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THURSDAY JANUARY 27, 2011 Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com Bull & Gelding Sale See 4A, 5A, 6A RED BLUFF Spartans go for two Sports 1B Mostly sunny 68/38 Weather forecast 8B By ANDREA WAGNER DN Staff Writer COTTONWOOD — Tehama Interagency Drug Enforcement agents discovered what appeared to be a pipe bomb, as well as metham- phetamine, marijuana and three stolen chain saws during a proba- tion search of a Cottonwood home 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 Bomb, drugs found in barn Wednesday. David Harvin, 52, of Cotton- wood was arrested after agents found a small amount of metham- phetamine and an undetermined amount of marijuana inside his mobile home in the 19100 block of Hooker Creek Road, said TIDE Special Agent Supervisor Eric Maher. After agents searched the house, they searched a barn on the proper- ty where they located more mari- juana, some drug paraphernalia and three chain saws that had been stolen in a burglary in Shasta Coun- ty, Maher said. A bomb squad was called in See BOMB, page 7A In the short term Mercury found near bus stop LAKE CALIFORNIA — Some Cottonwood chil- dren may have played with a mercury spill for days before Tehama County Sheriff’s deputies were called in Tuesday afternoon. A 3-foot by 2-foot area of mercury was found in the roadway of Bonanza King Drive in Lake California in Cottonwood after a resident reported his juvenile son and other children had been playing with it near a bus See BUS, page 7A Homeless shelter clears 1st hurdle By TANG LOR DN Staff Writer A rezone that would allow for a homeless shelter on Breckenridge Street received a favor- able nod by the Plan- ning Commission Tues- day. Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb Jesse Lopez is sworn in by City Clerk Lisa Linnet Tuesday at the Corning City Council Meeting shortly before resigning,Tuesday. By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer After months of delay, Jesse Lopez finally took his seat on the Corning City Council, Tuesday. Then he immediately resigned. Following council’s approval, the top vote-getter in November’s election was sworn-in and then resigned to allow the city to move on its search for a fifth councilper- son. Lopez’ eligibility was called into question by councilman John Leach and citizen Dean Cofer, who lost the election for mayor in Novem- ber. Lopez was convicted of felony forgery in 2005, which was dropped to a misdemeanor following a 36- month probation and was given a Tehama County Superior Court order in July 2009 that said he was ‘released from all penalties and dis- abilities resulting from the offense’. State law forbids those who have committed felonies from holding office. Lopez and the city have been waiting on a judge’s ruling to clari- Girls assaulted at Ide Adobe By ANDREA WAGNER DN Staff Writer California Highway Patrol officers are looking for a 19-year-old Anderson man who fled just after 1 a.m. Tuesday from a distur- bance at William B. Ide Adobe State Park. A suspect identified as Ryan Danial Cool, 19, of Anderson, was described by officers as a white male, 5 feet 10 inches tall, with a flat top haircut and wearing a white t-shirt and jeans, according to Red Bluff Police Department logs. Cool reportedly ran from officers when they approached a vehicle parked in the lot near the state park, a CHP press release said. Two females and one male, all juveniles, were sitting in the vehicle. Officers determined that Cool had assaulted the two girls and that all of them had been drinking, the press release said. One of the girls had major injuries and was taken to St. Elizabeth Com- munity Hospital. The other juveniles were released to their parents, CHP officers said. Cool is still at large and warrants are being processed at the Tehama County District Attorney’s Office, CHP officers said. Charges may include assault with a deadly weapon and endangerment of a child, the logs said. The two girls were report- edly hit in the head with a bottle. Anyone with informa- tion regarding the incident or the whereabouts of Ryan Cool should call the CHP of the Red Bluff Area at 527-2034. ——— Andrea Wagner can be reached at 527-2153, extension 114 or awagner@redbluffdailyne ws.com. fy the issue. “I’m not against Jesse Lopez,” Leach said just before voting no. “I think he’s a good upstanding citi- zen, however, according to the laws Jesse is not eligible.” While seating Lopez will give the council an additional 60 days to search for and seat a new coun- cilperson, several in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting including for- mer councilman Ross Turner ques- tioned whether the city would be See TERM, page 7A After hearing over- whelming support for the shelter, the commis- sion approved rezoning the location at 320 Breckenridge St. from a commercial zone to an industrial zone, which would allow for build- ing a homeless shelter on the 3.48 acre vacant lot. The Poor and the Homeless, is proposing to build a 40-bed home- less shelter that would operate year round, PATH President Allen Dering said. The site became available when the property owners offered to sell the prop- erty to PATH. Several people involved in PATH, either as volunteers or past or present adminis- tration, spoke in favor of having a permanent homeless shelter. Having their own shelter will allow PATH to better serve the homeless, said Pam Klein, PATH’s event and fundraiser coordi- nator. “We need a place so we can help these peo- ple not be homeless,” she said. “It’s a place we need to have so that we can educate and work with these people not just feed them.” The pastors from St. Peter’s Episcopal Church and the Presby- terian Church, two of several local churches that provide shelter space, said they would like to see PATH build a permanent shelter. Their church members See 1ST, page 7A County gives mentoring program a boost ‘Mentoring is the most cost- By ANDREA WAGN- ER DN Staff Writer Tehama County youth mentoring got a boost of support from the Board of Supervi- sors this month. Supervisors approved a resolution Tuesday to grant qualified county employees one hour a month of paid time to mentor a youth through the Tehama County Mentoring Program. “Having mentored people in this county, I am glad to move to adopt this resolution,” said District 5 Supervi- sor Ron Warner as he initiated the vote to approve the resolution during the meeting. The process, howev- er, began with a big idea: helping to influ- ence young people in a positive way and steer them away from drugs, alcohol, and other poor choices, said Bill Good- win, County Chief Administrator. Trying to start slow- 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 Red Bluff Outdoor Power ly, the organizing com- mittee behind the reso- lution was looking for a effective means to assist youth in the community, being both preventative and proactive’ Kristina Miller,Strategic Planning Community Involvement Committee pilot program to start addressing the issue, Goodwin said. The Tehama County Mentoring Program, which is under the umbrella of the county Department of Educa- tion, was selected as a good first step, he said. If things go well, it may branch into other programs as well, Goodwin said. Members of the Strategic Planning Community Involve- ment Committee, the authors of the resolu- tion, brainstormed ways to tackle the big issues of youth development. With little or no budget to work with, they thought the best way to begin was through cre- ating policies and reso- lutions, said Kristina Miller, committee chairperson. Taking nearly a year to get the mentoring resolution ready for Supervisors approval, committee members gathered input from county department heads to come up with a way to make it work, Miller said. Francis Ocampo, a senior at Los Molinos High School, came for- ward during the Super- visors’ meeting to share her experience with being mentored. Her younger brother is also being mentored through the program, she said. “It provides him with something I can’t give him,” Ocampo said. Last year, mentoring helped get Ocampo’s older sister Patty into college. Now, Francis Ocampo is headed in the same direction. Ocampo’s mentor, Melissa Mendonca, who is also the coordinator of the Tehama County Mentoring Program, was also her sister’s mentor. Mendonca meets with Ocampo every Monday at lunchtime to focus on getting her into college. Getting into college, however, is just one area that men- tors can help with, Mendonca said. Mentors typically don’t have an agenda, other than supporting young people, she said. “We don’t fix kids,” she said. “They’re not broken.” Instead the program fits youth with mentors based on what fits the mentor and mentee best, See BOOST, page 7A