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andspanningtothePacific Ocean in Crescent City, tra- versing through the Trin- ity Alps, Russian, Marble Mountains, Red Buttes and Siskiyou wilderness areas. "I chose the route based on the trees that you could see along the way," said Kauffmann, who is the au- thor of Conifer Country: A natural history and hiking guide to 35 conifers of the Klamath Mountain Region. "I wanted to create a trail that celebrates the trees and the biodiversity of the Klamath mountains." The trail guide that Kaufmann created not only tells the hiker where to turn, camp and collect wa- ter, it also points them to 32 coniferous species grow- ing along the trail and de- scribes how to identify each one. "The scavenger hunt as- pect of it was really fun," said Sage Clegg, a Bend, Oregon-based hiker who is originally from Willits and has completed through hikes across the county. "It made me notice the natu- ral world along the trail in a whole different light. It was just really cool to invite that kind of perspective onto a hike." Clegg has hiked the "Tri- ple Crown" of long-distance hikes, completing the Pa- cific Crest Trail, the Appa- lachian Trail and the Con- tinental Divide Trail — in addition to several other through hikes — and has a pioneer spirit. The Bigfoot Trail isn't set up for a beginner who isn't prepared to modify a map and route, but for an ex- plorer the trail in its begin- ning stages has added ap- peal, Clegg said. "The route follows trails and roads most of the time, but some of the trails haven't been worked on for probably 20 years," Clegg said. "About 40 percent of the trail is pretty hard to find, that's part of the ad- venture. It's not something like the Pacific Crest Trail, where you set your feet on the path and you stay on it most of the way." On the Bigfoot Trail in the summer of 2014, Clegg got turned around several times and was on her own most of the way. "At one point in the Mar- ble Wilderness I was walk- ing up and there was this whole valley that was just head-high grasses, it was so overgrown I couldn't see my feet," she said. Later down the road, Clegg lost the trail for miles. "I came off this ridge and all the sud- den, bam, the trail just went into a field of chaparral and I just had to plow through this field of chaparral for like three miles just hoping I was on the trail." In addition, while most long-distance trails have routine resupply points where hikers mail boxes to pick up along the way, be- cause Clegg is one of only a handful of people to hike the Bigfoot Trail, there are no set pickup spots. This meant randomly calling small stores and asking if she could send a resupply box to them and pick it up on her way. Right now, the trail is ideal for "someone who is an adventurous hiker and doesn't mind getting mis- placed," Clegg said. "If you are not quite ready for long days of bushwhacking then maybe wait." The more people to get involved, the shorter the wait will be. A Southern Oregon- based geographic informa- tion systems mapper, Justin Rohde is striving to open up the section of the trail at the Oregon border. Rohde, author of Hiking Oregon and California's Wild Rivers Country, has been pursuing a way to con- nect the Pacific Crest Trail to the coast, through what has been called the Coast to Crest trail, for years. When Rohde heard about the Big- foot Trail, he realized that the trail would encompass the Coast to Crest section. One of Rohde's primary concerns is an eight-mile section that would need to be constructed by trail crews. "The Coast to Crest trail provides benefits to us in Oregon, but the Bigfoot Trail is sort of this even grander vision for us to re- late to the Klamath moun- tains," Rohde said. "We are excited, here in Illinois Val- ley, just to be part of that," he said. "These are places that I love, so I jumped on this bandwagon, or this sort of band vision." Using his own GPS data from sections he has hiked, Clegg's GPS data and infor- mation from the forest ser- vice, Rohde has been in- strumental in developing more accurate maps of the route. When it comes to build- ing new sections of the trail, complicated permitting is needed but Rohde said he hopes construction will start in 2016, and numer- ous people have already ex- pressed interest in being a part of the trail crew. Monetary support has also been gathering for the trail. Kauffmann started a Kickstarter crowd-funding initiative to obtain funds for the starting the non- profit Bigfoot Trail Alli- ance and set an initial goal of $2,500. "I probably should have set the goal higher, but I didn't know what I was do- ing," he said. The page has already raised more than $6,000. The initial amount was intended to cover the costs of starting the nonprofit. Kauffmann said the addi- tional funds raised will go toward everything from in- surance to trail building. The Kickstarter cam- paign will close March 10 and Kauffmann now hopes to reach $10,000 by that time, offering an assort- ment of awards such as stickers, trail guides and books depending on the amount donated, to encour- age people to continue to donate and inspire them to explore the trail themselves. "The idea is to combine hiking with natural his- tory, not just an extreme ex- perience but an experience where you connect with the natural world through the