Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/20388
8A – Daily News – Saturday, November 27, 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 Union boards should not vote on teachers pay Editor: 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 pockets of the teacher's union is able to assure the election of their sponsored school board candidates. These sponsored board mem- bers should refrain from voting on any measure that affects pay or benefits of any administrator or teacher. It would be unfair to the majority of taxpayers to have biased voting on pay and bene- fits that causes increases in taxes. It is almost impossible to prevent the continuous decline in the quality of public school education with the unions dom- inating so much of the process with retention of poor quality educators and teachers compen- sation now 20 percent higher than equally educated civilian nontechnical college graduates. Too often union supported legislators and school board members have prevented school choice with parents education tax dollars. Joseph Neff, Corning More frequently the deep No easy fix Editor: Orv, are you wearing a hel- met or is it just nothing pene- trates that thick skull of yours? Your peace group doesn’t own any particular corner. The individual that didn’t retreat had every right not to do so. Why won’t you share a corner with the Tea Party? There is no silver bullet to get this country out of the financial mess we are in. The government employees were given unionized collective bargaining, and as a result they own the middle class. There are fewer families in the private sector able to live the American dream because they are forced to pay the pub- lic servants more in wages and benefits than they get, plus early retirement at 55 for Cal- ifornia State employees as opposed to 65 for the private sector. In 2009, the pension liabil- ity came out to $3,000 per working-age adult in the state. By 2014, it will triple to over $10,000 per working-age Californ- ian. Taking from the Your Turn working class in the private sector and giv- ing it to government employ- ee’s plush retirement is just not working. That disaster is compounded by many of them double dipping, by collecting two government pensions and/or their pension and Social Security. Social Security and Medicare could probably be made solvent by making some changes in this area. By the Republican take over of con- gress we will save millions, for example, by eliminating Pelosi’s monumental abuse of military aircraft privileges shuttling her and her family back and forth between Cali- fornia and Washington D.C. So, let’s just say, here’s one way to balance the budget, if it was possible to buy you for what you are worth and sell you for what you think you’re worth, bingo, the budget is balanced. Or, you can watch Glen Beck, but don’t take his word for the subver- sive people sur- rounding the admin- istration and the devastating impact they have had on our economy. Do your home work and then let us know what you find out. Les Wolfe, Red Bluff Parking lot is not the business Editor: I believe the lot behind the Palomino Room, as you refer to it, is a public lot and may be owned by the city, as there used to be — or still are — parking meters. Please do not penalize the business by naming it in your stories. Jim Davis, 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. Chasing crows in Cairo Commentary Cairo is an old, large city of approximately 20 million peo- ple; it is dirty, noisy and crowd- ed; the traffic is unbelievably congested. Each morning you are greeted with the smell of burning garbage and the sounds of car horns being employed as signaling devices. Pedestrians literally take their lives in their hands when they cross the streets; there are few stop sig- nals, no stop signs, and only a rare traffic cop from time to time. Surprisingly few pedestri- ans are injured crossing the street. Pedestrians also have to cope with the uneven sidewalks; one cannot gawk and walk at the same time. The streets are rela- tively smoother than the side- walks, if not safer. The Marriott Hotel in Cairo is located on Zalmalek Island, in the middle of the Nile. It is an island within that island, with two 21 storey towers connected by two storey malls of high priced shops to each end of the palace built in 1869 to house French royalty visiting the grand opening of the Suez Canal. There is a semi circle of three stories connecting the towers with garden rooms, and area between the garden rooms and the other buildings is filled with outdoor restaurants, a pool, and shade trees. There is also a casi- no in the palace. This is a five star hotel, and there is no doubt about it. Buses and cars park in a lot outside the circle of hotel build- ings; an armed guard with a dog inspects each vehicle entering and exiting; those passengers entering the premises must pass through scanners and baggage X-ray machines. Armed guards are at all entrances. The clientele is mixed, a combination of wealthy Americans on a golf holiday, Saudi businessmen, tourists, and many like us on group tours. I cannot go through the scan- ners because I have a pacemak- er, but usually they just waved me around, or in one case in the Cairo airport, they actually unplugged the machine so I could enter. Once in a while I was given a cursory pat down, nothing like the enhanced ones now available in the United States. There are many African crows on the hotel premises; they seem to travel in pairs. They have the same general pro- file of our local crows, but they are a little bigger, and they are gray and black. In the morning the crows prey on breakfast left- overs on the outside tables. One man seemed to be assigned the task of chasing them away, but he was continually outwitted by the crows. Normally two crows would settle on a table at one end of the row, but as the crow chaser approached, they would blithely glide away to another table at the other end of the row where they would have ample time to sample the left over morsels. The game goes on all morning, and the crows always win. In some way this charade of man versus crow reminds me of the hot tempered politics in our country. While we were sailing down the Nile, an outspoken Texan started proclaiming in a loud voice, far above a stage whisper and for no apparent rea- son other than to hear himself talk, that everyone knows that Obama wants to manage health care for everyone in our country. After he had raged on long enough, I asked him how he knew that. When had the Presi- dent made such a state- ment? Was there a secret memo leaked to the press or was there a blog I had not seen? Doesn’t the govern- ment have enough to do already? He refused to answer any of my questions. I say that he was chasing Joe Then for no appar- ent reason he declared, in a louder voice, that he was a true conserva- tive. He was against big govern- ment. Not satisfied with that, I asked him if he knew anyone that was for big government. Once again he gave me a funny look and said nothing. As far as I was concerned this angry man was chasing crows, and not addressing real issues. The issue is what should be the role of the federal government and how it should relate to state governments. This issue is a recurring theme in our country, and it has had to be clarified again and again under specific circumstances over the last 220 plus years. The Texan’s adaman- cy about “big government” did not reflect the true issues involved in governance. In a similar manner he neglected to address the problem of adequate, affordable health care, and instead blamed the problem on our “socialist” administration. Harrop crows because the problem was not the crows; the problem was inadequate staffing and the lack of prompt service to attend to the empty plates and tables in a timely fashion. I was sorry to see the California Teach- ers Association chap- ter at Red Bluff Union High School painted with the broad brush of militant teacher unionism in a column on these pages. As the district representative at the bargaining table for many years, I worked with the local union chapter as we sometimes faced difficult issues. The local chapter worked hard to be part of a district team and sometimes, at odds with the state CTA, the chapter kept out- sider union staff away from the district so we could resolve our issues ourselves and not escalate them. My experience is the chapter worked toward what would be best for the school, and I believe they supported school board candidates they felt would work for the best interests of the students at Red Bluff High, with less focus on micro- management and athletics and more focus on the academic mission of the district. We are not New York City, and we should be thankful for that. 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.