Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/472102
"And we know that, of course, recognition is not why you're doing your jobs." Awards Tehama County Dis- trict Attorney Gregg Co- hen presented the investi- gator of the year award to Troy McCoy. Tehama County Sher- iff Dave Hencratt awarded Chris Niederberger with the deputy sheriff of the year award. Red Bluff Police Chief Paul Nanfito presented the Red Bluff Police Depart- ment's officer of the year award to detective Cpl. Scott Curtis. Corning police Chief Don Atkins presented the Corning Police Depart- ment's officer of the year award to Kylee Stroing. California Highway Pa- trol Lt. Lou Aviles award Mike Foss with officer of year honors. Lt. Rich Wharton of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife pre- sented the warden of the year award to Jeremy Bo- nesio. Christine Thompson, Tehama-Glenn unit chief of the California Depart- ment of Forestry and Fire Protection, awarded fire- fighter of the year honors to Doug Brown. Erick Puckett of the Te- hama County Fire Depart- ment awarded Al Blomquist as firefighter of the year. Red Bluff Fire Chief Ray Barber presented the de- partment's firefighter of the year award to engineer Mark Moyer. Corning Rural Fire De- partment Chief Jim Allen awarded firefighter of the year honors to Fred Imfeld. Martin Spannaus, chief of the Corning Volunteer Fire Department, pre- sented firefighter of the year honors to Dave Demo. Fire Chief Roy Geer of the Richfield Fire Depart- ment awarded Justin Mc- Connell with firefighter of the year honors. Exchange FROMPAGE1 Last year, he ran for the District 2 seat on the Te- hama County Board of Su- pervisors but was the bot- tom vote-getter against then-incumbent Sandy Bruce and Candy Carlson. Carlson went on to win a run-off election against Bruce. The City Council must appoint someone to its va- cant seat by March 27 to avoid an automatic spe- cial election that could cost between $15,000 and $20,000, according to a staff report on the coun- cil's agenda. If no decision is made Tuesday, the City Council could continue the matter to its March 17 meeting, and also could direct city staff to solicit more appli- cations. Council members, alter- natively, could decide not to appoint someone to the vacant seat and call a spe- cial election, which would be set for Nov. 3. The City Council will meet at its chambers at 555 Washington St. Seat FROM PAGE 1 Conrad:WillisConradIII, 56, of Red Bluff died Sun- day, March 1at St. Eliza- beth Community Hospital. Arrangements are under the direction of Hoyt-Cole Chapel of the Flowers. Published Tuesday, March 3, 2015in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Herring: Dennison Her- ring, 78, or Red Bluff died Saturday, Feb. 28at Red Bluff Healthcare Center. Arrangements are under the direction of Hoyt-Cole Chapel of the Flowers. Published Tuesday, March 3, 2015in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Lewis: Bryan Lloyd Lewis, 53, of Red Bluff died Sun- day, March 1at his home. Arrangements are under the direction of Hoyt-Cole Chapel of the Flowers. Published Tuesday, March 3, 2015in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Romero: Dion Otero Romero, 76, of Los Molinos died Sunday, March 1at his home. Arrangements are under the direction of Hoyt- Cole Chapel of the Flowers. Published Tuesday, March 3, 2015in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Welch: Delores Welch, 89, of Red Bluff died Monday, March 2at Brentwood Skilled Nursing and Rehab in Red Bluff. Arrangements are under the direction of Hoyt- Cole Chapel of the Flowers. Published Tuesday, March 3, 2015in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Deathnoticesmustbepro- vided by mortuaries to the news department, are published at no charge, and feature only specific basic information about the deceased. Paid obitu- aries are placed through the Classified advertising department. Paid obituar- ies may be placed by mor- tuaries or by families of the deceased and include online publication linked to the newspaper's website. Paid obituaries may be of any length, may run mul- tiple days and offer wide latitude of content, includ- ing photos. Death notices By Andre Byik abyik@redbluffdailynews.com @andrebyik on Twitter RED BLUFF An early- morning residential fire here has displaced three adults and two children. Red Bluff firefighters responded about 3:07 a.m. Monday to a report of a fire at a single-fam- ily home at 1005 Franzel Road, near South Jack- son Street and north of Luther Road. The fire reportedly started in the area of a carport and spread to the home's attic, Red Bluff fire Chief Ray Barber said. Fire- fighters