Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/24628
4A – Daily News – Saturday, February 5, 2011 Opinion PATH response 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 Editor: I would like to thank Richard Mazzucchi for his support of our PATH shelter. I am on the Board for PATH and was at the Planning Committee meeting last week. His facts were correct in what we are trying to do. 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 I must add though that the lady who spoke in opposition to the shelter is actually a supporter of PATH and has even brought blan- kets to help us out. I had a chance to talk with her and a few others after the meeting and answer ques- tions for them. They were very receptive. I can understand their concerns but as I shared with her, there is not really a perfect place for a shelter. I do feel the Brecken- ridge property is the best we have found for our needs. I explained that these people have been hanging out in their neighborhoods for years. They are housed at local churches all throughout the neighborhoods near schools, houses, and busi- nesses. They usually start gather- ing about 4:00-5:00pm before the shelter opens, so they are hanging out waiting. By having a shelter in one place, it will take them out of the neighborhoods near schools,etc. We look forward to having a permanent shelter so we can begin to help those that are in need. We have seen so many come from the shelter to our men's and women's transitional living houses that PATH runs and many are now working and giving back to the community. We know we can't alleviate all the problems but we can try to make a difference. Please come to an informational meeting to be held this Friday night Feb 4th at the Presbyterian church at 7:00 pm and ask us ques- tions and give your input if you have any concerns. We welcome your questions and thoughts. Pam Klein, Red Bluff Evolution Editor: I posted these questions on the RBDN’s Topix-Forum Page, on the Internet, in response to Evan Hinton’s letter to clarify just how evolution is being taught in our schools and institutions of higher learning. I ask, because there seems to be a lot of self-ordained intellectual giants on the subject of evolution with the same response, as if they all took the same class, from the same instructor. These are the questions I pose to Evan. I have no doubt your let- ter is an accurate reflection of what you were taught in class however, is that a consensus of all scientists? Are there any scientists that may disagree that evolution is a sci- ence? I only ask to know the truth, not to deny it being taught, but question whether it be taught as science or theory? Also, if there are other scientists that draw dif- ferent conclusions, shouldn’t that be included? If it isn’t included it’s because our educational system has become a class room of a one- party teaching system. The following is from an article from the website, All About Sci- ence. I submit these quotes from one such article. “Darwin's gener- al theory presumes the development of life from non-life.” “Dar- win’s Theory of Evolu- tion-A Theory In Cri- sis.” “We don't need a microscope to observe irreducible complexity. The eye, the ear and the heart are all exam- ples of irreducible complexity, though they were not recognized as such in Darwin's day. Neverthe- less, Darwin confessed, "To sup- pose that the eye with all its inim- itable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberra- tion, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree” It would seem that Darwin himself admits his theory is wrong. Paleontologists and scientists have been trying to debunk places and events described in the Bible only to be proved factual by archaeologists that such places and events were described accurately. Yet science has yet to prove that a monkey became a man. Perhaps Your Turn that’s because monkeys produce monkeys and dogs produce dogs, etc. etc. I believe, as citizens, we should question the teachings of our edu- cational system in its entirety. Col- lege faculties by their own description are 72% of teachers/professors who teach at our colleges and univer- sities are liberal, 11% are conservative and at the more elite schools it is as high as 87% liber- al to 15% conservative. Fifty-one per-cent are Democrat and 11% are Republi- can. Only 31% say they attend church or synagogue regularly. With the imbalance of philosophy so wide spread and how many of the liberal leaning professors are like William Ayres or Ward Churchill? Then there is Colum- bia University that allowed Ahmadinejad to speak uninter- rupted while denying the Holo- caust, and then the university stu- dents denied a citizen of this coun- try the opportunity to finish his speech about securing our bor- ders. I ask you, is that a balanced educational system? I ask you, is our educational system educating or indoctrinating and proselytizing the young minds of the future leaders of this coun- try? A single party educational system that controls what is being taught, controls what their students believe. 