Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/27952
6A – Daily News – Monday, March 28, 2011 Opinion Bringing non-violent offenders home to roost 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 Last week, the state Legislature 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. 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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 approved a bill that would transfer short-term, lower-level offenders from state prisons to county jails. Democrats voted overwhelmingly in favor. Republicans generally opposed it, citing concerns for the impact on public safety if offend- ers are released due to overcrowd- ed, county jails. It also is contin- gent on extending certain taxes, which Republicans oppose. The tax money would go to reimburse counties for the cost of housing the inmates and could save the state $450 million this year, with poten- tial annual savings of $2 billion in 2014. Money would come from tax extensions that Gov. Jerry Brown wants to put to a vote if the Republican blockade is broken. The inmates to be transferred are 30,000 lower-level offenders sentenced to three years or less and convicted of only nonviolent, non- serious and nonsexual offenses, such as property crimes and drug activities, some of whom already serve half their sentences in coun- ty jails. In 2008, property and drug offenses accounted for 52 percent of new prison admissions in Cali- fornia. Violent crimes accounted for 33 percent. Low-level crimes such as possessing a weapon or driving under the influence accounted for 14 percent. The same year, 55 percent of prison admissions were parolees. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials said Wednesday they support the "realignment" proposal. "Realign- ment's about taking away from the state and having the counties do more," says correction spokesman Oscar Hidalgo. "Realignment is going to be complicated and take some time. With all that to say, it's a really good idea. I think it's the right thing to do. In some ways, it illustrates the fact the prison popu- lation needs to get smaller." Most Sheriff’s and counties oppose realignment because they don’t want the additional inmates, and distrust state promises to reim- burse them to help pay for the freight. In Shasta County for example, the proposal could send 328 state prison inmates to the local jail, which already reaches over 90 per- cent of its capacity every week. The Sheriff would therefore need to expand the jail or release some inmates. To add to his woe Shasta Sheriff Bosenko said: "The state has a very poor track record of paying their bills. Currently, they owe the sheriff's office $150,000. For other county agencies, they owe over $2 million, and this is repeated throughout the 58 coun- ties." According to Jerry Powers, Stanislaus County chief probation officer, the purpose of the propos- al is "to bring the money back to the locals and put them in the deci- sion-making levels from a rehabil- itative perspective. What works in one county doesn't nec- essarily work for others. It makes sense from a fiscal standpoint. I think in the end you'll see the taxpayers getting a big- ger bang for their buck." In my opinion this policy change is long overdue so that local cops, district attorneys, leaders, and citizens come to realize the effects of our overzeal- ous incarceration of low-level offenders. After all the USA has the dubious distinctions of having the greatest percentage of citizens Richard nation, poverty, mental illness, gang activity, and broken homes. Bringing non-violent offenders home to roost will save billions of dollars and low-level offenders will be closer to their families and sup- port systems. Further- more cops, DA’s, and society at large will be more selective whom we arrest and judges will be compelled to redirect low-level offenders to more effective local punishment and rehabil- itation. Mazzucchi Positive Point incarcerated, the highest total doc- umented prison and jail population in the world, and at the end of 2009 having 7,225,800 people on probation, in jail or prison, or on parole. We cannot afford to wash our hands of crime problems by blithely sending people to the big house. We must evolve our sys- tems to incarcerate only those that actually do harm to others, and address the root causes of crime such as drug addiction, discrimi- This Wednesday the Democrats of Tehama County are providing "A Salute to American Workers Dinner," from 5:30 till 8 p.m. For $15 you can enjoy lively discussion, and tri-tip or enchilada dinners at the Veter- ans Memorial Hall, 735 Oak St. in Red Bluff. For more informa- tion on this community event call 347-5834 or send an email to tehamacountydemocrats@gmail. com. Richard Mazzucchi is a retired research engineer specializing in energy efficiency and renewable energy. He makes his home in Los Molinos and can be reached at living-green@att.net. 