Ron Largent

Cascade Needs Money.....Certainly Not Due to “A Cascade Christmas” This past weekend I had the good fortune and great pleasure to attend the wonderful Christmas show at the Cascade, "A Cascade Christmas". Having been in the music field as an avocation for 50 years, I can report that this was one of the best "off Broadway" musicals I have ever seen. What James Santos and the Redding Dance Project does each Christmas is truly magnificent. This show could easily be a Branson headliner or a lead in for any of the Las Vegas shows. This musical dance program with gorgeous and appropriate costuming features talent that is not only professional in their performance but is so impressive in terms of how it is presented with "Broadway" quality sets and settings. The dancers and singers, all of them local talent folks, work for months to make this one of the best shows in the entire North State, and it shows. From the opening City Scene with the women's cast performing over head kicks and ballet type moves to the full cast Carol of the Bells in full and elaborate costumes, the show moved through beautiful renditions of the familiar Christmas songs (The Christmas Song)to excellent solo and small group renditions of Santa music. With the children, many from local dance schools and dance programs, bringing a new and refreshing excitement to the overall program, this was just a delightful evening of wonderful entertainment. The final numbers feature the Dance of the Wooden Soldiers, and this is perfection at its best. The timing and precision needed in this very difficult presentation caused the full house audience to rise in applause in appreciation of what they had just seen. The final Nativity scene was, as always, very well done and a very fitting evening to this Christmas tradition. If you did not have a chance to join the 9000 folks that were able to see the 2008 presentation, put it on your schedule for next year. James and the Project will be back and I'm sure it will be as good as this year. This is one Redding activity that one cannot miss. It is truly a wonderful show in the beautiful Cascade Theater setting, where there is not a bad seat. See you at the show

Shasta vs Enterprise....Great Basketball Posted December 06, 2008 at 09:47 AM ronlargent Last night we got to see a great game of fast and exciting basketball....and I wanted to share the coverage story from the Record Searchlight with you, for it says it all. What a fun night of high school basketball. It doesn't get any better than what we saw on Friday night at the Harlan Carter HS Basketball Invitational. Wolves beat Hornets, try for first Harlan Carter title since 1999 By John Ryan (Contact) Saturday, December 6, 2008 The Wolves beat the Hornets at their own game. In a frenetic-paced contest not for basketball purists, in a back-and-forth tilt stamped "instant classic" - the Shasta High School boys basketball team ignited at home with two minutes to play and burned rival Enterprise 56-54. The win puts the Wolves in the Harlan Carter Invitational championship against Pleasant Valley at 6:30 p.m. today. They got there by outrunning the notoriously aggressive Enterprise defense, matching the Hornets' stamina and speed with a 12-man Shasta rotation. And the final two minutes played out like a gem. The Wolves outscored the Hornets 10-3 over the final 1:50 to fill a 51-46 deficit. Most of the 1:50 rolled off unabated as Enterprise ran out of timeouts with 80 seconds left and the Wolves sat on theirs. "I thought we were where we needed to be," Shasta coach Bill Callaway said. Besides, he didn't want to let the Hornets recompose. "If we didn't break and get something we really got stagnant," Callaway said, praising Enterprise's half-court defense. "We didn't move very well on offense. Some of that's lack of practice time, but they just stuffed us in the half-court game so we didn't want to slow anything down." Nick Preston owned five of Shasta's final 10 points and scored a game-high 11, counting a big 3-pointer to cut Enterprise's lead to 51-49 and a layup off a steal by Evan Taylor to extend Shasta's lead to 54-51. The Wolves took the lead on Matt Wayda's go-ahead 3-pointer - his lone score of the game - to make it 52-51 Shasta with 56 seconds left. Enterprise set up the score when it flubbed an inbound pass. Wayda's crowd-raising 3-pointer set off a chain of events in rapid fire. Taylor snagged a loose ball and pitched it to Preston to put Shasta up three. Enterprise broke down the sideline and hit Nyjel Buchanan with a long pass. Buchanan dropped a game-tying 3. Shasta came back up court and Tony Moore drove the lane for two with less than 20 seconds left. Enterprise responded with a decent look by sophomore Cody Fisher in the corner that found iron. Ball game. "I think coming back against a little bit of a deficit is a big thing right there and maybe shows a little bit of what we're capable of doing," Callaway said. And the two-platoon hockey shift gave the Hornets all they could handle. Shasta ran Enterprise to to the point where it would physically and mentaly lax, then Callaway sent in a new line of guys. "We want to play like we did the last minute there," Callaway said. "With a sense of passion and urgency that everything is on the line. If we're going to play 12 guys lets get after it and make things happen." Jovon Cunningham helped keep the Hornets in it early with his clutch 3-point shooting. Cunningham hit four-of-six downtown attempts in the second half. "Usually I just slide to wherever the open lane is," Cunningham said. "You can feel it. It's all in the rhythm. I'd say after my third three I could feel it." He scored 15 points, Buchanan added 15 and Anthony Williams scored 13. Shasta's Tony Moore scored 10. Brett LaHorgue added eight. Reporter John Ryan can be reached at 225-8263 or at jryan@redding.com.