were able to keep the blaze mostly away from the home's living area. The displaced residents were inside the home at the time of the fire but they es- caped unharmed, Barber said. The Red Cross was called to assist with shelter. No other injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation. RED BLUFF No injuries in residential fire Blazecauses displacement of 3 adults, 2 children By Alicia Chang The Associated Press PASADENA A NASA space- craft is about to reach the end of a nearly eight-year journey and make the first rendezvous with a dwarf planet. The Dawn craft will slip into orbit Friday around Ceres, a dwarf planet the size of Texas. Unlike ro- botic landings or other orbit captures, the arrival won't be a nail-biter. Still, Dawn had to travel some 3 billion miles to reach the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. "It's been a roller coaster ride. It's been extremely thrilling," project manager Robert Mase of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said Monday. Ceres is the first of two dwarf planets to receive vis- itors this year. NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is bar- reling toward one-time planet Pluto where it will arrive in July. Launched in 2007, Dawn made the first stop of its journey at the asteroid Vesta. It beamed back more than 30,000 images of the rocky world inside the as- teroid belt before heading to its final destination. Dawn began its approach to Ceres in December, and last month it snapped pic- tures of the dwarf planet that revealed two myste- rious bright spots inside a crater. Scientists will have to wait until the craft spi- rals closer to the surface in the coming months to get sharper images. It will get as close as 235 miles above Ceres' surface, or roughly the distance of the Interna- tional Space Station above Earth. Last year, European re- searchers not connected with the mission detected water plumes spewing from two regions on Ceres. The source of the plumes re- mains unclear. Deputy project scientist Carol Raymond said the shiny patches — possibly exposed ice or salt — were a surprise and could be re- lated to the plumes. Dawn carries an instrument that should be able to detect the plumes if the surface is still active. "The team is really, re- ally excited about this fea- ture because it is unique in the solar system," Raymond said of the spots. "We will be revealing its true nature as we get closer and closer to the surface. So the mys- tery will be solved, but it is one that's really got us on the edge of our seats." The $473 million Dawn mission is the first to tar- get two different celestial objects to better under- stand how the solar system evolved. It's powered by ion propulsion engines, which provide gentle yet con- stant acceleration, making it more efficient than con- ventional rocket fuel. With its massive solar wings un- furled, it measures about 65 feet, the size of a trac- tor-trailer Vesta and Ceres reside in a zone between Mars and Jupiter that's littered with space rocks that never grew to be full-fledged planets. The two are "literally fos- sils that we can investigate to really understand the processes that were going on" during the formation of the solar system, Ray- mond said. Dawn entered orbit around Vesta in 2011 and spent a year photograph- ing the lumpy surface and taking measurements of the second massive object in the asteroid belt from dif- ferent altitudes. Unlike rocky Vesta, Ce- res —discovered in 1801 and measuring 600 miles across — is thought to possess a large amount of ice and some scientists think there may have been an ocean lurking below the surface. Dawn will study Ceres for 16 months. At the end of the mission, it will stay in the lowest orbit indefi- nitely, said Mase, adding that it could remain there for hundreds of years. Scientists will get a glimpse of another icy dwarf planet this summer when New Horizons arrives at Pluto. Once considered the ninth planet, Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet in 2006, seven months af- ter New Horizons was launched. NASA MISSION Spacecra making first visit to dwarf planet Ceres NICK UT — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Robert Mase, right, project manager for the Dawn mission at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, speaks at news conference with Carol Raymond, deputy project scientist at JPL, le , at JPL in Pasadena on Monday. The Associated Press FREEDOM A head-on crash has left four people dead and four others seri- ously injured when a car packed with teens collided with a pickup truck in ru- ral Santa Cruz County The black Mercedes se- dan — a so-called "party" on