Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/248497
WEEKEND JANUARY 25-26 2014 Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com 1976 Christmas Letter — Page 5A DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF Sunny 74/38 Weather forecast 10A TEHAMA COUNTY $1.00 T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U NTY S I N C E 1 8 8 5 SR 99 crashes drop Jobless rate holds steady By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer Tehama County's unemployment rate remained largely unchanged from November to December, coming in at 10.4 percent for the final month of 2013. The Employment Development Department released its preliminary figures for the month Friday, which estimated that while Tehama County lost 60 jobs from November to December, the number of civilians seeking employment dropped by 290 people. Tehama County's unemployment rate reached a 5See JOBLESS, page 9A Hearing picks up Tuesday on rezone By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer Daily News photo by Chip Thompson Improvements in Los Molinos, such as a four-way stop light, and elsewhere are being credited with reducing the number of collisions on State Route 99 between Chico and Red Bluff. Special to the DN The number of vehicle collisions, including fatal accidents, on State Route 99 in Tehama and Butte counties has significantly declined in the last three years thanks in part to the efforts of the Highway 99 Safety Task Force, according to a press release issued Wednesday by Caltrans. The task force was formed in 2010 in response to five fatal colli- sions that occurred within a 30-mile stretch that year on SR 99 in Butte and Tehama counties. It was made up of members from the District 2 and District 3 Caltrans offices, Red Bluff and Chico California Highway Patrol offices, Butte and Tehama counties' public works departments, legislative representatives, Butte and Tehama counties' supervisors, trucking industry representatives and community mem- bers. The data was collected by the California Highway Patrol and Caltrans and shows a dramatic decline in fatal accidents (67%) over the last three years. The total number of accidents decreased by 41%. The following measures, many of which were recommended by the task force, have helped contribute to See SR 99, page 9A A potential rezone that caused a stir amongst neighbors in the area of Baker and Plymire roads will be back before the Tehama County Board of Supervisors Tuesday morning. The public hearing on the issue is scheduled to begin no earlier than 10:30 a.m. Neighbors of an area proposed to be rezoned from agriculture to residential general apartment protested at a Jan. 7 meeting that such an action could cause them to lose their rural way of life. Planning Director Sean Moore said the rezone was simply being pro- posed so the county's General Plan Housing Element could comply with state regulations and that there were no plans in the work to build anything at the location. The 2009-14 Housing Element stipulates that the county rezone 30 acres to accommodate high density residential housing at a minimum density of 16 units per acre. Moore said the 36.85 acres west of Baker Road across Plymire Road have been listed as residential in the county's General Plan since the 1980s and stayed that way in the 2009 update. "Right now it's just a theoretical rezone," Moore said. See REZONE, page 9A Report paints bleak Ranch Rodeo continues today water picture RENO, Nev. – In preparation for the Bureau of Reclamation's initial water year 2014 water allocation announcement in late-February, Reclamation is providing information on water supply conditions for the federal Central Valley Project. Reclamation's water year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30; the contract year runs from March 1 to Feb. 28. The CVP's carryover storage from WY 2013 into WY 2014 was 5.1 million acre-feet, which is 43 percent of capacity and 75 percent of the 15-year average for Oct. 1 in six key CVP reservoirs — Shasta, New Melones, Trinity, Folsom, Millerton and the federal portion of San Luis. At 1.659 million acrefeet, Shasta is at 56 percent of the 15-year average, down from 112 percent in 2013. Trinity is at 71 percent, down from 113 percent, with 1.168 million acre-feet. Water conditions in the Sacramento Valley have fluctuated from Below Normal in WY 2010, to Wet in WY 2011, Below Normal in WY 2012, and Dry in WY 2013. The California Department of Water Resources' first snow survey for 2014, held on Jan. 3, showed the statewide mountain snowpack to be about 20 percent of average for the date, which is only 7 percent of the average April 1 measurement. As of Jan. 23, DWR reported that the Northern Sierra 8-Station Precipitation Index Water Year total was 3.5 inches, which is about 14 percent of the seasonal average to date and 7 percent of an average water year. "Since 2014 is developing into a critically dry water year, Reclamation must be extremely cautious as we begin determining our initial allocation numbers for CVP contractors. Reclamation's and DWR's Drought Management Teams are working coopSee WATER, page 9A Daily News photo by Andre Byik A cowboy from Wine Glass Ranch in Janesville competes in herd counting at the 19th annual Jim Owens Memorial Ranch Rodeo on Friday at the Pauline Davis Pavilion at the Tehama District Fairground. The rodeo resumes Saturday with a 10 a.m. performance, and finals at 5 p.m. Tickets are $10 for the performance and $20 for the finals. QuickBooks 2014 Classes 6 Wednesday Evenings • 5:15pm - 7:15pm th Starts Wednesday, February 5 $99.00 per person Job Training Center Computer Lab Just 10 slots available/Each person at a computer Job Training Center • 718 Main St., Red Bluff Call 529-7000 Pre-Registration Required