Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/308976
GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIALBOARD 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 ResponsetoWilkinson's letter Editor: Bob Wilkinson in his April 26 letter waged a mild attack against Pat Johnston's campaign for supervisor by asking two questions. He asks what basis Johnston has for her statements of crit- icism of the board of directors of Lake California Homeowners Association, because she doesn't own a home in Lake California. As a potential elected represen- tative of residents who do live in and own homes in Lake Califor- nia she is entitled to voice opin- ions for us, the people she wants to represent. He also wants to know what basis Johnston has for wanting to be elected supervisor. She as well as all other qualifying residents of this county, and all other coun- ties for that matter, are entitled to run for office and participate in our democratic government. Finally my statement to all readers is that I urge you to vote in June for a change, not just a change but a shake up and over- haul, a turning over of power from present county leaders to new candidates like Pat John- ston, that will bring a fresh new perspective and much needed di- rection to our fine county. It is time to unseat those board members that have been connected with Tehama County government, management and areas of influence their whole working careers. Let's turn our local leadership over to some average citizens. Thanks for reading and I wel- come both negative and positive feedback. —CalMahoney,RedBluff Don't limit student choices Editor: On behalf of the Expect More Tehama Leadership Council, we appreciate the coverage you gave in Andre Byik's article, "Par- ents speak out on value of a head start on college" which ran on April 25. There are a few key points that must be discussed in order to have a more informed conver- sation about the Red Bluff High School Teachers Association current platform to limit stu- dents' ability to take the courses they need to have the best high school education. In a survey of 20 North State high schools, only one does not allow outside courses on their transcripts. This means that if the Red Bluff Joint Union High School District agrees to move forward with the Teachers As- sociation's plan, then Red Bluff graduates will be at a disad- vantage to other local students when it comes to applying to col- lege and entering the workforce. Essentially, students from sur- rounding high schools will ap- pear to be more competitive and prepared based on the courses on their high school transcript. In the article, teacher Jared Norton stated, "The idea behind the language is to make sure stu- dents take the most academi- cally rigorous courses they can," adding that he knows of students who were accepted to univer- sities but courses they took on- line through different institu- tions were not accepted at those universities." Yes, not all col- lege classes are transferable, but taking an Advanced Placement class does not mean that the credits will transfer either. First, a student must pay to take the test and then pass the AP test with a score of a 3, 4 or 5. If a student takes a transferable college class the class will trans- fer to any accredited college, no additional test required. While AP courses are a great way for students to challenge themselves and to gain the study skills they need to prepare for college, tak- ing a college course will also prepare a student with rigor- ous coursework and has a higher probability of assisting the stu- dent in college by eliminating necessary coursework. If this agreement goes into effect, it means that a student would not be able to take Shasta College's American Sign Lan- guage class to complete their college preparatory foreign lan- guage requirement at the high school. Next year RBUHS will only be offering Spanish as its foreign language. A student who receives a D in English would not be able to improve his or her grade in order to maintain eli- gibility to apply to a CSU or UC campus. The agreement would also not allow students to grad- uate early by taking community college classes to meet gradua- tion requirements. What about the student who wants to go directly to work af- ter high school? If concurrent en- rollment courses were allowed, then a student might be able to graduate from RBUHS with credits completed towards a cer- tificate in welding or early child- hood education, giving an advan- tage in the job market and a head start on required courses. If Red Bluff High School starts to limit what a student can do to tailor an education that meets career goals, then, unfortunately, parents and students may start looking for other institutions that will not diminish educational op- portunities. Our high school students should have access to a wide va- riety of high quality, rigorous coursework. That includes more AP classes, concurrent enroll- ment college courses and accred- ited online courses. All of these avenues will give our students the best fighting chance to survive and thrive in an ever more com- petitive world. We want the most prepared and educated students coming out of Tehama County. — Scott Chandler, Red Bluff Not impressed with candidate Editor: My wife Bev has worked in the Tehama County Clerk and Re- corder office for 42 years. She worked her way up from the bot- tom to having been elected Clerk and Recorder. She has served the residents of Tehama County in that position for the last 7 years. She has been a working Clerk Recorder going to the of- fice early and staying late. I am very proud of her and all she has accomplished. I think I know what it takes to do the job in that office. At the Corning Tea Party can- didate night I was approached by Tim Morehouse. He did not know who I was and handed me a flyer for his candidacy for Clerk and Recorder. After looking at it and spending around 10 minutes talking to him it is very apparent that his studies at Chico State were in the field of BS. He told me that the Clerk and Recorder's office needed leader- ship. I remind you he had no idea who he was talking to. He