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Monday, August 23, 2010 – Daily News – 7A Obituary Vineyard Christian Fellowship awarded money By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer The prize award from AmeriPride’s Bigger than Business Campaign has been given to Red Bluff’s Vineyard Christian Fellowship, 738 Walnut St. RONALD CRAIG HAVENS Ronnie Havens passed away on August 13, 2010. Ronnie was born on Octo- ber 1, 1964, in Whittier, California. He moved to Cottonwood in 1969 with his parents and four broth- ers. He graduated from Red Bluff Union High School in 1982. After high school Ronnie worked for Guiton Pools in Redding for more that 25 years. He met his wife Cis in Cottonwood and was married for 26 years. They have one son, Shane. Ronnie loved North- ern California and the out- doors. He was an avid fish- erman. He spent many hours in his boat on the ocean, lakes and the Sacra- mento River. Ronnie’s joy in life was to bring laughter to those around him. Ron- nie’s generosity to others and laughter will not be forgotten. He was preceded in death by his step-father Ray Wade. He is survived by his wife Cis, son Shane of Redding, his parents Bob and Nancy Havens, Maureen Wade of Cotton- wood, Cis;s parents Delbert and Pat White, brothers and their wives Jeff and Marni Havens of Red Bluff, Glen and Jill Havens of Cotton- wood, Robert and Cheryl Havens of Cottonwood, and Jimmy and Angel Ha- vens of Palo Cedro, and step siblings Amber Havens of Cottonwood, Randy and Connie Wade of Cotton- wood, Barry and Mary Wade of Redding, and Pam Bailey of Sacramento, brother-in-laws Greg and Robert White, nephews Ryan, Eric, Jeremy, Cody, Brandon and Bryant, and nieces April, Meagan, Sa- mantha, Marissa, Brittany, Lauren and Joannie. The service will be on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. at the Anderson Cottonwood Neighborhood Church on Rhonda Road in Cottonwood. Those in attendance are invited to share a meal with the family following the service. In lieu of flowers, dona- Rolling Hills Casino Director of Marketing Kate Grissom was chosen out of 600 nomina- tions received in the United States and Canada for the campaign, which highlighted people who make a difference in their community. She decided the prize money should go to Vineyard Christian Fellowship. Each nomination garnered a $25 donation from AmeriPride, raising about $15,000 for Feeding America and Food Bank Canada. “I chose the Vineyard for two reasons, the first is they have a food pantry and are commit- ted to serving and feeding our community,” Grissom said. “Secondly, I attend the church and believe strongly in the values and teachings that Pastor (Steve) Igarta provides to our com- munity. To me, he exemplifies ‘Bigger than Business’ and it was my way of acknowledging his hard work and commitment to our commu- nity.” A ceremony was held Aug. 4 during which Grissom was presented an award and Igarta received a $2,500 check. “We’re really grateful for Katie directing the funds toward us,” Igarta said. “She’s quite a gal.” The money received will be used to purchase a freezer and re-stock the church’s food pantry, he said. “We started our program in 1994 in cooper- ation with Sacred Heart’s program The Lord’s Table,” Igarta said. “For 16 years we’ve been able to provide non-stop with the help of other churches. It’s been kind of a cooperative effort.” While Vineyard provides the location, part- ners such as North Valley Baptist, First Christ- ian Church and Zion Christian Ministries have stepped in and helped throughout the years. The Jesus Center in Chico has recently begun sharing some of its resources, Igarta said. “We are open five days a week during the noon hour for both the homeless and the work- Courtesy photo Rolling Hills Casino Director of Marketing Kate Grissom, right, receives her Bigger than Business Campaign award from AmeriPride representatives on Aug. 4. As part of the prize $2,500 was donated in her name to Vineyard Christian Fellowship, represented by Pastor Steve Igarta, left. ing poor,” Igarta said. “The design was to make sure that no one in the city or our county goes hungry.” Since the program is only five days a week the church initially had a food pantry to help people access food on the days it was closed, Igarta said. “When our resources dried up we stopped the food pantry,” he said. “(The money) will help restock the pantry.” Igarta said the program has begun to see more young adults in their 20s and 30s over the last few years and during the summer it tends to see more children. 