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COURTESYPHOTO Jailah Hernandez and Sawyer Ward are the first girl and boy born in Tehama County in 2015. Staffreports Ababygirl,JailahA.Her- nandez, is the first Tehama County baby of 2015, born at 6:53 p.m. Friday, Jan. 2 at St. Elizabeth Community Hospital in Red Bluff. The girl's mother, Max- ine Grossman, said Jailah weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. Her father is Blaine Her- nandez and she has an older brother, Jorden A. Hernan- dez, who is 7. Rustin and Haley Ward, and big sister Larkyn, wel- comed the first Tehama County baby boy of the year, Sawyer Ward, at 12:58 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 3, at St. Eliz- abeth Community Hospital. In a coincidence, Gross- man and Haley Ward are friends and their older chil- dren have attended school together in Red Bluff. The hospital organizes large gift baskets to award to the families of the first boy and first girl of the new year each year. Baskets are filled with items donated by area busi- nesses. This year the bas- kets were valued at $2,062. Businesses that donated to the baskets include Ap- plebee's , Baskin Robbins, Carlitos, Discover Earth, Domino's Pizza, Firehouse Pizza, Lassen Medical Pe- diatrics, Los Mariachis, Luigi's Pizza & Pasta, The Melon Patch, Northern Cal- ifornia Child Development Inc., Papa Murphy's, Ral- ey's, Round Table Pizza, Shear Harmony, St. Eliza- beth Hospital OB, Studio 530 and Walmart. NEWYEAR FIRSTGIRLANDBOY OF 2015 ANNOUNCED By Rich Greene rgreene@redbluffdailynews.com @richgreenenews on Twitter COTTONWOOD » A 55-year-old Red Bluff man wanted by the Tehama County Sheriff's Depart- ment for attempted murder led law enforcement on a high speed chase Wednesday afternoon that ended with him colliding into a telephone pole. Mark Lawrence Brewer has been wanted on an arrest warrant since Dec. 27 when he reportedly attacked his soon-to-be ex-wife and her mother with a hammer. A resident in the Cottonwood area alerted the sheriff's department Wednesday morning that he had seen a 1997 tan Toyota Camry associated with Brewer, according to Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston. Johnston said law enforcement was undertak- ing a surveillance process of the vehicle and for- mulating a plan when the situation went mobile. Brewer led officers on the pursuit around 11:50 a.m. traveling speeds of 100 mph in the northwest area of the county south of Bowman Road and through parts of Cottonwood into Shasta County. Early in the pursuit one officer reported Brewer was armed with long gun. At one point a deputy directed the Evergreen Elementary and Middle schools to go on lock down as the pursuit headed toward the school area. Brewer eventually lost control of the vehicle and collided with a telephone pole in the front yard of a residence on Balls Ferry Road about a quarter-mile north of Webb Road in Shasta County. Scanner reports indicated a transformer blew during the collision and live power lines were down at the scene. Johnston said Brewer was conscious and sit- ting upright as an officer approached and took him into custody. CRIME Manleads deputieson high-speed pursuit Attemptedmurdersuspect slams into telephone pole By Andre Byik abyik@redbluffdailynews.com @andrebyik on Twitter RED BLUFF » The City Coun- cil on Tuesday didn't act on a request from Tehama County to share a mainte- nance cost at the Commu- nity and Senior Center here, raising questions about a contract between the city and county that states it's the county's responsibility to pay for "major" building repairs. The county last July pur- chased and installed an air conditioner for the commu- nity center at a cost of about $47,000, according to city staff. The county asked the city to split that cost down the middle, and added that it was considering to bear the full cost of a smaller air conditioning unit for the se- nior center if the city did so. The City Council at its reg- ular meeting took on a rec- ommendation from city staff to consider reimbursing the county about $23,600 for the cost of the 30-ton air condi- tioning unit at the commu- nity center, but no vote was taken. The money would have come out of the city's general fund. "I think the community center is great, but the issue I have is what the contract says," Mayor Clay Parker said during the meeting. He added, "Maybe we need to look into redoing this con- tract so that we're not go- ing against what the con- tract says." The community cen- ter, which was constructed by the