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Vol. 81, No. 44' • Feather Publishing Co., Inc. •
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530-284-7800 • www.plumasnews.com
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and alJ of the Indian Valley Area
• Wednesday, Sept. 21,2011
Kenley Neer puckers up like
the fat little bluegill she
caught with help from family
and friends.
Jhett Neer receives Valuable
fishing lessons from Rick
Taddei and later wins awards
for catching the most fish and
casting the farthest. The
secret to catch|ng the most is
in using the worms sparingly,
one tiny piece at a time on the
hook. The hook showing
on either end makes no
difference to this kind of fish.
See story and
more photos
on page 3A.
Photos by
Alicia Knadler
I
"'4
i '
:*,r
BOARD OF
SUPERVISORS
ROUNDUP
Dan McDonald
Staff Writer
dmcdonald@plumasnews.corn
The Plumas County Visi-
tors Bureau is still alive.
Barely.
The Board of Supervisors
last week approved a motion
that will keep the bureau sol-
vent through the end of the
year.
As one of the final details
in the fiscal 2011-12 budget
process, the board divvied
up $78,000 among the visitors
bureau, the county's four
chambers of commerce and
Plumas Arts.
The $30,000 for the visitors
bureau represents a fraction
of its past county funding.
The bureau could get more
money after the final budget
is adopted Sept. 20. But its
fate may ultimately rest with
voters as the county's budget
continues to shrink.
Supervisor Robert Meacher
said he would favor a tax
initiative on the ballot next
year.
"(With) the quality of life
that our citizens want to en-
joy ... I am confident that
they would vote, in a simple
majority election, to fund
these sorts of programs and
institutions," Meacher said.
"Not from my end of the
county," Eastern Plumas
area Supervisor Terry Swof-
ford shouted.
"Well,, you know how I feel
about that," Meacher replied,
before finishing his thought.
"But to not allow (voters)
to have the opportunity to
say 'no' ... I.mean, I've been be like keeping-the-lights-on
saying this for five budgets money."
now, that this is coming. While the chambers and
"I've had faith in this.JPlumas Arts are partially
board, putting something ,funded by their members,
on the ballot to let the the visitors bureau has tradi-
people of this county make tionally relied on county
the determination." funding to pay the bills.
After the supervisors As recently as 2008, the
rejected, by a 3-2 vote, a county spent $260,394 on the
motion by Swofford to divide visitors bureau.
the $78,000 evenly among the Its contribution dropped to
visitors bureau, Plumas Arts $150,000 last year.
and the four chambers The $30,000 budgeted this
($13,000 each), the board year represents just a little
unanimously approved a mo- more than a 10th of the
tion by Supervisor Sherrie bureau's 2008 budget.
Thrall. County cutbacks forced the
Thrall's motion gave visitors bureau to eliminate
$30,000 to the visitors bureau an employee last year.
and $9,600 to each of the other Now the bureau and
entities, its two-person staff are in
"It's not a lot of money. But jeopardy.
I know my chamber would "The bottom line is we
really appreciate some help don't get_ further funding, we
with the insurance and some shut down," Visitors Bureau
of those things," said Thrall, DiroctQr Suzi Brakken said.
who represents the Lake Brakke said it costs about
Almanor area. "This would $10,000 per rn th to run the
bureau. She said the county
money would run out by the
end of the year.
Brakken said the visitors
bureau's most important
month marketing-wise is
February.
Meacher said his vote to
approve Thrall's motion on
the $78,000 distribution was
made with the understanding
that the board would revisit
the issue after the budget is
adopted.
The money pledged to
Plumas Arts and the cham-
bers of commerce (Lake A1-
manor Area, Eastern Plumas,
Quincy and Indian Valley) is
about a third of what they
received from the county last
year.
The 2010-11 budget desig-
nated $29,700 for Plumas
Arts, and $27,750 for each of
the chambers.
Plumas Arts and the cham-
bers have been trying to
work together as a coalition
for the last year.
