Category: California

Categories
Born again Cynic! California Dear Grumpy Advice on Teaching in Today's Classroom Grumpy's hall of Shame

Teaching in California, I am so sorry & embarrassed by this!

Least-Educated State: California No. 1 in Percentage of Residents 25 and Older Who Never Finished 9th Grade; No. 50 in High School Graduates

By Terence P. Jeffrey

California Gov. Jerry Brown and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) outside the U.S. Capitol, March 22, 2017. (Getty Images/Alex Wong)

 
(CNSNews.com) – California ranks No. 1 among the 50 states for the percentage of its residents 25 and older who have never completed ninth grade and 50th for the percentage who have graduated from high school, according to new data from the Census Bureau.
Texas ranks No. 2 for the percentage of its residents 25 and older who have never completed ninth grade and 49th for the percentage who have graduated from high school.
9.7 percent of California residents 25 and older, the Census Bureau says, never completed ninth grade. Only 82.5 percent graduated from high school.
8.7 percent of Texas residents 25 and older never completed ninth grade, and only 82.8 percent graduated from high school.

California and Texas—while having the highest percentages of residents 25 and older who never finished ninth grade and the lowest percentages who graduated from high school—are the nation’s two most populous states.
In fact, the 2,510,370 California residents 25 and older who, according to the Census Bureau, never finished ninth grade outnumber the entire populations of 15 other states.
In California, children are required to attend school from six years of age until they are 18. “California’s compulsory education laws require children between six and eighteen years of age to attend school, with a limited number of exceptions,” says the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, an agency of the California state government.
(The National Center for Education Statistics also indicates that children in California are compelled by law to attend school from 6 to 18 years of age.)
Massachusetts ranks No. 1 for the percentage of its residents 25 and older—42.1 percent–who have earned at least a bachelor’s degree.
These rankings are based on data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 5-year estimates, which were released this month.
In the survey, the Census Bureau asks respondents to specify the level of educational attainment for each individual in their household. The question is: “What is the highest degree or level of school this person has COMPLETED. Mark (X) ONE box. If currently enrolled, mark the previous grade or highest degree received.”
The survey form then offers the respondent multiple options ranging from “no schooling completed” to “professional degree” or “doctorate degree.” If an individual has not earned a high school degree, the respondent is asked to specify the highest grade the individual actually completed—ranging from “nursery school” through “12th grade—NO DIPLOMA.”
The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey queries a random sample of more than 3.5 million U.S. households each year and publishes a one-year estimate for each year. The five-year estimate, the bureau says, “is a weighted average of the five one-year estimates.” The newly released five-year estimates are for the period from 2013 through 2017.
Nationwide, 5.4 percent of residents 25 and older have never finished ninth grade, according to the latest five-year estimates.
Ten states exceeded the nationwide level of residents 25 and older who have never finished ninth grade. These include: California (9.7 percent), Texas (8.7 percent), New York (6.5 percent), New Mexico (6.5 percent), Kentucky (6.1 percent), Nevada (5.9 percent), Arizona (5.9 percent), Mississippi (5.6 percent), Rhode Island (5.5 percent), and Louisiana (5.4 percent).
Wyoming—with 1.8 percent—had nation’s smallest percentage of residents 25 and older who never finished ninth grade.
In seventeen states, the percentage of residents 25 and older who at least graduated from high school was less than the nationwide percentage of 87.3 percent.
These seventeen states included: California (82.5 percent), Texas (82.8 percent), Mississippi (83.4 percent), Louisiana (84.3 percent), New Mexico (85 percent), Kentucky (85.2 percent), Alabama (85.3 percent), Arkansas (85.6 percent), Nevada (85.8 percent), West Virginia (85.9 percent), New York (86.1 percent), Georgia (86.3 percent), Tennessee (86.5 percent), South Carolina (86.5 percent), Arizona (86.5 percent), North Carolina (86.9 percent), and Rhode Island (87.3 percent).

