Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/276076
Argument for Main Street library In a recent letter to the Red Bluff Daily News, the Friends of the Library group has provided an explanation for its prefer - ence of the Kimball Road site, between the Community Center and the City Corporation Yard — in the area of the industrial park on the south edge of town. To give another perspective, the New Library for Red Bluff group (www.facebook.com/ NewLibraryforRedBluff) would like to briefly counter the argu - ments given by the FotL group: 1) The Kimball site is close to a park, a few schools, and the Community Center, but the Main Street site is also close to a park, close to more schools (a total of eight within three-quar- ters of a mile), and far closer to the actual center of the commu- nity. To say that a "downtown location does not have the same partnership base or outreach" is a slap in the face to the many people who work, shop, go to school, and otherwise live in or around central Red Bluff. 2) The architectural sketch shown at the recent public meeting was for a two-story building, but the Main site doesn't require a second story nor does a second story nec - essarily require more staff- ing. The New Library for Red Bluff website has already dem- onstrated that a single-story building of sufficient size can be built with sufficient park- ing. And even with a two-story building, the staff wouldn't have to be duplicated on both floors; at least one would be needed on the second floor, but the library is always staffed by multiple people, so one could be placed upstairs while the rest remain on the first level. 3) The Kimball site has more parking, but the Main Street site has more than enough. At the public meeting, the pre - senters explained that there is NO problem with parking at ei- ther site. The library sketch has more sites than the current li- brary, and there's plenty of ad- ditional parking on the east side of Main (so no trumped-up con- cerns about crossing Main are needed). If parking is the "most important" issue with the site, there isn't much to complain about. The FotL group dismisses that the "difference in drive time between the sites" is insig - nificant; and for one who is in- tent on going to the library via car, perhaps it may not be very significant. But what about peo- ple in central, western, north- ern, or eastern Red Bluff com- ing on foot or by bike? The dif- ference is far more significant. Or what about people riding TRAX, which has all of its Red Bluff routes coming through the downtown hub just a few blocks the Main Street library site, but only one route that goes near the Kimball site? And most importantly, what about the fact that people very often use a library based on convenience more than on in - tent — because they saw it and decided to stop in and use the library? The Main Street site is far more visible and ac - cessible, both for most peo- ple in town and most people coming from out of town, such from as 36W, I-5, 36E, and 99E — this is the county library, after all. Notice, too, that the FotL group says nothing about a view. Views can be major sell - ing points for homes, hotels, restaurants, and so forth, so why shouldn't what is argu- ably the best view in Red Bluff not be a major asset to help at- tract people to the library? Red Bluff is the Victorian Town on the River — the downtown li- brary site would connect strongly with that identity. The Tehama County Branding Proj- ect identified Lassen as our sin- gle most important asset — the downtown library would con- nect with that, as well. The Kimball site does neither. The choice of the site for the library will impact our community for a generation or more. We can choose to build an uninspiring library in an uninspiring location, simply because there may be some slight difficulties in go - ing for the better site, but no great undertaking is ever ac- complished without a bit of ef- fort. Building the best library in the best location, which would be the most visible and the most accessible, and which would connect to Red Bluff¹s history, the river, and Mt. Las - sen, would be a great undertak- ing. For more than a century, Red Bluff has had a centrally lo- cated library, and for the sake of the library and the commu- nity, Red Bluff should keep its library close to its heart. Zachary Whitten, Red Bluff No consequences Editor: In your article regarding Lassen Park's settlement in the Botell family case, U.S. Magis - trate Judge Gregory Hollows wrote that "Lassen Park Su- perintendent Darlene Koontz lied under oath in a deposition and had other evidence pertain- ing to the fitness of the wall de- stroyed." So she committed perjury and destroyed evidence and she still has her taxpayer-paid job and no consequences. Amazing. Patrice Marie Owens, Red Bluff We are not in a drought Editor: Gerry Cupp of Cottonwood brought up in the March 8 Re- cord-Searchlight the desalina- tion plant that the Aussies have just finished. They built it in re- sponse to their 14-year drought. We — are not in drought. We are in a dry period of normal California precipitation cycle. Mother nature never in - tended that we populate Cali- fornia with 38 million human beings. Nor build the nation's garden in the central valley ei- ther. One of the problems we cre- ated was a constant state of drought. To solve this problem we looked around and every- where we found running water, we built a dam. Now we want to build them higher. This is not a solution. There is just not enough water falling from the sky over California. We've pumped so much wa - ter out of the LA basin that it is sinking. Soon the Santa Mon- ica freeway will be under wa- ter; seawater. Rather than dike off our beaches to keep LA dry and the swimming pools full, perhaps we should stop pump - ing and damming and apply the Australian and Mr. Cupp's solution. Also: Israel is knowl- edgeable in this expertise. Let's build desalination plants. Lots of desalination plants. Then we can let Mother Nature refill our aquifers. And as Mr. Cupp suggested let the people that are using the wa - ter pay for it. In the meantime we can fi- nance the desalination plants with money from Governor Moonbeam's choo-choo and the soon the be unnecessary tunnels that are proposed to steal the Sacramento River and pour it on the central val - ley gardens. At