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FRIDAY MARCH 11, 2011 Breaking news at: Jimmer At ‘The Dance’ Select TV www.redbluffdailynews.com See Inside RED BLUFF Off and Running SPORTS 1B Mostly sunny 62/44 Weather forecast 8A By TANG LOR DN Staff Writer A man charged with murder and assault stemming from two different incidents, one of which happened while he was in jail, pleaded guilty to the charges Thursday in Tehama County Superior Court. Dylan Franklin Shires of Red Bluff will forgo a jury trial and instead pleaded guilty to charges 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 Guilty plea entered in marijuana murder of second degree murder with spe- cial allegations of intentionally discharging a firearm causing great bodily injuries and death and street gang activity. For the gang allegation, Shires will have to register as a gang offender. A special allegation that he was a minor but at least 16 years of age at the time was acknowledged. Shires, now 19, was 17 at the time of the January 2009 incident in which he killed a Los Molinos man. Shires was one of three masked men who entered the Los Molinos residence of Clarence Puckett and demanded money and marijuana. Puckett and his wife held a medical marijuana license and were engaged in culti- vating and selling marijuana. A struggle ensued, and Puckett was shot in the head. The men fled with multiple bags of mar- ijuana, according to the District Attor- ney’s office. While in custody Shires All Stars lauded Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb Tehama County Chapter of the Association of California School Administrators recognized 25 students, pictured here,Thursday at the annual All Star Award luncheon held at the Red Bluff Community and Senior Center. By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Nearly 150 people showed up at the annual Tehama County Chapter of the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) All Stars luncheon held Thursday at the Red Bluff Community and Senior Center. “It’s a fantastic annual event that lets us recognize our Tehama Coun- ty All Stars,” said Maywood Princi- pal and ACSA President Jeff Harris. “I know there are a lot of great stu- dents at each of these individual schools, but these are the students who have gone above and beyond both academically and in extracur- ricular activities.” In his speech, Maywood teacher Sean Wilson, the keynote speaker, encouraged teachers and staff to take a second look at students who have checked out on learning and may be labeled “punks” in the classroom. As someone who was one of those children and did not graduate eighth grade or attend his freshman year in college, but instead went back and got his degree, Wilson said it is important to be involved in the lives of students, many of whom may be facing tough situations. Wilson lost his father at age 9 and his mother was put into a hospital for the mentally disabled later the same year, causing him to be shuffled through a number of foster care homes before being reunited with Corning man to face July jury in DUI death of Caltrans worker By KATY SWEENY MediaNews Group OROVILLE — A Corn- ing man learned Thursday he will face a jury in July for the death of a Caltrans worker. Butte County Superior Court Judge Kristen Lucena scheduled Russell Hodge, 45, for trial over a defense continuance request. Hodge again pleaded not guilty to murder and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated with three priors. He could be sen- tenced to life in prison. The prosecution alleges Hodge was driving with more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in his sys- tem about 11:18 p.m. Nov. 14 on Highway 99 at Hamilton Nord Cana High- way, when he plowed into Caltrans worker Gary Wayne Smith. The 57-year- old Chico man died that night from his injuries. Smith was diverting traf- fic from the scene of an ear- lier triple fatality on 99, also blamed on drunken driving. In Court Thursday, defense attorney Tracy Davis asked Lucena to con- tinue Hodge’s plea entry as she has not received a final detailed crash report from California Highway Patrol. She said the report is vital to prepare a defense. Deputy district attorney Glenn Jennings said he expects to get the report in about a month. Lucena said the report would be required before trial, but was not needed for his arraignment Thursday. Davis asked for a hearing on a motion to dismiss charges and to obtain evi- dence. Lucena scheduled Hodge for a July 11 jury trial and April 12 for the defense motions. Attorneys said they 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 expect the trial to take eight days. his mother in late 1980. “I believe in my kids — my chil- dren and my students — because I look back and see me,” Wilson said. “You can get through it. There’s three things I want to say. No matter what you face in life, you can really overcome it and be an instrument of change.” Wilson encouraged students to make a plan and plan their work. During the luncheon, principals and teachers said what made their All Stars special, honoring 25 stu- dents in schools throughout the county. Most described their students as being great all-around, well-rounded See STARS, page 7A at Tehama County Jail for that offense, Shires and another inmate beat inmate Thomas A. Martin using their fists and feet during what sheriff officials have said was a planned attack in November 2009. For that incident, Shires plead- ed guilty to charges of assault and battery causing serious bodily injury with a special allegation for causing brain injury or paralysis. Shires will be in court again See PLEA, page 7A Chico man arrested in LM bank robbery By GREG WELTER MediaNews Group COLUSA — A Chico man has been arrested on sus- picion of robbing banks in Los Molinos and Colusa within the last eight days. Michael B. Taylor, 54, was taken into custody at his See BANK, page 7A Cable failure blamed in outage By Julie Zeeb DN Staff Writer Equipment failure in an underground vault in downtown Red Bluff caused about 2,000 resi- dents to lose power Wednesday afternoon, some for almost two hours. One of the cables com- ing into an underground junction box that is spliced off into multiple directions failed, causing an electri- cal arching and a fire in the vault, said PG&E spokesman Paul Moreno. “Why it failed is under investigation and it will be sent to a lab for analysis of the equipment,” Moreno said. At 5:10 p.m., 92 resi- dents lost power almost an hour after reports came in of steam billowing out of the vault. The remaining customers lost power at 5:13 p.m. when PG&E deenergized the area to allow workers to safely address the issue, Moreno said. Redundancy built into the system allows PG&E to continue to provide ser- vice while permanent repairs are being made, Moreno said. Power was restored to almost 1,895 people at 6:19 p.m. with the remain- ing people having power restored by 6:50 p.m., he said. Clouds of steam that rose as tall as the sur- rounding buildings began to dissipate shortly after power was cut to the first group of people with only three quick bursts of elec- tricity coming out of the vault. Red Bluff fire and See CABLE, page 7A Making connections for homeless Special to the DN After a successful inaugural event, the sec- ond annual Project Homeless Connect — a homeless fair — will be held at the Tehama Dis- trict Fairground 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 30. The principals of Project Homeless Con- nect are not business as usual — no waiting in line, hospitality from the whole community and immediate access. This is not just a day for people to gather information or get refer- rals, but a day for peo- ple to make changes and get connected to essen- tial services providing such necessities as birth certificates and state IDs. To prepare for the event, organizers are asking the community to help by donating socks, towels and blan- kets. The event will include a sock exchange, during which old socks can be exchanged for new ones Organizers already have soap, but are in need of towels that folks will be able to take with them for future use. Chilly nights mean there is the continual need for blankets. Items can be brought to the Daily News, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Shower facilities will be available this year. Other drop-off loca- tions include St. Elizabeth Community Hospital’s Cafe Raymond, 2550 Sis- ter Mary Columba Drive, Tehama County Health Services Drug & Alcohol Division, 1850 Walnut St., and Bethel Assembly of God Church, 625 Luther Road. Any agency or busi- ness that would like information on how to have a booth at the event, call Laura Rodriguez at 528-4174 or send an email lro- driguez@tcdss.org. For more informa- tion, call Senia Owens- by at 526-2173 or send an email to produc- tion@redbluffdai- lynews.com.