Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/469528
GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIALBOARD 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 Youmayseethe rules regarding teach- ers' tenure change in the near future. A historic ruling came from a Los Angeles judge Rolf Treu last June. His opinion was that California's ten- ure law violated five laws pro- tected by our constitution. He ruled it deprived some of Cal- ifornia's 6.2 million students — mostly minority children — of a quality education. His rul- ing is the result of a lawsuit that was filed by nine students in the Silicon Valley, including three from the Bay Area. After that ruling California Attorney General Kamala Har- ris, already running to replace Barbara Boxer in the United States Senate in 2016, filed an appeal in the Los Angeles County court on behalf of Gov- ernor Jerry Brown. Republican State Senate leader Bob Huff said: "Unbelievable." Here we go again. The con- troversy of tenure has a new life. Tenure is an old battle. I was quite delighted by Judge Treu's decision. In the really old days between 1867 and 1887 the United States had passed a federal law called "The Tenure of Of- fice Act." Ostensibly, it was to stop school administrators from playing political games within our school system and getting rid of teachers they did not personally like and hiring those they do. So ten- ure was started for a good reason to stop that preferen- tial treatment. Massachusetts got on board and became the first state to start tenure way back in 1886. During the nine times I ran for office in Tehama County and eight other north state counties in or- der to retain my elected po- sition in the California As- sembly, I was often asked what I thought about tenure. What I eventu- ally learned to reply was something like: "I think tenure was started for a good reason, but it has now probably outlived its original purpose. In my job as an Assembly- man, I don't get to en- joy that kind of job protec- tion and you as a private cit- izen don't either. The voters must approve of me every other year. So I think tenure has outlived its original pur- pose." Even today tenure is of- ten debated in Sacramento, where the California Teach- ers Association distributes millions in campaign contri- butions and has much politi- cal power. I never understood why the concept of some kind of permanent job protection should even exist in a free enterprise country like the United States. From the very start of this concept it has always been controversial. Now a new movement to seriously review today's tenure is beginning in the states of Florida, New Jer- sey, Idaho, Illinois, Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania. In New Jersey, unafraid Gover- nor Chris Christie is putting his weight — a joke — and po- litical power — not a joke — to change tenure there in a big way. If Christie does seriously jump into the race to be Pres- ident in 2016, I think we can guarantee Daily News readers that he won't be getting any campaign contributions from any teacher's union. Currently in New Jersey, af- ter a teacher proves them- selves for a three-year period, their lifetime job protection begins. Now Governor Christie wants to judge the effective- ness of a teacher in two parts. Part one is based on student achievement. And, if he gets his way, part two will be based on the teacher's performance. However, I feel certain that the middle ground on this issue will be difficult to find, but following it will be adrenalin-filled. Tenure is one of those po- litical issues that apparently never goes away and has no easy solution. Please let me know your opinion on this sensitive topic. I promise to respond. StanStathamserved1976- 1994 in the California As- sembly and was a television news anchor at KHSL-TV in Chico 1965-1975. He is presi- dent of the California Broad- casters Association and can be reached at StanStatham@ gmail.com. My take Ruling may lead to teaching tenure changes I never understood why the concept of some kind of permanent job protection should even exist in a free enterprise country like the United States. Wethepeople Editor: Sunday we attended the State of Jefferson event in Redding. The house was packed, parking extended into Caldwell Park. Much of the discussion was about we the people. I often forget about we the people because so much has been taken out of our hands. The Constitution was written to protect us from this type of tyr- anny but when we let it happen again and again, this fine ket- tle of fish is what happens. It is our fault and we need to put an end to it. Our elected officials work for us, they're not our masters, they're our well-paid, well-com- pensated employees who are out of control with power be- cause they get away with it. The Constitution is shredded on a daily basis. I forget the exact num- bers, the Constitution has been amended say 15 times, the State Constitution has been amended over 500 times. What does that tell you. Shasta County citizens weren't even given the chance to vote on this issue. State of Jefferson came prepared to their meeting, they were taken off the agenda and the supervi- sors voted to not hear this even in the future. So much for we the people. In Tehama County our su- pervisors had two meetings and they voted to let us place it on the ballot. They heard the presentation, asked ques- tions, that's the process. We were at both meetings, I think the first meeting four voted in favor, one voted for a dec- laration and the next meeting they all voted for the ballot if I have the facts right. Some- thing like that. The vote was 57 percent for. Shasta County took the short cut — cut the middle man out, the citizens. The way this state spends money with all their projects that we can't afford, in a few years the debt will be so high we won't have the money to pay our share back to the old state of California. Our legislators have big ideas, no money but that doesn't stop them. We the people need to stand up to these elected jerks. We're a rural area, we don't need a bullet train and what's the issue about a water tunnel. I'm com- pletely in the dark about that one. I'm sure we'll be on the los- ing end. Our cattle people have to fence off streams and haul wa- ter in for their livestock. No more plastic bags. Thank