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FRIDAY NOVEMBER 23, 2012 www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 5A Breaking news at: Education Elks Honor Students RED BLUFF NFL Wrap SPORTS 1B Weather forecast 10A Sunny 70/45 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 'We serve them' County roads 'fair or better' By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer According to a recently released infrastructure con- dition report, 85 percent of Tehama County maintained roads are in fair or better condition. Although that per- centage has dropped off in the past eight years as fewer and fewer dollars have been spent on maintenance. The county manages 1,087 miles of road, of which the Public Works Department recommends 75 percent be kept at a level of fair or better. It is not responsible for interstate or state highways. An additional 14 miles of county roads were upgrad- ed to excellent status in the past year. According to the report, the majority of roads that fell into the poor category in the past year are in the local road category and were generally acquired by the county with inadequate or no structural section. "Many of these roads are in rural settings with min- See ROADS, page 9A Fairboard agreement moving forward By JULIE ZEEB Daily News photo by Andre Byik Volunteers dish up Thanksgiving dinner Thursday at the Red Bluff Presbyterian Church. morning." By ANDRE BYIK DN Sports Editor George Lander had two options on Thanksgiving. One may have resulted in a hangover today. The 49-year-old was one of about 150 who was served a tradi- tional Thanksgiving dinner at the Presbyterian Church of Red Bluff on Thursday. An event that is in its 19th year. Lander, who has undergone dialysis treatment three times per week for 18 years. "I'm thankful to be alive," said Lander was seated in an electric wheelchair with a blue backpack hanging from the back and a makeshift cross hooked behind his shoulders. He calls the chair his car, but he said he enjoys bicycling when he has the energy. church's Thanksgiving dinner since his 25-year-old daughter was 10. And, he said, instead of a night of drinking with friends, he prefers the companionship the church offers. "No hangovers," Lander said behind a meal of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy. "Just joy in the Lander has been attending the involved in organizing the dinner for years, said the the event embod- ies her meaning of Thanksgiving. "I think that the volunteers that help really care a lot about the com- munity and want to make sure that this event is a success," Dahnke said. "I don't really have to ask more than once. We ask freely and people give freely. Their time, their money ... everything that's required to put this event on." She said the dinner, which had about 30 volunteers who served food and worked in the kitchen, has come to a point where it basically runs itself. "Whoever shows up," Dahnke said, "we serve them." Dahnke said she's thankful for her health, family and being a part of the community. "I have traveled a lot and this is the place I like to call home," she said. "This is a very giving, loving community that gives freely." Beth Hoyt, a pastor who has been with the church for about two- and-a-half years, said the congrega- Kathy Dahnke, who has been Redding man guilty of fraud SACRAMENTO — A federal jury found Brandon Hanly, 32, of Redding, guilty Wednesday of wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering follow- ing a six-day mortgage fraud trial, United States Attorney Benjamin Wagner announced. According to the evi- dence presented at trial, from September 2005 to April 2006, Hanly and co- defendants Jerad Maggi and Douglas Heald participated in a scheme to defraud mortgage lenders. Maggi and Heald pleaded guilty before trial. Another defen- dant, Joshua Gervolstad, also pleaded guilty in a related case. was to get cash out of a house beyond its equity while still appearing to be a "rate and term" refinancing. The object of the scheme A "rate and term" refinanc- ing is one that changes only the interest rate and length of the loan but does not result in cash out to the bor- rower. It is typically easier to obtain than a cash-out loan. The defendants were able to get large loans because they provided the lender with altered appraisals, inflated by up to $350,000. The title reports were altered to place a fake lien on the title in the name of a shell company, TPG Investments Inc. Then the defendants gave the lender and escrow officer instruc- tions to pay off the lien to TPG. Gervolstad controlled TPG and used it to direct the cash to himself, Hanly, and the other participants in the scheme. Although Hanly testified at trial that he was a victim of the scheme, the evidence showed that he