What is a Loan Modification Program and Who Is at Risk? This is the “question of the day” as many homeowners are faced with some very difficult decisions. As a result of a number of financial issues, including sub-prime loans some two to three years ago, some homeowners are now dealing with increased adjustable rate mortgage payments, or a loss of a job by one of the wage-earners, or a change in their personal circumstances that is causing an unexpected move out of their home. What was thought to be a “good deal” a short time ago is now turning into a “nightmare” for some, and they are earnestly seeking ways to resolve their immediate situation. One option is a loan modification program that has been on the national news just these past weeks. What is a Loan Modification Program (LMP)? This is a program that is designed to change the mortgage payment and terms agreement that the homeowner entered into when they took out the loan. How can you change a note, a contract, and an agreement that was agreed upon and signed by all parties, one may ask? Legally, the only way is to change the terms with all parties agreeing, and that is exactly what happens with a LMP. What is the process? It starts with understanding how the original loan was made. In many cases in this area, a homeowner would go to a local lender, such as a bank, a mortgage broker, or a mortgage representative and get a loan. This loan application and approval was handled by the mortgage maker (bank, mortgage company, etc) and after the close of escrow, this loan was “sold” by this lender to a larger “investor”, such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or one of the many Wall Street money firms, such as Lehman Brothers. This parent group, if you will, then invested the money and all were happy. This process was fine as long as the value of the security (the home) would continue to keep or grow in value. What happened though, starting about four years ago, was that the housing industry on a nationwide scale, thanks to the unprecedented availability of money, starting building homes at an alarming rate, especially in the larger metro areas and suburbs around those areas. The result was a huge increase in the inventory of available homes, and then supply and demand set in. The supply grew faster than the demand, and prices started leveling and in some cases dropping and the result was the value of the home security was reduced. The investor got worried, and decided to sell the security, and this went on for awhile until the basic security dropped even lower in value, making the security harder to sell. Before long the investor had a bad investment. Our economy is based on moving dollars from one arena to another, and this process, in the housing industry, just stopped. Compounding all of this was the adjustable rate mortgage, whereby mortgage payments start increasing after the first year of the loan. As the housing industry slowed down, so did all of the associated industries, such as lumber, flooring materials, plumbing, etc. With a slowdown, comes a loss of jobs, and the resulting income. Many two income earner families saw their incomes drop, but at the same time their mortgage payments were going up. Not a good situation. The immediate effect was that homeowners said, “we cannot afford this home, so let’s sell”. Due to the inventory and dropping prices, the homeowner is eventually faced with not making the payment and walks away from the home and all of the obligations that go with the home. The investor is left with an empty home that is losing value daily with no income at all coming from that investment. Not good. The rest is history, as it becomes a downward spin for all involved. Instead of addressing this situation some two years ago, many lenders, driven by greed and not fully appreciating the magnitude of what was actually happening, refused to negotiate with the homeowner in an effort to “save the deal”. The result was the highest percentage of mortgage foreclosures in our history, and it is still going on. And, here comes the federal government to the rescue, just way too late. The problem is now of huge proportions, for national housing investments have continued to plummet and many of the investor’s securities are almost worthless. After trying to bail out Wall Street, the government decided to try and help the homeowner, and brings up Loan Modification Programs. Again, too late to help such a huge problem, but at least an attempt. The problem is, how does the government decide who to help and how much help to provide, and this is where the federal program will bog down. A few years ago, some foresighted financial folks saw what was happening and decided to address the issue head on, and we saw an increase in the number of debt resolution companies, initially directed toward credit card debt. Some decided, as the housing market declined, to address the mortgage loan issue, and that is where we are today. On Monday night, December 15, 2008, at 6:30 PM, at the Redding Main Library, we will be conducting a second Mortgage Loan Modification Seminar for all that are at risk or are thinking that they might be at risk in the near future. This is an information dissemination seminar and the various options will be explained by the Largent Team at Keller Williams Realty who will be joined by a national debt resolution firm that has a 97% success rate with loan modification programs. The process outlined above will be explained in more detail, questions will be answered, and hopefully options will be offered that can help homeowners as they deal with the possibility of “losing their homes”. Reservations can be made for the free seminar by calling 248-5699 (Kim).