Nationwide, 30.9 percent of residents 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
In nineteen states, the percentage with a bachelor’s degree or higher exceeds the national percentage. These nineteen states include both No. 14 California (32.6) and No. 9 New York (35.3), which respectively ranked No.1 and No. 3 for the percentage of residents 25 and older who never finished ninth grade.
The ten states with the highest percentage of residents 25 and older who earned a bachelor’s degree or higher are: Massachusetts (42.1 percent), Colorado (39.4 percent), Maryland (39 percent), Connecticut (38.4 percent), New Jersey (38.1 percent), Virginia (37.6 percent), Vermont (36.8 percent), New Hampshire (36 percent), New York (35.3 percent), and Minnesota (34.8 percent).
West Virginia—at 19.9 percent—has the lowest percentage of residents with a bachelor’s degree or higher.
In another seven states, the percentage of residents who have a bachelor’s degree or higher is less than 25 percent. They are: Mississippi (21.3 percent), Arkansas (22 percent), Kentucky (23.2 percent), Louisiana (23.4 percent), Nevada (23.7 percent), Alabama (24.5 percent) and Oklahoma (24.8 percent).

In California, according to the Census Bureau’s five-year estimates, the resident population 25 and older was 25,950,818. Of those individuals, 2,510,370—or 9.7 percent–never completed ninth grade.
Another 2,033,160 California residents 25 and older completed the ninth, tenth, eleventh or twelfth grade—but did not earn a high school diploma. Thus, a total of 4,543,530 California residents 25 and older—or a nation-leading 17.5 percent–have never graduated from high school.
Those 2,510,370 individuals 25 and older in California who never finished 9th grade outnumber the entire populations of 15 other states, according to the Census Bureau’s latest population estimates. These include: Alaska (737,438), Delaware (967,171), Hawaii (1,420,491), Idaho (1,754,208), Maine (1,338,404), Montana (1,062,305), Nebraska (1,929,268), New Hampshire (1,356,458), New Mexico (2,095,428), North Dakota (760,077), Rhode Island (1,057,315), South Dakota (882,235), Vermont (626,299), West Virginia (1,805,832), and Wyoming (577,737).

In Texas, the resident population 25 and older was 17,454,431. Of those individuals, 1,513,995—or 8.7 percent—never completed ninth grade. That outnumbers the populations of 11 states.

Categories
Born again Cynic! California

Well I guess that my Gas & Electric Bill out here is going to go way up soon!

PG&E broke laws in 12 NorCal wildfires, Cal Fire found. Prosecutors may not file charges

BY TONY BIZJAK AND

DALE KASLER

 
The Camp Fire began on Nov. 8, 2018, and has since become the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. Drone footage shows the fire destruction, with home after home lost, in Paradise, California.
By Alyssa Hodenfield | Hector Amezcua
PG&E has already been convicted in criminal court for a recent deadly tragedy. Could the utility soon find itself as the defendant in a dozen more cases, charged with breaking state laws?
In the wake of massive utility-caused Northern California wildfires, a handful of district attorneys in flame-scarred counties are pondering whether to charge the utility company in criminal court for misconduct.
Cal Fire, the state’s fire protection agency, sent investigative reports to seven counties this summer saying it believes PG&E likely violated state public resources and health and safety laws in 12 blazes.
Cal Fire spokesman Scott McLean said it is up to local prosecutors in Sonoma, Napa, Yuba, Nevada, Lake, Humboldt and Butte counties to make independent decisions on whether to use the fire agency’s investigative conclusions to file criminal charges.

“We saw cause, and we gave it to the DAs to figure out,” McLean said. “Whether they are going to prosecute, that is up to them.”

The decisions on whether to charge Pacific Gas and Electric Co. could have a major impact on the company. The utility currently is subject to court-ordered federal monitoring stemming from a criminal conviction for the 2010 San Bruno gas-line explosion that killed eight.

A violation of PG&E’s probation in the San Bruno case — such as a criminal act — could lead to what one former prosecutor said would be an added layer of “onerous” controls. And, arguably even more troublesome, new criminal charges could give the utility giant a public black eye that would exacerbate its mounting financial woes.

Prosecutors pass

So far, none of the counties has filed charges. Cal Fire is still investigating last month’s Camp Fire, which killed 86 people in Butte County, mainly in the towns of Paradise and Magalia. That report is due next year.

In Sonoma and Napa — where Cal Fire alleges five wildfires were the result of PG&E law violations — attorneys said they are waiting for the state to come to a conclusion on the the biggest fire of all in 2017, the Tubbs Fire, which burned part of Santa Rosa and killed 22 people.

They and a few other counties recently asked the state attorney general to review the cases as well for potential state prosecution.

One county district attorney already has taken an alternate tack.

Butte District Attorney Mike Ramsey recently worked a deal with PG&E. He agreed not to file criminal charges for a small wildfire last year near Paradise. In exchange, PG&E pledged $1.5 million to pay for four new fire safety inspectors, and to allow those inspectors to look at PG&E’s power lines. If the inspectors find a fire safety hazard, PG&E agrees to correct it within 24 hours.

