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FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2013 Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com Class of the future Giants win Education See 4A Sports 1B DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF Mostly sunny 84/57 Weather forecast 8A 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 Supervisors hear pot appeals By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer The Tehama County Board of Supervisors held a marathon day listening to abatement appeals of the county's Marijuana Cultivation Ordinance Wednesday afternoon. The board heard a total of 14 appeals. Of those one citation was withdrawn by the Sheriff's Department, two appeals were granted an "unusual hardship" exception to the ordinance's 100-foot setback rule and the other 11 appeals were denied. Those growers now have 14 days to come into compliance with the county's ordinance or would have to pay the county's cost of abating the marijuana grows. Supervisor Dennis Garton frequently said the board was not there to discuss the benefits or legality of medicinal marijuana, but simply the zoning violations that were being cited. The majority of citations were for grows not set back 100 feet from neighboring property lines, often times attempting to have grows on properties that could never allow for the required setbacks. At least half included instances where grows contained more than the allotted 12 mature and 12 immature plant limitation. In all 14 cases the person who was cited had not registered their grow with the Tehama County Health Services Agency at the time of the citation. Nearly every person had registered by Tuesday's hearing. Reasons for appeals varied, but mainly dealt with health issues including cancer, severe complicaSee POT, page 7A Daily News photo by Rich Greene Deputy County Counsel Alan Cox (far right) represented the Tehama County Sheriff's Department Wednesday for 14 appeals of the Marijuana Cultivation Ordinance. Lassen celebration Musical duo Allison Scull and Victor Martin will perform at Lassen National Park for the 4th Annual Lassen Art and Wine Festival on Saturday, Sept. 28. The event runs 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with music 1-4 p.m. Wine tastings and art exhibits will be celebrated in style at the Kohm Yah-mahnee Visitor's Center, near the park's southwest entrance. Allison and Victor's "sound blends elements of folk, jazz, blues, European and Latin music, all of which translates into a laidback, tranquil vibe that tends to put people at ease," according to Jim Dyar in Enjoy Magazine. Allison will perform on guitar and vocals while Victor will play on saxophone and sing. Special guest Stefan Schittko will perform on keyboards. S e e www.allisonandvictor.com for artist information. Local wineries featured hailing from nearby Manton include Lassen Peak Winery, Alger Vineyards, Mount Tehama Winery, Indian Peak Vineyards, Ringtail Vineyards & Winery and others. This event also features many local visual artists. The festival is family oriented, with performing magicians, clowns, face painter and balloon tying artists. Appetizers will be served in the café and the gift shop is open to the public. Park admission is free on Sept. 28, courtesy of the National Park Service's fee free days. There is no charge to participate in the festival, but you must buy a $6 commemorative wine or beer glass to sample wine or beer. S e e http://www.nps.gov/lavo or call call 530-595-4480 for more park and event information. County responds to Grand Jury By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer The Tehama County Board of Supervisors approved a series of responses to the 2012-13 Grand Jury's findings and recommendations Tuesday. In nearly all instances the agency reviewed by the Grand Jury agreed at least in part to all of the findings and recommendations. Agencies have until Sept. 25 to respond to the Grand Jury Report The Grand Jury recommended that supervisor salaries be reexamined with a measure placed on the June 2014 ballot after finding the salaries ranked last when compared to surrounding and similar size counties. Tehama supervisors earn $1,045 per month, about a third of what their peers make. Chief Administrator Bill Goodwin told the board he was planning to bring the question of whether the ballot referendum should be held in June or November back to the board next week. In his response to the Grand Jury, Goodwin said, while the board is made up of well-qualified individuals, he did agree the salary could pose a deterrent to otherwise qualified future candidates. However Goodwin disagreed in part with the counties the Grand Jury compared salaries to. Goodwin said he would be recommending a new compensation package compared to salaries in Butte, Shasta, Glenn, Yuba, Lake and Siskiyou counties. Goodwin said those six agencies have been used for all of Tehama's salary and benefit comparisons since 1998. Goodwin also agreed with the findings and recommendations regarding a separate review of the county's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act in county parks and facilities. The Grand Jury had recommended a budget allotment be established specifically for ADA compliance an action plan put in place. Air Pollution Control District Of all the county responses to the Grand Jury, the Air Pollution Control District provided the most in disagreement. The Grand Jury recommended the district specifically list fine amounts as it had found fines seemed to vary based on the Air Pollution Control Director's discretion. Air Pollution Control Director Alan Abbs responded Grand Jury Courtesy photo by Kathi Corder Allison Scull and Victor Martin will perform Sept. 28 at the 4th Annual Lassen Art and Wine Festival. Reading Fire subject of magazine piece Lassen Volcanic National Park was featured in a New York Times Magazine cover story published online Thursday that explores the dilemma of whether to put out potential wildfires right away or to let them burn under close watch. The feature written by Paul Tullis explores the efforts scientists are taking to understand fire and how it spreads, and examines the decision made by Lassen Park officials to attempt to manage a fire in the park last summer. That fire, which started July 23, 2012, became hard to control on Aug. 6, when winds blew the fire into lodgepole pines, according to the article. The blaze, which became known as the Reading Fire, burned 28,079 acres, according to the National Park Service. No structures were lost. But, according to the feature that will hit newsstands Sunday, Park Service officials view the Reading Fire as a lesson in public perception. To read the article, visit tinyurl.com/khfffnf. See JURY, page 7A Nearly 40 percent of Rim Fire land a moonscape SACRAMENTO (AP) — A fire that raged in forest land in and around Yosemite National Park has left a barren moonscape in the Sierra Nevada mountains that experts say is larger than any burned there in centuries. The fire has consumed 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 about 400 square miles, and within that footprint are a solid 60 square miles that burned so intensely that everything is dead, researchers said. ''In other words, it's nuked,'' said Jay Miller, senior wildland fire ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service. ''If you asked most of the fire ecologists working in the Sierra Nevada, they would call this unprecedented.'' Smaller pockets inside the fire's footprint also burned hot enough to wipe out trees and other vegetation. In total, Miller estimates that almost 40 percent of the area inside the fire's boundary is nothing but charred land. Other areas that burned left trees scarred but alive. Using satellite imagery, Miller created a map of the devastation in the wake of the third-largest wildfire in California history and the largest recorded in the Sierra Nevada. Biologists who have mapped and studied the ages and scarring of trees throughout the mountain range have been able to determine the severity and size of fires that occurred historically. Miller says a fire has not left such a contiguous moonscape in the Sierra since before the Little Ice Age, which began in 1350. In the decades before humans began controlling fire in forests, the Sierra would burn every 10 to 20 years, clearing understory growth on the ground and opening up clearings for new tree growth. Modernday practices of fire suppression, combined with cutbacks in forest service budgets and a desire to reduce smoke impacts in the polluted San Joaquin Valley, have combined to create tinderboxes, experts say. Drought, and dryness associated with a warming climate also have contributed to the intensity of fires this year, researchers say. ''If you had a fire every 20 years, you wouldn't have many like this or you'd never have trees that were 400 years old,'' Miller said. See FIRE, page 7A