Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/10410
6A – Daily News – Thursday, May 13, 2010 Opinion The complaint Editor: D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Here is my best response to the person who is tried of the noise and congestion that the Civil War Days in Red Bluff brought to their neighborhood. 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 let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer’s home street address and home phone num- ber. 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 submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. Letters are published at the discretion of the editor. Mission Statement We believe that a strong com- munity 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 vehi- cles. The Daily News will reflect and support the unique identities of Tehama County and its cities; record the history of its com- munities and their people and make a positive difference in the quality of life for the resi- dents 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 That sound they heard was freedom. It is the same sound that I hear when the jets flew over my house during the rodeo. Ken Swanson, Red Bluff Not backing Bend residents Editor: As a Bend resident I take exception to the headline on your May 5 paper. It read Backing Bend. When the Board of Supervisors voted to endorse the creation of a National Recreation Area they were not backing Bend; they were backing outside special interest groups who, with the help of Bar- bara Boxer, are about to transform our community. Those of us who live in the Bend understand that this proposal is not in the best interest of our community. At the public meeting held earlier this year at the Bend School, at the Board of Supervi- sors meeting when the proposal was presented and at the Board of Supervisors meeting on May 4, Bend residents have stated their opinion loud and clear. We don't want a National Recreation Area at the end of our road. Yet the Board of Supervisors voted to endorse the proposal. Your headline implied that the Board of Supervisors had backed the residents of Bend. When in fact they had not. In a democracy elected officials are supposed to represent the will of the people. That didn't happen in this case. In the interest of informing the public why don't you publish who voted for the proposal and who voted against it? Ingrid Bortfeld, Bend Hollow promises Editor: I have been employed by the Tehama County Sheriff’s Office for 31 years, the last 15 as jail commander. I wish to address the promises of sheriff’s candidate Dave Hencratt. Much of what happens in the county jail is regulated by the state of California. This is a constant challenge and each year we meet or exceed state requirements. All officers, supervisors and adminis- tration are constantly vigilant in looking for ways to cut costs in order to meet an ever-shrinking budget. Hencratt promises to cut costs by establishing a garden, grown by inmates, to raise food for the jail. Our kitchen staff works continu- ously to compare vendors for best prices, using seasonal produce in order to save money. Our kitchen serves the inmates three hot meals a day, a bargain at $1.33 per meal. That’s cheaper than a school lunch. Hencratt promises that he will reinstitute the inmate road crew. In 1997, under the direction of the sheriff, I instituted the inmate road crew. Working in coop- eration with the county road department, our inmate crew traveled daily throughout the county to clean debris from the roads. Unfor- tunately, we had to dispense with this program due to serious budget shortfalls and subsequent staff shortages. In recent years, the jail popula- tion has been dynamic, as the type and classification of inmates in our facility are more and more serious offenders, many of them prison parolees. My point is that, while we might like to have extra pro- grams, we do not have enough low-risk inmates who qualify for outside work programs such as road or garden work; nor do we have the staff to supervise them. Hencratt states that he will have a work release program to allow minor offenders to work off time doing services for the community. This is a moot point as we already have a work-education release pro- gram in place that has been func- tioning for years. I have known Dave Hencratt his whole career with the sheriff’s office and consider him to be a friend, however, he has never come to me to glean facts or offer suggestions about the jail. He worked in the jail about 20 years ago for about 18 months. Much has changed in the last two decades. Hencratt is very vague about Your Turn how he is going to make his few simple changes material- ize. I would like to know the specifics of his plan and how he will accom- plish this under an ever- tightening budget, staff shortages and strict state mandates. We’ve recently had a 10 percent reduction in jail staff and there looms the probability that more cuts will occur. I would venture to say that Hencratt has some simple ideas for change, but his lack of administra- tive, managerial and supervisory experience leaves him coming up short, at this time, to serve as sher- iff of our county. I am in constant contact with law enforcement administrators and managers from counties all over the state, and after listening to their woes and concerns, I can promise the citizens of Tehama County that the sheriff’s office is doing well and Sheriff Parker is representing our office and county in an extraordinary manner. He is quite capable of leading us through the tough times ahead. The sheriff’s office, like so many other