Tell Your FANs - Friends, Associates and Neighbors.  Especially tell your FANs who are just beginning to build their family tree.. Everybody is invited to the 14th Annual Family History Day at the California State Archives on October 13, 2012 from 8:30 a.m to 4:30p.m. WHAT TO EXPECT "Discover Ancestral Gold" in 24 beginner and basic level genealogy sessions. Each session will be one hour - 15 minutes longer than last year. Topics include beginning genealogy, census, cemetery research, maps, correspondence, forms, German research, Black research, Eastern European research, archives and libraries panel, internet resources panel, and more. Take a class in the State Archives Preserv

Posted by RTribble Hi Officer Michelle, I am curious about laws regarding carrying a firearm. I know that i can carry my handgun on my own proprity like my home Place of buisness ETC. Im Currious about California ban on open carry in public I live in a mobile home park I know if i choose to I can carry my wepon on my belt in my home my backyard ETC. But what about the rest of the mobiel home park it is private proprity but not a “public place” only park residents and there guests are allowed inside. So my qustion is if i was fore exampale walikng to my community mail box and had my handgun in a holster on my hip would that be illegal? If not can the proprity manager tell me I cant carry

Posted by lilian, Hi, Question about what constitutes “excessive noise” that would justify a complaint to the city. I received a letter from animal control stating that a neighbor filed a complaint that my dog barks excessively. I found out recently that this neighbor sleeps until about 10 a.m. is awoken by my dog around 9 a.m. How can this be considered excessive barking? Isn’t construction allowed to begin at 7 a.m.? And what are the laws for people who play drums, i.e., how early can they start? How early can garden service start, i.e., how early can they run a lawnmower? I understand that these are things that can be settled/compromised between neighbors but apparently my neighbor pr

Posted by Shari Zen Spa on H Street has closed. We still have an open account there and would like to get this money back. How can we do that. I phoned and message line is full. I have no telephone numbers of persons who worked there and on the web there is no place to contact this closed business. Please give me some direction in obtaining a refund of the money that hasn’t been used. Dear Shari, What you have is a civil issue. If you can’t get a hold of anyone affiliated with the spa, or they refuse to refund you, you could contact the Better Business Bureau and the Department of Consumer Affairs. The Department of Consumer Affairs sometimes has the name of the business owner who reque

Posted by mrsking My mentally ill adult son who lives with me, was out walking, got picked up, taken to the police station, and tested for illegal drugs. He was not taken to jail. Test results were 100-percent negative for any illegal drugs, and positive for a psychiatric medication. I provided proof to the police that my son’s psychiatric medication was a legitimate prescription. However, police now believe my son is an illegal drug user because their computers say he was arrested for drugs. What can be done to clear this up? Thank you. Dear mrsking, I feel for you that you are dealing with a son who has a mental illness. I work around people with mental illness on a daily basis and I

Posted by cyd evans I saw an officer talking on a cell phone while driving a marked car yesterday. Don’t the same rules apply to police officers as the general public regarding only using hands free devices? Dear cyd evans, Police officers are to abide by the same rules of the road as citizens. However, there are some exceptions to these rules – for instance, when talking on a cell phone while driving, California Vehicle Code Section 23123 (d). This section does not apply to an emergency services professional using a wireless telephone while operating an authorized emergency vehicle, as defined in Section 165, in the course and scope of his or her duties. This translates to, if the offi

Social media such as Facebook and Twitter can be a wealth of information for the family historian. Oftentimes the information discovered using these new tools is not available in standard research repositories, such as archives and courthouses, or on websites.  Learn more at the Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society program on Wednesday, March 14, 2012. Guest speaker Lorenzo Cuesta will provide examples of great finds others have made using social media for genealogical research and provide step-by step instructions to get you started with Facebook and Twitter.  Free, visitors welcome. 7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m., Citrus Heights Community Clubhouse 6921 Sylvan Road, Citrus Heights. Contact Sa

Posted by MartinM Hi,I suspect that my friend Is using drugs,I am almost sure he is using some kind of drugs.Should I report him? After all I am not 100% sure,but he has had some problems before. Thank you. Dear MartinM, It sounds like you have some concerns about your friend using drugs. You may be right. Have you discussed this with your friend? He may need help and police involvement may not be the best route. Your friend may need some intervention from friends and family. There are many drug and alcohol clinics in Sacramento and in the outlying region where your friend may seek help. If your friend is selling drugs or furnishing the drugs to others, then you should call the police

The holidays are a time for family gatherings, but let’s face it – sometimes dealing with Awkward Uncle Andrew is best done with something sweet in-hand. The Sacramento Press talked to local bloggers and pastry chefs about their favorite holiday desserts and compiled the following recipes. Ginger Elizabeth Fudge Brownies – Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates “It’s one of the first recipes I learned to make in restaurants when I was younger, and throughout all the different bakeries and schools and everywhere I’ve been, it’s still my favorite brownie recipe,” said Ginger Elizabeth, owner of the Midtown chocolate shop. “I think it’s the perfect blend of cakiness and fudginess.” The following r

Posted by dram13 Hello, I went out Friday night with some friends and had a bit too much to drink. We took a taxi from the bar and the next day I find out from my bank that over $700 was taken from my account. I had zero money in my wallet and it was shown that money taken out from multiple ATMS before I got home. There are three possibilites I see happening. A) I was guided by the people I was with to take money out while I was intoxicated B) People took my password and card out of my wallet while I was asleep and took money out C) Taxi driver did either A or B. I know that under the law if a girl is intoxicated and a male sleeps with her, it can be considered rape since she was not in