first the government agencies in charge of Cali- fornia's water will protest the loss of these projects but they'll soon have much larger projects to work on and so they can back to growing their departments. With the Delta fed by a more normal, non-flood wa - ter flow some of mother na- ture's difficulties with the na- tive inhabitants will be nat- urally resolved. We can then get on with my main project of reconnecting the salmon back to the headwaters of the Sacramento River and eventu - ally other waterways, Feather American, Trinity, Klamath, you get it. Fred Boest, Red Bluff Letters Cartoonist's take Tom Purcell Get this: Old-fashioned baby names are beginning to make a comeback. That was the finding of Baby - Center, a digital resource for parenting and pregnancy, which released the top 100 baby names for 2013. Some of the names at the top of the list are oldies but goodies, such as Sophia, Isabella and Ol - ivia for girls. And once we get past Liam, Lucas and Mason, Jack, Ben and Bill are increasing in popularity for boys. Naming conventions are surely cyclical in nature, and I hope it is just a matter of time before the common names of my childhood make a comeback: Tom, John, Jeff, Bill, Bob, Rich and Tim. We had one Clint and he had a brother named Reid, but that was as daring as things got in those days. You were never referred to by your full name — Thomas, Jona - than, Jeffrey, William and so on — the way parents demand now- adays. My sisters had common names, too: Kathy, Krissy, Lisa, Mary and Jennifer. So did the girls I went to school with: Terri, Laura, Donna, Colleen, Karen, Susan, Janine, Holly, Sandy, Sherri and so on. The girls' names were much less flowery than they were in our grandparents' generation. My grandmother on my father's side, born in 1903, was named Beatrice — family members called her Beady. She came of age at a time when it was common to name girls Gertrude, Mildred, Doro - thy, Lilian, Josephine, Mabel and other wonderful names. I surely prefer old-fashioned names over the newfangled ones — and don't care much for the way modern parents determine names for their kids. A few years back, The Wall Street Journal did a report on parents who hired naming ex - perts, applied mathematical for- mulas and software programs and even consulted with nutty spiritualists. One couple hired a pair of con - sultants to draw up a list of sug- gestions based on "phonetic ele- ments, popularity and ethnic and linguistic origins." One woman paid a "nameol- ogist" $350 for three half-hour phone calls and a personalized manual describing each name's history and personality traits. Another spent $475 on a nu - merologist to see if her favorite name had positive associations, whatever the heck that means. One married couple really took the cake in coming up with the name Beckett for their son. The name sounds reliable and stable, according to the proud dad, who said the "ck" sound is very well regarded in corporate circles. The "hard stop" forces one to accentuate that syllable, which draws attention to it, he droned on. What a dweeb. Needless to say, parents didn't obsess over baby names this way in prior generations. Chil- dren were named after people their parents admired — family members or someone they were close to. I was named after my father and his father, Thomas James Purcell. I am the fourth Thomas James Purcell to hold that honor. My name also carries with it a spiritual meaning. There are many Christian saints and bib - lical heroes named Thomas. By assigning me this name, my par- ents also hoped to bestow on me Christian blessings and guid- ance. That's why the kids I knew at St. Germaine Catholic School all had simple biblical names. In any event, isn't it better to name children after saints and admired people than to hire a high-priced consultant to define the right phonetics? Even though "Tom" is only 59th on the BabyCenter list, I love my old-fashioned name. It is practical. I know immediately, for instance, when I've done something to anger a woman; angry women refer to me as "Thomas." A kid with a newfangled name — such as Nevaeh, which is "heaven" spelled backward — will never enjoy a simple benefit like that. Tom Purcell, author of "Misadven - tures of a 1970s Childhood" and "Comical Sense: A Lone Humorist Takes on a World Gone Nutty!" is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. Send comments to Tom at Purcell@caglecartoons.com. Column Old-fashioned baby names make a comeback The Main Street site is far more visible and accessible, both for most people in town and most people coming from out of town. Sounding off A look at what readers are saying in comments on our website and on social media. Thank God she has been found safe...it's nice to hear of a happy ending to a missing child. Patricia Drum: Facebook comment about story of missing teen found safe I like the new design. Funny, I thought it was easier on my eyes. Jill Wabbel: Facebook comment about redesign of the Daily News Greg Stevens, Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EdiToriaL Board How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@red bluffdailynews.com Phone: 530-527- 2151 ext. 112 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FaCEbook.CoM/ rbDaIlynEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @rEDbluFFnEWS Editor: I have two comments to make about the new format of your pa- per: One, the headlines are big enough to read from across the yard, but the articles are too small to read. Two, in general the paper looks like a package from Publishers clearing house, but that is your prerogative. Once again I feel like I have to repeat to you that your custom - ers are probably predominately older retired people who like to relax at breakfast read and do the crosswords etc. Most young people get their news on the run on TV or Internet. Please, can you increase the size of the type on the articles, also the comics, crossword and sudoku puzzles. Don't you ever get tired of printing the same thing from Polson and a few others that continue with their same com - ments? I have learned to read articles by checking the name of the contributor first. Bill Unger, Red Bluff Not a big fan of the redesign other view OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, March 12, 2014 » MORE AT FaCEbook.CoM/rbDaIlynEWS AND TWITTEr.CoM/rEDbluFFnEWS a6