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Thursday, April 29, 2010 – Daily News – 5A Obituary Thomas ‘Mel’ Langley Thomas ‘Mel’ Langley was born on April 10, 1943, in Louisiana and passed away on April 26, 2010. He is survived by his wife Patricia, his daughters Theresa Chris- man and husband David, Becky McNutly and ex- husband Steve, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild. He also leaves two brothers and their families and one sis- ter and her family includ- ing numerous nieces and nephews. He was prede- ceased by his wife Rozanne Foster Langley, his parents Tom and Mable Langley. Graveside services will be held at Sunset Hills Cemetery on Friday, April 30, at 9:30 a.m. Pastor Chris Fissoni of 1st Baptist Church of Corning officiating. The family wishes donations in lieu of flowers be made to the Corning Veterans Group. All arrangements are through the Hall Brothers Corning Mortu- ary. NIGHT Continued from page 1A should be brief, but suf- ficient time will be given for an explana- tion. Limited table space will be provided for each candidate’s cam- paign information. A candidate unable to attend may not send a representative to speak as a proxy. The event is free and open to the public. FIRE Continued from page 1A lic service interrupted. Our commitment is to the 8,000 citizens of this community and with 65 days I don’t believe (the change) would be seam- less. I urge you not to change the current opera- tions of the fire depart- ment.” Dave Demo, a member of the fire department, questioned the loss of familiarity, noting the dispatchers know who lives at the address and some residents’ back- ground information. “We’re all just work- ing stiffs,” said Tom Thompson, second assis- tant chief. “They do extra things that could add 15- 20 minutes to a call (if volunteers had to do them), which would affect our jobs. It could really put the volunteers in a bad situation in jobs, which in turn could make them not want to volun- teer.” Doug Oilar, a fire ‘You can see in their voices the passion they have for the city and that this concerns them. I hope you consider that in your decision,’ Fire Chief Martin Spannaus department member, rec- ommended strongly that council support the fire department as it operates. “You can see in their voices the passion they have for the city and that this concerns them,” Spannaus said. “I hope you consider that in your decision.” The council also approved the necessary preparation to put a fire dispatch assessment on the November ballot. The tax, which received both support and dissent from the public, was approved 3-1, with Councilman Ross Turner voting no. Mayor Gary Strack asked that there be a sun- set clause in the lan- guage. “I’m happy because we kept dispatch for a year, but I’m guarded MUSEUM Continued from page 1A 50 years and were donated by a former Shasta County sheriff, while the buckles belonged to former Round-Up directors, Round-Up Association Presi- dent Dave Ramelli said. Replacing them with similar items would be pointless, CUTS Continued from page 1A said their kids’ schools have been affected some- what. ‘‘The poll really indi- cates the degree of anxiety that the public has about the impact of budget cuts Ramelli said. “It’s pretty low-life when you break into a museum,” he said. Administrative Assistant Kathy Sibert said the museum is needed in a world growing away from its roots. “These days, things are so computerized, some adults don’t even know their her- itage,” she said. on public education,’’ said Mark Baldassare, the institute’s president and CEO. ‘‘More Californians are seeing the direct effect of the state’s budget prob- lems on children, teachers and the resources in their local schools.’’ Californians are wor- ried about teacher layoffs, about the tax,” Spannaus said. “What happens if it doesn’t pass with today’s economy?” Recreation cuts, the other much discussed item at the April 13 meet- ing, was put off Tuesday. The measure to move $15,900 from the Park Volunteer fund and put $57,700 of the operating reserve towards saving Recreation Supervisor Kimberly Beck’s position died in a 2-2 vote. The council discussed moving City Attorney Mike Fitzpatrick to a con- tract, which would give him $910 a month to attend City Council meet- ings and $120 an hour as his hourly compensation rate. Resident Dean Cofer asked council to hold off on a decision and make copies of the contract available at City Hall to allow those without com- puter access a chance to see the contract. The matter will be brought up at the May 11 meeting. The council unani- mously approved City Manager Steve Kim- brough continuing to meet with employee bar- gaining units regarding furloughs to prevent lay- offs. Negotiations will con- tinue Thursday with the knowledge that Beck’s position is still not secure. The furloughs, which are equivalent to a 10 percent cut across the board, were implemented in 2009 and are projected to save $284,000. Kimbrough and Police Chief Tony Cardenas will move to part-time status under contract to work no The vandalism to the museum is symptomatic of a larger, disre- spectful attitude, Sibert said. “It’s the culture,” she said. “People just do what they want to do.” Froome