Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/27952
Monday, March 28, 2011 – Daily News – 7A SCHOOL Continued from page 1A dents who are obviously not happy about the contract. There is only one more dance this school year, the senior prom. Some students are already saying they will not attend the dance and plan to have their own else- where, which was fine with Gleason, he said. Asked whether the con- tract would move students toward creating their own unsanctioned school events, and if he was worried about the possible dangers of those events, Gleason said student safety is always a concern. “We worry about that FATE Continued from page 1A Brown campaigned for governor last year on a pledge that he would ask voters to decide about any tax increases. He had hoped to have a special election in June to ask vot- ers for a five-year renewal of temporary tax increases enacted two years ago. The Democratic governor wants to solve the nearly $27 billion deficit by bal- ancing the tax extensions with about $14 billion in spending cuts and fund transfers, some of which he signed into law last week. The Republican coun- teroffer included limiting the extensions of the increased sales, personal income and vehicle taxes to 18 months instead of five years, but doing so would leave the state bil- lions of dollars short for implementing another of Brown’s plans. The gover- nor also wants to shift a host of responsibilities from the state to local gov- ernments, believing cities and counties can handle them more efficiently. Republicans oppose much of that plan, which includes transferring some inmates to county jails and supervision. They also oppose Brown’s plan to eliminate redevelopment agencies, which have been criticized as grab-bags for developers that rob schools, law enforcement, fire departments and other community services of local tax revenue. Many every time they walk off campus, but they’re at an age where they can make choices, and there’s not much we can do about it,” Gleason said. The contract is meant to get students to adhere to common decency standards not put the hammer down on them, he said. “We want to work and reason with them,” Gleason said. “We’re just trying to make a statement about what is appropriate for school.” ——— Tang Lor can be reached at 527-2153, Ext. 110 or by e-mail at tlor@redbluffdailynews.co m. local government officials praise redevelopment agencies as one of their best tools for kick-starting construction projects and rejuvenating rundown areas. The GOP leaders also want to ask Californians to vote on reducing public pensions and setting a state spending cap. County clerks, who would be responsible for organizing a special elec- tion, have warned that time is running out. Most have said they would need 88 days to comply with state laws, print and mail out ballots, and find poll workers — which would mean an end-of-June elec- tion even if a deal were struck in the next few days. Brown and the Democrats originally had hoped for a June 7 elec- tion. Talks appeared to stalled after Dutton and Sen. Bob Huff, R-Dia- mond Bar, released their list of demands late Fri- day. Brown “was presented with a thorough outline, which reiterates our prior- ities, including: getting our state back on track by reining in runaway spend- ing; controlling unsustain- able public employee pen- sions; getting people back to work; protecting and improving our state’s pub- lic education system; and making critical adjust- ments to the governor’s flawed budget,” the two lawmakers said in a joint statement. Dutton’s involvement marked a change in direc- from Maine to California SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Fairchild Semi- conductor has moved its corporate headquarters from Maine to Silicon Valley. Fairchild officials say the move to San Jose, Calif., is a reflection of the company’s growth. It has been based in South Portland since spinning off from National Semicon- ductor in 1997. Spokesman Kevin London told the Portland Press Her- ald the change will not affect operations in Maine and won’t result in layoffs or transfers. He said the company wants to develop its brand within the broader technological commu- nity that is found in Silicon Valley. When Fairchild was formed, it had annual sales of about $500 million. Annual sales have since increased to about $1.6 billion. Power restored to Yosemite YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK (AP) — Power has been restored to Yosemite National Park after a nearly week-long storm-related outage. Park officials say the power returned on Saturday. It went out on March 20 after a powerful winter storm dropped several feet of snow in the area. The park was closed for three days, as power lines fell and trees blocked roads. Park buildings were forced to rely on emergency generators. All roads into the park have since been cleared and reopened. All park services are also fully operational with the exception of the Yosemite Valley campgrounds. Those are expected to reopen to the public on Monday. Pipe bomb explosion injures one person in Vacaville VACAVILLE (AP) — Authorities say a man was injured when a pipe bomb disguised in a newspaper exploded at a residence in a San Francisco Bay area suburb. The explosion in Vacaville occurred around 10:20 a.m. Sunday and forced the evacuation of surrounding homes in the cul-de-sac. The unidentified man was air- lifted to a hospital although the extent of his injuries was not known. Vacaville city spokesman Mark Mazzaferro says the man was picking up the Sunday newspaper from his driveway when the bomb exploded. It’s not clear whether it was a random attack or he was targeted. Mazzaferro says a bomb squad from Travis Air Force Base is helping to search the cul-de-sac for other potential explosives. Residents within a roughly half-mile radius of the explosion are advised not to approach any suspicious packages. The blast occurred on Cashel Circle. PROM Continued from page 1A Kee started the program in 2001 while working at a teen center in Chico and brought the program with her five years ago when she started working for Tehama County. “When I moved up here I just saw