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Tuesday, November 16, 2010 – Daily News – 7A Death Notices Abbey Doug Douglas Abbey Doug Douglas of Gerber died Friday, Nov. 5, 2010, in Redding. He was 71. McDonald’s Chapel is handling the arrange- ments. Published Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010, in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Leona Jaton Leona Jaton died Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010, in Red Bluff. Jaton was 71. Hoyt-Cole Chapel of the Flowers is handling the arrangements. Published Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010, in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Neva Rogers Neva Rogers died Friday, Nov. 12, 2010, in Redding. Rogers was 69. Hoyt-Cole Chapel of the Flowers is handling the arrangements. Published Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010, in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. KILLED Continued from page 1A erate injuries. The dri- ver, Robert Barnes, 25, of Corning, was arrested on suspicion of felony driving under the influ- ence and second-degree murder. Barnes and passen- gers Richard Carstensen, 26, and Michael Rasmussen, 33, were arrested on suspi- cion of transporting marijuana for sales after several pounds of pot was found in the cab of the Dodge. Witnesses said the Dodge was being driven northbound in an erratic manner prior to the crash, with the driver allegedly speeding, tail- gating and making bad passes. It wasn’t determined Monday exactly how the collision occurred. Offi- cials say it mainly took place in the northbound lane. The impact caused the GMC to reverse its direction. The Dodge overturned and came to rest on its top. As officers looked into the cab of the Dodge, a large plastic bag found to contain marijuana was clearly visible. Barnes and Carstensen were treated at Enloe Medical Center and released for book- ing at the Butte County Jail. Carstensen is also from Corning. Ras- mussen gave police addresses in Chico and Gerber. Rasmussen remained at Enloe Monday, but will later be booked and likely held without bail for parole violations, the CHP said. MOTEL Continued from page 1A ing future development plans. City Manager Martin Nichols said although PG&E has not specified if it will sell back the prop- erty to the city or keep ownership, PG&E has asked for suggestions of possible uses. Among some of the preliminary uses the city has suggested is to turn the area into a rest stop with public bathrooms. Having a rest stop would draw people from the freeway, which comple- ments the Tehama County branding effort to attract visitors to Red Bluff. Whatever eventually gets done with the site should be something that will generate economic activi- ty, Nichols said. In August, motel owner John Minhas and a PG&E spokesperson The injured children had attended Hamilton City schools earlier this year, but officials said they recently transferred to Chico schools. It’s believed the family moved to Chico. Smith went to work for Caltrans in 1978. According to a spokesman, he was a highway maintenance lead worker and had been called from home to provide traffic control on 99 due to the earlier fatal crash. He was diverting northbound 99 traffic onto Hamilton Nord Cana Highway when he was struck at about 11:19 p.m. by the driver of a 2004 Ford F-250 pickup. The driver, identified as Russell N. Hodge, 45, of Corning, continued on and was halted near the scene of the first accident. Officials didn’t know at that moment that Smith had been hit. A CHP officer noticed fresh damage on the front of Hodge’s vehicle and the driver said he believed he had just hit someone. Hodge was arrested on suspicion of felony drunk driving and sec- ond degree murder and booked into the Butte County jail. Caltrans official Rochelle Jenkins said an initial review showed that Smith was follow- ing proper procedures for conducting a road closure. The death of the Cal- trans employee is being investigated by the CHP and Cal-OSHA. The accidents closed 99 in both directions for nearly 12 hours. denied rumors PG&E was looking into buying the motel. Even now as the pur- chase is being made pub- lic, Minhas declined to comment. PG&E declined to dis- close the purchasing price. The motel’s last day of operation was Sunday, Pollard said. On Monday, the motel’s business line was still operating and Min- has was on site cleaning. Stakes have been dri- ven into the ground as PG&E has started fencing off the property. The site will be fenced and have security surveillance patrol for the duration of the project, according to the community notice. ——— Tang Lor can be reached at 527-2153, Ext. 110 or by e-mail at tlor@redbluffdailynews.co m. Located in Chico, CA Red Bluff Simple Cremations & Burial Service Family owned & Operated Honor and Dignity 527-1732 722 Oak Street, Red Bluff, FD Lic. 1931 529-3655 www.affordablemortuary.net Summit seeks to join jobs with climate regulations DAVIS, Calif. (AP) — Unlocking economic prosperity in a low-carbon world was a key theme Monday at a climate-change summit headlined by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is among regional government leaders seeking to join private investors with green technology projects. The outgoing governor of Califor- nia has been bringing together local government leaders from around the world for three years to reduce green- house gas emissions after saying the U.S. and other countries failed to take the lead. ‘‘I know that together we can usher in a new era and build a clean- er and brighter, more prosperous future,’’ Schwarzenegger told atten- dees at his third and final climate summit. ‘‘So, I say let’s do it.’’ The two-day summit at the Uni- versity of California, Davis, just west of Sacramento, drew more than 1,500 people from more than 80 countries. Many of those who spoke during the opening session said state and provincial leaders want to tap private investment to generate jobs in the alternative-energy field while reduc- ing emissions blamed for warming the planet. Profiting from the emerging green economy remains a work in progress, especially with many countries still struggling to emerge from recession and a severe credit crisis that has hampered lending. ‘‘It’s time for us to recognize this is a significant economic challenge as well as an environmental challenge,’’ said British Columbia Premier Gor- don Campbell. British Columbia has imposed a carbon tax that promises to lower the personal and corporate income taxes for residents and small businesses in the province. For example, money collected from taxing polluting com- panies means small businesses there will not pay any taxes on the first $500,000 of their income by 2012, SACRAMENTO (AP) — The state Pub- lic Works Board voted 3-2 Monday to retire the bonds on several state- owned office buildings, paving the way for Cal- ifornia to sell property as a way to raise cash quickly in a deal that