Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/18201
FRIDAY OCTOBER 22, 2010 Breaking news at: Balloon Festival Official Program www.redbluffdailynews.com See Inside RED BLUFF Spartans T-birds SPORTS 1B showers Weather forecast 10A Few 66/49 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 Fire guts home Managing the city manager Editor’s note: This is the third of four weekly articles leading up to the Nov. 2 election featuring questions answered by Red Bluff City Council candidates. The city manager and department heads have long been criticized for not living in the city and there- fore not caring for the people of Red Bluff. City Manager Martin Nichols’ performance has been called into question since the latest upheaval over when staff knew about the city’s $1.3 million budget deficit. More recently, Finance Director Margaret Van Warmerdam was placed on paid administrative leave and fired by Nichols after she alleged he knew about the deficit months before it was revealed to the full council. It is the council’s job to make decisions that direct the city manager to do what’s best for the citizens. Can- didates say how they would get that job done. The city manager is a non-elected position. Howev- November 2 ELECTION See MANAGER, page 9A Daily News photo by Tang Lor Red Bluff Fire Chief Michael Bachmeyer hoses down a burning home at Friendly Acres Mobile Home Park Thursday afternoon. By TANG LOR DN Staff Writer An electrical fire at Friendly Acres Mobile Home Park on Highway 99W burned one home and threatened two others as fire- fighters battled the flames Thurs- day afternoon. The structure was fully engulfed by the time crews from CalFire and the Red Bluff Fire Department arrived, CalFire Bat- talion Chief Bart Kriek said. The family of six, a father and his five children ranging from age 28 to 15, were not home and had been gone for at least four hours before the fire broke out, CalFire Investigator Dan Hebrard said. The family’s pet Chihuahua was inside but was able to escape and is safe. The fire was initially reported at 12:12 p.m. and contained at 12:49 p.m. Relatives living in the mobile home park contacted one of the fire’s victims, she said. The vic- tim showed up after the fire had already been put out. The family had just bought a new flat screen TV, and her father had some cash savings in the home, she said. She was worried Large Roseville mall ablaze after arrest ROSEVILLE (AP) — A high-end regional mall that is one of the main retail centers in a broad swath of Northern Cali- fornia was set ablaze Thursday after police arrested a man who had barricaded himself inside, dealing an economic blow to a region struggling to emerge from the reces- sion. City officials said part of the roof on the mall’s south end collapsed as huge clouds of black smoke poured from the 1.3 million-square-foot Roseville Galleria, which is about 17 miles east of the state capital. No injuries were reported, but damage to the mall’s roof appeared extensive. The mall was evacuat- ed earlier in the day after a man barricaded himself inside a shop and started what appeared at first to be a small fire. Authorities had thought the mall’s sprin- kler system doused the blaze. Before the larger blaze erupted, police had detained a suspect and were checking a backpack they found to see if it con- tained explosives. Police later said the fire began spreading as members of the bomb squad were examining the backpack, forcing them to flee the building. ‘‘We weren’t able to get in there because there was a potential bomb there,’’ Sacramento Metro spokesman Christian Peb- bles said. Roseville Fire Depart- ment spokesman Dennis Mathisen earlier said fire sprinklers seemed to be controlling the flames. Police descended on the mall shortly after 10:30 a.m. when a man claiming to have a gun entered the video game store GameStop. He started a fire, then barricaded himself in a back room, but there were no reports of hostages or injuries, said Megan MacPherson, spokes- woman for the city of Roseville. The mall was evacuated immediately. She said the man is believed to have acted alone. Police did not know a motive, she said. Police and sheriff’s deputies, including a county SWAT team, detained the man inside the mall. Roseville police later identified him as 23- year-old Alexander Cor- ney Pigee. They were unable to immediately say 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 See MALL, page 9A about the dog. CalFire officials determined the cause to be electrical, and damage was estimated at $30,000. Less than a year ago, a fire gutted nine homes and damaged two others at Friendly Acres, dis- placing five families and leaving other residents without water and electricity for several days. On Thursday, CalFire said the cause of the Nov. 28, 2009 fire was undetermined. ——— Tang Lor can be reached at 527- 2153, Ext. 110 or by e-mail at tlor@redbluffdailynews.com. Fair gets better than fair marks By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Reports are in for the 2010 Tehama District Fair and about 16,000 people attended with just more than 5,800 taking advantage of free admission on Thursday. “I think the board’s deci- sion to play lean and mean was a very proper one,” said Fair CEO Mark Eidman. “It’s neat to see a positive year where we really need- ed one.” According to a prelimi- nary report presented at Tuesday’s fairboard meet- ing, regular admissions brought in about $65,600 with discounted admissions bringing in roughly $5,500. Family special packets brought in about $3,000, and sponsorships were $9,700 with the carnival being the second biggest amount at just over $57,000. Food concessions were about $32,650, non-food concessions were just less than $19,400 and beer brought in about $11,300. Total revenue was about $204,000. See FAIR, page 9A South Main eatery goes under By GEOFF JOHNSON DN Staff Writer Less than a year after it opened, a South Main Street buffet has closed its doors and left its cooking equipment behind. China Buffet opened in January, boasting more than 100 all-you-can-eat items and 50 more made- to-order. By Thursday its own- ers had left town and peo- ple were carrying equip- ment out of the restaurant. Sandee Flaman, who rented an apartment in the Crystal Complex to the business owners, helped with the cleanup process Thursday. She said the restaurant closed Tuesday for financial reasons. Flaman spoke warmly of the owners and said they left on good terms. On learning the owners were leaving, “I almost cried,” Flaman said. Crystal Complex LLC Managing Member Ralph Holden said he only received notice of the clo- sure Monday. Holden knew the restaurant was struggling but its shutdown was abrupt, he said. “We were of course shocked,” he said. “Usu- ally you get some warn- ing about something like this.” The two were able to work out an agreement that satisfied both parties, he said. In exchange for Daily News photo by Geoff Johnson China Buffet closed this week, which offered an assortment of Chinese, Japanese and American dishes, due to economic difficulties. release from the lease, China Buffet’s owners left behind all the equipment necessary to run a restau- rant. As of Thursday Hold- en said he had not had the chance to market the restaurant to buyers. “We sure liked having that restaurant full,” he said. But the buffet’s full period was brief. Though popular when it first opened, business declined over the year. Holden said he sus- pected part of China Buf- fet’s bad streak was poor management decisions. “The few times I went TEHAMA COUNTY GLASS for MOULE’S Fireplace Glass 515 Sycamore St. 529-0260 in and ate, it wasn’t run very good, is what the problem was,” Holden See EATERY, page 9A 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