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WEDNESDAY Homemade Strong Opening Peeps MARCH 27, 2013 County Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com See 3B Fare SPORTS 1B DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF Few showers 69/48 Weather forecast 6B 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 Books and crooks Argument in front of police station leads to arrests By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Two Gerber residents were arrested Tuesday morning after fighting inside a vehicle in front of the Red Bluff Police Department. The driver, Belinda Juarez, 48, was in an argument with her passenger, John Dyer, 22, and had pulled over in front of the police department to tell Dyer to get out of the vehicle, Red Bluff Police Sgt. Michael Graham said. Dyer got out of the 2011 Mitsubishi Endeav- or SUV and the argument continued. At 8:10 a.m., a city employee notified the police department of the argument and officers responded. Upon contacting Dyer and Juarez, officers discovered that both had warrants, Graham said. Dyer had a no-bail felony warrant while Juarez had two misdemeanor failure to appear warrants with bail set at $10,000, Graham said. The vehicle, which had been left at the curb with both doors open, was towed from the scene. Senior Nutrition Program nears fundraising goal; change looms By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Daily News enhancement of Lionakis illustration A Tehama County Jail Needs Assessment Project proposal would call for an additional jail facility to be built across Madison Street at the site of the Red Bluff branch of the Tehama Library. Jail expansion plan would move library By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer A proposed plan to expand the Tehama County Jail into a second facility across Madison Street would result in the county���s main library branch being relocated. The county���s Jail Needs Assessment Project consultant unveiled the plan at Tuesday���s Board of Supervisors Meeting. Criminal Justice Research Foundation���s Fred Campbell said the county should look to build the facility at the site of Tehama County Library. A part of Madison Street would also be affected by the 34,000-square foot project that would include a pair of 32-bed dormitory units. The new facility would house the probation department���s Day Reporting Center, expanded medical and development space and improve the jail���s existing food service and laundry areas. The added support spaces would create additional space that could be renovated the existing jail. Tuesday���s presentation was information only and the board took no action on the plan. Campbell said his firm was still working on a final price tag for the project, but its architect has estimated the second jail facility would come in around $20 million. That price is important, as Campbell and the Jail Needs Assessment Project is recommending the county seek SB-1022 funding to pay for the facility. The state legislation would provide up to $100 million to rural counties to help address inmate concerns caused by AB-109 realignment, with a project maximum of $20 million. ���With the money available and to make the best decisions to facilitate the rural lifestyle we have in Tehama County and to best spend the taxpayers��� dollars, I think this conceptual plan is the best we have to offer right now,��� Supervisor Dennis Garton said. After Campbell���s presentation, Tehama County Chief Administrator Bill Goodwin said the county was still in the preliminary stages of discussing where the library would go. Goodwin identified a city-owned site near Kimball Road and Red Bluff���s Public Works Corporate Yard as a viable location. He said if that location is chosen a new library would be constructed with the likelihood it would share a parking lot with the Red Bluff ComSee JAIL, page 5A U.S. Supreme Court divided about upholding California's gay marriage ban By HOWARD MINTZ MediaNews Group WASHINGTON ��� Struggling with the gay marriage issue for the first time in history, the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday resembled the kid at the end of the highest diving board at the pool for the first time -- inclined to turn around and try another day rather than take a bold jump into an uncertain future. During more than an hour of arguments in their jammed courtroom, the justices were clearly divided over California's Proposition 8 voterapproved ban on samesex marriage, although reluctant to take the larger step of casting a broader ruling that would apply to gay marriage rights across the country. The only certainty is that the Supreme Court will leave the fate of California's gay marriage ban dangling until June, when it must rule. But the justices' barrage of questions hinted at options that could open the door to same-sex nuptials in California by sim- 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 The Senior Nutrition Program is inching closer to meeting its goal of raising $15,000 to take care of a shortfall in funding. As of Friday, it had raised $13,938 toward its goal, Senior Nutrition Coordinator Gaylen Norman said. The community has been working for the past few months to help fill in the gap with $3,400 raised at a spaghetti dinner and silent auction at the Red Bluff Elks Lodge. The Corning City Council edged out the Red Bluff City Council in a challenge between the two. Corning City Council and City Staff brought in $358 while Red Bluff raised $330, she said. Those wishing to donate can still do so by contacting Norman at 527-2414. The cost to sponsor one senior is $14 for one week, $58 for one month and $682 for one year of meals. The program is in the middle of a transition, having run through the city of Red Bluff under the Community Action Agency for the past few years, which has caused some confusion as to how it is funded, Red Bluff City Manager Rick Crabtree said. ���It has never, ever been city funded,��� Crabtree said. ���It has always come from the county through grant sources and the city has operated as the vendor, producing meals under a contract with the county.��� That contract is up at the end of the fiscal year, which is June 30, and the county has expressed a desire to have direct control of the program as of July 1, he said. The program will be run through the Tehama County Community Action Agency, which is under the Tehama County Department of Social Services, Executive Director Charlene Reid said. ���It is a very important program to the community,��� Reid said. ���It is in transition and there have been some budget cuts with the recent 12.5 percent cut in the sequester.��� That cut is not the first the program has faced in the past few years, she said. The Senior Nutrition Program is funded through the Area Three Agency On Aging, coming through contracts with California State UniversiSee GOAL, page 5A Gov. Brown appoints Mertens MCT photo Demonstrators gather as arguments are heard on California's Proposition 8 concerning gay marriage, outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., Tuesday. ply leaving intact lower court rulings declaring the law unconstitutional. ���Always hard to predict based on arguments, but I think it is more likely that they will dismiss (on procedural) grounds than decide the merits (of the gay marriage issue),��� said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC Irvine's law school. As hundreds of gay marriage supporters and opponents waved placards and chanted for their causes on the Supreme Court steps outside, the justices expressed concern over whether the time is right for them to take on a state's right to ban gay marriage. Their hesitation raised the possibility they may not even decide the central legal issues in the Proposition 8 case. Justice Anthony Kennedy, a key swing vote, wondered whether the court perhaps should not have taken on the controversy in the first place. The justices considered the arguments as Berkeley's Kristin Perry and Sandy Stier and another California couple challenging Proposition 8 sat in the courtroom among a contingent of gay rights supporters such as Hollywood director Rob Reiner. Supporters of ProtectMarriage.com, Proposition 8's defender, also found coveted courtroom seats. See COURT, page 5A SACRAMENTO ��� Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. Friday announced the appointment of Verdine Mertens, 82, of Red Bluff, to Area Board II of the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities, where she has served since 2010. Mertens has been a private professional conservator, guardian and trustee since 1995. She served in various positions for Tehama County from 1967 to 1995, including public guardian and conservator. Mertens is a member of the Tehama County Coordinating Council on Developmental Disabilities and cofounder of the National Guardianship Association Inc. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Mertens is a Republican. Rosanna Ryan, 62, of Redding, has also been appointed to Area Board II of the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities. Ryan is a peer instructor at We Care A Lot Foundation, where she has been a self-advocate at the Consumer Abuse Awareness Team since 2001. She was a self-advocate at We Care A Lot Foundation���s Feeling Safe, Being Safe from 2008 to 2010 and its Abuse Prevention Team from 2001 to 2008. Ryan was president of People First of California in 1994 and is sergeant-at-arms for People First of Shasta County. Ryan is a Democrat. PHYSICIAN REFERRAL A FREE SERVICE PROVIDED FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE 1-888-628-1948