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THURSDAY Chico St. Spartans Tennis Concert MARCH 28, 2013 Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com Pastimes See 4A SPORTS 1B DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF Few showers 68/47 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 Relay For Life Well-rounded students set for Corning By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Relay For Life is coming to Corning, starting at 9 a.m., during the weekend of April 27-28 at Corning Union High School. The event, which is in it's second year, is well on its way to meeting it's goal, Chair Renee Beckley said at Tuesday's Corning City Council meeting where she made a presentation. "We have $5,000 in our preliminary money raised," Beckley said. "We're well on our way to the goal of $25,000. This is for our past survivors and our current fighters." She is lucky to have two teams who are coming out to honor her father, Beckley said. "There are over 25 friends and family who are forming two teams," Beckley said. In April, the group will hold an event called Paint the Town Purple in which area businesses are encouraged to add purple in whatever way they can to support the event, she said. "We will have three prizes for the most decorated businesses," Beckley said. "We want our survivors, when they come to town, to see it so they can see that we truly love See LIFE, page 7A Calif. officials: Delta plan to help fish survival FRESNO (AP) — California water officials said Wednesday that a $14 billion twin-tunnel plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta would restore the ecosystem and reduce deaths of threatened fish, although during dry years the delta smelt would be killed at the same rate as today. During water-scarce years, the existing pumps in the south portion of the delta would continue to divert most of the water, cause reverse flows and kill the fish that get caught in the machinery, according to an analysis in new draft chapters released by the California Resources Agency. Officials said the plan does provide a cumulative net gain in fish populations over time. There would be significant improvements for the smelt during wet years, they said, because water would be diverted from the north portion of the delta, where fish would not be sucked into deadly pumps. In addition, the creation of thousands of acres of tidal wetlands would increase smelt habitat and food for the species. ''We don't intend to have improvements in every season,'' said Mark Cowin, director of the California Department of Water Resources. ''We do hope to See DELTA, page 7A RBPD swears in 2 new members Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb Mercy High School students Mariah Kingwell, Stefanie Cheek play with kittens at the Tehama County Animal Care Center Wednesday as part of an all-school community service day. By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer On Wednesday, close to 100 students from Mercy High School went out into Tehama County to serve their community. "It is a graduation requirement that they do 80 hours of community service," Mercy Principal Paul Weber said. "It's part of our overall philosophy that we want to prepare our students academically and give them opportunities to broaden their experiences not only in sports, fine arts and music, but also in service." Service is an important part of being a part of a community, he said. "It's our civic responsibility to be sure they know math, science and English, but also that to really be a full citizen in our society means to serve in the community and do things for other people and other organizations," Weber said. "High school is a time where kids become focused on themselves and they should be, but this says there's more to it than that. It's good for them to think beyond themselves and if they're going to develop the Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb Mercy High School students Anthony Aviles, Gillie Coehlo, Theo Zang and Hailey Xin Gao clean the Kelly-Griggs House Museum Wednesday as part of an all-school community service day. habit of providing service to the community the time to get into practice is when they're younger." Tehama County Museum President Chris Bauer and his staff were very appreciative of the extra help, he said. "The wonderful trouble of supervising kids on community service projects like those completed today is that you have to keep up with their pace," Bauer said. "These Mercy High kids worked us to death! In addition to the wonderful jobs they did, this day is a success for the Museum because it opened up a marvelous partnership possibility." One of the Tehama County Museum's reorganization objectives is to create partnerships within the greater community of Tehama County, Bauer said. "Not only did the Museum benefit from the students time and effort today, it served as a learning experience for them and as the partnership develops both Tehama County Museum and Mercy High School can See MERCY, page 7A Lawyers argue about prison mental health care Courtesy photo Red Bluff Police swore in two new members of its department on Monday, March 18, at City Hall. Kim Ochoa was sworn in as a dispatcher while Ashley Leaf will fill the role of Community Service Officer left open by the promotion of Heidi Thomas to officer. Ochoa has 24 years of experience in police agencies having worked as a dispatcher at Pinole Police Department, Shascom, and Anderson Police Department, Capt. Kyle Sanders said. She has also worked as a Community Service Officer and in the records department during her time with the Anderson Police Department, Sanders said. She and her husband Ed reside in Red Bluff, having moved here from Redding about a year ago, he said. Leaf is new to law enforcement, having graduated from the Butte Law Enforcement Academy, Sanders said. She has lived in Red Bluff for about seven years, coming to Tehama County from the Sacramento area, he said. — Julie Zeeb News tip? 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 Call 527-2151, ext. 112 SACRAMENTO (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday struggled with how to gauge whether conditions for mentally ill inmates in California prisons have improved enough under federal oversight to return control of the facilities to the state, as Gov. Jerry Brown is seeking. Lawyers for California argued in court that after 18 years of federal oversight and billions of dollars in state spending, the care now meets the requirements of the U.S. Constitution. Attorneys for inmates countered that inmates still are dying unnecessarily, prisons remain overcrowded and understaffed, and that the state won't make needed improvements without court supervision. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton said he was torn by what standard to use in deciding when to end the federal court oversight, which he said has undoubtedly forced California to improve what had been a substandard system. ''Clearly, the Constitution does not require perfection,'' Karlton said. But if perfection is not the test, he said, ''at what level can the court, must the court say, Oh, yes, it's not perfect ... but it's good enough for government work? It's good enough for the Constitution's definition of what the government must do.'' ''The state has never argued that the system is perfect or that it needs to be. Federal oversight should not continue unless there is a violation of federal law.'' — Deputy Attorney General Patrick McKinney California Deputy Attorney General Patrick McKinney said that's exactly the position the state is now in. ''The state has never argued that the system is perfect or that it needs to be,'' he told the judge. ''Federal oversight should not continue unless there is a violation of federal law.'' Inmates' attorney Michael Bien disagreed: ''We have established that there are ongoing constitutional violations'' he told the judge. California has spent more than $1 billion to build mental health facilities and increase salaries to hire more qualified mental health workers. The state now has more than 1,700 psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, social workers and nurses to treat more than 32,000 mentally ill inmates. The state now spends $400 million annually on inmates' mental health care, McKinney told the judge. Yet Bien said more mental health facilities must be built and staffed, while much more must be done to reduce a suicide rate that exceeds the national average for state and federal prisons and worsened last year. ''We're so far from anywhere near perfection, that's not the issue,'' Bien said outside the courtroom. ''Things have gotten worse, not better.'' The state contends that all the money, resources and effort it has invested in improving the mental health care system proves that it is no longer deliberately indifferent to the needs of mentally ill inmates. ''California has among the best prison mental health systems in the nation,'' Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard said in a statement after the hearing. ''It's time to bring this intrusive and expensive lawsuit...to an end.'' Ending the lawsuit is key to the Democratic governor's attempt to lift a separate court order over prison crowding that otherwise will force the state to reduce its inmate population by nearly 10,000 by year's end. See CARE, page 7A