Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/5995
Injury A man was treated Wednesday afternoon at St. Elizabeth Community Hospital after a vehicle ran over his foot at the corner of Walnut and Main streets. Theft •Jefferie Elmer Tausch Jr. reported a $250, 810 pixel infrared "Game Pro" camera stolen Wednesday morning on Lowery Road. •An oxygen respirator was reported stolen from an unlocked vehicle Wednesday afternoon from Aloha Street. The loss is approximately $900. Sudafed Thirty-six boxes of Sudafed found behind Raley's were turned into police Monday morning. Odd A woman on Stage- coach Road reported her neighbors were using electric weapons to shoot stroke-inducing beams at her residence. On arrival, police found only televi- sion reception equipment next door. Friday, January 15, 2010 – Daily News – 3A 649 Main Street Downtown Red Bluff GAYLE'S 14th Save up to 60% throughout the store ANNIVERSARY S A L E The Electric Man For all your electrical needs • New Outlets / 220 • Fans / Fixtures • Pools / Spas • Code Corrections • Troubleshooting • Panel Upgrade • Telephone Wiring 347-4441 $10.00 Customer Discount FREE Estimates License# 826543 China Buffet CHINESE RESTAURANT 343 S. Main St. Red Bluff Ph: 530-529-5888 Adult: $6.99 Mon-Sat. 10:30am-3:30pm Sunday & Holiday Adult: $10.99 All Day Dinner Buffet 11:00am-9:30pm Adult: $9.99 Mon-Thurs 3:30am-9:30pm Fri-Sat 3:30-10:30pm Carry-Out Buffet Lunch $3.50 / Lb. Dinner $4.50 / Lb. All Seafood $6.50 / Lb. Open 7 Days A Week (No Checks) Childrens prices vary NOW OPEN Jan. 14 thru Jan 23 only ANY CHILD (8 yrs or under) EATS FREE (when accompanied by 2 adults) Local Calendar FRIDAY, JANUARY 15 Red Bluff Al-Anon, 6 to 7 p.m., Presbyterian Church, Jeffer- son and Hickory Celebrate Recovery, 6:15 p.m., Vineyard Christian Fellowship, 738 Walnut St. 527-2449 "The Magic of Movies"Tom Hanks Film Series: "Big" 7 p.m. State Theatre, 333 Oak St. $5. Proceeds benefit Tehama County Mentoring Program Mommy and Me Breastfeeding Class, 10 a.m., Red Bluff Family Resource Center, 220 Sycamore St. Suite 101, 528-8066 Reeds Creek School Board, 1:30 p.m., 18335 Johnson Road, library Corning Adult Wood Carving Class, 10 a.m. to noon, Transportation Center, Solano St., 824-5669 PAL Youth Carving Class, 3 to 4:30 p.m., Trans- portation Center, Solano St., free, 824-5669. Spanish Adult Education, 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., Corning Family Resource Center, West and South streets, 824-7670 SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 Red Bluff Red Bluff Little League Sign-ups, for boys and girls ages 5 to 15, Red Bluff Community and Senior Center, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., 736-5822 Second Annual Crab Feed, 6 p.m., doors open 5:30 p.m., tickets $40, Home arts building at the Tehama District Fairground, 527-1928 SUNDAY, JANUARY 17 Corning Evangelist services, 7 p.m., Family Bible Church, 609 Marin St., 824-9989 MONDAY, JANUARY 18 Red Bluff Al-Anon, 6 p.m., Presbyterian Church, Jefferson and Hickory Gastric Bypass Support Group, 6 p.m., St. Eliza- beth Community Hospital, Columba room, 529-3066 HIRE (Head Injury Recreational Entity), 10 a.m., St. Elizabeth Community Hospital, Coyne Center, Rusty, 529-2059 Key to Life, 6 p.m., Red Bluff Family Resource Center, 220 Sycamore St. Suite 101, 528-8066 Red Bluff Community Band, 6:45-8:45 p.m., Red Bluff Community and Senior Center, 1500 S. Jackson St., 527-3486. Retired and Active Federal Employees (NARFE), 11:30 a.m., Elks Lodge, for more informa- tion call Karen at 585-2494 Sun Country Quilters Community Service Group, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Red Bluff Family Resource Center, 220 Sycamore St. Suite 101, 528-8066 Corning Kirkwood School Board, 5 p.m., 2049 Kirkwood Road Narcotics Anonymous, 7 p.m., 815 First St., 385- 1169 or 566-5270, meetings are daily through Satur- day, noon Mondays and no meeting the third Wednes- day Sewing group, 9 a.m., Corning Family Resource Center, West and South streets, 824-7670 Spanish Adult Education, 5 p.m., Corning Family Resource Center, West and South streets, 824-7670 Strategies for Success, Life Skill classes, 1:30 p.m., Corning Family Resource Center, West and South streets, 824-7670 Los Molinos Senior Dance, 7 p.m., Los Molinos Sr. Social Club, Los Molinos Senior Center, Josephine St. Gerber Gerber Union Elementary School Board, 6 p.m., 23014 Chard Ave. Flournoy Flournoy Elementary School Board, 6 p.m., 16850 Paskenta Road TUESDAY, JANUARY 19 Red Bluff City Council, 7 