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Shasta officials destroy explosive-filled home REDDING (AP) — Sheriff's deputies in far Northern California on Sunday successfully incinerated a mobile home whose resident had amassed more than 60 pounds of highly volatile explosive material days after evacuating dozens of people living nearby. The chemicals, gunpowder, primers for firearms car- tridges and other materials found in the house in a sparsely populated area of Redding earlier this month made it too unstable for deputies to even walk on the property without risking a blast, Shasta County sheriff's Lt. Dave Kent said. Sheriff's officials consulted with water and air quality officials before starting the incineration with a remote-ignit- ed flame at midday Sunday, and the fire went off without incident, he said. ''What's left of the residence is still smoldering, so now we are in a cool-off period before officials can render that property safe for other residents to come back,'' Kent said. ''No other homes outside of that property caught fire, so that was very good for us and for the residents.'' Authorities had been waiting for the weather to clear before incinerating the home, and Sunday's clear skies pro- vided good conditions. It could be up to 24 hours before authorities can go onto the property to check the area, and once they determine it is safe, evacuees will be let back in, Kent said. ''We're taking every precaution to make sure the proper- ty is rendered safe,'' he said. The mandatory evacuations around the residence began Feb. 7 and were expanded on Friday, bringing the total to about 46 homes under evacuation orders, Kent said. Authorities found the combustible material on Feb. 6 after responding to an explosion at the home that took off a man's hand. The resident, identified as D. Ray East, 63, lost his left hand above the wrist, broke his right elbow and injured his right eye in the blast, Kent said. East told investigators he was making fuel for model rockets. He was hospitalized but has since been released and is at a hotel where authorities can contact him, but he has not been arrested, Kent said. East's attorney, Jeffrey Stotter, told the Record Search- light of Redding (http://bit.ly/1gGaPhn ) last week that East regrets the inconvenience he has caused his neighbors but doesn't think the materials at his home pose a threat. The sheriff's office and local officials disagreed. The Shasta County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved an emergency declaration, and the sheriff's office expanded the evacuation area to a radius of 2,000 feet from the house. The Red Cross set up an evacuation center, but officials said most of the displaced residents were staying with friends or family. CA health dept. deems Mexican cactus a health risk SACRAMENTO (AP) — California health officials are warning people not to eat cactus sold in several stores around the state because of the presence of unapproved pesticides. The state Department of Public Health said Sunday that a recent inspection of cactus imported from Mexico found traces of Monocrotophos, a pesticide that has been barred from use in the United States since 1989. Consumption of the pesticide can lead to neurotoxicity and permanent nerve damage. The department is urging anyone who bought the conta- minated product at the following stores between Feb. 6 and 12 to return it or get rid of it. The cactus was sold at: La Superior SuperMercados in Sacramento, Stockton, Woodland and Pittsburg; Mercado del Valle in Concord; and La Sucursal Produce, Fresh Amer- ican Produce and J&L Produce in Los Angeles. SF police search for gunman in downtown shooting SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Police say they hope near- by surveillance video will help in their search for a gunman who shot at another man outside a crowded mall in down- town San Francisco. Authorities on Monday were still searching for the man believed to be in his late teens to early 20s who fled the chaotic scene outside the Westfield San Francisco Centre Sunday night. Police say a 19-year-old man who was shot stumbled down to the nearby Powell Street transit station where he collapsed, prompting a temporary evacuation and closure of the station. Officer Gordon Shyy says the victim was rushed into surgery at a hospital Sunday night. He is expected to survive after suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The victim's name has not been released. LA workers break record for largest concrete pour LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles project laying the foundation for the tallest building west of the Mississip- pi broke the world record for the largest continuous concrete pour, a Guinness World Records adjudicator said Sunday. Round-the-clock pouring started at 4:47 p.m. Saturday with 208 trucks making more than 2,100 trips and pouring 82 million pounds of concrete during an 18 1/2-hour peri- od, said Sean Rossall, a spokesman for the project building a skyscraper called the New Wilshire Grand. Ultimately, 21,200 cubic yards of concrete were poured by 11:30 a.m. Sunday, beating the existing record of 21,000 cubic yards set by The Venetian hotel in Las Vegas in 1999, Guinness World Records adjudicator Michael Empric said. ''We just wrapped up, and we broke the world record,'' Rossall said minutes after blaring horns officially announced the