Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/333341
School sits within one of the department's areas that receives a high vol- ume of calls for service. There has been a 33 per- cent increase in calls for service at the high school from the 2012-2013 to the 2013-2014 — from 323 to 431, according a report Nanfito presented to the board. He said there is a lot of criminal activity on and around the campus, and he believes there is a cor- relation between criminal activity around the school and incidents at the high school. Nanfito added that he's spoken to parents who are removing their children from Red Bluff High School because they're confronted with drug use and drug abuse daily. Additionally, Nanfito said Murray, who earlier this year was selected to be a detective at the de- partment, was integral in the investigation into the death of 14-year- old Marysa Nichols last year because of his con- nections with students, teachers and staff. "Think of it in terms of this," Nanfito said. "If we don't have an assertive presence with a police of- ficer here, you're creating a recipe for bigger, bolder and potentially more vi- olent encounters within your district." Nanfito invoked the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connect- icut in 2012, and said there have been 74 school shootings since. "I guess I kind of bris- tle when we start talk- ing about catastrophic school events because they're definitely happen- ing," Board President Bar- bara McIver said. "They are happening, they are unanticipated and many of them were not pre- ventable." She added: "I wouldn't want to react with that as a baseline, I want to talk about if this is a good use of scarce re- sources, if this is a good value and if this adds to the safety of the high school district." The board of trust- ees was not scheduled to take action on the posi- tion Wednesday. Nanfito said officer Heidi Thomas has been selected to be the school's SRO in the coming school year. "We believe that Heidi will meet the needs and fill the bill that you guys are looking for," he said. The selection pro- cess for an SRO also was noted in Harrop's memo. He wrote, "We have had no input into the selec- tion of proposed succes- sor for the next year." Harrop did say during the meeting that he's heard good things about officer Thomas, and Red Bluff police Capt. Kyle Sanders, also present at the meeting, said there have been discussions to better integrate a school resource officer at the high school. Nanfito said histori- cally only one officer has applied for the SRO po- sition within the depart- ment when a vacancy arises, so it is almost a foregone conclusion to who the SRO will be. Incoming district Superintendent Todd Brose, who was present at the meeting and for- mally takes on the role July 1, said it appeared there has been a lack of communication between school officials and Red Bluff police regarding ex- pectations of a school re- source officer at the high school. "It sounds like tonight is the beginning of a new, open conversation between the district and the police department," Harrop said. "That's pos- itive." SRO FROMPAGE1 there was more support for the tax, many just did not want the chamber to take a stand publicly. "I don't think we should support it 'pub- licly' unless we can use our support as a bargain- ing chip to moderate their attitude towards funding important Chamber ac- tivities that benefit the community," one com- ment said. "They seem to understand bargaining as something not done between parties, but as something imposed by one on another." Another responder said they would be voting for the tax increase, but would not do anything to endorse the measure be- cause of the city's previ- ous actions towards the business community. Those who replied in opposition to the tax largely fell into one of two groups — those who believe the city cannot be trusted after raiding the Transient Occupancy Tax that was sold to voters as being earmarked to pro- mote tourism, and those who did not believe the language in the measure was strong enough to pre- vent the revenue from go- ing elsewhere. The responses illus- trate the city's strained relationship with the chamber, just months after the city again de- creased its yearly contri- bution to the chamber. Still some respondents said the tax was needed to continue the city's growth. "I understand that with the continued re- duction in revenue source, and continued in- crease in the daily cost to do business and provide essential services to our community, we as the cit- izens of this town, need to do all we can to help support our town to pro- vide a place to live," one respondent said. There were several comments, both in sup- port and against the tax, that said the police de- partment needed to do a better job dealing with