Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/26688
TUESDAY MARCH 8, 2011 Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com Blue plate breakfast See Inside American Profile RED BLUFF Spartan named All-league Sports 1B Scattered rain 64/44 Weather forecast 8B DAILYNEWS TEHAMACOUNTY DAILY 50¢ 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 Go ahead and play Corning Council to swear in Linnet By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer The Corning City Council will be swearing-in its fifth council person, Dave Linnet, as a part of a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. tonight at City Hall, 794 Third St. The special meeting will also include a closed session with labor negotiator William May, which will be reported on at the regular session. In regular session, council is expected to review the ser- vices provided by Corning Disposal with the goal of reduc- ing the services in order to lower the service rate. The evening will also include a proclamation of March 6- 12 as Girl Scout Week in Corning in honor of the 90th anniversary of Girl Scouts, which will be Saturday. Also on the agenda for tonight’s meeting will be a request to support a waiver to the minimum occupancy policy of the Salado Orchard Apartments and authorize Fire Chief Martin Spannaus to work with Glenn County Agencies on a Fire Dispatch Contract. Council will consider the approval of the appointment of Melodie Poisson to the recreation commission. Poisson ran for one of the open city council seats in November and also applied for the opening being filled by Linnet. The Corning City Council meets the second and fourth Tuesday of the month at City Hall. Meeting minutes and agendas are available at www.corning.org. ——— Julie Zeeb can be reached at 527-2153, extension 115 or Daily News photo by Tang Lor Gracie and Kaleb Mayfield play on the spring rocker at River Park with their father Joseph Mayfield. The spring rocker is one of several playground equipment that has been identified as unsafe. Council ignores playground safety advice By TANG LOR DN Staff Writer Playground equipment at some city parks will not be removed despite warnings that they are unsafe. In a protest of sorts, the Red Bluff City Council has decided not to heed the advice of its insurance risk control manager. The council did not want an insurance company or lawyers running the city. After a review of playground equipment at all the city park sites, Risk Control Manager Jack Kas- torff sent the Parks and Recreation Department a four-page report on issues that should be addressed. Part of the report covers seven pieces of playground equipment that were deemed unsafe. Some were recommended for removal. The others can be brought up to compliance with slight modifica- tion, said Parks and Recreation Director Debbie Carlisi. The piece of most concern is a spiral slide at River Park. A photo slideshow Carlisi presented to the council showed rust at the bottom of the slide. That was the primary reason why she called Kastorff to come do an inspection, Carlisi said. Aside from the evident corro- “I was a kid. I grew up on these parks. It would be better if we didn’t have any parks if this is true. That’s what makes our parks fun to the kids.” Councilman Rob Schmid sion, the spiral slide was deemed unsafe because the bed slope is too steep and the concrete foundation was too high off the ground, according to Kastorff’s report. At River Park, Kastorff recom- mended removing the spiral slide and stage coach from the ages five to 12 playground. In the playground for younger children, the metal slide, climbing tower and spring rocker were recommended for removal. The metal slides at Dia- mond Park and Lots for Tots should be removed. Most of the equipment that failed the safety test had features that created entrapment hazards. While a child’s torso could fit through an opening, its head would not. Protruding tree roots and equip- ment that were too close to the edge of the play area were other areas of concern. Equipment is required to be six feet away from the edge in all directions. Kastorff suggested addi- tional impact absorbing material, most likely engineered wood fiber, be put in at all the sites to cover the roots or bring the padding to the same level of the concrete berms surrounding some of the play areas. Some council members thought the report was an exaggeration. He went out to the parks and did his own inspection, Councilman Rob Schmid said. He jumped, climbed and shook those equip- ment, and he felt everything was OK. “I was a kid. I grew up on these parks,” Schmid said. “It would be better if we didn’t have any parks if this is true. That’s what makes our parks fun to the kids.” Councilman Forrest Flynn said See PLAY, page 7A jzeeb@redbluffdailynews.com. Brown finds GOP support for budget plan hard to come by SACRAMENTO (MCT) — Gov. Jerry Brown con- ceded Monday that he has yet to win a single Republi- can vote for his budget plan. As a result, he said, he probably won't make a self- imposed deadline for a legislative vote Thursday on a key element: a June special election to extend billions of dollars in taxes. Turning a meeting of community college leaders into a gubernatorial news conference, Brown quoted Jesuit philosophy and his former political-theory pro- fessor, and made a direct appeal to those hesitant Republicans. "We're not asking for the moon here. We're asking for common sense," he said. Brown said many Republicans were afraid of retri- bution from conservative activists if they go along with the governor's proposal. "They believe that their heads will be on a stick," Brown said Monday. The comment was a reference to the hosts of KFI-AM's "John and Ken Show," who call out Republicans for showing a willingness to compro- mise on taxes. "There is a lot of fear that the entire machinery of the more conservative elements will be turned against any- one who votes to put this on the ballot," Brown said. The governor said he hopes to be able to provide political cover for Republicans who vote for a deal. "I'm thinking about what I should tell them," he said. "I'm reaching into my box of great ideas to find some- thing." Brown had hoped to get lawmakers to decide on the special election this week, but now says he needs a few more days to get the votes. Firefighters train Search and Rescue techniques By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer The Red Bluff Fire Department conducted training that focused on Search and Rescue and ven- tilation, Thursday, at the Cinderella Motel, 600 Rio Street. Training included a sim- ulated situation in which firefighters practiced locat- ing and pulling victims out of a burning building and extinguishing the fire, said Red Bluff Fire Engineer Matthew Shobash. “In a burning building, heat rises and we need to get smoke out so it won’t do any more damage to the building and to assist with extinguishing the fire and locating victims,” Shobash said. Photo Courtesy of Jake Hickok 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 Firefighters Mike Brunetta and Jonathan Sanchez of the Red Bluff Fire Department pull a mock victim out during a Search And Rescue exercise . Cutting a hole in the roof releases the smoke and also helps with visibility for the firefighters, he said. For Thursday’s search and rescue part of the train- ing exercise, firefighters were blindfolded in a build- ing that they were unfamil- iar with before they were sent to search for their vic- tims. The exercise, a friendly competition between two teams, was timed with two people per team looking for four victims. Each team made a search, radioed when they located their vic- tims and then had to pull them out. “We did that to hone our skills in rescuing victims because if you are a victim in a fire every second counts,” Shobash said. ——— Julie Zeeb can be reached at 527-2153, extension 115 or jzeeb@redbluffdailynews.com. Are you tired of those ugly, thick, painful fungal PODIATRY CENTER toenails? AEROFEET Painless Topical Treatment THAT REALLY WORKS. Treat your neglected nails and cracked feet in time for spring sandals! Call today for an appointment (530)527-7584