Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/790626
ChipThompson, Editor 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 Idon'treallyknowwhetherourspeciesorigi- nally evolved from the ocean or not. More im- portantly, I think our human species — Homo Sapiens — has not yet adequately evolved. However,mythoughtsare that we humans need to con- tinue to evolve even some more. If "radical Muslim ter- rorists" proceed to kill others and themselves in an attack just in order to be re- warded with 72 virgins, I think that leaves at least them not very evolved. Just as a joke I once flip- pantly said that 72 virgins would probably kill me or any good man. I was also refer- ring to those deranged men who brought down New York's World Trade Center in 2001. What about President Kim Jong-un who runs North Ko- rea? He already has had his un- cle assassinated and he prob- ably did the same thing to his half brother just a week ago. He has definitely not evolved enough. The subject of religion is one I like to discuss. In my life- time I have listened to count- less people discuss or argue whether we humans evolved from apes or were we created by a higher power. I say we might just as well leave such almost unobtainable conclu- sions to Darwin's grand kids. Maybe they are still interested in maintaining their grandfa- ther's legacy. I think anthropologists should continue to dig up bones and discover and deter- mine everything they can in that process. Sometimes the de- bate on this topic is called "cre- ationism vs. evolution." I recently saw a most inter- esting documentary on the Na- tional Geographic Channel that seemed to add something to my understanding of evolu- tion and it made a lot of sense. It explained how we humans evolved and what happened to the Neanderthals that were liv- ing at the same time mostly in a northern area on our planet. That program told me about "wolf dogs." It said they existed 39,000 years ago on the conti- nent of Africa. They were very big dogs that could kill and eat just about everything or any- one. Researchers say those an- imals were roughly twice the size of the biggest dogs we see today. At that time, we humans were living in Africa. The Ne- anderthals were in Europe. In time, we made hunting and killing dogs out of these for- midable wolf dogs. We hu- mans were just beginning to make hunting weapons such as knives, spears and, of course, the bow and arrow. These wolf dogs did not re- ally become man's best friend. However, they could be used ef- fectively to hunt and kill. They were not to be trusted but could find food and of course be used as a weapon. When we began to trek north to Europe and eventually got over to England we were clearly a superior force with our wolf dogs and the weap- ons that we had developed that could conquer any Neander- thals we found. It makes me think of today's canine patrols that we use so effectively in law enforcement. My simple take on this topic is that we need more evolu- tion. It's fascinating and I don't think that would it hurt. What do you think? Please let me know. Mytakeonthemovies I always enjoy actor Keanu Reeves, but I did not enjoy his latest film. "John Wick: Chapter Two" to its very end was packed with excessive violence. I saw little redeeming value other than the box office draw it will get from the teeny boomer crowd. Only maybe a few minutes at the end was kind of worth watching. I can not recommend this movie. 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. StanStatham My take on evolution When we began to trek north to Europe and eventually got over to England we were clearly a superior force with our wolf dogs and the weapons that we had developed that could conquer any Neanderthals we found. City should do its own work Editor: I see that a tree company is trimming trees in front of the old courthouse. Red Bluff has its own bucket truck, chipper and chain saws. Why is the city paying another company to do the job when they could do it? The money they spent on that company could fix a lot of roads — terrible roads — in this town. I just don't understand where their heads are. — Ron Christman, Red Bluff Regarding columnist Editor: I am happy that the Red Bluff Daily News honors the idea of the freedom to express one's opinions, and usually publishes both sides of an issue. This last Tuesday, it did so again. Don Polson wrote "Phony at- tacks on Trump's order," John Micek wrote "Trump declares war on the judiciary." Please, Mr. Polson, re-read the first paragraph of Micek's piece which ends, "The current oc- cupant of the White House has no respect, and even less un- derstanding, of the Constitu- tionally mandated separation of powers between the branches of government." Remember that government can civics high school class? They went over separation of power a lot. Also, Mr. Polson, re- read the last paragraph, "Keep- ing a campaign promise is one thing — keeping it at the ex- pense of our values and laws is another matter entirely." I agree. If Mr. Polson expects to sway people to his arguments, I would suggest he tone down his obvi- ous bias, skip name-calling and the use of fear and use respect- able facts and sources, instead of "alternative facts." — Marilyn Zimmer, Red Bluff Reader needs to learn about the law Editor: Reader David Gates needs to read the California Penal Code in order to understand the charge against Lindsay Lang. She is charged with Statutory Rape 261.5 P.C. The basic difference between Rape 261 P.C. and Statutory Rape is the "point five." Point five means the victim is under the age of 18. Consent does not factor in. As for his confusion of how can a woman rape a man, the statute reads "The unlawful sex- ual intercourse accomplished with a person who is not the spouse of the perpetrator, if the person is a minor." A minor is a person under the age of 18 years and an adult is a person who is at least 18 years of age. Gender is not expressed. Since Mr. Gates assumes all teenage boys are "horny," it is especially necessary that the adults involved demonstrate self-control and morality. As adults, we are charged with the safety and well-being of minors. Get with it, Gates. — Vickie Linnet, Corning Proposed wall is a money pit