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WEEKEND DECEMBER 25-26, 2010 Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com RED BLUFF SPORTS 1B likely Weather forecast 8B Rain 54/42 DAILYNEWS TEHAMACOUNTY DAILY 50¢ 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 Behind the jolly Interview: Kris Kringle, the man who spreads Christmas joy By CHIP THOMP- SON DN editor St. Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, Santa Claus. Known by many names, the iconic, jolly old man with the thick white beard and red suit has become synonymous with Christmas. The Daily News recently sat down with Kringle one day before his busiest night of the year. Daily News: Thank you for making time for this. I realize you must have a lot on your plate today. Santa Claus: Ho, ho, ho, of course. But it’s important to connect with the people I work to make happy. DN: It’s no secret the economy has had a big impact on everyone in recent years. How has it impacted your opera- tions? SC: It hasn’t, really. At least not in the way most would expect. DN: How so? SC: You see, the elves don’t work on a tradi- tional union contract. Their compensation comes through the happi- ness of children, and that’s not impacted by the economy. The elves continue to produce toys and children continue to feel the joy of the Christ- mas season. It’s really a sort of system of its own, outside the constraints of the economy. DN: I see. About Rudolph. For years he suffered the taunts of all of the other reindeer, laughing and calling him Daily News file photo St. Nicholas is shown here during the Children’s Christmas Festival at the Red Bluff Community and Senior Center Dec. 18. names. Why did you tol- erate such bullying? SC: Rudolph is a spe- cial case. I knew he was strong enough to endure. You should understand, reindeer are not subject to the strict naughty or nice criteria by which children are judged, so my hands were tied. Besides, I knew the day would come when Rudolph would have a nose so bright as to be the only one capable of guiding my sleigh on that particular night. DN: With billions of children in the world, how are you able to track which have been naughty and which have been nice, much less visit each over the course of one evening? SC: I’m not going to lie to you, it’s a full-time job. Mrs. Claus plays a big role in keeping the records straight, but I still make time to check the list twice before making my rounds. As for the delivery on Christmas, there’s a rea- son I use reindeer to pull my sleigh – what they can accomplish never ceases to amaze me. DN: Many older chil- dren and most adults would say they no longer believe in you. What do you say to them? SC: Belief is a strong See JOLLY, page 7A More DUI arrests as campaign continues Law enforcement officials have made more DUI arrests since Thursday as they continue their crackdown on drunk- en driving through the Avoid the Five DUI campaign. A total of 18 individuals have been arrested in Tehama County for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs since the Avoid the Five campaign started on Dec. 17. The latest arrests are Gary Jenkins, 46, of Red Bluff and Thomas Hewitt, 23, of Red Bluff. They were arrested by Red Bluff Police between the period of Thursday evening and Friday morning. During that same time, California Highway Patrol arrest- ed four people for DUI. They are Shawn Malone, 47, of Paynes Creek; Timothy Burgess, 49, of Red Bluff; Danial Frost, 37, of Anderson and Damian Vasquez, 18, of Chico. The number of arrests are up from the same time last year. In 2009, only 12 arrests had been made during the same eight-day period. Weekend extra DUI saturation patrols will continue to be out in full force tonight in the cities of Red Bluff and Corn- ing. CHP’s Maximum Enforcement Period started Friday night, which means all available officers will be deployed on the freeways and county roads they patrol. Police, sheriff and the CHP encourage all motorists to help make the community safer. Call 911 to report drunk dri- vers. The Avoid the Five DUI arrests campaign will continue through New Year’s weekend, midnight Jan. 2, 2011. — Staff report State’s mud, water, debris cleaning effort under way HIGHLAND (AP) — Leslie Constante burst into tears when she saw a red tag slapped on her parents’ garage in Highland, deeming it unsafe to enter. ‘‘My mom and dad worked so hard for this,’’ said the 29-year-old pharmacy technician, wearing knee high rubber boots. She couldn’t get inside to see how bad the dam- age was to Christmas presents and other belong- ings. Out front, two holiday reindeer were enveloped in mud several feet deep. Many California residents who endured flood- ing, mudslides and evacuations during a weeklong onslaught of rain must now clean up or even rebuild — and some face the prospect of not being able to spend Christmas at home. The storm’s push across the West left a muddy mess Thursday across Southern California and the threat of avalanches in Nevada, where Clark Coun- ty officials urged residents of Mount Charleston, near Las Vegas, to leave after snow slides near two mountain hamlets. Preliminary damage estimates throughout Cali- fornia were already in the tens of millions of dol- See MUD, page 7A Beautician trims career at 62 years By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Ramona DiDio no longer works at Crystal Hair Creations as of Friday, marking the end of her 62- year career as a beautician. Born at home near the town of Lakeport, DiDio went to the Santa Rosa Red- wood Beauty School a few months after graduating high school from Upper Lake Union High School. After beauty school, she moved to Red Bluff to be near her parents, who had moved Corning. There she met and married her hus- band, the late Jim DiDio, Sr. Her career as a beautician began in 1958, she said. “There were only three salons in town and finally I ended up at the Tremont Hotel where I was hired by Marguerite Burdick,” DiDio said. DiDio worked at the Tremont for several years before moving to Mar- guerite’s Beauty Salon on Main Street near Pine Street under Burdick for about 30 years, DiDio said. From there, DiDio moved to Crystal Hair Cre- ations in the mid-1980s and has worked for Floyd Hig- gins ever since. “I’m really thankful to have the customers I have because they’re so faithful,” DiDio said. At one point, DiDio went one day a week to Brent- wood for some of her cus- tomers and now is down to just two — Jean Shropshire who is 80 and Edwina Shinn who is 94. “I’m also thankful to my boss Floyd Higgins, who has been so good and nice to me, and the dear Lord for keeping me well enough to work for all those years,” said DiDio, 82. DiDio said she will miss the interaction with her cus- tomers the most. “People are always com- ing up to her and telling her I remember taking my daughter to you for prom and now she has children,” DiDio’s daughter, Robin said. Working in a hair salon made it easier to keep tabs on Robin and her brother, Jim DiDio. “When we were in school, Jimmy and I knew that if we did anything, Mom would already know everything before we got home from school,” Robin said. 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 DiDio has been active in the community for many 2010:Year in review Courtesy photo Ramona DiDio works on a client Thursday, the last day of her 62-year career as a beautician. years, including her involve- ment as a founder of the Red Bluff Junior Round-Up in 1968. “It’s the biggest junior rodeo in California,” DiDio said. “We have at least 300 contestants.” She was grand marshal of the Red Bluff Round-Up Parade in 1998 along with other co-founders of the Junior Round-Up. DiDio is still an active director for the Red Bluff Junior Round-Up Association. Her granddaughter, Haley DiDio, who is Cot- tonwood Rodeo Queen, served as the Red Bluff Junior Round-Up Senior Queen and Haley’s sister Megan served as the Red Bluff Junior Round-Up Junior Queen. DiDio served as secre- tary for both the Northern Counties Quarter Horse Association and the Reined Cow Horse Association. DiDio said she is looking forward to spending time with her family. In addition to her two children she has four grandchildren, Haley, Megan, Molly and Carly, and two great-grandchil- dren, Gracelyn and Austin. ——— Julie Zeeb can be reached at 527-2153, extension 115 or jzeeb@redbluffdailynews.c om.