Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/267928
SACRAMENTO (AP) — A $687 million drought relief plan is headed for floor votes in the Legislature after win- ning quick approval Wednesday in legislative committees. Assembly and Senate budget committees passed the bills, a week after the package was announced by Gov. Jerry Brown and the Democratic legislative leaders. California is fac- ing its driest year on record, putting 17 com- munities at risk of running out of drinking water while forcing farmers in the nation's agricultural heartland to fallow fields and uproot orchards. The legislation calls for immediate action on the drought, including $15 million to address emergency water short- ages and an additional $1 million for a public awareness campaign. Most of the money comes from bonds previously approved by voters and will accelerate existing or planned water conserva- tion and recycling pro- jects. Both houses of the Legislature are expected to vote on the drought leg- islation Thursday. If Brown signs the bills, as expected, they would take effect immediately. AB 79 makes changes to the state's 2013-14 budget, creating grant programs for agencies and local governments to bid for project funding. Some specific projects received more funding, such as an additional $25 million in bond money for Folsom Dam modifications. Weather forecast 8B Showers likely 59/46 N EWS D AILY DAILY 50¢ THURSDAY FEBRUARY 27, 2014 Red Bluff 2014 Cactus Opener 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 Inside SPORTS 1B Visitor Guide 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 Remains of woman missing since 1979 identified CORNING — The Tehama County Sheriff's Department received confirmation this week that remains found on a Corn- ing property are those of Linda Harvey Gannon, who was reported missing in 1979. Detectives, acting on a tip that there were human remains buried at a property on Loleta Avenue in Corning, conducted a burial dig on June 22, 2013. With assistance from foren- sic anthropologists from Cali- fornia State University, Chico, the remains were uncovered and it was estimated they were buried sometime in the 1970s, according to a sheriff's press release. It was believed they were the remains of an adult female. A report was received Mon- day from the California Depart- ment of Justice Missing Persons DNA Laboratory in Richmond identifying the remains as those of Gannon, who was 32 at the time of death. DNA samples were obtained from Gannon's relatives to make the determina- tion. The cause of death was El Camino fire is back Daily News photo by Andre Byik The El Camino Fire Station will again be staffed with paid firefighters due to a grant from the Depart- ment of Homeland Security. By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer For the first time in a decade the El Camino Fire Station will once again be fully staffed. The Tehama County Board of Supervisors accepted a federal grant Tuesday that will fund a five-person staff for two years. The station had operated solely through volunteers since 2004 when budget cuts forced the elim- ination of paid staff. Since then Tehama County Fire has had just two paid stations and 16 volunteer stations. The grant from the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide 86 percent of the roughly $1.3 million needed to staff the facility. Tehama Fire will pick up the remaining $183,313. Fire Chief Jeff Schori said he anticipates the station will open July 1. Staffing will consist of a fire captain, two fire apparatus engi- neers and two firefighters. Schori said El Camino will serve as the first responder for a 106-square-mile area and would be the second responder for a 610- square-mile area. Around 2,500 residents live in the first responder area and the station receives about 1,000 calls per year. Response times for Gerber, Rancho Tehama Reserve and the area near the Walmart Distribu- tion Center will be reduced between five to eight minutes because of the full staffing. Secondary response times to Los Molinos and Paskenta will also improve. The grant carries no require- ment to keep the staffing past the two-year period. El Camino had around 100 vol- unteers a year ago. Schori said the station has been one of the county's best respon- ders and because of that he didn't think the area's Insurance Ser- vices Office Rating would be changed. Rich Greene can be reached at 527-2151, ext. 109 or rgreene@redbluffdailynews.com. RBUHS lockdown drill postponed By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer A planned intruder lockdown drill at Red Bluff Union High School was canceled Wednesday and rescheduled for some time during Thursday's school day. For a short time there may be an elevated police presence in the area of the high school as the school goes into a lockdown drill. School officials do not want to make the exact time of the drill public in an effort to better gauge their own and students' response times. Associate Principal Miguel Barriga said while the school has run similar drills in the past, this will be the first attempt to run the drill at an unstructured time for the student body. The drill is being run in conjunction with the school's resource officer and the Red Bluff Police Department. Rich Greene can be reached at 527-2151, ext. 109 or rgreene@redbluffdailynews.com. 3 plead guilty in movie pirating SACRAMENTO — Otto Godinez-Sales, 22, of San Jose; Francisco Martinez-Cruz, 34, of Orland; and Soledad Gar- cia-Venegas, 31, of Orland, pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to commit criminal copy- right infringement, United States Attorney Benjamin Wagner announced in a release. According to court documents, Godinez- Sales maintained a num- ber of warehouses in the San Jose area where he sold CDs and DVDs con- taining counterfeit music and movies. The music and movies on the CDs and DVDs were protected under United States copy- right laws. In many instances, the copyrighted movies being trafficked by the defen- dants were still in theatri- cal release and not yet available for purchase in the home DVD market. Martinez-Cruz and Garcia-Venegas were two of Godinez-Sales's cus- tomers at his San Jose warehouses, and they would transport the CDs and DVDs to sell at the Gonzalez Flea Market in Glenn County and the Marysville Flea Market in Yuba County. Clock tower replica graces visitor center Special to the DN Jeff Lindsay, from Red Hot Metal, was commissioned to cre- ate a metal replica of the Cone- Kimball Clock Tower to adorn the entry of the Tehama Country Vis- itor Center. This work of art stands three feet tall and includes a clock sim- ilar to the one at Main and Walnut streets in Downtown Red Bluff. The original tower sat atop the Cone-Kimball store at the corner and was destroyed in a 1981 fire. A replica was built and dedicated in 2008 by the Red Bluff Rotary. Lindsay established Cutting Edge Products, bringing more than 20 years of experience in the industrial arts to his company. He began working with glass in 1977 at Orient & Flume Art Glass. Inspired, he started making tools for glass artists under the name Random Specialties. Besides making tools, Lindsay had commissions for kinetic metal sculptures and produced a line of decorative wrought iron. Because bicycle riding was his passion, he built a few bicycle frames. Later he designed and built bikes for off-road riding. In 1980, Lindsay was one of three frame builders to debut a mountain bike at the International Bicycle Dealer Trade Show. Mountain bikes were the hit of the show, and he had more orders for his "Mountain Goats" than he could fill. Lindsay turned his efforts to bicycle manufacturing. Over the years, he won awards for innova- tive frame design and artistic paint finishes. His reputation with Mountain Goat owners all over the world was built on quality craftsmanship. In 1989, Lindsay was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. Eventually, Mountain Goat Cycles evolved into Altitude Cycle Technologies. As general manager, Lindsay supervised the production of frames for Schwinn, Kona, K-2 and other well-known companies. While this was excit- ing, he missed the hands-on fabri- cation and design process. During the bicycle manufactur- ing years, Lindsay had many requests for his glass tools. In 1998, he established Cutting Edge Products and has dedicated him- self to the evolution and produc- tion of tools for the glass artist. Ne Ne ws tip? ws tip? Call 527-2151, Call 527-2151, Ext. Ext. 112 112 Committees approve $687M in drought relief See WOMAN, page 7A See MOVIE, page 7A See DROUGHT, page 7A