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8.08.2013

A California Place Name Neither Indian, Spanish Nor Civil War

Lake Almanor is one of Plumas County’s prime recreation areas. It’s a reservoir with a capacity of 1.3 million acre-feet.

One acre-foot is about 326,00 gallons, roughly the water a family of four uses each year.

Now owned by Pacific Gas & Electric, the reservoir, about 90 feet deep, was built by Great Western Power by damming the North Fork of the Feather River.    Read more »

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7.31.2013

An “Exclusive” Interview with Gloria Deukmejian

 

From the Long Beach News, Thursday June 20, 1985: 

What Gloria Deukmejian likes most about being California’s First Lady – next to her husband being the governor, of course – is “meeting people and going to places I wouldn’t normally travel to.”

Like the town of Quincy in Plumas County, 140 miles northeast of Sacramento.    Read more »

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6.03.2013

After 46 Years, Treasurer Bill Lockyer To Retire From Public Service in 2015

With his announcement June 3 that he is leaving public office in January 2015, State Treasurer Bill Lockyer ends 40 years as a lawmaker and statewide office holder. 

“I need to do something different that’s challenging and interesting,” Lockyer said in announcing he won’t seek the job of controller in 2014 for which he’s raised $2.2 million as of January, state campaign reports show.    Read more »

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5.30.2013

” A Century in the Life of a Lawyer by Joseph A. Ball”

 

California Western Law Review

Fall 1999 

 A CENTURY IN THE LIFE OF A LAWYER:

REFLECTIONS BY JOSEPH A. BALL 

 

Joseph A. Ball and Judith D. Fischer [FNa1] 

Copyright (c) 1999 California Western School of Law; Joseph A. Ball and Judith D. Fischer

 

 Joseph A. Ball’s life spans the Twentieth Century.

Born in a small town in Iowa, he studied law at Creighton University, received his law degree from the University of Southern California, and built a prominent law firm.    Read more »

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5.29.2013

A Feisty 82, Joe Ball Speaks His Mind

Originally printed in the Long Beach News, Thursday, June 27, 1985 

Joseph A. Ball remembers when he first put out his shingle as a private attorney in 1928. There were 40 lawyers in Long Beach.

The Long Beach Bar Association met once a month at the Pacific Coast Club on Ocean Boulevard.    Read more »

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3.22.2013

“Legislature of 1,000 Drinks”

California’s first legislative session in 1849 has become known as “the Legislature of 1,ooo Drinks, thanks to the famous sh0uted urgings of Sen. Thomas Jefferson Green, a Texas transplant, who upon recess would say:

“Well boys, let’s go and take a drink, 1,000 drinks.”

History is silent as to how close his colleagues got to goal set by Green, who carried the bill creating the University of California.    Read more »

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2.06.2013

Fitting That Jerry Brown Honors Ronald Reagan Since Reagan Aided Brown’s Political Career

For the  third time in as many years, Gov. Jerry Brown declares February 6 to be Ronald Reagan Day in California. To wit:

“From his humble Midwestern origins, through a successful career in Hollywood, and on to the highest offices in his state and country, Ronald Reagan lived the California dream.     Read more »

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1.05.2013

Remembering John Quimby

John Phillip Quimby, a craggy Capitol fixture for five decades first as a legislator and then a lobbyist for the Inland Empire, died December 23, 2012 of complications from pneumonia. He was 77.

A Democratic Assemblyman from 1962 to 1974, he subsequently lobbied for the counties he previously represented, San Bernardino and Riverside.     Read more »

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1.05.2013

The Case of the Stolen Overcoat

The California Assembly’s Indomitable John Quimby Had a Lion’s Build, a Cheery Wit and a Hound’s Tooth Coat He Didn’t Own

By James R. Mills

San Diego Magazine, December 1983 

“Hire the handicapped,” John Quimby used to say. “They’re fun to watch.”

Upon his arrival in Sacramento in 1962, John had become the most popular member of the State Assembly, partly because he carried on so cheerfully and indomitably in spite of his own handicap.    Read more »

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12.17.2012

Who GIves a F*CK About “Hope” Anyway?

The card at left and below adorned the tables at a December 14 Birthday Party for California Democratic Party Chair John Burton, who turned 80 the following day. Burton, former president pro tempore of the state Senate and longtime San Francisco Assemblyman, expressed gratitude and a measure of surprise at reaching the milestone.     Read more »

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