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THURSDAY AUGUST 23, 2012 www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 5A Breaking news at: RED BLUFF FFA Officers Attend Retreat Not Again SPORTS 1B Sunny 98/63 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 Gov. declares emergency Four arrested with loaded, stolen gun A resident's tip led to the arrest of four people who were in a vehicle with a loaded, stolen shotgun Tuesday near the Tehama County Department of Education. Shortly before 6 p.m. a resident called 911 to report a suspicious vehicle on Douglas Street. The caller said the occupants of the vehicle were in possession of a long gun, which they had loaded and placed into the cab, according to a Red Bluff Police Department press release. A nearby California Highway Patrol officer heard the radio broadcast of the call and located the vehicle. See GUN, page 7A Scant council agrees to pay off $6M loan By RICH GREENE Photo courtesy of Jamie Raglin By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer Gov. Jerry Brown declared Tehama County to be in a state of emer- gency Wednesday as pol- luted smoke lingered across the county from the Ponderosa Fire and it was announced Manton's water supply infrastructure had been damaged. But there were several areas in the afternoon and to the west the Reading Fire was declared 100 per- cent contained. The governor's emer- positive developments as evacuations began to be lifted in the Shingletown and Lake McCumber gency declaration, which also was issued for Shasta and Plumas counties, opens the way for more state resources to be used to combat the fires. CalFire lowered its esti- mate of threatened struc- tures from thousands in the previous days to just 200 residences, 10 com- mercial properties and 30 outbuildings. USDA, McDonald's suspend slaughterhouse buys FRESNO (AP) — The federal government and McDonald's Corp. sus- pended purchases of meat Wednesday from a Cali- fornia slaughterhouse under investigation for animal cruelty and possi- ble health issues. The fast-food chain joined the U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture in severing ties with Central Valley Meat Co. The suspensions occurred after an animal welfare group's covert video showed cows that appeared to be sick or lame being beaten, kicked, shot and shocked in an attempt to get them to walk to slaughter. ''There are behaviors in the video which appear to be unacceptable and would not adhere to the standards we demand of our suppliers,'' McDon- ald's said in release. Federal officials say nothing they have seen so far in the video shows meat from cows that may have been sick made it into the food supply, but interviews with employ- ees were ongoing. The video was shot in June and July by an under- cover operative for the group Compassion Over Killing who worked at the plant and also gave a writ- ten statement to the USDA about events not on tape. ''We do know that workers were trying to make non-ambulatory cows not eligible for slaughter go to slaughter,'' said Erica Meier, execu- tive director of the animal welfare organization. ''We believe red flags are raised for sure with our video, but it's up to the USDA to decide.'' It's against the law to slaughter a non-ambulato- ry animal for food out of concern that it could be infected with bovine spongiform encephalopa- thy, also known as mad cow disease. The Hanford slaughter- house is in the same city where a dairy cow at a rendering plant was dis- covered in April to have mad cow disease. The USDA said earlier this month it was an isolated case and didn't pose a threat to the food supply. Central Valley Meat Co. primarily slaughters dairy cows that have lost their value as milk produc- ers. The 24,323-acre fire, which had already destroyed 50 structures, was 50 percent contained Wednesday morning More than 2,100 per- sonnel were working to fight the fire, which started from a lightning two miles east of Mineral Sat- urday afternoon. a few stitches, a bruised heel and a bee sting, an official said. The fire remained active in the south burning in the direction of the Bat- Injuries were limited to tle Creek drainage and into the Blue Ridge area. Firefighters were work- ing to build around 11 miles of containment line, but were battling steep and rugged terrain. The Tehama County Air Pollution Control Dis- trict issued another warn- ing Wednesday after air quality crept into the unhealthy for sensitive groups category. Visibility was limited from the sur- rounding smoke. District officials See FIRE, page 7A DN Staff Writer With two coun- cilmembers on vacation Tuesday the Red Bluff City Council tabled decisions over raises and future committees, but the shortened dais moved forward with paying off $6 million in city loans. The loans, taken out to fund the wastewater treatment plant facility and a 3-million-gallon water tank, still had 28 years of payments left in some cases. approved Tuesday will save the city $2.2 mil- lion in loan payments during that time. The full payoff Finance Director Sandy Ryan said all pre- payment penalties had been saved by the bank, and the payoff would make future loans and grants more possible. More than half of the city's $11.5 million Local Agency Invest- ment Fund will be used to pay off the loan. The city also has $5.6 mil- lion in a CD balance. Public Works Direc- tor Bruce Henz said he was 100 percent in favor of the idea. Elsewhere on the agenda • During public com- ment a concerned resi- dent offered money out of his own pocket to spruce up an eyesore. Dick Brittain said See LOAN, page 7A Fair hosts fire camp, livestock By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Manton resident Michelle Heino and her daughter Rebah have been spending their days at the Tehama District Fair- ground since being evacu- ated from Manton Schoolhouse Road by the Ponderosa Fire. "We were at a goat show with the Dairy Goat Association Saturday because I'm the secre- tary," Michelle said. "Someone pulled me over part-way through the show and asked if that plume of smoke was near us. I thought it was south of 36 (at first)." paperwork was finished, her family evacuated 89 goats, seven cats and six dogs with some help from others at the show, initial- ly ending up back at the fairground. As soon as all the The USDA bought 21 million pounds of beef from the company in 2011 for the national school lunch and other federal food programs. Records show the gov- ernment made five large- scale purchases of ground and chunk beef, spending more than $50 million of the total $135 allocated by the government for such acquisitions that year. USDA spokesman Justin DeJong said he did not know to which gov- ernment food programs the beef was allocated. 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 See USDA, page 7A Daily News photo by Julie Zeeb On Wednesday, Michelle was still there with about 42 of the goats, six of the seven cats and one of the dogs. All seven of their cats are rescues from Roget, who was rescued while her husband was stationed in the Navy in Italy, to Miss Clavel, who was a hurricane Katrina sur- vivor. "We have dairy goats," Michelle said. "Our fami- ly has been farming in Tehama County since 1958, mostly in the Bend area as Facca Farms. It's in our blood to be farmers at heart." Several of the goats are part of Rebah's 4-H Manton resident and evacuee Rebah Heino feeds apples to her goats Wednesday at the Tehama District Fairground. breeding project and the local 4-H office along with others from the com- munity have been very helpful, Michelle said. "The fairground has been a wonderful host, but I'm ready to go home," Michelle said. "The community has been wonderful. Other goat owners helped haul them down and have brought us feed and the 4-H office brought us snacks." Some of those bringing feed for the goats have even been people from farther away, Rebah said. Michelle's mother is a member of the Manton Fire Station and has helped keep them informed of how their house is doing, she said. "I use my cell to call the house phone every day," Rebah said. "Every- thing is OK so far." Michelle said she has about 12:30 p.m. Wednes- day, that would not be possible for the Heino family. received word of about 11 houses and 30 outbuild- ings among the 50 struc- tures destroyed in the fire that had burned 24,323 acres as of the 2:30 p.m. Wednesday update on CalFire's website. While some evacuees were headed home fol- lowing the lift of the order for Shingletown, Lake McCumber and roads north of Highway 44 we would need a water tender every day to have water for our animals," Michelle said. "The flume is out and A store, fuel station, kitchen, Crisis Response Team and PG&E were just some of the many things taking up every See FAIR, page 7A fairgrounds was full to the top with people and rigs, and a sea of red and even green fire engines from all over the state sat in the Trinity parking lot. The remainder of the