Red Bluff Daily News

March 19, 2013

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4A Daily News – Tuesday, March 19, 2013 Opinion Going to the dogs 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 As a dog owner I am delighted to see that folks in Red Bluff are taking the initiative to site a dog park there. Should they confront difficulty with the City Council as they did years ago I will spearhead an effort to place one in Tehama County with the graces of the county supervisors. By providing space for our canine companions to play off leash we simultaneously provide a venue for their human handlers to congregate and share their love of furry friends. Presently the nearest dog park is at Di Garmo Park in Chico off the Esplanade at Lenora – the off leash area is at the north eastern tip and is open daily from 7am till dusk except on Wednesdays when it opens at 10 a.m. My dogs and I prefer the larger 2.3 acre Benton Dog Park in Redding on the corner of Airpark and Placer with scenic vistas and a separate small dog area. It is interesting to watch first time dogs learn to get along, with some at first aggressive perhaps owing to a fear of the unknown and an innate wisdom that the best defense is a good offense. With correction from their handlers most will adjust quickly to become fast friends regardless of breed. If more humans championed such tolerance and humility I submit our world would be a much more pleasant and productive place. By spelling the word dog is reverse one may appreciate that a dog is both literally and figuratively a reflection of God. In addition to a well earned reputation as "man's best friend", dogs are loyal, protective, patient, and attentive. They will brush off any insults or slights and are glad just to be near to their masters. They are authentic and true, clearly expressing their desires, with impassioned yelps, and wildly wagging tails. Whenever I return home I am greeted at the gate and escorted to my carport without fail, where the dogs greet me with no misgivings for the length or reason for my travels. My dogs are team players, a two year old Staffordshire terrier mix named Buddy and Lucy a five year old golden/Labrador mix, that pull my bicycle at a speed of about 15 mph nearly every day as to or around Los Molinos. If you have driven down Highway 99E at dusk you may have seen us along with Willie (the sun conure mascot of Wild Willy's Smokehouse) on my shoulder. We make a motley crew but we all enjoy our multispecies exercise – although my only work-out is hands on the brakes. My dogs are also sustainable - providing me motive power Price is Right" with the without need of gasoadmonition "spay and line, growing their own neuter your pets." clothes, bathing themTo share our love of selves in the Sacramendogs I have set up the to River and Mill Tehama Dogs FaceCreek, and requiring book page. Please only a filled dog dish, share photos of your and periodic vaccinadogs and any informations. They offer round tion you may have peralerts of anyone on or taining to canine near my property, and health, welfare, or cause potential trescauses. And make sure passers to pause. Should an emergency Richard to register your pets to support our Animal siren be heard Buddy Care Center treat them will chime in with a with the dignity and high pitched howl with respect they deserve as Lucy offering alto yelps creatures that serve and in a civic effort to enrich our lives. spread the alarm. Should you wish to We can all be proud acquire a canine comthat the Tehama County Animal Care Center is one of the panion I encourage you to visit most humane and effective ani- our local animal shelters or go to mal control centers in the state, http://www.petfinder.com with with high adoption rates and a no qualms about going to the low rate of canine euthanasia. I dogs. wish that our stray cats had simiRichard Mazzucchi is a retired lar good fortune but the feline research engineer specializing in population is not well controlled because many owners fail to energy efficiency and renewable spade or neuter pets and others energy. He has travelled feed feral strays rather than extensively and now makes his ensure they are neutered and vac- home in Los Molinos, where he is cinated. To help stem the high striving to manifest a sustainable rates of euthanasia practiced to and spiritual lifestyle and operate manage the cat population I a BBQ equipment and supply entreat you to heed the advice of business. He can be reached at Bob Barker who closed "The living-green@att.net. Mazzucchi Positive Point Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Dan Logue, 1550 Humboldt Road, Ste. 4, Chico, CA 95928, 530-895-4217 STATE SENATOR — Jim Nielsen, 280 Hemsted Dr., Ste. 110, Redding, CA 96002, 530-223-6300, Fax: 530-223-6737, senator.nielsen@senate.ca.gov GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: governor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Doug LaMalfa 506 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, 202-225-3076. 