September 11, 2010
Parts of Highway 99 to honor fallen officers
Two sections of Highway 99 in the San Joaquin Valley will be dedicated to law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.
The Legislature recently approved measures by state Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Atwater:
-- Highway 99 through Atwater will become the "Correctional Officer Jose Rivera Memorial Highway."
Rivera, 23, was working at the federal prison in Atwater when he was stabbed to death on June 20, 2008.
Rivera grew up in Chowchilla and graduated from Le Grand High School in 2003.
He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served four years, including two tours in Iraq.
After returning home, Rivera began working for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Atwater.
Two former Atwater inmates, Joseph Cabrera Sablan and James Leon Guerrero, await trial on murder charges.
Both men were intoxicated when they attacked Rivera with an ice pick-type weapon, investigators concluded.
-- Highway 99 in Stanislaus County between the Pelandale Avenue exit and Highway 219 will become the "CHP Officer Earl Scott Memorial Highway."
Scott, 36, was shot and killed while making a traffic stop near Salida on Feb. 17, 2006. He had been with the CHP for five years.
He came from a long line of family members who worked in the CHP, including his father, two uncles and a cousin.
Last month, Columbus Allen II, 34, of Stockton admitted in court that he shot Scott to avoid arrest and possible prison time because he was a felon with a gun in his car.
Allen pleaded guilty to first-degree murder with three special circumstances in exchange for prosecutors agreeing to not seek the death penalty against him.
He is serving a life term.
Read more: http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/09/11/...#ixzz0zDk7riBi
Bookmarks