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WEDNESDAY Countdown DECEMBER 26, 2012 Palmer Out to New Year American Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com See Inside Profile SPORTS 1B DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF Showers likely 49/33 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 O u t o f Cu ba Report: City���s finances in order By JULIE ZEEB By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer DN Staff Writer Although it was 50 years ago in October, a Los Molinos man remembers well the evacuation of Guantanamo for the Cuban Missile Crisis. Claude Crow, then 17 and a junior in high school, was one of about 2,200 who left the docks in the USNS Upshur during the evacuation of military and civilian dependents on Oct. 22, 1962. ���We left so quick to get out of there my mother left the clothes on the line,��� Crow said. ���We just didn���t have time. They got us out of there and onto the ship.��� The morning started out like any other until an announcement came over the public address system at the school about 11 a.m., he said. Everyone was told to go straight home and the students were bussed from the schools to where the housing was. Crow came home to find his mother at the door with a suitcase, ready to go, he said. That morning there was nothing on the road, but we came back to our house to see the area loaded with jeeps, Crow said. ���There were people on the side of the road,��� Crow said. ���No sooner did you turn around, but the same bus that brought you home, took us to the docks. My father was a civil engineer in charge of public works on the base and he was one of seven who stayed. We didn���t even get to say goodbye.��� In the chaos, evacuees were ordered to turn the cats out and tie their dogs up on the clothes lines, he said. The family was one of several loaded up on the The city of Red Bluff���s financial record-keeping received a clean bill of health. An independent auditor has found no significant deficiencies or instances of noncompliance with the city���s 2012 Annual Financial Report. ���We did not identify any deficiencies in internal control over financial reporting that we consider to be material weakness...��� a letter by auditor Matson & Isom attached to the report states. Mayor Wayne Brown said that sentence was the most important in the report, as the city has had internal deficiencies in the past. The city brought in $6,922,795 in total revenues to the general fund and spent $7,122,000 during the See CITY, page 7A California jobless rate dips below 10 percent Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb Claude Crow holds the license plate from his first vehicle in Cuba and a copy of his high school year book, the Coral Reef, at his Los Molinos home. USNS Upshur on a fourday voyage to Norfolk, VA where the ship was separated with boys on one side and their mothers and girls on the other with permission needed to cross from one side to the other, he said. On the entire voyage, up until US waters were reached, the group, which has protection from antisubmarine plans that flew over once an hour, was followed by a Russian submarine, Crow said. ���When you took out field binoculars, you could see the Russian flag and a big red star,��� Crow said. Along the way, one baby was born on the USNS Upshur. Crow, who served in the mess lines, and a few other young people helped out were given a letter of commendation for their help from the commanding officer See CUBA, page 7A SACRAMENTO (AP) ��� After a long twilight, business is booming again at Matt Construction as high-end orders come in for hotels and office complexes. The Los Angeles-area company increased hiring by about 20 percent this year, adding 30 employees as more construction jobs ��� and bigger ones ��� piled up. Such stories are a major reason California���s jobless rate dipped below 10 percent last month for the first time since the recession began. The 9.8 percent unemployment rate reported Friday by the Employment Development Department is down from 10.1 percent in October. The last time the unemployment rate was in single digits was in January 2009, when the number was 9.7 percent. The improvement, led by a surge in technology jobs that have spurred a wave of new construction, comes as something of a surprise. Leading economists had predicted that California���s unemployment rate would remain in double digits through 2013. Al Matt, executive vice president of Matt Construction, said his Santa Fe Springs-based company has seen a strong recovery from the height of the recession in 2009, when revenues dropped by half. ������Overall, our revenues are up in 2012 by a substantial amount, as much as 30 percent,������ he said. ������It looks like next year will be a similar sort of increase.������ There are other positive signs. The number of unemployed Californians dropped to 1.8 million, also the lowest number in nearly four years. The state has added more than 564,000 nonfarm payroll See RATE, page 7A County extends AB-109 Auto Shop already a success director���s contract By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer The Tehama County Board of Supervisors extended Interim Planning Director Jim Hamilton���s contract for another two months Dec. 18 and moved further in the recruitment process to find a permanent replacement for the position. The county has been without a permanent planning director since George Robson retired from the position in November 2010 after more than three decades on the job. At first the county split the services of John Stoufer with the city of Corning. When Stoufer retired in June, the city hired Hamilton on an interim basis. Hamilton served 11 years as the city of Redding���s Development Services Director. His contract with Tehama County was due to expire Dec. 31. Tues- day���s board action extends the agreement to Feb. 28. During the amended term, Hamilton will serve on a more or less halftime basis at a salary of $4,500 per month. That figure is around $2,000 less per month than Hamilton was paid during the previous six months. The board approved county staff to use a salary range of $84,000 to $103,100 per year to use in recruitment for a permanent planning director. Final salary and benefits will be negotiated by the Chief Administrator Bill Goodwin upon finding a successful candidate. Department heads are not represented the a county bargaining unit. COMPLETE AUTO REPAIR Smog Inspection $ 95 25 +$825 certificate (MOST CARS & PICK-UPS) 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 195 S. Main St. Red Bluff 530 527-9841 Open not quite six months, the AB-109 Auto Shop, which officially opened its doors July 16, is a resounding success. ���This was a dream eight months ago,��� Deputy Sheriff Rich Ryan, the program���s overseer, said. ���Now it���s happening. AB-109 allows us to work on county vehicles and we can train the inmates to work on them so it���s a win-win deal.��� Under AB-109, the realignment of non-violent state prisoners to the local level, there have been efforts to find ways to deal with overcrowding with the auto shop being one of the first. See SHOP, page 7A Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb Workers from the Class of 2012 at the AB-109 Auto Shop pose for a picture with the hats and sweatshirts, both bearing their names, given to them for Christmas. Pictured top row, from left with Program Overseer Rich Ryan are Edgar Gaona, Dave Easter, Josh White, Ryan. Bottom row, from left: Jose Madrigal, Sergio Martinez and Brett Howell. The Daily News office will be closed for the Christmas Holiday, Monday, Dec. 24, Tuesday Dec. 25 & for New Years Holiday Monday, Dec. 31, Tuesday, Jan. 1 Advertising deadline for Tuesday editions is noon the previous Friday. Classified line ads will be accepted by telephone on Christmas Eve and New Year���s Eve until 3 PM. Call 527-2151 and press 2 for Classifieds DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF TEHAMA COUNTY 527-2151 ��� FAX 527-3719 545 DIAMOND AVE., RED BLUFF PHYSICIAN REFERRAL A FREE SERVICE PROVIDED FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE 1-888-628-1948