Two men and a 10 year old boy have returned to Herlong Junction after they were presumed lost in a Secret Valley snowstorm over the weekend. The three were found to have taken shelter at the Smoke Creek Ranch when their pickup truck stalled in deep snow Saturday morning (2 February 1957). Rescue parties including a light airplane located the truck and eventually the three missing people after a two day search. Safe at the ranch were Al Lorenza, Herb Strick and ten year old Mark Kesterson all of all of Herlong Junction.
Families of the three became worried when they failed to return Saturday. When the truck stalled, the men hiked some 8 miles through deep snow to find refuge at the ranch. Rescuers found the truck Sunday morning. Tracks directed an airplane to the ranch where the pilot dropped a note urging the three to return to the truck where rescue awaited. Monday the three made the exhausting return hike and were taken back to Herlong Junction.
The Reno Evening Gazette 5 February 1957
A Chico man was ordered to pay a $60,000 fine for illegally harvesting timber in the Brush Creek area. Mark J. Kesterson was found guilty of harvesting about 84,000 board-feet of timber in 2003 and 2004 without a timber harvest plan approved by state officials. Mike Santuccio, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection battalion chief, said the unauthorized logging harmed the ecosystem on about 120 acres. Butte County Superior Court Commissioner William Scott said Thursday that $50,000 of the fine would go toward forest and habitat restoration. The remaining $10,000 was imposed by the court as a civil penalty. Kesterson, who did business as KM New Forest Management and Construction, was charged with a misdemeanor charge of failure to obtain a timber operation license and a criminal charge of conducting an illegal timber harvest.
Oroville CA (AP) 30 September 2005
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