
101, often near the Sonoma-Mendoci-
no border 40 miles to the north of the
city.
Over the past three years, Rohnert
Park’s Department of Public Safe-
ty seized assets worth $2.4 million,
more than any other law enforce-
ment agency in Sonoma County.
The department’s lead enforcer in
those highway stops, Sgt. Brendon
“Jacy” Tatum, resigned last month
amid an investigation targeting him
Howard
and another officer, Joseph Huffak-
Jordan
er, who remains on paid administra-
Oakland ex-police
tive leave.
chief will audit
Rohnert Park police
TURN TO AUDITOR » PAGE A5

REDDING » CARR FIRE PUSHES INTO COMMUNITY

Scores of homes lost,

Report: 2 die as blaze doubles
Donald Trump

Economy
strongest
in 4 years
CONSUMER INFLUENCE »
Experts caution growth
unlikely to keep up pace
By BEN CASSELMAN
NEW YORK TIMES

Tax cuts and federal spending

are adding fuel to the already
strong economy, putting the
United States on a pace for its
best year of growth in well over
a decade.
The Commerce Department
reported Friday that gross
domestic
INSIDE product, the
Trump makes broadest mea-
the case that his sure of goods
administration and services
should be credited produced in
for booming the econo-
economy / A10 my, grew at
a 4.1  percent
rate in the second quarter of
the year. Consumers led the
PHOTOS BY NOAH BERGER / ASSOCIATED PRESS
way, shrugging off higher gas-
oline prices and sluggish wage A truck drives past trees enveloped by flames from the Carr fire on Friday in Whiskeytown. The blaze had grown to 44,450 acres Friday, Cal Fire said.
growth to step up their spend-
ing on everything from cars to
clothes to restaurant meals.
Flames hopscotch across
subdivisions as inferno
Carr fire
mimicking
Economists caution that the
latest acceleration, while good
news for American business-
balloons to 44,450 acres
es and households in the short
term, is unsustainable in the
long term and could raise the
By JOSEPH SERNA, PHIL
WILLON AND JOHN MYERS
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Tubbs fire
risk that the recovery will flame By BILL SWINDELL
REDDING — A destructive AND MEGHAN HERBST
TURN TO ECONOMY » PAGE A10 wildfire nearly doubled in size THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
overnight, killing at least two
people — including a city fire- Sonoma County firefighters
INSIDE fighter — and burning numer- are assisting in the massive ef-
ous homes in Redding as res- fort against the wildfire threat-
SANTA ROSA idents ran for their lives and ening to engulf the city of Red-
High 92, Low 53 firefighters found it impossible ding, an onslaught of flames
to battle the wall of flames. that some fire officials and Shas-
THE WEATHER, C8
The Carr fire has destroyed A woman, who declined to give her name, surveys damage to her ta County residents compared
65 homes and damaged 55 oth- grandmother’s house on Friday that was damaged by the Carr fire, which to the firestorm that overran the
Advice B7 Lotto A2 ers, the California Department North Bay in October.
Business B8 Movies D2 burned scores of homes and structures in Redding, state officials said.
of Forestry and Fire Protection Two firefighters, one an in-
Classified D4 Nation-World B1 said Friday. Those numbers are MENDOCINO COUNTY Evacuation orders in two blazes outside Ukiah / A3 spector with the city of Redding
Comics B6 Obituaries B3 expected to rise. and another who was a con-
‘YEAR-ROUND CYCLE’ State says fires occuring every month since 2012 / A6
Crossword B7 Sonoma Home D1 The blaze, driven east by tract operator on a bulldozer,
30 mph winds, hopscotched into It was a chaotic scene across Andrew Moon was playing have died battling the Carr fire,
Editorial A8 Sports C1
subdivisions Thursday night Redding, a city of 90,000 people, the drums with his church’s which had grown to more than
and Friday morning. Officials as towering flames whipped music group — the last song in 48,000 acres after breaking out
said hundreds of homes were along the horizon and evacu- the set — when their director Monday in the hills northwest
threatened as winds pushed the ation orders expanded by the
fire into the community. hour in the middle of the night. TURN TO REDDING » PAGE A2 TURN TO FIRE » PAGE A2
©2018 The Press Democrat

Only New Home Community

FIN ICK
QU

AL M O

in Healdsburg
PH V E
AS -IN

from the upper $500,000s

E! S!

