Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/39216
Monday, August 15, 2011 – Daily News 5A MISS Continued from page 1A senior, was crowned queen as the Miss Corning Express chugged home. The other winners include Miss Inspirational Rachael James, Miss Con- geniality Evelyn Rivas, Miss May Madness- the second alternate, Tommi Hammons, and Miss Hometown Christmas – first alternate, Jennifer Devers. The evening began on a train station platform. All the contestants and Trevi- no danced to the “Chat- tanooga Choo Choo” before the journey began. Demonstrating their personalities and strengths through a series of compe- titions, the contestants spoke about ways they each want to help the community and answered questions pulled from a jar on the spot. They also had to write an essay for the judges before the show. The young women dressed as characters, past or present, that have made a difference in the world and acted them out among travel trunks and luggage decorating the train station stage. Delgado appeared from the curtains carried on a litter, or Egyptian style carrying chair, by two tanned, bare-chested young men. She stepped out from the white cur- tains as Nefertiti, the great Egyptian queen. The other contestants portrayed the singer Aaliyah, a professional women’s basketball play- er, a Chinese woman war- rior, and Annie Oakley. Before passing on the tiara, Trevino gave her closing remarks during her final walk. “Remember I ran because no matter how big you are or how beautiful you are, it’s what’s inside you that counts,” she said. After the ceremony, the queen and her court brought family and friends on stage for photos and congratulations. Juggling flowers and sashes, while dressed in evening gowns, the young women were still all smiles. Delgado met with more than ten of her family and friends who came to sup- port her. Krystal Bennett of Corning, Delgado’s best friend, was nearly in tears. “I’m very excited for her,” Bennett said. “She’s a very shy person and for her to win, this is great. I love her. She definitely deserves it.” After signing auto- graphs for two young girls, Delgado stood by her family. Her 4-year-old niece stayed close by her legs and asked to wear the tiara. “I ran for Miss Corning to be a role model,” Del- gado said. Her favorite part of the pageant was “the girls,” she said. The other contes- tants were so helpful to each other, pulling for one another with broken zip- pers, safety pins flying, she said. Delgado’s mother, Sherry, sat nearby. “It’s been a lot of work getting here,” Sherry Del- gado said. She recalled putting the young Miss Corning in preschool so she could help her get over her shy- ness. “I am so proud of her to see how far she’s come,” she said. Eddy Delgado, Kyli’s father, is away in the mili- tary and couldn’t be at the ceremony. The pageant kicked off a series of activities lead- ing up to the annual Olive Festival Aug. 22-27. CLOSE Continued from page 1A Clawson would be relieved by Pritchard on the mound, but Kotkosky would have none of it. He leapt on the first pitch he saw and blasted a home run to center field crushing Red Bluff’s dreams in the process. Red Bluff had become Northern California state DUI Continued from page 1A Blossom. Witnesses said Elidia Wilfong had started climbing a stop sign pole at the intersection when Alvares’ truck struck the sign and flung Wil- fong 15-20 feet onto the concrete driveway at 2001 Blossom Ave., the release said. FAIR Continued from page 1A Seipel especially liked talking to Officer Jeremiah Fears, he said. Fears’ photo trading card shows him wearing a Superman T- shirt underneath his uni- form. Seipel’s son had the same shirt on. “That made my day,” Seipel said. He and his family took part in the other games and booths as well. “You get a sense of community,” he said. “You get to meet your neigh- bors.” Entertainment was pro- vided by area youth who danced and sang at one end of the park. Many children had bal- loons tied to their wrists, provided by Round Table Pizza of Corning. Tammy Kuykendall of Round Table Pizza was pleased Daily News photo by Andrea Wagner Tehama County Family Resource Centers offered foam stickers to children along with information about their services during the Corning Youth Fair Saturday afternoon at Northside Park. with the event. “It’s nice for kids and parents to get out together and it doesn’t cost any- Pension debate faces lawmakers SACRAMENTO (AP) — Five months after Gov. Jerry Brown released a 12-point plan to reform public pensions, there has been a lot of talk but little action on the issue at the Capitol. That could change this week when lawmakers return from their summer recess. Legislative leaders are consid- ering several ways to address pension abuses and long-term financial health in the systems that pay for govern- ment worker retirement benefits. Among them: — Limiting