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4A – Daily News – Thursday, January 6, 2011 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 County fraud Editor: To the Tehama County Mental Health Director and Supervisors of Tehama Coun- ty, I am getting ready to protest. 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 In front of the Tehama County Red Bluff Court House and heading to Sacra- mento and every county to fight for the rights and for the suffering us victims have been forced to endure. This three pages is put on a 4x8 sheet of plywood for the protest. I also have 20 signa- tures so far. I plan to have more than 500 people before I get to Sacramento. Then we will see what’s really going on. Keep using street drugs methamphetamine. I was told by the Tehama County Mental Health because we the people refuse to help treat or cure any and all victims of any and all diagnoses or any and all vic- tims neglected to be victim- ized by the people that took an oath to do no harm. Forced to suffer and forced my family to suffer a great deal and also forcing me to live an oppression life, keep- ing me from being allowed to work and or learn to be a good person because of the negligence and neglect of the doctors and Medi-Cal’s dis- crimination in treatment: refusing proper medication, delaying in treatment and bul- lying and victimizing a victim with a mental disorder with- out medication then abandon- ing and dumping and kicking the victim to the curb to suf- fer without medication. Forc- ing the victim to be victim- ized and forcing the victim to self medicate using street drugs, methamphetamine. Now why methampheta- mine. Well it’s because methamphetamine is not only a street drug it is also a med- ication that cures victims of any mental disorder. But any and all victims with Medi-Cal fund will be refused treatment, order forced bullied and victimized by doctors to use other med- ication that will not work. To cheat and defraud any person of promises by any means which are themselves crimi- nals or to obtain money or property by false pretenses or by false promises with fraud- ulent intent not to perform such promises is insurance fraud. If the Tehama County Mental Health has treated you this way then call me at 529- 2963 and we will get together and find a lawyer to protect our rights. I have 20 victims to stand- by, to sue and charge the Tehama County Mental Health with misrepresenta- tion, discrimination, delay in treatment, bullying, victimiz- ing, insurance fraud, despica- ble conduct. Wesley Dulle, Red Bluff Bureaucracy Editor: Where would we be with universal health care? When the government is in charge of any pro- gram it becomes another bureaucracy run by political appointees that are there only for their own bene- fit, salary and benefits. So, the slam dunk is, it Your Turn would wind up like Medicare sucked dry by the size of its bureaucracy (salaries and benefits and early retirement) fraudulent billing, vans cruis- ing the streets for anybody breathing to run through their clinics like an assembly line and scooter stores promising motorized scooters for noth- ing. The result of that is the people (working class) who paid into Medicare are now screwed and the same goes for Social Security. In other words, after feeding the beast (the bureaucracy) damn little if any gets to those in need. A classic example is Tehama County’s Welfare Department. By the time this beast is fed just how much is left for those in need? That after the department head is paid salary, benefits and early retirement (by the way, the head of this department was one of the recipients of a pay raise here a while back), the managers of all the different little departments within this behemoth of a bureaucracy and their salaries, benefits and early retirement and then count in all those county employees sitting behind all those desks that park all those cars overflow- ing the parking lot and all around the Welfare Complex on South Main Street. Who was it that said, a government that’s big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take it away? That’s what happens when government takes over. Think of all the other county departments that exist only to tax, collect fees, penalize or in one way or another squeeze money out of the taxpayers, the working class. Remember the Planning Department wanting to put a $15,000 fee on new home building permits? Did George do that for the good of the community or to cover his retirement? Then there’s Air Pollution, the only citations they write, that I know of, are against agriculture while countless other violators are ignored. It is my opinion that all the above departments could be trimmed down significantly, starting at the top. Les Wolfe, Red Bluff Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 6031 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319-2102 STATE SENATOR — Doug LaMalfa (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 3063 Sacramento, 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. Arctic turkey: My New Year’s resolution Commentary The latest numbers show only 40 percent of Americans actually make New Year’s reso- lutions. Sure, I did it once - five years ago this week I reluctantly quit smoking. If you listen to anec- dotes about people who quit smoking, they always “smoked three packs a day.” I only smoked two. Two packs. Every- day since junior high. I was thin, grey and phlegmy. I’d get winded playing Scrabble. But I liked smoking. I had romanticized smoking. A ciga- rette was my steady companion. I didn’t see smoking as a vice – I saw it as an extension of my personality. If you knew me you knew a cloud of tobacco exhaust was my wingman. People come and go. Pets die. Cars die. Years go by. But smoking cigarettes was my con- stant. Besides, I was so preco- cious when it came to nicotine, I had been a smoker the majority of my life. I couldn’t imagine anything different. The end came shortly after I drove cross-country. At a truck stop in Arizona I wasn’t allowed to smoke inside the restaurant. Yes, truckers, who as part of their vocation are known to uri- nate in soda bottles and toss them onto the side of America’s highways, were collectively stating, “Smoking offends us.” Government ordinance after ballot initiative interrupted my smoking pleasure. Being a smoker these days is agreeing to be quarantined from the general smelling population. My “friend” was making me a pari- ah. So five years ago for New Years…I quit. How did I quit? Arctic turkey. I simply didn’t smoke. I watched the clock and eventually it added up to time away from nicotine. People who have never smoked think this is the moment of triumph: time without smok- ing. But I can’t even remember my first three months of not smoking. I know afterwards I had fewer friends. I know I started a dark anonymous blog about every neurotic incongru- ous fear that popped up. One was being afraid I’d start to like neutral colors. Another was being afraid I’d become a “morning person.” I do remem- ber I couldn’t sleep and drank bedtime tea all day long. A side effect I didn’t expect was a yearning for schmaltz. I had a sudden appetite for all things “inspirational.” I’d secretly read websites about life transformations. The more maudlin the better. I’d watch shows like BBC’s You Are What You Eat and NBC’s Biggest Loser to get some joy out of seeing others struggle, too. And I’d cry. I went from heavy smoking to heavy sobbing. It was horrible. Before I quit smok- ing I had never been inside a gym. I never had a reason to go. But now I had to do some- thing. So I went to a gym with a guest pass and then swiftly fell off the treadmill. I stopped walking. The treadmill didn’t. Treadmill won. I was on the floor. I got up. Got back on. Stayed on. I ran my first marathon when I was 13 months off-cigarettes. People warned me about lung fested. On the plus side, all the money I spent on cigarettes was just enough to purchase health insurance — which has come in handy for all my new sports injuries. There were plenty Tina Dupuy of lowlights in 2010, but I would like to relay a high point: Rescued Chilean miner Edison Peña participated in the 2010 New York Marathon. After the cave in, while trapped half a mile under- ground Peña ran up to six miles every day in the dark in 90 degree heat. When asked why he did such a thing he said, “I wanted God to see that I really wanted to live.” cancer, emphysema and my teeth falling out, but no one cau- tioned me that quitting would turn me into a sap-craving below-average athlete. By my second marathon I discovered I do my best work in the morning and had acquired a beige couch. Pretty much all my fears mani- Which is the definitive mantra for personal resolve. But really, it’s perhaps the most articulate thing ever said about self-imposed exercise. Tina Dupuy is an award- winning writer and fill-in host at The Young Turks. Tina can be reached at tinadupuy@yahoo.com.