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WEDNESDAY Pho Spartans Baseball Real APRIL 10, 2013 County Fare Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 5A SPORTS 1B DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF Sunny 84/53 Weather forecast 8B 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 Bealer enters not guilty plea in teen���s murder By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Quentin Ray Bealer, 39, who is facing the charge of murder in connection with the death of 14-year-old Marysa Nichols, entered a not guilty plea Tuesday. The case will be continued at 9 a.m. on June 13. Bealer is being held at Tehama County Jail without bail. Attorney Shon Northam, representing Bealer, said there was still a voluminous amount of discovery to review, which his office had not yet received. Tehama County Deputy District Attorney Randy Alvey said his office was in the process of copying the case and should have most of it to Northam sometime Tuesday. In asking for June 13 for the next court appearance, Northam ���Being a petty criminal does not make him a murderer, but the people of this county have him already convicted and on death row.��� ��� Edwin Bealer said the matter would take all into the next day. Northam has said he is frustrated that it has taken as long as it has to get the discovery, but said Tuesday he does not believe the police are dragging their feet in getting it to him. ���I don���t think they are withholding anything to gain the upper hand,��� Northam said. ���The police department is day and could potentially run See PLEA, page 7A By JULIE ZEEB County affirms Sun City deal DN Staff Writer By RICH GREENE Red Bluff Fire promoted four firefighters to Reserve Engineer Monday following the completion of the first engineers academy since 2008. Those promoted included Lesleigh McLeod, pinned by her father, Mike McLeod; Jonathan ���J.J.��� Sanchez, pinned by his wife, Nora Sanchez; Chris Martin, pinned by his uncle, Tom Forster; and Casey Hickok, pinned by his wife Michelle Hickok. ���Because of the budget, our engineer cadre was reduced to just one, which is the lowest during my time of about 30 years,��� Chief Jon Bennett said. ���One of my goals was to replenish this and to do it within budget.��� At first, the academy was going to be reduced in time, which would have reduced the quality, but Division Chief Matt Shobash would have none of it, Bennett said. ���He has put in tons of hours and rearranged his work schedule to be able to do it,��� Bennett said. Another huge help was Dennis Bagshaw, who left Red Bluff Fire in the 1990s for CalFire, but has recently rejoined Red Bluff Fire as a volunteer DN Staff Writer Firefighters promoted Sun City was back on the Tehama County Board of Supervisors agenda Tuesday, but the action item came and went without the level of attention those words once garnered. The supervisors approved and authorized Chairman Dennis Garton to sign an estoppel certificate addressed See DEAL, page 7A Man gets 10 years for $200M North State Ponzi scheme Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb Lesleigh McLeod, left, shakes hands with Division Chief Matt Shobash who was pinned by her father Monday at a Red Bluff Fire Department badge pinning ceremony where four firefighters were promoted to Reserve Engineer. Others pinned were Jonathan ���J.J.��� Sanchez, Chris Martin and Casey Hickok. following his retirement. Bennett thanked Bagshaw for volunteering to teach the Emergency Vehicles Operations Course and all the fulltime personnel who gave up their own time to come in on days off. ���We have a long histo- ry of dedicated men and women that truly seek the safety of our citizens as See FIRE, page 7A REDDING (AP) ��� A man accused of cheating North Coast residents out of hundreds of millions of dollars in what prosecutors characterized as one of the largest real estate Ponzi schemes in state history has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. A Shasta County Superior Court judge issued the sentence against Gary Armitage, 62, on Monday, as some of his victims spoke out against him in court. ���All of your words and promises turned out to be lies,��� said Ron Johnson, of Auburn, a retired insurance company employee. ���Not only did you steal the money we worked for our entire lives to save, you destroyed our ability to trust in others and our- selves.��� Johnson said Armitage persuaded him and his wife, Sandy, to refinance their home and sell a rental property to invest more money with him. The couple lost $1.2 million, according to court records. In all, prosecutors said Armitage and two accomplices ��� James Koenig, of Redding, and Jeffrey Guidi, of Santa Rosa ��� bilked 2,000 investors out of $200 million. Many of the victims were retirees who lost much of their life savings. Armitage pleaded no contest in January, four years after his arrest, to four felony counts of conspiracy and securities fraud. Koenig went on trial See PONZI, page 7A Cottonwood man New county supervisor visits meeting Operating Engineers at the severely burned in Tehama County Department of Social Services. didn���t Bruce said she applied hash oil explosion to Sandy Bruce shake have go out and hunfor the position, vacated by By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer COTTONWOOD (AP) ��� A Northern California man suffered burns to his face and hands in an explosion at his home while he was allegedly making hash oil from marijuana, authorities said. Jeffrey Isaiah Bolds, 22, of Cottonwood, received second- and third-degree burns in Monday���s blast, said Sgt. Les James of the Shasta Interagency Narcotics Task Force. The damage was 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 Smog Inspection $ 2595 +$825 certificate (MOST CARS & PICK-UPS) 530 527-9841 ��� Member Discount 195 S. Main St., Red Bluff mostly confined to Bolds��� bedroom, James said. A 17-year-old girl and her 2-month-old infant who were in the house were unharmed, and the infant was later placed into protective custody with Shasta County Children and Family Services, authorities said. At the time of the explosion, Bolds was using flammable liquids to extract hash oil, James said. The oil is made from loose marijuana leaf and stem pieces often thrown out because of their poor quality. The weed crumbs are See HASH, page 7A GROWNEY MOTORS We Buy Used Cars paid for or not 1160 Main St. 527-1034 dreds of hands to get her position on the Tehama County Board of Supervisors. On Tuesday she began making up for it, although the hands were coming to her. Four days after Gov. Jerry Brown appointed her District 2 Supervisor, Bruce was the most popular member of the public in attendance at Tuesday���s board meeting. The meeting ended with nearly everyone in attendance, stopping on their way out to congratulate her. The 62-year-old account clerk at the county���s Social Services Department will not officially join the dais until she is sworn in at 8:30 a.m. Monday, April 22 at Sandy Bruce the Tehama County Courthouse Department 1. Bruce was project coordinator at the Tehama County Health Services Agency in 1999 and serves as union steward for the International Union of George Russell���s death in late September, because she wanted to expand her service to the county. ���I just enjoy trying to help people,��� she said. The governor called Bruce personally to offer her the position. She said Brown asked her a few quick questions before doing so. ���It was quite an honor.��� Bruce will serve the first two years of what would have been a 4-year term. An election will be held for the remaining two years of the term in June 2014, when two board positions are already scheduled to be on the ballot. The District 2 seat will See NEW, page 7A PHYSICIAN REFERRAL A TEHAMA COUNTY ECONOMIC FORECAST EVENT Tuesday, April 23, 2013 Carlino���s Event Center / Rolling Hills Casino 2655 Barham Road / Corning 7:30am to noon (breakfast provided) $25 per person Register Today Call 530-529-7000 or visit www.jobtrainingcenter.org A FREE SERVICE PROVIDED FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE 1-888-628-1948