some abuses that anger the public and increase costs, such as pension spiking, which artifi- cially inflates retirement benefits by boosting pay at the end of an employ- ee’s career. — Creating a broader package of pension reforms for this year to fix abuses and address longer-term finan- cial concerns, possibly including lim- its on state contributions or a hybrid system that combines elements of tra- ditional pensions and investment accounts that do not guarantee bene- fits. — Tackling a broad pension pack- age next year or in a special session, with a full series of legislative hear- ings. The Democratic governor is saying little about his plan or how it might line up with what legislators have in mind. Members of his staff have met in recent weeks with lawmakers, pub- lic employee union representatives and pension-reform advocates. A spokesman for the governor’s office said Friday that Brown is still ‘‘fine tuning’’ the framework devel- oped during budget negotiations with Republican lawmakers this spring. Those talks broke down without a deal, but Brown said in March that he intended to push ahead without Republican backing, even on tough pension changes such as capping ben- efits and changing how teacher pen- sions are financed. ‘‘When those negotiations col- lapsed, the governor made it clear that pension reform would remain a prior- ity,’’ said spokesman Evan Westrup. Legislative staffers and union rep- resentatives who were familiar with talks on the issue said Brown’s stance will be important, but that some Democratic legislators want to move forward with or without him. Aides said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramen- to, and Assembly Speaker John Perez, D- Los Angeles, were scheduled to talk about the agenda during the Leg- islature’s final month, including pen- sion strategy. Neither would comment Friday. ‘‘The speaker’s office considers pension reform a serious issue, and it’s a priority (Perez) intends to work on with other legislators,’’ said Robin Swanson, spokeswoman for the speaker’s office. Public pensions have become a political issue across the nation as the economic downturn has squeezed state and local government budgets. The latest wave of criticism arose last week after another big drop in the stock market that wiped billions of dollars temporarily from pension fund assets. Some of the arguments focus on whether the plans that guarantee ben- efits to government retirees are finan- cially sustainable. Brown’s May bud- get proposal estimated that California owes $181 billion more for retiree pensions and health care than it can pay. Critics say the number is even higher. Pension officials note their long- term record of hitting or exceeding financial projections and warn against short-term decisions that will affect workers for decades into the future. Other opponents say unionized public employees have padded their pensions, pointing to big payments and early retirement perks. They high- light six-figure pensions for workers who retire at 55 and loopholes that boost payments every month from retirement until death. Public employee unions say Cali- Relax...the rent is on us. Emeritus is offering a chance to win one year’s free rent!* Simply tour an Emeritus community and you become eligible to win! Win FREE Rent for a Year! Our Family is Committed to Your.® Emeritus Senior Living Visit us today to learn about the many benefits of living at an Emeritus Senior Living community. 530-529-2900 Lassen House Ends August 31, 2011 705 Luther Rd., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Lic#525002331 LASSEN HOUSE www.Emeritus.con — Assisted Living & Memory Care — *Applies to room and board only and does not include care fees or skilled nursing services fornia’s state workers pay their fair share and increased that share by hun- dreds of millions of dollars a year in recent labor negotiations. They also argue that most state retirees receive relatively modest pensions, and that teachers are not covered by Social Security. California’s politics complicate the issue. Brown and Democratic law- makers, who control both houses of the Legislature, received substantial financial and campaign support from labor groups and want it again if they ask voters to approve increased taxes at the polls in 2012. The unions have said they are open to curbing pension abuses such as spiking, but also pushed to weaken legislation that would limit it. Republican lawmakers have accused Brown and the Democrats of caving in to labor demands during the budget talks. Some were wary this week about talk of a Democratic- backed pension package. They have been advocating pen- sion reform all year, but Democrats have killed most GOP-backed pen- sion bills, said Sabrina Lockhart, spokeswoman for Assembly Minority Leader Connie Conway, R-Tulare. Republicans want reforms, she said, but believe they would