the influx of crime in the community. Some were concerned with the effects the in- crease would have on lo- cal shopping. If passed the reve- nue would go toward the city's general fund. A non-binding advisory measure will also be on the ballot asking vot- ers whether the money should primarily be spent on public safety and parks and recre- ation. Legally a tax increase can not be earmarked for a specific purpose, unless it is passed by two-thirds of voters. The City Coun- cil, fearing it could not garner such an approval rate, chose a general fund increase instead. It would require a sim- ple majority to pass, but comes with no other guar- antees other than city of- ficials' own promises. Taxes FROM PAGE 1 PLEASERECYCLE THIS NEWSPAPER. Thankyou! porary closed. The ousted members, David Swearinger, Les- lie Loshe, Geraldine Free- man and Allen Swearinger, were replaced at an April 12 General Council meeting by vote of all tribal members present. The new Tribal Council was reaffirmed by a tribal vote in May. A Bureau of Indian Af- fairs regional office said its paperwork showed the ousted members, along with Andrew Freeman, make up the last feder- ally recognized Tribal Council. On May 16, without An- drew Freeman present, the ousted members ordered the casino closed. However operations un- der Andrew Freeman's lead- ership have continued and the ousted members have been barred from entering the casino. Andrew Freeman's own lawyers argued to the court that it is the ousted side's police force that is caus- ing the threat to casino patrons. "They cannot be allowed to cause the BIA's issuance of this order, then turn around and appear before this court with unclean hands and request that the court close down the ca- sino," Andrew Freeman's lawyers' brief states. The brief argues that there are hundreds of jobs at stake and a closure would devastate the local econ- omy. In their defense brief ousted members said they planned to hold mediation with Andrew Freeman as early as Friday. In Andrew Freeman and remaining tribe's own de- fense brief, attorneys said the tribe was attempting to resolve the issues through its own governing process and as a sovereign nation has the right to do so. It said the tribe had al- ready approved initiatives to remove the ousted, but federally recognized, coun- cil on an interim basis. Ca sino FROM PAGE 1 community service for countless causes. "She was when necessary a leader, was always a team player and a truly produc- tive citizen," he said. Jerry Hemsted spoke on behalf of the Tehama Cat- tleMen and CattleWomen, another organization that had often presented Jor- dan awards for her ser- vice. "We'll all miss her, but God's got a good person," Hemsted said. Bill Cornelius spoke about Jordan's dedication as a Rotarian and work on the State Theatre. He said Jordan was the first person to arrive to help set up any event of impor- tance in the community and the last to leave. He joked that if she showed up to the event and wasn't the chairperson, she often would leave as the new one. Sherry Drake spoke about Jordan's role in bring- ing Special Olympics to Te- hama County and her dedi- cation to the Red Bluff Elks Lodge annual holiday din- ner for the developmentally disabled. U.S. Congressman Doug LaMalfa and State Senator Jim Nielsen both had repre- sentatives on hand and pre- sented Jordan's family with special messages. Jordan's niece Kim Gould thanked the community for the ceremony. "She loved this town. She loved her friends im- mensely," Gould said. Jordan FROM PAGE 1 Around200peoplegatheredattheConeandKimballClockTowertocelebratethelifeof Una Jordan Thursday evening. By Dirk Lammers The Associated Press SIOUX CITY, IOWA Record Big Sioux River flooding prompted residents in three states to hurriedly prepare for the rising water Thurs- day, with people lining up for sand bags and mov- ing items — including mu- seum artifacts — to higher ground. The fast-moving Big Sioux has been swollen by days of thunderstorms and is expected to crest Friday more than a foot above the previous record level set in 1969, threatening homes and businesses in Iowa, Ne- braska and South Dakota. In North Sioux City, South Dakota, dozens of National Guard soldiers were rushing to fill sand- bags for residents of the Mc- Cook Lake neighborhood, where up to 400 homes were in danger of flooding. Residents including Ash- ley Caskey waited for hours in a line of pickup trucks that inched toward the sandbag filling stations. "We are just happy to get sandbags at this point," Cas- key said. Tim Webster, who lives in an upstairs apartment on McCook Lake, said he wasn't worried about his place but was helping friends. "Anybody who knows me knows I've got a truck, so let's do this," he said. This the worst flooding the region has seen since 2011, when the Missouri