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Saturday, March 6, 2010 – Daily News – 7A 2498 South Main St • Red Bluff www.tehamafamilyfitness.com Dave Mobilio Bench Press Championships Compete for a great cause! In honor of fallen Red Bluff Police Officer and friend of TFFC Dave Mobilio. Donations support the Dave Mobilio Scholarship. Friday Night March 19th 6:00 pm Dave's Cave at Tehama Family Fitness Center. 2498 S. Main St., Red Bluff For more info contact Troy 530-528-8656 Male and Female Divisions! $ 10 Death Notice Robert A. LaRue Robert A. LaRue of Corning died Friday, March 5, 2010, in Chico. He was 73. Neptune Society FD- 1440 of Chico is handling the arrangements. Published Saturday, March 6, 2010, in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Cats did not fare so well, with euthanasia rates jumping by 11 percent. The shelter took in nearly a third more cats in 2009 than in 2008, many of them feral, Storrey said. Yet the same number of cats were adopted out, claimed by owners or transferred to rescue groups during the same period. Cats from the shelter have already been screened for tem- perament, as the shelter is prohib- ited from adopting out aggressive animals, Storrey said. But when kitten season comes around, con- vincing people to pay for a cat can be difficult when everyone else is giving them away. "You can get them in front of Walmart for free," Storrey said. Adding to the challenge were multiple outbreaks of feline pan- leukopenia, or feline distemper. The disease is both deadly and contagious among cats, with an 85 percent mortality rate for untreated adult cats and a higher rate among kittens. Because the shelter does not have the money to pay for treat- ment, it had to euthanize infected cats before the disease could spread any further, he said. ——— Geoff Johnson can be reached at 527-2153, extension 114 or gjohnson@redbluffdailynews.co m. Continued from page 1A DOGS Mitchell Lopez took advantage of a defender playing well off of him and buried home his fourth 3- pointer of the night to put the Warriors back on top — for good. Lopez finished with a team-high 18 points. From there the Mercy defense shut the door and senior co-captain Cameron Vietti nailed it shut with a steal in the Maxwell back- court with 27 seconds remaining. Vietti said, after the ups-and-downs of the sea- son, it was a family-orient- ed approach that sparked the Warriors' playoff run. "If we play like a fami- ly we win," he said. A month ago, the War- riors had appeared on pace to receive a top seed and a first round bye in the play- offs, but they ended up limping toward the regular season finish line with a 13-12 record and were handed the fifth seed. After beating Butte Val- ley at home in the first round, Mercy had to become road warriors, with long trips to Loyalton and top-seeded Hayfork to reach the championship game. "No one gave us much of a chance," senior co- captain Ali Syed said. It was Syed who set the tone for the comeback on the opening possession of the third quarter. Trailing by three points after a turnover-filled sec- ond quarter, Syed took the ball straight to the rim and was fouled and scored on an and-one basket to knot the game back up. From there, Mercy began pulling away one point at a time, taking it straight to the hole every possession and earning trips to the free throw line. They made each trip count. The Warriors shot 10- for-11 from the free throw line in the third quarter and 19-for-28 for the game. Then Mercy turned to post presence Jeremie Jones, who began domi- nating on the low block on his way to a 13-point, eight-rebound game. Jones went 7-for-9 from the line and said after the game he didn't feel the pressure of a champi- onship game. "I was really feeling the excitement," he said. Mercy then capped the streak by feeding the ball down low to Jones, who kicked it out to Lopez for a three. Then Royce Crane tracked down a loose ball on the Panthers' next pos- session that led to another Lopez bucket and a 10- point lead. But in the fourth quarter the Warriors offense began to sputter and the Panthers began digging into the Mercy lead behind the play of Dylan Dewit and Gerar- do Parra. With the lead down to four points, Maxwell split a pair of free throws, but star player Tyler Wells tracked down the rebound and the Panthers converted a bucket to pull within one point. Following a timeout, Mercy turned the ball over and then committed a backcourt foul, which sent Dewit to the line to tie the game at 50-50 with less than two minutes remain- ing. That's when Lopez stepped up to make what would turn out to be the game-winning 3-pointer. Like the basketball team, the Mercy athletic department as a whole has seen its fair share of ups and downs this school year. The school year started with the school being forced to cancel the foot- ball season due to a lack of players. Seven months later, Warriors fans have been treated to a section title. "It's very gratifying to see our male athletes have success," Athletic Director Jim Weber said following the win. That success was espe- cially gratifying for Vietti, a player known for always playing