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WEDNESDAY Glazing Spartans Softball Vegetables MAY 8, 2013 County Fare Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 5A SPORTS 1B DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF Partly cloudy 78/60 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 County to merge four school districts By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Come July 1, four districts will become one as Antelope Elementary School District absorbs Manton, Mineral and Plum Valley school districts. All schools will stay open, but their school districts and boards will dissolve and fall under the Antelope Elementary School District, Antelope Superintendent Todd Brose said. While the move was voted into place at an April 29 meeting of the Tehama County Committee on District Organization, it has been in the works and under discussion in various forms for years, County Assistant Superintendent of Schools Roxy Williams said. 'This lapsation will allow the mountain schools to stay open, and tap into Antelope's current resources' — Antelope Board President Dan Boone Discussion began four years and Mineral followed later, she said. "The school boards were all really professional and really knew what they were doing," Williams said. "They really were advocates for their communities in clarifying what it meant for their schools and were very proactive and ago with Plum Valley. Manton See DISTRICTS, page 7A Improving Bend access Panther Fire is winding down By HEATHER HACKING Staff Writer CHICO — What must roll in, must roll out. Firefighters are making progress on the Panther Fire, which had reached nearly 7,000 acres at its peak, burning very dry terrain northwest of Butte Meadows. The high humidity and then rain the past few days have helped. When plants and trees have a chance to absorb moisture, they don't burn as easily. But the reason the fires are under better control is due to the firefighters, Cal Fire reports. "With the weather coming in we are able to control the lines a lot better and have crews buttoning up the lines," said David Janssen, public information officer See PANTHER, page 7A Bleak snow survey shows only 17 percent of normal Daily News file photo Access to fishing opportunities in the Bend and Jellys Ferry areas would be improved with road work proposed by the county. By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer Tehama County Public Works officials unveiled a series of grant proposals Tuesday that would reconstruct 13.8 miles of Jellys Ferry and Bend Ferry roads. Officials, who showed the plan at Tuesday's Tehama County Board of Supervisors meeting, said the project would further local branding efforts by easing access to recreational opportunities in the Bend area. It would also stabilize Tehama and Shasta counties' alternate route to Interstate 5, providing safety and economic flexibility for the North State. Officials cited the April 23 incident when a fuel tanker overturned and stopped traffic for hours on I-5. The project, split into three proposals, is estimated to cost $32.8 million. Officials hope to tap into a $135 million state allocation from the new Federal Lands Access Program. The program provides funds to improve transit systems located on, adjacent to, or provide access to federal lands. The Central Federal Lands Highway Division has asked for projects to be submitted to establish a slate of projects through 2019. The segments being targeted are Bend Ferry Road east of the Sacramento River Bridge to Bass Pond See BEND, page 7A SACRAMENTO — Snow surveyors today reported that water content in California's snowpack is only 17 percent of normal, meaning below average water supply this summer, a press release from the Department of Water Resources states. After a record dry January and February in much of the state, DWR currently projects it will only be able to deliver 35 percent of requested amounts from the State Water Project. The 29 public agencies that purchase SWP water requested just over four million acre-feet of water for this calendar year. Collectively, the agencies supply more than 25 million Californians and nearly a million acres of irrigated agriculture. In addition to the light snowpack and extended periods of little rainfall, pumping restrictions to protect Delta smelt and salmon are another reason for the low water delivery estimate, DWR said. November and December were unusually wet, but between November 1 and February 28, fishery agency restrictions prevented DWR from pumping more than 550,000 acrefeet of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to store in San Luis Reservoir. San Luis, a summer supply pool for both the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project, is only 54 percent full. See BLEAK, page 7A Youth to play role in Watershed Celebration County's birth records found in unsecured location SACRAMENTO (AP) — State health officials are investigating a possible security breach involving 2,000 California birth records. A microfiche reel with images of the birth certificates was found in an unsecured location, the California Department of Public Health said Monday. The certificates contain names, addresses, Social Security numbers and some medical information. Officials said they were unaware of any unauthorized use of the information. Still, they are recommending that those who believe their information was on the film check their credit 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 reports, place a fraud alert on their credit files, and take other steps to protect their identity. The records were for people born from May through September 1974 in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter and Tehama counties, according to state health officials. Parents of children born in one of those counties during that period may also be affected. Officials did not say exactly where the records were discovered. Anita Gore, a spokeswoman for the state health department, said she could not release any additional information because the case is still under investigation. The investigation was being conducted in collaboration with the California Highway Patrol. Special to the DN The Sacramento River Discovery Center Celebrate the Water event will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday May 11 under the old oak tree in the Discovery Garden and there will be more things for kids to do this year. Make a quail call, meet Frank & Frances Fish, learn to rope a cow or just plant some seeds for your garden. The Boy Scouts will start the event with a flag ceremony. There will be a couple of alpacas where young people can come eye to eye with animals with very soft fur. There will be visits from Frank & Frances Fish and Smokey Bear and a basket weaving demonstration. Whittenberg Country School will be providing information about the Pumpkin Head bike event and information on the Summer Camps program being led by Zach Whitten. Adults will have opportunities to learn and have See YOUTH, page 7A Courtesy Photo Frank & Frances and youth learn to rope animals at the Sacramento River Discovery Center's W a t e r s h e d Celebration Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1000 Sale Lane. GROWNEY MOTORS We Buy Used Cars paid for or not 1160 Main St. 527-1034 Smog Inspection $ 2595 +$825 certificate (MOST CARS & PICK-UPS) • Member Discount 530 527-9841 195 S. Main St., Red Bluff