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THURSDAY Corning Shasta Lake Win 2013 JANUARY 31, 2013 Visitor's Guide Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com See Inside SPORTS 1B DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF Sunny 64/36 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 County jobless rate rises in December By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Unemployment increased slightly in Tehama County for December, going from 12.6 percent in November to 13.2 per- cent in preliminary numbers released by the Employment Development Department. While unemployment went up, the county did drop from 41 to 38 in the system that ranks the 58 counties in California, Plans in works for grey wolves with 58 being the highest unemployment. In comparison to its closest neighbors, only Glenn County at 14.4 percent has a higher unemployment rate. Butte comes in first at 11.6 percent followed by Shasta at 12 percent. Marin County continues to have the lowest unemployment rate at 5.5 percent. It is followed by San Mateo, 6 percent; San Francisco, 6.5 percent; Orange, 6.8 percent and San Luis Obispo, 7.3 percent. Imperial County has the highest unemployment at 25.5 percent with Colusa County at See COUNTY, page 7A Corning gets its groove on By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer There's been no evidence California's first gray wolf since 1924 OR-7 has killed any livestock, attacked a human or otherwise overstepped his welcome since he began visiting the state in December 2011, but that hasn't stopped the California Department of Fish and Wildlife from creating a plan in case he does. Northern Region Wildlife Program Manager Karen Kovacs gave an informational update Tuesday on OR7, now known as Journey, to the Tehama County Board of Supervisors focusing on the department's efforts to See WOLVES, page 7A New councilmen learn the ropes Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb Daily News photo by Rich Greene Red Bluff City Manager Richard Crabtree delivers a councilmember orientation Tuesday evening to members, new and old, of the Red Bluff City Council as well as some city employees. By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer The city of Red Bluff's two newest councilmen, Clay Parker and Robert Sheppard Jr., got a crash course Tuesday evening in what will be expected of them during the next four years. The city held a Council Member Orientation to introduce the new councilmen to everything from how the Brown Act applies to how ordinances are passed. See ROPES, page 7A Rojelio Viramontez of Royal King Dance teaches Maywood Middle School students about dance. By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Latin beats were playing across the gym at Maywood Middle School Wednesday, when Rojelio Viramontez of Royal King Dance was teaching students how to dance. "He'll be with us for about two weeks," Principal Dave Cory said. "He's a high energy motivational specialist who is helping our students build self esteem in a positive contemporary manner. We're very fortunate to have him. He works with schools in six different companies and all over the United States." Dancing since age 6, Viramontez, a diversity and motivational specialist, travels the country, visiting schools 40 weeks a year, according to a Corning Union Elementary School District press release. "He's not only motivating the kids, but the staff as well," Cory said. "Some of the staff joins on their breaks and some of the kids will go in on their lunch and join the class. His speciality is working with the kids who are more difficult and New trails boss has big plans Special to the DN The recent Thursday Evening Program of the Sacramento River Discovery Center introduced Tehama County's Air Pollution Control Officer Alan Abbs to the attendees, as the new Tehama County Trails Coordinator. The appointment occurred in November and Abbs has been busy developing plans and making contacts with people who can make things happen. Attendees at the meeting included representatives from Mendocino National Forest, City of Red Bluff, members of the former Red Bluff Trails United group, North Valley Services, Pacific Crest Trail Assn, mountain bike enthusiasts and walker and runners in Tehama County. Abbs shared some information about other areas of California and there ways of providing quality outdoor recreation opportunities. Tehama County has a number of locations with 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 Courtesy photo Alan Abbs, the new Tehama County trails coordinator, leads discussion of outdoor recreational opportunities at Sacramento River Discovery Center's program meeting. trails, but many are not maintained. One example given is the trails on Dog Island. Abbs is working on getting a crew organized to widen the trails, which have become very narrow and overgrown over the past several years, and to do a general cleanup of the area. This is planned to be accom- plished before Civil War Days in April. The attendees asked for things like: signage — length and level of difficulty to be listed at the trail beginning and also be included on all maps of trails, more trails in areas such as the RBRA ( like Susanville with 30 miles of trails within one mile of down- town); trails for Mill Creek Park area, trails along 36 W, creation of a complete trails map that can be downloaded from the internet, and the long asked for completion of some sort of base material or concrete trail along the west side of Sale Lane to the AAA office. See TRAILS, page 7A even our most challenging students are getting involved." The two-week program, which will travel to all the schools within the Corning Elementary School District between now and May 9, is an expansion on the dance program the school offers, which teaches square dancing. "It's an extension to what our teachers are doing and it brings an outside prospective to our students," Cory said. "It brings the performing arts exposure for our kids to a See CORNING, page 7A Poll: Californians upbeat over future, budget plan SACRAMENTO (AP) — Californians are more optimistic about the future of the state than at any time since before the recession and are giving high marks to Gov. Jerry Brown's budgeting approach after voters approved higher taxes to help balance the state budget, according to a poll released Wednesday. The Democratic governor's job approval rating reached a record high 51 percent in the latest poll by the Public Policy Institute of California, with even a slim majority of Republicans giving a thumbs-up to his recent budget proposal. The poll also found broad support for increased gun controls and changes to current immigration laws that would allow a path to citizenship. A majority support the federal health care overhaul that already is under way in California. The percentage of adults who said the state is headed in the right direction was 51 percent, the first time a majority of people said that since January 2007. Nearly half those surveyed said they expect good economic times in the next year, compared to just 35 percent in January 2012 and 36 percent in January 2011, the poll found. The support is tepid, though, with 40 percent expecting bad economic times. ''Part of it is people feeling confident that the budget situation is on the right track,'' said Stephen Levy, director of the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy based in Palo Alto. He said he was surprised that Californians were so optimistic about California's growth, though, in the midst of national discussions over the debt ceiling and the so-called fiscal cliff. See PLAN, page 7A