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. More on R,W&B Dinner, polling, public unions Commentary Boy, did I ever drop the ball: I told readers interested in the Republican Red, White and Blue Fundraising Dinner, 6 p.m. on Sat- urday, April 9, at the Veterans Memorial Hall, they would have to choose between prime rib or chick- en for dinner. Au contraire! You will get both, yes both, served up hot and tasty by award-winning Snackbox Catering. That means if you are attending with someone who prefers, say, chicken over beef, and your tastes are just the opposite, you could trade and feast on twice the prime rib while your partner chows down twice as much chicken. Pardon my shameless over-sell- ing of the event, but it’s truly a highlight of our political year, as I wrote last week. What is not to be under-sold is the raffle of a rifle that night; tickets are only $10, or 3 for $25. What makes this rifle raf- fle special is that you will get to choose the caliber, which elimi- nates wondering if the rifle’s right for you. The fine Savage Axis XP model, bolt action, can be either right or left handed, and comes with a detachable magazine, a Bushnell 3x9 40mm variable scope, mounts and rings in the fol- lowing calibers: 7MM-08, 308, 30- 06, 25-06, 270, 243, 223, or 22- 250. Attendance is not required to win, if you simply wish to pur- chase raffle tickets and skip the dinner – you’ll be leaving more food for the rest of us, as my dad would say. Phone numbers are 567-2323 or 529-1226. Here are a few polling results: Public Policy Institute of Califor- nia (PPIC) found support for Gov- ernor Brown’s (and the Democ- rats’) preferred solution to the bud- get crisis – extend temporary taxes and fees for 5 more years – to have precipitously dropped since Janu- ary. Then it was favored by a solid 54 to 41 percent of likely voters; March polling found support drop- ping below 50 percent and virtual- ly tied with those opposed, 46 to 45 percent. Voters get that we can’t tax our way to solvency in Califor- nia. A different sample of adults (which would include those who pay little, if any, taxes) found two- thirds supporting higher taxes for education – just not on income, sales or vehicles. Tax businesses, many of them say, which illustrates their ignorance of what drives busi- nesses and jobs out of state (unem- ployment rate still over 12 percent, by the way). Mark my words, if Republicans cave on putting tax increases on the ballot (hey, Democrats insisted that extending the Bush tax rates made them tax cuts, so extending the so-called temporary tax hikes makes them tax increases), public employee unions will flood the airwaves with many millions of dollars of your tax money to persuade the gullible to vote yes, and raise taxes on you. When Scott Rasmussen finds results that don’t support liberal positions, Democrats squeal but the fact is he balances party affilia- tion reflective of the last election, making his polling quite accurate. In February, likely voters (includ- ing 59 percent independents) revealed that a solid 6 in 10 would rather "have a partial government shutdown until Democrats and Republicans can agree on what spending to cut." They oppose "avoiding a government shutdown by authorizing spending at the same levels as last year." In fact, 61 percent want less spending than last year; only 6 percent want more spending. The "cut spending rather than raise taxes" theme was emphasized this month when Ras- mussen polled just "Adults," which usually favors the Democrat position. Not this time. "Just 20 percent of Adults would be willing to pay higher taxes to help reduce the fed- eral budget deficit. 71 percent would not be willing to do so … 83 percent of Americans say the size of the federal budget deficit is due more to the unwillingness of politi- cians to cut government spending than to the reluctance of taxpayers to pay more in taxes." Some self-explanatory statis- tics: Private school teachers made, on average, about $40,000 in 2007- 2008; public teachers made about $53,000 (National Center for Edu- cation Statistics). The median sin- gle-earner income in Tehama County was almost $27,000 in 2009; two-incomes brought in a Don Polson The way I see it median $42,000 per household. Average teacher salary in Tehama County, anyone? Wisconsin public teachers bring home pay and benefits ranging from over $60,000 to almost $80,000 per year; the Wisconsin average single-income check is $40,600. In 41 states, "public workers earn more" than private workers. (USA Today) "Today, according to the Cato Institute, if state employees were paid at the same rates as their private sector equivalents, no state in the nation would be running a deficit. From their own reduced means, mid- dle income Americans put up most of the funds for those outsized com- pensation packages. As a result, funds are denied for smaller class sizes, better roads and bridges, and lower taxes … By wrapping their indefensible demands in the cloak of the labor movement as a whole, the public employee unions are discrediting all unionization." (Clark Judge) "I want to emphasize my con- viction that militant tactics have no place" in the public sector. (Presi- dent Franklin Roosevelt) Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@yahoo.com.