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Community.....A3 Sports..............B1 Opinion............A5 Life...................A4 Comics............B3 Calendar..........A2 Index...............## INDEX Thanks to the generosity of donors the California Highway Patrol's Christmas toy drive was a hit. PAGEA3 COMMUNITY CHPChristmastoy drive a huge success Tehama County athletes grabbed their fair share of titles in 2014from local to global. PAGE B1 SPORTS Looking back at 2014 in Tehama County Bad weather hinders efforts to recover more bodies and sent wreckage dri ing far from the AirAsia crash site. PAGE B6 AIRASIA FLIGHT 8501 Weather hinders effort to recover bodies The Palestinians will join the International Criminal Court to pursue war-crimes charges against Israel. PAGE B5 RISKY MOVE Palestinians to press war-crimes case By Rich Greene and Andre Byik rgreene@redbluffdailynews.com @richgreenenews WhatweretheTop10newssto- ries that shaped Tehama County in the past year? Every year the Daily News newsroom asks this question with the hopes of compiling a list that reflects back upon the previous 12 months, but can be an archived source of conversation. This process begins with going back and looking at each and ev- ery one of the more than 250 edi- tions of the Daily News produced this year. Stories are noted for consider- ation and the lengthy list is whit- tled down to 10. Some were singular events, such as May 14 when a downed utility line across Interstate 5 caused a brush fire and created a miles long backup as motor- ist s ex it ed t he i nt er st at e fo r th e streets of Red Bluff. Other stories were trends that we wrote about over the course of the year, such as the county's never-ending battle with regulat- ing medicinal marijuana. Our original list had around 40 stories that were compelling for one reason or another. The process is the same each year, but 2014 provided an over abundance of noteworthy stories and selecting just 10 proved to be the most difficult part of the pro- cess. There was even a change in the list hours before the Daily News went to print Wednesday evening. Among the stories that didn't make the cut this year were the termination of a school superin- tendent following a union vote of no confidence, a hotly debated change of the Tehama District Fair management and a year of continuances and delays in the high profile Marysa Nichols ho- micide case. There were several positive stories that in other years would have made our list, such as the launch of the county's 211 service, the opening of an equestrian cen- ter in Corning and a rebounding economy with unemployment dip- ping to pre-recession lows. Our final decisions came down to which stories impacted Te- hama County the most. December floods Desperate for rain for years, Te- hama County at first welcomed a Dec. 3 rain storm, but my mid-af- ternoon it started to become clear that something was wrong. Outlets that had been dry for years had become clogged with debris. That forced water to rise out of ditches and channels and to severely flood numerous spots around the county, stranding mo- torists, including a school bus. One of the worst locations was in t he D ai ry vi ll e ar ea w he re a p ri - vate berm broke on Butler Slough. More than 100 homes and busi- nesses were damaged, including Cone Grove Park. State Route 99E was shut down from Red Bluff to Los Molinos as sections of the road became un- passable in flooding that was re- po rt ed ly 4 fe et d ee p i n p la ces . It was only the first act. A once in a decade storm came to the area beginning the night of Dec. 10 and continued pound- ing the region with rain and high winds for days. This time local officials and the community were better prepared. Schools were cancelled ahead of time for Dec. 11 and 60,000 sandbags totalling 550 tons of sand were made available by the county for local residents. Despite the damages — $2.5 million in agriculture losses and $2 million spent on sheriff's de- partment recovery and response fees — the incidents passed with- out serious injury or death. The Tehama County Board of Supervisors ratified the existence of a local emergency as officials continue to seek funding oppor- tunities for residents affected by the storms. The county helped install a temporary fix at the Butler Slough berm. The reported rain total in Red Bluff for the month of December was 9.74 inches as of Dec. 30, far exceeding the 4-inch average. Still that only puts a dent into the amount needed to recover from the ongoing drought. New blade lights up city Nightlife in Red Bluff began shining a bit brighter beginning May 31. The State Theatre for the Arts celebrated the restoration of the blade and marquee at the State Theatre with the letters S-T-A-T-E shining brightly in the night sky once again. For some it was the first time they saw the spectacular neon site, for others it had been de- cades. Th e Mc Co nn el l Fu nd o f th e Shasta College Community Foun- dation contributed $65,000 of the $75,000 raised to restore the the- atre signage, which was made to resemble their original specifica- tions. "The State Theatre is back, and we are absolutely hear to stay," Board President Joe Vine said. Tribal dispute For a week in June, rival fac- tions within the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians were in an armed standoff outside Rolling Hills Casino in Corning, which is owned and operated by the band. The standoff between a hired "Tribal Police" force and secu- rity guards hired by the faction in control of the casino followed a leadership dispute within the tribe that became public in April, when about 70 members of the tribe were suspended because of questions of eligibility. The tribe's governing body, the five-member Tribal Council, split, and allegations between the two new factions flew. Allegations traded included those of embezzlement, a cyber attack on the casino that dis- rupted operations and details of private jet trips to World Series baseball games. The casino remained open throughout the dispute, but the standoff caused the state of Cal- ifornia to request a restraining order against the tribe in federal court to keep armed security forces away from the casino. The YEAR IN REVIEW Topstoriesof2014 DAILY NEWS FILE PHOTOS The State Theatre in Red Bluff held a lighting ceremony for its restored blade and marquee in May. One of many homes in the Dairyville and Los Molinos areas flooded by December storms. REVIEW » PAGE 7 N EWS D AILY REDBLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY Fall-Wintereditioncopiesavailableatthe Red Bluff Daily News. ExtracopiesarealsoavailableattheRedBluffChamberofCommerce 24/7 presence online for 6 months. Digital version available at http://www.ifoldsflip.com/t/9634 WATCH FOR THE SPRING EDITION PUBLISHING SATURDAY, MAY 30 TEHAMA COUNTY LOCAL ASSISTANCE CENTER TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO LOCAL RESIDENTS WHO HAVE BEEN IMPACTED BY THE RECENT STORMS AND FLOODING IN TEHAMA COUNTY JANUARY 6th, 7th, & 8th, 2015 9am to 6pm EACH DAY FREE TO ATTEND • CLEAN-UP ASSISTANCE • INSURANCE ASSISTANCE • AMERICAN RED CROSS ASSISTANCE • UTILITY SERVICES ASSISTANCE RED BLUFF COMMUNITY CENTER 1500 South Jackson St., Red Bluff January 6, 2015 January 7, 2015 January 8, 2015 9 am to 6 pm » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, January 1, 2015 50CENTS AN EDITION OF THE CHICO ENTERPRISE-RECORD 7 58551 69001 9 Volume130,issue30 Good morning, thanks for subscribing » Paul Carter FORECAST High: 54 Low: 30 » B8