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THURSDAY Rainbows in JULY 11, 2013 the Sky Pastimes Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 6A District Champs SPORTS 1B DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF Sunny 99/65 Weather forecast 6B TEHAMA COUNTY 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 Rodeo champ hospitalized Staff Report Red Bluff High School graduate and cowboy Casey Meroshnekoff was hospitalized for head trauma Saturday after he was thrown off a horse at the Folsom Pro Rodeo, prorodeo.com reported. Meroshnekoff, who is a two-time National High School Finals Rodeo champion in bareback riding, was taken to Mercy San Juan Hospital in Carmichael, according to the report. Meroshnekoff's father, Alex, told prorodeo.com that the 19year-old was "in and out" of consciousness when he arrived at the hospital, where doctors placed him in an induced coma as a precaution. Meroshnekoff "fully awoke" Monday, according to the website, and was moved out of the hospital's intensive care unit on Wednesday. "He's up and walking around, eating and is coherent," Alex Meroshnekoff told prorodeo.com. "He's a little wobbly, but has all his motor skills. With rehab, they expect a 100 percent recovery." According to the website, the horse Meroshnekoff was riding stumbled after the eight-second whistle during the second round of bareback riding. Meroshnekoff was then thrown off the horse and then landed on his head. Meroshnekoff won the first round in bareback riding and scored a 74 in the second to win the average title, which was his first win since buying a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association card in May, according to the website. Meroshnekoff graduated from Red Bluff High School in 2012 and DAILY 50¢ Masked men attack Corning clerk with bats Three masked men attacked a Corning gas station clerk early Wednesday morning. Around 1:15 a.m. Corning Police received a report that a man at Tower Mart had been attacked by several subjects with baseball bats, according to a department press release. Officers responded to the store on Solano Street, where the clerk told them that three masked men had See BATS, page 5A Harrop joins council pool By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer Daily News file photo earned NHSFR titles in bareback riding as a sophomore and senior. He also was a four-time California High School Rodeo champion in bareback riding. The prolific cowboy then placed third in bareback riding at the College National Finals Rodeo in June in Casper, Wyo. He was named Men's Rookie of the Year as well. Meroshnekoff is a freshman at West Hills College in Coalinga. According to prorodeo.com, he "led the West Coast Region of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association in bareback riding, bull riding, team roping (heeling) and the all-around, while also competing in tiedown roping." In May, Meroshnekoff scored a 90 in bareback riding to win the Kern County Sheriff's Reserve Stampede Days Rodeo in Bakersfield. According to the PRCA, the score of 90 was tied at the time with world champion Kaycee Field and National Finals Rodeo qualifier Winn Ratliff for the highest bareback riding score of 2013. Dr. Joe Harrop, Sr. became the third applicant for the open Red Bluff City Council posi- Harrop tion Wednesday created by the resignation of Robert Sheppard Jr. The City Council is scheduled to appoint someone to fill the remaining 3-plus years of the term at its Aug. 6 meeting. The deadline for applicants is July 26. Like the other two applicants, former Councilman Larry Stevens and frequent council attendee Raymond Eliggi, the 73year-old Harrop is retired. Harrop has lived in Red Bluff for 40 years, raising three children and five grandchildren with his wife. Harrop spent 25 years as a school administrator in Tehama County and retired as Dean of Education at Simpson University. He was previously chairman of the city's Parks and Recreation Commission. Harrop has served on the Committee on Ministry for the Sacramento Presbytery, the Session and Board of Deacons of the Red Bluff Presbyterian Church and as chairman of the Tehama County Special Education Planning area. Harrop is chairman of the Family Service Agency board. He writes a weekly column for the Daily News' opinion page. Daily News: How concerned are you about the city of Red Bluff's General Fund reserve? What steps can be taken to strengthen the See POOL, page 5A Calif seeks US Red Bluff training grounds for guide dog Supreme Court stay in prisons case SACRAMENTO (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday made one final bid to delay a federal court order requiring the state to release nearly 10,000 inmates by year's end to improve conditions in California prisons, saying it would jeopardize public safety. Brown's administration filed a request with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy seeking to delay the order forcing the state to immediately take steps to further reduce its prison population. If Kennedy agrees, it will push back the releases for a year while the Supreme Court considers the state's appeal. If he refuses to intervene, the state has said it will begin freeing inmates to comply with the lower court order, which is intended to improve care for sick and mentally ill inmates. That will cause irreparable harm to public 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 safety because the inmates cannot be returned to prison if the nation's high court eventually rules in the state's favor, the administration said in its 142-page court filing. It will ''thrust serious and violent individuals on the counties'' that already are struggling to absorb thousands of lower-level offenders, the state said. Kennedy oversees appeals from western states. He is a Republican appointee who sided with the court's four Democratic-appointed justices in 2011 to cast the deciding vote requiring the state to reduce its prison population to about 110,000 inmates. Attorneys representing inmates and the three judges who entered the original order say further delay will lead to more deaths and injuries for inmates in crowded prisons. Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard said conditions have changed dramatically since the lower court's original order in 2009. See PRISONS, page 5A By Claudia Threlkeld Vassar is an 11month-old golden retriever who calls Red Bluff his home. He is being raised by Shannon Threlkeld as a Guide Dogs For the Blind puppy in training. Vassar ultimate goal is to be placed with a blind partner for whom he will be a constant companion and guide. Vassar is Shannon's third guide dog puppy. She raised a yellow lab named Wilhelmina who is a guide dog in Tennessee. She raised another golden retriever, Leigh, who was selected as a breeder for the program. Leigh just had her second litter of puppies. Shannon is hoping Vassar will have a wonderful destiny as well. Shannon's family became involved raising Guide Dog puppies back in 1989. Shannon's oldest sister, Erin, had watched the Disney program, Buddy, First Lady of the Seeing Eye. Erin joined the 4-H program and received her first Guide Dog puppy, a yellow lab named Visa, when she was in the sixth grade. The family became hooked on this program and has raised a dozen more dogs including Courtesy photo Derrick Rosauer from The Aquarium and Pets, right, provides local Guide Dogs For the Blind puppy, Vassar, pictured here with Shannon Threlkeld, with his puppy chow. Miss, BeeGee, Riata, Bevy, Lodi, Jana, Tina and Juliet. An important part of raising a Guide Dog puppy is socializing them. Shannon takes Vassar with her everywhere she goes. She works as a substitute teacher at Metteer School. Vassar is a regular visitor in many class- rooms and is wonderful around children. He has been warmly embraced by the Metteer School community. "Vassar has contributed to the Metteer community in many ways...," Metteer Principal Barbara Gaskin said. "He is a patient listener, excellent study companion and compassionate member of our school community." His presence on campus is calming for students and staff and he is obedient and loyal and willing to participate in all activities in classrooms or on the playground, she said. "Our students have learned so much from having Vassar here," See DOG, page 5A