Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/6356
By MARY NUGENT MNG Staff Writer CHICO — Nancy Avram has to be creative and helpful, every day. She never imagined it's what she'd be doing for a living. As recreation specialist at Do-It Leisure in Chico, Avram helps people with developmental disabilities learn to live on their own. "It's everything from learning how to pay bills, to parenting skills, to mak- ing friends. It's problem solving, and I totally love it," Avram said. "I'm mak- ing a difference in their lives, and I'm important to them." Avram, a graduate of Red Bluff Union High School, has eight clients and works with groups of adults with disabilities, as well. "I help them bond with each other, learn to devel- op friendships and keep their friends," she said. The most challenging thing about her job, she says, is listening to the sit- uations that arise, and helping her clients find ways to deal with prob- lems. "They get picked on at work ... People can be mean. It's all new to me, and I learn as I go in this job. "There have been some really nice moments, too. One time a woman, Emma Blewett, told me every day she thanks God that I'm in her life. That really touched my heart. Another time the girls had a birth- day party to go to, and they told me that instead, they wanted to go out with me. Really sweet." Avram received a bach- elor's degree in liberal studies, and it wasn't until she was working toward a master's degree in recre- ation administration that she found her job working with people with disabili- ties. "I thought I'd teach, maybe be a college profes- sor. I thought I might coach — I love sports. Now I think maybe I'll get a special education cre- dential. "While I was in gradu- ate school, I applied for a job at Work Training Cen- ter. They sent me over here, to Do-It. I've been here three years. "My clients have different dis- abilities. They have a developmental disability, cerebral palsy, a learning disability." Like most people work- ing at nonprofits, she is weathering the economic downturn. "I used to work with children, but funding for that has been cut. Now I only work with adults," she said. Three years ago, she married her best friend, Sean Avram. Their family will grow when she has a baby this spring. She has fond memories of her own family and a gutsy move her parents made years go. "I was born in Glen- dale, and my parents took the kids and a motor home and traveled around the country, looking for the perfect place to live. They fell in love with Chico. I Red Bluff Outdoor Power Weather forecast 8B Partly cloudy 57/43 N EWS D AILY DAILY 50¢ THURSDAY JANUARY 28, 2010 Whoa Dogies Spartans Hit Mats Breaking news at: www.redbluffdailynews.com N EWS D AILY RED BLUFF TEHAMA COUNTY 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 See Pages 4A, 5A SPORTS 1B Stockdog trials 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 CALL TODAY (530) 529-1222 237 South Main Street As Local As.... Are you tired of being Nickel and Dimed by your current bank? It's time to move around the corner to Cornerstone Community Bank. • With our Better Than Free Checking • No Fees • No Monthly Service Charges • No ATM fees • No Minimum balances required Corning votes to ban outdoor pot grows By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer CORNING — After a lengthy discussion, Councilwoman Toni Parkins made a motion, seconded by Councilwoman Becky Hill, to waive the first reading of Ordi- nance 639 that would ban outdoor marijuana cultivation. "After listening to all of this and looking at the ordinance, I think we should send it back to the Planning Commission and have them go over it with a fine-tooth comb," said Councilman John Leach, the lone no vote in the 4-1 vote. Leach said the ordinance need- ed to be stronger and more clari- fied, while Parkins said it was very clear and strongly written. Talks on regulating cultivation of medical marijuana and banning dispensaries, collectives and coop- eratives started at a February 2009 Planning Commission meeting, landing in City Council Chambers a few months later. Corning passed a 45-day tem- porary ban on dispensaries, collec- tives and cooperatives in August 2009 followed on Sept. 22, 2009, by a year's extension through August 2010. The newest set of regulations prohibits cultivation outdoors and requires cultivation sites to be in secured detached structures, not a residence, in the backyard of the parcel. There must also be a six-foot tall solid fence, which keeps the plants out of sight, and a mini- mum of 10 feet between the prop- erty line and the structure. Requirements include the use of a ventilation system to prevent the odor from impacting neigh- boring properties and their values. A public hearing prior to the vote had residents from both sides of the fence represented. Mayor Gary Strack started the hearing by reminding those pre- sent that the meeting was strictly Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb Ken Prather addresses the Corning City Council Tuesday. Top Dog Courtesy photo CH Gerlach Zorlu Veli, or Zor, bred in Cottonwood, took Best Working Dog at the Anatolian Shepherd Dog Club of America, 2009 National Specialty Dog Show. By TANG LOR DN Staff Writer COTTONWOOD — Local dog breeders Mark Griffith and his wife Lynn Kenny finished 2009 with not one, but two of the top Anatolian shepherd dogs in the United States. Griffith and Kenny's stud dog, Champion Gerlach Zorlu Veli, or Zor, finished the year as the No. 5 Anatolian shepherd dog Stud Dog in the U.S. Zor has been a Top-20 Anatolian shepherd for four consecutive years. Their brood bitch, Champion Carpe Diem's Champagne, or Anya, finished 2009 as the No. 1 Anatolian shepherd dog Bitch in America. The rankings were earned based on breed points assigned by the American Kennel Club at sanc- tioned shows. The Anatolian shepherd is native to Turkey, where most of them serve as livestock guardians. Since 1970, there have been only 5,000 Anatolians, of those about 1,000 are in the U.S., Griffith said. Griffith and Kenny, owners of LM woman gets 1 year for arson By GEOFF JOHNSON DN Staff Writer WEAVERVILLE — A Los Molinos woman must spend a year in jail, three years on probation and register as an arsonist after burning more than 1,200 acres in Trin- ity County. Shasta half full or half empty? By TANG LOR DN Staff Writer The recent downpour has dumped a huge amount of water behind Shasta Dam, raising the lake to a level that has not been seen in a few years. This month alone the rainfall has filled the lake to more than half its capac- ity — 55 percent full. The amount of rainfall this month, 21 inches, is double the amount of average rainfall for this time of the year, said Sheri Harral, a Bureau of Reclamation public affairs specialist during a presentation Wednesday to the Red Bluff Kiwanis. About 90 percent of the water stored in the dam comes from rain. "We depend on rainfall. When it rains it's like a big huge bowl, it just goes right into the lake," she said. But there is still quite a ways to go before the lake reaches full capacity or for water to be released over the top of the dam. In the 60-plus years of the dam, water has only been released from the spillway about 10 times. The last time was in 1998. During heavy periods of rain, release of water is curtailed because it could cause flooding and ero- sion, Harral said. Though it seems like the water level is doing well, there is no way of knowing how well because February could be a dry month, Harral said. The primary purpose of the dam is for flood control and storage. Between January and May the flood control stage is monitored and the dam is required to have some empty space to relieve flooding if it Former Gerber woman teaches independence MNG photo by Bill Husa Nancy Avram talks during an interview at the Do-It Leisure office in Chico about how she helps people with developmental disabilities learn to live on their own. See POT, page 7A See ARSON, page 7A See SHASTA, page 7A See DOGS, page 7A See GERBER, page 7A