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6B Daily News – Friday, February 14, 2014 Your "Local" Daily Newspaper Since 1885 To subscribe, place a display or a classified ad Call Today! 527-2151 N EWS D AILY RED BLUFF TEHAMA COUNTY 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 Audubon Society to offer Ishi program The Altacal Audubon Society will offer the following programs and field trips for February. All programs and activities are free of cost unless other- wise indicated and are open to the public. Ishi - Secrets about the Natural World Presented by Richard Burrill, 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 17 at the Chico Creek Nature Center. Ishi (not his tribal name) was likely the last Yahi speaker when he died in 1916. His band held out for twenty-two years longer than Geronimo's band of Apaches. Ishi had remarkable skills in "animal talk" and what was ahead on the trail when bow hunting. Join Richard Burrill to learn more about this last free Yahi-Yana caregiver and woodsman who hid for safety along Deer Creek, Mill Creek, and Big Ante- lope Creek, with his tiny band of Yahi warriors in the foothill country located just north of Chico along our now famil- iar Cohasset Road. Also, find out more about this gentle and generous man and two bird species that were special doctor birds for Ishi: Wood Duck and Killdeer. What were these secrets? Richard Burrill is an author and anthropology educator and presenter in Northern California. He is an enthusias- tic teacher of American culture and archaeology and has become one of the foremost scholars on Ishi, having pub- lished several books on the man which include Ishi Rediscovered and Ishi in His Second World, and Ishi's Return Home: The 1914 Anthropological Expedition Story. Spring workshops by Chico State Herbarium • Introduction to Lichen Identification by Tom Carlberg will be presented 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 1 in Holt 129 at CSU Chico. For most people lichens are only colorful blotches on rocks or just moss-like stuff on tree branches. But lichens are a unique association between a fungus and an algae. Tom has been a lichen botanist for 12 years and is the past Editor of the Bulletin of the California Lichen Society. Tom's current interest is ageing lichens that grow on leaves of evergreen vascular plants. This workshop will explore the basics of lichens in the lab in Holt Hall and also in the field. Registra- tion is $100 personal, $125 business and $90 for members. Please register in advance. • Introduction to Soil Mor- phology and Hydric Soils by Russell Huddleston will be presented 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 12 in Holt 129 at CSU Chico. This workshop is intended to provide an introduction to general soil morphology with an emphasis on describing the characteristics of the surface horizons. It will also include an introduction to hydric soils including oxidation-reduction processes, types of redoximor- phic features and field indica- tors of hydric soils. Russell is a certified Professional Wet- land Scientist and has more than 13 years of professional experience working in a vari- ety of wetland types through- out the western United States. Registration is $100 personal, $125 business and $90 for members. Please register in advance. • Designing a Pollinator Garden will be presented 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 19 in 129 Holt Hall at CSU, Chico and then at pollinator gardens in the afternoon. Learn how to design a garden to encourage native pollinators by using plants that provide overlap- ping nectar, pollen, and larval food resources, providing pol- linator nesting habitat, and eliminating the use of pesti- cides that kill non-target polli- nators. John Whittlesey and Adrienne Edwards will discuss how to create such a garden and the various pollinators that can be encouraged. We will also visit some pollinator- friendly gardens to discuss plant selection, placement and care of a garden that cultivates a thriving habitat for a wide range of pollinators. Partici- pants will carpool to garden sites. Cost is $65 ($55 for members). Please register in advance. • Botanical Illustration by Judy McCrary will be present- ed 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 26 in Holt 129 at CSU, Chico. Want to draw plants and flowers? Here's your chance. Local illustrator and teacher Judy McCrary will concentrate on pencil and ink techniques, although other media may be explored depending upon the interests of the participants. Cost is $40 ($30 for students and members). Please register in advance. For more information about registration, call the CSU, Chico Biology office at (530) 898-5356 or send an email to jbraden@csuchico.edu. Call 8-1-1 before excavating SAN FRANCISCO —Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is reminding customers to make a free call to 811 to have underground utility lines marked prior to every digging project, no matter the size of the job. California State law requires all excavation jobs are marked before work begins, includ- ing planting a tree or installing a new mail- box. Last year, contractors and homeowners in PG&E's service area were responsible for more accidental gas dig-ins — where natural gas pipelines are struck during excavation projects – than in the previous year. In 2013, there were 1,799 third party dig-ins compared to 2012, which had 1,536 third party dig-ins across PG&E's service area. Every three minutes nationwide, an underground utility line is damaged during a digging project. These accidents can happen in a residential backyard, not just on heavy construction projects. "We're seeing an increase in construction projects – from backyard improvements to major development – thanks to an improving economy. Unfortunately, we're also experi- encing a dangerous uptick in the number of incidents where our gas and electric lines are damaged, which is a significant public safety risk," said Jesus Soto Jr., Senior Vice Presi- dent of Engineering, Construction and Opera- tions at PG&E. "Whether you're building a deck, trenching or planting a tree, calling 811 is easy, free and required by state law," he added. Striking a single utility line can lead to injury, repair costs, fines and inconvenient service outages. Every digging project, no matter how large or small, warrants a call to 811. A call to 811 connects homeowners and contractors to Underground Service Alert (USA). This free service notifies utility com- panies about any type of excavation project. Professional