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ByHeatherHoelscher hhoelscher@redbluffdailynews.com @DN_Heather on Twitter CORNING A proclamation was presented at the Corning City Council meeting Tuesday to honor K-9 officer Oso upon his retire- ment for accomplishments while a members of the Corning Police Department K-9 Unit. Oso has been a part of the po- lice department since Feb. 22, 2008 and will retire Sunday. "The city of Corning wishes to honor and acknowledge K-9 of- ficer Oso for his dedication and service to the citizens of Corn- ing as well as to his fellow offi- cers and members of the Corning Police Department," said Lisa Lin- net, city clerk. "Canine officer Oso CORNING PD Longtime police K-9 retires from the force It's time once again for the Te- hama County Ag community and city folk to come together and cel- ebrate during the annual Farm- City Night on Monday, Nov. 2. Tehama County Farm Bureau and many community service or- ganizations will be recognizing the contributions and work of outstanding Tehama County res- idents. An invitation to everyone in the county has been extended by the farm bureau to gather at the Red Bluff Community Center with the social beginning at 5:30 p.m. and dinner being served at 6:30 p.m. This year's entertainment will be the Red Bluff High School's Concert Choir. "This evening will be an excel- lent opportunity for the business, agricultural and urban commu- nities to interact and socialize," President Michael Vasey says. "Members of each will be hon- ored, and no matter which you come from, you're sure to see a lot of your friends and neighbors there." FARM BUREAU Farm-City Night set for Monday By Heather Hoelscher hhoelscher@redbluffdailynews.com @DN_Heather on Twitter REDBLUFF The Resource Conser- vation District of Tehama County and the city of Red Bluff Wednes- day presented the last part of a four-part speakers series called Drought Busters, an informa- tional discussion about drought, at the Red Bluff Community Cen- ter. The speakers, who spoke on drought signs and effects and of El Niño, were Michelle Dooley, an engineer geologist of the State Department of Water Resources, Rob Elvington, a KRCR Meteorol- ogist and Dave Scholm, of Corn- ing Union High School and North State Pubic Radio. "Normal weather patterns have been disrupted and that disrup- tion is caused by what is called a ridiculously resilient ridge of high pressure," Dooley said, explaining why California is in a drought. "The high pressure systems are persistent over the last five year and they have, in essence, pushed our wet weather to the north. It has then been falling to the north and east of us, making us miss the rain and snow." Groundwater wells have been affected too because of the lack of rain and snow in the mountains, Dooley said. Streams and rivers have had less flooding because of the low rain fall, all resulting in over pumping to make up for the lack of surface water and rain. "Over the last hundred years California's water years are char- acteristically wet and then criti- cally dry and it seems like 58 per- cent of the time we are either dry or critically dry," Dooley said. The year 2014 broke records for being the warmest year and, according to Elvington, 2015 may beat that record for being even warmer. "This is the driest four-year pe- riod," Elvington said. "We've had some very bad droughts in the past, including the early 1990s and the late '70s drought. The late '70s drought was an intense two- to three-year drought. It didn't go on as long or as intense as we are seeing right now." It has been extremely warm in California over the last three or four years, Elvington said. In April of 2015, the state has had the lowest snow pack on record. Elvington predicts the El Niño is on track to happen in the next year or so. "The El Niño continues to de- velop off of South America near the Equator," Elvington said. "Right now we are on track for, WEATHER Seriestacklesdroughtsignsandeffects By Julie Zeeb jzeeb@redbluffdailynews.com @DN_Zeeb on Twitter REDBLUFF The Tehama County Farm Bureau Bus Tour cele- brated its 10th anniversary Thursday with a trip to agricul- tural sites in the northern half of the county, primarily the area just south of Red Bluff. "We have a lot of returning folks, but we also have a few new faces," Farm Bureau Man- ager Kari Dodd said. "This is all a part of Farm-City Week. It's a chance to bring the farmers and the urban community together culminating in the Farm-City, which is a celebration of the year's work and what our com- munity