BILL NUMBER: SCR 53 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 13, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Senator Gaines
( Principal coauthor: Assembly Member
Dahle )
JUNE 19, 2013
Relative to the Shawn Baker and Joseph "Robert"
Robert Jones Memorial Highways.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCR 53, as amended, Gaines. Shawn Baker and Joseph
"Robert" Robert Jones Memorial Highways.
This measure would designate 2 specified portions of State
Highway Route 96 State Highway Route 5 in
Siskiyou County as the Shawn Baker and Joseph "Robert"
Robert Jones Memorial Highways, respectively.
The measure would also request the Department of Transportation to
determine the cost of appropriate signs showing these special
designations and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources
covering the cost, to erect those signs.
Fiscal committee: yes.
WHEREAS, Shawn Baker was born on April 4, 1963, and grew up in New
Mexico and Alaska; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Baker served his country in the United States Navy
for five years; and
WHEREAS, In 1999, Mr. Baker and his family moved to Siskiyou
County and eventually settled in Weed, California; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Baker enjoyed camping, fishing, traveling, riding his
quad bike, climbing, playing water sports, working with wood, and
renovating his home, and could always be found in the middle of a
project; and
WHEREAS, On January 1, 2004, 31, 2001,
Mr. Baker began his career with the Department of
Transportation as a permanent-intermittent equipment operator in
Yreka, California, and then transferred to the Yreka special projects
crew in April 2004; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Baker was hired as a permanent full-time equipment
operator in November 2004, and then in
December 2004, transferred to the Grass Lake maintenance
crew; crew in December 2004 and the Yreka
special projects crew in April 2006; and
WHEREAS, Joseph "Robert" Robert
Jones was born on April 15, 1973, in Yreka, California, to Marty
Mangrum and Jim Jones; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Jones attended schools in Yreka and Montague up until
his junior year in high school, when he transferred to South Fork
High School in Humboldt County, from which he graduated in 1991; and
WHEREAS, The Department of Transportation hired Mr. Jones in
November 2005 as a temporary employee for the Mount Shasta
maintenance crew; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Jones became a permanent-intermittent equipment
operator for the Mount Shasta maintenance crew in November
2006, and then transferred to the Yreka special projects
crew in December 2006; and
WHEREAS, In June 2008, Mr. Jones was hired as a permanent
full-time equipment operator for the Grass Lake special
projects maintenance crew, then transferred to
the Yreka special projects crew in December 2010; and
WHEREAS, In his spare time, Mr. Jones deeply enjoyed his time as a
volunteer firefighter at the Mayten Fire Department; and
WHEREAS, On April 24, 2013, a group of eight Caltrans District 2
employees was performing rock scaling operations to remove loose
material from a rocky hillside on State Highway Route 96
near Happy Camp in Siskiyou County when a rock slide occurred,
tragically killing Mr. Baker and Mr. Jones, and injuring a third
employee; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Baker is survived by his wife of 26 years, Tammie,
his daughters, Hilary and Mariah, and his sons, Weston and Quinton;
and
WHEREAS, Mr. Jones is survived by his wife,
wife of 16 years years, Shannon,
his stepson, Stephen, his son, Parker, and his daughter, Michael-La;
and
WHEREAS, Both men gave their lives working selflessly to protect
motorists on the highway from future rock slides propelling rocks
onto the highway; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the
portions of State Highway 96 State Highway
Route 5 in Siskiyou County from PM 35.7 to PM 39.5,
inclusive, and PM 41.5 to PM 43.5, inclusive, as the Shawn Baker and
Joseph "Robert" Robert Jones Memorial
Highways, respectively, to honor these two selfless employees of the
Department of Transportation; and be it further
Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested to
determine the cost of appropriate signs, consistent with the signing
requirements for the state highway system, showing this special
designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources
sufficient to cover the cost, to erect those signs; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the Department of Transportation and to the author for
appropriate distribution.