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Friday, January 17, 2014 – 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. Genevieve Mae Diel Genevieve Mae Diel died Wednesday, Jan. 15 at her Rancho Tehama home. She was 83. Arrangements are under the direction of Red Bluff Simple Cremations & Burial Service. Published Friday, Jan. 17 in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. CHASE into custody at the scene without incident. It was discovered the sedan was reported as Energy fuel station on the stolen to the CHP earlier 1800 block of Solano in the day. Street. Hardwick's bail was Hardwick was taken $68,000. Continued from page 1A Detective describes scene of priest's killing EUREKA (AP) — A Northern California police detective described in a preliminary court hearing the gory scene following the brutal killing of a popular priest. Eureka Police Department Detective Todd Wilcox testified Thursday that the body of the Rev. Eric Freed was found wrapped in sheets in a ransacked upstairs bedroom. The suspect, 44-year-old Gary Lee Bullock of Redway, is charged with attacking Freed with a metal pipe and a wooden stake after breaking into the St. Bernard Catholic Church rectory before attempting to blow up the historic building. Freed's dead body was found when he failed to show up for 9 a.m. Mass. The coroner's office found that Freed died of blunt-force trauma. Bullock has pleaded not guilty to attempted arson, vehicle theft and murder with the special allegations of torture and committing the crime during a residential burglary. He could face the death penalty. The Eureka Times-Standard reports that Wilcox testified that the sheets and blankets were wet, that the room smelled of alcohol and that three empty whiskey bottles were found near the body. Several items were pressed against the body, he added under questioning from Deputy District Attorney Elan Firpo. Those items included a sealed offering bag, crumpled wet newspapers and a calendar that had been set on fire, Wilcox said. Weathered pieces of wood were near the door, which had been forced inward from the hallway, he said. Wilcox then described bloodstains in the bathroom sink, on the shower and on soap bars. A table in the den area of the bedroom had evidence of blood and hair and a bedroom mirror had a large red smear in the middle, he said. ''The body was on its back and it was wrapped, not covered, but wrapped all the way around with what looked to me to be bed clothing,'' Wilcox testified. He also described Freed's injuries, saying they included a cut on his nose, chin abrasions that appeared similar to rug burns, small pieces of wood embedded in his knees, scratches on his lower legs, and two circular, red injuries that appeared to be the same diameter as the metal pipe. Testimony in the preliminary hearing is scheduled to continue Friday. Groups seek to stop Oregon coyote-killing contest PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Animal rights groups are going to court to stop a coyote-killing contest scheduled for this weekend in sparsely populated southeast Oregon. The Animal Legal Defense Fund contends in a lawsuit filed Thursday that the annual event violates state gambling laws. The group and its co-plaintiffs — Project Coyote and Burns resident Louann Thompson — will ask for a temporary restraining order at a Friday afternoon court hearing in Burns, 285 miles southeast of Portland. Last year, 20 two-person teams of hunters competed in the JMK Coyote Hunt, killing nearly 150 coyotes. The contest entry fee is $200 per team, and the winners take home half the total. Second- and third-place finishers also get cash, and a prize is given for the largest coyote. According the event's website (http://is.gd/AWqQ6x ), there also will be a ''Calcutta,'' which is a type of auctionpool wagering. ''Killing coyotes for fun and prizes is ethically repugnant, morally bankrupt and ecologically indefensible,'' Project Coyote executive director Camilla Fox said in a statement. The hunting contest is in its eighth year. Event organizer Duane Freilino said it was started to boost winter tourism and to help ranchers by reducing coyote numbers right before calving season. Coyotes are classified as predatory animals under Oregon law, and there are no limits on killing them. Freilino said he has yet to see a copy of the lawsuit but will defend the contest in court Friday. ''It's not gambling because it's a game of skill; it's not a game of chance,'' he said. ''Luck has nothing to do with it. It's similar to a big-buck contest, a fishing tournament, a team roping, a barrel race, bull-riding.'' Coyote hunting contests have created controversy elsewhere in the West in recent years, with protests taking place in New Mexico and California. In Idaho, a federal judge last month allowed a wolf- and coyote-shooting derby to proceed on public land after WildEarth Guardians and other environmental groups sought to stop it. In that case, the judge disagreed with the groups' argument that U.S. Forest Service was ignoring its rules that require permits for competitive events. Freilino said he does not know how many contestants will compete in Oregon this weekend because there is no preregistration. A mandatory rules meeting is scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday. In her affidavit in support of the lawsuit, Thompson said she is ''disgusted'' by the thought of hunters gambling over the destruction of native wildlife. 