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FRIDAY OCTOBER 29, 2010 Breaking news at: Hunting The Dead Select TV www.redbluffdailynews.com See Inside RED BLUFF Reader Game Two Photos Pages 6A, 10B TEHAMACOUNTY SPORTS 1B Showers likely 64/46 Weather forecast 10A Anonymous letter stirs up council race By TANG LOR DN Staff Writer An anonymous letter about Mayor Jeff Moyer and Council- man Jim Byrne lapsing on their monthly payments for health insurance coverage from the DAILYNEWS 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 Political posturing or cause for concern? city was sent to multiple people just weeks before Election Day. E-mails from former city accountant Trisha Blair, which were circulated with the letter, show she asked Moyer on at least three occasions to pay up. Moyer and Byrne admit they failed to make timely payments, but when the city notified them, they paid. Both are up to date on their payments, said Human Resource Director Tessa Pritchard, who is serving as the interim finance director. From a ‘Of course, someone from City Hall did this. How else would anybody know about this stuff?’ Councilman Jim Byrne financial standpoint that makes the issue moot. Who is paying? Moyer forgot to pay because he did not get a monthly invoice from the city, he said. Had the city been providing a monthly invoice, he would not have missed a payment. Byrne said his daughter took over handling his bills. Because the city did not send an invoice, she was unaware of the bill and did not pay it. Local haul on tour Blair usually reminds Byrne to pay when he goes to City Hall to pick up his council packet, he said. The lapse occurred during the time Blair was on maternity leave. While that may have con- tributed to the reason Byrne did not get a reminder, it should not have taken the city that long to notify him of the missed pay- ments, he said. No one gave him a notice for four months, which makes him think he was being set up, See RACE, page 9A Good news for Corning roads, cops By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer CORNING — The City Council heard some good news Tuesday when it was announced that funding for Blackburn Avenue improvements and a detective’s position had been awarded. “It’s an $800,000 grant that allows us to move forward with improvements on Blackburn Avenue from Edith Avenue to the (Woodson Elementary) school,” said City Manager Steve Kimbrough. “It was a major project that took lots of time going to Sacramento to work out the details and staff spent a lot of time on it.” The construction, which includes street widening and drainage improvements, is the last phase for the single fam- ily homes in the Salado Orchard Apartments, he said. “It’s good to see that staff stayed on them and we got this,” said Mayor Gary Strack. The money comes from a Department of Housing and Community Development Block Grant. The standard time frame for a contract to arrive is between six and eight weeks, but it should be in place with things ready to go by the first of the year, Planning Director John Stoufer said. Stoufer said he would be contacting Pacific West, the apartment complex developer, sometime next week to start working on plans. While the item was informational only, Councilman Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb John Povey of Mt. Lassen Trout Farms moves female trout from concrete runs to a smaller tub for a demonstration of egg-taking Thursday on the Tehama County Farm Bureau Farm-City Tour. By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer The Tehama County Farm Bureau Farm-City Bus Tour, Walk-in-the- Woods, hit the road Thursday stopping at four locations in the Manton area, including two wineries, a trout farm and a lavender farm. “The purpose of the tour is to show our agriculture to the community,” said Farm Bureau Manager Kari Dodd. “It’s part of the two-week com- munity outreach that starts with Farm Day and goes through Farm-City Night. It’s really just about bringing the farm and city together.” The annual tour, co-sponsored this Poll: Brown keeps lead over Whitman in governor’s race SACRAMENTO (AP) — Democrat Jerry Brown holds a double-digit lead over Republican Meg Whit- man in their contest for Cal- ifornia governor less than a week before Election Day, according to a Field Poll released Thursday. The survey found the former two-term governor leading the former eBay chief executive 49 percent to 39 percent among likely voters. It is the third poll released in the past week showing Brown leading a race considered too close to call a month ago. ‘‘I don’t remember any- thing in recent memory, going back 50 years, a can- didate riding this low in the polls overtaking and win- ning,’’ this close to an elec- tion, said Jaime Regalado, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles. That doesn’t bode well for Whitman, a billionaire who has spent nearly $142 million of her own money in her first bid for political office. She has spent the past two weeks traveling California in a bid to woo the independent voters she needs to win in a state where Democrats hold a 13- point registration advantage. At a campaign stop Thursday morning in the agriculture hub of Salinas, in Monterey County, Whit- man urged supporters to contact everyone they know to get out the vote. ‘‘It’s going to be a close race. We need every single vote,’’ she said, according to The Salinas Californian newspaper. Brown appears to be 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 gaining favor among unde- cided voters, who in previ- ous polls made up about a fifth of likely voters. Thurs- day’s poll shows 12 percent remain undecided. year by the Tehama County Resource Advisory Council (RAC) and Rolling Hills Casino, rotates through four sec- tions of the county — having visited the eastern portion in 2009 and the southern in 2008, said Farm Bureau Director Anne Bianchi. See TOUR, page 9A Ross Turner excused himself and sat with the audience while the Blackburn improvements were discussed, since he manages property on Blackburn Avenue. The $100,000 California Citizen’s Options For Public Safety (COPS) grant has been awarded for another year to the Corning Police Department to fund a detective’s posi- tion. “We are spending last year’s grant this year so this one will cover through 2012,” Kimbrough said. “We budget it this way so that we always have some leeway in case the state decided to stop this program.” A change order will be taking place in the Rodger’s The- atre construction, which will cost just under $2,500. “As we removed the loge seats and we uncovered the bare ground we noted a concrete stem wall there,” Public Works Director John Brewer said. “The elevation of the See CORNING, page 9A A taste to promote reading for youth By CHIP THOMPSON DN editor As many as 75 educa- tors and members of the business community turned out Thursday evening at the Riverside Bar and Grill to enjoy some sips and nibbles. The annual fundraiser for the Tehama County Reading Council and Association of California School Administrators, Sip N Nibble offers wine tasting and an array of fin- ger foods while guests peruse gift baskets created by Tehama County schools. Proceeds from the event help the reading council supply a book to See TASTE, page 9A Daily News photo by Chip Thompson Guests enjoy appetizers and wine tasting Thursday evening during the Tehama County Reading Council’s Sip N Nibble fundraiser. 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 TEHAMA COUNTY GLASS MOULE’S REMOVE ALL • Well water build-up • Water stains • Soap scum with NOTHIN’S BETTER stain remover only at Moule’s 515 Sycamore St. 529-0260 DAILY 50¢