Open Satur
Saturday and Sunday 12-4pm & By Appointment chiquitagr
chiquitagrove.com
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT • SATURDAY, JULY 28, 2018
Judge credits, faults
feds on reunifications
Government lauded
for effort but urged
to reunite all families
By ELLIOT SPAGAT
AND COLLEEN LONG
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN DIEGO — A feder-
al judge commended the
Trump administration for
reunifying families in its
custody with their chil-
dren after being separated
at the U.S.-Mexico border,
while faulting it for leav-
ing hundreds of families
still apart and warning
that a better system must
be in place.
U.S. District Judge Dana
Sabraw said the govern-
ment gets “great credit”
after reunifying more than
1,800 children 5 and over
with parents or sponsors
by Thursday’s court-im-
posed deadline.
He pointed out that
many of the families were
reunited while in custody,
then turned his attention
to 431 children whose par-
ents have been deported.
“The government is at
fault for losing several
hundred parents in the
process and that’s where
we go next,” the judge said.
Sabraw ordered the gov-
ernment and the Ameri-
can Civil Liberties Union,
which represents the par-
ents, to submit written up-
dates every Thursday on
still-separated families.
The order signaled
slightly looser oversight
than Sabraw imposed
last month with frequent
hearings to make sure his
deadline was met.
In late June, the judge
gave the government
14 days to reunify children
under 5 and 30 days to re-
unite children 5 and older
with their families.
Sabraw said the “prob-
AUDITOR
CONTINUED FROM A1
The city’s public safety
chief, Brian Masterson,
announced his retirement
last week. His final day is
Aug. 22.
Jenkins said he made
the decision to hire a con-
sultant to conduct an audit
of the public safety depart-
ment about two weeks ago
and he informed Master-
son once he had selected
Jordan to do the work.
“He’s an expert in police
practices and procedures,”
Jenkins said of Jordan.
“I want someone from the
outside to find out what we
can do.”
Jenkins would not say
how many complaints the
city had received about the
seizure of drugs and mon-
ey by its officers.
In June, the city ac-
knowledged it was inves-
tigating Tatum and Huff-
man following complaints
from a driver who was
pulled over on Highway
101 in southern Mendocino
County last December. The
driver, Zeke Flatten, said
the unidentified officers
took 3 pounds of cannabis
from his SUV but did not
cite or arrest him. The de-
partment is looking into
what role, if any, Tatum
and Huffaker played in the
stop. Tatum included Flat-
ten’s name on an official
police report.
But there are other driv-
ers who have filed com-
plaints about Tatum with
the city about highway
traffic stops, including
Mendocino County canna-
bis farmer Hue Freeman.
Freeman filed a complaint
with the city after he was
pulled over by Tatum
near Cloverdale in De-
cember 2016. Tatum seized
47  pounds of cannabis
from Freeman, who said he
was bringing marijuana he
grew lawfully in Mendoci-
no County to a dispensary.
Freeman said it is a
“huge relief” to know
that public agencies like
Rohnert Park are exam-
ining their procedures for
highway traffic stops and
property seizures under
asset forfeiture laws.
“Farmers that are fol-
Maria holds her 4-year-old son, Franco, after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport
on Thursday. The two had been separated for more than six weeks.
lem” could not be repeat-
ed, describing how Home-
land Security, Health and
Human Services and Jus-
tice departments didn’t
have a system to keep
track of the families that
were separated when the
administration introduced
a “zero-tolerance” policy
toward illegal entry.
“Each (department) was
like its own stovepipe, each
had its own boss, and they
did not communicate,” he
said. “What was lost in the
process was the family.”
Sabraw didn’t rule imme-
diately on a request by the
ACLU to give parents a week
to decide whether or not to
seek asylum after the group
is notified that the family is
reunited. As a result, a tem-
porary halt on deportations
remained in place.
Earlier Friday, Home-
land Security officials
said they had reunified all
eligible parents with chil-
dren — but noted many
others were not eligible
The Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety in 2016 seized
a record $1.4 million in assets, 25 times more than what was
confiscated by Santa Rosa, the county’s largest police force.
“He’s an expert in police
practices and procedures.
I want someone from the outside
to find out what we can do.”
BRIAN MASTERSON, Rohnert Park’s public safety chief on
the selection of Howard Jordan to lead department inquiry
lowing all laws and com-
plying with the laws have
worked long and hard to do
the right thing,” Freeman
said. “To not have to worry
about just simply trans-
porting a legal product to a
legal outlet is huge.”
Santa Rosa criminal de-
fense attorney Steve Gal-
lenson, who has aired his
concerns about Tatum’s
conduct with the Sonoma
County District Attor-
ney’s office, called Rohnert
Park’s effort to evaluate its
police practices and high-
way interdiction missions
“a worthy goal.”
“But it depends on how
objective the person is,”
Gallenson said. “If this
auditor has suggestions,
they may not be liked by
the Rohnert Park police de-
partment.”
Jordan retired from the
Oakland Police Depart-
ment in 2013 after 25 years
with the agency, including
nearly two years as its chief.
Jordan, reached by phone
Friday, said has previously
worked as a police auditor
for the Sunnyvale Public
Safety Department — which
like Rohnert Park has uni-
