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THURSDAY MARCH 8, 2012 Breaking news at: Mr. Spartan Contest Pastimes www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 4A RED BLUFF Lacrosse Weekend SPORTS 1B Sunny 69/40 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 Kart Nationals Corning to host Relay For Life By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Corning will have a Relay For Life event of its own soon with paradise set to make its appearance April 28 and 29 at the Corning Union High School Track. "We're very excited," said Chairwoman Rae Hous- ton. Organizers have talked about adding a relay event in Corning for a while, but the 2012 event, with the theme "Hope in Paradise," is the first ever. "I started with Relay For Life two years ago in Red Bluff with Debbie O'Connor," said Houston, who was See RELAY, page 7A Status update on Corning skate park By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Daily News file photo The National Racing Associa- tion announces the return of West Coast Outlaw Kart Nationals to the Tehama District Fairground this weekend. This marks the 8th annual Out- law Kart Nationals as race teams and drivers from across the nation converge upon the 16th- mile dirt oval track in the Pauline Davis Pavilion in Red Bluff. The program will start Friday March 9, with qualifying at 4 p.m. and trophy dashes at 7 p.m. Saturday morning, second round of qualifying will begin at 10 with qualifying mains and final main events to follow throughout the day. Spectator tickets are $8, and Poll: Slim majority support Brown's tax plan SACRAMENTO (AP) — Even though most Cal- ifornians think the budget remains a big problem, just a slim majority of likely voters say they sup- port Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed tax initiative for the November ballot, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California. Using the Democratic governor's ballot title and summary for the first time, the poll found 52 percent of likely voters support temporarily rais- ing the state sales tax and income tax on high-wage earners while 40 percent oppose doing so. Another 8 percent said they are undecided. That's a drop from past surveys, which found majority support for his plan to temporarily raise taxes. PPIC found Brown's proposal had 68 percent support in Janu- ary, before the ballot lan- guage was finished. Brown estimated that California faces a $9.2 billion deficit in the 2012- 2013 fiscal year, which begins July 1, and has called for closing that shortfall with a near equal balance of spending cuts and the temporary tax increases he wants voters to approve in November. Most of the additional revenue from his tax ini- tiative would go to K-12 education. ''A slim majority sup- port Gov. Brown's pro- posed tax initiative,'' said Mark Baldassare, presi- dent and CEO of the Pub- lic Policy Institute. ''Of those who plan to vote against it, most also say that their local govern- ments have been affected a lot by recent state bud- get cuts and they would prefer to deal with the gap mainly through spending cuts.'' Two-thirds of likely voters say their local gov- ernment services have been affected a lot by recent cuts. Brown's initiative would boost the statewide sales tax by half a cent for four years starting in Jan- uary 2013. It also would raise the income tax for five years on those mak- ing $250,000 a year. If voters reject Brown's tax initiative in Novem- ber, the poll found 72 per- cent oppose his plan to automatically cut K-12 education. But voters lack consen- sus on their preferred approach. While 45 per- cent of likely voters prefer Brown's mix of spending cuts and tax increases, 34 percent prefer mostly spending cuts and 11 per- cent prefer mostly tax increases. The tax fight has not damaged the governor's own ratings much, the poll found. Brown's job approval rating of 46 per- cent has changed little See POLL, page 7A 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 POWER PRODUCTS DOLMAR Red Bluff Outdoor Power children ages 6-12 are $5. Chil- dren younger than 6 are free. Pit Passes are available for those who wish to see what goes on behind the scenes and in the pits. For more information, call 530 567-5286, send an email to info@rboutlaws.com or visit www.rboutlaws.com. CORNING — A ques- tion from resident John Richards at the Feb. 28 City Council meeting brought about a status update on the skatepark going into the Corning Community Park, which is set to go to bid soon. "We hope to put phase one out to bid in four to six weeks and start con- struction this summer," said Planning Director John Stoufer. "We're moving forward, but there was a lot more involved than we thought before it can go out to bid." The city has a meeting with the Department of Fish and Game next week and will be talking to the regional water quality control board as well, he said. "The new storm water requirements are extreme- ly involved," Stoufer said. "Before the contractor can start working there has to be a storm water preven- tion plan. There's a lot of hurdles." Since skateboarding is considered a hazardous activity, it requires a spe- cific insurance and the city wants to do things right, Stoufer said. The next part up for See STATUS, page 7A Belly Buster's back in Flournoy By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer The famous Belly Buster Burger at the Flournoy Country Store and Deli is back. After closing its door and saying goodbye to customers in November, the store's owners, Alfred and Yuri Souza, just couldn't stay away. "We closed to restruc- ture the restaurant and get back on our feet," Yuri said. "Then we started getting phone call and e-mails from our customers who missed us." The couple received a lot of comments and pokes on its Facebook page, which has 652 fans so far, from its loyal cus- tomers, Alfred said. "It was just incredible," Alfred said. "I guess you can say we're back by popular demand to give it another try." The store, which is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fri- day through Wednesday, re-opened March 2 and in its first week has seen a lot of people. "Everyone's been so excited," Yuri said. "The first day we had a guy who drove all the way from Sacramento, getting up at 5 a.m., so he could be here at 8 a.m. just to have bacon, hash browns and medium eggs. He wanted to be our first cus- tomer." The customer discov- ered the store while in the area doing some photog- raphy work and visited anywhere from once a week to once a month prior to the closure. Another customer was so excited to have the deli back he not only paid the $6.99 for a Belly Buster Burger, but left a $13 tip, Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb Yuri Souza prepares a burger Wednesday at the Flournoy Country Store and Deli. Yuri said. "There was standing room only Friday night for dinner and we sold out of everything," Alfred said. The couple has another customer who rides his Harley-Davidson motor- cycle all the way from Benicia just to have a breakfast burrito, Yuri said. The couple has owned the business for the last eight years, opening the restaurant seven years ago. "What our customers love is that there's nothing pre-made," Yuri said. "We make all the food as the orders come in, including slicing up the deli meat as we need it." Other than a small arti- cle when the restaurant first opened, and its appearance in the Daily News' Munch Madness competition, the couple has never really adver- tised much, letting word of mouth talk for them, she said. "It's just us," Yuri said. "It's a family-run busi- ness." On weekends, the cou- ple's daughters, Thalia, 13, Miranda, 12, and Lalia, 10, help out by serving as waitresses. The business' next adventure is the Belly Buster Scholarship Run May 19, an event started three years ago. The 2011 event had 125 motorcycles with about 250 people and was able to raise enough money for three $1,000 scholarships, two for Corning and one for Cen- tennial high schools, she said. The Flournoy Country Store and Deli is at 16140 Paskenta Road in Flournoy. For more infor- mation on the scholarship run, call 833-5305. ——— Julie Zeeb can be reached at 527-2153, extension 115 or jzeeb@redbluffdailynews .com. Follow her on Twitter @DN_Zeeb. Learn Basic WORD Tuesday, March 13TH 8:30 am to 12:30pm $65.00 per person Job Training Center 718 Main St., Red Bluff Call 529-7000 Microsoft