expects to continue normal business hours. He also plans to make the building more secure, but no building can be absolutely secure, he said. growing class sizes, shortened school years and the elimination of electives such as art and music, according to the survey. And 63 percent want K-12 education pro- tected from further spend- ing cuts. Despite growing con- cern about schools, resi- more than 960 hours a year starting in July. Cofer objected to the move, claiming the men would get more than they new earn now by taking retirement early. Kimbrough said that he would be losing almost 8 percent by retir- ing now instead of 2013 as he had planned to do. Planning Director John Stoufer will become an independent contractor, providing 20 hours a week in contract planning services. The move to change water meter reading duties from a public works person to police community services offi- cers was approved. The council approved a reduction of the general fund operating reserve, normally held at about $800,000, down to $500,000 for the 2010- 2011 fiscal year. ——— Julie Zeeb can be reached at 527-2153, extension 115 or jzeeb@redbluffdailynews. com. “We’ll put it back the way it was, the best we can,” he said. Froome said he hopes to keep the museum in business for as long as the Round-Up is around. ——— Geoff Johnson can be reached at 527-2153, extension 114 or gjohnson@redbluffdailynews.c om. dents are divided over whether to raise taxes to prevent further cuts to K- 12 education, with 49 percent in favor and 47 percent against. About 57 percent said they would support a local parcel tax to fund their schools. The institute reported that only 16 percent approved of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s han- dling of education, while the Legislature received only a 15 percent approval rating on K-12 schools. About 46 percent support President Obama’s han- dling of K-12 education, a 12 point drop from last year. Officials unveil new seismic map Census mail results may SAN JOSE (AP) — California geology officials have released an updated state seismic activity map that they hope will improve earth- quake preparedness and construction decisions. The map, which had not been updated since 1994, includes more than 50 surface fault lines discovered over the last two decades and com- piled in a painstaking process. The map was unveiled Tuesday at The Tech Museum in San Jose as the California Geological Survey cele- brated its 150th anniversary. The Geological Survey also presented an updated version of a second map that identifies the makeup of rock and soil. State geologist John Parrish said the maps can help guide decisions about where to build schools and hospitals and where construction standards need to be higher. ‘‘These maps are used to make a lot of other maps, to map landslides ... for tsunami coastal mapping,’’ Par- rish said. ‘‘They can tell you what kind of a surface you’re building on, and how close you are to a fault.’’ The new maps are far more NEW YORK (AP) — detailed than the previous editions and have interactive digital versions that are linked to Google maps. Dis- tortions from a prior digitizing process that placed some features more than a half-mile from their actual locations were corrected. Chris Wills, supervising engineer- ing geologist in charge of the project, said Wednesday that he envisions the map hanging on the walls at universi- ty geology departments and consult- ing firms that do earthquake hazards work and perhaps being issued by planning departments. ‘‘It really puts the earthquake haz- ard in context: Where do our earth- quakes come from? Where are the most active faults distributed in the state? Where are the most recently active faults that we would tend to worry about most in the state of Cal- ifornia? Where are they less com- mon?’’ he said. For individual communities or property owners detailed maps of smaller areas are available, he said. The more than 50 additional sur- face fault lines, among an estimated 15,000 faults in the state, are new to the statewide seismic activity map but have been mapped previously. Some of these faults announced themselves long ago, including the system which unleashed the magni- tude-7.1 Hector mine quake that rocked Southern California and neighboring states in 1999 but didn’t cause much damage because of the remoteness of its epicenter in the Mojave Desert. ‘‘The public knew about the faults that triggered the Hector mine earth- quake as soon it stopped shaking. They knew that something big hap- pened out there,’’ said Wills. Those faults were mapped within a few weeks but hadn’t been incorpo- rated into California’s statewide map until now, he said. The map, however, does not dis- play faults like those that caused the 1994 Northridge quake that caused billions of dollars of destruction and dozens of deaths in metropolitan Los Angeles, or the 1983 quake that wrecked most of downtown Coalin- ga and damaged hundreds of homes in the Central Valley city. On the Net: http://www.quake.ca.gov/gmaps/F AM/faultactivitymap.html be trouble for California WASHINGTON (AP) — Five states — New York, Cal- ifornia, Texas, Arizona and Florida — are perilously close to losing out on congressional seats