Editor: The very last thing people in this country need is a $24 bil- lion wall and the humongous ex- pense of rounding up and ex- porting millions of undocu- mented people. Neither will add one cent to our treasury but both will add billions if not tril- lions to our national debt. What is needed is more social programs like universal health care and free college tuition. Is- rael, which we subsidize, has both. We need to stop worrying about the Koch brothers' fi- nances and start considering our neighbors down the street. David Koch won't be looking for bargains at your next yard sale or be interested in buying your car, but the guy down the street might. If the economy would totally collapse tomorrow the Koch brothers' lifestyle would change slightly if at all. We, on the other hand, would be devas- tated. Question, after well over 30 years of "trickle down" econom- ics, how much better off are you today? This country desperately needs to start investing in the vast majority instead of the infi- nitely smaller minority. All subsidies come from us, not the government. The govern- ment itself has no source of in- come. The money it has must be taken from someone else. These last few decades our government has chosen to take more from the poorer class. Do you see anything wrong or im- moral there? One more thing, do you hon- estly believe a professional con artist will do anything for any- one when he never has before? — Orval Strong, Gerber Retirees should fear increased border tariff Editor: As a majority of citizens, I voted for President Trump to re- duce the size of government, re- duce our national debt, roll back most of the Obama Executive Orders, curtail the costs to tax- payers of costly welfare subsi- dized ObamaCare, deport those who commit the triple crim- inal action of undocumented crossing, forged use of docu- ments of citizenship and com- mitting another criminal action such as voting as a non-citizen, and more stringent border pro- tection. As a lifetime Republican, I support the end of border tar- iffs and excess corporate tax, to make our manufacturers and service providers globally com- petitive. Retirees should be very con- cerned that border tariffs will increase the costs of cars, items bought on line or from big box stores. Lifelong education will keep employees globally com- petitive. If jobs are cut, because workers choose excessively high cost pay and benefits, without keeping their job skills current, and with the resulting job cuts, that is a personal workers deci- sion. There are numerous nearby vocational and academic night school programs to keep job skills competitive. — Joseph Neff, Corning Your opinions Cartoonist's take My first column in the Red Bluff Daily News was about how we came to have chickens. We've been fortunate in- asmuch as they're still here. At least most of them. Of the origi- nal nine, seven re- main — two hav- ing fallen vic- tim to a racoon that got under the gate. But the new total is 13, maintaining our assortment of Barred Rocks, Australorps, Easter Eggers, a Buff Orping- ton, and Barnevelders. Since our neighbor raises mostly prize Barnevelders, we have increased our ranks with her culls, and they are now in the majority. "Whitey" is the smartest and most interesting chicken of the bunch, and the only one to which we had given a name. At least until "Speedy" came along. She is also a dirty white Easter Egger, but she's quite a bit big- ger than Whitey, with the lon- gest neck I've ever seen on a chicken. She gets her name be- cause she travels at only one speed — an all-out adrenaline fueled rush. She is definitely the comic relief of the flock, as opposed to the imperturbable Whitey, always standing in the front, watching intelligently — as Speedy runs amuck in the background. Whitey very seldom executes the "submission" posture to us, as do the others. I think she re- gards herself as more of an equal. When I open the nesting boxes, she will hop up beside me and supervise, or come inside and watch. None of the others are even remotely interested. It's funny how egg produc- tion drops in the winter. One day the boxes are overflowing with eggs, and you are always giving a dozen here and there to your friends, eating lots of om- elets, and scrambling the rest to recycle through the hens. Then, without warning, their produc- tion drops to one or two eggs a day coming from 13 birds. You find yourself making oc- casional remarks about fried chicken when checking the nest- ing boxes, as you provide more and more feed to the girls. The price of eggs goes up exponen- tially as they eat more and pro- duce less. But there was a happy surprise a couple of weeks ago, when one box had six eggs. Since then, there've been about 10 a day. The commercial chicken ranchers keep the lights on 24/7 for their birds, to insure maximum egg production. We give our chickens a big scoop of scratch every morning. Scratch is a treat consisting of course ground wheat, corn, oats, sunflower seeds, millet and var- ious other seeds. Every morning when my wife backs out of the garage, the girls are all lined up, singing for their treat — with Whitey there right up front. They love that stuff. We originally had a big metal feeder we used, but my wife started putting their feed in a big black, rubber bowl to keep it fresh. They also seem to enjoy feeding as they stand in a circle around the bowl. But it seems like they eat it just about as fast as I put it in. These girls get lots of table scraps as well, so they aren't starving. But when you get the kind of rain we've been having, it makes feeding a bit more dif- ficult. We put their bowl under the coop to keep it dry. How- ever, sliding my feet downhill across wet and slippery mud like a cross-country skier to fill their dish is not one of my favorite things to do. But these girls earn their keep all year long nonetheless. Not by the number of eggs they lay but by the enjoyment and entertain- ment they provide us. We still love our chickens. 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 Still love those chickens Stan Statham Corky Pickering OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, February 23, 2017 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4