fied policing and firefighting
functions — and the Mad-
ison Police Department in
Wisconsin, and he’s finaliz-
ing auditing work he’s been
conducting for the Santa
Clara Police Department.
STATE
because they had been re-
leased from immigration
custody, are in their home
countries or chose not to
be reunited.
More than 1,800 chil-
dren 5 and older had been
reunited with parents or
sponsors as of Thursday.
That included 1,442 chil-
dren who were returned to
parents who were in U.S.
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement custody, and
another 378 who were re-
leased under a variety of
other circumstances.
On a parallel legal front,
a federal judge in Los An-
geles said Friday that she
will appoint an indepen-
dent monitor to evaluate
conditions for immigrant
children in U.S. border
facilities in Texas follow-
ing a spate of reports of
spoiled food, insufficient
water and frigid condi-
tions faced by the young-
sters and their parents.
Judge Dolly Gee said
she reached her decision
JOHN BURGESS / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
“I’ve also been on the
other end — I’ve been the
subject of many audits at
the Oakland Police Depart-
ment,” Howard said.
Masterson and Jordan
had crossed paths in Ala-
meda County but did not
work together.
Masterson, 59, was hired
in 2008 to become director
of the Rohnert Park Public
Safety Department, having
retired as a captain after
27 years with the Alameda
County Sheriff’s Depart-
ment, where he served as
commander of the Port of
Oakland and the Oakland
Airport.
Jordan said he would
not have taken on the work
if he’d had a prior profes-
sional relationship with
Masterson.
Jenkins said the city
respects its public safety
officers and “it is because
of that respect that we will
make sure any misdeeds
are uncovered and any rec-
ommended improvements
are implemented.”
Jordan will be paid
$150 per hour under the
city’s contract, which is
open in its scope and has
no end date, Jenkins said.
You can reach Staff Writer
Julie Johnson at 707-521-
5220 or julie.johnson@
pressdemocrat.com. On
Twitter @jjpressdem.
RUBEN R. RAMIREZ / EL PASO TIMES
after seeing a “disconnect”
between U.S. government
monitors’ assessment of
conditions in facilities in
Texas’ Rio Grande Valley
and the accounts of more
than 200 immigrant chil-
dren and their parents de-
tailing numerous problems.
“It seems like there con-
tinue to be persistent prob-
lems,” she said during a
hearing on a longstanding
settlement in a case focus-
ing on the care of children
in government custody. “I
need to appoint an inde-
pendent monitor to give
me an objective viewpoint
about what is going on at
the facilities.”
Peter Schey, an attor-
ney who represents immi-
grant children detained by
the U.S government, said
problems have worsened,
with children now spend-
ing three to six days in U.S.
Customs and Border Pro-
tection facilities, where
they were previously held
one to three days.
JOIN US TODAY
Mix, mingle and make
your next career move!
HIRING EVENT
SATURDAY, JULY 28 | 12PM-2PM
The Ballroom at Graton Resort & Casino
HIRING FOR A VARIETY OF POSITIONS
A fun social event with light food and beverages provided
Join our team!
Great hourly pay plus tips
Apply at GratonResortCasino.com/careers
ROHNERT PARK, CA © 2018 GRATON RESORT & CASINO
Trump backers’ suit
against police proceeds
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SACRAMENTO — A fed-
eral appeals court on Fri-
day allowed supporters of
then-presidential candidate
Donald Trump to proceed
with a lawsuit alleging they
were beaten after San Jose
police steered them into a
crowd of anti-Trump pro-
testers.
Police and the city of San
Jose can’t claim officers
have immunity from being
sued in the aftermath of
the June 2016 confrontation
outside a Trump campaign
rally, a three-judge panel of
the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Claire Daniels stands beside her horse, Rio Negro, in Petaluma.
DEATH
CONTINUED FROM A3
hospital before. She was
very healthy,” Gray said.
Daniels was moved June
8 to California Pacific Med-
ical Center in San Francis-
co, where she died the next
day.
A couple of weeks af-
ter her death, the Sono-
ma County Department
of Health Services ruled
out the Russian River as
a source of exposure after
some residents voiced con-
cern.
Daniels was Gray’s only
child, and she’s also sur-
vived by her father, Stefan
Daniels, and her stepfa-
ther, Jon Gray. She would
have turned 19 on Friday.
US 101 TO EXIT 484
288 Golf Course Drive West
Rohnert Park, CA P 707.588.7100
A5
Appeals ruled.
Nineteen Trump sup-
porters allege that officers
guided them into a violent
protest, barred them from
finding a safer way out and
then stood by while protest-
ers assaulted them.
The justices said the
Trump supporters “have
alleged sufficiently that
the Officers increased the
danger to them,” and that
the police acted with “de-
liberate indifference to that
danger.”
City Attorney Richard
Doyle said the council will
decide whether to appeal or
proceed to trial.
Daniels was passionate
about helping girls gain
confidence and self-es-
teem, exemplified in her
community-based senior
project at Cardinal New-
man called “Girl Power.”
She was looking forward
to returning to the Univer-
sity of Arizona and living
in the Delta Gamma house
as a sophomore, according
to her sorority “big” sister
Gabrielle Dyer, of Sacra-
mento. A memorial will be
held by the school’s Greek
life counsel on Aug. 21.
Although her family is
irrevocably changed and
deeply saddened by the loss
of a beloved daughter, Gray
said they’re surrounded by
love and support.
“What an incredible
community Healdsburg
is,” she said.