have to be made as constitutional amendments rather than simple changes to state law to keep them from being watered down later. ‘‘The Legislature is not going to do anything that will address substantial change,’’ said Dan Pellissier, president of California Pension Reform, a group that plans a ballot initiative next year that would cap government payments for worker retirement benefits. He said reforms to end double-dip- ping (returning to work after retire- ment while still collecting a pension) or pension spiking would be ‘‘moral victories’’ but would not save taxpay- ers much money. Pellissier is an 18- year state employee who himself will begin receiving a $5,000-a-month pension in 2015. thing,” she said. The booths closed down at 1 p.m. and families moved over to the City Pool, where free swim- ming was sponsored by the Corning Rotary until 3 p.m. Bodies of missing 2-year-old girl, father found PLACERVILLE (AP) — The bodies of a missing 2- year-old Sacramento girl and her father were discovered on rural property that belonged to the father, authorities said Sunday. Madeline Samaan-Fay and Mourad ‘‘Moni’’ Samaan, 49, were found dead in his green Toyota 4Runner around 8 p.m. Saturday after El Dorado County deputies were asked by the FBI to check the property near Placerville, authori- ties said. The father and daughter had been missing for nearly a week since they were last seen in a Sacramento grocery store last Sunday, said FBI agent John Cauthen. Samaan was served the day before with a notice that the girl’s mother was awarded full custody of their daughter, ending what had been a joint custody arrangement, Cauthen said. He then failed to return the child to her mother as expected. The mother, whose name has not been released by authorities, reported the girl missing on Tuesday. The undeveloped property where their bodies were dis- covered is in a remote area near the El Dorado National For- est, about 45 miles northeast of Sacramento. The heavily wooded land was closed off by a locked gate. Officials have not said if they were aware that Samaan owned the property, but El Dorado County Sheriff’s Lt. Bryan Golmitz said it was the first time that the FBI had requested deputies search the property. After finding the bodies, sheriff’s detectives and FBI agents began processing the scene for evidence. FBI offi- cials were not releasing additional information about the investigation Sunday. National gas prices down 9 cents in past 3 weeks CAMARILLO (AP) — The average U.S. price of a gallon of gasoline has dropped nine cents in the past three weeks. That’s according to the Lundberg Survey of fuel prices, released Sunday, which puts the price of a gal- lon of regular at $3.61. Midgrade costs an average of $3.76 a gallon and pre- mium was at $3.87. Diesel was down a nickel, to $3.94 a gallon. In California, the lowest average price was $3.65 in Fresno and San Franciscans paid the highest price at $3.77. The average statewide was $3.71. champions by winning tournaments in Redding, Eureka and Chico. As the tournaments went on their support from the community grew larg- er and larger as many rem- inisced about Red Bluff’s 1974 Little League team, who reached the title game at the World Series before falling to Chinese Tapei. The 2011 Red Bluff team had a bus donated to them for their trip to the West Regional in San Bernardino along with thousands of dollars from every spectrum of the community. They were escorted through town by law enforcement. Before boarding the bus they met with players from the 1974 team in front of around 100 friends and family. They’ll likely be greet- ed by a few hundred more when they return after making an entire city proud. Alvares’ truck continued until it hit a street light pole and came to a stop, at which point Alvares fled the scene, the release said. Wilfong was stabilized at the scene and flown by helicopter to a local hospital, where she was treated and released with a broken nose, pelvis lacerations, cuts on her fin- gers and bruises on her knees. Alvares returned to the scene and was given a field sobriety test before The Northern Califor- nia state champion Red Bluff Little League All- Stars are Deonte Antolin, Blake Blocker, Kolby But- ton, Michael Chapman, Taylor Chapman, Wesley Clawson, Dimitre Kent, Bode Parks, Lane Pritchard, Nicholas Rodriguez, Evan Tanner, Tanner Tweedt and Austin Youngblood. They were coached by Donnie But- ton, Gary Clawson, Steve Ross and Aaron Ross. being arrested for driving under the influence of an alcoholic beverage causing injury, the release said. The incident was initially report- ed as a disturbance with several sub- jects yelling. While en route, offi- cers were told it involved a vehicle versus pedestrian collision. Alvares was booked into Tehama County Jail with bail set at $75,000, the release said. The jail website lists bail as $15,000.