River remained high for months, causing tributar- ies to back up and testing the levee system. The fact that the levee held for long at that time showed it's ef- fective, said Jade Dundas, assistant city manager for public works for Sioux City, Iowa. This time, the Big Sioux should begin receding Sat- urday and stop flooding even nearby agricultural land by Monday morning. "This kind of a quick up and down does give us some sense of confidence," Dun- das said. The city had to extend one of its levees by about 600 feet and that work is finished. On Thursday, Sioux City crews helped property owners fill sand- bags as a precautionary measure, he said. At The Railroad Museum near the river in Sioux City, volunteers helped staff move artifacts to higher ground because the main building will likely get about 5 feet of water, said museum executive director Matt Merk. Vintage rolling stock including a 1943 Gen- eral Electric diesel locomo- tive was among exhibits moved to safety, Merk said. "At the very worst at this point we'll have cleanup and nothing completely damaged except for some sheet rock," he said. Crews were building a temporary levee that will run across Interstate 29. It should protect much of North Sioux City but will close off a few miles of the interstate and force mo- torists onto local roads be- tween Sioux City and Sioux Falls to the north. One potentially vulner- able area is Dakota Dunes, South Dakota, a commu- nity between the Big Sioux and the Missouri rivers. The existing levee has been raised and city officials said they're confident it will hold back the river, but an evac- uation plan has been pre- pared if it's needed. "We're building these le- vees to work," Jeff Dooley, the community's improve- ment district manager told the Sioux City Journal. "But things can happen. There are a million things that can go wrong." Upstream in Akron, Iowa, a levee breached early Wednesday, causing flood- ing in a business district, but a temporary patch is holding. MIDWEST Cities fight Big Sioux River flood in 3 states DIRK LAMMERS — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A farm house sits surrounded by flood water on Thursday in Hawarden, Iowa. By By Seth Borenstein The Associated Press WASHINGTON NASA is ze- roing in on the asteroids it wants to capture, haul near the moon and have astro- nauts visit. Officials on Thursday de- scribed a prime candidate: A tiny asteroid that whizzed about 7,600 miles above Earth in 2011. At 20 feet long, it is "the size of a delivery truck; we might actually be able to put this asteroid in a garage," said Northern Arizona Uni- versity astronomer Michael Mommert, who studied the rock, which goes by the inel- egant name of 2011 MD. That asteroid also could be a pile of smaller rocks that fly together in formation. NASA's plan is to grab an asteroid with a giant claw or capture it with a giant inflatable bag. The asteroid would be parked above the moon, with astronauts ex- ploring in a later mission. NASA executive Lind- ley Johnson said there will eventually be about 10 pos- sible rocks for capture in the early 2020s, but they may not all be small asteroids. There's a second option NASA is considering: Send- ing a spacecraft to a much larger asteroid, using a claw to pluck off a boulder that's less than 30 feet and taking it near to the moon. NASA will decide which option to pursue by the end of the year, said Michele Gates, program director for the asteroid mission. So far, NASA has three candidates for each option. But Johnson said he expects more to be identified. NASA doesn't have to choose its fi- nal target until a year be- fore launch, which could be as early as 2019. But Thursday's press con- ference highlighted 2011 MD. That's because when it came close to Earth in 2011, it was examined by telescopes on Earth and the Spitzer Space Telescope. Details of the asteroid were published in an astronomy journal Thursday. Those observations showed that it probably weighs around 100 tons but is so porous that about two-thirds is empty space and only one-third is rock, Mommert said. NASA has touted the as- teroid mission since the space shuttle fleet retired as a stepping stone to send crews to Mars. The robotic cost of the mission would be about $1.2 billion, Gates said. But there's no good estimate yet for the astronaut part, which includes using a yet- to-be-built giant rocket, of- ficials said. SPACE Ro ck t ha t wh iz ze d by E art h may be grabbed by NASA NASA/JPL CALTECH — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS This undated handout combo of artist conceptions provided by NASA/JPL Caltech shows what NASA says are good candidates for a mission to capture an asteroid. FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 2014 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 9 A