Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/27432
FRIDAY MARCH 18, 2011 Breaking news at: Dancing Nights are Here Again Select TV www.redbluffdailynews.com See Inside RED BLUFF March Madness SPORTS 1B likely Weather forecast 10A Rain 52/38 By TANG LOR DN Staff Writer The Red Bluff Police Department continues to deal with an increase in crime and service calls while working with less money and a smaller 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 Violent crime up 20 percent in RB in 2010 staff. The department’s 2010 Annual Report along with a State of the Department brief- ing by Police Chief Paul Nanfi- to given to the City Council Tuesday highlights some of the activities and issues the depart- ment faces. With data going back to 2001, the report provides a comprehensive look at the decade, Nanfito said. A full copy of the annual report is available at the police department and online at Party’s over www.rbpd.org. Crime and calls Violent crimes have increased 20 percent from 2009 to 2010. Those type of crimes include homicide, rape, rob- bery, simple and aggravated assault, burglary, theft and car thefts. Domestic violence calls have increased by 27 percent. Out of 342 calls received, 114 of those resulted in an arrest, making 2010 the year with the highest amount of domestic violence- See CRIME, page 9A Cops nab vandal red handed Police officers tracked down a 25-year-old Red Bluff man who fled after he was reportedly seen Wednesday spray painting a street sign. Officers responded to a call about a man seen van- dalizing a power box in the Antelope Boulevard area near Interstate 5 at about 9:22 p.m., police logs said. Arriving on scene, an officer saw a man spray paint- ing a street sign, a press release said. The man ran into the slough area where officers lost sight of him. A California Highway Patrol helicopter was called in to help locate the suspect but was unsuccessful, police said. Police officers contacted at least eight people, most- ly juveniles, in the area, but were unable to find the sus- pect, police logs said. About an hour later, an officer saw a man with a sim- See VANDAL, page 9A Work begins on new Corning Park By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Daily News photo by Andrea Wagner Samantha Bable, 16, spends a moment playing with chalk with her 17-month-old son Santiago, while on a break from classes at Salisbury High School. Teen moms talk about life changes By ANDREA WAGNER DN Staff Writer Editor’s note: This is the second article of a three-part series look- ing at teen pregnancy in Tehama County. Teen mothers in Red Bluff had many stories to tell about their new lives as parents, and insight into local speculations about teen preg- nancy in general. Mothers visiting their children during a school break at Cal-SAFE, a care facility specifically for the children of students, talked about how excited they were to be moth- ers and why some get pregnant in the first place. Molly Huber, an 18-year-old mother of 2-month-old Kayden, started bringing her son to a pub- licly-funded child care facility and attending Salisbury High School less than two weeks ago. Yawning and smiling wearing a black Megadeath t-shirt, Huber fed her baby a bottle while pushing back strands of red and blonde streaked bangs that swept across her face. Huber had dropped out of school when she found out she was preg- nant. She moved from Oklahoma back to the Red Bluff area last October to start her life as an adult, she said. Living with friends, she hopes to finish school and go to col- lege to become a photographer. Overall, when she got pregnant, Huber’s life changed for the better, she said. “I don’t know what I would do without him,” she said. “I’d proba- Experts: No radiation worry for West Coast LOS ANGELES (AP) — The U.S. government and scientists insist that there’s no threat of radiation from Japan endangering people on the West Coast — but that hasn’t stopped roughly 1,000 worried Cali- fornians from flooding a state hotline. ‘‘Radiation is one of those words that get every- body scared, like ‘plague,’’’ said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of public health for Los Angeles County. ‘‘But we’re 5,000 miles away.’’ Some computer models tracking the possible path of radioactive material from the stricken Japan nuclear reactors suggest it could cross the Pacific, swipe the Aleutian Islands and reach Southern California as early as Friday. Even if particles waft to the U.S. coast, the amount will be so diluted that it will not pose any health risk. Wind, rain and salt spray will help clean the air over the vast ocean between Japan and the United States. Nuclear experts say the main elements released are radioactive cesium and iodine. They can combine with the salt in sea water to become cesium chloride and sodium iodide, which are common and abundant elements and would readily dilute in the wide expanse of the Pacific, according to Steven Reese, director of the Radiation Center at Ore- gon State. ‘‘It is certainly not a threat in terms of human health’’ added William H. Miller, a professor of 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 See COAST, page 9A bly be partying and getting in trou- ble.” The hardest part about having a baby is trying to go anywhere with him, she said. “I tried to go to a baseball game last night,” she said. “It was a pain.” Samantha Bable, a 16-year-old mother to Santiago, was 14 when she got pregnant, she said. She found out she was 5-months along when she went in to the doctor with her mother to get birth control. “I was so scared,” she said. Wearing a Los Molinos basket- ball sweatshirt, Bable talked about how much she used to like sports before she became a mother. “I used to do every sport you can think of,” she said. “I was always out of the house.” She was a Los Molinos student See MOMS, page 9A CORNING — Work has begun on the Corning Community Park, which will be in the area of Toomes and Houghton avenues and Fig Lane. Escrow closed Monday on two parcels being bought by the city that help make up the 18.42 acre lot for the park, said City Planning Director John Stoufer . “We got the deeds today,” Stoufer said Wednesday. “We are excited about that. The first hurdle has been cleared and we are mov- ing forward.” The council voted March 8 to approve a con- tract with Rolls, Ander- son, Rolls (RAR) for $28,070 to complete boundary surveys and prepare topography maps of the parcel. The Chico-based com- pany began work March 11 and will take between 4-6 weeks to complete it, Stoufer said. “Once we have the information (from RAR) City Engineer Ed Ander- son will start the design work,” Stoufer said. “He will meet with the skate- board and bike park com- mittee about what fea- tures and we will need to start tests on soil depths and ground water depths.” The city must prepare a storm water pollution pre- vention plan to prevent sediment during construc- tion from flowing into the creek, Stoufer said. Construction of the park, which includes the purchase of the two parcels for about $500,000, is hoped to be started sometime within the 2011 construction sea- son, but not anytime soon. “It will take a mini- See PARK, page 9A Spot fires burn near grade school Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb PG&E Troubleman Adrian Vieck tests for the presence of voltage in a barbed wire fence adjoining a fence around Sacred Heart School and guy- wires of a power pole Thursday afternoon on Monroe Street. Red Bluff Fire was dispatched to the area about 11:45 p.m. for several small spot fires near the fence that were initially suspected to have been caused by electricity.The cause of the spot fires is undetermined, Red Bluff Division Chief Jon Bennett said.