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701.82, NO. 26 ° Feather Publishing Co., Inc. ° 530-284-7800 ° www.plumasnews.com ° Wednesday, May 16,2012 50C
Board votes to save Greenville High
Jason Theobald
Staff Writer
jtheobald@plumasnews.com
Emotions-ran high at the
regular monthly meeting of
the Plumas Unified School
District board of trustees
Wednesday, May 9. The meet-
ing, held in the Chester Ele-
mentary School gymnasium,
featured several topics that
sparked outcries from the
audience, but undoubtedly
the most anticipated item on
the agenda was the discus-
sion and action on school
closures and/or consolida-
tions.
"It's the elephant in
the room," Dan Brown, an
instructor at Greenville High
School, said in reference to
the agenda item.
The meeting began, how-
ever, with a public comment
period that elicited tears,
laughter and raucous
applause.
Several of the speakers
thanked the board of trustees
for severing ties with former
PUSD Superintendent Glenn
Harris.
"Thank you for doing the
right thing," Piers Strailey
said in regards to Harris.
One of the speakers,
Lindsay Vert, stood before
the board to plead for her
job. She, like many others in
the district, had received a
letter of non-reelect. Not only
was she let go, but also the
letter of non-reelect would
ostensibly stay with her
wherever she might apply
next.
Vert, visibly upset, spoke
about her background, her
accomplishments and the
improvement in not only her-
self, but more importantly
her students.
A fellow educator and
coworker of Vert's spoke on
her behalf as well. Faith
Strailey stood for all of the
teachers who had received
non-reelect letters and asked
the board to rescind the
letters and allow the teachers
to resign so that the stigma of
a non-reelect letter wouldn't
follow them.
Many of the speakers dis-
cussed the possible closure of
three district schools.
In regards to GHS, Brown
urged the board to do
nothing, to leave the school
as is and take another year to
figure things out.
Guy McNett, one of the
Indian Valley 7-11 (School
Closure and Consolidation)
Committee members, asked
the board for support in im-
plementing the committee's
recommendation to blend
charter and pubIic school
models at GHS. He said that
there are many hurdles to
accomplishing the blend, but
with the support of the board
it could be accomplished.
In stark contrast to
McNett's comment, Christy
See Schools, page 4A
Filled to the brim
CEO unveils
initial details
Holiday deadlines
All Feather Publishing
offices will be closed Mon-
day, May 28, in observance
of Memorial Day. This will
• affect the deadlines for the
May 30 newspaper.
Deadlines for the Wed-
nesday, May 30, Plumas-
Westwood editions:
All Display Advertising
and Legal (Public) Notices
for the classified and other
newspaper sections is due
by Wednesday, May 23, at
noon.
News releases -- includ-
ing letters to the editor,
births, obituaries and cards
of thanks --are due by
Thursday, May 24, at noon.
Classified reader ads are
due Friday, May 25, at 9 a.m.
To subscribe to the Record,
call 530-283:0800
Round Valley Reservoir is
full to capacity these days,
even after the extremely
dry winter. Water laps
the legs of picnic tables
usually several feet from
the edge.
Photos by
Alicia Knadler
of PDH upgrade
Mona Hill
Staff Writer
mhill@plumasnews.com
Chief Executive Officer
Doug Lafferty revealed initial
cost estimates and building
plans to Plumas District
Hospital directors and a
handful of community mem-
bers at a special board
meeting May 10.
Lafferty said the hospital
building is sound although it
does require some seismic
and safety upgrades, such as
strapping and sprinklers.
Inpatient facilities, he said,
do not meet current Health
and
standards to ensure patient
privacy. Modern facilities
have or are remodeling to
provide private inpatient
rooms.
The current operating
room is also outdated and
does not accommodate some
surgical procedures. The
emergency room is notori-
ously small. Patients have
limited privacy offered by the
curtain between beds.
Lafferty said these condi-
tions make it difficult to meet
the community's need for ad-
ditional health care services.
Without clinic or surgical
services such as oncology,
physical therapy or another
surgeon, patiefits travel out
of district to receive those
services elsewhere. The CEO
believes expansion of lab and
outpatient services is key to
See PDH, page 4A
Greenville man faces
11 years in prison
Hollister said he was pleased
that the jury found Papen-
hausen guilty of using a
deadly or dangerous weapon.