Posted by cherylwin Can I complete a restraining order on someone without providing my location? This is a person who was in prison for kidnapping me years ago and is now free and off parole as of yesterday. Dear cherylwin, It must be unnerving for you knowing that the man who once victimized you is out. Here’s what you should do. His parole agent should have already put those conditions on his parole prior to getting out of prison. You may want to call Parole and make sure the condition to stay away from you was added. He must only know your name and you don’t need to supply your address. If you see the man anywhere near you, call the police. If he attempts to contact you via telephone

Posted by bmclemons Hello Michelle.. Question.. I’m aware of a vehicle which obviously hit something when the driver was drunk not sure if it was a pole or something, but was able to make it back. The car is sitting in an apartment complex garage now for over 3 months and is completely totaled. Shouldn’t this be reported to either DMV or the authorities? Dear bmclemons, You could call the police department in your jurisdiction and report it as a suspicious vehicle. The dispatcher will ask you what the license plate is. It may be a stolen vehicle, or a vehicle involved in a crime. If it doesn’t have a plate attached to the vehicle, an officer can still be sent out to check the vehicle id

Posted by Jib916 Good Morning Michelle. I had a question regarding how you plan on handling the occupiers/campers camping in front of best buy and other big box retail stores for black Friday. If Sacramento has a no tent policy, isn’t it only fair that these peoples camping equipment shall be confiscated, just like the protesters? After all the law is the law. Any response would be greatly appreciated. Thank You Justin Buell Dear Justin, The “no tent” policy you are speaking about refers to occupying a camping space on city/county property. When people camp in front of stores in anticipation for stores to open or to get prime tickets at a box office, they are occupying space on priva

Posted by ron_lopez2011 Please extend my personal thanks to the officers involved in the arrest of Rasaan Zawadi. I hope you get his accomplices too. That story just bugged me to the core; thank you for what you guys do. Dear ron_lopez2011, Thank you Ron! For those of you who aren’t familiar with Rasaan Zawadi, he was one of two bullies who were shown in a viral video taunting and punching a handicapped woman in front of a South Sacramento store. Zawadi was seen harassing and punching the female victim several times. Another suspect, 19-year-old Donnell Wade, who was seen punching the female in the face and knocking her out, was also arrested for the crime. According to a recent press

Family history researchers can find valuable information about births, deaths, marriages, moves, business, naturalizations, court cases, and more in newspapers.  Millions of pages of the world's newspapers are now accessible online, but there is no one place to find them all. Learn more about newspapers at the next Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society meeting featuring Janice Sellers who will provide an overview of what newspapers are available and how to find them, and teach some techniques for finding your ancestors in the newspaper.  All are welcome to attend this free event. Date: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 Time: 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Place: Citrus Heights Community Clubhou

Posted by ted bas Greetings! I enjoy reading these archive articles. Thanks. In my neighborhood, I suspect 3 individual who are, I believe, are in constant plans to rob empty home. One of them daily eye on certain vehicles which would have left their residence. I believes he communicates this to his partner and then determines who else is left behind on a house they plan to steal from. Yesterday I went out to the area where he usually observes. when he saw me, we walked away like guilty for some reason. Today, he is out there but in a more secluded area, eyeing or in a look out for some vehicle while he talks to his friend in the cell phone. Need your advice. I am willing to help to preve

Posted by logsmom08 Hi Officer Michelle! I am a renter in the Sacramento area. I live in a duplex and share the other half of the house with someone who has a ‘medical card’. My neighbors and I share a garage wall in our duplex and I am assuming that they smoke in their garage because when I walk in my garage, the stink about knocks me over. Do I have any rights to ask them to stop smoking in the garage or anywhere where I and my family can smell or be effected by it? Dear logsmom08, The best thing you can do about that is to speak with your landlord. Some landlords have their renters sign a marijuana smoking clause now. The law about smoking marijuana regardless if it is for medicinal

Posted by neighborwatch Hi Michelle, We recently had new neighbors move in the house behind ours. They have a few dogs, 2 of which are large pit bulls. The first thing we noticed were the dogs barking for extended periods of time, all hours of the night. The tenants are home, but seem to ignore the barking. Recently we’ve witnessed 3 instances where the largest dog is attacking the other dogs/other possible animals in their backyard. Vicious attacks which leave their deck stained with blood. The most recent incident involved the woman trying to separate the dogs, and she was thrown to the floor and screaming. I called 911 as I felt her life was in danger. Unfortunately I don’t know what

Posted by GARYA73 Is it illegal to video record an on-duty peace officer?   Dear GARYA73, In the State of California, it is legal to video tape a peace officer, if you are in public and have a legal right to be there. You must not impede the officer in any way while they are in the course of his/her duties. If a crime scene has been established, members of the public may not cross it, even to film. This may lead to contaminating evidence within the crime scene. This happens all the time. Everyone has a camera phone or a video recorder and officers are constantly being scrutinized. The other issue is that people often post their videos on social media networks. I am of the philosophy

Posted by gigglebabe this may be silly but need some info My daughter looking for summer work decided to place a ad on craigs list. she received a replay from a guy and said he needed a personal assistant she was all caught up in making her on money she said she would do what ever it was he needed long story short her first task was to take these money orders and cash them , then western union the money, thought it was weird but told her the bank or post office would be able to tell if they were fake well they were, i just want to know that she wont be in trouble for taking them to the post office (they kept them and said they would be turned over to the investigators) and should we conta