Ron Largent

History is for books. The 2008 Shasta High School football is bent on writing its own chapter and leaving its own legacy. The second-seeded Wolves reached their first Northern Section title game in 20 years with a 41-19 win over No. 2 Lassen on Friday at Thompson Field. "We've all heard the history about Shasta not being able to come up big in the big game," said Richard Stevenson, who had a monster game with a fumble-recovery touchdown. "We know the history. We want to write our future." The Wolves penned another chapter in the 2008 annals with a 35-point second-half outburst that put away the Grizzlies and earned Shasta a trip to The Ridge at 7 p.m. Wednesday to take on top-seeded Paradise in the Division I section title game. Shasta's offense sputtered in the first half as four starters sat and starting safety Stephen Somers watched in street clothes. Somers was injured in an after-practice auto accident that led to stitches in his head and 24 minutes on the sidelines for his cohorts. "It served as a wake-up call," coach Aaron Gingery said of Somers' injuries and the punishments. The Wolves gave up a 66-yard touchdown burst to Darren Lee midway through the second quarter that put the Grizzlies up 7-6 at intermission. But the Wolves, with their cadre of starters back, came out of the locker room and made up for lost time. "These are an experienced bunch of guys," Gingery said. "I didn't need to yell at them. I drew up a couple of plays, but they did most of the talking." Shasta held Lassen to a three-and-out before ripping off a three-play, 44-yard touchdown drive. The Grizzlies would score on their next possession — an 11-play, 70-yard drive that chewed up nearly five minutes — to go up 13-12. It would be the last time Lassen would see the lead. The Wolves blitzed the Grizzlies for 21 points in roughly the same time as the final Lassen scoring drive. Shasta used trickery with a Brooks Beaudette to Matt McCartin to Nick Preston double pass for a 44-yard strike to go up 20-13. The Wolves then got a huge play from Jordan Tucker, who pounced on an 8-iron lob kickoff at the 20-yard line. Evan Taylor carried the ball twice, scoring on a 4-yard run to lengthen Shasta's lead to 27-13. After another Lassen three-and-out, the Wolves got the ball on their 33 and marched 67 yards in seven plays, capped by Taylor's untouched, 48-yard off-tackle scamper. It gave Shasta a 34-13 lead just into the fourth quarter. Taylor had 276 yards on 22 carries to move within 30 yards of Jim Tomasin's all-time Shasta rushing mark of 3,115. With Lassen in a hurry-up offense, the Grizzlies were able to march down the field and looked primed to at least make it a game. Lassen drove from its 28 to the Shasta 12 in six plays and were about to punch it in when quarterback Quinton Perry fumbled the snap. Linebacker Richard Stevenson pounced on it for his second fumble recovery of the game and iced the Lassen threat. Stevenson, a junior who said he wanted step up and take the leadership mantle in Somers' absence, also found the end zone for the Wolves' first touchdown. "Stephen is our leader," Stevenson said. "Someone had to step into that role. "I wanted to be that person." In the first quarter, Taylor ran off-tackle from the 5, but fumbled at the 3. Stevenson, also an offensive lineman, picked up the ball before twisting and turning into the end zone. "You can just say 55 was at the right place at the right time," Stevenson said. "I knew once I picked up the ball, I was going to carry two or three people across the line if I had to." The Wolves now must head to Paradise to exorcise the past — both distant and recent. This season, Paradise handed Shasta one of its two losses — a 27-19 Oct. 31 loss in Paradise. The Bobcats haven't lost to Shasta this century. Compound that with Shasta's title berth drought and the Wolves have a chance to vanquish quite a few ghosts Wednesday. "I've been here seven years," Gingery said. "We all know the history, but these guys are trying to leave their own mark. "We expect them to rise to the occasion."

