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4A Daily News ��� Friday, December 21, 2012 Opinion You���re going to get calls about this... Miracle dog DAILY NEWS RED BLUFF TEHAMA COUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U NTY S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes letters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All 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 cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submitted will be considered for publication. Letters will be edited. Letters are published at the discretion of the editor. Mission Statement We believe that a strong community newspaper is essential to a strong community, creating citizens who are better informed and more involved. The Daily News will be the indispensible guide to life and living in Tehama County. We will be the premier provider of local news, information and advertising through our daily newspaper, online edition and other print and Internet vehicles. The Daily News will reflect and support the unique identities of Tehama County and its cities; record the history of its communities and their people and make a positive difference in the quality of life for the residents and businesses of Tehama County. How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 We work pretty hard to This isn���t a phrase I look forkeep advertising and content ward to hearing when I walk separate, as I���ve said until I���m into the office each morning, but blue in the face. I and the it greeted me Thursday. newsroom don���t tell the ad Turns out we weren���t as carefolks what to do and the ad ful as we should have been folks and their clients don���t when typing up a letter to the get to tell us what to do. This editor that ran in Thursday���s gives the paper and its content paper and it contained some legitimacy and value, in turn errors ��� including one of the making the ads in it more four-letter variety. effective. That letter, typed correctly, Replacing a portion of a appears on this page today with Chip crossword with a logo for my apology. So far it���s been quiet, but at Thompson cash crosses a line and we will fix it. I can���t promise least I���m ready with, albeit probably unnecessary, an explana- 545 Diamond whether that means running Ave. the logo elsewhere in the tion. section or scrapping the puzI prefer this to what hapzle altogether, but content pened the other day, when I received a call from a reader wondering corrupted by an advertisement won���t why the crossword puzzle in our Select fly. This may sound a little extreme, but TV supplement had changed. The puzzle, I learned, used to contain it���s the principle that matters. If we start the photo of a celebrity in the center. Cer- peddling puzzle portions, is it really that tain letters in the puzzle are marked with much of a stretch to request remunerated asterisks and, upon completing the puz- recognition in a story? *** zle, readers try to arrange the marked letA tidbit for you dog lovers out there ters to spell out the celebrity���s name. I enjoy a good crossword puzzle, but from the afterword in ���I Thought You confess I don���t do the one in Select TV Were Dead��� by Pete Nelson ��� one of the because I don���t consult the television list- main characters of which is a dog, who ings. A good friend has me hooked on voices the titular phrase each time his Frame Games in the USA Weekend sup- owner returns home. Nelson points out that owning a dog plement, though. Turns out somebody on the advertis- makes one more honest, at least at times, ing side of the building, I���m told it was an because ���If it���s stupid to talk to a dog, it���s outside consultant, had the bright idea to stupider to lie to one.��� replace the celebrity���s photo with a busiChip Thompson can be reached at ness��� logo and charge the business for it. 527-2151, Ext. 112 or by Facepalm, as the kids would say. Ugh, email@redbluffdailynews.com. for the rest of us. Editor: Why I believe in My Lord and Santa Claus. My wife Joanne and I have a little black schnauzer dog named Whiskers. Whiskers is 11 years old and has always been our closest friend. When we return home from work, he is always at the door, tail wagging, jumping up and down. A dog does not care if you are old, young, rich or poor. They will always say I love you. We found a small Yorky dog for Whiskers��� friend. Recently, Whiskers developed diabetes, arthritis, and is blind. Joanne has to give him shots twice a day. He thinks those shots are a pain in the butt. Last Saturday, I went out to the garage and told him to come on. I was going to be in the garage just a few minutes. When I came out no Whiskers. Joanne and I started to look for him about 3 p.m. on Saturday. We called as loud and as many times as we could. Hard to hold back the tears ��� driving up and down the road, no Whiskers. What is a little black blind dog doing now? He had never spent a night out by himself. He needs his shot, needs a lot of water, and the night is getting cold and windy. We left the outside lights on for him. Sunday morning Joanne, Cojo and I started walking up and down the neighborhood handing out lost dog notices. Our friend and neighbor Theresa was out walking her three dogs and was calling Whiskers too. Theresa came back around 3:30 p.m. and asked if she could put Whiskers on the church prayer chain. We said please do. She called Klove radio station in Redding. About 4:30 p.m. we decided to drive around the neighborhood again calling for Whiskers. No answer, no Whiskers. As we were getting out of our truck, a red pickup truck pulled in behind us. I thought it must be Santa, red truck. She, Adrienne Wagner, stepped out saying we found a little black dog. She showed me a telephone shot. Is this your little dog? It was! She said, ���follow me over to Live Oak Road where we live.��� We were wondering how a little blind dog could go that far. Her daughter was holding Whiskers on a leash. We hugged, petted him and tears fell. Cojo ran up to Whiskers and licked his face. On the way home we wondered how Whiskers was found so soon after being put on the prayer chain. I guess God called his friend Santa Claus and said he needed his help to find a little lost dog down on Earth. I���m really busy up here trying to get this whole world to have great cheerful lives together. Santa wired God back saying you and I have both been trying to get this to happen. Santa said, I checked my GPS. It said the dog is in a field on Live Oak Road in Red Bluff. Santa said I have a young cowgirl who lives in this area has found your dog in their field. Adrienne told us she checked the power poles in her area and brought her to our driveway. Ralph, Joanne, Cojo and Whiskers want to thank everyone that helped to bring him home. Thank you and have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. P.S. Santa was listening to his radio in his shop, and tears began to run into his white beard. God contacted Santa and both said why were children killed. Both agreed that they will need more time to make this a loving world. Santa with a sad face said, ���God what will I do with these 20 toys that I have already packed in my sleigh?