Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/264400
LOS ANGELES (AP) — California has reached the breaking point, says Tim Draper. The Silicon Valley venture capitalist is pushing a proposal to crack the nation's most populous state into smaller pieces — six of them. California has grown so big, so inefficient, it's essentially ungovernable, according to a ballot initia- tive that could reach voters as early as November. It has to go, he says. ''Vast parts of our state are poorly served by a rep- resentative government,'' according to Draper's plan, which cleared a key gov- ernment hurdle this week, part of the process to quali- fy for the ballot. California residents ''would be better served by six smaller state governments.'' In an interview Thurs- day, Draper said he has seen a state once regarded as a model slide into decline — many public schools are troubled, trans- portation, water and other infrastructure systems are overmatched and outdated, spending on prisons has soared. A group of states could change that, he said, com- peting and cooperating with each other. Without change ''it will get worse,'' he warned. ''California is not work- ing.'' No one would dispute that California, home to 38 million people, is full of rivalries and squabbling. Dodgers or Giants. Tacos or sushi. Where water goes, and how much of it. But the state has proven reliably resilient against attempts to split it apart, dating to the era of its founding in 1850. Over the years, proposals have sug- gested California should be two states, or three, or four. ''It's certainly fun to talk about,'' said Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Weather forecast 8A Mostly sunny 71/44 N EWS D AILY DAILY 50¢ FRIDAY FEBRUARY 21, 2014 Rotary Student of the Month Sochi Round-Up Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com 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 See Page 4A SPORTS 1B Education 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 Settlement reached in boy's Lassen death By ANDRE BYIK DN Staff Writer The United States in a settle- ment has agreed to pay $3.5 million to a Red Bluff family whose son died in Lassen Vol- canic National Park in 2009. The Botell family was hiking a trail at Lassen Park in July 2009 when they sat down to take photographs atop a retain- ing wall. The rock-and-mortar wall crumbled, and a 400- pound boulder crushed and killed 9-year-old Tommy Botell. His sister was seriously injured in the incident. As a lawsuit progressed through federal court, U.S. Magistrate Judge Gregory Hol- lows in March 2013 wrote that park officials spoiled evidence by knocking the remaining por- tion of the retaining wall down after the incident, compromis- ing an ensuing investigation. In his findings and recom- mendations, Hollows also wrote Lassen Park Superintendent Darlene Koontz lied under oath in a deposition, and had other evidence pertaining to the fit- ness of the wall destroyed. Hollows found the defendant negligent in Tommy's death, and U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley in May 2013 adopted Hollows' findings, which crip- pled the defense. In a statement provided to the Sacramento Bee, the Botell family said: "This was a horrif- ic event that no family should 'Our grief and loss were compounded by the refusal of the Park Service to accept responsibility and to act responsibly during the lawsuit' — Statement by the Botell Family Ground school Daily News photo by Andre Byik Jaymi Hill, a junior concrete industry management major at Chico State, levels concrete Thursday at Los Molinos Elementary School. By ANDRE BYIK DN Staff Writer LOS MOLINOS — Buzzzzzzzzzz went the concrete grinders at Los Molinos Elementary School on Thursday, when a group of Chico State students spent the morning leveling, patching and repairing walkways while the little ones were away enjoying a break. A little more than a month ago, Principal Jerry Walker said he was approached by Jaymi Hill, president of the Chico State student chapter of the International Concrete Repair Institute. The fairly new student club was looking for a project. Hill, whose aunt is on the safety commit- tee at the school, had an in, and Walker had a need. "Having a 50-year-old school," Walker said, "it's great because we have 50-year-old trees, but they have 50-year-old roots." Some things don't get better with age. Over the years, the concrete has cracked, and perhaps claimed a few skinned knees and hands, too. As the grinders squealed and dust billowed, Hill, a concrete man- agement major at Chico State, said as soon as concrete has been laid there can be a need for repairs. It's a universal truth. Hill and a crew of six, including a lecturer, worked on the school's grounds, eliminating