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 3070 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, 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. Winding down Commentary I was about 10 minutes late when Sam and I had lunch the other day. “I’m sorry I’m late,” I said, “but I forgot to wind my watch last night.” “You what?” “I forgot to wind my watch, and it runs about a little slow if I don’t wind it daily and set it every four days I am late. I hadn’t worn the watch several days because I had been working in the yard and did- n’t want to harm it.” “You mean that you actually wear a wind up watch?” “I do. In fact this watch will be fifty years old this spring. I bought it in Berne, Switzerland, on a post college tour, and wanted a good watch. It was not a luxury tour; my roommate and I actually used the guidebook, Europe on $5 Per Day, and most days we kept within our budget. We even stayed in a pen- sion in Spain for $1.25 per night including breakfast and lunch. ” “Now I know why you are such a tightwad” My watch is an Omega Sea- master, and I bought it for $45, a lot of money for an unemployed, draft eligible young man in 1961. I asked the saleswoman what the difference was between this watch and a Bulova which I could have bought at home for less than $20. She told me there was no differ- ence for the first ten years. When I originally purchased it, the watch was self winding, and it stayed that way for about 20 years, after which it needed some coax- ing by Don Jones. These days no amount of coaxing will do, and I have to wind it each day, but it keeps fairly good time. I only have to re set it every few days. When I first had the watch it glowed in the dark, but either the radium has evaporated or Don Jones was secretly stockpiling it. Maybe he had to sell his store because of accumulated hazardous waste. I was telling Sam that the watch reminded me of my body. This last month I got new glasses, saw three specialists and went to the dentist. After I got all the good news, I was ready to tackle my taxes; I’m not sure the checkups would have been as positive if I had them scheduled after April 15. Sam queried, “You’re not com- paring your body to an Omega watch are you? You’re not one of those guys who glories in on a glo- rious athletic past that never was?” “I hope not,” I replied. “But my body doesn’t run as well as it did fifty years ago when I bought this watch.” “It’s not supposed to. Haven’t you ever heard of the law of entropy?” “What do you mean?” “Well,” Sam said, “entropy is the degradation of matter and energy in the universe into to an ultimate state of inert uniformity. In other words things wind down.” “Speaking of winding down,” Sam added, “what’s happening in Egypt and the Middle East? It looks like you returned from your trip to Egypt and Jordon just before all the stuff hit the fan.” “I guess we got home just in time. Our tour guide, who did not want to be quoted publicly, said Egypt was a revolutionary, demo- cratic, police state. As you recall I felt confident the people of Egypt would make progress because there is public education, and the role of women in society has expanded. It seems to me that the conse- quences of rising expec- tations have finally caught up with Mubarak.” “Although there was much poverty, people were friendly and respectful; begging was not common. If traffic patterns were any indica- tion, there was no effec- tive order about a lot of things. My guess is that the pent up anger about the thumbs of the corrupt government pushing down on peo- ple was released when those in Tunisia demonstrated the power of the people. When rumors circulat- ed that Mubarak was going to set up his son to replace him, many people had decided they had had enough.” I continued, “We were in the Kingdom of Jordan on the evening after the poll booths closed, and we heard automatic weapons fire in celebration of the results. Now the King has had to dissolve the cabinet to try to create a new government that would satisfy the peoples’ needs. When you begin tell ordi- nary citizens that all is going well and will get better, sooner or later they lose their patience and want to accelerate the “get- ting better.” A twenty-first cen- tury kingdom is really an anachronism.” Joe Harrop Sam pointed out that all revolutions are not the same, and often the “cure” is as bad as or worse than the “crime” they replace. He pointed out George Orwell’s Animal Farm as a fictional example of that, also the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, and the rise of the Communists after the initial Russian Revolu- tion. I hoped he was wrong. “It’s almost like the pendulum swings this way and then that, never getting anywhere,” he said, “merely going from bad to worse and back again.” “You know,” I said, “I have a couple of battery powered watches that keep almost perfect time. I wear them on occasion, but I like to cling to my past and wear my outdated and aging Omega, my anachronism. In some ways I guess I am shortsighted; like Mubarak who doesn’t want things to change.” “Maybe we all are that way, but things will change whether we want them to or not.” 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.