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MONDAY MARCH 22, 2010 Breaking news at: New study of brain injuries Vitality www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 4A RED BLUFF Bulldogs Tourney SPORTS 1B Sunny 70/46 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 Bureau’s new home Events stress police overtime budget By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Red Bluff Police Chief Paul Nanfito and City Man- ager Martin Nichols were at the March 16 Tehama Dis- trict Fair Board meeting to share the city’s concerns with over time budgets, which include traffic control for three large events at the fairground. “We’re here as an early warning system,” Nichols said. “Our object is to bring up (our concerns with the budget) as an issue with the fair board.” The city is facing a $300,000 deficit in the upcom- ing budget for 2010-2011, partially caused by a loss of one-third of the city’s sales tax, Nichols said. “We’re not meeting basic policing,” Nichols said. “It’s not too long before the council will face critical decisions.” The department has had at least three detectives since the 1970s, but has had to return one to being an officer in the last year, Nanfito said. “We’re in call-to-call mode more often than in my 24 years with the department,” Nanfito said. “We’re having to pend services calls more than ever.” With major cuts in the over time budget, going from $300,000 a year to $204,000 a year in the last few years, it is getting harder to do all the things the depart- ment usually does within the overtime budget. “It’s not just special events, but training, vacation See BUDGET, page 7A Daily News photo by Geoff Johnson Farm Bureau past President Burt Bundy, Ken Lindauer and President Richard Edsall conduct the ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday at the Tehama County Farm Bureau Open House. Bureau Manager Kari Dodd looks on. By GEOFF JOHNSON DN Staff Writer It took 20 years, 78 donors and $500,000, but the Tehama County Farm Bureau is bigger and better than ever. The bureau lobbies for local agri- cultural interests at both the state and federal levels and sponsors agricul- tural education events. On Saturday, it held the ribbon cutting for its new Sale Lane headquarters, about a month after it moved operations over from an Antelope Boulevard office. At least 100 people were in atten- dance, according to Farm Bureau Manager Kari Dodd. Seated in a clean, pristine new building, Farm Bureau members said their new 3,500-sq. foot headquarters is head and shoulders above the for- mer doctor’s office still full of sinks that used to house the operation. The bureau has long sought a building of its own, but a combination of rising construction costs and a shortage of money kept it from mov- ing forward. By owning a building, the group saves on rent, paying about half as much in loan payments as it did to its former landlord. Situated next to Northern California Farm Credit, the bureau increases its visibility among farmers. “It gives us a real home,” Burt Bundy said. With the massive Lindauer room, the non-profit has a 50-person meet- ing chamber it opens up to communi- ty groups. The building is renting office space to Gentry Media, Ag-Land Investment Brokers and the Western Crop Insurance agency, businesses with a symbiotic relationship to the bureau. So far, the building is working out great, Bundy said. In a speech, Bundy thanked numerous bureau partners and con- tributors, including the bureau’s numerous donors, who are listed on a donor wall in the hallway. The donors paid for $150,000 of the building County seeks input on block grant money By GEOFF JOHNSON DN Staff Writer Tehama County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday on what Community Devel- opment Block Grant funding the county should apply for in the coming fiscal year. The grants, distributed by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, can be used for everything from crime prevention projects to child care or demolition and renewal projects, according to department guidelines. The amount that can be used to pay for public ser- vices, however, is typical- ly capped at 15 percent. The county voted March 16 to use existing funds from a grant to pay for a Business Incubation Program, which will be able to provide loans and grants to local businesses. Residents who want to comment but are unable to attend the meeting are asked to call the Tehama County Planning Depart- ment at 527-2200 or to write the Planning Depart- ment at 444 Oak St., Red Bluff, CA, 96080. ——— Geoff Johnson can be reached at 527-2153, extension 114 or gjohnson@redbluffdailyn ews.com. News tip? Call 527-2151 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 cost, a sum gathered in less than a month. “I just want to tell all the donors out there that the donor wall is just a small token of our appreciation,” Bundy said. But no one deserved as much credit for the project as Dodd, he said. As the sole employee, Dodd takes direction from the bureau’s directors, including Bundy. Much of what the bureau does is only pos- sible because of Dodd, whose influ- ence reaches everywhere from the public perception of the bureau to the building’s color scheme, he said. Dodd began work in January 2009, just as work was beginning on the transisistion. said. “I kind of jumped right into it,” she Now that the bureau has moved, things have calmed down, she said. ——— Geoff Johnson can be reached at 527-2153, extension 114 or gjohnson@redbluffdailynews.com. Nielsen perfect on jobs Assembly- man Jim Nielsen, R- Gerber , announced that he has received a 100 percent pro-jobs rating from the National Fed- eration of Inde- pendent Busi- ness, the nation’s lead- ing advocate for small businesses and job cre- ation. The federation is the leading advocate for small businesses in California and across the country. Its 2009 legislative scorecard ranked the voting records of state lawmakers on issues of importance to small businesses in Cali- fornia, such as imposing new mandates and higher costs and taxes that make it more expensive for small businesses to stay in operation and retain jobs here. Small businesses Nielsen account for 99.2 percent of the employ- ers in Califor- nia. In its most recent survey, the Small Busi- ness and Entrepreneur- ial Council found that California has the fifth-worst tax system for entrepre- neurship and small busi- nesses in the entire nation. Forbes magazine rated California as being the state with the highest business costs in the entire country. “I am pleased to have received a perfect score from NFIB,” Nielsen said. “California and its econo- my will not recover unless small businesses can pros- per in this state and put people back to work. Over the last year, I have consistently fought against job-killing mea- See JOBS, page 7A Founder optimistic on film festival By GEOFF JOHNSON DN Staff Writer The Rev. Jay Nelson is thinking big. On Saturday, Nelson hosted the first Brickyard Creek Christian Film Fes- tival at New Hope Foursquare Church, a nine-hour display of Christian films amateur and professional, short and full-length. Subjects ranged from geocaching to terrorism to family. Turnout was light for the festival, but Saturday was a step forward for Nelson in laying the groundwork for next year’s festival. Nelson said he was inspired by Flywheel, a film about a shady used car salesman whose life changes dramatically when he finds God and changes his business model. Flywheel’s creators started small, too, Nelson said. Georgian brothers Alex and Stephen Kendrick began with trial- and-error backyard films before they made it big. Now they’ve made enough to fund several more Christian films, including the firefighter drama Fireproof and the upcoming police drama Courageous. Seeing how far the Kendricks could go with a little effort, Nelson used online networking to find Christian movies he could play in Red Bluff, and put out a request for submis- sions. Daily News photo by Geoff Johnson Jay Nelson converted the New Hope Foursquare Church into a movie theater Saturday for a nine-hour Christian Film Festival. “These are movies that everyone can get some- thing from,” he said. Foursquare Pastor Steve Priest said he sees great potential in Nelson’s strategy. Christian films carry messages that fit with the church’s beliefs, but do so in a way that can connect with modern audiences. See FILM, page 7A Intermediate EXCEL class Tues., April 6TH 8:30 am to 12:30 pm Cost: $65.00 per person Job Training Center 718 Main St., Red Bluff Call 529-7000