Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/109450
THURSDAY Search For FEBRUARY 14, 2013 High School Rodeo Talent Show Pastimes Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 4A SPORTS 1B DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF Sunny 70/40 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 FFA Week at RBUHS Man hangs self in jail cell A 27-year-old inmate died Monday evening at the Tehama County Jail after correctional officers found him hanging from a sheet tied to his bunk, which had been tipped on end. Robert Michael Rupe, who was in a single cell, was located by correctional officers at 6:12 p.m. Monday, according to a Tehama County Sheriff���s Department press release issued Wednesday. Officers immediately placed Rupe on the floor and began CPR, continuing until fire and EMS personnel pronounced him dead at the scene, the release said. According to the release, Rupe, who had been cleared for incarceration, denied having suicidal See CELL, page 7A Supercenter may still be a year away By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb Red Bluff High School staff and students work together during the tractor pull competition Wednesday at Red Bluff High School for the National FFA Week celebration. By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer National FFA Week came early in Red Bluff, where the local chapter is celebrating it with lunchtime activities and a meat goat auction. While nationally the week is celebrated next week, Red Bluff Union High School is holding its activities this week as school will not be in session due to winter break, said Chapter President Sarah Brown. ���We���re trying to get anyone who wants to be involved (in the celebration),��� Brown said. ���There���s dress-up days and lunch-time activities. We���re trying to get people intrigued about ag classes and to get them to take a class. That would be our goal.��� Brown has been involved with FFA for all four years at the school, she said. ���I have older siblings who were involved and both my parents,��� Brown said. ���It���s definitely a family thing to go through Red Bluff High School FFA.��� Having the activities helps other students on campus to see that there are a variety of students involved in the club, which has close to 300 members, she said. ���A lot of our members are freshman members taking intro to ag,��� Brown said. ���We want people to come out, have fun and learn about the program. A lot of them don���t know what the (agriculture) building is called, but they come to see what all the commotions about.��� Sophomore Jesse Nova is not involved in FFA, but was willing to try his hand at participating in Wednesday���s tractor pull, successfully pulling it by himself once he got some help moving it. The tractor was quite heavy and at first he thought the person who was sitting in the seat must have been pushing on the brake, Nova said. The first two days of activities involved food, which is always a draw for teens, she said. Chapter Historian Olivia Zumalt said Wednesday���s tractor pull, where students were timed on how fast they could get the front wheel past the finish line, was probably the most popular lunchtime activity of the week. ���Once we got them into it, they���ve enjoyed it,��� Zumalt said. Wednesday���s winners were Hayden Hinkle and Cole Draper at 8.7 seconds for the two-boy team, Kelsey Cruise and Tommy Cantrell at 11.4 seconds for the boy-girl team and Casey Ventigmilia and Kelsey Cruise at 21.6 seconds for the twogirl team. Monday was pajama day with the lunchtime activity being doughnut dobbing and Tuesday was blue and gold chapter day with an activity including whipped cream and bubble gum. Wednesday���s Tractor Pull was accompanied by green and gold day/John Deere day, today is Tough Enough To Wear Pink day with an FFA meeting and Friday will be flannel Friday with a free hot dog feed. A meat goat auction at the Red Bluff High School Farm was scheduled Wednesday evening. Freshman agriculture students raised 16 market ready meat goats who were to be sold with proceeds used to purchase more livestock for the hands-on learning in the agriculture department. ��������� Julie Zeeb can be reached at 5272153, extension 115 or jzeeb@redbluffdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @DN_Zeeb. With no objections and little public input a Red Bluff Planning Commission meeting Tuesday to make a recommendation on greenhouse gas inventory and performance standards instead turned into a question-andanswer period with the city���s planning director. After lauding Planning Director Scot Timboe for his work on the greenhouse gas inventory and recommending it to the City Council for full approval, the meeting turned to discussion about future agenda items, including the Walmart Supercenter. Planning Commissioner Doug Dale asked Timboe if a rumor of a June startup date for the project was correct. ���I would be surprised if it started a year from now,��� Timboe said, noting his statement was only his opinion. Timboe said it would take the understaffed planning and building departments time to go through the plans of a complex project that includes large scale mitigation projects. Timboe said when the city does receive plans from Walmart he hopes to break them into phases so not all of the work has to be held up because there���s a problem somewhere else. The mitigation efforts, which are to alleviate traffic concerns on Luther, South Main, Montgomery, Mill and Reed, will involve some CalTrans approval. Two traffic signals are included in the mitigation relief. ���It���s a lot of information,��� Timboe said. While the planning department has some long days ahead, the lack of building activity in recent years allowed Timboe to focus on the greenhouse gas inventory and performance standards. Timboe said the document, which identifies carbon dioxide emitting sources within the city and establishes methods to reduce emissions from future building projects, may have cost around $200,000 had consultants been used. With the lack of activity the document was able to be prepared in-house. After an initial public workshop that drew about a dozen people, only one resident showed up for the final public hearing before See YEAR, page 7A Sharing Local airman meets Leon Panetta birthdays with Cupid By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer For a 60-year-old Red Bluff woman today isn���t just about pink hearts and red roses. It���s also about birthday cakes and family. Debbie Younger isn���t the only person whose birthday falls on Valentine���s Day and she knows that fact very well. She shares her birthday with her grandmother, sister and granddaughter. ���It���s something we all share with love,��� Younger said. ���We���ve always been extremely proud and then when my granddaughter came along it was something else.��� Younger���s grandmother, Rena Hilburn, would 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 have turned 108 today. Younger is turning 60. Younger���s sister, Barbara Berbena, is turning 58 and her granddaughter, Aleah Unger, is turning 10. Was there ever sibling rivalry due to sharing a birthday? ���It was just never that way,��� Berbena said. ���It was just always a special day for us.��� Younger said in years past she would spend her birthday with her sister and mother as all the husbands would take them all out for dinner on Valentine���s Day with red roses for all the women. Plans changed throughout the years as her mother passed away and her sister moved to Arizona. Then 10 years ago came the best birthday present ever, a grandSee CUPID, page 7A Special to the DN A local servicewoman, Airman First Class Natalee (Byrd) Pratt, had the opportunity to meet U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in December when he visited an air base in Turkey where she was stationed. As part of a tour that took him to Afghanistan and Kuwait, Panetta arrived at Incrilik Air Base in Turkey on Dec. 14. There he signed an order approving a pair of Patriot missile batteries to Turkey with 400 American personnel to operate them to defend the country against threats from Syria. During the stop Panetta met with troops and awarded them a coin, one-by-one thanking them for their service. One of those troops was Pratt, a 2009 Red Bluff Union High School graduate. Pratt joined the Air Force in 2011 and went to school in Biloxi, Courtesy photo Red Bluff Union High School 2009 graduate Airman First Class Natalee (Byrd) Pratt meets U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in December at Incrilik Air Base in Turkey. Miss. to become a com- completing her school- (Byrd) Peterson of Germunications technician. ing. ber and the granddaughShe has been staPratt is the daughter ter of Bill and Pat Gontioned at Incrilik since of Eric and Cindy zales of Red Bluff.