p.m. City Hall, 555 Washington St. Diabetic Education, 12:30 p.m. St. Elizabeth Com- munity Hospital, Columba Room, 529-8031 Playtime Pals Playgroup, 9:30 a.m., Red Bluff Family Resource Center, 220 Sycamore St. Suite 101, 528-8066 Red Bluff Rotary, noon, Elks Lodge Tehama County Board of Supervisors, 10 a.m., board chamber, 727 Oak St. Tehama County Resource Conservation Dis- trict, 8 a.m., USDA Service Center, 2 Sutter St., Suite D Tehama County Patriots, 6 p.m., Westside Grange Hall, 20794 Walnut St. Tehama District Fair board, 1 p.m., Tehama Room, Tehama District Fairground, 650 Antelope Blvd. Corning Planning Commission, 6:30 p.m., city hall, 794 Third St. Police reports For taxpayers, health tab may not end The new health care legislation that passed the Senate on Christmas Eve is known as the Patient Protec- tion and Affordable Care Act. A dif- ferent version of health care reform passed the House last month. There will most likely be a "conference committee" of both chambers named to work out a compromise. But if the Democrats in the House can muster enough votes, they could simply agree on the Sen- ate version -- thereby ensuring quick action to enact the legisla- tion before the president's State of the Union Address Jan. 20. Any legislation that passes is bound to be costly -- but no one knows how costly it will be. The nonpartisan Con- gressional Budget Office esti- mates the Senate version will cost $1 trillion over the next decade. But then, when Medicare was originally passed in 1967, it was estimated that the hospital insurance (Part A) would cost about $9 billion annually by 1990. By 1990, the actual cost to the government was $67 billion! Since then, Medicare has been expanded to include cata- strophic coverage and also Part D, prescription drug benefits. The point is simply that it's impossible to estimate future costs of such broad legislation with any reliability. And this type of legisla- tion typically is expanded upon over the years. There's a second price that tax- payers will pay for this legislation - - and it has nothing to do with the actual changes in health insurance. These costs are hidden inside the 2,000-page bill: the amount of tax- payers' money legislators promised each other in exchange for the votes needed to pass the bill in the Senate. The most public example was the promise that taxpayers of other states will ante up $100 million to pay for Nebraska's state Medicaid bill. That's what it took to buy the vote of Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson. And Vermont will get $600 million over 10 years, while Massachusetts will get $500 million in the next decade. Remember, that's not the cost of the new health care plan -- it's simply the steep price the Senate had to pay to get their bill passed. Here are some of the actual pro- visions in the two versions of health care reform: • Required insurance purchase: Both Senate and House versions require Americans to buy health insurance, and they impose fines for noncompliance. But both plans also create a "hardship subsidy" for those below certain income levels, such as a family of four making up to roughly $88,000 annually, or 400 percent of the federal poverty level. Vouchers will be issued either by employers or by the federal government. • Health insurance exchanges: Slightly dif- ferent versions of this plan passed the Senate (which calls for exchanges in each state) and the House (a n a t i o n a l i n s u r a n c e e x c h a n g e ) , where individu- als and small busi- nesses could compare and purchase coverage from private insurers and where vouchers would be accepted. • Pre-existing condi- tions: The Senate version says coverage cannot be denied for pre-existing conditions beginning in 2014 -- it's 2013 in the House version -- but within six months of enactment for children. • Immediate coverage for unin- sured with pre-existing conditions: The bill provides $5 billion in immediate federal support for a new program to provide affordable cov- erage to uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions. This provi- sion is effective 90 days after enact- ment, and coverage under this pro- gram will continue until new exchanges are operational in 2014. • Dependent coverage for young adults: Requires insurers to permit children to stay on family policies until age 26. This provision takes effect six months after enactment and applies to all new plans. • Closing the "doughnut hole" in Medicare Part D: The uncovered "gap" will be lowered by $500, and the Senate bill