Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/493273
the City Council for their investigation and we wish Chief Paul Nanfito well in his future endeavors," the association's statement, which was dated April 6, reads. "The RBPOA looks forward to the upcoming change in leadership and would like to thank the cit- izens of Red Bluff for their support during this time of transition. The RBPOA will continue to provide dedicated service to the City of Red Bluff." Police Capt. Kyle Sand- ers, the city has said, will serve as acting police chief in the interim. The city's plans for hir- ing a permanent replace- ment to Nanfito remain unclear. In an email Wednesday, Crabtree said the city has not yet decided on a pro- cess for hiring a perma- nent police chief. He added that he would consult with the City Council on the issue be- fore Nanfito's May 15 re- tirement. On Dec. 2, an attorney for the Peace Officers As- sociation (POA), Brett Sherman, told City Coun- cil members that Nanfito is allegedly to blame for a high turnover rate at the Police Department, and that his management style has "bred a culture of fear and discontent" within the department. Sherman said at the time that the POA had passed a vote of "no con- fidence" against Nanfito, and added that the POA would "readily accept" ei- ther Capt. Sanders or Lt. Dan Flowerdew as the city's next police chief. "In the event neither of these division command- ers is ready to assume the position of agency head," Sherman said, "we hum- bly request this council to seek a new chief outside our agency to help lead the Police Department and community to a long over- due recovery." Nanfito has not publicly commented on the city's investigation, but he has previously said the allega- tions regarding his leader- ship amounted to a smear campaign "reminiscent of dirty political campaigns from years past." Nanfito earns about $178,000 in total salary and benefits, and his con- tract with the city had been scheduled to expire in June. Police FROMPAGE1 By Jeff Barnard TheAssociatedPress GRANTSPASS,ORE. Federal biologists will consider in- creasing Endangered Spe- cies Act protections for the northern spotted owl, re- flecting the bird's contin- ued slide toward extinc- tion despite steep logging cutbacks in the Northwest forests where it lives. The U.S. Fish and Wild- life Service announced Wednesday that there is enough new scientific in- formation in a conservation group's petition to warrant a hard look at changing the owl's listing from threat- ened to endangered, which will take about two years. A notice will be published Fri- day in the Federal Register. While the change would be largely symbolic, the En- vironmental Protection In- formation Center in Arcata, California, said it hoped the listing would push federal agencies to more aggres- sively protect old-growth forest habitat and reduce the threat from the barred owl, an aggressive cousin that migrated across the Great Plans and forced spotted owls out of their territory. After the northern spot- ted owl was listed as a threatened species in 1990, it became a symbol for En- dangered Species Act pro- tections that harm local economies. Conservation groups won court-ordered logging cutbacks to pro- tect owl habitat, and many Northwest towns relying on the timber industry have yet to fully recover. Tree-cutting on federal lands in Oregon, Wash- ington and Northern Cali- fornia fell by 90 percent in the 1990s. Political efforts to ramp up logging in the ensuing years largely have failed. While the timber in- dustry remains one of the region's leading industries, automation also has driven down the number of jobs in mills and in the woods. Paul Henson, supervi- sor for Fish and Wildlife in Oregon, says much has changed since the owl's original listing. In 1990, the biggest threat was loss of old growth forests where spotted owls live, and now it is the invasive barred owl. Those two threats will be the focus of the review, he said. "The bad news is that the spotted owl population has continued to decline" de- spite the logging cutbacks, Henson said. "The good news is we know why it is declining" and have started taking steps to deal with the barred owl. The number of spotted owls is estimated at less than 4,000. The bird's sta- tus was last reviewed in 2011, when federal officials determined it still needed protection as a threatened species. The agency typically re- views the status of pro- tected species every five years, but this check stems from a 2012 petition by the Environmental Protection Information Center. The re- view is set to be finished by September 2017. The conservation group noted that spotted owl num- bers continue to decline; its habitat still is being lost to logging, especially on pri- vate lands; and the barred owl has created a new com- plication, said Rob DiPerna, the group's California forest and wildlife advocate. The Fish and Wildlife Service is testing whether killing the invasive owls in select areas in Oregon, Washington and Califor- nia will allow spotted owls to move back into their old habitat. Some barred owls have been killed in North- ern California on private timberland and an Indian reservation. After survey- ing the numbers, the ex- periment is expected to start this fall in Oregon and Washington. An endangered listing would change little on the ground, Henson said. Hab- itat protections and prohi- bitions against killing spot- ted owls would remain the same, and no more money would be available for res- toration, he said. One difference is that Fish and Wildlife could no longer use a rule that gives the agency some flexibil- ity to relax protections on threatened species if they are harmful to people. Tom Partin, president of the American Forest Re- source Council, a timber industry group, did not im- mediately return a call for comment. NORTHWEST FORESTS Feds to consider endangered species listing for spotted owl The Associated Press KLAMATH FALLS, ORE. Farmers on a