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THURSDAY JUNE 24, 2010 Breaking news at: Myhre Artist of the Month Pastimes www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 4A RED BLUFF Swim Results SPORTS 1B Partly Cloudy 90/63 Weather forecast 6B By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer CORNING — The city of Corning will be receiving a share of the funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in the form of a $613,000 loan from the US Department of Agri- culture. The money, issues through 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 Corning gets federal loan for new well USDA’s Rural Development Water and Environmental Pro- gram, will be used to drill a new water well at Estil Clark Park. “The problems facing Corning today are common to many rural towns throughout the state and nation,” said USDA Rural Devel- opment State Director Glenda Humiston in a release. The loan, which Humiston announced Wednesday, is a reflection of the Obama Adminis- trations efforts to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure and shows the USDA’s commitment to ensuring that communities have safe drinking water, the release said. “The wonderful thing about USDA is their financing allowed us to bring the cost down and allowed the community to afford the project,” said City Manager Steve Kimbrough. “We couldn’t have done it very easily without USDA.” The new 400-foot-deep well replaces three others removed from service and ensures the city can meet requirements of peak use and supply enough water for the community. Back to the stable By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer While neither Ben nor Elli, two horses trained in Gerber and entered in the Help Rescue Me Trainers Challenge at CalExpo in Sacramento, were adopted it was still a successful trip. The first time event, put on by the Grace Foundation of Northern California and The Western States Horse Expo, gave trainers 70 days to train horses in a variety of categories. “It was a little tough to not have this work in a pro- fessional manner, but to have been on the ground floor of something that could be going national was great,” said Stacey Span- gler, who trained Ben and co-trained Elli with help from Tina Sizemore through the Broken Oaks Boarding Stable in Gerber, which is managed by Span- gler. Ben is an 8-year-old three-strikes mustang, which means he has been to three adoption outings with- out getting adopted and was sent to a three-strikes ranch. Elli is a 2-year-old stan- dard bred filly in the ground me challenge for horses younger than 3. Ben was sent to a ranch in Nebraska, where he was one of 84 mustangs rescued Funds will be used to install a pump, about 1,400 feet of pipeline and a 480-square-foot well house. More information about the ——— Julie Zeeb can be reached at 527-2153, extension 115 or jzeeb@redbluffdailynews.com. USDA’s Recovery Act efforts is available at www.usda.gov/recov- ery. Group pitches business boosts By TANG LOR DN Staff Writer The Red Bluff City Council seems to be in consensus with a local group that is pushing the city to undertake pro- jects and endorse campaigns or groups in hopes of creating a better local economy. The Red Bluff-Tehama County Chamber of Com- merce’s Local Government Committee, representing the group Red Bluff Rebound, presented the council with 10 ideas Tuesday meant to stimulate the economy and create jobs. The purpose of the meeting was for the council to pick which ideas it wanted to support and direct staff to further develop those ideas for possible adoption. Bill Moule, co-chairman of the Local Government Com- mittee, said the meeting was to be a workshop of sorts with open discussion, but he pushed things along when it seemed ideas might be dropped. At one point, Moule told Public Works Director Mark Barthel everyone is overworked and underpaid and to move on. Courtesy photos Stacey Spangler walks Ben, a three-strikes mustang she has been training for 70 days, at the Help Rescue Me Trainers Challenge held at CalExpo in Sacramento June 10-12. by the Humane Society of the United States before eventually making his way to the Trainers Challenge. As an older mustang with no prior training, he was entered in the Elite Trainers Challenge. “Ben was the only extreme ground me horse who came to town,” Span- gler said. “All the other horses of his caliber didn’t Antelope to get new principal, superintendent By TANG LOR DN Staff Writer When school starts in the fall, a new superinten- dent will be in charge of the Antelope School Dis- trict. The Antelope District School Board has con- firmed that it has hired Todd Brose as the dis- trict’s superintendent and principal of Antelope School. When it came down to the final two applicants, Brose was the one who seemed the best fit for the district, Board President John Bohrer said. “We’re hoping he can bring back the family feel that we had in our district before,” Bohrer said. Parents, community members and the superin- tendents of other local school districts have said the board made the best decision in choosing Brose, Bohrer said. Brose, who was picked from a field of eight appli- cants, will come to Ante- lope from Richfield Ele- mentary School District, where he is the superin- tendent and principal. Brose could not be reached as of Tuesday. Interim Superintendent Jack Hansen will continue to serve the remainder of the summer until Brose takes over Aug. 1. Hansen is a retired superintendent who has worked for sever- al Tehama County school districts. Antelope’s former Superintendent, Earnie Graham, resigned in Feb- ruary during a closed ses- sion meeting. Reasons for Graham’s departure have not been made public. ——— Tang Lor can be reached at 527-2153, Ext. 110 or by e-mail at tlor@redbluffdailynews.co m. 