The fire that prompted the deal, the 2017 Honey Fire, was ignited by a tree limb hitting PG&E power lines and burning 150 acres of brush a half-mile from Paradise. Cal Fire determined that PG&E had failed to follow state public resources code that required it to trim a decaying limb close to the power line.

The Butte safety inspectors had not yet been hired when the devastating Camp Fire hit Butte County last month. If the program had been in place, could it have averted the Camp Fire? “That is the old, ‘What if?’ ” Ramsey said. “We can do that all day.”

Ramsey declined to say whether he would file criminal charges if Cal Fire determines PG&E broke laws in the Camp Fire. “It’s a little premature,” he said. Besides, “we don’t want to show our cards.”

Play Video

Duration 2:03
A memorial of crosses has been erected in Paradise in honor of the victims who died in the wildfire in Butte County. A family who lost their home and belongings stopped to visit on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018.
By Renée C. Byer | David Caraccio

Beyond reasonable doubt

Some residents, such as Christina Taft of Paradise, said a criminal prosecution would carry emotional resonance.

Taft has been struggling with guilt since the fire, wondering how much she is to blame for her mother’s death. Victoria Taft refused to leave their apartment that morning, despite her daughter’s pleadings. So Taft left without her mom, not realizing how dire the situation was. “I feel like I didn’t do enough,” she laments. “I didn’t wait long enough.”

Taft said she had a nightmare the other day about it: In the dream, it was early morning, and her mom was looking out a window at a light and was confused about what it meant.

Taft says she knows PG&E has a history of failing to maintain its infrastructure, but she is more angry with the county for not alerting her and her mom to the level of danger they faced. “It was not just our choice, it was a lot of factors. It wasn’t all my fault.”

In Napa County, where officials await the state’s Tubbs Fire report, Mike Rippey, son of Charles and Sara Rippey, the two oldest victims of the Atlas Fire, said he would like to see a criminal prosecution, if warranted.

“If someone does something criminal, then they should be punished,” he said. “But it’s not going to bring my parents back. It’s not going to make me feel any better.”

One county already has decided not to file criminal charges. Yuba County, where a pair sagging utility lines slapped together in high winds last fall, sparking the Cascade Fire which killed four people in the Loma Rica area, won’t take PG&E to court.

The criminal charge in that case likely would have been involuntary manslaughter, which carries a fine of up to $10,000 in each instance. County District Attorney Pat McGrath published a four-page paper in October detailing the fire investigation and explaining his conclusion that the burden of proof is too high to convict.

“This office has concluded that a criminal jury would be unable to unanimously agree beyond a reasonable doubt that the evidence is sufficient to establish criminal negligence, as opposed to ordinary negligence, on the part of PG&E,” he wrote.

McGrath said he will reconsider, however, if new information comes out that would make a conviction more likely.

That doesn’t sit well with Marjorie David, who lost her daughter Roseann Hannah, 53, in that fire. David, who lives in Florida, first heard about her daughter’s possible death when a niece posted a prayer on Facebook. Another daughter called her minutes later with the bad news.

“(PG&E) should be held accountable,” she said. “I’m not looking for anything financially out of it. I don’t know a lot about what went on up there. I just don’t think people should get away with things like that, particularly the electric company, due to their neglect.”

In Nevada County, where the McCourtney Fire destroyed 13 buildings last year, District Attorney Clifford Newell said the decision to prosecute is complicated.

His county famously set a legal landmark in the 1990s, winning a wildfire criminal conviction against PG&E on hundreds of charges. But the utility’s actions were egregious back then, he said. In recent years, he’s seen utility crews out doing maintenance leading up to fire season.

Given that PG&E is making payouts in individual civil lawsuits stemming from the fire, and that his county already is pursuing a civil case against PG&E, Newell said he is asking himself: “Is it right for me to file criminal action? I don’t know yet. Criminal negligence is one of the toughest standards to meet. It has to be super-egregious activity.”

The potential for criminal charges is only a part of a morass of legal issues PG&E faces as a result of several years of fires involving utility lines in drought-plagued California. The company has been hit with numerous individual civil suits from residents who lost homes, businesses and loved ones.

A group of nine counties also has filed a joint civil action against PG&E, called the North Bay Fire case. That includes several counties also pondering criminal charges.

