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FRIDAY APRIL 2, 2010 Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com See Inside RED BLUFF Round-Up Week Guide Spartans sneak by SPORTS 1B cloudy, wet 55/38 Weather forecast 10A Mostly 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 Mixed verdict in gun incident trial By GEOFF JOHNSON DN Staff Writer A Thursday trial brought mixed results for a Tehama County employee accused of threatening and assaulting a controversial writer and former coworker. In the trial, held exactly a year and a day after a 2009 con- frontation, Melissa Lynn Jones, 41, was found guilty of issuing terrorist threats with a special allegation of brandishing a firearm at Barry Clausen, but not of physically attacking him in the North Valley Baptist Church parking lot where they met. Jones was referred to the probation department for sen- tencing on May 24, with Judge Dennis Murray granting the department permission to refer sentencing elsewhere because of Jones’ history as a counselor at the Juvenile Justice Center. Jones is required not to initi- ‘All I dream about is my wife getting her head blown off and having to deal with that’ Barry Clausen ate contact with Clausen. The criminal trial was held over the course of five-and-a- half hours, without a jury, a Pranks a lot By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer When Lance Nance, manager of Bob’s Tire Cen- ter, arrived at work about 7 a.m. Thursday he was in for a surprise. Someone decided to do a little re-decorating, starting with the Bob’s Tire statue on the corner of the store at 614 Walnut St. “I thought it was funny,” Nance said. “It was a good prank.” For April Fools’ Day, someone had dressed the statue in a pink bikini by taking a pink bra and adding some duct tape to make the outfit fit. Nance said his father, Bob Nance, had been the first to arrive at work about 6:30 a.m., however, Bob Nance didn’t notice the prank. “You drive by it every day so it’s easy to see why he missed it,” Nance said. Thursday’s prank wasn’t the first to be pulled on the statue. Others have included things like pulling the nose off or wrapping the statue in toilet paper, he said. Lance Nance said the ——— Julie Zeeb can be reached at 527-2153, extension 115 or jzeeb@redbluffdailynews.c om. prank was clever enough that the store decided to leave it up for a while Thursday for others to enjoy. Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb Someone pulled an April Fools’ Day prank on Bob’s Tire Center in Red Bluff Thursday, dressing the Bob statue in a pink bikini. right she had waived, District Attorney Gregg Cohen said. Defendants often opt out of a jury trial when aiming for a technical defense. Police and coworkers agreed after the incident Jones had admitted to brandishing a gun at Clausen, requesting leave from her supervisors the following day. She has not returned to work since. Allegations Clausen made that Jones traveled to the park- ing lot with heavy, fist-size stones that she threw at him and that she beat him once she had See TRIAL, page 9A Cops tally stolen items on Corning property CORNING — Authorities are continuing the inves- tigation into a 5-acre Corning Road residence where at least $15,000 in stolen goods were being kept. Luke Nathan Coleman, 35, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of possessing stolen property when Tehama County Sheriff’s Deputies found a pair of stolen ATVs on his land. See TALLY, page 9A County’s census returns lag behind neighbors’, state’s By TANG LOR DN Staff Writer More than half of Tehama County house- holds have been counted in the 2010 Census. As of Thursday, the official Census Day, 54 percent of households in the county have returned census questionnaires. So far, participation rates are surprisingly higher than expected, said Sonny Le, Census Bureau regional media specialist. The high mail partici- pation rate can be attrib- uted to the shorter ques- tionnaire and advertising, Le said. The bureau has created a more sophisticated cam- paign and done more community outreach in anticipation of low num- bers. Historically, when the nation is in a down- turn, people are less likely to participate in govern- ment sponsored surveys, but that has not been the case. “At this point it looks very good,” Le said. “When we are in uncer- tain times it might make it more difficult, but it has not.” The bureau is trying to match participation num- bers from the 2000 Cen- sus, considered to be one of the most successful censuses since the ’70s, when participation num- bers started to decline. In 2000, the national mail participation rate was 72 percent. As of Thursday, the national mail participa- tion rate was 54 percent, while the state’s rate was a little lower at 51 per- cent. Many areas have See CENSUS, page 9A Climber found Businesses urged to go pink dead on Shasta By JULIE ZEEB MOUNT SHASTA (AP) — A rescue team on Thursday recovered the body of a missing climber who was stranded near the summit of Mount Shasta. Rangers found the body of 26-year-old Thomas Bennett of Oak- land in a snow cave where his friend had left him before going for help, the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office said. Bennett’s family was waiting at a nearby airport after being told of his death. An autopsy will be conducted. Rescuers had been try- ing to reach Bennett since his climbing partner Mark Thomas called 911 Sun- day to report that Bennett had collapsed near the summit. The two experi- enced climbers were trapped overnight by severe winds. The bad weather stalled the search until Thursday. Thomas told authorities that Bennett was uncon- scious when he started down the mountain by himself. He was rescued Monday. Thomas said he left Bennett in a snow cave with water, candy bars and granola. He was able to show authorities Bennett’s location on a map. The seven-man search and rescue team encoun- tered heavy snow and high winds Thursday. Rescuers were able to locate the snow cave by spotting a black avalanche marker described by Thomas. 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 Stormy weather and poor visibility had pre- vented rescuers from attempting a search on the 14,126-foot mountain. DN Staff Writer New elements are being added to the decorating contest that takes place at busi- nesses through- out Red Bluff in celebra- tion of the Red Bluff Round-Up with the addition of Rounding Up Pink. “Hopefully, it will be our first annual event and we will get more people decorating and participat- ing each year,” said Kate Gleim, Rounding Up Pink committee member. Gleim said she hopes more peo- ple will travel into the different parts of town to see all the dis- plays. “This isn’t just the Downtown Business Association,” Gleim said. “It’s chamber members and all business people. We want them all and would love to have every- one participate.” All of the displays are outstand- ing, Gleim said, but she highly recommends that people check out the display at Placer Title Compa- ‘This isn’t just the Downtown Business Association. It’s chamber members and all business people. We want them all and would love to have everyone participate’ Kate Gleim Rounding Up Pink organizing committee ny, 955 Main St., which was “phe- nomenal” last year. Past displays have included everything from life-size horses and entire jails to bulls, saloons and even a cemetery. “It’s just awesome what people do,” Gleim said. “The time, energy and heart put into the displays is overwhelming and a testament to how Red Bluff business communi- ty celebrates hometown America.” In addition to the contest, which adds the people’s choice award this year, Rounding-Up Pink will bring money to a good cause — the fight against breast cancer. “We came up with Rounding- Up Pink as a tie in to Tough Enough to Wear Pink,” Gleim said. “When customers come in and shop in participating stores, a portion of the sales will be donat- ed to Tough Enough to Wear Pink.” On April 9, 10, 16 and 17, par- ticipating stores will see who is really tough enough by dressing up in pink western wear, Gleim said. For more information or to enter your business in the contest, call Gleim at 527-8844, Irene Fuller at 527-5180 or the Red Bluff-Tehama County Chamber of Commerce at 527-6220. Information and voting for the See PINK, page 9A