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WEEKEND MAY 22-23, 2010 Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com See Inside RED BLUFF Tehama County Contractors Guide Perfect Vista SPORTS 1B Partly cloudy 62/40 Weather forecast 10B By ROGER H. AYLWORTH MediaNews Group While volcanic eruptions in Iceland are making world news today, by way of geological coinci- dence May is the anniversary of a pair of more nearby volcanos that at one time shook the world. Thirty years ago on May 18, a monster eruption blew out the side of Mount St. Helens in Washing- ton, spreading deadly mudflows and massive clouds of volcanic ash over the region. 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 Lassen erupted 95 years ago today And only about 70 miles from Chico, Lassen Peak exploded 95 years ago today. During its last period of erup- tive activity, Lassen experienced a series of relatively small steam and ash eruptions. While the eruptions took place between 1914 and 1917, the biggest blast came on May 22, 1915. That afternoon a powerful eruption shook the mountain, sending ash and gas an estimated 30,000 feet into the sky. The cloud reportedly could be seen as far away as Eureka, 150 miles to the west. Roiling torrents of ash and super-heated gas flash-melted the snow on the peak and created a searing cascade of mud and debris that flowed down the mountain- side and into nearby creeks. Michael A. Clynne, the U.S. Geological Survey’s lead researcher into volcanic threats in the “Lassen Volcanic Center,” said neither that eruption nor the St. Helens blast was anything in com- parison to an earlier monster event in the Lassen area. The eruption was sudden, vio- lent, and huge almost beyond imagination. Ash, steam and vol- canic gases blasted miles into the sky. Something on the order of 12 cubic miles of rock and tephra blew out of the volcano. Ash deposits from the eruption have been found east into Nevada, and south as far as San Francisco. That eruption happened “611,000 years ago, plus or minus 1,000 years,” Clynne said. That blast was so huge that it created a “caldera” or massive crater in the landscape. “You can’t erupt 50-cubic-kilometers without leaving a hole in the ground,” he said. But the geologist said the blast Journey through Red Bluff By TANG LOR DN Staff Writer Wind turbine parts sitting in a rail- road storage yard in Gerber will final- ly be on their way to a project site near Burney, beginning Monday. Beginning that day, eight daily loads of wind turbine parts will be transported to the Hatchet Ridge Wind Farm, near Burney, for the next 44 working days. Some of the daily loads will come through the area. The other loads are heading to Burney from the Nevada state line. About four weeks into the move, trucks carrying head units will come through Red Bluff before getting on the highway, city engineer Vinnie Pagnano said. The loads should not cause too many problems for traffic. The idea is to get the trucks through town very early in the morning. They have to be out of town by 7 a.m., Pagnano said. About 19 to 25 head units will come through the area. Each unit, 134 feet long, 15 feet wide and 15 feet 9 inches tall will be transported on flatbed trucks. The trucks should not have any dif- ficulty navigating turns because of rear wheel steering capabilities, Pag- nano said. The loads will be escorted by Cal- ifornia Highway Patrol and most like- ly someone from Red Bluff’s Public Works Department. CHP will close down intersections while the trucks are getting through the area. Motorists are advised to take precaution and yield to the right if they see lights activated on patrol cars, Officer Phil Mackintosh said. Only the head units will need CHP escort because of their size and weight. Other parts, such as the blades and nose hubs will not need to be escorted and will get to Burney through another route other than the one that runs through downtown. Pagnano and county engineers said the complicated route is necessary because there are weight limits on cer- tain bridges, and they will not allow the overweight loads to cross those. The city and county are trying to work out encroachment fee contracts with Pattern Energy, the company building the wind farm, in the event that roads are damaged during the transportation. was so long ago the physical evi- dence of the crater has been oblit- erated by time. Clynne said the best current guess of where the caldera was in the vicinity of what is now called Brokeoff Mountain. The eruption took place long before the current Lassen Peak came into being, about 27,000 years ago. In an article he wrote on the event Clynne said, “A similar erup- tion today could affect communi- ties anywhere in northern Califor- nia and northwestern Nevada, See LASSEN, page 9A Unemployment dips, but so does work force By GEOFF JOHNSON DN Staff Writer A shrinking Tehama County labor force led to a plummeting unemployment rate in April, though the month saw little job growth. At 16.3 percent, the rate climbed down from a record-breaking high of 17.7 in March, the highest recorded in the history of the state’s Employment Development Department. The drop in unemployment was the highest the county had seen since April 2000, EDD Spokesperson Sheila Stock said. The drop is in line with a smaller statewide unem- ployment rate, which went from 13 