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WEEKEND OCTOBER 16-17, 2010 Breaking news at: Make a Difference Day USA Weekend www.redbluffdailynews.com See Inside RED BLUFF Spartans take on Paradise SPORTS 1B Weather forecast 10B Mostly sunny 82/54 By GEOFF JOHNSON DN Staff Writer COTTONWOOD — The future and past alike are murky for members of the Cottonwood Creek Watershed Group after an extended public meeting Thursday. The non-profit was formed 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 Watershed group remains in limbo to meet the creek’s environmen- tal needs while giving local landowners, or stakeholders, control over the group. In July its board members found themselves trying to find $50,000 in missing grant money for a pair of unpaid con- tracts. The debt, combined with pressure from the California Fire Safe Council to return the grant money, pushed the scan- dal to the surface this week as board members convened an emergency meeting, asking for guidance from local landown- ers. By Thursday its members could not agree on what version Crash kills 1 of the bylaws to use nor whether the group’s tax records were in order and were still uncertain whether the missing funds were embezzled or sim- ply misappropriated. The Shasta County Sheriff’s Office has been working for months to resolve some of these questions. In the meantime, the group may have been so conta- minated by bad accounting as to be unsalvageable. That was the opinion of Mary Mitchell, manager for the Shasta Resource Conservation District. “You need to be clean,” she See LIMBO, page 9A Bank robber said he was dying The FBI released new details this week on a Los Molinos bank robbery. Umpqua Bank was robbed about 12:30 p.m. Oct. 7 when a single, white man approached the counter, displayed a chrome colored semi-automatic hand- gun and said he wanted cash from the teller drawer, accord- ing to an FBI press release. The man told the teller he was dying and wanted to leave some money for his family, according to the release. The suspect is described as See DYING, page 9A Firefighters to burn Antelope home By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer If you see a column of Daily News photo by Chip Thompson The driver of a Chevrolet Suburban was killed early Friday when the SUV collided head-on with a school bus carrying 29 students to three Cottonwood schools.The driver’s 14-year-old son and the driver of the bus suffered major injuries. COTTONWOOD — A Cotton- wood man died Friday morning after his SUV collided head-on with a school bus that was filled with students on their way to three local schools. Jeremy M. Abshire was driving westbound on Gas Point Road around 7:22 a.m. when his ’95 Chevrolet Suburban crossed over the double yellow line and collided head on with the approaching school bus just west of Keri Lane, according to a Redding California Highway Patrol press release. Abshire, 34, was pronounced dead at the scene. His passenger and 14-year-old son, Jacob Abshire, and bus driver Penny Wilkins, 61, of Cottonwood, both suffered major injuries and were taken by ambu- lance to Mercy Medical Center in Redding. Feds oppose Prop 19 to legalize pot SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Attorney General Eric Holder says the fed- eral government will enforce its marijuana laws in California even if vot- ers next month make the state the first in the nation to legalize the drug. The Justice Depart- ment strongly opposes California’s Proposition 19 and remains firmly committed to enforcing the federal Controlled Substances Act in all states, Holder wrote in a letter to former chiefs of the U.S. Drug Enforce- ment Administration. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter, dated Wednesday. ‘‘We will vigorously enforce the CSA against those individuals and organizations that pos- sess, manufacture or dis- tribute marijuana for recreational use, even if such activities are permit- ted under state law,’’ Holder wrote. The attorney general also said that legalizing recreational marijuana in California would be a ‘‘significant impediment’’ to the government’s joint efforts with state and local law enforcement to target drug traffickers, who often distribute marijuana alongside cocaine and other drugs. He said the ballot mea- sure’s passage would ‘‘significantly under- mine’’ efforts to keep Cal- ifornia communities safe. The ex-DEA chiefs sent a letter to Holder in August calling on the Obama administration to sue California if Proposi- tion 19 passes. They said legalizing pot presented the same threat to federal authority as Arizona’s recent immigration law that spurred a federal law- suit. If California voters approve the ballot mea- sure, the state would become the first to legal- ize and regulate recre- ational pot use. Adults could possess up to one ounce of the drug and 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 See POT, page 9A Of the 29 students on the bus, 11 sustained minor injuries, and two were taken by ambulance to Mercy complaining of neck pain. Officials do not know why the SUV crossed into the other lane. The car was equipped with an igni- tion interlock device, but there is no indication that alcohol was a con- tributing factor in the collision. — Staff report smoke rising up from behind Bud’s Jolly Kone Monday morning, it’s prob- ably because CalFire is doing a multi-agency struc- ture fire training. “Bob Carrell who owns the property contacted us to see if we could utilize the structure as a training burn,” said CalFire Capt. Matt Chamblin. The main part of the building, at 15 Wiltsey Ave., directly behind Bud’s Jolly Kone, was built in 1910, but the entire structure is unin- habitable, Chamblin said. CalFire had to get mate- rials, half of which were donated by Home Depot, to make the building struc- turally sound for firefighters to enter while doing the training and to keep the fire from spreading too fast, he said. “It’s a win-win for us and the property owner because we don’t have a way to sim- ulate fire inside a building and it allows us to get train- ing in a real situation,” Chamblin said. “It also helps reduce the amount of material going to the land- fill.” While CalFire will be burning the building there are certain steps that must be taken first with any build- ing that is given it to use for training, he said. “We can’t just go and burn any old house,” Cham- blin said. “We will come out See BURN, page 9A Corning contest hunts for best retrievers By ROBIN EPLEY MediaNews Group CORNING — Corn- ing has gone to the dogs. Well, at least the hills and ponds of Rolling Hills Casino’s Clear Creek Sports Club have. Oct. 10 marked the first day of the Master National Hunting Retriever Tests, an annu- al competition that pits the best retriever hunt- ing dogs in the country against the tough Amer- ican Kennel Club "mas- ter" title standards. Dogs and owners who have made it to this point have passed five or six other local and regional tests in their own divisions and have come to the national tests to battle it out. Lassen Retriever Club, which is hosting the event, is part of a four-year rotation between the four divi- sions. Last year, the competition was held in Texas. Dogs must master courses of land, water, and land and water to retrieve birds tossed and hidden by volunteers. In order to retrieve them, a close connection Bill Husa/Chico Enterprise- Record Raggedyruns, owned by Bart Schlachter of Lancaster, Penn., works during the Master National Hunting Retriever Test at the Clear Creek Sports Club in Corning, Oct. 10. between dog and trainer is essential. Trainers use hand signals to tell the dog exactly where to run to find the birds. "This is the best of the best as far as AKC hunt test dogs go," said Frank Barton, of Mari- on, Ark., who is the sec- retary of this year’s Hunt Test. Of 358 dogs, maybe one-third will pass, said Barton. "What this is all about is, how can we Daily News Saturday print delivery will be late due to football coverage …but now you can read the Saturday paper online after 8:00 am Saturday mornings www.redbluffdailynews.com Click on Digital Edition See HUNT, page 9A Business Connections LIVE SCAN FINGERPRINTING With results electronically sent to DOJ & FBI Appointments and/or walk-ins. 332 Pine St., Red Bluff 527-6229 Since 1979