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THURSDAY JULY 19, 2012 www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 4A Breaking news at: Pastimes Freeman to be Honored RED BLUFF Junior Olympics SPORTS 1B Sunny 90/63 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 Students learn to grow Boy, 14, crashes Jaguar, starts fire boy was injured in a crash at 5:50 p.m. Tuesday on Orangewood Road, west of Walnut Road, in the Richfield area and the crash resulted in a vegeta- tion fire. The boy was taken to St. Elizabeth Community Hospital for minor injuries, California High- A 14-year-old Corning way Patrol Officer Ken Reineman said. The boy's passenger was uninjured. The boy was driving a 2001 Jaguar east on Orangewood Road at a high rate of speed when he lost control of it due to his inattention, Reineman said. City puts RV tax to voters By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer Deciding it couldn't wait another two years to settle a dispute, the Red Bluff City Council adopted a resolu- tion Tuesday to allow voters to decide whether RV parks should be subject to the city's Transient Occu- pancy Tax. Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb Antelope Elementary students work in the new Sunny Patch Kids Garden in May.The goal is to provide fresh fruit and vegetables for the school's cafeteria. By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Thanks to community efforts, students at Antelope Elementary spent the spring working in their very own garden: The Sunny Patch Kids Garden. In May, students and volunteers got the garden, under the supervi- sion of Emily Hyatt, going with the first 14 garden beds and the group hopes to have more soon, Hyatt said. Hyatt is the mother of two boys attending Antelope Elementary, fifth-grader Gabriel and second- grader Austin, she said. "We plan to add a few more as we can," Hyatt said. "We were approached a year ago about the garden and it just snowballed from there. We've had donations from businesses and community mem- bers. Everybody's been super help- ful." Pacific provided all the redwood for the boxes, built in part by Hyatt's husband, Tom, and chips to go around them, Hyatt said. Wheeler Logging and Sierra Conservation Crew were instru- mental in building the water sys- tem, for which the inmate crew spent three days digging and cutting out the boxes. Alsco Irrigation and the Ishi Nor Cal Nursery donated 100 strawberry plants to get the garden started and the group is hoping to get other plants, Hyatt said. "We got a $3,000 grant from The Home Depot," Superintendent Todd Brose said. "Our real goal is to have the food incorporated into the cafe- teria for fresh fruits and vegetables. Our ultimate goal is to have a total community effort. If there is ever an example of that, this is it." The group plans to apply for more grants to help with the garden, Hyatt said. Hyatt's group of students with the care of the garden and some of the The SERRF program is assisting See GROW, page 7A — Gov. Jerry Brown gave his approval Wednesday to spending billions of dollars in government money for a high-speed rail line that still faces major funding, environ- mental and political chal- lenges before it could connect Los Angeles and San Francisco. Brown was at historic Union Station in Los Angeles to celebrate the project and sign a bill authorizing California to begin selling $2.6 billion in bonds for construction of the initial 130-mile segment of the bullet train in the Central Valley. The move allows the state to tap $3.2 billion in federal funds for the project. However, most of the LOS ANGELES (AP) City Manager Richard Crabtree said the dispute between the city and Durango RV Resort had been sim- mering for years. City staff had suggested sending the issue to voters to avoid a potential lengthy and costly legal battle. The city imposes a 10 percent tax on room fees to guests in a wide variety of commercial lodging estab- lishments. Durango employees have said they once tried to pay the tax in the past, but were told they did- n't have to. Then years later the city asked them to pay. City staff estimated the dispute cost the city about $52,000 during the first six months of 2012. Durango employees say that number is too high. The 1965 ordinance that created the tax lists a vast array of lodging, but did not specifically list RV parks. In September 2011, the city amended the ordnance to specifically list RV parks. At Tuesday's meeting, a former Durango employee told the council there has always been tension between the resort and the city because of the way the dispute was originally handled. She said she preferred sending the decision to the voters to decide. See TAX, page 7A Walmart mum on tower Bullet train faces funding, legal challenges ''We are continuing to The Jaguar, which See JAGUAR, page 7A receive strong interest among private investors,'' it said. ''Once the (initial segment) is completed we will bring on board a pri- vate operator and will have private investment and expansion of the sys- tem. We are continually sounding the market to determine if there are options that could bring in investment opportunities sooner.'' money for the $68 billion project linking the two major cities has yet to be identified. Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb A new structure, pictured here Wednesday morning, is being constructed next to the Red Bluff Walmart Distribution Center on Highway 99W. Employees at the center referred questions to the Walmart Media Relations Department.A Walmart spokeswoman declined to comment Wednesday on what the structure, which resembles a wind turbine, is. News tip? Call 527-2151 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 approved $10 billion in bonds for the project in 2008, and the state's busi- ness plan calls for some backing from private investors and for a private operator to run the system without a state subsidy. Supporters say it's rarely known upfront where all the money for such massive transit pro- jects will come from. The Democratic gover- nor signed the bill, SB1029, at a carefully staged event where cheer- ing politicians and union- ized construction workers provided a striking con- trast with the political fight earlier this month in California voters the state Senate, where the plan narrowly sur- vived. The first segment of the line will be financed by taxpayers, and Brown said there was strong interest from private com- panies in financing the rest of the project. He did- n't provide any specifics on possible investment or name any of those firms. ''Private investment will come in the second phase,'' he said. ''Private investment has worked in Europe, and it will work in this project.'' The business plan by the California High- Speed Rail Authority, which is overseeing the project, relies on the pri- vate sector to ''design, build, operate, and main- tain a high-speed rail sys- tem that is funded by a combination of govern- ment investments and future revenues that sup- port the investments of capital from the private sector.'' Officials at the authori- ty were unable to identify any future investors and instead released a written statement from Chief Executive Jeff Morales. Republicans promise to block future public funding for the line, and the project could take years to clear environ- mental reviews. Farmers whose land lies in the path of the mas- sive infrastructure project are among the most vocal critics, and farm bureaus in Madera and Merced counties have sued to stop it. on Wednesday dismissed suggestions that the train was too costly or would become a drain on tax- payer dollars while Cali- fornia is slashing pro- grams and facing budget shortfalls linked to the weak economy and soar- ing public pension and health care costs. ''I've been around long enough to know the dif- ference between the skep- tics, the fraidy-cats and the builders,'' he said. ''And we will create jobs, not by hiding out, not by saying no, but by saying yes to the future.'' Some business leaders As in the past, Brown See TRAIN, page 7A