Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/437111
Theradiostationwasplay- ing "I'll be Home for Christ- mas" when I started writ- ing this column. My feeling of where "home" is has evolved over the last decades. When we were first married 49 years ago on De- cember 5, one of our first dilem- mas was deter- mining where we would spend Christmas. Both sets of parents lived within two miles of our apartment, and we could not exclude sharing with either on the basis of distance. At the time going to either my parents' house or my in-laws' house felt like an obligation, but somehow we were able to solve that problem of where we should be, and before we moved to Red Bluff eight years later we rotated Thanksgiving and Christmas with each family, sometimes even having everyone together for one or both celebrations. Even after we moved to Red Bluff, we would travel the 200 miles to San Francisco with our small children to share holiday time together; by that point I had begun to look for- ward to celebrating with the ex- tended family. Then one Christ- mas when Peachey had to work we began a long and satisfy- ing string of Christmas celebra- tions in our own home. Some- times our parents would join us. It felt good having Christ- mas in our own home and with our family, extended or not. We always did some things special leading up to Christ- mas, one of which was find- ing a secure place to hide pres- ents; under beds, in the ga- rage, and on the top shelf of closets didn't work; one year we successfully stored them in a friend's house. One of our sons was so thorough he could not only sniff out the presents, but he could also rewrap them very well. For several years we made an Advent Calendar for each of the three children. Each day they would open up the cal- endar and find a surprise. We kept the surprises low key and within the family; no "gifts" were involved. Our surprises included such things as "Dad will do your chores for a day "and "Mom will do dishes to- night"; the prize could be re- deemed at any point. Other prizes were similar. The big ticket prize was "Free out of the dog house." One November our old- est son did something he shouldn't have; I don't remem- ber what it was, but it called for serious "groundation." Af- ter we had reprimanded him and told him the consequences of his actions, he walked up- stairs to his bedroom; we thought he was being remorse- ful, and perhaps he was, but we could hear him scroung- ing around in his room, as if he were looking for something. A few minutes later he came downstairs with his "Free out of the doghouse" coupon in hand and a quizzical look on his face. We had set no time limit on the ticket, nor had we set a limit to the infrac- tion that could be erased. The three of us had a warm feeling when we were done. After all three of our kids were in college we spent Thanksgiving on the East Coast for four years in a row. Our niece and nephew were attending Princeton, and our two younger children were go- ing to college in the east as well. Our two families rented the old Burpee Seed Farm house in Doylestown, PA, for two of those Thanksgivings; it is an old family house filled with hidden stairways and lots of wood paneling; all of us thought of the game Clue the minute we entered. We would eat at local restaurants, one time in an old colonial era shipping way station along the Delaware River, and we always returned to our home away from home "base" for lots of sharing, reminiscing, and hu- mor. Even though we were on the other side of the country, we all felt at home. Now that our children have scattered from Red Bluff for good, we travel to their homes for the holidays, and we have one set of clothes just for the winter weather where they live. We have stocking caps, ear muffs, scarves, gloves, wool socks, boots, and heavy coats that sit in our closets ex- cept when we visit Wisconsin or Pennsylvania for the holi- days. We have to wear most of those items on the plane be- cause of limitations for car- ryon luggage. Once we put our roll-a-boards in the overhead bin, we squeeze our stuffed coats alongside them and set- tle into our seats. Usually we arrive in either Milwaukie or Philadelphia in the late eve- ning, and our stomachs are a little out synch with the time difference. By the next morn- ing when a grandchild wakes us up, however, we are on a new schedule, ready to enjoy the holiday and family. I have learned that home is not a particular place, but home is where the heart is, even if it is 3,000 miles away from Red Bluff. JoeHarropisaretirededuca- tor with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHar- rop@sbcglobal.net. JoeHarrop Christmas wherever the heart is Hopingtoestablish community gardens Editor: I have thought for a while now that we need some commu- nity gardens in Red Bluff — a location or locations, for people who do not have access to land of their own to share a space with each other, or divide the large space into smaller plots depending upon the needs and wants of those who are inter- ested in being involved. Either way the end result be- ing a place where people can come together within city limits to not only grow their own food but foster a healthier community and perhaps even become an al- ternative learning space for kids. I'm just trying to get the idea out, so please feel free to pass this suggestion along to others who may also want to be inter- ested. I had a wonderful conversa- tion with Councilwoman Dan- iele Jackson and she thought that it wouldn't be a problem getting the city on board. In fact she said the idea had al- ready been tossed around a bit but that there needs to be a large amount of community in- volvement to make it happen. Daniele also mentioned a few possible locations but we thought it would be best to hear feedback before moving for- ward. — Jadda Miller, Red Bluff Permanent drought and tax solution Editor: A Dec. 10 letter in the Chico Enterprise-Record suggested pumping Sacramento River wa- ter up 700 ft. of elevation to re- charge Lake Oroville for irriga- tion and hydroelectric use. This is a great idea, and feasible. The Edmonston Plant in Southern California already pumps Sacra- mento River water up 1,926 ft. of elevation to serve Los Angeles. A Dec. 13 letter suggested us- ing what remained after filling Lake Oroville to recharge North State aquifers. This is also a great idea. Stanford University states the median cost of re- charging aquifers is $390/acre- ft. vs. $2,200/acre-ft. for reser- voir expansion and $2,450/acre- ft. for desalination of ocean water. Lake Oroville accordingly nearly-always full, water could be siphoned from the lake in drought years. Its descent to the valley floor could be slowed by generators producing elec- tricity. This would power the pumps — now redirected to push water up to Chico and be- yond for irrigation, municipal use and