locators are then sent to the requested digging site to mark the approxi- mate locations of underground lines with flags, spray paint or both. PG&E offers these tips for a safe excava- tion: • Call 811 at least 2 working days before and up to 14 calendar days in advance of an excavation or digging project. • Customers will receive a list of notified utilities that may have underground lines in the area. If you believe a utility may not have marked its lines, call 811 again to notify USA. • On paved surfaces, mark the proposed excavation area with white chalk-based paint. Homeowners can also use other white sub- stances such as sugar or flour. • On unpaved surfaces use flags or stakes to mark the proposed excavation area. • Carefully hand excavate within 24 inches on either side of a utility-marked facility. Dig- ging even a few inches can pose some risks of striking a utility line. • Be careful not to erase facility marks while working. If you cannot see the mark- ings, call 811 and request a remarking. • 811 requests are active for 28 days. Noti- fy USA if work continues beyond that time. • Immediately notify utilities about any type of contact or damage to wires or pipes. • If there is any damage to PG&E electric wires or gas pipelines, or if there is a possible gas leak, take these steps: • Move to a safe location • Call 911 • Call PG&E at 1-800-743-5000 For more information about 811 and safe digging practices, visit www.call811.com. How to sign up for Medicare So you're turning 65. Congrat- ulations. It's time to start taking advantage of your Medicare ben- efits. And just how do you do that? First, here's a quick overview of the bene- fits: Medicare has four parts, A through D. Part A pays for hospitaliza- tion, and most eligible people don't have to pay premiums for it. Part B covers doctor fees, outpatient care, home health care, and preventive screenings for cancer, glaucoma, diabetes, and other dis- eases. Part B has a monthly premium, which for most benefi- ciaries is $104.90 this year. Part C is Medicare managed care and Part D is prescription drug coverage. If you already get benefits from Social Security or the Rail- road Retirement Board (RRB), you'll automatically get Part A and Part B starting the first day of the month you turn 65. (If your birthday is on the first day of the month, Part A and Part B will start the first day of the prior month.) You'll get your red, white, and blue Medicare card in the mail three months before your 65th birthday. If you don't want Part B, follow the instructions that come with the card, and send the card back. If you keep the card, you'll keep Part B and pay Part B premiums. If you aren't getting Social Security or RRB benefits (because, for instance, you're still working), you need to sign up for Part A and Part B. It's easy to do. You can sign up by calling Social Security at 1-800-772- 1213. If you're 65 or older, you can also apply online for Part A (if you don't have to pay premiums) and Part B at www.socialsecuri- ty.gov/retirement. The whole process can take less than 10 min- utes. You can sign up when you're first eligible for Part B. If you're eligible for Part B when you turn 65, you have a seven-month win- dow that begins three months before the month you turn 65, includes the month you turn 65, and ends three months after the month you turn 65. Sign up early. That way you'll avoid any delay in getting your benefits. If you sign up during the first three months of your Initial Enrollment Period, in most cases your coverage starts the first day of your birth month. If your birth- day is on the first day of the month, your coverage starts on the first day of the prior month. If you wait until the last four months of the Initial Enrollment Period, your start date for cover- age may be delayed as long as three months. You may also face a penalty in the form of a higher Part B premium. If you didn't enroll in Part A and/or Part B when you were first eligible because you were employed and covered under a group health plan based on that employment, you have a Special Enrollment Period. That means you can sign up any time while you or your spouse are working and you have employer or union group coverage. Or you can enroll during the eight-month period that begins after your employ- ment ends or your group health coverage ends, whichever hap- pens first. Usually, you don't pay a late enrollment penalty if you sign up during a Special Enrollment Peri- od. But here's an important caveat: If you have COBRA coverage or a retiree health plan, you don't have coverage based on current employment. You're not eligible for a Special Enrollment Period when that coverage ends. For more information about enrolling in Medicare, visit www.medicare.gov/MedicareEli- gibility. You can also get free, per- sonalized counseling about Medicare from your state Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP). To get the phone number for your local SHIP, call 1-800- MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). David Sayen is Medicare's regional administrator for Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and the Pacific Territories. David Sayen California plant shuts down after beef recall PETALUMA (AP) — A California slaughter- house at the center of a massive beef recall has voluntarily halted operations, as it tries to track down all of its beef shipments over the past year, a newspaper reported. Petaluma-based Rancho Feeding Corp. was compiling a list of companies affected by the recall, its owner, Robert Singleton, told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat (http://bit.ly/1jszBqa) on Monday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on Saturday that the company was recalling more than 8.7 million pounds of beef products that it processed from Jan. 1, 2013 through Jan. 7, 2014 and shipped to distribution centers and retail stores in California, Florida, Illinois and Texas. The USDA said the facility processed diseased and unhealthy animals without a full federal inspection. The agency said without a full inspec- tion, the recalled products were unfit for human consumption. They include beef carcasses, oxtail, liver, cheeks, tripe, tongue and veal bones. The company had previously recalled more than 40,000 pounds of meat products produced on Jan. 8 that also didn't undergo a full inspec- tion. Singleton told the Press Democrat the com- pany undertook the recall out of an abundance of caution and regrets any inconvenience to cus- tomers. He declined further comment, the news- paper reported.