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WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 5A RED BLUFF Reader Photos Wilcox Winners SPORTS 1B Sunny 92/54 Weather forecast 8B By TANG LOR DN Staff Writer An air quality mitigation plan that created some contro- versy when it was first intro- duced in late 2009 has been revised with few changes. The Air Quality Mitigation DAILYNEWS TEHAMACOUNTY DAILY 50¢ T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Building? Your fees could be dropping Fee plan was reintroduced to the Tehama County Board of Supervisors Tuesday. The plan proposes to charge new developments to pay for air quality improvements. The revised proposal is similar to the original, but with a reduced fee schedule, Air Pollution Control Officer Alan Abbs said. The public will get a chance to comment on the revised pro- posal during an Oct. 19 public hearing. In November 2009, the board voted 3-2 to defer a final vote on the air fee proposal say- ing supervisors wanted to wait until the development impact fee process had been completed and the two fees could be con- sidered together. Supervisors George Russel and Bob Williams said they would still like to have the air pollution fees brought together with the development fees. Supervisor Charles Willard stood by his earlier decision saying there was no point in tying the air fee to development impact fees. The discussion on development fees has not closed while Abbs has already reevaluated the air fee proposal See FEES, page 7A On closer inspection Fairground may get several in California to have put in solar panels as a way to cut expenses, had begun making payments in July 2008, Baker said. Until the last few months, the fair has been paying about $1,700 a month, but refinancing for the original loan, which would raise payments to $3,500 a month has not come through. “We all became a victim of the financial meltdown,” Baker said. “Nobody was more devastated than me when the banks called and said there wasn’t a deal.” The solar panels were financed by a Clean and ‘Our stumbling block is that there was a signed contract and then we’re hit with this payment. Maybe the project shouldn’t have started before we had the financing’ Fairboard President Bob Kerstiens Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb Commercial Vehicle Inspection Specialist Lonnie Phillips explains the job of fellow inspection specialist Dale Gustafson after conducting a North Valley Services tour Tuesday. By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Touring the California Highway Patrol Cottonwood Inspection Facility visitors learn more than just safety tips from Commercial Vehi- cle Inspection Specialist Lonnie Phillips. Phillips, a trucker before becom- ing an inspector at the facility, led a tour Tuesday for North Valley Ser- vices. “I was a commercial truck driver for 22 years before coming here so it gives me insight into the drivers,” Blast responders thought jet crashed SAN BRUNO (AP) — It took almost a half-hour to determine that the massive fireball consuming a San Francisco suburb wasn’t a plane crash. First responders rushing against the fleeing crowds initially believed a jetliner from nearby San Francisco International Airport had gone down in the San Bruno neighborhood or that terror- ists had struck — or both. ‘‘I was concerned about a secondary explosion. I didn’t know what we had,’’ San Bruno Fire Capt. Bill Forester recalled Tuesday. ‘‘I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw it was not an air- plane — there would have been more victims.’’ What turned out to be a gas line rupture last Thurs- day fueled a roaring blaze so intense that it cracked windshields of the closest fire engines and sent four firefighters to the hospital for smoke inhalation. The blast also broke a water main, leaving all hydrants in the area dry. ‘‘It was a sinking feel- ing,’’ Forester said. ‘‘We needed massive water for this thing — and we discov- ered there was no water.’’ While residents helped crews drag hoses from near- ly 4,000 feet away to supply water, other first responders, including South San Fran- cisco police Lt. Ron Carli- no, pushed into smoke- filled homes to check for survivors. Searing heat pre- vented them from getting too close to the heart of the fire. ‘‘We were left helpless,’’ Carlino said. ‘‘The wall of fire was incredibly, intense- ly hot. We were helpless knowing there were people we couldn’t get to.’’ Many of the 400 police officers and firefighters who responded to the explosion, which claimed at least four lives and destroyed nearly 40 homes, acted despite the dangers: Some were fight- ing for a neighborhood they grew up in, the homes of friends and streets where children played. ‘‘I saw smoke and flames and I knew I had to go,’’ said South San Fran- cisco police Detective Ken Chetcuti, who grew up in the area. ‘‘I was thinking to myself that I knew a lot of people in that neighbor- hood.’’ 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 Red Bluff Outdoor Power Phillips said. The inspection facility is busiest on Tuesdays and Thursdays and close to 2,000 vehicles pass through on a good day. That number used to be about 3,000, but with the weak See CLOSER, page 7A Renewable Energy Bond, which had a 5.15 percent interest rate on a 10-year note, and CCA had sought a way to lower the payments through refinancing, Baker said. CCA, which handles improvements for all Califor- nia Fairs, is working on and close to finding another deal to bring the rates down. The agency is hopeful it will be at the same level the second contract would have been, Baker said. In the meantime, California Division of Fairs and Expositions has stepped forward with $700,000 to help keep the payments lower if the fairs will accept it. Several of the directors were concerned over how See SOLAR, page 7A Next Tehama: Gimme a T! By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer A challenge has been issued with Next Tehama, a group that helps young pro- fessionals get involved in their community, trying to collect T-shirts from col- leges and universities in all 50 states. “This is a project put on by Next Tehama to support the Expect More Campaign in a way that’s fun and very visual,” said Melissa Men- donca, a member of the Next Tehama leadership team. The Expect More cam- paign is a community-wide movement to raise aware- ness and provide options for higher education of the youth of Tehama County. The goal is to have a T- shirt for every eighth grade student in the county when the group begins giving them out, hopefully in the spring. None will be given out until there are enough for everybody, Mendonca said. “We wanted to show our students in a very tangible way the possibilities of higher education,” Men- donca said. “We want our students to be aware that there’s a school for each of them whether it’s trade school or an Ivy League School. The right match is See NEXT, page 7A burned by solar hike By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Tehama District Fairboard Directors heard an update Tuesday on finances for solar panels from Mike Trea- cy, director of Fairs and Expositions, and Tom Baker, executive officer of California Construction Authori- ty (CCA). The fair, one of Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb Sarah Kania of the Tehama County Department of Education answers Next Tehama’s challenge recently by donating a University of Connecticut T-shirt to Melissa Mendonca. Red Bluff Daily News Saturday delivery will be late due to the football coverage. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you. D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY PHYSICIAN REFERRAL A FREE SERVICE PROVIDED FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE 1-800-990-9971 CHW North State Region