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Saturday, December 21, 2013 – Daily News Death Notices Death notices must be provided by mortuaries to the news department, are published at no charge, and feature only specific basic information about the deceased. Paid obituaries are placed through the Classified advertising department. Paid obituaries may be placed by mortuaries or by families of the deceased and include online publication linked to the newspaper's website. Paid obituaries may be of any length, may run multiple days and offer wide latitude of content, including photos. 5A Teachers ham it up at pep rally Esperanza G. Camacho Esperanza G. Camacho died Monday, Dec. 16 at her Corning home. She was 73. Arrangements are under the direction of Hoyt-Cole Chapel of the Flowers. Published Saturday, Dec. 21, 2013 in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Steven Thomas Steven Thomas died Friday, Dec. 20 at his Cottonwood home. He was 70 Arrangements are under the direction of Blair's Cremation & Burial. Published Saturday, Dec. 21, 2013 in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. JOBLESS Continued from page 1A government jobs. Goods producing and service providing industries also saw decreases in employment. The EDD estimated Tehama County has 2,590 unemployed, with a labor force of 24,790. Across the state California's unemployment rate stayed unchanged at 8.3 percent from October to November. Marin County at 4.6 percent continued to boast the lowest unemployment rate in the state. Imperial County had the highest at 23.8 percent. Tehama County ranked 41st out of the 58 counties. Nearby Shasta County had 9.8 percent unemployment, Butte County was at 9.3 percent, Glenn County came in at 10.9 percent, Mendocino County was at 7.4 percent, Trinity County at 11.5 percent and Plumas County had 11 percent unemployment. The national unemployment rate fell from 7 percent in October to 6.6 percent in November. Rich Greene can be reached at 527-2151, ext. 109 or rgreene@redbluffdailyne ws.com. Feds begin killing barred owls to help spotted owl GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — An experiment to see if killing invasive barred owls will help the threatened northern spotted owl reverse its decline toward extinction is underway in the forests of Northern California. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Friday that specially trained biologists have shot 26 barred owls in a study area on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation northeast of Arcata, Calif. They plan to remove as many as 118 barred owls from the area, keeping the 55 known barred owl nesting sites open over the next five years to see if spotted owls increase, said Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Robin Bown. Contractors go to an area that barred owls are known to be in, play a digital caller to attract them, and shoot the birds with a shotgun. The service is spending $3.5 million over six years to remove 3,600 barred owls from sites in Oregon, Washington and California. Barred owls migrated from the East in the 1950s and have become the single biggest threat to spotted owl survival. Major cutbacks in logging in old growth forest that spotted owls prefer as habitat have not turned around their population decline, and scientists want to see if removing competition from the more aggressive barred owl will make a difference. Barred owl removal at research sites in Oregon and Washington state is set to begin next fall. By then, the group Friends of Animals hopes to persuade a federal judge to issue a court order stopping the experiment. A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, Calif., argues the permits for killing barred owls issued under the Migratory Bird Act are invalid. The research does not benefit the barred owl, said Friends of Animals attorney Michael Harris. It is not unusual to kill one species to help a threatened or endangered one. Cormorants and sea lions are regularly killed to help salmon. Bown said blood and genetic samples are taken from each barred owl that is killed, and the frozen carcasses are sent to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, where they are available for further research. Among other things, scientists are checking the barred owls for toxins from prey contaminated with rat poison put out by illegal marijuana growers to protect their crops. Scientists hope to get a better picture of whether the rat poison is killing spotted owls, which eat similar prey. Scientists rarely get a dead spotted owl they can test for toxins. Setting it straight –––––––– It is the policy of the Daily News to correct as quickly as possible all errors in fact that have been published in the newspaper. If you feel a factual error has been made in a news story, call the news department at 527-2153. Daily News photo by Andre Byik Teachers and staff members at Red Bluff Union High School performed a frenzied medley in costumes to entertain students during Friday's Holiday Classic Pep Rally at the school. 2nd Mega Millions lottery winner still a mystery SACRAMENTO (AP) — The identity of the person whose Mega Millions ticket is worth half the $648 million jackpot remained a mystery Friday, but lottery officials said it's not unusual for big winners to delay claiming the prize while they seek advice about their new fortune. One of two winning tickets for Tuesday's drawing was sold at a San Jose gift shop. The other was sold in Georgia and the winner already has been identified. California Lottery spokesman Alex Traverso said the second winner has a year to claim the money. ''It's fairly common in cases like this that they've hired financial representation and an attorney so they come forward with a plan of action,'' Traverso said. The jackpot comes to a total of $324 million per winner. If the person takes a lump sum, it's about $120 million after taxes. ''That's not a check you can just walk to the local credit union and plug into the ATM,'' Traverso said. Of course, it's also common for people to have misplaced the ticket or simply have forgotten about it. If months go by with no claimant, Traverso said officials will identify the time the ticket was purchased and use surveillance cameras to try Group sues state over