'Gotcha'-getters are now spreading gaffes in real time LOS ANGELES (MCT) — Jerry Brown was midway through a dis- course about poverty at the San Fran- cisco Faith Forum when he paused, focusing on two young white men dressed in preppy clothing who stood out in the largely African-American crowd. One was holding an iPhone at shoulder level, subtly taping the Democratic gubernatorial nominee's every word. "We have some representatives for tions can be made to AN- derson Cottonwood Neigh- borhood Church, 4684 Rhonda ROad, Cotton- wood, CA 96007 or Cross- roads Bible Fellowship, P. O. Box 638, Anderson, CA 96007. More jobs lost in July Jobs shrank in almost every Tehama County industry in July, pushing unemployment up to 15.8 percent, according to the latest statistics from the California Employment Development Department. Mining and logging positions, the only catego- ry to see growth, increased by just 10 jobs, or only 4.3 percent. Local government saw the biggest drop, losing almost 300 jobs, or 7.8 per- cent. The loss is attributable in part to the termination of teachers, EDD spokes- woman Sheila Stock said. The drop in government jobs was followed by farm- ing, which went down by about 200 jobs, or about 16.5 percent, following an annual county trend of fewer farm jobs in July. Private education and health services lost another 110 jobs, or about 6 per- cent. The data was not sea- sonally adjusted and is considered preliminary data. In nearby counties, Shasta County’s unem- ployment grew to 15.6 per- cent, Butte County’s grew to 14.2 percent and Glenn County’s grew to 16.6 per- cent. Statewide, California’s unemployment remained at 12.3 percent. —Geoff Johnson Meg Whitman right in the audience. They're taking pictures of my speech and it's going to go right to Whitman headquarters," Brown told the crowd before looking directly into the cam- era to address his GOP opponent: "Meg, I want you to listen when you see this." Enter the 2010 political tracker, whose mission is to catch every word a candidate utters so a rival can respond rapidly to his or her claims. "Tracking has become such a big part of campaigns. Speed is every- thing. The faster you can turn around information from an event and push back ... the better off you're going to be," said Julie Soderlund, a spokes- woman for Republican U.S. Senate nominee Carly Fiorina. "Modern cam- paigns who don't do that are really liv- ing in the dark ages." The Holy Grail for trackers is to capture a "gotcha" moment. One of the most famous occurred in 2006, when Republican Sen. George Allen of Virginia called an Indian- American tracker "macaca," a racial slur that helped sink his re-election bid. Such foot-in-mouth incidents are now routinely referred to as "macaca moments." Barack Obama had to make amends with rural voters during the 2008 cam- paign after a blogger caught him say- ing at a fundraiser that small-town Americans "cling" to guns and reli- gion because of their economic straits. And just last month, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele received a hailstorm of criticism after a tracker caught him, also at a fundraiser, implying that the war in Afghanistan is not winnable. Opposition research on candidates is as old as politics, but technological advances and 24-hour-a-day news cycles have increased the prominence and capabilities of trackers, who are typically young volunteers. "In 1984, we used to carry around a bag of dimes to use pay phones and call headquarters and report on what we heard at our opponent's rally," said Rose Kapolczynski, campaign manag- er for Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer. "Technology has made this so much easier and faster." In the 1990s, trackers were using cassette recorders and mailing the tapes to headquarters. Now, with the advent of palm-sized digital video recorders, live streaming and websites such as YouTube, results are practically instantaneous. The widespread inclusion of such technology on cell phones means any- one can be a tracker. This prompted the Democratic National Committee earlier this year to launch the Accountability Project, asking supporters to tape Republican events. All of the candidates in California's gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races insist they are using only volunteer trackers, and all declined to allow them to be interviewed. The state Democratic Party paid trackers during the primary. But the candidate with the most extensive tracking operation appears to be Whitman, whose volunteers' recordings are instantly streamed to a secure website where staffers at head- quarters can watch live. "It allows our campaign to respond to any challenge and set the record straight, while at the same time hold- ing our opponent accountable for his actions and words in real time," said Sarah Pompei, Whitman's spokes- woman. There has yet to be a "macaca moment" in the California races, though various campaigns have tried to make hay with video taken by trackers. One clip showed Boxer making a statement that seemed to equate mili- tary service with being a politician. Another was of Brown saying there is wisdom in "not rocking the boat," though his campaign says he was talk- ing about judicial appointments, not his philosophy of governance. Whitman's trackers were manhan- dled at a pro-Brown union event caught by another Whitman tracker. Sterling Clifford, Brown's spokesman, called