Those counties are following a trail blazed by Calaveras County in 2015 when it civilly sued PG&E for causing a fire called the Butte Fire, which killed two people. The fire was named for the road closest to the ignition point, Butte Mountain Road in Amador County.

Calaveras recently extracted a $25 million settlement from PG&E. The county will use the money to replace damaged infrastructure and to compensate itself for lost tax base.

Calaveras chose not to file criminal charges, though Cal Fire said PG&E had violated several state codes by improper tree cutting, allowing a weak tree to hit the lines.

Deputy District Attorney Jeff Stone said his office decided a jury may not view PG&E as criminally responsible for the two deaths, given how far away they were in time and distance from the fire’s origin. One of the victims reportedly refused to leave his property, instead staying to clear brush around his home.

“In both cases, it was at least the second day of the fire,” Stone said. “We saw that as a little far removed. We had to evaluate: Did these people perhaps choose to remain at their home and protect their home. We didn’t see PG&E as being criminally responsible for that.”

Payouts vs. punishment

Civil lawsuits are more popular because they typically lead to much higher fines than criminal charges, and have a lower legal bar of proof. In many cases, criminal liability for starting a fire is just a misdemeanor and the fines are small, often $1,000 per incident.

Civil litigation attorney Gary Danko, part of a legal team representing several hundred Camp Fire victims, said a criminal fine is like “a gnat on the backside of an elephant” compared to multimillion dollar civil payouts.

After the 2010 natural gas pipeline explosion that killed eight people in San Bruno, PG&E was fined $1.6 billion by state regulators. When the company was found guilty of six felony counts for violating federal pipeline safety laws, it was fined $3 million — the maximum allowed by law. PG&E was also ordered to spend up to $3 million publicizing the convictions and had to commit to 10,000 hours of community service.

But some legal experts say PG&E has good reason to fear criminal convictions. The San Bruno criminal case also left the company on probation for five years, starting in 2017, during which it’s had to submit to outside monitoring of a corporate “compliance and ethics program.”

A federal judge last month demanded that PG&E explain to him by the end of the year why the Camp Fire is not a violation of the probation terms. (The cause of the Camp Fire has not been officially determined, but PG&E acknowledged equipment malfunctions on the day the fire started at the location where it started.)

Several fire lawyers said the judge could choose to tighten federal court monitoring of the utility, or even appoint someone to run the company if he determines PG&E violated its probation.

Beyond that, though, PG&E likely has a general concern about looking like a bad guy in the public’s eye.

“Companies do not want to be prosecuted criminally. Reputational harm is huge and companies don’t want that,” said Stacey Geis, a former assistant U.S. attorney who helped bring the San Bruno charges against PG&E. “Most companies would ask me to prosecute them civilly and not criminally.”

PG&E declined to comment about potential criminal charges. Spokeswoman Lynsey Paulo said the company is focused on safety.

Play Video

Duration 1:51
Flyover shows the destruction from the Camp Fire, California’s deadliest wildfire, in Paradise, CA., on November 13, 2018.
By Hector Amezcua

Categories
Born again Cynic! California Grumpy's hall of Shame

Californians Get the Government They Deserve..and That’s Deadly

tags: , 
“The government you elect is the government you deserve.”
— Thomas Jefferson
The state of California is massively in debt. Middle-class jobs are leaving and taking California’s middle class along with them. With growing crime, it is more dangerous to live in California each year.
After failure like that, California politicians call for higher taxes and more gun control. Why would politicians propose more of the prescriptions that failed in the past? That is a fascinating question. Let’s see if we can help.

California compared to other states-

California has some of the strictest gun-control laws in the country. California is ranked first of the fifty states when it comes to gun-control.
Those laws are so severe and so extensive that California has an “A” rating by the Giffords gun-control group. Shouldn’t those gun-control laws guarantee very low rates of violent crime and a remarkably low murder rate?
The answer is a tragic ‘No’. California has regulated guns for decades, yet gun-control hasn’t come close to delivering on its promises. Not then, and not now.
California gun laws-
Unless you’ve lived there, you might not be familiar with California’s extensive gun laws. The state mandates safety training before a sale can take place. They have universal background checks before each gun sale, and a ten day waiting period before you can take possession of your gun.
Ammunition sales are also regulated. You have to buy a gun lock with each firearm. Most handguns sold in the United States are not allowed for sale in California. Magazine capacity is limited, and you can only buy one gun a month. California also regulates and registers what the state calls “assault weapons”.
Most California citizens can’t get a permit to carry a handgun in public. Nor does the state recognize carry permits from other states. California proposes more gun-control laws each year.
Each growing infringement on the right to keep and bear arms was supposed to guarantee that criminals wouldn’t use guns for violent crime. The opposite took place. In California, the criminals are armed and the law abiding citizens are disarmed.

