Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/780915
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@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 Mail to: Daily News 728Main St., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS My take on this morbid topic is that there are many good reasons to be cremated rath- er than to be embalmed. I have al- ready had discussions with many people and told them I would prefer cremation a er death. I even tend to make a joke of this serious matter. For example, "Do you know what one casket said to the other casket?" Then I supply the answer myself with, "Is that you, coffin?" Well,Ipersonallydon'twant to spend eternity in an expen- sive metal box six feet under the ground. And, I have even surprised some people when I tell them that my take is graveyards are a waste of good real estate. I also don't like contemplating the extraordi- nary cost of another box — casket — in which our culture likes to bury its loved ones. I don't mean to offend anyone. That is just how I feel. I suppose it does not mat- ter one way or the other to me or even to those who have al- ready died and "gone to a bet- ter place." You may disagree, but my take is that funerals, commemorations and the dis- posal of one's remains does not have to be such a big deal. After all, there is nothing more dependable in life than death itself. Two long time friends of mine named Brad and Ray told me recently that when someone dies there is no more definite resolution of that occurrence than knowing "dead is dead." I already told my wife to make any decision she thinks is best and appropriate for my ashes. I write this respectfully, with sincere apologies to any of our Red Bluff Daily News readers who might be offended by my opinion this week. To paraphrase what they fre- quently say on TV; "Caution, viewer (substitute reader) dis- cretion is strongly advised." I also promise you the idea of var- ious bugs eventually feasting on me is not at all appealing. I didn't even enjoy typ- ing that. Since I, like every- one else, will eventually be in the great beyond, it would be more fun and more productive to just enjoy life while one can. I have even decided that the disposal of my remains is not that important to me. I recently learned that if cremation is done through a funeral home it can easily cost $4,000. However, if done di- rectly with a crematorium it is a much more frugal proposi- tion. If one deals directly with a crematorium the cost could be as low at $1,500. Then, there's the recent real death case of a Jorge Her- nandez who was recently cre- mated down in Los Angeles by mistake. Someone from the coroner's office there picked up a body by that name and had the remains cremated. Then they called and told the sur- viving family that they could pick up his ashes. Tragically, there just happened to be two bodies by the name of Jorge Hernandez at that coroner's of- fice. An unfortunate mistake. Reading Jorge's news story gave me the idea to write this column about cremation. What happened was a coro- ner's employee did not make certain the certificate number was identical to the number on the paper work of the body that they were processing. The Hispanic name Jorge Hernan- dez is a very common one. Please share your personal feelings on this with me. Mytakeonthemovies Tom Hanks stars in "In- ferno." This is a good film but mostly if you like following an- other of his films that seem to him always have him search- ing for "higher powers." StanStathamserved1976-1994 in the California Assembly and was a television news anchor at KHSL-TV in Chico 1965-1975. He is past president of the California Broadcasters Association and can be reached at StanStatham@ gmail.com. Stan Statham My take on cremation You may disagree, but my take is that funerals, commem- orations and the disposal of one's remains does not have to be such a big deal. After all, there is nothing more dependable in life than death itself. Columnistwasoutofline Editor: Susan Stamper Brown's col- umn "Democrats' temper tan- trums continue" column ran in the Daily News Jan. 28. I agree that Madonna was out of line, but the remainder of the column was out of line. She put down the appearance of the Women's March partici- pants. Making fun and belittling others is a mark of a bully. As a retired public school ed- ucator, I spent a lot of time with teens on the subject. When a per- son bullies, they are often inse- cure and make fun of others to make themselves feel better. To quote our new President, who shows similar bullying be- havior, sad. — Marilyn Zimmer, Red Bluff Presidentlooksoutforus Editor: Well, you just printed another letter from Orval Strong, that shows he has been living under a rock for a long time. He said he had the crap scared out of him when Trump was elected presi- dent. Good. We finally have a President who is looking out for the Amer- ican people. Give the man a chance before you condemn him. The Women's March was an- other good boost for the econ- omy. Bus fares, airline fares, lodging, meals, etc. They should do this at least once a month. While I am venting, I will change the subject and save a stamp. The Corning rest stop: It was supposed to be open Dec. 3, 2016. This date was a 10-month or more project. Now they say it will be open in April of 2017. What on earth is the hold up on this project? Donald Trump could have built a 10-story ho- tel in this time frame. One more food for thought. Why are people on disability exempt from income tax? They get an income, they should pay taxes on it. — Bud Johnson Tehama Troubledtimesforwomen Editor: These are troubled and confus- ing times. It's hard to know which way to turn quite often. Do we give into fear and refuse to grant refuge to people suffering? Or do we do as every holy book, ever, de- creed and open our arms to peo- ple in need? So tough to call. I do have reason to oft be thankful, however, and I think all women should feel the same. It's so hard with our limited mental capacity and entirely emotional reactions to everything happen- ing around us to know what's in our own best interests. We're never left wondering very long. Thankfully, there has always been and will always be a man, somewhere, ready to tell how to feel about things uniquely femi- nine, and we are so blessed for this. For example, I thought this whole time that taking medicine which prevented me from get- ting pregnant was a responsible way to avoid abortions. Boy was I wrong. I