When John Nogle was laid off three months ago from his position at the Shasta County Opportunity Center, he knew it would be difficult to find another job. In that respect, the Shasta Lake resident hasn't been disappointed. "I'd tell people looking for a job to take whatever's out there - it's slim pickings," Nogle said one recent weekday morning at the Smart Business Resource Center in downtown Redding. "Even if it's a minimum-wage job, it's better than nothing." Nogle's hardly alone. Unemployment in Shasta County in October jumped to a 15-year high as continued declines in the construction sector helped spark the increase. Construction jobs in the county last month totaled 3,700, a 21 percent drop from the 4,700 who were employed in the trade in October 2007, the state reported Friday. Shasta's jobless rate in October was 10 percent, up from 9.5 percent in September and 7 percent from a year ago. Last month's unemployment rate tied October 1994 and was the highest since October 1993, when it reached 10.7 percent. In Shasta County, there were 8,900 unemployed in October, up from 8,300 in September, and nearly 3,000 more people without jobs in October 2007. The number of people applying for unemployment benefits in Shasta County last month was 2,469, up from 2,039 a year ago. California's unemployment rate jumped to 8.2 percent in October, the highest rate in 14 years, just as a state fund that pays unemployment benefits was about to run out of money. State officials are preparing to ask the federal government to step in with a loan on Dec. 1 so they can continue paying jobless benefits to California's now more than 1.5 million unemployed, nearly a third of whom have lost their jobs in the last year. Shasta County saw year-over-year job gains in farming, manufacturing, local government, and educational and health services. For Nogle, who's divorced with three school-aged children, job hunting has been mentally exhausting. But he doesn't have time to dwell on his bad luck. Nogle's rent is $510 a month and he lives on $800 a month in unemployment benefits. He makes about two trips a week to the Smart Center, which has a database of job openings across the state and also helps job-seekers with resumes, cover letters and interview tips. "It's been pretty hard. I will go to the Salvation Army to get canned goods and make sure we have food on the table," said Nogle, who made $9 an hour at the county before state budget cuts eliminated his job. "I want welfare to be the last resort." Nogle's 13-year-old son helps out when he can by doing odd jobs like mowing neighbors' lawns. "I won't let anything get me down - with kids you can't," Nogle said. "I told my oldest that just because you're down right now, doesn't mean it's the end of the world." Nogle has applied for a temporary position at Sierra Pacific Industries in Anderson. He might find out Tuesday whether he gets the job. For Sylvia Partridge, who quit her medical assistant job in Medford, Ore., and moved here to be closer to her family, finding job listings aren't difficult. But it's tough landing an interview when as many as 30 people apply for one job. "It's very competitive," Partridge said while searching for work at the Smart Center. Partridge applies for about two jobs a week. She's discovered that hourly wages in Shasta County are below what she made in Medford, Ore. "I left making $13.41 (an hour) and most of the jobs I've applied for are 10 to 12 dollars an hour," said Partridge, who rents a home in Anderson. Partridge's husband, who works in retail loss prevention, still lives in Medford. The couple's house is for sale but Partridge's husband won't move until she finds a job. Meantime, she lives with her two children. "I haven't applied for unemployment. I'm getting by, so it's OK," Partridge said. "I watch what I spend. There's no eating out; we do what we need to do."

The Greater Redding Chamber of Commerce honored the best in customer service with its annual Hall of Excellence awards. Two businesses and an individual walked away with top honors Wednesday night at the Holiday Inn. Redding Veterinary Clinic on Westside Road won first place for service. The business is owned and operated by Dr. Gerald Bond, who has five full-time employees. Bond's dedication to animals is illustrated by the time he donates to the Shasta Wildlife Refuge. The veterinarian business was established in 1942 by Dr. C.J. Ferreira and his wife, Dorothy. Penguin Paddlers won first place for retail business. Penguin Paddlers, which sells kayaks and accessories, is owned by Garth Schmeck and is at 3330 Railroad Ave. in Redding. Schmeck's customers are a dedicated band of paddlers who meet weekly for paddle excursions and travel monthly on outdoor adventures. Recently, Penguin Paddlers staged the great penguin migration, meeting at the old store and walking 200 yards north to the new location, each customer carrying a piece of equipment. Individually, handyman Erin Johnson of Erin Johnson Handyman Service won top honors. Johnson has made a habit of fixing just about anything since his arrival in Redding. This year, 24 shoppers visited 156 nominees - 96 in the individual category and 61 businesses - over a four-week period.

