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6A– Daily News – Tuesday, August 3, 2010 Opinion Budget questions 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 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. 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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 To say the release of 91,000 classified documents has revealed a disconnect between our public position on Afghanistan and the actual situ- ation on the ground is like inferring a disparity between yoga and bayonets. Dawn dish- washing liquid and green olive tapenade. A tray full of South- ern Comfort old-fashioned sweets and a herringbone Seg- way. Unlike the Pentagon Papers, we can’t even work up a good outrage, mainly because -- come on -- 91,000 documents. That’s like reading all seven Harry Potter books 30 times over. I don’t care how authenti- cally rustic your wand is, nobody’s doing that. There are even questions as to whether it’s 91,000 documents or 92,000 documents, if all the documents have been released, or if more are being held in reserve for we mere Muggles. I know. What’s a thousand documents amongst friends? Well, there’s your problem. We don’t have any friends. Corrup- tion over there is endemic, pan- demic and epidemic. Our allies aren’t necessarily allied on our Editor: We know that due to our poor economy every city in America has had to make budget cuts, how- ever, my concern is how Red Bluff City Manager Martin Nichols is handling these cuts. The budget deficit went from $300,000 in February to $1,353,000 in June. When asked when he knew about the huge shortfall Nichols claims it wasn’t until June, even though all other cities seemed to know in late Feb- ruary or early March. The Budget Committee tried to lay off a full-time park mainte- nance worker without notifying the Human Resources department, which informed them that they could not lay this employee off until we lay off the six part-time employees working for Parks and Recreation — this would virtually close down the Community and Senior Center. How could continuously laying off important personelle such as firemen, policemen and park workers be what’s best for our community? The decisions Nichols makes for the residents of Red Bluff are decisions that do not have the community and its members’ best interest at heart. Nichols lives in Paradise but makes decisions on how the residents of Red Bluff will be taken care of. The city pays Nichols $4,400/year auto allowance to drive back and forth to Paradise instead of him moving to Red Bluff. Do we at least require him to buy the gas in Red Bluff so the city receives the tax money from his purchase? Although the city had to make significant cutbacks last year and all the department heads and the city manager were to take a 7 per- cent pay cut, the city manager’s budget, which covers him and his executive assistant, had an increase of $30,075 in employee compensation. The Human Resources department — two employees — had an increase of $19,254. Both of these depart- ments are overhead departments that do not bring in any money. Nichols has not taken any reductions in his budget in at least the last two years and continues to increase his General Fund spend- ing each year. Cities need to make cutbacks, but Nichols is choosing to sacrifice the needs of our residents instead of making cuts in the overhead departments, like his, which is where most successful businesses would look to cut first. Our police, fire and parks departments have all had to make significant cuts in their budgets over the last few years, leaving them short staffed to cover the same amount of territory and meet the same public needs. Nichols should be leading by example and start with cuts in his department and then look at other overhead departments before he requires cuts from these vital departments that do bring in some revenue. Instead of trying to get each department to cover its share of the debt, police, fire and parks have been asked to take the huge cuts, leaving other departments being left virtually untouched. We need to have someone who cares about the Red Bluff resi- dents’ needs before his own run- ning our city. Debbie Morisch, Red Bluff Red Bluff change Editor: I read Pat Gleason's recent col- umn on the slow changes in Red Bluff with both understanding and dismay. I am a 12-year resident of Corning and have watched that town change, sometimes for bet- ter, sometimes for worse, in the few years I have lived there. I still miss D-Squared Restau- rant with their Califor- nia gourmet cuisine and salt and pepper shakers. I understand missing a favorite restaurant. In 1998, I opened a chiropractic business in Corning, closed it in January, and opened a new office in downtown Red Bluff the following month. I frequently am asked by my Corning patients how I like work- ing in Red Bluff. I tell them that my lunch choices have vastly improved and expanded. Now