provides guarantees of a 50 percent price discount on drugs for lower income seniors caught in the gap. • No lifetime coverage limits: Senate bill says you cannot "run out" of insurance coverage. This provision takes effect six months after enactment and applies to all new plans. • Excise tax on employer health plans: Beginning in 2013, a 40 per- cent excise tax is placed on the cost of health plans above a threshold of $8,500 for single coverage and $23,000 for family coverage. Thus, if an employer offers "too much" in the way of coverage, the employee would pay a tax. (Higher limits are set for those in high-risk profes- sions, whose insurance would be more expensive.) Limits are to be adjusted for inflation, plus 1 percent annually. • Free choice voucher: An employer that offers the required minimum qualify- ing coverage, but whose employees choose not to take advantage of the employer's plan, must offer a voucher to qualifying employees (based on the federal poverty level) that is equal to what the employer's payment for the plan would cost. • Large employer penal- ties: If the employer has more than 50 employees, it must offer affordable health insurance or pay a penalty for each employee. Those who do offer health insur- ance must pay a penalty if a worker chooses to enroll in the insurance exchange purchase plan through use of a voucher. • Senate bill: An additional Medicare tax of 0.9 percent on those who earn in excess of $200,000 ($250,000 on a joint return), to be paid by the employee. • House bill: A 5.4 percent income tax surcharge on individuals with annual incomes over $500,000, as well as families earning more than $1 million. Several sticky issues remain to be considered. They include coverage for illegal aliens, the issue of fund- ing abortions and the issue of a so- called "public option," which was passed by the House but not the Senate. So this bill is a long way from being signed into law. Then again, the whole concept of health care legislation has come a long way in the last two months. Now that the final version is headed down to the wire, you can expect a lot more horse-trading of your tax dollars in the days ahead. And that's The Sav- age Truth. Terry Savage is a registered investment adviser and is on the board of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. She can be reached at www.terrysavage.com. She is the author of the new book, "The New Savage Number: How Much Money Do You Really Need to Retire?" Terry Savage The Savage Truth on Money DMV extends appointment calendar The Department of Motor Vehicles announced Thursday that field office appointments can now be made 45 days in advance, either at www.dmv.ca.gov or by calling 1 800 777- 0133). Customers can make advance appointments for DMV services, including the behind-the-wheel drive test. To make a drive-test appointment for a driver license exam, you must provide either your driver permit number or driver license number; true full name and date of birth. Test applicants must bring the following on drive test day: driver per- mit, and proof of insurance and valid registration for the vehicle to be used on the drive test. Applicants under age 18 must have held their driver permit a minimum of six months; provide the driver education and driver train- ing completion forms and have completed 50 certi- fied hours of practice with an adult age 25 or older. Applicants who pass the test will be issued an inter- im license valid for 60 days until a permanent license is mailed. Applicants who fail the test must wait two weeks before taking the exam again. A reminder, DMV offices will be closed today and Jan. 22 due to state budget cuts. Crabs come to Cottonwood The Cottonwood Community Library plans to hold an all you can eat Crab Feed on Saturday, Jan. 16. Doors will open at 5 p.m. with dinner to be served at 6 p.m. Proceeds from this event will support the Cottonwood Library. "There has not been a large crab feed put on in Cottonwood in quite some time," said Jim Seale, past mayor of Cottonwood and a supporter of the library. "We felt that the time was right to do this for the Cotton- wood Community Library." The event will be served family style, and guests are reminded to bring crab cracking tools. Bibs will be pro- vided. The menu for the evening will include homemade clam chowder, salad, sourdough french bread, crab and dessert. The event will be held at the Cottonwood Community Center on Gas Point Rd. Tickets are $30 per person and are available at the library or by calling 347-4818.