David Benda at the Record Searchlight kind of wrote it all....you can see the full article at the following site:

http://www.redding.com/news/2008/nov/26/area-housing-market-slips-prices-drop-14-over-past/

Redding’s housing market sizzled five years ago when it topped a government index as the fastest-appreciating area in the nation. It was the dawn of an unprecedented real estate run-up that exhausted itself in early 2006. Today, Redding is one of the 40 fastest-declining markets in the same government index. Plenty of other California cities share the same fate. Home values in Redding slid 14.07 percent in the third quarter of 2008 compared with the same three months a year ago, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) all-transaction House Price Index. Prices in Redding — which includes Anderson, Shasta Lake and unincorporated Shasta County — in the third quarter declined 6.63 percent from the second quarter of this year. Over a five-year period, values in Redding have increased 31.14 percent. Redding ranked 256 in the index, which surveyed 292 metropolitan areas.

SAN MATEO - The Shasta Knights football team won a thrilling Bulldog Bowl today with a final score of 33-31 over the Monterey Peninsula Lobos. As time was running out, Shasta's Zack Gibbins intercepted a Hail Mary pass to end the game. Shasta's Blake Arrowsmith caught an 8-yard TD pass from Will Camy with 33.9 seconds left to put the Knights up 33-31. Brandon Boyd missed the PAT. Shasta had the ball at 2nd-and-goal from Monterey's 8-yard line with 40.1 seconds left in the game. Monterey Peninsula came back 31-27 with 1:50 left in the fourth quarter of the bowl game at the College of San Mateo campus. Lobos quarterback Brian Reader scored on a 1-yard QB sneak. Shasta's Ryan Krueger scored on a 46-yard TD run with 5:45 left to play. Blake Arrowsmith missed the extra-point. With 13 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Shasta safety Casey Robertson snuffed out a Monterey Peninsula drive by making a diving interception. With :07 left in the third quarter, Shasta's Brandon Baldwin scored on a 29-yard TD run. Blake Arrowsmith's extra-point was good. The Knights scored a touchdown with 4:41 left in the third quarter when Arrowsmith caught a 50-yard TD pass from Will Camy. The Knights went for two points and Camy hit Brandon Baldwin in the flat for the 2-point conversion. The Lobos had gone up 24-6 with 5:23 left in the third quarter after a 31-yard field goal by Monterey's Chris Pinto. Shasta got on the board after taking the opening drive of the second half in for a score. Ryan Krueger scored on a 2-yard TD run on a toss sweep left. Arrowsmith missed the extra-point attempt. But the Lobos came back and scored on the kick return. Zachkary Heager scored on the 87-yard kickoff return for with 11:52 left in the third quarter Monterey Peninsula scored its second touchdown with 29 seconds left in the second quarter. Lobos quarterback Brian Reader threw an 85-yard TD pass to Heager on a great out-and-up play. Reader pump-faked an out route and Shasta corner Robert Lee bit. Heager then got behind the Knights secondary, got it at the 40 and ran it in. Halftime statistics for Shasta: Brandon Baldwin has run 11 times for 60 yards. Will Camy is 8-of-10 passing for 50 yards. Blake Arrowsmith has six catches for 28 yards. For Monterey Peninsula: Ian Hesse has 12 rushes for 66 yards and a score. Quarterback Reader is 10-of-19 for 160 yards and a touchdown pass. Shasta wasn't able to do much offensively in the first half. Although midway through the second quarter, Shasta's Baldwin reeled off runs of 16 and 25 yards on back-to-back plays, putting the Knights on Monterey's 40-yard line. The Lobos called a timeout with 7:30 left in the second quarter. Earlier, Monterey running back Hesse ran 31 yards off left tackle for a touchdown with 8 minutes left in the first quarter. Chris Pinto made the PAT kick. The Knights will return home this evening, probably sometime after 9 p.m.