the need,” Kee said. “So many of our kids have hard home lives and school is their foundation. The Prom Project provides Tehama County youth with the opportunity to participate in one of the great high school mile- stones — Senior Prom.” tion for his caucus. A sep- arate group of five GOP senators had been meeting with Brown to discuss their demands to roll back pensions, place a cap on state spending in future budgets and reform regu- lations for business. Some of those senators said Fri- day they had turned nego- tiations over to Dutton and Huff, who is vice-chair- man of the Senate budget committee. Democrats, who have a majority in both houses, need two GOP votes in each house of the Legisla- ture to put the tax exten- sions on the ballot. It’s not clear whether the Republi- can caucus in the Assem- bly will provide two votes. Democratic legislative leaders are now hinting that without major progress in the talks, they may try to approve the special election on a sim- ple majority vote, a move that would almost certain- ly be challenged in court because legislative ballot measures require a two- thirds majority. The Sen- ate and Assembly were on call until the next regular- ly scheduled session on Tuesday. Democrats also could introduce an all-cuts bud- get, which would include billions of dollars more from schools, or try to qualify an independent initiative on the tax exten- sions for a special election this November. Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Ange- les, appeared frustrated after learning of the detailed GOP wish list. Some of the youth would never think about attending prom due to the financial burden it would place on them and their families, she said. Much of the formal wear has been donated by community members, including one woman who used to work as a seam- stress at a store in Red- ding, bought several dress- es last year and fixed them up. There is still a need for larger sizes in girls’ dress- es, certificates from busi- nesses for things like cor- sages, boutonnieres and hair styling and samples of makeup. “We need everything ‘‘I think this takes us clearly to a point where we will quickly have to decide whether or not to pursue solutions that do not require Republican votes,“ he said. If Republi- cans don’t want to com- promise, he said, ‘‘they’ll force us to act as if they are not parties to this dis- cussion.” Brown has alternated between condemning what he sees as excessive demands from Republi- cans and striking an opti- mistic tone about the pos- sibility of a deal. He did not comment after receiving the list of 53 Republican demands, but his spokesman, Gil Duran, said the governor had expected the issues to narrow after months of talks, “not to expand beyond the borders of what is possible.” He said it was not real- istic for a minority party to expect to get 53 things “for the price of one” — a vote to put tax extensions on the ballot. “That being said, we have a governor who’s eminently reasonable, and he’s going to continue to talk and work to find the common ground and the issues that we might be able to reach agreement on, because the stakes are very high and the people of California will truly suffer the consequences of these cuts if they do not get the chance to vote on whether or not to extend current taxes,” he said. CANNON BEACH, Ore. (AP) — When the big one hits the Pacific Northwest, the best place to escape the wall of water moving at jetliner speed from 50 miles off the coast may be a City Hall on stilts. Once the ground finishes two to four minutes of lurching and shaking, residents and tourists in Cannon Beach would flock to the refuge on concrete columns 14 feet above the waves rac- ing beneath. They would ... if the refuge gets built. There’s nothing like it from Northern California to British Colum- bia and, so far, no money for anything like it. It’s an example of how underpre- pared the West Coast is for an earth- quake and tsunami on the scale of what happened in Japan. Scientists say it’s inevitable that an offshore seismic menace called the Cascadia Subduction Zone will one day unleash a megaquake. The last time it happened was 300 years ago when a magnitude-9 shaker spawned enormous ocean waves that slammed into the West Coast and damaged Japanese fishing villages. Mindful of the risks of waves as high as 60 feet, communities in the Pacific Northwest have worked on their defenses, installing sirens to warn of dangerous waves, posting hazard signs to mark inundation zones, desig- nating evacuation routes and holding evacuation drills. Scientists in the Pacific Northwest hadn’t understood the geology and the threat it poses until recent decades when they discovered evidence of big quakes near the coast over the last 10,000 years — about 20 the size of the March 11 quake in Japan. By contrast, the Japanese have long paid close attention to quakes and tsunamis. Their written records from 1700 allowed North American scien- tists a few years ago to fix the timing of the last Pacific Northwest megaquake, right down to the hour it occurred. So the death and damage caused by this month’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan were worrisome on the other and anything to make a prom dream come true,” Kee said. “We’re really hurting for things for boys including tuxedos.” The clothes and other items will be set up like a boutique 3-7 p.m. April 4- 8 at the Tehama County Department of Education, 1135 Lincoln St. Students will need to bring a valid California or school identification card or proof of enrollment to participate. In addition to outfits and accessories, students are encouraged to stop by the Prevention Lounge where they can learn about making safe choices and get drug, alcohol and other prevention information. “We really try hard to make sure they have a healthy prom night and make safe choices,” Kee said. “It’s not just a dress, but about engaging the students in making smart choices and ultimately arming them with resources and informa- tion.” For more information on the program call 528- 7394 or 528-7398. ——— Julie Zeeb can be reached at 527-2153, extension 115 or jzeeb@redbluffdailynews. com. Crews