��� Ralph Ehorn, Red Bluff Commentary Out with the automatics Regarding the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings , Adam Lanza, the killer was described by one official as being ���Not well.��� It seems that the perpetrator deserves a more apt description. How about ���sick, psycho bastard���? And if ���guns don���t kill people but people do,��� then I think we can at least deduce that automatic weapons can kill a lot more people in a shorter time than say a revolver with 6 shells in the chamber. Automatic weapons have no place in our society. *** How about some compromise philosophy for this time of year? It emanates from a TIME interview of actors regarding the religious overtones in the new film versions of Hugo���s Les Miserables: ���Where I���m at now is that I love all religions that don���t hurt anybody.��� ���To love another person is to see the face of God.��� ���No, what you say is immaterial. It���s what you do that matters.��� And, ���What God means in practice is the act of compassion, the struggle of living your life in a moral way.��� *** Speaking of religion, I received a ���however��� letter from D. Pace of Los Molinos who, after the obligatory opening ���I have enjoy your column in our local newspaper,��� he adds the ���however...��� that my column of 1 December disappointed him. The letter was long, but to cut to the chase, the offending column apparently contained, in his words, ���erroneous phrases that dribbled from your pen which make you comfortable, and there���s nothing particularly wrong with that.��� So far so good. Although he did not indicate which of my dribble he found erroneous, he challenged me to read the C.S. Lewis book ���Mere Christianity.��� I suspect he, Lewis and I differ in how we interpret and honor the bible. Further he reminds me that ignorance (mine, I assume, not his) is bliss, but when displayed in public it���s merely embarrassing... to him or perhaps to me...that part was not clear. He concludes that I ���may chose to remain ignorant...and that everyone has that right.��� In this, he is spot on, for that right extends to D. Pace as well. I herewith accept his challenge and will read C.S. Lewis if he will read Christopher Hitchens��� ���god is not Great...how religion poisons every- This then was another thing.��� In fact I will donate example of our police departmy Book on Tape of ment at work, and a satisfacHitchens��� fine dissection of tory ending, which cost the all he apparently finds gospel taxpayers only the cost of a to our county library, and he few rifles shells. can listen to it free. Then we Good show, Natalie! can continue our discussion *** and explore ignorance or bliss Last week���s quiz was as the case may be. answered promptly and cor*** rectly by J. Bahlke who disOur granddaughter, Natalcovered that the first lighterie, married Jeremy Duckham, Robert than-air craft to circle the and both are police officers in globe was the Zeppelin LZ Sacramento. Natalie has been 127, that Alexander solved trained in the art of hostage the Gordian Knot by severing negotiation, and last week it with his sword and that Pete was given an opportunity to Gray was the one armed outdisplay her skills. Her unit fielder that played professionwas notified that two employees had been taken hostage at a local Jack in al baseball. This week���s quiz: In literature the monster The Box, and her boss appointed her to be the lead negotiator as the situation unfolded. The Grendel was slain by whom, what was Groucho police surrounded the place and Natalie was Marx���s real first name and name two of the given the cell phone number of one of the movie characters he portrayed. *** hostages. She called it, and when the female Two for the road employee shakily answered, Natalie asked to A shoplifter was caught red-handed trying to speak to the man holding them with a handgun. When the guy came on the line, it was obvious a steal watch from an exclusive jewelry store. that he was deranged and in a killing mood. He The shoplifter pleaded with the manager not to had twice attempted to fire his revolver at flee- call the police and said he would be happy to ing employees, but thankfully the piece mal- buy the watch. After careful deliberation, the manager agreed. ���That���s $500 then.��� functioned each time. ���Hmmm,��� said the shoplifter, ���that���s more Natalie began talking to the perpetrator in his own vernacular, asking what was happen- than I intended to spend. Can you show me ing...what was going down...what was his prob- something less expensive?��� An 89-year-old woman arrived home from lem, his gripe...and how could they resolve this without anyone getting hurt. After some time playing bingo only to find her husband in bed passed, he said he had to go to the restroom and with another woman. In a jealous rage, she was going to take his remaining hostage with pushed him off the balcony of their apartment him (one hostage had managed to escape). and sent him plunging to his death. She was Natalie told him this was cool and no problem. charged with murder and the judge asked if she As he was navigating his way to the restroom, had anything to say in her defense. ���Well, your honor, ���she said calmly, ���I figNatalie alerted her snipers to monitor his progress, and if they could get a good shot, take ured at 94 , if he could make love to another it. The guy entered the restroom with the woman, he could fly, too!��� employee. When he finished, he stepped out Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red once again using the employee as shield. When later Natalie recounted the story to her Bluff, former columnist for the Corning Daily mother, her mom asked what then happened to Observer and Meat Industry magazine. He can the bad guy, she said simply, ���We took him out.��� be reached at rminchandmurray@hotmail.com. Minch I Say