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TUESDAY Cattlemen���s Field Day APRIL 9, 2013 Top Dogs Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 5A SPORTS 1B DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF Sunny 76/53 Weather forecast 6B TEHAMA COUNTY DAILY 50�� T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U NTY S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Cops train at RBUHS Vehicles burned at sheriff���s site By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer The cause of a fire reported at 12:05 a.m. Monday as two vehicles on fire at the National Guard Armory on Park Avenue in Red Bluff is under investigation. The cause of the fire had not been determined, but was suspicious, Red Bluff Fire Chief Jon Bennett said in a press release. Red Bluff Fire responded and first units on scene found two vehicles, a semi truck without a trailer and a heavy military surplus truck, fully involved in the Tehama County Sheriff���s Department Search and Rescue Yard at 2010 Park Ave., next to the Armory, Bennett said. CalFire units were called to the scene through a mutual aid agreement. Firefighters quickly knocked down the fire with containSee BURNED, page 5A Official butt heads over landfill plan By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb Tehama County law enforcement practice responding to an active shooter scenario during a training Monday at Red Bluff High School. The school was not in session due to an inservice day. By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Sirens similar to those warning of tornadoes were going off just before 9 a.m. Monday and heard from one end of town to another but did not signal a tragedy. Instead the warnings were about being prepared. Police tape cordoned off the Red Bluff Union High School campus with members of the Volunteers in Police Services (VIPS), Tehama County Search and Rescue and Sheriff���s Team of Active and Retired Seniors (STARS) holding the perimeter for a training from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Armed with fake ammunition, Tehama County law enforcement swarmed the campus for the active shooter scenario training. School was not in session due to an in service day. ���We���ve had very good, positive feedback so far,��� Red Bluff Police Capt. Kyle Sanders said. ���We���ve tried to keep it as real as we can while keeping safety paramount, using a safety plan and gear to limit possible injuries.��� While drills have been held at schools involving all the players, this one was more focused on the law enforcement who would serve as first responders, from officers and deputies on patrol to District Attorney Investigators and Probation Officers, Sanders said. While SWAT teams would be called in if the active shooter scenario turned into a situation where the gunman barricaded himself, the first responders are who would be nearby in a real situation, Sanders said. ���With an active shooter scenario, you can���t wait for SWAT to arrive,��� Sanders said. The Tehama CountyRed Bluff Landfill Management Agency authorized staff to enter into contract negotiations with Waste Connections for a new 10-year deal to operate the county landfill and Material Recovery Facility. The joint board of Tehama County Supervisors and Red Bluff City Council made the decision March 28 in a pair of splitvotes. The board had considered a proposal that would have kept operations inhouse as an agency-run facility, but the meeting veered multiple times from a discussion simply over public versus private. There were pleas from several Waste Connections employees over whether they would still have jobs if the county operated the facilities. Agency Manager Kristina Miller said there would be a difference of three positions under the two proposals, although salary and benefits would be better under the county plan. Miller herself was questioned with calls of bias from Waste Connections, saying the agency had unfair advantages in the Request for Proposal process. At one point in the meeting County Chief Administrator Bill Goodwin said Miller was beginning to cross the line between applicant and agency manager. Miller was also praised several times by board members for her work running the agency. See PLAN, page 5A See COPS, page 5A Assembly OKs ���A good town doing good things��� bill limiting high- 5th Annual Ride for Life cost school bonds raises more SACRAMENTO (AP) ��� Lawmakers advanced a bill on Monday aimed at restricting the use of highcost school bonds that prevent districts from paying off the debt before the bonds mature. The Assembly passed AB182 by Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan, DAlamo. An original coauthor, Ben Hueso, moved recently from the Assembly to the Senate. The bill passed 73-0 in the 80-member chamber and was sent to the Senate. ������This is one bill that deserves our total support,������ said Assemblywoman Diane Harkey, a Republican from Dana Point. The bill limits the ability of school districts and community colleges in issuing so-called capital appreciation bonds, a type of municipal borrowing that has come under scrutiny because of its high costs to taxpayers. The bonds have allowed school districts to build and renovate, but do so by allowing payments to be delayed for years while interest keeps accruing. Unlike typical munici- 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 pal bonds, capital appreciation bonds delay payments for decades and prevent schools from paying them off before maturity. The result is massive balloon payments that sometimes inflate debt service to 10 times or more the principal. State Treasurer Bill Lockyer has been warning about this type of borrowing and said the conditions for repaying the bonds often come at a cost for taxpayers. ������This bill would protect taxpayers from terrible bond deals while maintaining school districts��� ability to provide their parents and children needed facilities,������ Lockyer said in a statement on Monday. According to his office, 574 school districts and community colleges have raised nearly $7 billion through capital appreciation bonds. The debt service on that principal amount is $23.6 billion ��� three and a half times what the entities borrowed. In one example, Poway Unified School District in San Diego County borrowed $105 million on a capital appreciation bond in 2011. The bond won���t mature until 2051 after the district���s taxpayers have paid $981.6 million. than $28K By ANDRE BYIK DN Sports Editor For a duo of Northern California HERO Ride for Life organizers who have seen the cancer research fundraiser grow through their high school years, the fifth annual event at the Tehama County District Fairground arena Saturday was bittersweet. Red Bluff High School seniors Jessica Macdonald and Bailey Brownfield in 2009 started Red Bluff���s horse-riding version of the popular Relay for Life events after being inspired by a similar event in Humboldt County. They���ll be going away to college and won���t be as involved in the event���s preparation in coming years, but they say it is being left in good hands. Brownfield and Macdonald say Ride for Life���s success always has had to do with a giving community. Over the past five years the event, which has participants team up and saddle up to take laps around the arena, has raised more than $120,000. The money benefits the American Cancer Society. As of Saturday evening, money raised reached Daily News photo by Andre Byik Organizers and participants pause at the fifth annual Northern California HERO Ride for Life event at the Tehama District Fairground arena on Saturday. From back left is Bailey Brownfield, Marianne Brownfield and Craig Claver. From bottom left is Rylie Vise, Taylor Collins, Adrienne Wagner, Jessica Macdonald and Shelley Macdonald. more than $28,000 with more coming in. A survivors��� lap early in the day, however, is what puts the event in perspective. ���We do this event because we want to celebrate the people who have won the battle and then continue to help,��� Macdonald said. ���It���s kind of indescribable. I feel like that is the main event. When you look out there and you see those people that are in the arena ��� it���s like ��� that���s why we do this event.��� Emotions ran high, participants said, and covered the spectrum from grief to joy. ���Two years ago my niece passed away from cancer,��� said Dane Cowan, Macdonald���s grandfather. ���So we put a banner on the horse and made a lap. That was tough for me, and it���s still tough.��� Cowan said that what the organizers have accomplished is ���beyond belief.��� ���A group of young people putting their resources together and asking for help ��� what they���re able to do is incredible,��� he said. Pat Cowan said what the group of young women have accomplished with the event is empowering. They have become role models in the community. The man who kept the event moving and acted as master of ceremonies, John Gentry, said, ���I just can���t think of a nicer group of people and a good town doing good things.��� Gentry said he���s been See RIDE, page 5A