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THURSDAY Ramey Named OCTOBER 10, 2013 Gray Tapped Artist of Month Pastimes Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 4A SPORTS 1B DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF Sunny 75/51 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 No parking Fake magazine fundraiser scams LosMo area By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer Daily News photo by Andre Byik A man rides his bike Wednesday through the new Corning Community Park skateboard and bike park, where officials have been turning people away before the park opens on Oct. 19. Construction personnel asked the man to leave. Users eager for Corning skate park opening By ANDRE BYIK DN Staff Writer CORNING — As the Corning Community Park nears its opening on Oct. 19, authorities have been busy responding to calls of eager youth trying to get a sneak peak of the park's skate park. Over the weekend, police responded to minors skateboarding at the park and walking dogs, according to police reports. On Friday, three minors were reported using the skateboard and bike facilities and were asked to leave. On Sunday, police repeatedly advised up to five minors that the park isn't open yet and eventually gave a trespassing warning to three. An official with the Corning Police Department said it's just an issue of the park not being open yet. Early use of the park can become a trespassing issue as construction continues at the site on Toomes Avenue, where fencing surrounds the skate park and playground area. The early use of the park has been a topic of discussion at recent Corning City Council meetings, where members already opted to install sod around the skate park instead of hydroseeding the area because of anticipated foot traffic at an opening ceremony on Oct. 19. At that meeting Mayor Gary Strack jokingly asked if officials could keep kids away from the park until grass grew around the area over the next weeks. The director of public works said officials couldn't keep them away now. At Tuesday's council meeting Strack also addressed police concerns of a downtown "homeless problem" the city has, and whether that could spill into the new park. "We got a few things to protect out there now," he said. Strack asked city attorney Jody Burgess to meet with authorities and bring enforcement options to the council. Council members on Tuesday also approved a contract change order of $12,583,30 to Trent Construction Inc. for the installation of boulders and fencing between the park's playground area and the See PARK, page 7A LOS MOLINOS — There have been multiple reports of a door-to-door magazine salesman in the area that claims to be selling subscriptions to raise money for the Los Molinos Lady Bulldogs softball team. Los Molinos Unified School District Superintendent Charles Ward said the magazine sales are not affiliated with the school. School officials learned of the scam when a woman checked with the school after purchasing subscriptions. The woman canceled her check after contacting the school, Tehama County Sheriff's Department logs show. Ward said the district was able to do an all-call contacting parents of all students to advise them of the scam, but had no way to reach others in the community who didn't have students enrolled. The scammer is claiming the false fundraiser is to pay for a trip to Hawaii for the softball team. There is no such trip scheduled. "I wish," Ward said. "I'd chaperone." A similar scam was reported in 2010 in Chico. In that case the magazine salesman said he was raising money for the Chico Nuts American Legion baseball team to help them pay for a trip to Cooperstown, N.Y. Truck stop hit in early morning Corning robbery Travel Centers of America in Corning was robbed early Wednesday morning. According to a Corning Police Department press release a male subject wearing a ski mask, jeans, gloves and a dark hooded sweatshirt entered the store around 3:39 a.m. The man contacted the store clerk and demanded money from the register. The clerk told officers the suspect had his hand under his sweatshirt and appeared to have a weapon. After the clerk complied with the order, the suspect took the money and ran out of the store. He was last seen fleeing northbound from the area. The Corning Police Department had no further information. Harvest Fest Stinky creek means good year for spring-run Friday at Bidwell By HEATHER HACKING MediaNews Grup The community is invited to celebrate the beginning of fall with the Bidwell Harvest Festival planned from 5-8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11, at Bidwell Elementary School, 1256 Walnut St. The event, an annual fundraiser for school field trips, will include a variety of games available for 25 cents each or 25 tickets for $5. In its eight year, the festival is hosted by Volunteers Investing in Bidwell Elementary School (VIBES), the school's parent group. The group first banded together to help save field trips when cuts due to a budgetary crisis would have taken them away, VIBES Community Liaison Dani Shults said. The festival was the first and now primary fundraiser for the school's field trips, she said. "It started out as a Bidwell event, but it has become a community event," Shults said. In 2012, the group added Red Bluff Fire Department, which 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 brought an engine, and Red Bluff Police Department, which brought its K-9 unit to make it even more of a community event, VIBES member David Ferreira said. Tehama County Search and Rescue also participated. The event will include a dunk tank and instead of a cakewalk, a cake spin along with music, Shults said. There will be plenty of food from popcorn to Round Table Pizza. Another way the group will raise money is through raffle prizes of which at least 50 have been donated by the community, she said. Items include a Shaun White scooter and a Kindle Fire. The group has prepared about 500 goody bags, sponsored by local businesses, to hand out to children attending the event in anticipation of a large crowd. "It's really an event to see," Shults said. "The energy is very fun." Shults' favorite part of the event is the kids and watching them get their faces painted, which are usually smeared by the end of the night, she said. The Harvest Festival is See FEST, page 7A CHICO — The remains of a very good chinook salmon spring run can be viewed, and in many cases smelled, along Butte Creek this week. The final numbers won't be known for a while, and the fish are still spawning, but Fish and Wildlife biologist Clint Garman said the threatened species had a good year. This week a crew has been walking creekside and wielding machetes. After salmon spawn, they die. Garman's job has been to find dead fish that do not have clear eyes or red gills, and chop them in half. "This keeps us from counting them again." Fish with clear eyes and red gills are given a tag, for counting later. A formula is used to calculate how many fish migrated up the creek, he explained, which is known as the carcass survey. Garman said his guess is that the spring-run chinook numbers will be similar to last year — approximately 16,000. Michael Smith lives in Butte Creek Canyon and has a close relationship Media News Group photo by Bill Husa/Chico Enterprise-Record A tag on a salmon in Butte Creek on Monday indicates that the fish will be counted later. with the returning creatures. With Friends of Butte Creek, Smith has worked on the project to install a webcam along the water. People can go to www.buttecreek.org and watch the fish right now. Smith said this is the largest spring run he's seen in 28 years living in the canyon. What's amazing, said Allen Harthorn, a fan of fish and a canyon dweller, is that many of the returning fish were born in 2009, which was a relatively small run. It shows the "reproductive capability of Butte Creek is tremendous and the habitat down the valley is the best that we have left in the Central Valley." "The future looks bright for Butte Creek," Harthorn aid. Spawning — where females lay eggs in the gravel, and males fertilize the eggs — began around Sept. 17, and will continue until the end of Octo- ber. Next the fall-run salmon make their way up the creek. This fish species is not threatened or endangered. Garman said the salmon are a big bonus to other wildlife, which munch on fresh or decaying salmon, including raccoons, foxes, turkey vultures and the occasional mountain lion. Bears have been spotted every day in the upper See CREEK, page 7A