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Tuesday, October 25, 2011 – Daily News 7A Obituaries CHARLES FREDERICK WESTON 20, 2011. Born at home to Joshua and Nellie Weston, Dec. 3, 1926 in Flournoy, California. He was tenth of eleven children. All of the others have preceded Charles in death. They were Mayflower descendents and also descendents of Jubal Weston who came to Northern Cali- fornia in 1850 on sailing ships by way of the Isthmus of Panama. Charles joined the Navy in World War II. After his service he returned to the ranch in Flournoy and pur- chased land from his father. He married Anita Henderson and they built their home on that land and had 4 chil- dren. Charles enjoyed working for Crane Mills at Paskenta for many years. He also raised sheep and trained good dogs, horses and about any other creature that came across his path. He loved hunting, fishing and just being outdoors. Charles attended Paskenta - Flournoy Community Church and made it his goal to live in right relationship with God. He was preceded in death by son Eddie West- on. He is survived by son Tim (Becky) Weston, and daughters Crystal (George) Archer and Cheryl (Mike) Sanderson. He is also survived by 12 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren and numerous nieces and neph- ews. Charles Frederick Weston passed away quietly October CUTS Continued from page 1A school week to save on transportation and utility costs, according to the National Conference of State Legislators. Others are implementing fees to play sports, cutting field trips and ending after-school programs. Districts have little choice but to put off buying textbooks and technology and training teachers, said Rob Monson, a principal in Parkston, S.D., who is president of the National Association of Elementary School Principals. On a recent day at Abraham Lincoln Middle School in Lancaster, teenage girls in ponytails and boys in long athletic shorts dashed across the gym, pausing their game of indoor tennis to motion ''Y-M-C-A'' with their arms as the Village Peo- ple's song blares from the loudspeaker. It's a scene happen- ing less frequently these days. Budget cuts and teacher lay- offs have forced the school to cut some P.E. classes, reduce library hours and eliminate small literacy classes for strug- gling readers and Spanish for sixth- and seventh-graders. Principal Josh Keene says he's worried — not just about offering electives next year, but whether class sizes in core subjects will jump from around 25 to 35 or 40. His district received $6 million less from the state this year, which meant six staff positions in his school were cut. Even if state fund- ing remains the same next year, the district expects to have from $5 million to $7 million less because of increased pen- sion obligations and other expenses. ''I'm scared to death. As we continue to look at fewer and fewer non-classroom positions that are there, at some point it's going to impact core classroom positions and that's a very, very scary thing,'' said Keene. Charles struggled with a brain injury for the past 47 years. He found contentment in his faith in God. He was tough beyond what most people could understand. He rarely complained because of the hardships he endured. He was very proud of his children and grandchildren and they were blessed to be able to help care for him through his last years. And oh yeah - Charles loved to pull pranks on his kids, grandkids and friends some of who are shar- ing those tales and smiling even as we miss our loved Pa- pa and Grandpa Charles. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Paskenta - Flournoy Community Church or your favorite charity. Private family services will be held. Death Notices Melba Edwards Melba Edwards of Corning died Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011, at Mercy Medical Center in Redding. She was 72. Hoyt-Cole Chapel of the Flowers is handling the arrangements. Published Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011, in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Dorothy J. Warner Dorothy J. Warner of Orland died Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011, in Orland. She was 79. Neptune Society is handling the arrangements. Published Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011, in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Western Open Fiddle Winners Winners of the 2011 Western Open Fiddle Championship were announced after 10 p.m. Saturday evening in an awards presentation ceremony. The top winners in each category were: • Peewee (ages 8-and-under) - Amanda Culbreath of Orland • Junior Junior (ages 12-and-under) - Vance Voetberg of Chehalis, Wash. • Junior (ages 13-17) - Amy Culbreath of Orland • Young Adult (ages 18-36) - Melissa Lincoln of Antelope • Adult (age 37-59) - Katy Bridges of Petaluma • Senior (ages 55-69) - Pat Scott of Red Bluff • Senior Senior (ages 70 and up) - Arthur Kee of Brentwood • Open (any age) - Mia Orosco of Lorena, Texas • Junior Picking (age 17-and-under) - Patrick Murray of Shingletown • Open Picking (any age) - Jerry