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ByHeatherHoelscher hhoelscher@redbluffdailynews.com @DN_Heather on Twitter RED BLUFF Local car enthusi- ast won first place on Feb. 28 at the 24th Annual Winter National Chevrolet Convention and Clas- sic Car Show in Orlando, Flor- ida with his classic 1958 Chevro- let Impala. Placing first in a Chevrolet car show is not uncommon for Gary Murray, owner and operator of Gary's Auto Body and 24-hour Towing on Antelope Boulevard in Red Bluff, as he's won first place at every car competition he's en- tered. "The only time I didn't place first is when I placed first, sec- ond and third at the 2002 Ven- tura show," Murray joked as he re- called the time he brought three WINNER Localcar enthusiast takes first in car show By Ruth Nicolaus Special to the DN RED BLUFF John Bradley doesn't get to see the rodeo first-hand and is always on call if he is needed, but for his attention and ded- ication the Red Bluff man was awarded the 2016 Top Hand Award for the Red Bluff Round- Up. Bradley, born and raised in Red Bluff, has been volunteering for at least the last 15 years at the ro- deo, where he came as a kid. Dur- ing the week of rodeo, he can be found at the Tehama District Fair- ground at 6 or 7 in the morning, and he's there for anywhere from 8 to 12 hours a day. Bradley's main job is helping work the arena dirt so that it is satisfactory for competition. He and others run tractors and huge tillers, breaking up the clods and smoothing out the ground so it is good footing for horses and bulls. Bradley also can be found driv- ing a water truck, watering down the roads around the fairgrounds so that dust isn't a problem. Dur- ing the off-season, he and his fa- ROUND-UP John Bradley gets the dirt just right By Heather Hoelscher hhoelscher@redbluffdailynews.com @DN_Heather on Twitter REDBLUFF Tehama County's un- employment rate has increased by .1 percent from 7.9 to 8 percent in March's preliminary numbers, according to data released by the Employment Development De- partment. In the county there were 24,600 people in the labor work force, up 40 people in a month. Of those, 22,640 are employed and 1,960 are unemployed. The number of unemployed persons was up 10 from February. The size of the la- bor force went down .2 percent in March and is down 1.5 percent from March 2015. Tehama County's unemploy- ment rate dropped by one posi- tion to 34th in the 58 counties in the state. All industries increased in the number of jobs from February, up .7 percent or 120 jobs from 16,930 to 17,050. The industry with the biggest increase in a month was the fed- eral government, up 10 jobs. The industry to following was con- struction, up 2.2 percent. The unemployment rates for nearby counties are Glenn at 9.3 percent, Shasta at 8 percent and Butte County at 7.2 percent. Glenn and Shasta counties went up slightly in the unemployment rate in a month, but Butte county has remained the same as in February. San Mateo remains the county with the lowest unemployment rate at 3 percent. Following at second and third lowest is Marin County at 3.2 percent and San Francisco at 3.3 percent. All three of which maintained the same rate from February. The counties with the highest unemployment rates from March remained Colusa at 20.6 percent, Imperial at 18.6 percent and Plu- mas at 13.6 percent. Inthestatethereare19,028,200 people in the labor work force. Of those, 17,971,100 people are employed, up 11,300 people and 1,057,100 people are unemployed. That represents 22,200 less peo- ple unemployed in March with a decreased of 10,900 in labor work force in the state. The unemployment rate for the state in March is 5.6 percent and 5.1 percent for the United States, both of which have decreased in March. UNEMPLOYMENT Joblessrateshaveslightincrease By Ruth Nicolaus Special to the DN RED BLUFF This weekend Red Bluff is the focus of the pro ro- deo world as the 95th annual Red Bluff Round-Up brings 504 cowboys and cowgirls to com- pete in the seven standard ro- deo events. Among them are world cham- pions, young-gun contenders and some Red Bluff folks. Zack Brown, a bareback rider who was raised in Red Bluff, will ride on Saturday afternoon. Jared Ferguson, who ranches outside