Comparing California’s crime rate to other states

California is quite violent when compared to the rest of the fifty states. That is bad and becoming worse year after year. California ranks in the worse half of states when ranked by violent crime. Thirty five states were safer than California in 2016.
Also, the homicide rate in California increased by 18 percent from 2014 to 2016. Note that California classifies some crimes as non-violent that most states, and most citizens, consider to be very violent. For example, forcible rape is punished as a non-violent crime in California.

Political considerations

Why do California politicians persist with more of the same old policies in the face of repeated failure?
High taxes mean there are lots of government programs that reward special interests. Special interests provide campaign contributions to incumbent politicians. California is ruled by Democrats, and high taxes persist because they work for California Democrat politicians.
It is more important that California Democrat politicians succeed than that California citizens succeed.
We see similar forces at work with gun control. For Democrat politicians, rising rates of homicide are a beneficial feature rather than a fault. High rates of violent crime provide a justification for more gun-control legislation.
That legislation provides more campaign cash from gun-control donors. Gun-control works for Democrat politicians even while it fails for California citizens. Now, California Democrat politicians want to tax guns, but does anyone think that criminals will pay those taxes?

For all the compassion that politicians show in front of the cameras,
very little compassion makes it to the streets where people are dying.

This isn’t an academic question. We pay for these political adventures with our lives.

Categories
Anti Civil Rights ideas & "Friends" California

Gun-Control Fails in California..and We Lose

Sociologists and criminologists rendered their verdict. Gun-control in California doesn’t work. In hindsight, that should have been obvious. Unfortunately, these failed laws will probably not be rescinded by lawmakers nor be overturned by judges. Since Californians won’t change things at the ballot box, they are going to have to vote with their feet to restore their rights.

What we now know about gun-control-

This recent report on gun-control was issued by a number of academics, including the researcher funded by the state of California in their Violence Prevention Research Program. This is hardly a right wing policy piece purchased by gun manufacturers. The report compared data from California with data from other states that did not enact gun-control laws. Rates of homicide with a gun and suicide did not decrease in California compared to those other states used as a control group. There was no significant difference despite the gun-control laws being in place for more than a quarter century. Mandated background checks for all firearms purchases didn’t reduce crime or suicide. Prohibiting people with misdemeanor offenses from buying guns didn’t reduce crime or suicide in California.
California also has mandatory firearms safety training, 10 day waiting periods, magazine capacity restrictions, and one-gun-a-month purchase restrictions. Most people can’t get a concealed carry license in California. There are obvious reasons these gun-control laws don’t work despite the political promises made in press releases.

What we thought would happen and why gun-control failed-

California politicians said that criminals wouldn’t use guns if we regulated law abiding citizens. In most cases, the criminals simply got their guns illegally. If guns were in short supply, then criminals shared guns rather than each criminal having a gun of his own. For the few criminals that were inconvenienced by these gun-control laws, the criminal simply used another tool of intimidation rather than using a firearm.
That analysis only looks at part of the balance between criminals and crime victims. It has to be true that some criminal somewhere was inconvenienced by California’s gun-control laws. Unfortunately, all of the law abiding California gun owners were also inconvenienced by these laws. Many honest citizens were disarmed. The effect of disarming a few criminals was overwhelmed by disarming so many of the intended victims of crime. Rather than make crime harder, California’s gun-control laws made crime easier. Guns save lives when they are in the hands of law abiding citizens as well as take lives when they are in the hands of criminals.
This study shows that criminals ignore gun laws and the burden falls on honest gun owners. That is true for every gun-control law. Unfortunately, California politicians and judges don’t care. There is a reason why.