Rose of Mt. Shasta • Junior Twin Fiddle (age 17-and-under) - Amy and Christopher Culbreath of Orland • Adult Twin Fiddle (age 18-and-up) - John Francis and Danita Gardner • Junior Jukebox (age 17-and-under) - Rudy Voetberg of Chehalis, Wash. • Open Jukebox (any age) - Tricia Ferguson of Redding • Accompanist - Jim French of Weaverville For more information about the competition or the Cali- fornia State Old Time Fiddlers Association, go to www.csotfa.org. Recognizing the reality districts face, President Barack Obama included $30 billion in his $447 billion jobs creation package to save teachers' jobs. The Senate rejected the jobs package as well as a separate measure focused on saving the jobs of teachers and emergency responders. Senate Republi- can leader Mitch McConnell has said the plan resembles ''bailouts'' that haven't proven to work and only perpetuate economic problems. Not everyone sees all doom and gloom in schools' budget woes. Some say many districts haven't CITY Continued from page 1A after losing Lake Red Bluff. Herger would aid the city in acquiring the property, but once it is under the city's ownership it would be up to the city to decide what it wants to do with it, Meurer said. While Herger is aware of the city's plan to build an OHV park, he has no discre- tion over the matter. Lucero said Reclamation is unaware of the city's plan for the property if and when the transaction does occur. He said he had not heard of the city's plan to build an OHV park. Opposition Even though the plans are preliminary, there are a few who are already decrying the idea. Community activist Veni- ta Philbrick and former pres- ident of the defunct Red Bluff Trails United said the city should be focusing on bike and walk trails, not OHV trails. Philbrick pointed to recent projects such as the completion of the Shasta College Tehama Campus River Trail that would even- tually become part of a trail network connecting the entire county, as outlined in the Tehama County Bike- ways Plan. Eventually, the city could work its way toward building OHV trails, but right now it should to focus on the Bike- ways Plan, she said. "All the blueprints are there," Philbrick said. "It's a shovel-ready project." Those at the Sacramento River Discovery Center have concerns about the environ- mental impacts OHVs would have on the river, including the effects erosion has on the watershed. Volunteer Executive Director Bobie Hughes cited a 2005 CALFED Watershed Program grant proposal the center prepared in seeking money for educating the public on the negative impacts of OHVs. "The proposal makes it very clear how we feel about OHVs," she said. According to the propos- al, unrestricted use of OHVs within the sloughs and adja- cent to the Sacramento River is removing soil stabilizing vegetation. During rain- storms, the loosened soil moves downstream where it Red Bluff Simple Cremations & Burial Service You DO have a choice in the Red Bluff area. Caring & Compassionate Service Full traditional burial service or cremation 722 Oak Street, Red Bluff, FD Lic. 1931 527-1732 529-3655 www.affordablemortuary.net cumulates, causing lower water quality down the river, Having an OHV park would destroy the environ- ment and the watershed, Hughes said. The city is looking at making a fast buck without considering the long-term negative effects. Support City of Red Bluff Plan- ning Director Scot Timboe said he is aware of the envi- ronmental concerns and has done an informal prelimi- nary mapping of the area. OHV activities should not disrupt river conditions. The closest trail to the river would still be about 1,200 feet away. Even if the city were to gain ownership of the 488- acre recreation area, only about 180 acres of the area can be developed, as the rest of it falls into the flood plain, Timboe said. At this point, the OHV park is only a hypothetical possibility but still also the most reasonable. "An OHV park , if any- thing, is what was going to happen there anyway," Tim- boe said. The area was traditionally a place where people would take their trucks and tear up the area before the Discovery Center took up residence and helped drive away the unwanted activity. What's there The Bureau of Reclama- tion originally bought the area in the mid- to late-1980s because of the diversion dam. The area already had a number of recreational com- ponents on site. Because the bureau was not in the busi- ness of managing recreation- al programs, a deal was worked out where manage- ment fell to the U.S. Forest Service and the area became a part of the Mendocino National Forest, said Tamara Schmidt, a public informa- tion officer with the forest service. The area has 4.2 miles of walking trails, a number of day-use picnic sites, overnight camping at Sycamore Grove Camp- ground and a group campsite at Camp Discovery. The boat launch below the dam remains a popular place for Over 50 years of serving Tehama County wisely spent tax dollars or didn't adequately prepare for the end of the $100 billion in federal stimulus dollars for schools. And that while the number