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TUESDAY Jr. Livestock Auction OCTOBER 1, 2013 Gridiron Wrap Fair Pages Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com See Pages 4A & 5A SPORTS 1B DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF Sunny 76/54 Weather forecast 8B 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 Hollywood ending Survey shows RB supports police tax By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer Daily News photo by Rich Greene Prime Cinemas co-owner Skip Sharp shows off one of the theater's newest digital projectors. The theater faced closure at the end of the summer as it dealt with the financial difficulties of finding a loan to pay for the transition from film to digital projection. Last minute deal keeps theaters open By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer Two men buy a local small town institution with grander plans in their heads. Right afterwards the market collapses and the men begin losing money every year. Adding to the dilemma, the industry they are a part of is rapidly embracing technological advances and the men need to secure a $300,000 loan to keep the institution open. The combination of the market collapse and the fact the business is losing money every year makes getting a loan nearly impossible and the two men get to the point where even their own houses are on the line. The owners would like to tell the community how close it is to losing the beloved institution, but in their business doing so would lead to certain closure. With a closing date a week away, the money from the loan is found and the business not only saved, but set up with state-of-the-art equipment. Sounds like the movies? It was. Act 1 That's the ordeal Prime Cinemas owners Skip Sharp and Brian Young have faced since purchasing Red Bluff's movie theater in 2008. Things got so bad for the two, that they had even picked a date to close the theater — Sept. 1. If it had closed, it would have been unlikely a town the size of Red Bluff would have ever had a movie theater again, Sharp said. Similar stories have been playing out across the country as the movie industry has switched its distribution methods from 35-millimeter film to digital. That change requires a hefty investment from theater owners. For Prime Cinemas' 6-screen operation the cost to install new digital projectors was around $300,000. Sharp said there have been countless stories across the country of small towns losing their independently-run movie theaters because the capital for the digital transition could not be found. It was almost the case for Sharp and Young in Red Bluff. Flashback Sharp said the pair bought the theater in 2008. They invested in new theater style seating and a remodeling of the lobby. The plan was to build two new theaters in other part of Northern California and use the Red Bluff location to train management. Then the market crashed. The possibility of building new locations was out the window and, for better or worse, Sharp and Young were left with the Red Bluff location. "It's been awful keeping a movie theater in Red Bluff," Sharp said. Sharp said the theater has lost about $30,000 a year the last five years. Such financial figures led every See ENDING, page 7A About one-third of respondents to a Red Bluff Police Department survey said they have considered moving because of the crime in the city. Three out of four respondents said they would support at least a quarter-cent public safety sales tax to go toward the police and fire departments, while 46 percent of those who answered would support a tax as high as a half-cent. The department made the survey available to the public from January through April. The survey was meant to be a preliminary step in the department developing a 5-year strategic plan. However last week Police Chief Paul Nanfito issued a press release that said the project is being placed on hold until 2014, due to the significant amount of activity the department has faced since February. The department has since released the results of the 26-question survey, which was answered 446 times and gauged the public's opinion about crime in the city and trust in the department itself. Highlights • 31 percent of respondents said they felt either safe or very safe walking alone in their neighborhood at night, while 41 percent responded they felt unsafe or very unsafe. Respondents felt a lot more safe inside their own homes, with just 9.2 percent answering they felt unsafe or very unsafe. • Close to 39 percent of respondents said police presence was not adequate in their neighborhood, while just 24.6 percent said traffic enforcement was not adequate. • 47 percent of respondents said they have been a victim of a crime in Red Bluff. • 53 percent of respondents answered they have limited or changed their activities within the city due to crime concerns. • The survey asked respondents how significant they viewed a number of situations happening within the city during daytime hours. Respondents said they were very concerned about Children being exposed to sex offenders, drugs, transients and strangers loitering near their home. They said they were not concerned about driving safety, walking safety or illegal parking. Asked the same question about nighttime hours, respondents changed from being not cornered about walking safety to being very concerned. • Respondents were asked to rate the seriousness of a series of crimes and quality of life issues from Very Serious, Moderately Serious, Slightly Serious or Not a Problem. Assaults, domestic violence, property theft, gangs and driving under the influence received a plurality of respondents answering they were very serious problems. Skateboarding in Business Districts was the only issue respondents gave a plurality to Not a Problem. • Around 84 percent of respondents said they would not hesitate to call the Red Bluff Police Department for help, although just 61.9 percent answered that the department was responsive to their needs. Rich Greene can be reached at 527-2151, ext. 109 or rgreene@redbluffdailynews.com. CA report says truancy Medical assistants graduate from local training may cost state billions Historically healthcare LOS ANGELES (AP) — California must act to reduce rampant truancy that saw an estimated 1 million elementary students absent in the last school year and may cost the state billions of dollars through increased crime and poverty, according to a study released Monday by the state attorney general's office. ''The empty desks in our public elementary school classrooms come at a great cost to California,'' the report said. The report, scheduled for release at an anti-truancy symposium in Los Angeles, said children have unexcused absences from school for a number of reasons, including family issues, neighborhood safety concerns and bullying. It called for a sweeping battle against absenteeism that brings together parents, educators, lawmakers, law enforcement and community groups. 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 ''The findings are stark. We are failing our children,'' the report's executive summary concluded. The report was based on information from around 550 elementary schools, as well as surveys and interviews with school district and county education officials, district attorneys involved with anti-truancy work, non-profit groups, parents and state prison inmates. It cited California Department of Education figures that found nearly 30 percent of all public school students were truant during the 2011-2012 school year — including about 1 in 5 elementary schoolers. Nearly 2,000 elementary schools — about 30 percent — reported truancy rates of between 20 and 40 percent and nearly 10 percent had even higher rates, the report said. ''Some schools report that more than 92 percent of students were truant'' that year, the report said. The report also estimated that about 1 million elemenSee REPORT, page 7A providers in Tehama County and the region have struggled to meet the rising demand for an English- and Spanish-speaking staff, an issue compounded by the upward demographic shift of Hispanic and Latino residents. To meet this workforce need, the Job Training Center granted a cohort of primarily bilingual individuals through Medical Office Assistant and Clinical Medical Assistant training, which started in April. Fifteen clinical medical assistants and nine medical office assistants celebrated Sept. 18 at a graduation ceremony at the Red Bluff Community and Senior Center. "The Job Training Center screening process provided me with students with good character traits," said instructor Vivian Surya Buehler. "From day one, they came in with a positive attitude and were eager to learn. These students are passionate about their new career and ready to con- Courtesy photo Kathy Sarmiento, left, of the Job Training Center, and graduate Tania Arambide. tribute to local healthcare providers." The four-month Medical Office Training included reception techniques, appointment setting, ethics in the workplace, professional and personal development, introduction to electronic medical records, common health insurance system knowledge, usage and written communications and HIPPA. Smog Inspection $ 2595 +$825 certificate (MOST CARS & PICK-UPS) • Members Welcome 530 See GRADS, page 7A 527-9841 195 S. Main St., Red Bluff