recharging aquifers. Rainwater could also be har- vested from roofs, parking lots, freeways and streets. Since more than 75 percent of California's water comes from the North State, implementing the above would give it substan- tial political power. This would enable it to secede from Califor- nia and form the State of Jeffer- son — thus liberating itself of California income tax, fire tax and other extortion schemes. Finally, just as every Alas- kan gets royalties for the state's oil, Jeffersonians could demand California pay every resident royalties for North State wa- ter. For more information, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Water_in_California. — Nathan Esplanade, Corning Beware the threat of martial law Editor: When President Obama signed Executive Order #13603 he gave himself the power to declare martial law at any time and for any reason he chooses. He can seize control of the country and remain in office in- definitely. His martial law powers will completely bypass the Constitu- tion and Congress. He has armed his executive branch with billions of rounds of ammunition, thousands of guns, armor plated vehicles and tanks to patrol American streets. He has created SWAT teams right across the country, who hide in departments like edu- cation, parks and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. He has even built a town in Virginia — complete down to the last street lamp — where these forces can practice sub- duing citizens like us in typical American locations. He can dictate how far we can travel, what we eat, what we are paid and where we can work. Your freedom will be no more. Any time he wishes he can set food prices, give our money to any person or com- pany he likes. He can force manufacturers of consumer goods to switch to making items the government wants. He can break existing la- bor contracts, hike up air fares, limit travel and raise gas prices. He can reduce or eliminate healthcare options, reduce your pay, spy on our private commu- nications and try to take away our firearms. Complete destruction of our Constitution and Bill of Rights and substitute his Islamic inter- national laws. He can force our schools to teach our children to be part of his Islamic group just like Hitler did with his Nazi youth training; with his distor- tion and hatred for anything honorable, honest, decent or with any integrity. If the House of Representa- tives, the Senate and the Su- preme Court allow this to con- tinue, they too are guilty of treason to this country. Their oaths of office are worth nothing. Just lies and distortions robbing the Amer- ican people of their tax dollars to carry out his power mad, ar- rogant, egotistical plans. He has made deals with the United Nations and foreign countries around the world that have nothing but hatred for us. This in the name of his reli- gion and his ego. — Jean Clayton, Red Bluff Your opinions Cartoonist's take If you believe the recently re- leased Senate Intelligence Com- mittee torture report, you might be tempted to con- clude that the CIA lied to the press and the public and to Congress about the extent and ef- fectiveness of its torture campaign. And that conclu- sion would be cor- rect, sir. The amazing thing is people are amazed. Yes. Of course the CIA lies. That's what they do. Lying and cheating and stealing are its to- tal and complete job description. Glance at their listing on the civil service careers website: "fluid in- terpretation of situational moral- ity required." That's why when old CIA guys retire they go to work as oil industry lobbyists or Hollywood publicists. The CIA lied. Wow. What the next big revelation: Fire is hot? The New York Philharmonic is musically inclined? Shia La- Boeuf is bug suck crazy? Scorpi- ons make lousy pre school pets? Contracting dysentery is a lousy career move? Tiramisu is tasty? One thing you got to give our beleaguered spy agency; they are on the cutting edge in the use of creative euphemisms. In their world, "sleep management" means refusing to let someone sleep, possibly for more than a week, and "special rendition" means kidnapping people right off the street. Like an involun- tary Uber ride. If Uber made passengers wear ankle manacles and black bags over their heads. The cute term for torture it- self: "enhanced interrogation techniques," is borrowed from the Nazis, who preferred: "re- fined interrogation techniques." And whenever you hear some- one stealing tactics from the Na- zis, that's not good. The report even gives us new and original verbal obfusca- tions. The phrase "rectal feed- ing" means to stick a tube up someone's butt with actual food not necessarily involved and a consistent pattern of lying is now referred to as: "imprecise representations." That's what current CIA chief, John Brennan says occurred. He went on to stress "we did some things right." Yeah. And the hus- band who poisoned his wife's breakfast did a great job on the toast. During the same press conference, Brennan assured us "Congressional oversight is cru- cial." Must be why he autho- rized the hacking of Congress's computers: make sure they were properly supervising the CIA. Reliable sources contend that's the reason why Dianne Feinstein went to such great lengths to make sure this re- port was released before her chairmanship wraps up in Janu- ary. Spying on Americans is one thing. Spying on Congress: now them's fighting words. Conservatives are busy do- ing what they always do: at- tacking the attackers. Squatting on the flag. Brennan and for- mer President Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney have all called the perpetrators of these atrocities "patriots" which means that anybody who ques- tions their actions is giving the terrorists a foot rub. You know whom we should trust on this issue? The Sena- tor with first- hand experience in the torture biz- John McCain, who adamantly insists that tor- ture doesn't work. Short term, because people will tell you whatever they think you want to hear to make it end. "She's in the attic. Please stop playing ABBA." And it doesn't work long term, because it permanently blurs the distinction between the good guys, which is supposed to be us, and the bad guys, which is supposed to be them. Here's a helpful primer designed to high- light the differences: Snow- boarding- good guys, water- boarding- bad guys. Will Durst is an award- win- ning, political comic. Go to will- durst.com for more about the documentary film "3 Still Stand- ing," and a calendar guide to personal appearances . Will Durst Squatting on the American flag GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@red bluffdailynews.com Phone: 530-527- 2151ext. 112 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS Will Durst Joe Harrop OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, December 20, 2014 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4