wheels — crossed into oncoming traffic about 8 p.m. Sunday in Santa Cruz County, hitting a gray Ford F-150 truck head-on, California Highway Patrol Officer Brad Sadek tells the San Francisco Chron- icle. The driver of the Mer- cedes and two of its six passengers died at the scene. Another Mercedes passenger was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. None of them wore seat belts, and their names haven't been released. The driver was identi- fied as a 22-year-old Wat- sonville man. The pas- sengers who died were a 19-year-old woman, an 18-year old man and a 16-year-old girl. The 56-year-old man driving the truck and three other Mercedes pas- sengers went to hospitals with major injuries. The crash is under in- vestigation, but Sadek says alcohol or drugs may have been a factor. Evidence of drinking was found at the crash site, Sadek said, and witnesses reported seeing the Mer- cedes swerving, crossing the double-yellow line and traveling at high speeds before the crash. "It sounded a bit like there was a party going on in the car," Sadek told the newspaper. "The more people you pile into a car, it greatly increases your chances of being in a col- lision. This is an unfortu- nate situation of no seat belts and alcohol." SANTA CRUZ COUNTY 4 people killed, 4 others injured in head-on crash The Associated Press LOS ANGELES The beach at Southern California's "Surf City" turned white with hail as a storm roared ashore Monday behind a late-season winter blast that dropped snow and rain across the drought- stricken region this week- end. At least an inch of icy pellets coated the sand at Huntington Beach, the National Weather Service said. The morning sky suddenly turned dark and then opened up, said Bri- anna Burkhart, who works at Duke's restaurant on the city pier. "When it was over, the beach was completely white, like it had snowed," she said. It was just the third such scene that Lt. Mike Beuer- lein could remember in his 34 years with the marine safety division of the Hun- tington Beach Fire Depart- ment. Offshore lightning ac- companied the approxi- mately one-quarter inch of "what we're calling snow at this point," Beuerlein said. The hail fell for about half an hour, he estimated, and two hours later, about half of the beach still was covered. "We've got people still coming down. They're hav- ing snowball fights," Beuer- lein said. Michael Shorey, who owns a vape store on Main Street, also saw the odd scene: "People were throw- ing snowballs at each other in shorts and Ugg boots." WEATHER Hailstorm lets beachgoers throw snowballs MICHAEL SHOREY — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Main Street in Huntington Beach is covered with hail a er a passing storm on Monday. By Juliet Williams The Associated Press SACRAMENTO A vote to recognize the Log Cabin Republicans this weekend by the California GOP was a sea change for the accep- tance of gays in the party and a win for moderates. Delegates voted 861-293 to charter the 240-mem- ber California Log Cabin Republicans — a move that gave official party designa- tion to the group that sup- ports gay rights and sent a signal about the direction of the party that has struggled for a unified vision. "Every time someone says the Republican Party is anti-gay, or they don't want you there, this shows that they do want you there, and we've gone as far as saying we officially recognize you and deputize you to go out and bring people into this party," said Charles Moran, the group's outgoing chair- man. Moran worked for the past two years with the group's 10 California chap- ters to align its rules with the state party. He and oth- ers argued that the group's mission is to promote the party and its candidates to an often-skeptical public, particularly younger voters, and not about promoting LGBT legislation or values. Log Cabin Republicans have been a visible pres- ence for several years at the party's twice yearly conven- tions, holding a popular Log Cabin Luau party with rain- bow leis and free cocktails. Yet even after Sunday's vote, the party's official platform states its opposi- tion to promoting "alter- native lifestyles," and the party remains opposed to gay marriage and same-sex partner benefits, child cus- tody and adoption. POLITICS GOP vote to endorse gay group is momentous, but incremental Combining Quality and Low Cost is what we do. www.affordablemortuary.net•529-3655 FD1538 LocatedinChico,CA R ed Bluff Simple Cremations and Burial Service FD1931 527-1732 Burials - Monuments - Preneed 722 Oak Street, Red Bluff TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2015 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM |NEWS | 7 A