A one-mile elevated section of the bypass under construction on Highway 101 in Mendocino County is to carry the name of a Willits serviceman who died four years ago while in Afghanistan. U.S. Navy SEAL Jesse Pittman, 27, of Willits, was killed when the helicopter he was in was shot down by Taliban insurgents over the Wardack province Aug. 6, 2011. Thirty U.S. servicemen died in the attack. A retired high school librarian who knew him, Mikela Cameron, and Pittman’s uncle, Mike Pittman, initiated the effort to immortalize his name on a bridge. The cause gained the support of Caltrans...