county, sits on city- owned land that has been leased to the county. According to a commu- nity center management agreement between the city and county that has been in effect since 1995, "All ma- jor costs for repairs to the structure, if not covered by insurance, shall be paid for by the county, out of county funds, separate and apart from funds to be paid to the community center." Major costs are any that exceed $3,000, according to the agreement. The city also is tasked with managing the community center. Russ Skelton, the county's facilities maintenance and improvement director, told the City Council that county administration was able to "bend over backwards" to replace the air condition- ing unit at the community center in a timely fashion, avoiding a lengthy bidding process that would have cut into revenues from sched- uled events. The unit was replaced in six weeks. Chris Hurton, the city's community center and rec- reation supervisor who works out of an office at the center, said events were cancelled during the time the air conditioning unit was down, and discounted rates also were offered dur- ing that time. "We did lose significant revenue, so shortening that time was helpful," Hurton said. He added that there is a lot of cooperation between the county and city at the community center. "I believe that sharing this cost, though it's not a legal requirement, I think would be an expression of our con- tinued interest in partner- ing at the center," Hurton told the City Council. Council member Rob Schmid, however, also ques- tioned why the city should split a building repair cost with the county, saying the community center has con- tinually been a burden on the city's general fund. "Es- pecially in these lean times when we're trying to find somewhere to cut our bud- COMMUNITY CENTER City Council questions contract Does not act on county's request to share repair cost By Rich Greene rgreene@redbluffdailynews.com @richgreenenews on Twitter REDBLUFF» The U.S. Small Business Administra- tion is making low-interest loans available to Te- hama County residents and businesses affected by the December winter storms. Under the program homeowners may borrow up to $200,000 to repair or replace their primary residence and businesses may borrow up to $2 million for any combination of property damage or economic injury. There are also loans up to $40,000 for homeowners and renters to replace personal property. Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet an- nounced Wednesday the SBA was acting under it own authority to declare a disaster in response to a request received by Gov. Jerry Brown. The Tehama County Board of Supervisors had previously ratified a declaration of emergency made by Sheriff Dave Hencratt following severe flooding on Dec. 3 and before a days-long storm brought even more damaging weather conditions DECEMBER STORMS SBA granting low-interest loans to flood victims Homeowners, renters, businesses eligible Sports.............. B1 A + E ................A5 Community.....A3 Puzzle..............B3 Opinion............A6 Life...................A4 Index............... ## INDEX Officers were installed at the Los Molinos Masonic Family Center during a cremoney held Jan. 3. PAGEA3 COMMUNITY LosMolinosMasonic Lodge installation Nigel Skeet's photography exhibit profiling the homeless will in at the Redding Civic Auditorium Friday. PAGE A5 A+E Photo exhibit shines light on homeless Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said Wednesday that he believes he can win the presidential election in 2016. PAGE B4 FLORIDA SENATOR Rubio says he can win presidential election Divers and an unmanned un- derwater vehicle spot the tail of the plane that crashed into the Java Sea. PAGE B5 BLACK BOXES Tail of crashed jet discovered in Java Sea "They're trying to make it sound like they're bending over backwards to do us a big favor by paying for the whole thing, but they're contractually responsible for the whole thing." — Rob Schmid, council member CONTRACT » PAGE 7 PURSUIT » PAGE 7 LOAN » PAGE 7 » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, January 8, 2015 50CENTS AN EDITION OF THE CHICO ENTERPRISE-RECORD 7 58551 69001 9 Volume130,issue35 Good morning, thanks for subscribing » Tabitha Shaffer PREP Red Bluff opens up league play Sports » B1 CONGRESS LaMalfa sworn into U.S. House Lifestyles » A4 FORECAST High: 65 Low: 41 » B8 Checkoutourcontinuous news feed, short Tout videos, photo galleries and more. VISITREDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM EVENMORE ONTHEWEB