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MONDAY JANUARY 31, 2011 Breaking news at: Exorcise Back Pain Vitality www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 6A RED BLUFF Home Away From Home SPORTS 1B Mostly Sunny 58/36 Weather forecast 6A By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Corning Police arrested three Corning teens Thursday in con- nection with several incidents of vandalism throughout city 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 3 teens arrested in Corning vandalism spree limits on both public and pri- vate property. “The initial report was the garage door that came in at 8:19 a.m. and when our officer was on his way back to the station to get a camera he found more,” said Officer Jeremiah Fears. From there, as the officer was investigating the incidents already reported, other people began to report more incidents with at least seven locations by 9 a.m., Fears said. Sale wrap Daily News photo by Andrea Wagner The FFA Invitational Calf Scramble teams get to work in the arena during Red Bluff’s Buckin’ Best Bullriding Invitational event Saturday night. By ANDREA WAGNER DN Staff Writer A Cottonwood man took home the champion’s buckle at the Red Bluff’s Buckin’ Best Bullriding Invi- tational Saturday night, after more than $1 million in bull sales were recorded at the bull sale at the Tehama District Fairground. The 70th Annual Red Bluff Bull & Gelding Sale boasted high attendance and sales this year as the weather held out all week, until a downpour Saturday night. “There was a strong demand for bulls across the board,” said Sale Manager Adam Owens. The overall attendance was “pretty good” and geld- ings sold higher than average, Owens said. Buckin’ Best Bullriding In the bull ride finals, Cottonwood’s DJ Cooper had the only scored ride, an 88-point ride on the bull Body of teacher who left cryptic message found ROSS (AP) — Searchers on Saturday found the body of a 53-year- old high school teacher who left a cryptic message on her classroom blackboard before going missing, police said. Ross police and a Marin County search and rescue team found Debra Schmitt’s body near a creek, police Sgt. Gianfranco Campa said. Schmitt lived in Ross, a small town just north of San Francisco. Students in her high school English class told police they found the mes- sage ‘‘Thank you every- one’’ on the chalkboard when they showed up for class Jan. 20. She was last seen a day earlier. ‘‘An initial examination of the scene where Schmitt was located did not reveal any signs or indications of foul play,’’ Campa said. The Marin County coro- ner planned to investigate the cause of her death, which could take several weeks. Schmitt’s cousin, Linda Czarnik, said the teacher was going through a divorce and had recently lost three close relatives. Public records showed that Schmitt’s husband, Stephen Smith, filed for divorce in Marin County Superior Court on Jan. 11. ‘‘We are completely dev- astated and distraught by the news,’’ Smith said in a state- ment. ‘‘We loved her dearly and she will be greatly missed.’’ Authorities searched the Phoenix Lake area near Ross and Golden Gate Park in San Francisco during the days Schmitt was missing. Schmitt was a teacher at 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 Terra Linda High School for 10 years. “Wishy Washy.” Flinging his hat in triumph after land- ing on his feet, Cooper hollered to a cheering crowd. Cooper received the Champion Buckle, sponsored by Skyline Silversmiths, and some $5,000 in winnings. He was one of only six men who managed to stay on the bulls for the full 8-second ride the whole night. The other finalists, none of which scored in the final round, included Mike Sparks of Caldwell, Idaho, Der- rick McCormick of Covelo, Eric Ferreira of Milsap, Texas, Randy Maranda of Merced and Tyler Stueve of Marysville. Stueve, last years Buckin’ Best Champion, qualified for the finals after a 73-point re-ride. His first time out of the chute, on the bull “Red Hot Mercy” was deter- mined invalid. The top ride before the final round was an 83-point ride by Mike Sparks on the bull “Game Face,” during the first section of riding. In between bucking bulls and clowning around, See SALE, page 5A The investigation led police to arrest two 15-year-old boys and one 16-year-old boy, a Corning release said. Locations vandalized includ- ed a garage door, the back of several businesses in an alley way, a stop sign and a trash con- tainer, Fears said. Damage estimates are unknown at this point as there have been a few more sites See TEENS, page 5A Cops seek source of mercury spill By ANDREA WAGNER DN Staff Writer Pooling and balling up like metallic balls out of a Terminator movie, droplets of mercury mysteriously collected on part of a roadway in Lake California, and nobody knows where the poisonous liquid metal came from. The toxic substance, which may have been there for up to a week, was pointed out to the Tehama County Sheriff’s Department Jan. 25. The 3-foot by 2-foot area of mercury on Bonanza King Drive in Cottonwood was cleaned up before See COPS, page 5A 2012 set for next phase of 99E work By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Phase two of the High- way 99E Los Molinos Bond Project is set for summer 2012. “We accelerated phase one of this project a year early so you’re seeing improvements early,” said Caltrans Project Manager Steve Rogers during a Wednesday meeting. “We have enough money left for street improvements, but phase two won’t be delivered until 2012 as originally planned.” The first phase of the $5 million project, which included lighting, land- scaping, sidewalks, cross- walks, a bicycle path and a new traffic signal at Aramayo Way, was com- pleted Jan. 14, according to a Caltrans press release. The project is funded mostly by Proposition 1B funds, approved by voters in 2006, with the remain- ing $80,000 coming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Phase two will include drainage work, including an outlet to the slough at the end of Grant Street, the addition of a sidewalk from Grant Street to Ara- mayo Way on the east side and pavement widen- ing on the west side of 99E from Aramayo to the Mill Creek Shopping Center. Caltrans would like to stripe bicycle lanes on both sides of Highway 99E as part of the improvements involving widening the shoulder from Aramayo to Tehama Vina Road, Rogers said. There will be improve- ments made to the Tehama Vina Road inter- section, if funds are avail- able. Options included light- ing, curb and gutter, an island in the turn lanes to keep people from using them as passing lanes and See 99E, page 5A Bull sale boasts legacy of quality By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer The Red Bluff Bull Sale celebrated its 70th birthday Saturday, when more than 300 bulls went up for auc- tion in the Don Smith Pavil- ion. “We’re still making changes and still trying to make it better, but the basic format is still the same,” said Sale Manager Adam Owens. The great-grandson of Roy Owens, one of the co- founders, Owens spent a lot of time at the sale while growing up, he said. Among the biggest changes to the sale over the years were the addition of the Gelding Sale and Dog Sale, which celebrated 49 years and 33 years respec- tively in 2011, Owens said. The newest addition was the art show and silent auc- tion, which made its debut Wednesday. “The art show has done well and has a lot of poten- tial to grow and become a nationally recognized event,” Owens said. California Cattlemen director Arlo Stroing and Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb Don Cardey of Cardey Ranches in Turlock talks about one of his bulls, which was donated to be the Water For Life Bull, Friday with John and Laurie Benabie of Corning. Tehama County Cattle- Woman Jean Barton remember attending the bull sale in the 1940s when it was first starting. “It started because some of the ranchers wanted to improve the quality of the cattle in Tehama County,” Stroing said. The sale was started by Don Smith, who was the UC Farm Advisor for Tehama County, Roy Owens, Sam Ayer, Charlie Luther, Charlie Stover, Syd- ney Watson and Nelson Crow, who was the publish- er of Western Livestock Journal, Stroing said. Crow decided to have a bull sale and got Owens and Stover to guarantee the bulls would be sold for a good price. From there cattlemen from all over the western See BULL, page 5A