personally received more than $300,000 as a result of his 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 See FRAUD, page 9A tion's vision of the event was "to have a place where anyone could come for Thanksgiving dinner. You don't have to be homeless." The church is also involved with the Poor and the Homeless Tehama County Coalition, which spread word that a Thanksgiving dinner was available Thursday afternoon, Hoyt said. "I really look forward to this," she said. "I try to visit with every person in line when they're waiting outside before they come in. I like hearing their stories. We have regu- lars and every year there's new peo- ple that are kind of down on their luck." many ways to become a part of His family and this is just one more way. By welcoming a stranger, praying for someone in need." Lander, pointing to a line of vol- unteers serving plates of food, said, "To me, they're angels." She added: "God gives us so trict Fair that is a $200,000 cut, which is about 25 percent of its budget. "We've had a good response from the state and do have the prelimi- nary approval to move forward," Director Tonya Redamonti said at Tues- day's meeting. Progress was slowed ——— Sports Editor Andre Byik can be reached at 527-2151, ext. 111 or at sports@redbluffdailynews.com. Fol- low him on Twitter:@TehamaSports ward on the formation of a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) between the Tehama District Fairboard and the Tehama County Board of Supervisors. The fairboard began looking into the JPA as a way to keep the gates open to the community following Gov. Jerry Brown's cut of all state funding to fairs. For the Tehama Dis- DN Staff Writer Plans are moving for- Bianchi said. "This is the last linkage to the bureau- cracy of the state. Ideally, we'd love to be done in 30 days, but probably it will be 60 before we have the document. After the board looks at it we will review it and move on from there. A lot of work has been done by the ad hoc com- mittee and I applaud their efforts. In the meantime we will continue forward and get all our ducks in a row." Several California fairs have been looking into ways of keeping fair- grounds open with Cedarville looking to close in three to four months, while Plumas is going down to just one person to keep the gates open, Fair CEO Mark Eidman said. "There's been a lot of down for the last two to three months while the group has been waiting for a budget to add to the finalized proposal, Reda- monti said. "That's huge," Fair- board President Ray JPA discussion amongst the fairs," Eidman said. "Several were denied because they were on state property. We've always been the square peg in a round hold because we are on county See FAIR, page 9A Utility workers return from Sandy of Pacific Gas & Electric Co. workers returned last week from the East Coast and cleanup efforts for Hurricane Sandy, includ- ing North State employees Ron Soulliere of Red Bluff and Stan Boone of Burney. By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer The first of two waves Soulliere helped with a team that went to Florida in 2004 and Boone has done work all over Cali- fornia and both men said they had never seen devas- tation like Hurricane Sandy left in her path. "A lot of places there was eight feet of water inside and eight inches of snow outside," Soulliere said. "We saw 100 mph winds and devastation everywhere. Trees took out the power lines and there were poles busted in half. Basically, it knocked down half the system so we had to start from scratch in a lot of places." Other places had between eight and 11 feet of water and, with their See SANDY, page 9A Courtesy photo Pacific Gas & Electric Co. General Construction Foreman Ron Soulliere of Red Bluff climbs a pole during a trip to New York, where he helped restore power to victims of Hurricane Sandy. Unemployed due to Closure or Layoff? Start your training in Hospitality Careers Financial aid available to help you. January 2013 Informational Session Food Service/Retail Tuesday, November 27th @ 3pm Shasta College/Tehama Campus To register call 529.7000 770 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff The Daily News office will be CLOSED Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 22 & Friday, Nov. 23 Retail advertising deadlines EDITION DEADLINE Thur. 11/22: Tues. 11/ 20, 10am Fri. 11/23: Tues. 11/ 20, 3pm Sat. 11/24: Wed. 11/ 21, 10am Tues. 11/27 Wed. 11/21, 3pm DAILYNEWS RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY Classified deadlines: EDITION DEADLINE Thur. 11/22: Wed. 11/ 21, noon Fri. 11/23: Wed. 11/21, noon Sat. 11/24: Wed. 11/ 21, noon Tues. 11/27 SEE BELOW Friday, November 23 for placement of classified ads to start Tuesday, 11/27 dial 1-855-667-2255 527-2151 • FAX 527-3719 545 DIAMOND AVE., RED BLUFF