Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/370588
TheAssociatedPress WEAVERVILLE Evacuationorders have been lifted for residents of some 200 homes, as crews make good progress against a wildfire burning near the Northern Cali- fornia town of Weaverville. Fire officials said the blaze in Trinity County was 45 percent contained Monday night. The fire has burned just under 1 square mile, or 580 acres, of tim- ber and brush about 2 miles west of town. CalFire spokeswoman Cris Hartman said the blaze, sparked Sunday afternoon near High- way 299, damaged one structure, likely a barn or a large outbuild- ing. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Weaverville is at the base of the Trinity Alps Wilderness area. The Gold Rush-era boomtown is on the National Register of His- toric Places. TRINITY COUNTY Fireevacuations li ed near Gold Rush-era town The 30 District Agricultural Association fair board will host its second stakeholders meeting Wednesday aimed at gathering public input for a new business plan to ensure the financial via- bility of the Tehama District Fair- ground. The meeting is open to the pub- lic, but the focus will be on feed- back from local community lead- ers and event organizers who use the fairgrounds. The meeting also comes after the Tehama District Fairboard earlier this month hired new in- terim CEO Kelley Ferreira, an ex- perienced fair manager who has taken over the duties of previous interim CEO Steve Kimbrough, former Corning city manager. Kimbrough was hired in Feb- ruary after longtime CEO Mark Eidman retired. Kimbrough was credited with shedding light on the "bleak" financial outlook of the fairgrounds during his time there. "The fairgrounds must sustain TEHAMA DISTRICT FAIRGROUND Board to hold second stakeholders meeting By Rich Greene rgreene@redbluffdailynews.com @richgreenenews on Twitter RED BLUFF Two months after passing a preliminary budget the Tehama County Board of Super- visors got a glimpse of the pro- posed final 2014-15 budget at its Tuesday meeting. The final or adopted budget is scheduled for final approval in September. "One-time" revenue streams, mainly the refinancing of a 2002 bond, will keep the coun- ty's spending from outpacing its revenues. Without the additional revenue general fund expendi- tures would have exceeded rev- enues and the county's previous fund balance carryover by about $1.4 million. "If that did not happen then we would have been digging into one of the reserves," Chief Adminis- trator Bill Goodwin said of the re- financing. Supervisor Bob Williams said he wanted to caution the board to look at the effect of expendi- tures outspending the revenues and the impact it could have by potentially draining the county's carryover balance. Goodwin said he agreed that it was not the way to budget forever, but believed local property taxes would begin to increase at rates seen elsewhere in the state. The staff budget report said Te- hama County property taxes were expected to increase by around 1.68 percent for the fiscal year, although a 5 percent increase in employee expenditures was being projected into the budget. Overall the budget includes a net increase of 9.5 full-time em- ployees to be added to the county workforce. Goodwin said even with the ad- ditions county staff was still be- low pre-recession levels. The proposal does not include two additions to the administra- tive office, which had been re- quested in June during the pre- liminary budget, but had been met with questions from the COUNTY Supeshearproposedfinalbudget Revenuegapclosedby bond refinancing By Andre Byik abyik@redbluffdailynews.com @andrebyik on Twitter RED BLUFF Tehama County ag- riculture production recorded its fifth straight record year, grossing about $302.27 mil- lion, according to the Tehama County Department of Agri- culture's 2013 crop report pre- sented Tuesday. Agriculture production re- alized a 1.8 percent increase from 2012, according to the re- port, and fruit and nut crops led overall values, grossing about $215.61 million. The county's most valuable cash crop, walnuts, last year was valued at $123,137,800, a 19.1 percent increase from 2012 despite a decrease in bearing acreage. "Even with the acreage re- duction, the overall commodity value increased 19.1 percent due to price increases," according to the report. Almond values increased about 52 percent over 2012 to $42.09 million, according to the report. The substantial hike in value was attributed to an in- crease in bearing acreage and strong prices. While other fruit and nut crops such as pistachios also posted year-over-year gains, ta- ble olive production took a sig- nificant hit. Table olive values fell from $37,895,200 in 2012 to $13,867,200 last year — a 63.4 percent decrease because of "production decline caused by weather and drought condi- tions," according to the report. California has experienced below-average rainfall for the last three years, and is in the midst of one its most severe droughts on record, according to the state. Gov. Jerry Brown in January declared a drought state of emergency, and the state water board in July adopted emergency conservation regu- lations. According to Tehama Coun- ty's 2013 crop report, drought conditions also affected the value of rangelands. While range harvest acres re- mained steady at about 923,000 acres, the value per acre fell from $12 in 2012 to $5 in 2013, accord- ing to the report. Total range value in 2013 was $4,612,500, a 58.4 percent decrease in value from 2012 because of drought conditions. Elsewhere, livestock and poultry values remained about steady from 2012 to 2013. To- tal value in 2012 reached $28,356,11, while the 2013 value only reached $28,353,000. The value of livestock and poultry products, such as milk, other dairy products and animal fiber, increased to about $14.7 million in 2013. The 2012 value totaled about $13.34 million. Field crops, which include such things as wheat, corn, hays and grasses, valued about TEHAMA COUNTY AG PRODUCTION TOPS $300M IN 2013 Another record year, but drought conditions take toll on table olives ANDREBYIK—DAILYNEWS An olive orchard just outside of Corning on Tuesday. While Tehama County agriculture production last year posted its fi h straight record year, California's drought conditions significantly affected table olive values. Online: To view the entire 2013Tehama County crop report, visit HTTP://GOO.GL/AKX3RY Community.....A3 Business .........A4 Life...................A5 Weather ..........A8 Sports.............. B1 Food.................B4 Index............... ## INDEX The 99th Annual Red Bluff- Tehama County Chamber of Commerce dinner is scheduled for Sept. 24. PAGE A4 CHAMBER Annualdinnertofocus on moving forward There's still space available for vendors for the Sept. 13Fall Cra Faire at the Red Bluff Community Center. PAGE A3 COMMUNITY Vendor space available for Fall Cra Faire An American man believed to have been killed in Syria was there to fight alongside a ter- rorist group. PAGE B6 MIDDLE EAST American militant believed killed in Syria Ten seconds before the earthquake a university lab in Berkeley got the alert of the seismic waves. PAGE A7 NAPA EARTHQUAKE Quake stirs clamor for warning system For the fi h straight year, total Tehama County agriculture pro- duction reached a record-high value. 2013: $302,271,000 2012: $296,981,600 2011: $245,670,000 2010: $227,665,700 2009: $182,433,200 Source: Tehama County Department of Agriculture 2013crop report OVERTHEYEARS BUDGET PAGE 7 CROP PAGE 7 FAIRGROUND PAGE 7 » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, August 27, 2014 50CENTS AN EDITION OF THE CHICO ENTERPRISE-RECORD 7 58551 69001 9 Volume129,issue199 Today's web bonus Phil Hartman's star. redbluffdailynews.com CATTLEWOMEN Beef crostini and crisps recipe Community A3 YOUTH CLUB Olive 4-H visits clubs in Washington Lifestyles A5 FORECAST High: 99 Low: 65 A8 Seeacalendaroflocalevents ranging from music and art galleries to sporting events. ADDORVIEWEVENTSAT EVENTS.REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM DON'TMISSOUT: PLANYOURFUN