of students per teacher in Amer- ica dropped from 22.3 in 1970 to 15.3 in 2008, according to the National Center For Education Statistics, they say the reduction hasn't made a noticeable difference. Karen Hawley Miles, executive director of Education Resource Strategies, a nonprofit based in Watertown, Mass., that helps urban districts develop ways to more effectively use resources, encourages districts to use this time to make changes they have been reluctant to do. They include strate- gically raising class sizes to refocus on teacher quality and changing teacher compensation to be more tied to perfor- mance, she said. ''In tough days when it's incredibly urgent, sometimes these conversations can take place in a different frame. We see districts really thinking about how they can really do things differently and really focus in on their priorities,'' she said. In Pennsylvania, at the urging of Gov. Tom Corbett, the legislature slashed public-education spending by roughly $900 million, or more than 10 percent, to avoid a state bud- get deficit for the year that began July 1 without raising taxes. Seemingly overnight, thousands of education jobs in the state were lost. A survey of school districts by the Pennsyl- vania Association of School Administrators and the Penn- sylvania Association of School Business Officials found that leading into this school year, 44 percent reduced elective course offerings and 70 percent increased class sizes. More than 30 districts said they either reduced or eliminated full- day kindergarten or pre-K programs. The cuts hit many of the poorer districts harder because they are more reliant on state dollars. In York, Pa., about a 30-minute drive from Lancaster, full- day kindergarten was saved when administrators and teach- ers agreed to a pay freeze. But art, music, and physical edu- cation teachers in elementary schools were eliminated, forc- ing classroom teachers to incorporate the electives in their classroom teaching, said Kim Schwarz, 45, a teacher and president of the York City Education Association. High school class sizes now are in the upper 30s, she said. accessing the river. Despite the service's efforts to drum up popularity, the overnight campgrounds are reserved about 10 percent of the time year-round. With a $127,000 budget to manage the 488-acre area and revenues coming in clos- er to $28,000 the Service is not making any profit and has increasingly become dependent on volunteers as its budget continues to dwin- dle. Service officials are reluc- tant to speculate about the future should the city become the owner and are only focusing on the area as it is now, Grindstone District Ranger Eduardo Olmedo said. "We want to continue to manage the site and to con- tinue to look for ways to be efficient," Olmedo said. "We have no plan for expansion." Service officials say they are simply tenants of the land owned by the bureau. The service has no say over what the land owner will do and whether it will continue to manage the facil- ities if ownership changes, Schmidt said. City's plan Nichols said there are no plans to move the existing facilities and programs. The city would continue to host the campgrounds and main- tain the boat launch near Sycamore Grove. The Dis- covery Center will be able to continue operations. "The only difference is that all of it will be on land owned by the city instead of the feds," Nichols said. The settlement money from the Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority and the income generated from the campsites would provide some seed money to build the OHV park, Nichols said. But that settlement money has already been spent. The city used $10,500 of the $30,000 settlement money to hire consultants to look at options for creating a biomass industry. The consultants are still on the job, but their efforts are stalled, Nichols said. There is no chance of a bio- mass project happening soon, as Congress chose not to fund an energy bill that would have provided the funding. The City Council gifted the remainder of the settle- ment money to the Tehama County Branding Project, contingent that the project succeeds or the city gets its money back. Another plan the city has invested in is a fish hotel along the river near River Park. The city was not cho- sen as a recipient for the Open Rivers Initiative grant that would have funded the project. Nichols said while the city has looked at a few options to mitigate the city's economic loss from the loss of Lake Red Bluff, an OHV park looks like the most viable option. Grants and other funding are available to build OHV parks and there are people who would use the park. The profit from the park could eventually lead to other developmental uses in the area. "The questions we're all asking is, what would attract people to the city, what will people spend their money on," Nichols said. "People in this sport have disposable income to spend." ——— Tang Lor can be reached at 527-2153, Ext. 110 or by e-mail at tlor@redbluffdailynews.com. Located in Chico, CA Independently owned Telephone: (530) 824-3792