conifers," he said, adding. "Maybe that is a little ide- alistic." ContactJuniperRoseat 441-0506. Hike FROMPAGE1 Hall:RobertLeighHall Jr., 63, of Corning died Thursday, Feb. 19at his home. Arrangements are under the direction of Hall Brothers Corning Mortuary. Published Friday, Feb. 27, 2015in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Lauderdale: Joel L. Lau- derdale, 70, of Red Bluff died Wednesday, Feb. 25 at St. Elizabeth Com- munity Hospital in Red Bluff. Arrangements are under the direction of Hall Brothers Corning Mortuary. Published Friday, Feb. 27, 2015in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Owen: Justin Shane Ryan Owen, 27, of Corona died Friday, Feb. 20in Corning. Arrangements are under the direction of Hall Brothers Corning Mortuary. Published Friday, Feb. 27, 2015in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Plyman: Donald F. Plym- an, 88, of Corning died Wednesday, Feb. 25at St. Elizabeth Community Hospital in Red Bluff. Ar- rangements are under the direction of Hall Brothers Corning Mortuary. Published Friday, Feb. 27, 2015in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Schmidt: Dennis Lee Schmidt, 66, of Red Bluff died Wednesday, Feb. 18at his home. Arrangements are under the direction of Hall Brothers Corning Mortuary. Published Friday, Feb. 27, 2015in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Spannaus: Florence Span- naus, 88, of Red Bluff died Thursday, Feb. 26at her home. Arrangements are under the direction of Hoyt- Cole Chapel of the Flowers. Published Friday, Feb. 27, 2015in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Turner: Clayton Huh Turner, 56, of Corning died Satur- day, Feb. 14at his home. Arrangements are under the direction of Hall Brothers Corning Mortuary. Published Friday, Feb. 27, 2015in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Death notices must be provided by mortuar- ies to the news depart- ment, are published at no charge, and feature only specific basic information about the deceased. Paid obituaries are placed through the Classified ad- vertising department. Paid obituaries may be placed by mortuaries or by families of the de- ceased and include online publication linked to the newspaper's website. Paid obituaries may be of any length, may run multiple days and offer wide lati- tude of content, including photos. Death notices Additionally, a mes- sage left for attorney Joe Gazzigli, who has been re- tained by Allen, was not returned. Allen, who was elected superintendent of schools in June 2014, came under fire during his election campaign last year for al- legedly misrepresenting his academic accomplish- ments. Less than a month be- fore the June 3 election, Allen's challenger, Har- ley North, accused Allen of falsely claiming on his resume and application to the county Department of Education that he had earned a master's degree from California State Uni- versity, Chico. Additionally, North al- leged that Allen, who was deputy superintendent of schools at the time, had been receiving an addi- tional stipend amounting to $750 per year from the county because he claimed to have a master's degree, according to a Daily News article published last May. Before the election, Al- len admitted that he did not hold a master's de- gree. He previously has said that he was hired by the county with a master's equivalency, and that he earned an administrative services credential from Chico State. Allen defeated North by 319 votes out of 11,829 votes cast. Allen first applied to work at the county De- partment of Education in 2009. He was first hired as assistant superinten- dent of schools, and later was hired as deputy super- intendent. The man who hired Allen, former Tehama County Superintendent of Schools Larry Champion — whom Allen succeeded — stood by Allen during his election campaign. "I'd select the same guy again if I had to do it all over again," Champion said, according to a Daily News article published last May. Champion added that Allen's experience met and surpassed the master's de- gree equivalent, and that, in the education field, cre- dentials are the key docu- ments to earn. "In our business that's your license to drive," he said, according to the ar- ticle. The Tehama County Sheriff's Office, however, opened an investigation into the matter, and pre- sented a report to the Te- hama County District At- torney's Office for review, according to a Corning Observer article published last October. The newspaper reported that the Tehama County District Attorney's Office turned the case over to the Shasta County District At- torney's Office, citing a po- tential conflict of interest. Charges FROM PAGE 1 nians recognize the seri- ousness of the problem: Voters last year approved a massive spending plan that invests $7.5 billion in projects to increase water storage, water recycling, treatment and cleaning up contaminated ground- water. The poll found just 10 percent surveyed say the state's water storage and supply is adequate. More than half believe govern- ment restrictions should be relaxed to build new water storage on state parkland and forest re- serves, while 38 percent disagreed. Half of Californians also said that in dry years, the state should help farmers by easing environmental regulations that protect fish in the Sacramento- San Joaquin Delta, but the survey