the focus on track- ers "much ado about nothing." "For all their grainy cell phone video footage, none of it was footage that wasn't obtained by TV news cam- eras," he said. But the trackers themselves have made an impression on the candidates — Fiorina has also pointed them out at campaign events, and Brown referred to them as "gnomes" during a radio interview. The increased prominence of track- ing has benefits and pitfalls, said Jack Pitney, a government professor at Claremont McKenna College and a former national GOP official. "There is even more emphasis than in the past on slips of the tongue, and very often what trackers capture is not substance but human error. What ends up on YouTube tends to be sensation- al," Pitney said. But "more information is available about a candidate's positions than ever before," he added. "So it's very much a mixed bag." The average attendance is between 50 and 100 people with 35-50 at the beginning of the month growing to between 90 and 100 toward the end of the month, he said. “There’s a number of donors who help sup- ply resources that we’re grateful for,” Igarta said. “We’ve been really fortunate to keep doing it without the economy affecting us.” For more information or to donate, call the church at 527-2449. ——— Julie Zeeb can be reached at 527-2153, extension 115 or jzeeb@redbluffdailynews.com. Corning man stabbed Corning Police are looking for three men involved in the stabbing of an Corning man that took place late Thursday evening in the area of Marguerite and McLane avenues. Police were sent at 11:49 p.m. to the 24000 block of Lole- ta Avenue regarding the stabbing where they contacted the victim, 18-year-old Cody Ross. Ross told police he was walking south on Marguerite Avenue at 10:39 p.m. near North Street when three Hispanic males approached him, a Corning Police press release said. The men grabbed Ross and threw him to the ground where they cut him several times with a knife on his stomach and chest before they fled the area. Ross said he would seek his own medical treatment for the lacerations he received. There are no leads on the men at this point and it does not appear that Ross knew any of them, said Police Chief Tony Cardenas said. Anyone with information is asked to contact Corning Police at 824-7000. — Julie Zeeb Gas station robbed Corning police are searching for a man who reportedly robbed a Valero Gas Station with a handgun Friday night on Solano Street. Witnesses say the man was dressed in all black, about 5 feet, 9 inches or 5 feet, 10 inches tall and 200 pounds, according to a press release. He was wearing black shoes, black pants, a long sleeved, hooded sweatshirt and may have been wearing a bandana on his face. After demanding and receiving cash from the store clerk, the man reportedly fled south on East Street. A witness later saw someone who may have matched the description, riding a bike and headed to the west, police said. —Staff Report North State pot raids leading to violence SANTA ROSA (AP) — Authorities are trying to deter- mine what’s causing an increase in violence that has left five suspects dead during raids of marijuana gardens across Northern California during the past several weeks. Most recently, one suspect was fatally shot in a gunbattle Wednesday when more than 60 law enforcement officers raided a marijuana garden in a remote area of Mendocino County. Drug agents have been raiding marijuana grows across the region for years, but the raids this summer have turned increasingly violent. ‘‘It’s not the way it used to be,’’ said Mendocino County Sheriff’s Lt. Rusty Noe, who has led the county’s marijuana team for eight years. Two of the fatal pot field shootings involved deputies from his department. Sonoma County officials have begun treating marijuana eradication efforts like SWAT operations, Sonoma County Sheriff’s Capt. Matt McCaffrey said. ‘‘These aren’t the same marijuana gardens as 20 years ago,’’ McCaffrey said. Though most suspects at the marijuana gardens flee when law enforcement officials raid a grow, some pull out their weapons. ‘‘It’s possible they’re acting out with violence because they feel pushback from law enforcement,’’ said Rusty Payne, a spokesman with the Drug Enforcement Adminis- tration. ‘‘We (federal agents) haven’t seen this,’’ Payne said. ‘‘Five is a lot.’’ Local authorities believe the influence of Mexican drug cartels, more aggressive law enforcement tactics and the increase in large-scale pot operations might be contributing to the increase in violence. With marijuana growing suspects becoming more aggressive, members of the public are being warned to stay away from marijuana gardens in remote areas. At a church camp west of Lake Sonoma, staff members have begun warning campers to stay close to the buildings and off the trails that wind through the area. In Mendocino County, the public was warned to stay away from a popular mountain trail after a group of hunters was confronted by armed men and told to leave the area.