has accomplished." The farm bureau gives out nine awards ranging from Farmer of the Year and Business Person of the Year to Teacher of the Year and Senior Citizen of the Year at the event Monday. The tour, which rotates to a new area of the county each year to keep fresh, kicked off with Farm Bureau President Michael Vasey welcoming attendees and answering questions. The first stop on the tour was Mt. Lassen Trout Farm, with Katie Mackey Harris, market- ing manager and daughter of owner Phil Mackey, and Man- ager Andy Redfield. The trout farm, which has been operating since 1949, primarily handles restocking recreational ponds throughout California, but in the last five years has started getting into the seafood mar- ket, Harris said. About one-third of the fish are sold to Asian markets and they all weigh between two and five pounds, Harris said. The farm has one distributor who purchases fish and trans- ports them to his customers, which are largely in San Jose and throughout the Bay Area, Harris said. The trout farm has expanded into catfish, which came about as a request from some of the Southern California places they stocked since the trout don't do as well that far south in the sum- mer, Harris said. Thanks to genetic selection technology learned from the trout farming operation, Mt. Lassen is able to get its catfish to market about a year quicker than most competitors, which can be anywhere from two years if conditions are perfect to three years, Redfield said. "There have been some chal- lenges," Harris said. "It's a dif- ferent beast and a different sys- tem to grow the fish. It's been fun to learn." The ponds the fish are raised in are about four feet deep and can be aerated to create more oxygen with a paddle wheel de- veloped on the farm, Redfield said. The fish are not harmed as they tend to stay away from it. The next stop on the tour was the Haleakala Ranch, which is a third-generation walnut hull- ing and drying facility, said Amanda Davidson, who gave the tour introduction. The facility processes both its own product, which makes up about a third of what goes through the ma- chines, and the rest comes from other growers. The name of the ranch came from previous owners, who had lived in Maui before coming to Tehama County, said Assistant Manager Samantha Haman. Rose Crain, one of the first gen- eration members of the family to be involved in the business, greeted guests and helped them put on hair nets and smocks for the tour. All the products are fumi- gated after they are received and then put in a bin, which can carry about 1,000-1,300 pounds, witheachbinbeingmarkedwith a code that helps track where it came from, what it weighed upon arrival and other details, Haman said. Those codes are scanned into the computer. FARM-CITY TEHAMA COUNTY FARM BUREAU TOURS AGRICULTURE SITES PHOTOSBYJULIEZEEB—DAILYNEWS Mary Perkin watches workers hand sort walnut pieces as part of the pre-packing process at Haleakala Ranch. The walnut shelling facility was the second of five stops on the Tehama County Farm Bureau Bus Tour on Thursday. Bruce Perkin watches as walnut pieces are sorted by size on a conveyor belt with smaller pieces falling through a grate. Community.....A3 Opinion............A4 Lifestyles........A5 Education........A6 Weather ........ A10 Sports.............. B1 Index............... ## INDEX Some 815local children took part in the Oct. 22Read for the Record event in Tehama County. PAGEA6 EDUCATION 815childrenparticipate in reading event The burn permit suspension in Tehama County will be li ed beginning at 8a.m. Monday, Nov. 2. PAGE A5 LIFESTYLES Burn ban to be li ed starting Monday Growth rate slows to 1.5per- cents amid businesses' goods cutbacks, despite uptick in consumer spending. PAGE A7 COMMERCE US economy slows in the 3rd quarter Young new leader replaces Boehner, faces enormous task of uniting GOP caucus behind a common agenda. PAGE A7 CONGRESS New day for House as Ryan becomes speaker DROUGHT PAGE 9 FARM PAGE 9 K-9 PAGE 9 TOUR PAGE 9 » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, October 30, 2015 50CENTS AN EDITION OF THE CHICO ENTERPRISE-RECORD Good morning, thanks for subscribing Wilda-May Pyeatt PATH Sale House will get spooky for Halloween Community A3 LOS MOLINOS Students participate in Film Festival Education A6 Grow?Ranchorride? Readaboutlocalandnational Ag, rural, ranch and rodeo news and commentary. VISIT REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM/ RODEO DOYOU RODEO? Volume130,issue246 7 58551 69001 9 SomeSun High: Low: 83 51 PAGE A10