here's my dismay: The Sugar Shack is one of my favorite downtown restaurants. I love Asian food. I was delighted to find both a tasty Japanese and Chinese restaurant — New Asian Restau- rant across the street — walking distance from my office. And if I feel like driving, I can even dine on tasty Thai food at Thai House down on South Main Street. Some lunchtimes the Sugar Shack is so packed that if you don't get there just before noon you're not going to get a table. Many hun- gry folk show up and with great disappointment, have to go find somewhere else to eat. And their take-out business is just as busy as their sit-down business. You wrote that you got bad vibes going in there. I'm surprised the editor let that go to print. You Your Turn complain that businesses in Red Bluff are closing and then you write a bad restuarant review. Are you upset that Rydel's Shoe Store is gone, replaced by the TremonT Cafe? Again, try getting a table at lunchtime. I'm so sorry you can't buy shoes there any- more. Instead, maybe you could take your son there for one of their huge ice cream cones and start cre- ating some new positive dining memories for him. Yes, Red Bluff is slowing changing. Isn't every place? Pat, go hang-out with the science teachers and ask them to explain the concept of change. What they'll teach you is that change is adapta- tion. In the real world, businesses adapt to the economy and changes in the owners’ lives. It's inevitable. I like Red Bluff. I have found residents and its business people to be forward-looking and activiely engaged in planning for and pro- moting Red Bluff. This is a hap- pening town. So many festivals, events and other good clean fun. Fortunately, the people here don't sit around planning devious ways to keep eveything the same. Only fearful people try to run in place. Pat, you're not old enough to remember the good ol' days so why not wish for a fascinating future? Embrace the future — your son is going to live there, with or with- out fond memories of Red Bluff restaurants. And Pat, go explore the new restaurants. Who knows, maybe you'll find a new favorite hang-out to write your columns in. I recom- mend lunch at The Sugar Shack for starters. Dr. Lesa Lane, Corning 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. Spa-spangled bog Commentary side. The fighting is going badly and a halfway decent deep-dish pizza crust remains a concept the Afghanis seem unable or unwilling to embrace. Not to mention democracy. Unplug the drain and the ring around the tub is we’ve been there 8 years and things are so not getting better. As a matter of fact you could say the movement more resembles whatever is the opposite of get- ting better. Don’t even mention quagmire. Hah. Hah. We sneer at your quagmire. Our Afghanistan participation makes a quagmire look like a refreshing dip in a spring-fed pool with buckets of frosty beer within reach and cold cucumber slices on our eyelids. Spa-span- gled bog. This dastardly document dump also managed to tick off Pakistani officials who dispute claims that the ISI, their intelli- gence agency, is collaborating with the Taliban. "These allega- tions are always repeated." Hmm. Curious as to why those allegations would always be repeated, eh what? Maybe because, like the sun and those silly allegations about the rising in the east, they’re… true? And for those of you sur- prised by the amount of grand- standing caused by the Wik- iLeaks disclosures, either you forgot it was an election year or have been making too many side trips to the magic brownie counter in your medicinal mar- ijuana store. A veritable slew of Congressmen are sharpening their bud- get scalpels, asking how we can toss Pak- istan a couple billion a year in foreign aid while they’re helping Afghani insurgents. With friends like these, who needs enemy combatants? As unexpected as a play nice. Yeah. Right. Dream on, big river. You got a better chance convincing Lindsay Lohan to give up all her nasty habits and start wear- ing one. If this leak tells us anything, it’s that this is not a winnable war. Right now, America has a lot of stuff on a lot of plates and keep- ing them all spinning is neither cheap nor easy. Will Durst Raging Moderate checkered tablecloth in a pizzeria, the administration is playing down any revelations. "Nothing new to see here. Every- thing generally known. Move along." Perhaps, just not general- ly known by the general public. Privately, White House offi- cials anticipate using these leaks to pressure Pakistan to Afghan plates, on the other hand, are not very full and they seem to like it like that. Especially when deep-dish pizza crumbs can get them beheaded. As they say in Ani- mal House, "If I were us, I’d be… leaving." Will Durst is a political comedian who has performed around the world. He is a familiar pundit on television and radio. E-mail Will at durst@caglecartoons.com. Check out willandwillie.com for the latest podcast.