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WEEKEND JUNE 26-27, 2010 Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com See Inside RED BLUFF Tehama County Medical Guide Derek Jeter USAWeekend See Inside Sunny 103/73 Weather forecast 10B By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer CORNING — Weeks of dead- lock broke Thursday when the City Council voted to furlough police, dispatchers and city employees for one day every two weeks. The policy is expected to save 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 passes city worker furloughs the city $280,000. “I’m not in favor of this total package, but we have to do what’s best for the employees and tax- payers,” said Councilman Ross Turner. “Let’s roll the dice and walk from the table with the possi- ble savings of $280,000 if we don’t have to lay anyone off.” Turner and John Leach had voted against the idea at the June 9 meeting during a 2-2 vote. “I’m not in favor of the idea that if there’s one layoff all fur- loughs go away, however, with further discussion on all the money saved I’ve come to change my mind,” Leach said. “Even if there’s layoffs there’s still a plus in money saved.” Leach commended the employees on their ability to stick together. Mayor Gary Strack was opti- mistic on the City’s ability to come ahead with the passage of the fur- loughs. “With the furloughs the city is in the position to end the 2010- 2011 fiscal year with some surplus Caddies for kids in reserve,” he said. “Our goal is to have a half-million in reserve at the end of the next fiscal year on June 30, 2011.” The council had been given the option of taking three managers to part time with all three taking retirement earlier than planned See CORNING, page 9A Red Bluff to consider $1.4m in budget cuts By TANG LOR DN Staff Writer With a $1.3 million deficit predicted for the upcoming fis- cal year, the city of Red Bluff’s budget committee is propos- ing another round of drastic cuts. The city council will hold a special meeting Tuesday, to consider adoption of the proposed cuts for the 2010-2011 fis- cal year. In all, the budget committee is proposing $1.4 million in cuts, which would create a $100,000 reserve in the General Fund. Cuts will come in the form of operating costs, service reductions and employee compensation, as 75 percent of the general fund is used for salary and benefits. Reduction in operational costs in the amount of $800,000 is proposed. Three employees will be laid off, a police dispatcher, records specialist and a maintenance worker from the parks department. A hiring freeze will be implemented and three vacant positions — two police officers and one accounting techni- cian — will not be filled. McGlynn Pool, which has already opened for the season and had been scheduled to stay open until Aug. 7, will now close one week early on July 31, and will not be open next summer. Daily News photo by Rich Greene Red Bluff Union High School golfer Daniel Frantz has created a mentoring program using golf to help boys and girls have a positive life experience. By RICH GREENE DN Sports Editor Life’s not set up on a tee for every- one — even those dealing with hazards deserve some relief. That’s the philosophy behind Fair- ways for Foster Kids — a free one-on- one mentoring program pairing local volunteers on the golf course with boys and girls who could benefit from some positive life reinforcement. The program was created by Daniel Frantz, who will enter his sophomore year at Red Bluff Union High School in the fall. Frantz won the Eastern Ath- letic League individual golf scoring title as a freshman, before he went from shooting low to aiming high, hop- ing his program will spread across the state. Th program is still in its infancy but Frantz is hoping to find community support, volunteers and above all else more kids who could benefit from FFK to get the program rolling in Tehama County. “I realized how blessed I am,” Frantz said of why he started the pro- gram. “I just want to be able to share See KIDS, page 9A Each department will be asked to reduce expenditures, including money spent on materials and supplies. Proposed cuts to employee compensation total about $600,000. Employees are being asked to take a 12 percent compen- sation cut, forgo payout of unused accumulated vacation time over 1,000 hours and forgo the annual 40 hours buy- back. Whether the compensation cuts are taken directly from salaries or other benefits is yet to be known, as negotiations with the unions are still ongoing, City Manager Martin Nichols said. The cuts would affect employees in the police and mis- cellaneous unions. Employees in the miscellaneous unit See CUTS, page 9A Local students make out of this world discovery By TANG LOR DN Staff Writer Their discovery of a cave on Mars has placed a group of seventh graders from a small Tehama County school in the national spot- light. With press coverage from major news outlets all over the country, the future scientists at Evergreen Mid- dle School in Cottonwood are being lauded for their unexpected discovery. It was nice to get recog- nition for the students, sci- ence teacher Dennis Mitchell said Thursday. What the students found was a skylight cave on the surface of Mars. One of the reasons for all the excite- ment is because the cave was found in an area where scientists had previously thought impossible to have caves because of geological faults, Mitchell said. The students had really set out to find lava tubes on Mars and had commis- sioned NASA’s Mars Odyssey to take images of the Pavonis Mons volcano. When the students received their images, which had been taken with a Thermal Emission Imaging System camera, they found a dark spot on the image — the skylight cave. “It was kind of a lucky find,” Mitchell said. “That wasn’t what we had set out to find, but that’s how sci- ence goes. About 75 percent of discoveries are by acci- dent.” Students will continue to work on the project when they return to school in the fall. There will be further examination of the cave with hopes of finding some form of liquid feature, possi- ble frozen ice, Mitchell said. The students’ work was done through the Mars Stu- dent Imaging Program, which is offered through the Flight Facility at Arizona State University. They had worked on the project since the beginning of the school year and made a presenta- tion of their findings to NASA Ames scientists at the research facility in Mt. View at the end of the school year. Students at Evergreen have participated in the Mars Student Imaging Pro- gram for the past five years. Seventh graders who want to participate must submit essays, and only about 25 See MARS, page 9A Jack the Ribber Mon., June 28 6-10am We have BREAKFAST Starting FAYGO SODA 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 1150 Monroe St. • 527-6108 Courtesy photo The young scientists in the Mars Student Imaging Program at Evergreen Middle School research their findings in the computer lab. Saturday, June 26, 2010 8am-3pm `Red Bluff River Park Richfield Feed & Supply HOSTS: Meet Your Local Farmer” learn to milk a goat at it’s FREE, bring the whole family Info: 530-529-3856 Co-sponsored by the Slow Food® Shasta-Cascade D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY (530) As Local As.... CALL TODAY 529-1222 237 South Main Street • “Main Street or Wall Street” banking, which do you want • Still offering better than free checking • Now offering Health Savings Accounts • Local decision making • Community Support