last pour. Empric monitored the pour overnight by smartphone before meeting with contractors and engineers Sunday to check their final numbers. Empric, who had just finished judging a successful Valentine's Day effort to set the record for the most people feeding each other simultaneously, said he has learned a lot about concrete and the challenges of such a pour. ''If they don't cool the concrete as it's poured, it'll go into this thermal reaction and crack,'' Empric said. Each truck made 10 to 14 concrete drops, traveling through the night between eight different concrete plants within a 20-mile radius, Rossall said. The first batch of con- crete poured onto the site came from a plant in Vernon that poured the first concrete in Southern California ever, Rossall said. Once finished, the skyscraper will soar 1,100 feet, mak- ing it the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River. It will boast a 900-room hotel, convention space and offices. There also will be an outdoor terrace and a swimming pool on the 73rd floor. It's scheduled to be completed in 2016 and to open in 2017. The New Wilshire Grand project, developed by Korean Air, is estimated to cost more than $1 billion and has been a huge undertaking. For the past several months, crews have prepared the site by digging an 18-foot-deep pit and lining it with 7 million pounds of reinforcing steel. Because the concrete must be poured within 90 minutes of being mixed, trucks had to arrive on time. In case of free- way jams, alternate routes were mapped. Rossall said traffic had a minimal impact on the pouring, which had been sched- uled to last 20 hours. Rossall said the crews ''double-planned and triple- planned'' to ensure no disruptions. The concrete now must ''cure,'' or set and harden, over the next couple weeks. 7A Tuesday, February 18, 2014 – Daily News R ed Bluff Simple Cremations & Burial Service Now Offering Eco-Friendly urns at economy friendly prices. 722 Oak Street, Red Bluff, FD Lic. 1931 527-1732 Obituaries 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 news- paper's website. Paid obituaries may be of any length, may run multiple days and offer wide latitude of content, including photos. 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. William H. Kerstiens William H. Kerstiens died Saturday, Feb. 15 at his Red Bluff home. He was 71. Arrangements are under the directions of Hoyt-Cole Chapel of the Flowers. Published Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014 in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. White House: Stimulus bill was good for economy RANCHO MIRAGE (AP) — The costly $787 billion spending bill that President Barack Obama signed into law soon after taking office boosted the economy and helped avoid another Great Depres- sion, the White House said in a sta- tus report on Monday's fifth anniversary of the law's enactment. Republican leaders in Congress took note of the anniversary, too, but argued that the bill spent too much for too little in return. White House economic adviser Jason Furman said the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act made other targeted investments that will pay dividends for years to come. By itself, the stimulus bill saved or created an average of 1.6 million jobs a year for four years through the end of 2012, Furman said in a White House blog post. Half of the total fiscal support for the economy, or about $689 bil- lion, from the recovery act and sub- sequent measures was in the form of tax cuts directed mostly at fami- lies. The remainder was spent on such things as rebuilding roads and bridges, preventing teacher layoffs and providing temporary help for people who lost their jobs or need- ed other assistance because of the poor economy. The report said recovery act spending will have a positive effect on long-run growth, boost the econ- omy's potential output and ulti- mately offset much of the law's ini- tial cost. More than 40,000 miles of roads and more than 2,700 bridges have been upgraded, nearly 700 drinking water systems serving more than 48 million people have been brought into compliance with federal clean water standards and high-speed Internet was introduced to about 20,000 community institutions. ''While these figures are sub- stantial, they still nevertheless understate the full magnitude of the administration's response to the cri- sis,'' Furman wrote. He noted that the report focused solely on the effects of fiscal legis- lation. It did not evaluate other administration policies that aided the recovery, such as stabilizing the financial system, rescuing the auto industry and supporting the housing sector. Republicans were in less of a mood to celebrate. ''The 'stimulus' has turned out to be a classic case of big promises and big spending with little results,'' House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a written statement. ''Five years and hun- dreds of billions of dollars later, millions of families are still asking 'Where are the jobs?''' Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., argued that Obama could put the nation's finances on a more solid footing and create jobs by taking steps to roll back regulations and finally approve the Keystone XL pipeline project from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. ''Five years later, the stimulus is no success to celebrate,'' said McConnell. ''It is a tragedy to lament.'' Furman said the economy is ''undoubtedly in a stronger posi- tion'' because it has grown for 11 straight months, although not at a pace that would be considered robust. Businesses have also added 8.5 million jobs since early 2010. Obama initially sold the stimulus as an investment that would produce a dramatic decrease in unemploy- ment that ultimately did not materi- alize. Unemployment remains high, at 6.6 percent in January, though it has fallen considerably since reaching double-digit highs early in Obama's administration. Some of the decline, however, is due to people dropping out of the workforce. Peo- ple aren't considered unemployed if they aren't looking for work. ''While far more work remains to ensure that the economy provides opportunity for every American, there can be no question that Presi- dent Obama's actions to date have laid the groundwork for stronger, more sustainable economic growth in the years ahead,'' Furman said. Obama planned to discuss the economy Tuesday at a suburban Washington distribution center for the Safeway grocery store chain. On Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden will mark the recovery act's fifth anniversary during a visit to America's Central Port in Granite City, Ill. The original crash appar- ently occurred when a pick- up truck driver fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into the center divider, the CHP said. It came to rest in the wrong direction with its lights off, setting off a chain- reaction collision. ''Prior to our arrival, it appears another vehicle may have hit the truck'' and came to rest a short distance away, CHP Commissioner Joe Far- row told reporters in a brief- ing at the crash site. ''We're not sure if the officers ... thought the crash was further down the road,'' Farrow said. ''(But) as they approached the scene, they lost control of their vehicle. They hit the guardrail and ultimately hit the sign.'' It is standard procedure for the two officers to be in the same car because they were working the graveyard shift, said officer Axel Reyes, a CHP spokesman. Both Law and Gonzales were wearing their seat belts, said Paris, the CHP captain. The two officers graduat- ed from the CHP academy in 2008. They are the first offi- cers from the Fresno CHP office to die in the line of duty since Jerry E. Turre was struck and killed by a hit- and-run driver while laying flares at an accident scene in 1962, according to CHP records. Farrow said Law and Gonzalez were good friends and partners who trained together. Now, their col- leagues from across the state have to deal with their loss. ''It's draining — a lot of the officers are drained,'' Reyes said. ''Officers are having a tough time — some more than others.'' Law started his career in Oakland before transferring to Fresno about a year ago to be closer to his wife and three kids, said Officer Sean Wilkenfeld, a CHP spokesman who worked with Law in Oakland. ''He was just a really fun, easygoing guy,'' Wilkenfeld said. ''He was sort of quiet, big into sports, and always willing to help out.'' Before transferring to the Fresno area in 2010, Gonza- lez worked for CHP in San Jose for two years. He is sur- vived by his mother and a sister. CHP Officer Ross Lee, who worked the graveyard shift with Gonzalez in San Jose, said Gonzalez, who had served as a field training officer, was a good mentor. ''He was a great guy with a very calm demeanor, a good officer who took the time to make sure he and others did their jobs correct- ly,'' Lee said. ''A stand up guy.'' Wilkenfeld said both offi- cers will be missed by the entire CHP. ''I can't count how many lives they made better,'' Wilkenfeld said. ''This is a huge loss for us and the com- munities they served.'' The CHP's accident reconstruction teams remained at the site Monday afternoon to scour for evi- dence. One southbound lane was open and traffic was moving slowly, the CHP said. (Continued from page 1A) CHP paid for part of the juve- nile justice center and for a 1-stop employment center. Under the financial plan, the 2002 COPS would be refinanced in conjunction with the new 2014 COPS. The city's financing consultant believes around the county could see around $320,000 in savings. He estimated the county would receive an interest mar- ket rate of around 4.69 percent. The Courthouse Annex and Juvenile Jus- tice Center would be used as collateral, while the Tehama County Jail currently being used would no longer be encumbered. Combined the county would have an annual debt service of around $1.4 million for the first 10 years, $1 million for the following 3-and a- half years and then $520,000 for 11 more years. The chief question the board had when pre- sented with the plan was whether the financing being sought would be enough. Chief Administrator Bill Goodwin said he agreed with that senti- ment, but also that he didn't want the county borrowing money if it didn't need to. "This is a prudent number," he said. "I feel comfortable I know where that money is going to be spent." The capital project funding identified in the proposal budgets $4 million for the new library, $2 million for the agricultural build- ing, $3 million for an office remodeling of the Health Services building and $930,000 for jail roof improvements. Rich Greene can be reached at 527-2151, ext. 109 or rgreene@redbluffdailyn ews.com. (Continued from page 1A) COUNTY STATE BRIEFING