analysts warn could cost taxpayers in the long run. The vote allows a deal brokered by Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneg- ger’s administration to move forward. It will give the state between $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion to plug a budget deficit in the current fiscal year. Yet a report from the state’s nonpartisan leg- islative analyst said last week that the sale will end up costing Califor- nia taxpayers $1.4 bil- lion over 35 years. It said the state will pay an effective interest rate of 10.2 percent to lease back the parcels, which include 24 separate buildings, from the new owner — about double what the state pays on existing bonds used to build its offices. Representatives for state Treasurer Bill Lockyer and Controller John Chiang voted against the deal Mon- day, while three Schwarzenegger admin- istration officials voted in favor. Lockyer told the board that he knows the governor and state Leg- ‘‘I know that together we can usher in a new era and build a cleaner and brighter, more prosperous future. So, I say let’s do it.’’ Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Campbell said. Michigan, which has been hit hard by the loss of manufacturing jobs, is aggressively pursuing green-tech companies. California is working with the federal government for what will be the largest solar and wind farms in the world. These kinds of efforts can not only help the environment but bring jobs to places where governments act as partners with private companies, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm said. Granholm and three other Democ- ratic governors — Jim Doyle of Wis- consin, Ted Kulongoski of Oregon and Chris Gregoire of Washington — are co-sponsors of the summit. Tapping green investment is the underlying goal of a new organiza- tion Schwarzenegger and leaders from more than 20 countries are expected to announce at the summit on Tuesday, said Linda Adams, sec- retary of the California Environmen- tal Protection Agency. Named R20, the nonprofit organi- zation incorporated in Geneva, Switzerland, is intended to match investors from the World Bank and private corporations with local gov- ernments in developing and industri- alized countries to accelerate alterna- tive-energy projects. The idea that California, other states and leaders of provinces in such countries as Morocco and France are moving forward with their own nonprofit financing program gives hope to those in the environ- mental community who have been disappointed with the lack of an international treaty on climate change. ‘‘Local governments and state leaders around the world are reacting to the tangible benefits of clean ener- gy, economic development opportu- nities and the imminent threats they are facing, and realizing the problem doesn’t have any borders,’’ said Derek Walker, director of the Califor- nia climate initiative at the Environ- mental Defense Fund. One immediate action local gov- ernments can take would be to imple- ment programs and policies to stem deforestation, actor and environmen- tal advocate Harrison Ford said dur- ing the summit. ‘‘Unlike many of the other climate solutions, tropical forest conservation is inexpensive and immediately avail- able,’’ said Ford, star of the ‘‘Indiana Jones’’ movies. ‘‘But if we don’t seize the opportunity now, we will lose this precious forest and we will lose the battle against climate change.’’ Last December, countries partici- pating in the United Nations climate talks in Denmark failed to agree on an international treaty that would have required them to cut greenhouse gas emissions. They will meet again in two weeks to try to reach a global finance agreement that would give poor countries money to cope with the effects of rising temperatures and become more energy-efficient. The talks leading to that meeting, howev- er, already have divided developing and wealthier nations over the issue of intellectual property rights. Board clears way for sale of state buildings islature, which approved the sale, faced difficult choices, but he said getting rid of such valuable property is ‘‘poor fiscal policy and bad for taxpayers.’’ Many of the build- ings were scheduled to be paid off in just a few years. ‘‘Taxpayers will be burdened with decades of lease payments that far exceed not only the cost of today’s debt ser- vice on the buildings, but also the highest interest payments the state would incur if it borrowed a similar amount of money,’’ Lockyer said. He and several speakers at the hearing questioned whether state officials thorough- ly weighed all their options. One proposal, for example, called for the state to sell the buildings but retain ownership of the land, allowing the parcels to stay in the public trust until after the real estate market has rebounded. ‘‘Once the buildings are sold, they’re gone forever,’’ said Rocky Delgadillo, the former Los Angeles city attor- ney and now a lawyer with Goodwin Procter, one of the firms propos- ing the so-called public option. ‘‘They’re gone for this generation and gone for future genera- tions. So why the rush?’’ Delgadillo and other speakers urged the board to postpone its decision until incoming Gov.-elect Jerry Brown, a Democrat, can review the sale of state assets. They include the Ronald Reagan building in Los Angeles, the civic center and Public Utilities Commission buildings in San Fran- cisco, and offices in downtown Sacramento, including the Depart- ment of Justice. The state Department of General Services, which is overseeing the sale, announced last month it will sell the properties for $2.3 bil- lion to California First LLC, a partnership led by a Texas real estate firm and a private equi- ty firm based in Irvine. About $1 billion from the sale will be used to pay off bonds on the office buildings. The department’s chief deputy director, Scott Harvey, said dur- ing Monday’s meeting that the sale was care- fully analyzed, includ- ing the proposal to sell only the buildings and keep the land. ‘‘It’s tough when you finish near the top but don’t quite get there,’’ he said of the runners- up. ‘‘I respect the fact that the public offering was a competitive offer- ing. When it was all said and done, it didn’t offer the same benefits to the state of Califor- nia, and that’s why the director has recom- mended we sell to the vendor who did.’’ Even with the one- time cash infusion from the proposed sale, the Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates that a $6.1 billion deficit has emerged in the spend- ing plan for the 2010-11 fiscal year that Schwarzenegger signed last month. The Republican gov- ernor has called for a special session of the state Legislature to make more cuts after new lawmakers are sworn into office on Dec. 6. Jim Lombard, chief administrative officer for the controller, called the building sale ‘‘another in a long line of budget gimmicks that simply pushes our fiscal challenges down the road.’’