new transgender law SAN DIEGO (AP) — Groups trying to overturn a new California law allowing transgender students to choose public school restrooms and sports teams that correspond with their expressed genders have filed a lawsuit claiming state officials are unfairly refusing to count signatures seeking a referendum. Sacramento-based Privacy For All Students, a coalition of conservative groups, filed the lawsuit Thursday against the secretary of state and two counties. It says a courier delivered signatures collected in Tulare ahead of a deadline of Sunday, Nov. 10, but offices were closed early before the three-day Veterans Day weekend. In Mono County, a courier dropped the signatures in a county mail slot a day before the deadline, but workers did not return to their jobs until the deadline had passed, according to the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs say the secretary of state's office is refusing to validate the signatures from the two counties. The secretary of state's office did not immediately return phone calls on Friday seeking comment. Opponents of the law that goes into effect on Jan. 1 said they have collected enough signatures for an initiative that would repeal it. Counties, however, were still BIG SUR (AP) — Officials are optimistic that a wildfire in California's Big Sur region that has destroyed 14 homes and several other buildings will soon be put out. Rain and higher humidity have helped firefighters battle the blaze in the Los Padres National Forest, which was 93 percent contained as of Friday. That was up 5 percent from the previous day, after having burned about 1 1/2 square miles, said Mark Nunez, the incident commander in charge of battling the blaze. U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Kathleen Phelps said Thursday that the weather was helping. ''We've gotten a little bit of moisture and a whole lot more humidity. That's really helped the firefighters be able to complete almost all of the lines so far,'' Phelps said. The hundred or so people who were evacuated should be allowed back in their homes Friday, she said. The fire has destroyed 22 buildings, including 14 homes, Nunez said. Flames were no longer visible from Highway 1 in the morning, as it continued to drizzle in the area. Lygia Chappellet, a Big Sur resi- dent, said she was comforted by what she saw on Thursday. ''Seeing the green trees all around us this morning in the light as opposed to the burned landscape across the canyon here, it's a huge relief,'' she said. The blaze began Sunday and was fueled by dry vegetation and winds. The cause is under investigation. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries. One hit his knee on a rock in the rough terrain and another suffered from heat exhaustion, officials said. Big Sur — miles of rugged coast, cliffs and wilderness — is a popular tourist destination about 150 miles south of San Francisco with high-end resorts and beautiful views of the ocean. The fire was burning a little more than a mile from Ventana Inn and Spa, a favorite spot among celebrities where former Facebook president and Napster co-founder Sean Parker got married in June. In the summer of 2008, a lightning-sparked wildfire forced the evacuation of Big Sur and blackened 250 square miles before it was contained. That blaze burned more than a dozen homes. Simple Cremations Now Offering Eco-Friendly urns at economy friendly prices. 929 527-1732 reviewing the signatures. The state previously said an early random sampling from counties via the secretary of state's office found only 77 percent of the signatures qualifying. The coalition submitted 620,000 signatures to get the initiative on the November 2014 ballot, said Frank Schubert, political strategist handling the signature gathering effort. To qualify, at least 505,000 valid signatures of registered voters must be verified through a random sampling. After that, it is likely the state would order a full review before the measure could be place on a ballot. California is the first Big Sur fire is close to containment Red Bluff Simple Cremations & Burial Service 722 Oak Street, Red Bluff, FD Lic. 1931 and get an image that can be released publicly. Lottery officials say they have a pretty good record of tracking people down. In one case in Bakersfield, a winner had forgotten about a ticket that was worth $23 million dollars. Traverso said the person saw their picture in the local paper, and remembered they'd left the winning ticket in the door pocket of their car. The ticket had been set to expire in three weeks. ''That person came right in and claimed their $23 million,'' Traverso said. starting at $ .00 5530 Mountain View Drive, Redding CA 96033. Call 530-241-3400 to prearrange your wishes • www.BlairsCremation.com FD2153 state to pass a law allowing such choices by transgender K-12 students. One provision gives them the choice of playing on boys or girls sports teams. It also allows them to choose which restroom they use. Opponents say the law would violate the privacy of the majority of students and some might try to claim to be another gender simply to gain access to bathrooms. School officials say decisions would be made under careful scrutiny involving parents, counselors, teachers, staff and the student. The goal of the law is to reduce discrimination against transgender students. Neighbors say gunman had botched vasectomy RENO, Nev. (AP) — Nevada authorities say they're trying to determine whether a California man's anger over complications he suffered from a 2010 surgery prompted him to go on a shooting rampage at a urologist's office, killing one doctor and critically wounding another before committing suicide. Reno detectives say they're working to obtain the medical records of 51year-old Alan Oliver Frazier to learn more about his physical condition and mental health before the shooting. Police Lt. William Rulla says Frazier made it clear in a suicide note he planned the attack at that specific physician's office. Investigators have refused to specify the kind of surgery Frazier had or say whether those doctors were involved with the operation. A couple who lived across the street from Frazier said he frequently complained about pain he suffered from what he claimed was a botched vasectomy.