God, I saw a plastic bag hung up on a tree branch yesterday. What a disaster. Instead of dealing with real issues, they spend valuable time on trivia. One last thought. The undoc- umented, probably not vacci- nated, now receiving driver's li- censes and possibly work per- mits. What about we the people. We were born here, not all are satisfied to live on welfare, what about jobs for us. How about our homeless. Our citi- zens. What are they thinking? State and federal, what are they thinking? — Bernice Cressy, Cottonwood Reader ponders 'what if?' Editor: When is it appropriate to doodle with "what if" ques- tions? What if consumers respond to the dock workers strike sim- ilar to the farm workers strike during the peak apricot harvest many years ago? What if money spent on the bullet train was spent on the water situation to improve cop- ing with drought? What if people moved away from the drought area rather than trying to improve the water situation? What if people tried to improve the water situation rather than move from the drought area? What if doodling is positive not negative? What if rural areas and the tyranny of the majority coop- erated on decisions; rural area representation versus city, wa- ter versus train and county li- brary location? — Steve Kelsey, Corning End the subsidy for wind, solar and ecars Editor: It is senseless for taxpayers to subsidize the building of so- lar and wind farms and elec- tric cars. These are all mature prod- ucts that benefit only a minor- ity. The very wealthy are the primary buyers of battery pow- ered commuter cars and receiv- ers of the $7,500 per car wel- fare subsidy. They don't need the subsidy. Similarly, solar and wind farms, owned primarily by cor- porations or public ventures, should not be subsidized with our federal or state taxes. Cor- porate tax deductions for so- lar and wind farms should be the same as for any capital in- vestment, and that is the stan- dard depreciation tax refund over time. Public solar farms, such as installed by a city or school district should be locally funded with voter approved property taxes or school bonds, but only if there is a less than 10-year return on investment, without federal or state subsi- dies. Home solar projects should be funded by the homeowner based on a personal desire to use full cost without tax subsi- dies, 22 cent per kilowat hour energy instead of the normal 14 cent PG&E provided power. Our nation has accumulated $18 trillion in debt and Califor- nia is broke from spending for worthless projects such as the high speed rail proposal and wind, solar, and e-car welfare subsidies. — Joseph Neff, Corning Your opinions Cartoonist's take If you watched this year's Academy Awards, you proba- bly know that March 2 marks the 50th anniversary of the U.S. debut of the beloved film "The Sound Of Music." If you watched the slate of obscure nominees for Acad- emy Awards, you probably also know that the Hollywood hills are alive with the sound of self-important, clueless vot- ing members crying, "An Oscar for the 'feel good movie of the year?' That's a disease we must vaccinate against — even if it causes autism." But I digress. My real point is that this milestone needs to be acknowledged Monday and throughout the rest of 2015. I've worked up some possible ways you could pay homage to the film. You could discuss the con- gressional committee examin- ing the plight of the nation's Lonely Goatherds, and the effi- cacy of increasing the Churned Income Tax Credit. Oh, and Congressman Philmuhpokkets, whose district just happens to include the McKeethan High- lander Musical Instruments headquarters, stresses the need to improve the goatherds' 21st- century social skills by teach- ing them bagpipes instead of yodeling. You could devise a game in which you score points for nam- ing the shortcuts, Hollywood distortions and historical inac- curacies in the movie. For in- stance, contrary to the exciting escape at the end of the film, the real von Trapp Family did not hike to safety in Switzer- land, as it was 150 miles from Salzburg, Austria. Guess some- one made the judgment call that it was more inspiring to challenge moviegoers to over- come obstacles and attain their goals by "climbing ev'ry moun- tain" instead of saying, "For- get that. We're hopping a train across Italy." Elton John is a huge fan of the movie. You could check to see what various other celeb- rities think about the film as well. Bruce Jenner, for instance. "How do you solve a problem like Maria? I dunno, maybe at least she wouldn't be messing up the convent if she turned into a Maurice." Check out "Scientific Amer- ican" magazine for the brew- ing controversy over Rodg- ers and Hammerstein's vintage song "Eidelweiss." "Eidelweiss, Eidelweiss, /Every morning you greet me/Small and white, clean and bright/Your GMO plot won't defeat me." You could buy the 50th an- niversary DVD and go back over the movie with a more cynical eye than you used the first time you saw it in a the- ater or on network TV. Then you would recognize that the musical number "Sixteen Go- ing On Seventeen" is obviously an embedded commercial for Botox. Perhaps you could watch an interview with Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer car- rying on like an old married couple. Or maybe go to an event where Rudy Giuliani and Pres. Obama carry on like an old married couple, with Giuliani challenging the allegedly Amer- ica-hating president to sing his own version of "My Favorite Things." Imagine Andrews getting her Maria and Mary Poppins roles mixed up. "A spoonful of sugar helps the swastikas go down..." You could imagine differ- ent directors stepping into the shoes of Robert Wise, giving their own vision of the story. Clint Eastwood would proba- bly call it "Austrian Sniper," and the von Trapp Family Singers wouldn't have to rush through their closing number. "Bring on the Nazis. Try and stop this en- core." So long, farewell, Auf wie- dersehen, good night. I'd write some more, but that would start a fight. Danny Tyree welcomes email re- sponses at tyreetyrades@aol. com and visits to his Facebook fan page "Tyree's Tyrades." Danny Tyree Ways to honor 'The Sound Of Music' in its 50th year Stan Statham OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, February 26, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6