just feel bad that all these men had to take time out of their busy days to close down my birth control provider, Planned Parenthood, to protect me and all women from ourselves. They need to get back to work to help support all these future babies. And this whole to-do with the marches. Ho boy, did I make a mistake. I went thinking maybe it was okay for women not to be assaulted, that it was okay to have access to medical care tailored for my internal sin- bits and that maybe the leader of the greatest nation on earth shouldn't be somebody women are scared to be alone in a room with, but now I know how wrong I was. I'll do my best from here on out to sit down and shut up, because that's been a winning strategy for women for all of hu- man history. I think, no matter what hap- pens to this beautiful, diverse country of ours, women will al- ways be stronger for having men constantly knowing what's best for us. I plan to do my part start- ing immediately, as soon as I can get this tiny voice shouting "Rev- olution" out of my mind. Hush, voice, it's time for some reality TV and zinfandel. — Kristin Sullivan, Red Bluff SeniorspayforMedicare Editor: Medicare is not welfare of charity. Each and every one of us pay a premium every month, just like an insurance premium, out of our income. President Obama, in order to fun his ACA, or Obamacare, stole $716 billion of our trust fund, premiums paid by us, to ensure that we seniors should be pay- ing for his Planned Parenthood — legalized abortions — where babies would be murdered and their organs sold for profit. No one knows who filled their pock- ets with this money. In 2016 the Medicare trust fund was raided again for more of the funds we seniors paid in. Now the robbery of our money has reached $879 billion. The people responsible for kill- ing these babies wee heard dis- cussing the methods to be used to kill them so that most of their organs will still be okay to sell. Apparently the Planned Parent- hood baby butcher shops are still being funded. The aborted babies have to be allowed to develop enough before the abortions to make the organs viable. To pre- tend there is no pain involved is a criminal act like murder. The Obama Death Squad that decides if Medicare patients can have the treatment they need paid for by their Medicare money have the right to refuse treat- ment if in their judgement the treatment is too expensive. They notify the seniors that they have been refused and no further ac- tion would be accepted. The 15 members appointed by Obama are responsible only to him. Obama never allowed the name, background or qualifica- tions of the 15 members to be given to the public. — Jean Clayton, Red Bluff Your opinions Cartoonist's take Coffee. Just about everyone drinks coffee. I grew up before coffee places became commonplace throughout our fair country. People used to return from Eu- rope talking about how cool it was to sit outside and watch the world go by, drinking a cappuccino or espresso. That wasn't an op- tion back in the good ole US of A. We had "coffee shops," which were essentially diners. The only good thing then was that a bot- tomless cup of usually awful cof- fee — by today's standards — was only 10 cents. And if you wanted to sweeten it, your only choice was sugar. Diabetics carried lit- tle bottles of saccharin tablets to use in place of sugar. Donut shops were also places you could get coffee. I didn't drink coffee until I was out in the field training with the Marines. Coffee was in my C- rations and I quickly learned its benefits. Especially after a late night spent having a good time. Since Starbucks entered the picture, coffee houses and drive- through kiosks have sprung up everywhere. When my kids were little, we went to a place called "La Di Da." A trip there was a treat on the weekend. They could have hot chocolate and maybe a cookie while I drank my cof- fee, and we would sit and talk. It was fun. Coffee comes in small, me- dium and large sizes, although sometimes with different names. You can boost the caffeine, and the price, by adding a shot or two of espresso, for the folks who need a larger caffeine fix. "Death Wish" and "Black Insomnia" are brand names of some of the stronger coffee you can buy. No one drinks a "cup" of cof- fee, unless you're in a fine restau- rant, and the places I frequent, serve it in mugs. Your doctor has learned to ask what size coffee you're drinking each morning and afternoon, as he knows that each "cup" can be the equivalent of two or three. Folks often give coffee mugs as office gifts. We have a large collection of Christmas mugs so we routinely have "Christmas in July" here at the ranch. They're also good, cheap souvenirs. We just added two from the Reagan Library to our collection. We have mugs that say "Sweet- heart" and "I Love You" and "World's Greatest Dad," which I must confess was bought by my wife. And when you find them for a dollar they can be impossi- ble to resist — like our latest pair — "Mr. Right" and "Mrs. Always Right." You know who bought those. Keurig has changed the face of coffee drinking. At work, Mr. K was our sole source of Java. I would buy a huge box of the bold- est and least expensive "pods" the big box store had to offer. I didn't know these single-use con- tainers for Keurig machines were called pods until I looked it up. You can buy any brand or flavor of coffee and have a fresh cup via a pod. I'm too old fashioned and thrifty to have a Keurig at home. The per-cup cost of coffee is just too high. We have a drip cof- fee maker. And it virtually never breaks down. I can recall several occasions at work when caffeine starved, armed federal agents were on the phone with customer service and jamming all matter of pins and paper clips into every orifice of our Keurig machine. It was not a pretty picture. My daughter, like most Millen- nials, has a Keurig, even though she doesn't drink much coffee. During a visit, my wife and I ex- hausted her entire supply of pods our first morning. Now we bring our own. Corky Pickering and his wife relocated from the Bay Area to Cottonwood in 2014. He recently retired from the federal government as an attorney advising law enforcement. He has been a rock and roll bass player and a Marine JAG. He can be reached at thecork6@gmail. com. Corky Pickering Musing on coffee's proliferation in society Stan Statham Corky Pickering OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, February 2, 2017 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4