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; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224-0454. Commentary Opinion page curiosities and hypocrisies Please come see newly-elected supervisor Burt Bundy at tonight's Tea Party Patriots meeting, 6 p.m. at the Westside Grange. A few "curious" items have transpired on this page: First, I found unimpressive Mr. Mazzucchi's explanation for copying over 300 words of a scientist's writing (Charles Keeling), from a web site, planetforlife.com (real source: UN's IPPC), without attribution. While hardly a firing offense (we aren't employed nor compensated), it shouldn't be explained away without acknowledging the seriousness of the literary crime of plagiarism. All manner of punishments have been levied against writers who plagiarize, or "present another's writings as one's own" (Webster's New Pocket Dictionary). Reporters have been fired, degrees withheld, research papers withdrawn and classes failed, with personal embarrassment, shame, even loss of income. Plagiarizing writers often allow for an error, oversight or lapse, when source materials somehow inadvertently show up in the writer's own text. Simply admitting the obvious bears no personal virtue, particularly when the explanation avoids the severity of what a writer has done. In Mazzucchi's case, it is clear, as admitted, that sections of the paper posted at the web site were copied into the article. Included among the 320 words copied in several paragraphs, were bits of his own writing, without any separating punctuation. To avoid such things: 1) I routinely quote an authority by starting with quote marks, followed by word-for-word typing, the writer and the source (column length is an unacceptable excuse for failing to cite source). 2) If I simply wish to lift and paste a paragraph, I highlight the chosen section and copy into my MS Word document. All quote marks are then properly placed, together with the writer, source, web site or publication. I may paraphrase with attribution from that writer, if space prohibits the length of original quotes. This process would have disallowed for Mr. Mazzucchi to have casually written as he did. A larger issue, touching on all writers, is the undeniable fact that we columnists each have limited fields of our own true expertise. If we were to restrict our writing to those fields, readers would quickly wander off. For instance: the intricacies of roofing tear-offs, door to door sales, restaurant management, real estate transactions and skiing (using my life, for example); a lifetimes worth of classroom experiences (Mr. Harrop); or the many joys of dad's meat plant, real estate stories and property management (Mr. Minch). Otherwise, writers may take an interest in anything from local goings-on, places traveled, contentious issues of local, state or national interest, but true expertise escapes us. Others may possess more knowledgeable perspectives on all of those subjects. In the case of human cause global warming/climate change, I provided readers with weeks worth of columns last summer that more-than-adequately supplied thoughtful material disputing and disagreeing with much of the accepted conventional wis- least, or undermining of another's dom of those alarmed over the freedom to speak at the worst. The first thing we issue. The first disingenuhear from liberals who ous objection the are so described is alarmists have is that objection to the label there's no legitimate (check); then they disdebate or serious scientifpute the idea that ic difference of opinion; I labels mean anything demonstrated the falsity (check); then they of that contention. insist that their posiI could devote every tions or beliefs are not column to the "realist" or "left-of-center" skeptical side of the issue, (check). Such are the especially since our fair knee jerk retorts of libtown has been roped into eral journalists, for an illusory task: "inventoDon example. ry" our "greenhouse gas" Those bemoaning production. Obviously, Polson uncivil discourse/diawe will pay more for look everything associated The way tribe shouldwhen in the mirror, as Hartherewith. I may yet rop accused me of devote columns to the I see it making things up (over issue, even as scientists factual errors I correctand authorities worldwide are acknowledging the futil- ed re: America's Christian foundaity of schemes and strategies to tions), or wrote untrue things reduce our carbon dioxide output, about Sarah Palin in 2008. Incivilor even the necessity or desirabili- ity/diatribe even emanated from ty thereof. I could do so with Mr. Minch, calling me heartless indisputable evidence from unim- and un-Christian (never retracted peachable sources, all the while or apologized for) over my views legitimately claiming, as does Mr. on the homeless; he recently referMazzucchi, "I have studied this enced one of the most notorious fabrications of the 2008 campaign, topic extensively." I found Mr. Harrop's castigation that Sarah Palin didn't really know of my writing as more "diatribe" where you could see Russia from than "debate" to be remarkable, Alaska. Mr. Mazzucchi never hypocritical and mildly offensive. apologized for advancing the "Tea Offensive in the subtle message Party is racist" line in 2009. Liberthat my thoughts are beneath tak- als would object to all these diaing seriously, are worthy of disre- tribes if the political shoe were on gard or not legitimate. Unless, of the other foot; sorry, but I'll skip course, I were to take his advice the civility/diatribe lecture. and write in ways he approves of. Don Polson has called Red Not likely to happen, but the mesBluff home since 1988. He can be sage reveals how intellectuals by e-mail at attempt to frame discussions in reached ways that are self-serving in the donplsn@yahoo.com.

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