county departments, is facing some tough fiscal chal- lenges that won’t soon get better. Under the leadership and experi- ence of Sheriff Parker, we will endure. Ronald Dodd, Red Bluff Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R), State Capitol Bldg., Room 4164 P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento 94249; (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319- 2102 STATE SENATOR — Sam Aanestad (R), State Capitol Bldg., Room 2054, Sacramen- to, CA 95814. (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: gover- nor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2635 Forest Ave. Ste. 100, Chico, CA 95928; 893-8363. U.S.SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (415) 403-0100. Fax (202) 224- 0454. A strong Israel means a secure US Commentary The Jerusalem Post reports that the Obama Administration has received a bi-partisan letter from three quarters of the Unit- ed States Senate; the letter was directed to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and is almost identical to the letter signed by three quarters of the House of Representatives. The senate let- ter calls on the executive branch to "never forget the depth and breadth of our alliance (with Israel) and always do our utmost to reinforce a relationship that has benefited both nations for more than six decades." The let- ter even quotes Vice President Joe Biden – who recently made headlines when he delivered a tongue lashing to the Israeli gov- ernment while on a state visit – as saying, "Progress occurs in the Middle East when everyone knows there is simply no space between the US and Israel." There can be no better time to trumpet the sentiments of our Congress on this vital subject than during the weeks of antici- pation of the sixty-second anniversary of Israeli indepen- dence – on May 14. There has been – unfortunate- ly – little to no coverage of the letter in the American main- stream media. Why should we Americans make a priority of standing with Israel? For one thing, she is the only stable democracy in the Middle East. Iraq remains torn by violence even as our efforts to inspire a truly republican form of government (read con- stitutional) are bearing fruit. Lebanon is a proto-democracy at the mercy of internal factions and external predators. All of the other regional nations are brutal theocracies, reactionary monarchies, or quasi-marxist dictatorships. If we would see peace that is lasting and authen- tic in the region it can only come in tandem with the growth of lasting and authentic democratic cultures. Israel has always been such since 1948 and even the ancient Kingdom is the source of modern ideas about limited, popular, and accountable gov- ernment. We need Israel as much as she needs us. Israel is a proven friend of the United States. In fact, she is a proven friend of every nation with which she is not at open war – and even those nations she has fought have received her kindness in terms of technical and humanitarian assistance. She has always supported US efforts to broker peace in the region and she has literally saved many American lives – like the time she struck Idi Amin to rescue her own citizens – and ours – after his forces kidnapped them. She has been such a flex- ible friend that she voluntarily committed to no retaliation when Iraq launched scud missile attacks at her during the first Gulf War. She has made numer- ous concessions to the Palestini- ans at US urging. Support of Israel is a simple justice issue. When the nation was birthed in 1948 the people we now call Palestinians lived alongside Israelis in what is now Israel. Many of them left dur- ing the first Arab- Israeli war and went to live in Jordan – which at that time controlled what we know today as the West Bank. That is to say, they bailed on their neighbors when danger threatened. Israel invited them back and they refused to return. When Israel took the West Bank in one of five wars either initiat- ed or deliberately provoked by violent action or the drumbeat- ing threat of violent action, these people began calling themselves Palestinians and demanded the return of "their" land, although they had never owned it, and the land was part of the traditional territory of Israel for three-plus millennia. (Jordan lost that land when she attacked Israel despite Jewish diplomatic effort to assure Jordan she was not threat- ened by the conflict with Egypt.) The current crisis was provoked when an Israeli prime minister dared to visit the Temple Mount in Jerusalem – which has been James Wilson Israel’s capitol city since the time of King David – and offer prayer at the western wall of the Jewish temple ruins. Israel is no more innocent of all wrongdoing than any other nation, but many nations would deny them the right to func- tion as a nation within their own traditional borders. Justice lov- ing nations like our own cannot reason- ably withdraw support while Israel faces aggressors hundred of times her size. The stakes could not be higher. Sup- port of Israel means the denial of the aims of Middle Eastern authoritarian regimes – including that governing the West Bank under Hamas. Sup- port of her enemies means the obliteration of five million peo- ple who have been friends of the US since birth. We abandoned the Jews when Hitler attempted their annihilation; the least we can do is stand with them now. The Obama Administration needs to do what the Congres- sional letter – signed by three quarters of the members – calls upon them to do. James A. Wilson is the founder of Pray North State and can be reached at praynorthstate@charter.net.