We are the only ones who care if gun-control fails-

California’s gun-control laws clearly infringe on our natural right of self-defense. These laws also disproportionately disarm the poor and minority segments of our society. Gun-control leaves the most vulnerable segments of society at greater risk. Shouldn’t lawmakers and judges care about that?
California’s gun-control laws don’t apply to California politicians. They can buy the guns they want and carry them at times and places where you can’t. California judges get concealed carry permits in counties where ordinary citizens are denied a permit. In addition, California politicians can continue to rake in campaign contributions in support of gun-control even though the gun-control laws don’t work.
In short, gun-control works for California’s elites. Politicians and judges won’t change a system that works for them. What is shocking to me is that federal court judges agree with the California politicians and with lower court judges. That means we can’t look to politicians or judges for help.
Changing things is up to us.
~_~_
I gave you 600 words for free. Please rate, share, and comment in return. RM

Categories
California

Los Angeles,The original Home of the Really Bad Divers

Looks like the Mid 1950’s when the Red Cars were still running! or not

Categories
Anti Civil Rights ideas & "Friends" Being a Stranger in a very Strange Land California

As a Citizen 7 Gun Lover of the Once Great State of California. I am so F**KED!

Governor Elect Gavin Newsom has proposed that all illegal aliens in California get Medicaid.   
(Also the man has never met a Tax or Anti Gun Law that he did not love!)

That grin tells you he’s pleased he’s the new boss, with a super majority in the state legislature.   What mischief can he get up to next?
The political class in our state answers to the public entity unions and the illegal alien/Hispanic lobby, and no one else.
How long until the actual generators of wealth, the actual working citizens, rebel against this?   Or exit the state, accelerating the fiscal collapse that is probably already baked into the cake irrespective of whether these bills are passed or not?
The founding fathers, at the end of the 1700’s, knew that Democracies naturally and inevitably collapse when the voters discover that they can elect representatives who will use the power of the state to transfer the wealth of others to them.   That’s clearly what’s happening now in California.
As I was telling someone the other day, as the state becomes more and more desperate to pay for their fiscal obligations, they will become more and more desperate to seize the wealth of those people that create it.  That will accelerate the emigration outward of all productive people.  If you have property here, better sell it now.  Believe me, that has started already, and will only become more pronounced as the governing elite continue to attempt to buy the votes of the non productive with the wealth of the productive.
Categories
Born again Cynic! California

Some thoughts on the California latest Fires

Image result for FIF5

Categories
Anti Civil Rights ideas & "Friends" California

A very Useful book to have while here in The Peoples Republic of California!

Categories
California

What a normal day is like in Los Angeles Traffic! (Just wait for it!)

I gotta get out this place! Grumpy

Categories
California Fieldcraft

Bring Out Your Dead by VANDERLEUN


Every night at 6 PM the Sherriff of Butte County reveals the grim count of the dead discovered, so far, in the ashes of Paradise. He also reveals the latest number of known missing persons who cannot be located by family or friends.  Finally, there is the list of homes and businesses destroyed. The raging fires that destroyed Paradise utterly have passed (for now) but the search for the dead is only beginning.
Last night’s official tally was:
DEAD: 71 (all but one found inside a home.)
MISSING: 1,100
HOMES DESTROYED: 9,740 (only about 5% have been search so far)
BUSINESSES DESTROYED: 336
In short, they have only begun the search for the dead. It will be some time before there is an OFFICIAL tally of the dead, but whatever that is it will always be on the low side. This is the kind of town and the kind of disaster that means five years from today hikers in the ruined but reviving forests will be stepping on skulls.
Paradise is not a town on some flat land out on the prairies or deep in the desert. Paradise is a series of cleared areas and roads superimposed on an extremely rugged terrain composed of deep, narrow ravines and high and densely wood ridges. The Skyway is fed by hundreds of paved and unpaved roads that twist and turn and rise and dip and then, at their OFFICIAL ends, run deeper still and far off the grid. If you live in Paradise you know there are hundreds of people living back up in those ravines and ridges that would be hard to find before the fire. In those places, the poor are lodged tighter than ticks.
I’ve seen, before the fire this time, people in the outback of Paradise so abidingly poor they were living in trailers from the 70s resting on cinder blocks and at most only two winters away from a pile of rust. These people would have had no warning of a fire, no warning at all. Instead of “sheltering in place” they would have been “incinerated in place.”
In the ravines and forests of Paradise, cell reception was so spotty that AT&T gave me my own personal internet driven cell-phone tower. If those off the grid in Paradise actually owned cell phones they would have been lucky to get an alert. But most of those did not own cell phones, and landlines didn’t run that deep in the woods. When the fire closed over them they would have had no warning. No warning until the trailer melted around them. And then there was, out behind but still close to their trailer, their large propane tank.
How many bodies will be found in the pyre of Paradise? Right now nobody knows for sure.  Nobody will ever know for sure. In five years from today, somewhere in the reviving forest of Paradise, some hiker is going to step on a skull. He won’t be the only one.