with a lot of heart. Following the game, he sat in the locker room, clutching the champi- onship plaque and said he had played in honor of his brother Tyler, who was killed in 2009 while serv- ing in the military. "It helps a lot," Vietti said of how the moment fits in with the rest of his senior year. As expected, the War- riors' other captain was cracking a smile following a 14-point performance. "I'm proud to be a part of this team and to play with all of these guys," Syed said. The 2010 CIF Northern Section Division VI boys basketball Mercy Warriors are: Royce Crane, Aaron Gash, Jarrett Gash, Jere- mie Jones, Mitchell Lopez, Steven Rodriguez, Ali Syed, Cameron Vietti, Bo Wang, Michael Wang, Ryan Ward and Issac Williams. Rich Greene can be reached at 527-2151, Ext. 109 or by e-mail at rgreene@redbluffdailynew s.com. Continued from page 1A MERCY tain advantages, including the fact that Red Bluff not Tehama County is the name people see on street signs and are more famil- iar with. The tourism plan is aimed at getting north- bound travelers on Inter- state 5 to stop in Red Bluff. Other ideas to help pro- mote Red Bluff include creating a Web presence through social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, continue to grow new events such as the Fourth of July Heritage Days, Ribs, Rods & Rides and Love at First Crush and consider developing a double-century bicycling event — a 200-mile ride. What it comes down to is setting goals and work- ing together to accomplish those goals, Chamber President Kristin Behrens said. The chamber will create a strategic planning commission that will dis- cuss how to brand and market Red Bluff and has invited members of the council to join. Mayor Pro Tem Bob Carrel and Councilman Wayne Brown volunteered and were appointed by the council to be members of the chamber's strategic planning commission. Brown said he is excit- ed about working with the chamber. He has asked the chamber a lot of questions and is ready to be a part of the solution. Continued from page 1A TOURISM The training Thursday was meant to help all the regional departments know what to expect of each other, Bachmeyer said. "Nowadays, fire departments can't survive if they put themselves on an island by themselves," Bachmeyer said. "We have to build relation- ships with our adjoining agencies so we can help each other out." Corning Fire Chief Martin Spannaus said Thursday's training was especially essential because of the differences between the regional departments, with some employing career fire- fighters who have more training and others that run mostly with volun- teers. "It's good for smaller agencies with limited budgets to be able to uti- lize each other's resources and to develop common safety prac- tices," Spannaus said. "We have a good working relationship with Mike and the Red Bluff Fire Department and Corning Fire thanks them for the opportunity to come up." The training started with a briefing in which Red Bluff Fire Capt. Dom Catona went over infor- mation about the Dr. Shoff building, where the training was held. Knowing when the building was constructed, 1914, helps the depart- ment to better know how to handle the fire, Catona said. The building, which originally housed a gener- al store on the first floor and the Elks Lodge on the second and third, is an old brick building that would probably collapse in a fire, he said. One of the reasons it was picked for the train- ing was that, unless you count the steeples on Sacred Heart Catholic Church, it is the tallest building in Red Bluff, Catona said. After blocking off the area of Washington Street from Walnut to Hickory streets, firefighters set to work at one of three sta- tions. The first was a station in which fire attack and rescue were practiced, with firefighters taking the hose to the second story to perform an aggressive knockdown of the fire. At the second station firefighters practiced climbing the ladder using their rope and knot skills for hoisting equipment to an elevated location. The third station was a ladder placement prac- tice, which allowed fire- fighters to practice elevat- ed entry and pushing the fire back — i.e., push it from an unburned area to an area that has already been burned to help pre- vent it from spreading, Bachmeyer said. ——— Julie Zeeb can be reached at 527-2153, extension 115 or jzeeb@redbluffdailynews .com. Continued from page 1A FIRE Tehama EDC back on track By TANG LOR DN Staff Writer Since the reorganization of the Tehama Economic Development Corporation, progress has been made and those in charge have found a purpose for the organiza- tion. A lack of funding and focus for the corporation led to a down- sizing in July 2009, and the Job Training Center took over much of the responsibility. Since that time, it has been decided that the corporation will focus on three main areas, visitor attraction, business development and green projects, said Kathy Schmitz, CEO of the center. Schmitz made the status report to the Red Bluff City Council Tuesday. The city gives the cor- poration $10,000 annually to support its economic develop- ment efforts. In the area of visitor