Congratulations to Alliyah Yerington who was crowned as Miss Lassen County 2021 at the scholarship pageant held Wednesday night at the Lassen County Fairgrounds.

Most Photogenic: Emma Lee Rotlisberger

Miss Congeniality: Georgia Bennett

Community Service Award: Alliyah Yerington

Most Talented: Emma Lee Rotlisberger

Princess and 2nd Runner Up: Georgia Bennett

Ambassadress of Susanville and 1st Runner Up: Emma Lee Rotlisberger

Miss Lassen County 2021: Alliyah Yerington

It was a tough time, and good people were forced to do things that they would not normally do. But there were also those, with less than adequate moral fiber, who used the situation to justify their misdeeds.

In Greenville, Earl and Billy Monroe, a father and son duo, decided to take a shortcut to wealth.

Sometime between closing-time on the 15th and the early hours of the 16th, the Monroes broke into Bert Bergstrom’s ‘Bert’s Place’ pool hall.

Bert went to his establishment about 2:00 a.m., on the 16th, to pick up supplies to go fishing and found the place in a mess. Taken, were two slot machines, about a dozen packages of cigarettes, a radio and $36 in cash. Bergstrom immediately alerted authorities, and then went fishing.

Lyman Styles was stunned and scared. He kept quiet, but as soon as the murderers left, he went to the scene. He saw that there was nothing that he could do to help, so he ran about a mile-and-a-half to the nearest telephone, and then called the sheriff in Susanville.

Lassen Sheriff James B. Leavitt, called Sheriff Russell Trathen in Reno. Soon, the word had spread throughout the area, and in Reno, the authorities were waiting.

The outlaws had been partially identified. One was named Jack Sullivan, but his accomplice was unknown.

It was soon determined that ‘Jack Sullivan’ was an alias, and the robber’s actual name was William ‘Billy’ Monroe. Monroe had also used the alias, ‘Robert Bigelow’, and had a long criminal past.

It was William Monroe who sped towards the ‘Biggest Little City’ in Baccala’s car, and just about three miles from town, he was caught. He was driving at over 70 miles per hour, and he was drunk.

When he was apprehended, he admitted his crime and said that he had done “all of the shooting.”

He claimed that his partner was ‘yellow’. Monroe said, “I am a cold-blooded killer when I get going.”

He added that he had served two terms in California prisons and was released from a Nevada prison a few months before. That time, he had been ‘sent up’ for robbing a grocery store. He also added that he had been mining around Greenville.

Thirty-year-old William ‘Billy’ Monroe was taken to Susanville, and the hunt began for his conspirator.

Monroe was no help, first ‘fingering’ a Roseville pastor, Claud ‘Scarface’ Fairfield. Fairfield, Ku Klux Klan member and wanted criminal, was ‘on the lam’ from authorities.

Plumas County Sheriff, L.A. ’Archie’ Braden and Traffic Officer, Tom Birmingham, were not sitting idle. They were Stacy Baccala’s friends.

The officers did amazing detective work to find just who the missing murderer was. Braden found empty cartridges from a Mauser revolver and a Springfield rifle at the scene near Milford, and similar shells near a camp at Wolfe Creek Canyon, where the Monroes had been camped.

At Wolf Creek Canyon, they questioned other miners, who were happy to help. The Monroes were not well-liked.

The Monroes were identified through police photos, and the miners said that the duo acted strangely and changed their license plates regularly. They also delighted in firing off their weapons.

The father, Earl Monroe, had mentioned that he was from Oroville, so the officers immediately left for there. After inquiring in Oroville, they learned that Earl Monroe’s daughter, Eva Spoon, lived in Reno.

With the accomplice to the burglary and murder identified as Earl Monroe, authorities sprang into action. Lassen’s Sheriff J.B. Leavitt offered a reward of $750 for the arrest and conviction of William Monroe’s father.

An ‘All Points Bulletin’ was issued throughout the area with orders to, “shoot to kill” if any resistance was met. Sheriff Trathen and Plumas Sheriff Braden, along with other officers, worked to trace Monroe’s activity over the past few years.

In Reno, Eva Spoon’s home was ‘staked out’ as they waited for Earl to show his face. On June 24th, it all came to an end. Earl Edwin Monroe, age 50, was arrested by Sheriff Trathen. Monroe called his son, “crazy”, and said that the two had argued, and he left.

As the Monroes left the scene of Baccala’s murder, the son sped on to Reno, where he was caught. The father, Earl, drove up into the hills, stashed the loot, buried Bacala’s gun, and left the coupe. He then walked to Reno to hide out with his daughter. He later returned with his son-in-law, Elvie Spoon, and burned the car.

With the murdering duo incarcerated in Susanville, the story began to become clear. Billy Monroe freely admitted his actions, and in an arrogant tone, said that his final shot into Baccala’s mouth was a ‘mercy shot’ to prevent further suffering. He and Baccala had been childhood friends in Greenville.

On July 20th, Earl Monroe pled ‘not guilty’ and had his trial set for July 26th at 10:00 a.m. He admitted his part in the burglary, but said he had no part in the murder. He was given a sentence of one to ten years in prison for ‘manslaughter’.

On July 23, 1932, William Monroe, confessed killer of Stacy Baccala, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Harry D. Burroughs to be hanged on September 30,1932 at San Quentin. Monroe had claimed ‘self-defense’, but it did him no good.

Both of the Monroes were then incarcerated in San Quentin to await their fate. By August, Billy Monroe was just as ‘cocky’ as ever, and refused to allow his attorneys to appeal his case, saying, “I’m ready to take my medicine.”