Fishing In The North State Posted November 21, 2008 at 22:51 PM ronlargent Without help, almost two-thirds of the state's native salmon, steelhead and trout could be gone within a century. That includes seven fish swimming in north state waters, according to a report released this week by California Trout, a San Francisco-based fish and watershed advocacy group. "They are all in serious danger of extinction," said Peter Moyle, a University of California at Davis ecology professor who wrote the 350-page report. In danger of extinction in the north state are redband trout on the McCloud River; coho and spring chinook salmon on the Klamath River; and winter, spring and late-fall run chinook, as well as the Central Valley steelhead, on the Sacramento River. They're endangered by the changes people have made to rivers and the land surrounding them, such as dams and logging, Moyle said. "Every place has its own different reasons," he said, "but it all deals with how we treat the land and the water." All of the fish facing possible extinction are indicator species that give warning of problems in the health of their streams, said Curtis Knight, Mount Shasta area manager for California Trout. "These fish are telling us that something is wrong with those systems," Knight said. In two of the past three years, he said, only about 50 fish of each species have made it back to the Shasta and Scott rivers, which feed into the Klamath River in Siskiyou County. "These guys are hanging on by a thread," Knight said. And there is precedent of extinction in the north state, with the bull trout - which was only found on the McCloud River - declared extinct in 1997. But there are many habitat-restoration projects around the north state that are under way to help the ailing fish, Knight and Moyle said. Those include the massive restoration of the Klamath River that would take place after the removal of four hydroelectric dams that block salmon from spawning habitat. Earlier this month, leaders from California and Oregon, the federal government and the dams' owner, Portland-based Pacific Power, announced an agreement in principle to remove the dams by 2020. Along with restoration work, the California Trout report called for the state to hire more game wardens to enforce laws that protect watersheds and overhaul management of the state's hatcheries. State scientists who study the north state fish deferred comment on the report to a spokeswoman in Sacramento - Jordan Traverson - who in turn released a typed statement from state Department of Fish and Game Director Donald Koch. It read: "We look forward to reading the 100-plus-page report 'SOS: California's Native Fish Crisis,' released by California Trout today. We thank California Trout for their dedication to California's native fish species. We appreciate their support and look forward to engaging them and other stakeholders in finding solutions to further our efforts to conserve the state's valuable fish and wildlife resources."

Why the North State?

For those of us that have been here in the North State for awhile, this question is asked frequently. The answer is not an easy one; there are so many variables that influence this question that one hardly knows where to begin.

In Shasta County, with Redding as the hub, our growth has been largely tied in with those folks described as “equity refugees”, or those buyers that were sellers in the Bay area that made a nice profit on their home there and reinvested in the Redding area without a mortgage payment. These new residents have become the “new spenders” that further the service industries that fill the Redding area, from restaurants to retail to the big box stores of Winco, Costco, and Best Buy. In fact, both WalMart and Lowe’s has realized this and both of these retail giants have new stores in their plans, with a WalMart just opening in Anderson along Interstate 5.

In Tehama County, centered around Red Bluff, much the same is happening, and again, the retail is expanding, with a new Home Depot and many new auto dealers, the big drug stores, and of course a new WalMart. Between Redding and Red Bluff, the “buzz in the real estate community” is the proposed Del Webb development, which is already changing the nature of rural Cottonwood, eventhough ground breaking for this exciting area-changing project is a year off. And, with this planned growth, prices are starting to go up, with land prices jumping as much as 200% over the past 2 years.

In Butte County, with Chico as the focal point, it is almost a carbon copy of the other North State areas, with luxury homes now over a million dollars and retail following the new residents, with impressive developments all along the east side of what use to be rural Highway 99. Chico State University continues to draw students from all over the state, and nation, and with its reputation as still a small-town college, is setting itself apart from the big campuses as “the place to be”. An environmentally sensitive community, the civic, business, and government entities are working together to further the image of Chico as a community of higher education and a quality of life unheard of in much of the rest of California.

So where are we going, and will the folks in the next few years to come still be asking the question, why the North State? My answer is yes, for we do not see any end to the “migration” and the resulting growth. Yes, we do need more industry and jobs, but we are seeing an increase in the high tech, medical, and educational communities. There is “talk” of Shasta College becoming a 4 year college in the future, even with their expansion into a new campus in Tehama; Shasta Regional Medical Center, under new ownership is adding both departments and medical personnel; and the WalMart distribution center along I5 in Red Bluff is getting the attention of other retailers that need these kinds of facilities and cannot afford the higher prices as you go further south. And yes, the overall quality of life in this part of “the other California” is still very appealing to many throughout the metro areas to our south. With the technology now available to all, graphic artists can set up shop in Corning and do business in the Bay area, and sales reps can live in Paradise and cover the entire Northwest. And, for the recreation enthusiasts, living in Redding will enable you to be within 4 hours of more recreation than any other location in the US. Not bad for skiers, boaters, climbers, or even folks that like to attend the opera in San Francisco.

As far as real estate, and if you are in it for the long haul, unless the economy hits bottom, you should have a job in the North State. Be prepared to answer the question, why the North State? for it will continue to be asked, and the answers may be as hard to find as now, and that “mystery” will continue to befuddle many of us as folks continue to move north. As professionals, we must prepare ourselves as best we can to answer the question, so stay in touch with your local economic development groups; attend your Chamber of Commerce meetings; and become part of your community. You, as a real estate professional, are the first one that our newcomers will see, and that is their good fortune.