attrac- tion, the corporation wants to work with the city and Red Bluff Tehama County Chamber of Commerce to create a brand for marketing the area, Schmitz said. It does not mean that the corpora- tion will replace or compete with the chamber but rather work with it. The corporation will be look- ing at how it can support the existing efforts and add to it. Schmitz emphasized the need for cooperation between the cor- poration, the city and the cham- ber. There is a lack of continuity and cohesiveness between the entities even though they are all working toward the same eco- nomic goals. The corporation is working on a business development program that will help retain existing business. Though attracting new businesses to the area is impor- tant, retention of existing busi- nesses is more viable. The idea is to keep existing businesses healthy. Green jobs are the wave of the future and the corporation wants to train a work force that will be able to fill those jobs. The corpo- ration will focus on creating and implementing green projects. The report that Schmitz gave to the council will be expanded on at the third annual Seeds of Opportunity Tehama County Economic Forecast event, which will focus how to create a brand and market it. The event is scheduled for March 15 at Rolling Hills Casino in Corning. Mayor Jeff Moyer applauded Schmitz for her work, saying he has seen more come out of the center in the last couple of months than he has seen previ- ously. ——— Tang Lor can be reached at 527- 2153, Ext. 110 or by e-mail at tlor@redbluffdailynews.com. Schwarzenegger, Shriver paid for Calif. commercial SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and first lady Maria Shriver received more than $235,000 for appearing in California tourism commer- cials but have repaid the money. The governor's office on Friday said the couple did not realize they were being paid because they agreed to do the spots for free. Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear says the couple repaid the California Travel and Tourism Commis- sion this week. McLear says they was unaware because they put their finances into blind trusts after Schwarzenegger was elected. The payment was disclosed in a report by the Los Angeles Times. Former Assembly speaker gave raises before leaving SACRAMENTO (AP) — Former Assembly Speaker Karen Bass gave 10 percent salary increases to 20 staff members working for the Assembly Democratic caucus just before she left the post. The raises were handed out last week, The Sacramento Bee reported Friday. Seventeen of the 20 raises went to employees with annu- al salaries below $50,000, while two went to employees who earn more than $75,000, the newspaper reported. The raises come as California faces another $20 billion budget shortfall and state employees continue three-day-a- month unpaid furloughs. State jobless jumps to 12.5 percent SACRAMENTO (AP) — California's unem- ployment rate grew slightly to 12.5 percent in January, the state Employment Develop- ment Department report- ed Friday. But the state also revised its December job numbers to show that about 300,000 additional jobs were lost that month. The state's unemploy- ment rate in December was 12.3 percent. Offi- cials had previously reported December's unemployment rate at 12.4 percent, but revised that figure Friday. Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate held steady at 9.7 percent. ''There are real people behind these statistics and they deserve real action by their elected offi- cials,'' Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement, urging the Legislature to pass his job-creation proposal. Despite the increase in unemployment in Janu- ary, the state added 32,500 jobs. The con- struction industry saw the largest increase with an additional 16,200 jobs. The information, financial activities, and professional and business services industries were the only ones that lost jobs. ''It is a sign that the sector worst hurt by this recession, the construc- tion industry, may finally be growing again,'' said Jed Kolko, associate director at the Public Pol- icy Institute of California. ''The increase in employ- ment that we see now is consistent with the slow increase in housing prices in California that has been recently reported.'' But those positive numbers should be read with caution, one econo- mist said, because the state significantly revised the number of jobs that were lost in December. California had 13.8 mil- lion jobs in December, revised from the 14.1 mil- lion that was previously reported. That means the state had 300,000 fewer jobs in December than it previously thought. ''The recession was a lot deeper in 2009 than the previous data had reported,'' said Stephen Levy, director of the Cen- ter for Continuing Study of the California Econo- my. He added that the downward revisions of job estimates throughout 2009 explain the state's high unemployment num- bers. Even so, Levy remains optimistic. ''I do think that we are at the beginning of a recovery,'' Levy said. ''But it shows ... that we're starting at a lower point than we previously thought. So we have far- ther to dig out.''