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. SCHOOL Continued from page 1A name an interim to the position. The board hired Joe Harrop as a consultant Wednesday morning. Harrop was a school administrator for more than 25 years including work in Tehama County. Escobar's termination comes a month after the board hired a pair of TRAILS Continued from page 1A "For as long as I can remember — ever since I started working for the county — we had a statement on our website, which said Tehama County has 300 miles of recreational trails," Abbs said. "And I never found anyone ... who could actually tell me, could actually name 25 percent of those 300 miles of trails." He added that his outside consultants to investigate disagreements between her and the school's teachers union. The Red Bluff Joint Union High School Teachers Association presented the board with a vote of no confidence in Escobar's leadership Nov. 20. The union's complaints, which included inconsistent decision making and her communication style, along with Escboar's responses, were turned over to the California vision was for a "one-stop shop" that county residents and tourists could visit to receive general information about the county's trails. Now when users visit Tehama County's website, the words "300 miles of trails" near the bottom of the homepage is clickable. Abbs worked on the website in his spare time, and he said he "scoured" the Web for maps and information. He gathered that information from state park websites, national forest websites, private DROUGHT Continued from page 1A tor, an index on which the USDA's declarations are based. A ridge of high pressure is to blame for keeping storms off the Pacific coast and guiding them to the East. ''What we're seeing meteorologically is a blocking pattern that is deflecting all the storms,'' said Brian Fuchs, a climatologist with the Lincoln, Neb.-based National School Board Association and Solution Tree for an independent review. The board voted unanimously in closed session to unilaterally terminate the employee agreement with Escobar effective immediately. Escobar began her employment with the district July 1, 2012. Rich Greene can be reached at 527-2151, ext. 109 or rgreene@redbluffdailynews.com. sites and more. Abbs said he's still making adjustments to the website, as well as receiving more input from the public and city officials in Red Bluff and Corning. More trails will be added as they become known. Additionally, Abbs said maintenance on existing trails continues. "We're starting a process with Lassen National Forest to try to create a more publicly accessible trail volunteer program so that we can encourage folks to go up Drought Mitigation Center. ''There really hasn't been a lot of indication that this pattern is breaking down.'' Poor snowpack is threatening regions dependent on major western rivers, and no amount of wet winter weather in the East can ease the pain, officials said. ''Once you cross the Rockies, nothing on the East is going to help you,'' Fuchs said. The dry weather could mean an active fire season. Southern California had an early taste of that with a 7A and spend a couple hours and make things a little bit more accessible," he said. He added that maintaining trails, such as keeping them safe and properly marked, is important from a tourism point of view as well. "If we can ensure folks who want to make a trip up to visit Tehama County for a weekend," Abbs said, "that they're actually going to see what they came to see. That's important for us in the long run, too." blaze that started Thursday morning in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and forced nearly 2,000 people to evacuate. At least two homes were burned. Three men were arrested on suspicious of recklessly starting a fire. They're accused of tossing paper into a campfire in the dangerously windy and dry conditions. ''We don't say the drought causes the fires,'' Fuchs said. ''But when you have fire season and drought, you'll see more fire.'' State directs education money to neediest SACRAMENTO (AP) — California education officials adopted rules Thursday aimed at directing additional dollars to the state's neediest students and empowering local communities to use them as they see fit. The State Board of Education unanimously approved the regulations, which were required under a school finance reform bill championed by Gov. Jerry Brown and passed by the Legislature last year, after hearing from more than 320 superintendents, school board members, parents, students and other supporters of the potentially historic redistribution model. Speakers were divided, however, over whether the proposal struck the right balance between giving educators in the geographically and economically diverse state the flexibility they craved and ensuring that billions of dollars will be targeted to students who are lowincome, learning to speak English or living in foster care. The rules require districts to devote the extra money they receive for their high-needs students to improving and expanding services specifically for those students. But they also give local officials latitude