Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/13483
4A – Daily News – Saturday, July 17, 2010 Opinion 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 Most of us in Red Bluff agree the McGlynn Pool is a great asset to the community, particularly our young people. 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 Cash and cannibals Commentary In my experience the stress of budget building in difficult fiscal years often brought out the worst side of people; the cannibals always showed up. By cannibals I mean those who wanted to take money from someone else’s bud- get and put into their own. The can- nibals were sure their needs were far greater than anyone else’s, and they would advocate loud and strong, often out of ignorance, about what the organizational pri- orities should be. When there is a cost that one agency charges another agency or a user group, and when money is tight tempers often flare. We saw this earlier this year when community sports groups complained about the fees that the Red Bluff Joint Union High School would need to charge for them to use school facilities. State law dictates limits on fees when nonprofit organizations are involved, usually limiting them to simply covering costs, so the fees are not fund raisers for the school; they merely cover documented costs. When for profit groups want to use school facilities, they are required to pay the fair rental value of that use. If extra costs are gener- ated from use, then the user must pick up the tab. Users have to doc- ument proper insurance coverage as well. This is good stewardship of public property. According to the Daily News there is a festering disagreement between the Fairgrounds and the City of Red Bluff over who should pick up the costs of traffic control for events at the Fairgrounds, both events already scheduled and those not yet booked. Traffic control is an important safety function, par- ticularly on busy Antelope Boule- vard, and there is a cost for the City to provide officers to maintain safe traffic patterns and accommodate the need to limit traffic jams. If I read the Daily News cor- rectly, the fairgrounds is asking to be exempted from charges for traf- fic control costs, allegedly because those who sponsor both for profit and not for profit events cannot afford the costs for such safety ser- vices. If that is true, these users must be in difficult financial straits and may be risky renters; as I have stated before, the users profit struc- ture should not be a concern of the Fair Board. The Fairgrounds CEO, Mark Eidman, was quoted as saying “Almost 200,000 people visited the fairground last year. I have to believe that people bought enough food and gas and stayed at enough hotels to pay for traffic control.” Data provided on the Tehama County Fairgrounds website indi- cate 98 percent of Fairground attendees travel less than 100 miles round trip to attend. The median round trip is 24 miles. It is not clear how that relates to hotel business. Though it may be unintentional on his part, Eidman’s words can be translated to say the City should put his traffic control problem ahead of all other City priorities. The first use of any of the fees/taxes he mentions should be used for the Fairgrounds. Even assuming that the City could include scheduled events they know about in the budget (at a cost to our public safety), how can they know how to handle new events? Eid- man can say the Fair- grounds should be a City priority, but saying that won’t make it so, and I have to believe he is speaking out of frustra- tion, not reason. Setting City pri- orities is the City Council’s job, not the Fairgrounds manager’s job, and given the City’s budgetary mess, the City Council would be wise to recoup costs whenever possible. Sometimes budgetary tension can produce an environment for creative ideas. Some have already apparently been explored: using well trained volunteers to direct traffic and installing a traffic light, for example. I am sure such ideas as a temporary traffic light, parking fees, rerouting traffic, and eliminat- ing events that can’t pay the true cost of their requirements will be considered as well. Maybe an Joe extreme solution is only allowing traffic from the Fairgrounds to enter and exit on the north side of Antelope, taking advantage of the stop light at Chestnut, and discontinuing left turns into or out of the Fairgrounds during events. This might make it a longer trip to the events and inconve- nience neighbors with traffic, but it is an alter- native. I am sure there are much better ideas that may evolve from this conflict. Harrop This disagreement is much the same as the issues framed dur- ing discussion on implementing new development fees. Someone has to pay the costs associated with projects and events; I am not sure the citizens of Red Bluff are will- ing to sacrifice public safety because the users of the Fair- ground are unwilling to assume a logical cost of doing business. In this case the cost of traffic safety should clearly land on the spon- sors of events or the renters of the facilities. Joe Harrop is a retired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net. During these sultry days of summer, the pool offers a healthy, low-cost activity for young and old, and a relatively safe alterna- tive to swimming in the Sacramento River. How, then, could the Take the plunge Editorial What do city even think about shutting down McGlynn Pool? The answer is simple, times are tough and the city’s over a barrel — more so in light of recent staff reports that the budget is much further in the red than previously reported. We regularly receive pleas from readers urging the city to keep the pool open and for the community to rally to the cause and raise the money necessary to provide such a valued and tradi- tional recreational opportunity. Tonight is your best chance to do your part. Starting at 7 p.m., Blues for the Pool will hold its Eighth Annual Wine Tasting by the Pool event, featuring local wineries, finger food and silent auction items. For a $20 donation, you get a commemorative wine glass and all the tastings, not to mention an evening of entertain- ment from the band In the Reign. The event is a good time, but best of all it’s for a good cause. you think? Let us know Liberals at root And it’s a chance for you to show what McGlynn Pool means to you and the community. It’s easy to say the pool must be saved. It’s easy to say our children need to turn off the video games, get off the couch and go out in the sunshine for some wholesome physical activity. It’s just as easy to attend a fun social event, soak up some local vino and tunes and run into old friends and make new ones — all while doing your part to make sure the pool is around for anoth- er season. If you don’t drink, or don’t want to venture out on a warm evening, you can still help out. The Great National Canoe & Kayak Drag Races kick off at 9 a.m. Saturday, July 31 at Red Bluff River Park. The Red Bluff Exchange Club event benefits both McGlynn Pool and the Sacramento River Discovery Center, another local gem worth preserving. Even if neither event appeals, you can send a check to show your support to Blues for the Pool, c/o Danielle Jackson, 1500 S. Jackson St., Red Bluff, 96080. Let’s put our money where our mouth is and take this opportuni- ty to turn out in force to show Red Bluff what McGlynn Pool means to our community. of nation’s ills Editor: More progressive liberal- ism B.S. in the Positive Point. The progressive way of thinking and teach- ing in our schools is exactly what is wrong with this country now. The author believes this country must undergo a metamorphosis. Undergo metamorphosis my eye-brow. The progressive liberals have been morphing this country and its constitution for generations to get where we are today, where our national debt is the highest it has been since World War II, unemployment is so high people are running out of benefits and Medicare and Social Security are broke. It is the liberals that have always blamed the conserva- tives to be a threat to Social Security, but it was the liber- als that took Social Security funds out of the lock box and squandered it elsewhere. So, why don’t we just take our elected officials’, at all levels of government, retire- ment and medical benefits and put it in Medicare and Social Security? That would solve the Medicare and Social Security problem and probably have some money left over. Government regulations, Your Turn at all levels, and unions have destroyed our economy and private enterprise to the point where the most lucra- tive employment is in the government job market. The average go v ernment employee makes $12 an hour more than the average worker in the private sector, in other words, we working class Americans are paying the people that work for us — that’s a laugh — more money and benefits than we are getting and think about this, they can retire at 55 while the rest of us may have to work until we are 70 before we can draw Social Security. That should make everyone happy. The progressive liberals are in control of the govern- ment and have made a mess out of our economy and put it in a death spiral in just one and a half years. To really understand the threat we are facing as a nation from this leadership, Glenn Beck should be mandatory watch- ing in all schools. For those of you who think Glenn Beck is wrong, prove it, because we conser- vatives can stand the truth. Les Wolfe, 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.