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 Red Bluff Outdoor Power come back.” A ground me horse is one that isn’t ridden, but can be walked around and dri- ven, she said. “He absolutely didn’t waiver,” Spangler said. “He stayed right with me the whole way. He did all the obstacles without blinking. I was ecstatic because this horse was 1,000 percent.” Spangler said the highest compliment she got was from David Leachman, one of the judges, who said he had never seen such an extreme case turned that soft. “He’s a great horse,” Spangler said. “He’s very solid and honest and he’s true blue.” Spangler likened train- ing Ben to peeling an onion See STABLE, page 3A Barthel said he could not give the council a timeframe on when he would bring project proposals back for their approval, as there are three projects that his department would have to work on. “This is a big chunk of work that we’re committing to,” Barthel said. Of the three Public Works-related projects presented, the council agreed with the group that resurfacing downtown streets is the most important. The project has top priority because it involves spending Proposition 1B funds that must be used by June 2011. The other projects proposed include hiring an outside engineer to develop shovel-ready projects in the event that the city receives more funding and building a sewer inter- ceptor from First Street to Monroe Street. Interstate 5 video billboard A full-video billboard would be on Interstate 5, north of the Diamond Avenue on ramp facing northbound traffic and would be updated hourly to highlight what is happening in Red Bluff. See BOOSTS, page 3A Balancing jobs and budget shortfall By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer CORNING — A spe- cial City Council meeting is set for 5 p.m. today to accept the furlough plan voted down 2-2 at the June 9 meeting. The furloughs have been a much-debated item at several recent meetings. Concerned Citizens Co- Chairman Dean Cofer kicked off discussions Tuesday asking the council to place a budget proposal from the group on the next agenda. “The budget situation is not getting any better and the council must take seri- ous steps to get it under control,” Cofer said. “It’s time to bite the bullet and make deep and meaningful cuts in the city’s over- head.” Cofer said in reviewing the 2009-2010 budget of just less than $4.8 million almost $3.7 million was going to salaries and bene- fits. “Salaries and benefits are at the very heart of our budget problems,” Cofer said. “Corning is top heavy with managers.” Mayor Gary Strack said all proposals will be dis- cussed at the time the bud- get is. “We’re not saying (Cofer’s proposal) will be ‘It’s time to bite the bullet and make deep and meaningful cuts in the city’s overhead’ Dean Cofer acted upon, but it will be looked at,” said Council- man John Leach. Art Frolli, Operating Engineers-3 business rep- resentative who has been involved with the Corning bargaining unit negotia- tions for furloughs, responded to Cofer. Frolli addressed Cofer’s proposal regarding the contracts taking three man- agers to part-time saying layoffs at management level would cause workers to lose the ability to get things done. “Under your conditions (proposed) why would they come back?,” Frolli said. Frolli said Cofer’s state- ment last week that the City Council could impose furloughs on its workers was false since that could only be done when a con- tract ends and the bargain- ing unit contracts are in mid-contract. “One of the things I want to say is you have a great group of employees,” Frolli said. “When times are tough your employees pull together. Our hope is you’ll revisit those agree- ments and approve them. It will have a significant impact on balancing the budget.” To those who had issue with severance, Frolli said the severance pay was to help ease the employee’s burden since it sometimes takes 10 to 12 weeks to get the first unemployment check. Frolli urged the council to act now rather than wait so that choices would be more logical. He reminded residents and the council of the sacrifice the three managers were taking by offering to go part-time, since it meant reductions to their retirement between 6 percent and 12 percent for the rest of their lives. Mary Ann Culbertson spoke to the sacrifices of those offering to take a fur- lough equal to a 10 percent cut for the second year in a row. “Those family budgets suffer and must be reworked, sometimes at great sacrifice,” Culbertson said. While Cofer didn’t like the fine points of the fur- loughs and part-time con- tract, they would still pro- duce savings, Culbertson said. “The total savings of $547,600 with other cuts would have balanced the budget,” she said. “Isn’t that the goal?” Culbertson’s statement was well received, with a majority of the audience in the packed room applaud- ing. Saturday, June 26, 2010 8am-3pm `Red Bluff River Park Tehama County Farm Bureau HOSTS: “Meet Your Local Farmer” learn the whole cycle, from Custom Comfort Sandals Many New Styles Dr. John Swaim, DPM 2530 Sr Mary Columba Dr Red Bluff it’s FREE, bring the whole family Info: 530-529-3856 Co-sponsored by the Slow Food® Shasta-Cascade D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY