Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/13833
MONDAY JULY 26, 2010 Breaking news at: Young Marines People www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 2A RED BLUFF Desert Delight SPORTS 1B Mostly sunny 101/64 Weather forecast 6A get funding By JULIE ZEEB Fair projects DAILYNEWS BMX taking off 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 DN Staff Writer Fair CEO Mark Eidman announced Tuesday that the Tehama District Fairground got a $155,000 grant to do an electri- cal upgrade. “We’re going to an electrical upgrade that will renew, increase the size of and go underground with powerlines for our electrical delivery system,” Eidman said. The grant was received from the Department of Food and Agriculture and is to be used solely for facilities improvement, he said. Areas expected to see improvement are on the north- west side of the fairground and include the grandstands, A, B and C barns and the commercial buildings across to the beef barns. Eidman said the Department of Food and Agriculture fur- loughs had come to an end as of June 30 and gave a report on the Pauline Davis Pavilion landscap- ing. The landscaping, a native plant display done by Bill Greer of Bill Greer Landscaping of Red Bluff, was done through a US Department of Fish and Wildlife Service grant given to the Tehama County Resource Conservation District. Eidman said Greer will pro- vide one year’s worth of mainte- nance. The Finance Committee gave a report on the review of the Solar Panel loan agreement, which it had been asked to look at after Fairs and Expositions wanted to increase the payments. The committee recommended payments be kept up until the point when the panels no longer paid for themselves. “This falls back on the fact that they told us it would be self- sufficient,” Eidman said. “We’ve been very vocal with F&E that if it doesn’t pay for itself we don’t want it.” The Krebs bonds that were supposed to help pay for the pro- See FAIR, page 3A RBPD cuts services, to add new reporting procedures With substantial losses in per- sonnel, the Red Bluff Police Department has had to once again look at methods to increase effi- ciency for the existing staff to deliver police services. The following is a list of changes to police services that have taken place or will take place: • The Records Unit will only be open to the public from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Records staff will accept and process records requests during these hours. The public will still be able to access the dispatch center from the lobby by using the black phone next to the front window. • The police officers who had been assigned to the TIDE Nar- cotics Task Force will be perma- nently reassigned to patrol effec- tive July 24. Daily News photo by Geoff Johnson Jeremy Nunez, 15, Red Bluff, launches into the air during a Red Rock BMX practice session held before the race Saturday at the Tehama District Fairground. By GEOFF JOHNSON DN Staff Writer Every Saturday and Wednesday they come to the northernmost part of the Tehama District Fairground by the dozens, long-sleeved and helmeted, charging, skidding, launching into the air and crashing through the dirt. It is Mike Puckett’s gift to his children — and his com- munity. A former BMX — short for bicycle motocross — racer, Puckett says his children, Ryan Puckett, 10, and Tanner Puck- ett, 14, are racing in his tire tracks, touring the American Bicycle Association circuit. Tea party leader cuts ties amid racism claims SACRA- MENT O (AP) — For- mer tea party leader and Sacramento radio host Mark Williams cut ties Friday with the Tea Party Express a week after his inflamma- tory blog post drew claims of racism. The group sent an e-mail to supporters announcing that Williams had formally ended his involvement with the orga- nization. He was acting as a spokesman for the orga- nization after stepping down as its chairman more than a month ago. Williams was heavily criticized after a July 15 ‘We are in a war for the future of this country, and the Left and their allies in the news media have decided to use my personal comments and views as a weapon to injure the tea party movement and conservative activists’ Mark Williams blog posting in which he wrote a letter from ‘‘Col- ored People’’ to Abraham Lincoln. The post suggest- ed that black people would choose slav- ery over hav- ing to do real work. Two days later, the Tea Party Federa- tion, a national umbrella organization, expelled the Tea Party Express from its ranks. In a letter to the Sacra- mento-based Tea Party Express on Friday , Williams said the media and ‘‘our domes- tic enemies’’ had misin- terpreted his attempt at satire. He said he was removing himself from the group to avoid further damage to the tea party cause. 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 See TEA, page 3A If you go... What: BMX Racing When: 5-7 p.m. Wednesdays 7 p.m. Saturdays Where: Tehama District Fairground How much: $3 practice, $10 race But when they are at home in Red Bluff, the Puckett chil- dren can still keep up to speed at the Tehama District Fair- ground. Here, with dirt donat- ed by local event promoter Ali Abassi and construction from the American Bicycle Associa- tion, Puckett presides over Red Rock BMX, a non-profit dirt track where as many as 60 to 80 racers tear it up on a given night. Of those, Puckett estimates at least 25 to 30 are from Red Bluff. With an ABA recognized track, everyone who partici- pates is racing against every- one else in a particular catego- ry across the nation. See BMX, page 3A • The department will be devel- oping an online records request form to be made available on the department website to help facili- tate records requests outside the listed hours. • The department will be devel- oping a self-report form for public use in reporting minor crimes such as vandalism and theft. This form will be used at the front counter. • Previous losses in personnel have resulted in increased response times to calls for service, and it is anticipated that additional losses in personnel will result in the response to some calls being delayed for longer periods of time or even being delayed until the next shift reports for duty. The department will continue to look for additional methods of increasing efficiency for the remaining staff to deliver police services. Since July 2009, the department has lost 10 positions, five police officers and five non-sworn civil- ian positions, which is a 25 percent decrease in available personnel. Sheep fans flock to fairground By GEOFF JOHNSON DN Staff Writer Jerry Askin “nearly had a heart attack” when he heard the news. Askin’s wife found a Dorper sheep sale in Red Bluff. Specifically, the Third Annual West Coast Dorper & White Dorper Production Sale, held at the Tehama District Fair- ground on Saturday. The problem is Askin lives in Douglas, Wyo. The 1,200-mile drive might sound like a long way to go, but the journey the Dorper sheep took is even longer. Descended from a hardy desert sheep, the animal is a South African staple. Trade rules with South Africa prevent United States residents from importing Dorper sperm or embryos directly from South Africa. But the livestock can still cross Australian borders. Down under, the breed’s presence doubled from 2008 to 2009, said Darroll Grant of Grant Dorpers of Aumsville, Ore., one of the featured vendors. Grant was an early adopter. The first stateside Dorper dates back to 1995. Grant dates his first to a year later, in 1996. Some believe Grant is Daily News photo by Geoff Johnson Tony Ibarra of Glenn Land Farm and John Openshaw use ultrasound to determine the amount of fat and muscle on a Dorper sheep Saturday, during the Third Annual West Coast Dorper & White Dorper Production Sale. part of a movement that could overtake the use of wool lambs for meat. Dorper advocates hail the self-shedding livestock in a market in which shear- ers are hard to find. Oth- ers celebrate the breed’s fertility. You can count Corning Dorper rancher Manuel Cabrito, of Clover Top Dairy in Corning, among those ranks. “There’s going to be more and more call for Dorpers,” Cabrito said. Wes Patton backed Cabrito. A former Animal Science Professor at Cali- fornia State University, Chico, Patton raises Dor- pers along with Boer goats, another South African import used for meat. Demand for Dorpers is growing in upscale super- markets and in Bay Area restaurants, Patton said. The fine wool on Dorpers See SHEEP, page 3A