He said without that en-
hancement, Papenhausen
would have been able to serve
his term in the county jail
instead of state prison, under
the new inmate realignment
guidelines.,
Papenhausen's conviction
stemmed from his Dec. 26,
2011, arrest on a warrant
issued by the Plumas County
Superior Court.
When he was contacted at
his Canyon Dam residence,
Papenhausen resisted arrest,
Dan McDonald
Staff Writer
dmcdonald@plu masnews.com
A Greenville man could
face more than 11 in years
in state prison after being
convicted on felony drug and
weapons charges last week.
On Thursday, May 10, a
Plumas County jury found 42-
year-old Scott Papenhausen
guilty of furnishing metham-
phetamine, possession of
methamphetamine, resisting
arrest and using a deadly
weapon while in possession
of methamphetamine.
Papenhausen is scheduled
to be sentenced June 22.
District Attorney David See Prison, page 5A
Supervisors spar over ,committee appointment
before a sometimes comic de-
bate that prompted laughter
and occasional one-liners
from people who couldn't
believe what they were
seeing.
But while the audience was
entertained, Simpson and
Swofford said they were dead
serious about wanting to be
on the committee.
_. "When we are on that
committee, we are involving
the whole county," Swofford
said. "And the issues are big
enough that we may end up
in a lawsuit because we are
involved in this."
The issues Swofford cited
concerned the controversial
watershed restoration tech-
nique known as "pond and
plug."
The program, originally de-
signed to bring restoration
grant money into the county
to offset the loss of natural
resource jobs, has become a
polarizing issue.
Downstream water users
want the water to continue
flowing their direction as it
always has.
Ranchers and users living
in the watershed want to
see the upstream meadows re-
stored so they have better wa-
ter storage in the summer.
Many of the ranchers live
in Swofford's eastern-county
district. And Swofford said
"pond and plug" was the
issue that most concerned
him.
Simpson argued she should
be on the executive committee
becaus.e she would be more
objective than Swofford.
"You're too influenced,"
Simpson told Swofford. "And
I'm more objective, because
it's not in my area. It's in
See Supervisors, page 5A
Dan McDonald
Staff Writer
dmcd°nald@plumasnews'c°m
Supervisor Terry Swofford
told Supervisor Lori Simpson
he was ',pissed off" at her for
questioning his integrity.
Swofford's anger grew
when Simpson laughed at
him and said, "I'm sorry, but
I've seen you in action. I don't
think you would represent us
and be fair."
That exchange highlighted a
30-minute verbal wrestling
match between the super-
visors as they fought to see
which one would be appointed
to the Coordinated Resource
Management (CRM) executive
committee.
The supervisors' entertain-
ing brawl caught the other su-
pervisors and the audience at
the meeting Tuesday, May 8,
by surprise.
The surprise was mainly
because the CRM executive
committee, formed in 1989,
has never been called on to
render a decision. In fact, it
has never met.
The supervisors ultimately
settled the matter with a coin
flip, won by Simpson. But not
Indian Valley Community Center faces financial need
cases of wine, a Christmas
quilt, $200 worth of local
culinary adventures, and
other items.
Tickets are available for
tax-deductible donations of
$10 each, or 12 for $100,
Tickets are available
at several Indian Valley
businesses in Genesee,
Taylorsville, Crescent Mills
and Greenville.
Tickets will be drawn at
the Running With the Bears
Marathon luau Aug. 16.
For more information,
those interested may call
284-6856 or send an email to
theshowers@frontiernet.net.
Alicia Knadler
indian Valley Editor
aknadler@plumasnews.com
Several programs and
activities are now enjoyed
by many at the Indian Valley
Community Center in Green-
ville, but it has been a
struggleto keep the doors
open and still be able to
pay off the final $28,000 of
debt.
"It would be a shame to
have to close the center
now that so many excellent
programs and classes are
available to our communiW,"
said one resident who enjoys
"her time there.
There is always hope
in that cavernous golden
hued space, and one idea
already in the. works is a
chance giveaway of 16 prizes,
including cords of oak
firewood, locally grown and
packaged premium beef,
30 dozen farm fresh ranch
eggs, works of art, services,
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