federal irri- gation project straddling the Oregon-California bor- der are slated to get 65 per- cent of full deliveries this growing season, due to the lack of mountain snowpack that feeds reservoirs. The allocation an- nounced Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Reclama- tion is a little more than last year, but represents the fourth straight year of drought for parts of the West. Greg Addington of the Klamath Water Users As- sociation told the Herald and News in Klamath Falls that the cutbacks will hurt some farmers. The allocation means no water at all for local wild- life refuges. Dry years have spelled tough times for Klamath farmers since 2001, when the Endangered Species Act forced major irriga- tion cutbacks to leave wa- ter for protected sucker fish and salmon. Information from: Herald and News, http://www. heraldandnews.com LACK OF SNOWPACK Kl am at h pr oj ec t fa rm er s facing irrigation cutbacks spite longstanding calls for cutbacks. And water use along the coast is expected to increase this summer as tourists and seasonal resi- dents flock to beach homes. "These are sobering sta- tistics and dishearten- ing statistics," said Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the State Water Resources Con- trol Board. Brown planned a meet- ing Wednesday on the drought with representa- tives from water agencies, agricultural interests and environmental groups. State officials say they're prepared to slap large fines on agencies that don't take steps to conserve or meet reduction targets, although they haven't used simi- lar powers earlier in the drought. Places such as Newport Beach must make drastic improvements. Residents of the wealthy beach town use about 120 gallons a day, compared to 100 gallons for others who live along the southern coastline. City of- ficials have spent months telling residents about the water regulations and ways to cut back, and they're now seeking new authority to is- sue fines. They have reduced resi- dentiallawnwateringtofour times a week, twice as often as state recommendations allow, and prohibit residents from refilling their pools more than 1 foot a week. "We liked the friendly ap- proach, and it seems to be working well, but we aren't afraid to issue citations," said George Murdoch, the city's utilities general manager. Some cities must dras- tically improve water sav- ings. San Diego and Los An- geles must cut water use by 20 percent. Others such as Santa Cruz, which already has cut its water use by a quar- ter, are likely to easily meet smaller targets. The water use data show the difficulties of changing longstanding habits, such as watering lawns, wash- ing cars and taking long showers. The water board has given local water depart- ments discretion to set their own conservation rules, but it has established some statewide regulations, such as banning lawn watering 48 hours after rain and pro- hibiting restaurants from serving water unless cus- tomers ask. The agency also plans to have municipalities pe- nalize overconsumption through billing rates. Water FROM PAGE 1 CHRISCARLSON—APPHOTO Lush green golf courses border the edge of the desert in Palm Springs. California cities face mandatory targets to slash water use as much as 35percent while regulators warn voluntary conservation hasn't been enough in the face of a devastating drought. Davis in Sacramento. Dur- ing the flight he lost his hearing. A week later Sean be- lieved Kaydin was going to be able to go home when a MRI revealed unknown fluid in his son's brain, which led to brain surgery. Sean said before Kaydin got sick, he was healthy and playing Red Bluff Lit- tle League. "It just kind of happened all of a sudden," Sean said. "You wouldn't expect some- thing like this to happen to your kid — you hear about it, but you don't expect it." Sean said doctors have not been able to figure out what made his son sick, but hope to have more answers following the brain surgery. Kaydin will likely re- quire ear implants to re- gain his hearing. Sean said Kaydin was aware he was in the hospi- tal and sick and just wanted to come home. However fol- lowing the brain surgery, Kaydin wakes up scream- ing and crying. Sean and Kaydin's mother ,Jami Mauch, want to warn other par- ents to keep their eyes out for symptoms that appear to be like strep throat, but quickly worsen. Sean said the last three weeks have been a roller coaster. He's exhausted his time off work and his car blew its transmission trav- eling back and forth from Red Bluff to Sacramento. He has set up a Go- FundMe account to help with expenses. "We're just asking for all the support we can get from the community — if it's a prayer or if it's only a dollar," he said. The Kaydin Michael Go- FundMeaccountisatwww. gofundme.com/pyggec. Illness FROM PAGE 1 COURTESY Paul Nanfito, who has served in the role of police chief since 2009and has been with the city for more than 30 years, has decided to retire effective May 15. RICHARDWAYENEKING April 17, 1936 ~ March 21, 2015 Richard Wayene King, passed away on March 21, 2015 at home with his family beside him. We will miss him alot. Richard was born April 17, 1936, he attended schools in Corning. Preceding him in death, his son John, age 13, his Moth- er, his Father, a Brother and many Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents. He enjoyed playing football, horseback riding, hunting and fishing. In 1972 he moved his family to British Co- lumbia, Canada, to pursue a life of farming and raising pure bred cattle. He leaves behind his wife of 56 years, a son and four daughters, and 18 grandchildren and 24 great-grand chil- dren. His family would like to thank the family and friends for their thoughtfulness in bringing in food, flowers and cards. Obituaries We Don'tThink Cremation Should Cost So much. 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 THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 2015 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM |NEWS | 7 A