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WEEKEND NOVEMBER 19-20, 2011 Breaking news at: 'What I'm Grateful For' USA Weekend www.redbluffdailynews.com See Inside RED BLUFF Warrior Volleyball SPORTS 1B Partly cloudy 51/33 Weather forecast 8B DAILYNEWS TEHAMACOUNTY DAILY 50¢ T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Not a drop to drink? Missing man sought near Whiskeytown National Park Service Rangers, Shas- ta County Sherif f ' s Department, Shasta County Search and Rescue Teams and the Cali- fornia High- way Patrol helicopter have been searching Brunell the forests of Whiskey- town National Recreation Area around the Mill Creek and Boulder Creek Falls area in search of Brian George Brunell, according to a press release issued late Friday after- noon by Whiskeytown public rela- tions. Brunell is a white man, 5 feet, 9 inches tall, with See MAN, page 7A State error leads to Gerber refund By JULIE ZEEB Daily News photo by Andrea Wagner Marketing and Community Relations Manager Kris Behrens of St. Elizabeth Community Hospital, Cal- ifornia Highway Patrol Officer Phillip Mackintosh and Red Bluff Police Department Lt. Kyle Sanders headed the public information center Thursday inside the county administration building during a mock water emergency exercise. Exercise mimics water sabotage By ANDREA WAGNER DN Staff Writer Did someone poison the water hole? No, but county health and safety personnel are prepared if someone does. Crews from St. Elizabeth Com- munity Hospital, the public health department, public works, Red Bluff police and fire departments, California Highway Patrol, CalFire and the sheriff's department collab- orated on a water interruption train- ing exercise Thursday morning. The scenario was that someone had maliciously put a fatal poison, called Ricin, into the city's water supply. The command was issued: "All residents and businesses receiving city water within Tehama County must not use or consume water for any purpose," said Phillip Mackintosh, CHP public informa- tion officer. Mackintosh was one of three people who operated the public information office during the train- ing exercise. Each department involved went through the motions of what would happen, should such a threat become reality. City Hall was set up as a com- mand center. Hospital staff prac- Anti-abortion personhood measure cleared SACRAMENTO (AP) — Proponents of a mea- sure that would ban abor- tions by giving equal rights to fetuses have been cleared to gather signatures in California, the secretary of state's office said Friday. The push comes on the heels of a similar effort rejected by voters in Mississippi earlier this month. Mississippi's measure would have banned abortion, and could have deterred doc- tors from doing in vitro fertilization. It also could have made some birth control illegal. Union City-based Cal- ifornia Civil Rights Foundation must collect more than 807,000 signa- tures by April to qualify for the November 2012 ballot, the secretary of state's office said. The foundation's pres- ident, Walter Hoye, is an Oakland pastor known for protesting outside abortion clinics. He said he launched a similar campaign in California in 2010, but it fell short of the required signa- tures. ''The more of this conversation that we have, the stronger the pro-life movement becomes,'' Hoye said. He said he is hoping for a spirited signature drive for the ''California Human Rights Amend- ment.'' Hoye declined to identify any major finan- cial contributors. Hoye's group is not affiliated with Person- hood USA, which spon- sored the Mississippi ini- tiative. The California propos- al would define a person as a living human being from the time of fertiliza- tion, giving embryos equal protection under the state Constitution. The Legislative Ana- 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 lyst's Office and Depart- ment of Finance said if voters adopted the initia- tive, the potential cost to the state could be in the tens of millions of dol- lars annually to establish due process and equal protection for ''zygotes, embryos, and fetuses.'' ticed filtering water from a pool, along with other activities. Law enforcement decided where they would set up stations for dis- tributing safe bottled water and sites for portable toilets, among other things. Speaking as if he were in a dis- aster situation, Mackintosh affirmed the desire to save lives. "We will do everything we can to provide information to keep people safe," he said. The mock emergency exercise forced departments to plan what they could or would do in a similar situation. "I thought it went well," said Sheriff's Sgt. Rod Daugherty. See DROP, page 7A DN Staff Writer The Gerber-Las Flores Community Service District is getting about $2,500 back from the state due to an error in the process of shutting down the Gerber Volun- teer Fire Department. But the error proved far more costly than the refund. The board voted to close the fire department in March 2009 and began the process, completing it with the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) Dec. 28, 2010. From there, it went to the state, which mistakenly thought the board wanted to dissolve the district alto- gether rather than just divest itself of one part of the dis- trict, said District Manager Mike Murphy. "After two years of spending numerous hours and incurring legal and engineering expenses due to redefining our district boundaries, the State Board of Equalization has said it was just a misunderstanding regarding the intent of the Gerber CSD to eliminate fire services," Murphy said. The mistake cost the district about $10,000 and the district intends to request reimbursement in a letter, he said. "This is another fine example of why government oversight and incompetency from Sacramento can place a direct hit on the struggling residents of Gerber, See ERROR, page 7A Alternative to Violence receives grants By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer While Domestic Vio- lence Awareness month — October — is over, the job doesn't end for groups like Alternatives to Vio- lence, but thanks to grants the non-profit is getting help in the form of new staff members. "We're very excited to have the extra resources," said Director Jeanne Spurr. "The reality is the vast majority (of domestic violence incidents) don't get reported. At least 60 percent go unreported and by the time the issue gets to law enforcement it's been going on for a while." Every four seconds in the United States a woman is assaulted or beaten, causing injury to the woman and domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to a woman- more than car accidents muggings and rapes combined, Spurr said. ATV served 581 clients last year but of all those less than 5 percent in Tehama County are actu- ally charged, she said. "With limited resources available, they have to feel the case is winable," Spurr said. ATV does presenta- tions with CalWorks clients in which partici- Rochlitz Sandoval Agency Grant. The non-profit also received the Emergency Housing Assistance Pro- gram Capacity Develop- ment Grant for $1 million, which allows it to build a domestic violence pro- gram service center. The new facility will also allow them to become a training site for National University and Simpson University, Spurr said. With some of the grant money the group hired Denise Rochlitz to be its professional shelter man- ager and Gisela Sandoval to be a bilingual case manager. Sandoval is studying to become a therapist and will be graduating in Jan- uary, allowing her to take on the role of therapist in February, Spurr said. Megan Meehan has also been hired through a grant to be a therapist. Also new to ATV is Meehan pants learn how to docu- ment incidents and how to be safe. "Research shows a woman will leave seven to eight times before she finally leaves and that the most dangerous time for them is when they leave and the 24 months follow- ing," Spurr said. Through the grants, Sherrill one of which will give the group $200,000 a year as long as they follow the rules and are able to show results, the non-profit has almost doubled its rev- enue, she said. ATV is one of four agencies, the other three being in Sacramento, to receive the California Emergency Management Regina Sherrill who serves as Client Services Coordinator to help peo- ple connect with the right people and resources. In addition to staff, clients will receive addi- tional time in the transi- tional housing program. Resources previously allowed for 60 days of housing, however, now they will have the ability See GRANTS, page 7A