to decide whether to increase teacher salaries, invest in training or technology, or promote other strategies that would help all students. Voicing the concerns of those who worry California will squander the opportunity to close the achievement gap that separates black and Hispanic students from white and Asian classmates, Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, a San Diego Democrat, told the appointed school board that without greater restrictions, ''We run the risk of once again doing what we have always done: a little bit for everybody and a whole lot of nothing for anybody.'' The governor himself dropped by the marathon meeting to endorse the regulations, saying the goals of equity and flexibility were not exclusive. Brown reminded the audience that while equal opportunity for students is the revised formula's overarching purpose, ''the central principle'' supporting it is ''focusing authority where it can be most effectively exercised.'' ''Now that's not to say that it's not important that we have guidelines and some outcomes that all the teachers can strive for. And these regulations certainly go a long way toward achieving that,'' he said. ''But it isn't a matter of putting this on automatic pilot with minute prescriptive commands from headquarters. We're headquarters.'' School districts must submit to their county education offices by July 1 three-year plans on the use of targeted funds and explain why those decisions will reduce school suspensions and absences, increase school involvement and boost student achievement. The plans, subject to state approval, must be prepared with community input and include annual goals. With the school board facing a Jan. 31 deadline, the rules were adopted on an emergency basis. Board member Sue Burr said if the public's concerns about funds being misused are realized, the regulations would be revised before they become permanent. Former lt. governor abandons GOP bid for governor SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Former Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado abandoned his long-shot GOP bid for governor of California on Thursday as his campaign was floundering for support and failing to attract the kind of donors he would need to mount a credible challenge to Gov. Jerry Brown. The former state senator and member of a successful Central Coast farming family held a news conference in his hometown of Santa Maria to say he was dropping out of the race and would not run for any other office this year. ''I have concluded that now is not my time,'' he said in prepared remarks released as he was making his formal announcement. He said he wanted to focus ''on being a full-time dad and husband'' and help his daughter's venture with a new wine business. Maldonado did not directly address the problems he has had gaining traction from voters or potential campaign donors, saying instead that he believed he had the necessary qualifications to be governor if he chose to stay in the race. Maldonado, who lost a bid for Congress in 2012, has struggled to raise money and has held few events in recent months, even as other would-be candidates ramp up their campaigns. His exit leaves Republican state Assemblyman Tim Donnelly as the only major candidate to announce a challenge to Brown. The Democratic governor has not yet formally declared his intention to run for reelection even though he is raising millions of dollars for a campaign. Former U.S. Treasury official Neel Kashkari, a Republican, also is considering a run. Brown is expected to seek reelection and has amassed nearly $17 million for a potential campaign. He is considered a formidable foe for any would-be opponent. In a statement, the California Democratic Party said Maldonado pulled out because he ''saw the writing on the wall'' for Republican candidates in the state. The GOP has seen a sharp decline in voter registration over the past decade and now stands at less than 30 percent of the electorate. After years of multibillion dollar budget deficits, California is now looking at the prospect of surpluses in the years ahead. Brown has restored billions of dollars to K-12 schools, notable because education funding consistently ranks as one of voters' top priorities. ''Californians are once more discussing investing in our future instead of cutting our way to the bottom,'' party Chairman John Burton said in his statement. ''It's no surprise that Republicans are taking a look at the landscape and deciding they don't have much to run on.'' A December poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found that half of likely voters approve of the job Brown is doing as governor. If the primary had been held then, the poll found that just 7 percent of likely voters would cast their ballot for Maldonado in the state's new top-two primary. In addition, nearly a quarter of likely voters who are Republican have an unfavorable opinion of Maldonado, as do a similar number of independent likely voters, the poll found. The survey results suggest that Maldonado lacks a natural constituency, complicating his efforts to generate sufficient support from likely voters. Red Bluff Simple Cremations & Burial Service Now Offering Eco-Friendly urns at economy friendly prices. 722 Oak Street, Red Bluff, FD Lic. 1931 527-1732