percent to 12.3 per- cent, and a drop in national unemployment, which went down from 10.2 percent to 9.5 percent. According to EDD statistics, the county’s lower rate owes more to fewer workers than to local jobs. 410 fewer people were listed as actively looking for employment in April than in March, while just 10 more jobs were listed as available. As a rule, the statistics only count people actively looking for work. The 410 no longer looking for work may have given up on finding employment, but they may also have found work in neighboring counties, Stock said. Most job categories remained relatively stable between months, none losing or adding more than 40 jobs, and five categories saw no change measured whatsoever. Shasta County to the north saw a comparable drop in unemployment, easing down to 16.3 percent. Glenn County was also at 16.3 percent, while Butte County was at 13.9 percent. Gerber to start LAFCO process all over again By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Daily News photo illustration by Senia Owensby Wind turbine head units will travel through Red Bluff entering from South Jackson Street and going through downtown before getting on I-5 to Burney (marked by the aqua line on the map). Oversized loads come through the area more often than people think, Pagnano said. Most people are not aware of it because the oversized loads are divert- ed through a specific route. But this one, because of the size of the loads and number of trips, was made public. Trips will be made each day except for weekends and holidays. No trips will be made on May 28 and 31 because of Memorial Day. For information, go to www.dot.ca.gov/dist2/turbines.htm or follow the Twitter feed at www.twit- ter.com/gowindturbines. GERBER — The Ger- ber Community Services District will be starting the Local Agency Formation Commission process to officially shut down the fire department all over again. The Community Ser- vice District signed an interim agreement for fire protection with CalFire on July 1, 2009. The board voted not to sign the $30,000 agreement with CalFire at the April 23 meeting and in the mean- time the 60-day window for the LAFCO process ran Curtis Brownfield See GERBER, page 9A Parents upset over plan to move fifth grade to middle school By TANG LOR DN Staff Writer Antelope School Dis- trict parents want the school board to know they do not support a proposal to move fifth graders to the middle school. In a parent meeting Thursday, parents and school administrators dis- cussed the pros and cons of the move. Parents’ con- cerns ranged from security and supervision to age dif- ferences. The move was one of several cost-saving mea- sures proposed by Interim Superintendent Jack Hansen after the board instructed him to find ways to cut the budget in order to keep the district solvent. By moving the fifth graders from Antelope to Berrendos the district could save about $20,000 in transportation costs. When the proposal was made at the April 27 meet- ing as a possible action item, parents voiced their concerns and the board held off on the decision. Hansen went back to the 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 drawing board, realized some cons and decided the move was not warranted. Moving fifth graders would mean having to creating a fifth and sixth grade combi- nation class, which would displace sixth graders who would be stuck with the lower grade. The special education class would be impacted given the number of incoming fifth graders who require special educa- tion. The one bathroom facility at Berrendos for all the grades is not adequate. Based on those findings, at a May 11 school board meeting, Hansen recom- mended that the board hold off on the move, saying the idea was plausible down the road but not for the upcoming school year. The board decided to go the other way. “My recommendation was to put this on hold,” Hansen said. “The board disagreed. They wanted to obtain more information from parents.” Parents said the move could affect students’ social and emotional develop- ment. Fifth graders would go from being the highest grade on campus to being at the bottom, giving up the leadership role that they would have if they stay at Antelope. Some pros that came out of the meeting included Please Join Danny & Dianne Rabalais in support of CLAY PARKER for SHERIFF Paid for by Danny & Dianne Rabalais Paid Political Advertisment available classroom facili- ties at Berrendos, reduced class sizes at Antelope and possible transportation sav- ings. Hansen said transporta- tion savings could be moot, as he has since learned that transportation costs could be realized even without moving the fifth graders. Transportation Director Fruit Stand will be open Julia’s • CHERRIES • SQUASH • STRAWBERRIES • WATERMELON • NUTS & HONEY Sat., May 22, 2010 9:00 am - 6:00 pm “All produce picked fresh daily” DOWNTOWN DAIRYVILLE EVERYDAY until Halloween Helen Rucker has reworked the bus routes and eliminat- ed a few stops. The new routes would work except for on 10 minimum days when all students are dis- missed at the same time. That could be worked out by having an additional bus driver on just those See PARENTS, page 9A Business Connections LIVE SCAN FINGERPRINTING With results electronically sent to DOJ & FBI Appointments and/or walk-ins. 332 Pine St., Red Bluff 527-6229 Since 1979