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FRIDAY Students of the Month FEBRUARY 15, 2013 Corning Soccer Education Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 4A SPORTS 1B DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF Sunny 74/37 Weather forecast 8A 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 Plazability? A downtown plaza in Red Bluff By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Discussion in Red Bluff took place Thursday morning at the Business Connections building on the possibilities of having a town plaza. Roger Brooks of Destination Development, Inc., who helped create Tehama County's Brand — Tehama Country: Reach Your Peak — presented his research on 100 public plazas and what they did for communities. Italy is one of the most visited countries in part because of its plazas that are present in every town, Brooks said. Not only are they open in every town, but they are open well into the evening. In the 1960s and 1970s, as people began to move into the suburbs, there was a renaissance of plazas in the United States, Brooks said. "Today, there's a new renaissance (of plazas)," Brooks said. "People want a downtown more than ever. We want out of the cars and into a pedestrian friendly area." All over the United States, cities are taking places in town they call concrete islands, asphalt jungles, downtown eyesores and plain, ordinary open patches of land and turning them into a draw for both their community and its visitors, he said. In Boulder, Colo., the city built a four-block area that is so well used that people from Denver, half an hour away, will come to shop, Brooks said. It has been closed to vehicle traffic and had an addition of planters and public art along with vendors scattered throughout, he said. The area, in part paid through a downtown assessment district and the remaining Woman dies after fire third paid through federal funds, is packed even when no event is going on and has become one of Colorado's most popular attractions, Brooks said. In Pittsburgh, the town dug up an area and started completely over, creating a 28,000 square foot section for its plaza, he said. "It's just a hub," Brooks said. See PLAZA, page 7A Logue: State making progress on business By LAURA URSENY MediaNews Group Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Loma Rica, didn't hesitate when he heard about Texas Gov. Rick Perry coming to California to cherry-pick businesses. While Gov. Jerry Brown and Perry's camps spar verbally, Logue sees this as the opportunity to make California more business-friendly. Perry is in California this week to try to talk California businesses into considering a relocation to his state. Perry ran radio ads last week, praising business See LOGUE, page 7A Man embezzles more than $2.5 million from Raley's Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb Firefighters respond to the fire Wednesday at Villa Columba while residents evacuate. By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer A Red Bluff woman injured in the apartment kitchen fire reported at 1:06 p.m. Wednesday at Villa Columba, 460 Main St., has died. The 77-year-old was taken to St. Elizabeth Community Hospital with serious burn injuries, which resulted in her death at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Red Bluff Fire Chief Jon Bennett said in a release. The woman was identified as Louise Gerrodette, the sole occupant of a second floor apartment, Bennett said. The first arriving unit of Red Bluff Fire detected smoke upon arriving and upgraded the alarm for the incident to a full structure response. Residents of the building were being evacuated by staff when the fire department arrived on scene, Bennett said. Fire crews discovered the small kitchen fire had been knocked down by maintenance personnel prior to their arrival and diverted to patient care for Gerrodette and ventilation of the building in the second story of the north wing, Bennett said. The fire was caused by clothing coming into contact with a hot electric stove top burner, Bennett said. "The Red Bluff Fire Department would like to remind everyone of the danger of wearing loose fitting clothing when using or standing near a stove or any hot appliance," Bennett said. The fire did cause minor burn damage to the kitchen area and smoke damage throughout the apartment, Bennett said. ——— Julie Zeeb can be reached at 527-2153, extension 115 or jzeeb@redbluffdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @DN_Zeeb. SACRAMENTO — Auburn area resident, David John Magana, 46, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and a money laundering conspiracy, United States Attorney Benjamin Wagner announced. According to court documents, Magana, the former Director of Advertising for Raley's Family of Fine Stores, conspired with others to defraud Raley's of more than $2.5 million using a number of schemes. The investigation is ongoing. "The magnitude of Mr. Magana's misconduct is unacceptable," Sacramento Division FBI Special Agent in Charge Herbert Brown said. "The FBI is dedicated to identifying and pursuing cases where an employee intentionally takes advantage of an employer for financial gain." "Mr. Magana abused his position to take control of millions of dollars of company money for personal profit," IRS CI Special Agent in Charge Jose Martinez said. "Not only did he defraud his employer, but the everyday customer. IRS CI is committed to identifying and investigating those who take advantage and impact the financial well-being of others for their own benefit." According to court documents, Magana demanded that a company that provided printing services See RALEYS, page 7A Audit: State does Seeking troops for care packages not track costs of Calif. parks By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer SACRAMENTO (AP) — The latest investigation into financial mismanagement at the state Department of Parks and Recreation shows that its administrators do not even know much it costs to operate each of California's more than 270 parks, yet another symptom of a flawed organization that kept millions of dollars hidden even as it sought to close parks to save money. Parks officials had no way of knowing how much money the state would have saved by following their own recommendation to close 70 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 parks last year, according to an audit released Thursday. The proposed closures were the department's way of helping the state address its budget deficit. The report by state Auditor Elaine Howle was part of an investigation into $54 million discovered last summer in two special funds and reveals that the hidden cash was but one sign of wider mismanagement. Department administrators estimated the operating costs for individual parks based on geographic regions using 10-year-old figures. The audit said that even newer estimates provided since the scandal broke were inconsistent. See PARKS, page 7A It's not that they don't want to help, they've just run out of people to help. Diane Norton and Terry Keluchie have been organizing the sending of care packages to US military oversees for two years. They're not done, but they've run out of a list of local troops to send the packages to. "We have no more names," Norton said. The two organize the effort through their work at Diane's House of Hair and the Historic O.K. Barbershop, at 438 Walnut St. in Red Bluff. It began two years ago when Norton began putting together care packages for her granddaughter Brooke Conrad's unit in Iraq. The care packages feaSee TROOPS, page 7A Daily News photo by Rich Greene Terry Keluchie and Diane Norton put together U.S. troop care packages, but have run out of people to help. The two organize the packages at Diane's House of Hair and the Historic O.K. Barbershop on Walnut Street in Red Bluff. The two are posed in front of a photo of Keluchie's granddaughter's unit in Iraq.