Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/301506
Astheweather warms over the com- ing months hordes of youngsters adults will flock to McGlynn Pool in River Park to cool off, and the topic of funding to keep the pool open one more summer will be the talk of the town. So it was with some inter - est that I read the following ex- changes from 1924 editions of the Daily News while gathering items for the "90 years ago..." feature. A proposed swimming pool was a hot topic back then and articles appeared almost daily regarding an upcoming vote on whether to build one. These few items struck my funny bone, and I hope you'll enjoy them as well. Listenworld,toTheDirty Dozen plea for a bath Dear Mr. Editor of the News: This is just a line from one of the boys of Red Bluff and I am writing because I hope people vote for that swimming pool. It is getting hot now and I would like to take a swim and there are lots of boys just like me but it is too dangerous to go swim - ming in the river and we would sorta like to have a swimming pool where somebody could teach us how to swim. Mr. Editor you will do all you can won't you to get the folks to vote for this swimming pool? Our bunch is sure for it as is all the boys in Red Bluff. That pool is just what we've needed for a long time and we're sure hop - ing it will go through. Anyway we want you to vote for it Mr. Editor and all the others in this town. Signed, The Dirty Dozen. Per, Centipede Jim As to that swimming pool The News is in receipt of a communication today purport- ing to be from a Boy Scout in answer to a letter appearing in the paper yesterday from Centi- pede Jim, chief factotum of The Dirty Dozen. The writer ne- glected to sign his name to the letter, a very important opera- tion if he expects publication of the letter. Not that we want to publish the name, but as an ev- idence of good faith all commu- nications should be signed. However, in a spirit of fair play, the News will give the gist of the Boy Scout letter. Briefly it is an objection to a swimming pool, not because it is needed but because this lad is a member of a family that feels unable to pay the price of the swims in a municipal pool. Strangely enough the writer, who may be a man or even a woman, for aught we know, advocates the purchase of another fire en - gine instead of building a swim- ming pool. Also, he advocates free swims. In this connection we might inform the writer that, ac- cording to literature sent out to- day by the general committee, the cost of using the pool will be too cheap to be neglected, partic- ularly for those furnishing their own towels and bathing suits. In fact, the committee is of the opinion that children under a cer- tain age will not be required to pay anything. This is a matter of detail that must be worked out. It should be understood how - ever that the pool is not be- ing constructed with the idea of making money, but with the idea of ser- vice to the community, and to the hundreds of tourists passing through our city. It should serve the purpose of keeping more of our people at home during the summer, and affording them a place to spend a warm evening, without driv - ing to Antelope Creek or some other place inconvenient to reach and without accommoda- tions when you get there. It is no argument against a swimming pool to assert that we need another fire engine, or more paved streets, or a new federal building, or some other public improvement that we do not happen to have. We can't have them all at once. We can have some of them. Just at present the community is not discussing a fire engine, or a grammar school building, or paved streets. We are endeav - oring honestly to get one of the many things we need — viz a swimming pool. We can have all the things we need when we de - cide to have them. If we never decide to go ahead we are cer- tain to go backward. We can't stand still. Fate decides that much for us. Also, we are not going to get anything worth while without paying for it. The arguments so far ad - vanced against a swimming pool are without merit. They are puerile. The Dirty Dozen Unanimous For Swimmin' Pool Red Bluff, California April 12, 1924. Dear Mr. Editor of the News: This here note is from Centi - pede Jim again. This is to thank you for your knockout blow given to the retaliation of our appeal — the D. D.'s you know what that stands for? — yes sir and I know you made them feel as cheap as a chorus of sick oysters on a hot stove. We respectfully thank you one and all for your noble stand against such unrighteousness. Last night at our gather - ing of representative boys of the neighborhood we took a straw vote to see how the elec- tion comes off and Mr. Editor to our surprise what do you think happened? There wasn't a sin- gle solitary black piece of coal in the skillet, for all the fellows were right there with their vote for the swimming pool. Mr. Ed - itor if such fellers as we takes such a stand for civil better- ment don't you think the folks of this town oughter do the same thing? And if that vote of ours is an expression of popular sen - timent don't you think we'll get the swimming pool? Anyway Mr. Editor we're all for you and tooting our horn for that swimming pool. No hoof and mouth disease could get us if we had that swimming pool and our maws wouldn't need ter waste time scrubbing us in the tub no ways. Yours for the swimming pool. The Dirty Dozen, per Centipede Jim — X*lx, his mark. Much to the disappointment, I suppose, of The Dirty Dozen, the pool failed to get the two-thirds majority needed to be built in 1924. While several more proposals and sites, including the end of Pine Street, continued to make headlines, the pool so many will cool off in this summer wouldn't be built until the mid 1930s. ChipThompsoncanbereachedat 527-2151, Ext. 112 or by email at editor@redbluffdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @editor - chip ChipThompson Passionate pool pleas nothing new Cartoonist's take I say, regarding this re- cent headline "The U.S. will deploy roughly 600 troops already stationed in Europe to Poland, Lat - via, Lithuania and Esto- nia. The message is to the people of those areas that the United States takes seriously our obligations. The U.S. is aiming to reassure al - lies in the region amid tensions on Ukraine's eastern border, where Russia has amassed thou- sands of troops since it annexed the southern Ukrainian region of Crimea." I urge potential women candi - dates for President of the U.S. to state publicly if they would sup- port such a dangerous maneu- ver ostensibly designed to "take seriously our obligations." Who sanctioned this deployment and should they not be impeached? This is scary and foolhardy. • • • Legalization of marijuana may not have achieved results origi - nally envisioned in that the crim- inal element would be eliminated because shipments from out of the country would no longer be profitable. That may happen and it might take time for users to find the shops that supply the weed at reasonable costs. However, according to TIME in the 21 April issue, a far more insidious drug is now on the scene and that is fake pot. "It is sold openly in stores, popular with kids and unpredictably dan - gerous. It is the drug threat that is in plain sight." In my day, there were no pot smokers in high school. Bebop musicians like Charlie Parker and drummers like Gene Krupa used drugs, which they thought enhanced their performance. Others refrained from same and produced the same high quality music without stimulus other than booze. Benzedrine in college was a cheap way to stay awake and helpful for those dance jobs that began at 10 p.m. and lasted un - til 2 or later in the morning. But that was about the extent of drug use with an extreme lack of peer pressure. Today, 30 percent of 10th grade students report using marijuana, and because syn - thetic pot appeals to teens be- cause it usually cannot be de- tected in urine tests…and a packet sells for as little as $10, it soon will be the drug of choice. As emergency rooms are now reporting synthetic–related kid - ney failure, seizures and psycho- ses, parents now face a serious threat to their children's welfare. The solution? Take film and photos of the dead and the emaciated us- ers and have programs in school titled, "This could be you, you idiot!" If you think our coun - try has problems now, think of the chore of gov- erning a nation of addicts. • • • Animal behavior, when it comes to burros and horses, is somewhat predictable. Take stall and paddock cleaning, for ex - ample. An established cleaner, such as myself, can determine which horse pooped in which stall. There is as much of a pat - tern to their voiding their bowels as there is in a Republican con- gressman blaming a Democrat for a national calamity, and vice versa. You've heard of the expression in real estate: location, location, location? Well, that is the clue to horse and burro manure identi - fication. To not put too fine a point on it, our mare prefers a spot on the east wall of her stall…but none outside in her individual pad- dock. I think it is a question of modesty and away from prying eyes. The geldings go outside and inside and have no consideration for scattering their apples, which wastes my time and uses up great quantities of shavings. The burros are the most con - siderate of the poopers. Jane and Jacki go to the far end of the pad- dock and poop right next to the exit gate. One neat pile does it, and my heart leaps when I con- sider their consideration for my chores. However, son Brandon be- lieves their conduct harkens back to being foaled on the high desert out of Susanville. As wild animals, they went where they found their kin had gone, think - ing it to be a safe area not con- tested by predators. This may be more information than readers require, but I fig- ure you will not find these facts in any other column. • • • Son-in-law J. Konte, author of "The Rivalry Heard 'Round The World...the Dodgers-Giants Feud," is also an editor at the Marin Independent Journal. He was in town for the Round- Up and asked me for a copy of the Red Bluff Daily News be - cause, on the 18th of May, his pa- per will be converting to the for- mat now seen in the DN and the Chico Enterprise Record, to name a few in this chain of news- papers. He did not render judgment on the new format, and I did not comment on the big change for fear of influencing him. I wanted to hear of the change, perhaps in June, as to how his readers are taking in the font and column photos. Joe did say the IJ (as it is known in the Marin area) was going to be allowed to keep its masthead. As DN readers know, we were not so fortunate. • • • Last week's quiz went unan - swered. Anyhow, if you add up the letters of each card in the deck…ace being 3 letters etc… you get 52, the total cards in the deck. The mythical Greek king was Agamemnon, whose name con - sists of three, 3-letter palin- dromes. And allegedly the best all time hitter on the San Diego Padres team, whose last name contains no major vowels, is Tony Gwyn. This week's quiz: In the D Day invasions, 6 June 1944, the American forces landed on the code name beaches of Omaha and Utah. What did the British and Canadians code name their beaches? What was Li'l Abner's girlfriend's maiden name? And what was Flash Gordon's girl friend's name? • • • A man went into a drug store and asked the pharmacist if he could give him something for hic - cups. Without warning, the phar- macist reached over and slapped him. "Why did you do that," asked the man. "Well, you haven't got hiccups now have you?" "No, I haven't got the hiccups. My wife has the hiccups." Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff, former columnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine and au - thor of the "The Knocking Pen." He can be reached at rminchandmur- ray@hotmail.com. Robert Minch Dangerous alliances If we never decide to go ahead we are certain to go backward. We can't stand still. Fate decides that much for us. Sounding off Alookatwhatreadersaresayingincommentsonourwebsiteandonsocialmedia. Alotoffuncomeandseethem Mark Eidman: On preview of antique tractor show today through Sunday at the fairgrounds This is stupid and degrading and the gals don't seem to mind....sooo embarrassing! Melissa Ginn: On coverage of bikini barrel racing during Round-Up week 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 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@red bluffdailynews.com Phone: 530-527- 2151ext. 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 Robert Minch Chip Thompson In my day, there were no pot smokers in high school. Bebop musicians like Charlie Parker and drummers like Gene Krupa used drugs, which they thought enhanced their performance. OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, april 25, 2014 » MORE AT FACEbook.CoM/rbdAilynEwS AND TwiTTEr.CoM/rEdbluFFnEwS a6