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WEEKEND NOVEMBER 23-24 2013 Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com Branding at Antelope Creek — 8A DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF Sunny 67/37 Weather forecast 10A TEHAMA COUNTY $1.00 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 Superintendent responds Corning woman charged with animal cruelty DN Staff Report The Tehama County District Attorney's Office announced Friday that it had filed felony charges against a 55-year-old Corning woman for animal cruelty. Roberta Ann Draper was arrested Nov. 8 after the Tehama County Sheriff's Department seized 19 animals from her residence on the 16000 block of Lariat Loop. As part of an ongoing investigation four dogs, two cats, seven chickens, four horses, a goat and a sheep See ANIMAL, page 9A Unemployment at 5-year low By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer Daily News photo by Rich Greene Red Bluff Joint Union High School District Superintendent Lisa Escobar, right, listens to a good news presentation at Wednesday's Board of Trustees meeting. Later in the meeting the teachers association presented a vote of no confidence in her leadership. By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer Red Bluff Joint Union High School District Superintendent Lisa Escobar responded to a week of events that saw the teachers union announce it had given her leadership a vote of no confidence when she issued her first statement on the matter Friday afternoon. "I am aware that late last week a member of our teachers union contacted local news media and made negative and untrue comments about me, in connection with a Vote of No Confidence. I do not agree with the statements made by union representatives and welcome an investigation," the written statement said. "I have been tasked by the Board with implementing necessary changes to improve the educational opportunities for the benefit of all students. I will continue to focus my time and energy on the Board's goal to improve educational opportunities for all of our students by working with all stakeholders." In an email to the Daily News Escobar said the Board of Trustees would be issuing a statement on Monday. The board is scheduled to hold a special meeting at 10:30 a.m. Monday. The only item listed on the agenda is a Closed Session conference regarding labor negotiations. The Red Bluff Joint Union High School District Teachers Association issued a press release Nov. 15 saying that it had held a no confiSee RESPONDS, page 9A Tehama County's unemployment rate fell to 10 percent in October 2013, the county's lowest rate in five years. The Employment Development Department released its preliminary October figures Friday, a month after skipping the release due to the partial federal government shutdown. In August Tehama's unemployment rate was 11.2 percent. A year ago in October 2012 the rate was 11.9 percent. Tehama County's unemployment rate hasn't been in single digits since October 2008. The county's civilian labor force and number of employed both increased from September to October, largely due to a 500job increase in farm jobs. Although compared to the previous year, October farm jobs were down 2.3 percent. Wholesale trade jobs grew by 80 positions in one month, an increases of 26.7 percent. There was also moderate growth in local government; trade, transportation and utilities; construction and service providing. As a whole civilian See LOW, page 9A 3 killed in Keeping up with changes in education California as winter weather hits West LAS VEGAS (AP) — Three people were killed in blustery Northern California, football playoffs were called off because of rain in Arizona, and dozens of cars became stranded in snowy rural Nevada as winter weather barreled through the West. The weather system was expected to head east and reach the opposite coast by the middle of next week, but not before dropping rain on the Southwest through Saturday morning, National Weather Service meteorologist Steve Anderson said. A low pressure front dropped down from Alaska, followed closely by a high pressure system that stirred up the fierce winds linked to three deaths Thursday in California. Police responded to reports of an unresponsive person in Oakland and found fallen sections of a tree and power lines. The person was pronounced dead at the scene; the cause of death was being investigated. Another man died in Oakland less than an hour later after he crashed into a fallen tree while apparently trying to avoid debris in the road, the Contra Costa Times reported. Neither man has been identified. In Yuba County, Sherri Pesich, 52, died when part of a 30-inch tree fell on a parked car in which she was sitting, Undersheriff Jerry Read said. Another woman in the car was taken to a hospital; her condition was unknown. Meanwhile, a homeless man had to be rescued from a tree by helicopter and four others were plucked from an island after becoming trapped in the swollen Santa Ana River in California's San Bernardino County. See WEST, page 9A Education is shifting across the state as schools move toward Common Core state standards and Red Bluff is no different. At Metteer Elementary School, a part of the Red Bluff Elementary School District, one of the many changes taking place is the use of Guided Language Acquisition Design, or GLAD. The program was originally designed for English Language Learners, but uses strategies that have been proven to be successful for all students, Red Bluff Elementary Superintendent William McCoy said. It's something her school has been working on for a few years, Metteer Principal Barbara Gaskin-Houghton said. "It is based on research strategy," GaskinHoughton said. "For us, it's not a program within a binder. It is instructional strategies we use to support the students. It is more of how to improve instruction and support students of all levels academically and in language acquisition." Part of what it aims to do is to give students an atmosphere that gives them the courage to talk Courtesy photo and interact in the classroom setting, she said. Teachers are given a model, which starts out as I do, you watch, and transitions from I do, you help to you do, I help and final- ly you do, I watch where the student is actually doing a piece of the lesson themselves. It goes from teacherdriven where they are doing the lesson to stu- dent-driven, she said. "All of our staff was fully trained in GLAD over a six-day training and there's also on-going See CHANGES, page 9A