Cottonwood, did tie- down rope in slack on Wednes- day and Thursday. Both of them look forward to their hometown rodeo. Brown, who is 25 years old, competed in high school and col- lege rodeo and got his business management degree from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas in 2013. He does sales and mar- keting for Girls with Guns, a Red Bluff clothing retailer. This year, his goal is what every cowboy and cowgirl dreams of — mak- ing the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in December, where the top 15 in each event compete for a world championship. His boss, who grew up rodeoing, under- stands what it takes to go down the rodeo road and allows him to work from the road. Rodeo can be a tough sport, and Brown has had his share of injuries. He's broken his arm, leg, ribs, had ACL surgery, "bumps and bruises along the way," he calls them. Bareback horses can weighupto1200poundsandpair- ing up with one isn't always easy. "When you're dealing with something that has its own mind, you never know what's going to happen, and some- times things get in a situation that you can't control," Brown said. "Sometimes you end up all right, sometimes you have to pay a little bit for it." Ferguson competes at the other end of the arena, in the tie-down roping. The 28-year- old rancher moved to Cotton- wood about 15 years ago, and has competed at the Round-Up every year since he was 19. As a tie-down roper, he competed once on Wednesday and again on Thursday in slack, with the fastest 24 cowboys going on to compete again on Friday or Sat- urday nights. From those 24, the fastest 12 will compete for a fourth timeon Sunday.Lastyear, he won second place in the first round. The Round-Up is the big- gest pro rodeo taking place this weekend in the nation and the only rodeo in California, and be- cause of that, it's more laid-back for contestants. "It's pretty rare, on the rodeo trail," Ferguson said, for contes- tants to come to one rodeo and stay the entire weekend. "You get to go and relax. There's no other rodeos to go to, and you don't have to drive somewhere else, you get to hang out, which is what makes it so special." Ferguson takes in some of the Eleven Days activities surround- ing the Round-Up. "There are a lot of events that go on around (the rodeo). The whole town turns out, and they take a lit- tle break themselves. If there's somebody you haven't seen in a while, you'll run into them" dur- ing Round-Up. Ferguson graduated from West Valley High School in Cot- tonwood in 2005. He is married to Ashley. Brown is the son of Doug and Jennifer Brown. Other local cowboys and a cowgirl competing at the Round- Up include Cottonwood's Justin Davis (team roping), Nellie Wil- liams Miller, Sissy Morse and Il- eah Roquemore (barrel racing), and Gerber's Kristen Holt (bar- rel racing) and Dan Williams, Jr. (team roping) The Round-Up continues at 2:30 p.m. today and 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are available online at RedBluffRoundup.com, at the Round-Up office at 670 Antelope Blvd. and at the gate. ROUND-UP LOCALS WRANGLERS COMPETE IN RODEO PHOTOBYDUSTINOLSON Zack Brown rides a bareback horse at the 2014Red Bluff Round-Up. Have a great day, Paula Nitzke. GOOD MORNING D DowJonesIndustrial 17,897.46 (-28.97) D Standard & Poor's 2080.73 (-2.05) D Nasdaq 4938.22 (-7.67) BUSINESS Vermont senator uses com- mon campaign theme to push global action at high-profile religious gathering. PAGE B5 POLITICS Sandersblastswealth inequality at Vatican Court ruling upholding teacher job protections now goes before the California Supreme Court for review. PAGE A10 CALIFORNIA High court's turn in teacher tenure fight JOBLESS PAGE 9 BRADLEY PAGE 7 CAR PAGE 7 Community.....A4 Opinion............A5 Lifestyles........A6 Sports.............. B1 Farm ................A8 INDEX Check out what's going on in your neighborhood and the community. PAGE A2 WHAT'S HAPPENING » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, April 16, 2016 $1.00 AN EDITION OF THE CHICO ENTERPRISE-RECORD Cal Fire Doug Mackey receives Medal of Valor award Lifestyles A6 Baseball Spartans no-hit Willows in 5-inning win Sports B1 Grow?Ranchorride? 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