tripping haz- ards and fixing concrete that had settled. Along with the roots, and weak- ened subbases, problems have "a lot to do with the water coming out of Board OKs Corning fire site By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer The Tehama County Airport Land Use Commission found a proposed fire training center in Corning was compatible for an airport approach zone Tuesday, despite county staff concerns regarding smoke from the center impairing pilots. The Corning Volunteer Fire Department has pro- posed building a training facility on the north side of Blackburn Avenue, just west of Marguerite Avenue. The 200- by 200-foot area, owned by the city of Track coach accused of sex with student A Hamilton City High School assis- tant track and field coach was arrested after a Glenn County Sher- iff's investiga- tion deter- mined he had sexual activity with a female student. Joshua Kelly Hernan- dez, 23, Orland was charged with felony counts of contact with a minor with intent to com- mit a sexual offense, sex- ual penetration with a for- eign object with the vic- tim being under 18 years of age, sending or selling obscene matter depicting a minor and oral c o p u l a t i o n with a person under 18 years of age along with a misde- meanor count of possession of matter depicting a minor under the age of 14 engaged in sexual acts. The sheriff's depart- ment was contacted by the Hamilton City Unified School District, after the district had been made Hernandez Number of US farms declines, farmers getting older WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of U.S. farms is declining even as the value of their crops and livestock has increased over the past five years, a govern- ment census of American agriculture released Thurs- day says. The survey, taken every five years, shows there were a total of 2.1 million farms in the United States in 2012, down a little more than 4 percent from 2007. That fol- lows a long-term trend of declining numbers of farms. Also, farmers are getting older — the average age was 58.3 years. But Agri- culture Secretary Tom Vil- sack points to a bright spot: a small rise in the number of farmers between 25 and 34 years old. Vilsack says the boost in the number of younger farmers is partly due to increased interest and gov- ernment support for locally grown foods and a thriving export market. Many younger farmers work at smaller operations, where the boom in the farm econ- omy and a rising consumer interest in where food is grown have helped them. That boom has been good to all of farm country: According to the survey, the market values of crops, live- stock and total agricultural products were all at record highs. Farms in the United States sold almost $395 bil- lion in products in 2012, 33 percent higher than in 2007. Still, farmers are aging. According to the census, a third of farmers were older than 65 in 2012. ''The reality is, over time those folks won't be able to continue farming, and the question for all of us is, if they don't, who will?'' Vil- sack said after the report was released. Vilsack has made the revitalization of rural America a priority at USDA. As people have moved to suburbs and cities, many communities have increasing poverty and fewer young people to take over family farms. He has also argued that the dwin- dling population has led to less political clout — made evident by a recent three- year congressional struggle to enact a new farm bill. President Barack Obama signed the bill, which pro- vides farm subsidies and food stamps, into law earli- er this month. ''My question is not just who is going to farm, but who is going to defend them?'' Vilsack said. The amount of farmland in the United States also shrunk over the time period, from 922 million to 915 million acres. At the same time, farms grew larger — the average farm grew from 418 to 434 acres. Vilsack said he is most concerned about the sur- vival of middle-sized farms, which declined in the last five years. The number of larger and smaller farms held mostly steady. He said he believes that decline partly came from a lapse in disaster assistance while Congress haggled over the farm bill, drought in many states and rising feed costs. Ideally, he said, many of the younger farmers who are working on smaller farms will eventually grow their operations. One area of growth for agriculture is farms that are minority-operated. The number of farms operated by Hispanics, African Americans, American Indi- ans and Asians all grew between 2007 and 2012, and the number of Hispan- ics who were principal operators of farms grew by 21 percent. Plan to divide California into 6 states advances See LASSEN, page 7A See FIRE, page 7A See SCHOOL, page 7A See COACH, page 7A See STATES, page 7A