found 46 per- cent disagreeing. Six in 10 Californians favor the current policy of asking residents to vol- untarily cut back on wa- ter use, but one-third sur- veyed say they favor man- datory rationing, up 7 percentage points from last year. Residents in different parts of California see the drought's seriousness in differing degrees. Nearly three-quarters of regis- tered voters in San Fran- cisco and the Central Val- ley's farming region told pollsters that they per- ceive the shortage as ex- tremely serious, while just under two-thirds in Los Angeles County held the same belief. The poll was conducted by telephone from Jan. 26 to Feb. 16, surveying 1,241 registered voters in Cal- ifornia. It has a margin of error of between plus or minus 3.2 and 4.1 per- centage points. Drought FROM PAGE 1 a second tipping scale to be built. The agency has proposed a roughly 3,000-square- foot or smaller officer building, a paved parking lot and related site im- provements be built. The project would re- quire the Tehama County Board of Supervisors to approve a General Plan Amendment and Rezone, making the roughly 35.67 acres around the site loca- tion fall under a public fa- cilities designation. The association has raised concerns that the rezone would reduce the buffer be- tween the landfill operations and their residences. Association leadership has said in previous meet- ings it has trust issues with the agency and has ques- tioned the price of the new building. Landfill Management Agency Manager Kristina Miller has publicly stated numerous times the only purpose of the rezone was for new office and accom- panying storage facility. She said the area would not be used for land filling. The project is expected to cost around $900,000, with part of that price going to construct a new road lead- ing to the facility off of Snow Court. The construction would be funded through a loan from the Tehama County Sanitary Landfill Agency, a separate though similarly named joint pow- ers authority, and backed through tipping fees. The Landfill Agency ac- quired the site location in 2009 as part of a bank- ruptcy sale. The Tehama County Planning Department held public information meet- ings to solicit feedback on the project Oct. 9 and Nov. 20, 2014. The department did not receive any written feed- back from the public re- garding the initial study and mitigated negative dec- laration. The California Depart- ment of Fish and Wildlife submitted a letter, stating it had no concerns with the project. The Tehama County Air Pollution Control District also submitted a letter and its concerns were incorpo- rated into the project, ac- cording to a county staff report. County staff anticipates work on the site could be- gin in July with final con- struction completed by Jan- uary 2016. Landfill FROM PAGE 1 By Judy Lin The Associated Press SACRAMENTO State law- makers on Thursday de- manded that a California man take down poster- size swastikas displayed in front of his house, call- ing the signs racist and vulgar but acknowledging the person had a right to free speech. "It's time to remove this disgusting display of racism from our commu- nity," said state Sen. Marty Block, D-San Diego, chair- man of the Legislative Jew- ish Caucus. The symbols desecrate the memory of 6 million Jews who died in concen- tration camps, he said. On the front door of the Sacramento house is a de- piction of the American flag with a swastika replac- ing the stars next to the stripes. Two Israeli flags show swastikas in place of the Star of David. No one answered a knock on the door, where a note asked for privacy. Police received a call Monday about the house in the middle-class River Park neighborhood, and a wel- fare check found there were no reportable crimes, Sac- ramento police spokesman Officer Justin Brown said. "We haven't received any other complaints," he said. On Thursday, Block was joined by lawmakers, vet- erans and labor leaders in calling for the homeowner to voluntarily remove the signs. Along with the flag dis- plays, a crude wooden statue with arms raised is draped in green fatigues and wrapped by a string of lights. A Palestinian flag is flown on the side of the house. Block said the resident has the freedom to deface his own home, but that doesn't make the use of the swastikas right. "We have learned that the purveyors of hate trag- ically often follow their vile speech with criminal acts of terror," Block said. "We've seen it around the world. I pray that's not go- ing to be the case in this instance." The display has upset some neighbors upset. Rob- bie Rose, who lives nearby, told KCRA-TV he has thought about taking down the swastikas himself. "How do I explain this to my little one?" asked Rose. "I am all for freedom of speech, but this is just too much. I really do want to get out of my car and rip that down. But the only reason I don't (is) because I do believe in being a good American, and I do believe in freedom of speech." NORTHERN CALIFORNIA Lawmakers demand swastikas be removed from house RICH PEDRONCELLI — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Robert Dixon shows his support for Israel and calls for the removal of swastikas displayed on a home in Sacramento on Thursday. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2015 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 9 A