face mud, flash flood in Calif storm cleanup SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Crews in Central Cali- fornia cleaning up after recent storms faced a daunting task and even a flash flood when 2 feet of water burst from a culvert Saturday, sending workers scrambling for dry ground. A voluntary evacuation was ordered as emergency workers searched for any residents stranded in Capitola, a small city in Santa Cruz County. Heavy rain caused the burst of water from a culvert in a mobile home park to flood the Capitola Village shopping area, said Derek Johnson, a city spokesman. Several mobile homes suffered significant damage and numerous vehicles and at least two-dozen business- es also have sustained some water damage, Johnson said. Officials were also monitoring houses on a nearby cliff. “The storm was heavier than what we thought,” Johnson said. “This one came with a vengeance.” The area also was flooded Thursday, when a failed drainage pipe tore a roughly 15-feet by 100-feet hole in the ground near homes and sent a three-foot surge of water into Capitola Village. Residents were evacuated and businesses were flooded. No injuries were reported. Meanwhile, crews were trying to clear debris from a rock and mud slide on a highway in the Big Sur area along the coast. Tons of rocks were expected to be removed from the slide after heavy storms closed a stretch of Highway 1 on Thursday. The highway’s north end was already closed after a chunk of roadway fell into the Pacific Ocean last week. “It’s treacherous conditions on both ends,” Caltrans spokesman Colin Jones told KCBS-AM. “Travel is completely restricted.” It was not immediately known when the road would reopen, California Highway Patrol officer Eric Ander- son said. Officials in the San Francisco Bay Area suburb of San Pablo on Saturday were monitoring six homes whose backyards were washed away following after a landslide due to the recent rains. Three homes have been deemed unfit for occupancy, according to city officials. Barbara Scott, whose home of nearly 40 years was red-tagged, told KGO-TV she feared the worst. “I’m scared. Worried. This is home,” Scott said. “You look around and you say there’s a possibility I can actu- ally lose my home.” KGO-TV reports that three homes in the Northern California city of Mill Valley were also evacuated because of a rock slide. Fairchild moves headquarters Tsunami threat could catch Northwest off guard side of the Pacific. “We’re not nearly as well prepared as the Japanese, and clearly they were overwhelmed,” said Bill Steele, coor- dinator of the University of Washing- ton’s Seismology Laboratory. “It is a problem.” Elevated refuges are among the Japan-style responses to the tsunami threat that experts say helped to miti- gate the destruction and death. And these are just pieces in a giant puzzle for the Northwest in dealing with the aftermath of a disaster that could bring Katrina-style devastation to a region of 13 million people west of the Cascade Range. In Cannon Beach, Jay Raskin is ter- rified at the prospect — “terrified” is a word he uses three times in the first few minutes of an interview. The former city council member and mayor has proposed replacing the current City Hall, seismically unsound, with a two-story building on stilts to provide refuge to as many as 1,500 people. The second floor would house city offices. Atop that would be a terrace. The idea is still conceptual, await- ing vetting by structural and geophys- ical engineers. That could add to the tentative $4 million price tag Raskin puts on it. There are no current plans in Cali- fornia to build special tsunami-resis- tant structures, but some communities are looking at ways to herd residents to existing buildings perched on higher ground in the event of dangerous waves, said Rick Wilson, senior engi- neering geologist with the California Geological Survey. In Washington state, emergency managers are working with coastal communities to develop local plans for elevated evacuation structures that could do double duty, such as steel- reinforced earthen berms 20 feet high that could support bleachers at a stadi- um. “Right now, there’s no funding for anything like this, through state and federal funding,” said John Schelling of the Washington State Emergency Management. He argues, though, that it’s important to develop the plans for the day when money is available. That’s particularly the case, he said, for places on the Pacific Northwest coast that don’t have high ground close to the beach, such as the flats of southwest Washington’s Long Beach peninsula. Among the critics of such work is Patrick Corcoran, an Oregon State University extension worker who spe- cializes in marine hazards and argues that the regional emphasis on geology and engineering misses the mark. “This is a cultural, behavioral issue far more than an engineering issue,” he said. The message that has to be driven home for coastal residents, he said, is there are just a few keys to surviving a tsunami, including the importance of getting to higher ground and staying there, even if your family is scattered. It’s also important to find a way to hoof it to higher ground — rather than trying to drive and dealing with grid- lock — while also designating some- one on solid ground as the family con- tact point. Governments, he said, can make it easier for people to survive tsunamis by creating shelters on high ground, and making sure paths uphill are clear of the invasive blackberry brambles that plague the coast. In Cannon Beach, the 1,500 capac- ity of the proposed City Hall refuge is about the size of the town’s permanent population. At the height of the tourist season, there are three to four times as many people. Most would have to rely on follow- ing an evacuation route to get above the waves — something locals would likely know well but could be difficult for tourists already panicked by the quake. Raskin said his concern about earthquakes dates to his work as an architect in the San Francisco Bay area during the 1989 Loma Prieta earth- quake and argues that Cannon Beach has a responsibility to the tourists the town has invited to the coast.