He joked with attorneys and invited Sheriff Braden to attend the ‘party’. But by the middle of September, he was getting scared.

Monroe petitioned California Governor James ‘Sunny Jim’ Rolph for a commutation of his death sentence. Under advice from the Supreme Court, Rolph gave a 30-day stay of execution to study the case. Meanwhile, Monroe, in an attempt to gain sympathy, willed his body to Stanford University for experimental purposes.

On October 28th, the father and son met to say farewell. After the 30-minute meeting, Billy attempted suicide by slashing his wrists and the back of his neck with a razor blade, which he had concealed in his wooden leg.

The wounds were deemed ‘superficial’, and the process continued. As Monroe was led to the gallows, guards returned his confiscated leg to him.

At 10:07 a.m., the trap was sprung, and at 10:19 a.m., William ‘Billy’ Monroe became the first person from Lassen County to be lawfully hanged since the county was formed in 1864.

In November of 1935, Earl Monroe won parole from prison. He was released in 1938, and died in 1940 in San Francisco.

The TPI Bootsole project in Lassen and Plumas Counties is the SNC’s single largest investment to date in a forest health implementation project. It will treat and restore 3,770 acres and result in enhanced protection from wildfire for the greater Janesville and Milford communities.

The LFSC award is one of 15 projects that received IAWR funding at the SNC’s July 15, 2021 Board meeting.

“The Sierra Nevada covers a quarter of California and our communities, along with headwater forests rich in biodiversity and carbon, are at increasing risk from damaging wildfires,” said Angela Avery, Executive Officer of the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, a state agency based in Sierra Nevada foothills of Auburn, CA. “We could not be more excited to authorize grants for $19 million in early action funding approved by the legislature, or for these 15 critical wildfire resilience projects to start this summer.”

TPI is an initiative shepherded by LFSC with the support of numerous partners that include Plumas National Forest, Bureau of Land Management, Susanville Indian Rancheria, CAL FIRE, Lassen County, Honey Lake Valley RCD and the Susan River, Janesville and Milford Fire Protection Districts.

With the addition of this award, LFSC has acquired a total of $7.41 million dollars for project development and implementation.

The SNC Capacity funds were critical to the development of the CCI project. The balance of the Planning funds are supporting the environmental clearance work for TPI’s 10,000 acre Lone Spring project south and west of Milford Grade.

“Over the past 3 years LFSC has averaged 9,000 acres of treatments annually,” said LFSC Chair Lloyd Keefer. “With these funds, and others hoped to be awarded in the near future, LFSC is well positioned to continue and increase our pace and scale of critical fuel reduction and forest restoration projects that help protect our communities.”

Although she had these day jobs, she has always been a producing artist. With Jane Braxton Little, they published the book, “Plumas Sketches,” a history of Plumas County told through its historical architecture. Her children’s book, “A is for Almanor,” is a local best seller.

Sally is an active member of Plumas Arts, Main Street Artists Gallery, and the Coachella Valley Watercolor Society. She works in watercolor and oils, pen and ink, and gouache. Her painting subjects are landscapes, figures, architecture, pets, flowers and still life.

Drawing inspiration from her extensive travels as well as Lassen and Plumas County, she often works plein air, which is painting on site. The plein air paintings are sometimes inspiration for larger and more complex studio paintings. She enjoys plein air because it is spontaneous, quick and unrestricted. For her, it is a great way to record her travel, and is more meaningful to her than photographs.

In the 1970s, Sally was a member of the first art co-op in Quincy. They had a successful gallery in East Quincy. She was also part of the art co-op at Epilog Books, and also served terms as a board member of Plumas Arts. She regularly shows work at “Main Street Artists” & Plumas Arts Gallery in Quincy, and Back Room Gallery in Chester.

Sally has displayed her art in many venues in Plumas and Lassen County, as well as Chico and Palm Springs. She has been part of numerous shows and won prizes for her work. Last year she won First Place in the Plein Air at the Coachella Valley Watercolor Society show. She has won the award of Excellence at the California State Fair in Sacramento twice. She has taught workshops in Plumas County, Lassen Park, Red Bluff, Mendocino etc.

To see more of Sally’s work, see her website: www.SallyPosner.com

Jacquie Cordova’s artists passion is fueled by love of the creative process, the various mediums in which she works, and the mountains surrounding her home.

“Living in this extraordinary area continues to inspire me,” says Jacquie of the Almanor Basin/Lassen County area.

Adept in many genres, including painting, drawing and hand building pottery, Jacquie has shared her work as an artist, teacher, and advocate for children and artistic activities. Jacquie will exhibit paintings, drawings and ceramics.

Call the gallery at 530-257-5222 or email [email protected].

Slight earthquake shocks have been so continuous at Susanville in the Sierra Nevadas that the people have become accustomed to the constant trembling of the earth that they pay no attention to it.

Susanville lies on a high mountain-walled valley directly east of Lassen Butte, an extinct volcano 10,600 feet high. From its summit no less than forty extinct craters can be seen.

Cinder Cone, which rises 600 feet above the level of the plateau, was in eruption in 1850. Two prospectors visited it, and they found Lake Salfatra, eight miles south of Cinder Cone, a center of volcanic forces.

The lake was a mass of boiling water and mud, and from it vast columns of flames shot up at intervals. Timber in the vicinity was on fire.

Within two years there has seemed renewed activity in the internal fire, and the present shocks point to the possibility of another great volcanic outburst which will find vent through some of the craters.