Led by Plumas Arts Execu-
tive Director Roxanne
Valladao, the coalition won
five funding grants. The
group also combined its
marketing efforts.
VaUadao said the coalition
model "became a framework
that could have been ex-
panded." However, she said
the reduced county funding
would force the chambers
and Plumas Arts to focus on
serving their respective
memberships.
Valladao said she would
step back from leading the
coalition.
"With greatly diminished
funding from the county, as
well as other sources, Plumas
Arts will be unab to remain
prominently involved in
a leadership capacity,"
Valladao said. "But this will
certainly not be the end of the
chambers and arts coalition
working together."
Dan McDonald
Staff Writer
dmcdonald@plurnasnews.com
More Plumas County resi-
dents rely on food stamps
than ever before.
In a continued sign of the
depressed economic times,
622 households received food
stamp assistance in May.
The average household is
comprised of roughly three
people.
"The numbers are.unprece-
• dented," County Social Ser-
vices Director Elliott Smart
said. "It's a reflection of the
Iil!!!!!!lll!!!!!lll 1
need that's out there in the
community."
Smart revealed several eye-
opening statistics during a
recent presentation for the
Plumas County Board of
Supervisors.
Food-stamp households
have increased nearly 300
percent in just four years,
according to those statistics.
Smart said many people
are asking for government
assistance for the first time
in their lives.
"I want to emphasize that,
more and more, we are
seeing folks who have not
ever had to come to us for
help or assistance," Smart
said. "These are not people
who have had long-term con-
nection with our services,
but people who have been
displaced from jobs and from
self-support.
"Probably the last place
they want to be is in our
office asking for support. And monthly. In June, that added
my staff knows that." up to $204,216.
The dramatic increase in "Those are dollars that go
assistance requests has put back into the community,"
a strain on social service obs for gro eyc-1 rks anda Slnartsaid-c"rTheYeSUDp°rt
workers.
Smart praised his staff s who are associated with
for absorbing the * "
heav , hat.trade.
workload, while treating
applicants with respect and
dignity at the same time.
"The compassion and under5
standing they show is signifi-
cant to me," Smart said of
his staff. "We continue to see
application counts that have
been in the average range
above 250 per month. That
has been the case now for
close to over 30 months."
The food-stamp surge does
have a positive impact on the
local economy. Smart said 67
percent of the CalFresh (food
stamp) money is spent in the
county.
An average eligible house-
hold receives about $320
Foster care numbers
decline
Smart said the number of
children in foster homes has
started to go down.
"I still think it is a little too
high, but our goal here is to
protect children," Smart said.
"And ff they can't go back to
a safe home, they are going to
stay in foster care for a
while."
He said the majority of
the cases involve parents
abusing alcohol and drugs.
"We have increasing use of
methamphetamine in the
community," Smart said.
"Even though we tell them
that unless you (stop), there
is little likelihood that your
children are going to be
returned to you.
"Even under those circum-
stances, we have some people
where it is just very difficult
for them to break that cycle."
In-home supportive
services
"We are continuing to see a
decline in cases of our in-
home supportive services
program," Smart said. "We
are running in a range of
about 245 to 265 cases per.
month. That is about a 23 per-
cent reduction from our high
count in June of 2005:"
Other statistics
--The average number of
referrals for aduR protective
services is' about 25 per
quarter (three months). How-
ever, the numbers for the
last two quarters were 14 and
12, respectively.
--There were eight emer-
gency responses for child
protective services in June,
down from an average of 16.
The county medical ser-
vices program (CMSP) tends
to rise proportionately with
an increase in food stamp
cases, because many food
stamp recipients are also
eligible for CMSP. The aver-
age monthly CMSP caseload
for 2010-11 was 191, up from
13i the prior year.
The number of People
applying for cash assistance
(CalWORKs) has begun to fall
slightly. However, the 195
cases in June were still about
25 percent above average.
--Applications for all assis-
tance programs were 250 in
June. That number was
higher than May. But it was
below the average of 263,
and well below the 362 appli-
cations in January,
$"