because of lackluster participation in the U.S. census. The five were average or below average in mailing back 10-question census forms when compared to other states, trailing by as many as 5 percentage points, according to the final census mail-in tally released Wednesday. Based on recent population trends, New York, California and Texas had been estimated to fall just above the cutoff for the last House seats when they are redistributed next year. Waiting behind them in hopes of picking up addition- al seats are Arizona and Florida, which are already expect- ed to gain one seat apiece. Responses from these states also raise a red flag because of their higher shares of residents who are Latinos. The Census Bureau has said one of its main concerns is whether tensions over immigration will discourage Latinos, and par- ticularly illegal immigrants, from participating in the gov- ernment count. That issue returned to the forefront after Ari- zona passed a tough immigration enforcement bill. Latino residents represent a predominant share of the population growth in New York, California, Texas, Arizona and Florida, making up more than 50 percent of total growth since 2000. As a result, those states could face big losses if there isn’t full cooperation when the Census Bureau on Saturday begins knocking on the doors of those who did not respond by mail. Of the five states on the cusp, the biggest potential losers are California and New York. Investors gave stocks a rebound after reassuring words from the Federal Reserve and another batch of upbeat earnings reports. The Dow Jones indus- trials rose 53 points Wednesday, making back a quarter of the 213 they lost the previous day. Investors were able to shake off Standard & Poor’s downgrade of Spain’s debt, the third European country in two days to have its rating lowered. Instead, they focused on the domestic economy. In an economic assess- ment statement that accompanied the Fed’s decision to keep interest rates stable, the central bank said the labor market is ‘‘beginning to improve’’ and it noted that housing starts have edged up. The statement, which came at the end of a two-day poli- cymaking meeting, did say that employers are still reluctant to hire, but that Stocks climb on earnings; Fed holds rate steady Wall Street came as no surprise to investors. The Fed said it expects to keep rates low for an ‘‘extended period’’ to help strengthen the economy. ‘‘The Fed essentially kicked the can down the road,’’ said Burt White, chief investment officer at LPL Financial in Boston. Eventually the Fed will have to raise rates, but that might not happen now until early in 2011, White said. But the Fed’s view of the economy is actually more conservative than data suggests, White said. That’s because it is con- cerned about European debt problems, White added, noting that a slow- down in Europe’s econo- my could slow U.S. exports and affect the domestic recovery. Earnings provided a boost to stocks throughout the day. Cable company Comcast Corp., defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. and Dow Chemical Co. were the latest companies to top earnings expectations. Tim Courtney, chief investment officer at Burns Advisory Group in Oklahoma City, said that improving sales at compa- nies like Dow Chemical prove the economy is healing. ‘‘It indicates con- sumers may be getting back on their feet,’’ Court- ney said. The Dow rose 53.28, or 0.5 percent, to 11,045.27. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 7.65, or 0.7 percent, to 1,191.36, while the Nasdaq compos- ite index rose 0.26, or 0.01 percent, to 2,471.73. Wednesday’s trading was far quieter than on Tuesday, when the market plunged on news that S&P slashed its credit ratings on Greece and Portugal. Greece’s debt was cut to junk status, deepening the country’s credit crisis. ‘‘When you get some of these negative head- lines, you will get a short- term negative pullback,’’ said Brett D’Arcy, chief investment officer at CBIZ Wealth Manage- ment Group in San Diego. After the close of trading, it was announced that Hewlett- Packard Co. was buying smart phone pioneer Palm Inc. for about $1 billion in cash. HP stock, which edged up 3 cents to $53.28 in regular trad- ing, fell back to $52.93. Palm, which had closed down 2 cents at $4.63, shot up to $5.90, a 27 percent surge. Dow Chemical rose $1.76, or 5.9 percent, to $31.83. Comcast rose 35 cents to $18.81, while Northrop Grumman rose $1.49, or 2.2 percent, to $68.67. About three stocks rose for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where consoli- dated volume came to 6.4 billion shares, down from 7.5 billion Tuesday. Bond prices dipped after surging higher a day earlier. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.77 percent from 3.69 percent late Tues- day. Gold and oil both rose. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 1.12, or 0.2 percent, to 722.39. Overseas, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3 percent, Germany’s DAX index dropped 1.2 percent, and France’s CAC-40 fell 1.1 percent. Japan’s Nikkei stock average tumbled 2.6 percent. Now Available Organic & Heirloom Spring Vegetable Plants 1 1/2 miles South of Red Bluff 12645 Hwy 99E (530) 529-2546