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THURSDAY AUGUST 18, 2011 Breaking news at: Asian Artist to Exhibit Pastimes www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 4A RED BLUFF Softball Winners SPORTS 1B Sunny 99/65 Weather forecast 8B By TANG LOR DN Staff Writer The Parks and Recreation Department is being eliminated and replaced with a new depart- ment that ideally would create less work for parks. The department reorganiza- 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 City drops Parks and Rec Department tion, which the Red Bluff City Council approved Tuesday, is one of several recommenda- tions from the Budget Commit- tee in an effort to close the city's $300,000 general fund deficit. 'I'm confident this will cost us more money in the long run' — Councilwoman Daniele Jackson During its first review in June, a majority of the council rejected the proposal and asked the Budget Committee to meet In to Africa Courtesy photo The St. Elizabeth Community Hospital ambulance in Liberia after it had been refurbished for the Duside Hospital. Ambulance saves lives in Liberia By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer St. Elizabeth Community Hos- pital Director of Surgery Leon Randall received a nice surprise in July when Dr. Linden Mabandi came for a visit. Mabandi, chief of staff at Duside Hospital on the Firestone Plantation in Liberia, came bear- ing a gift. "He brought (St. Elizabeth's) this hand-carved wooden plaque," Randall said. "Dr. Mabandi was visiting family on the east coast and took a day out to visit St. Elizabeth's to thank us and to say how (the supplies being sent) has saved lives and how much it has helped." Randall has made several trips to the 300-bed hospital in Liberia with the non-profit group Chil- dren's Surgery International, tak- ing medical equipment with him. Liberia underwent 14 years of civil war that ended in 2006 and again with staff for possible changes, but much of the rec- ommendation remained the same when it was brought back Tuesday. In order to create a general fund savings of $50,000 to See CITY, page 7A By GREG WELTER Boulders close I-5 for 90 minutes MediaNews Group ORLAND — Lava boulders that spilled from the trailer of a big rig on Interstate 5 near Orland closed the road for about 90 minutes Wednesday morning. The incident occurred about 3 a.m. south of County Road 27. Going south on I-5, the big rig was struck from behind. The California Highway Patrol said the rocks were all about one-foot in diameter. The big rig had just entered I-5 at Road 27 and was going about 15 mph when it was struck by another big rig, going See I-5, page 7A LM library gets reprieve, for now By ANDREA WAGNER DN Staff Writer Los Molinos branch library supporters could be asked to raise at least $3,000 by Dec. 15 to match county funds to keep the branch open. Tehama County administrators were ready to pull the plug on the Los Molinos branch in June until nearly two dozen people convinced the Board of Supervisors to keep it alive in July. The county has agreed to keep the life support on until all possibilities have been exhausted. Chief Administrator Bill Goodwin and County Librarian Jessica Hudson started working with the Tehama County Friends of the Library on a pro- posal that they presented to the board for input Tuesday. The proposal called Courtesy photo Duside Hospital Chief of Staff Dr. Linden Mabandi from Liberia came to St.Elizabeth Community Hospital and brought a hand- carved thank you plaque. Pictured are St. Elizabeth represen- tatives Leon Randall, Sister Pat Manoli and Todd Smith. everything was destroyed at the hospital by a group of rebels. "They thought the sterilizers were safes and blew them up," Randall said. "Basic medical Life savings not even up in smoke Nearly 60 pounds of marijuana inside three duf- fel bags cost a man his life savings but granted him a free trip to jail Wednesday. Alexis Dixon, 23, of Los Angeles was arrested early Wednesday after sheriff's deputies pulled over the blue 2004 Toyota Camry he was driving at 2:37 a.m. on Highway 36W, east of Baker Road. Deputies stopped Dixon for not having a front license plate, a sheriff's press release said. Upon investigation, he was arrest- ed for driving on a suspend- ed license. car. Nobody else was in the Before the Camry was towed, deputies did an inventory search of the vehi- cle, the release said. Of four duffel bags found, three bags together contained 58 one-pound bags of marijuana, the release said. Two vacuum seal machines and bags were in the fourth duffel bag. See SMOKE, page 7A 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 POWER PRODUCTS DOLMAR Red Bluff Outdoor Power equipment was just gone and patients were on mattresses on the floor." See AFRICA, page 7A keeping the library open a "significant risk" for the county and calls for com- munity fundraising to pull in at least $3,000 to match county funding by the end of 2011. Efforts would need to raise another $7,000 by April 15 to keep the pages turning in Los Molinos in the 2012-13 fiscal year. The county would help cover the remaining costs of rent, utilities, commu- nication and office sup- plies by matching the funds raised dollar to dol- lar. Supervisor Ron Warn- er, who oversees the library's district, wanted the county to do even more, he said. "I want the county to fully fund that library for one year," Warner said. That would give Los Molinos a chance to come up with a program to fund the library indefinitely, he said. For the 2011-12 fiscal year, an estimated $5,115 in public library funds could come from the state, but it is not certain, the proposal stated. The library operating costs are estimated at $1,100 per month, with- out staffing costs, or $11,100 annually, the pro- posal stated. If the state funding doesn't come through, the county would have to fill in the gaps in funding, the proposal stated. Supervisor George Russell suggested that no decisions be made Tues- day. Instead, the board should wait until after upcoming public meet- ings. Goodwin and Hudson have set up two public meetings, 10 a.m. and 6 See LIBRARY, page 7A GOP wants accurate spending released SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Assembly Republicans called on Democratic legislative officials late Wednesday to immediately release accurate records of law- makers' spending on staff, travel and other expenses, escalating an internal rift that has divid- ed lawmakers as they return from their summer recess. Assembly Minority Leader Connie Conway, R-Tulare, sent a letter Wednesday night to Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, chairwoman of the Assembly Rules Com- mittee, asking Skinner to release up-to-date, accu- rate expenditures for each Assembly member. Conway said the public has a right to see the records ''in order to judge our performance and hold us accountable for how we are spending the peo- ple's money in these tough budget times.'' Assembly Speaker John Perez this week addressed the controversy by announcing the cre- ation of a task force to be led by Skinner that will review the Assembly's guidelines for releasing information to the public. Skinner, D-Berkeley, is to issue a report by January. The controversy over lawmakers' internal spending stems from a feud between Assembly- man Anthony Portantino, D-La Canada-Flintridge, and Perez, a fellow Democrat from Los Angeles. Portantino claims his budget was slashed, and his entire staff faces a six-week lay- off starting in October because he refused to vote for the state budget. Perez says he was overspending. Portantino sought to counter that claim by requesting the current office spending for all 80 members of the Assembly. The informa- tion the rules committee released to him and to media outlets that requested it included dated figures that repre- sent only partial lawmak- er office budgets. The records released by the Assembly Rules Committee from previous years show incomplete and sometimes mislead- See GOP, page 7A THE BRANDING PROJECT WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU: What do you think Red Bluff, Corning, and Tehama County should be known for? What will attract visitors to our communities? What can you experience here that you can't find elsewhere? Please take 10 minutes to complete the survey. Visit: www.destinationtehama.wordpress.com