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WEEKEND JULY 24-25, 2010 Breaking news at: Scouting in Tehama Co. And Beyond www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 6A, 7A & 8A RED BLUFF Headed to nationals SPORTS 1B Weather forecast 10B Mostly sunny 104/68 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 General fund plummets with no budget set By TANG LOR DN Staff Writer Almost a month into the fiscal year and the city of Red Bluff still does not have a finalized budget as the general fund continues to plummet. In a budget update to the city council on Tuesday, Finance Director Margaret Van Warmer- dam reported that the general fund is at about $64,000. The number could potentially be zero or negative once the most recent payroll numbers and other adjustments are added to the books, Van Warmerdam said. The report comes as the city continues to ask its employees to make the necessary salary con- cessions in order to close a $1.3 million deficit. Employees are being asked to take a 12 percent compensation cut, forgo payout of unused accu- mulated vacation time over 1,000 hours and forgo the annual 40 hours buy back. The Red Bluff Firefighters Association’s contract is not up for review for another year, but it has stepped up to open negotia- tion with the city. The association is being proactive because it wants to save jobs, said Captain Dom Catona, president of the fire association. “We understand that Red Bluff is not the only one in this crises so we’re offering to help,” he said. The nine members of the fire association have offered to give up at least $6,000 and up to $9,000 of their annual salary. The city has rejected the offer and is asking for more. While the fire association believes it is giving up 11 percent, the city says the $9,000 is only 8 percent, Catona said. Regardless of the discrepan- cy, the city is still pushing the Head for the Hill association for 12 percent. Officer Gene Randall, presi- dent of the Red Bluff Peace Offi- cers Association, declined to make public the concessions his group is offering, saying he will continue to rely on the bargaining process to play out. The police department could potentially lose a dispatcher, a records specialist and be short two officers because of a hiring See FUND, page 9A Board discusses fair preparations By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Preparations are under way for the Tehama District Fair, which will be celebrating 90 years with the Sept. 23-26 event. While a Professional Bull Riding event will not coincide with the fair this year as it has for the past two, there is still plenty to do and see, according to an update presented at Tuesday’s fairboard meeting. Sonja Akers, coordinator of the Miss Tehama County Program, gave an update and input on the location of her event. The stage, which has been under discussion off and on at several Fairboard meetings over the last year, will be in the same location, but it will be turned about 90 degrees with the back up against the Art Building. Fairboard members and organizers said this might create less bottlenecking for people coming into the fairground. Nine people are running in the Miss Tehama County scholarship program and there will be at least one young man running for the position of Ambassador, Akers said. See FAIR, page 9A Photo courtesy of Ann Wilson Troop 642 left Redding at 1:30 a.m. Thursday for the Boy Scouts of America National Centennial Jamboree trip. Scouts to celebrate BSA’s 100th A handful of local Boy Scouts are on their way to the Boy Scouts of America National Centennial Jamboree in Fort AP Hill, Va., after an early morning departure Thurs- day. Matthew Johnson, Eddie Spidle and Carson Dunbar, of Troop 154, are joined by Tommy Wilson, Gabe Sartori and Daniel Sandoval, of Troop 417. The units are chartered By GEOFF JOHNSON DN Staff Writer LOS MOLINOS — No plane. No tour bus. Not even a sedan. Accompanied by a childhood-friend film- maker and seeded book- marks that can grow into trees, author and English teacher James Kaelan is covering 1900 miles by bicycle, from Los Ange- les to Portland, to pro- mote “We’re Getting On,” a four-story collec- tion. His tour calls for stops in north state cities including Chico, Marysville and Redding. On Friday, he and his filmmaker friend Miles Kittredge stopped by for a night at Kitchel Family Organics, a local farm that includes John Kitchel, Lana Kitchel and their son Nik Kitchel, one of Red Bluff Union High School’s highest achieving stu- dents in 2010. Kaelan and Kittredge Salute to Scouting Pages 6A, 7A & 8A by Red Bluff Rotary Club and Sacred Heart Parish respectively. Sartori is with a troop from the Mt. Diablo Council from the Bay Area, while the other boys are members of Troop 642 from the Northern Rivers District of the Golden Empire Council. The boys’ trips will include vis- its to New York City, Washington, D.C. and other national landmarks before arriving at the jamboree, which gets under way Monday. Some 45,000 Scouts, leaders and staff members will converge at the site, which has hosted the National Jamboree since 1981. But this will be its last jamboree. The Summit: Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve in Glen Jean, West Va., will become the BSA's permanent home for the National Scout Jamboree starting in 2013. met the Kitchels through Localharvest.org and found the family eager to accommodate them for a short-term stay. During their tour, the duo has depended on the generosity of “friends and farms,” including the Kitchels. Overnight stays moved many of those farms into the friends cat- egory. Kittredge and Kaelan can now count on company throughout the state and expect their net- work to grow as they cross the northern border. When they do, Kit- tredge will be filming it for a forthcoming docu- mentary. “It’s writing itself, every day,” Kittredge said. Kaelan, paying tribute to his book, is trying to shield himself from as many electronics as pos- sible. Stepping away from the computer is one of several themes his sto- ries touch on. “I’d like to use less technology when I get back,” Kaelan said. “It’s a burden.” 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 But Kaelan stopped short of endorsing a com- plete retreat. In the title story, the characters take the same idea and keep pushing it, further and further. “When you carry that idea to its logical or illogical conclusion, you end up discovering that almost everything is a technology, even lan- guage itself,” he said. As for Kaelan and Kit- tredge, they seem to be “getting on” just fine. “If there’s something we’ve learned from the trip it’s that people every- where are amazing,” Kaelan said. More information is available by visiting flat- mancrooked.com or zeroemissionbook.com. ——— Truck hits tree, injures sisters By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer The jaws of life were used by fire crews to extricate one of two Tehama County women taken to Enloe Medical Cen- ter in Chico following an early morning crash Friday on Highway 99E, north of Tehama Vina Road near Deer Creek. The driver, Amanda Kay Marquez, 28, of Gerber, was extricated and taken by ambulance to Enloe with major internal injuries, said California Highway Patrol Officer Phillip Mackintosh. Marquez was discharged this morning, a spokeswoman from Enloe Marketing said. Marquez’ passenger, her sister Jacqueline Jeanette Mar- quez, 29, of Proberta, was flown to Enloe with major inter- See TRUCK, page 9A Author promotes book with bicycle trip from Los Angeles to Portland Geoff Johnson can be reached at 527-2153, extension 114 or gjohnson@redbluffdailyn ews.com. Daily News photo by Geoff Johnson John Kitchel chats with author James Kaelan. Kaelan, along with filmmaker and childhood friend Miles Kittredge, are bicycling from Los Angeles to Portland to promote “We’re Getting On.” • “Main Street or Wall Street” banking, which do you want ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR its 10th year of operation! 1660 Monroe St., Red Bluff CA. or Call: 530-529-1650 for an application or visit us on the web at: www.discoverycharterschool.org FREE Public school with small classes (under 26 students per class) SAFE, CARING learning community for GRADES 6-12 WASC accredited Visit us at (530) As Local As.... 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