slapped Bev in the face with that but I kept undercover to find out more. I asked if he could perform any of the jobs in any of the three de- partments of the office. He said he could not except for perform- ing a marriage ceremony. He then said he could make me a latte or operate a forklift though; his words not mine. I told him that did not impress me. After listen- ing to him rattle on about things he wanted to do that had nothing to do with the office he is running for, the meeting then started and he took his seat still not knowing who he had been talking to. During his presentation he re- peated the same things he told me in our conversation but added several additional things as well. He said if this was a job inter- view, Jennifer Vise would win hands down, but this is an elec- tion; again, his words not mine. I ask you voters, isn't the election in reality a job interview with the best candidate being elected to the office? With that in mind I ask you to join me in electing Jennifer Vise the next Tehama County Clerk and Recorder in the June election. — Jim Ross Red Bluff Watch out for fascists Editor: In my opinion, Rich Green has gotten May 1 confused with April 1. Because if his column May 1 is not an April fool's joke then it es- tablishes a new low for the paper, and, more sadly, a terrible step in the wrong direction for him. The epitome of direction here is the hate monger talk show host Mike Savage. That is the top of this heap. Don Polson on steroids on one of his worst days. What happened to religion in this town? When was "There, but for the grace of God, go I," replaced by "Run the little rats over." When was compassion for those less fortunate turned into revilement and punishment for the left behind victims of society? I think the more realistic im- pediments to traffic are the fact of a very large increase in it in a relatively short period of time; drivers ranging from city peo- ple to farmers who simply see a road as a smooth part of the pas- ture; and severe dips, potholes and bumpy roads to negotiate. Maybe we should be grateful to those whom Rich reviles for re- minding us of what we have so recently lost. A relaxed liveable atmosphere that we might rees- tablish if we take this hint. Aside and again, the worst damage is a talented, alacritous and energetic young man taking a step in a terribly wrong direc- tion. The Rush Limbaugh road to fame. The multiplicity of evil sound bytes which creates a phi- losophy of fascist hate. — James Bryant, Red Bluff Your opinions Cartoonist's take CAPTION WASHINGTON After the mar- shal on Monday spoke the tra- ditional "God save the United States and this honorable court," the Supreme Court ruled that the upstate New York town of Greece does not violate the First Amendment's prohibition of "establishment of religion" by opening its board of supervisors' meetings with a prayer. This ruling would not scandalize James Madison and other members of the First Congress, which drafted and sent to the states for ratification the First Amendment and the rest of the Bill of Rights. The Congress did this after hiring a chaplain. Three decades have passed since the court last ruled on the matter of prayers during gov- ernment meetings. In 1983, the court held: "The opening of sessions of legislative and other delibera- tive public bodies with prayer is deeply embedded in the history and tradition of this country. From colonial times through the founding of the Republic and ever since, the practice of legislative prayer has coexisted with the principles of disestab- lishment and religious free- dom." Until 1999, Greece's board usually opened its meetings with a moment of silence. Since then, it has invited local clergy, most of whom are Christians, to deliver prayers, most of which have had Christian content. The court has never held that legislative prayer must be non- sectarian. But the two plain- tiffs against Greece argued that the predominance of Chris- tian voices (there were others -- Jewish, Baha'i and a Wiccan priestess who prayed to Athena and Apollo, rather fitting for a town named Greece) consti- tuted establishment of Christi- anity as the town's religion. A lower court agreed. On Monday, the Supreme Court split 5-4 in reversing that court. The majority held that ceremonial prayer -- an encour- agement to gravity and sobriety -- is not harmful to the plain- tiffs, who felt somehow coerced when present at public prayers, and who said such prayers are necessarily divisive. Taking offense has become America's national pastime; be- ing theatrically offended sup- posedly signifies the exquisitely refined moral delicacy of peo- ple who feel entitled to pass through life without encounter- ing ideas or practices that an- noy them. As the number of nonbelievers grows -- about 20 percent of Americans are reli- giously unaffiliated, as are one- third of adults under 30 -- so does the itch to litigate believ- ers into submission to secular sensibilities. America would be a more congenial place if it had more amiable atheists who say, as one such did, that "it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." Some will say Jefferson was a deist, not an atheist. Atheism, however, sim- ply involves having no theism, and deism -- belief that a celes- tial Clockmaker wound up the universe and set it ticking -- is too watery a theism to count. Still, Jefferson made states- manlike accommodations of the public's strong preference for religious observances. George Will's email address is georgewill@washpost.com. George F. Will Thinskinsandprayer Likemanyinthebusinesscommunity,we were disappointed by the shortsighted deci- sion Tuesday of three members of the Red Bluff City Council – Wayne Brown, Daniele Jackson and Rob Schmid – to cut in half funding to the Red Bluff-Tehama County Chamber of Commerce. The chamber, through pro- motion of tourism and economic development, makes money for the city and that's precisely the wrong place to cut back during tough economic times. Voters passed an increase to the city's Transient Occupancy Tax in 1988 based on the word- ing on the ballot that specifi- cally promised the increase — from 6 percent to 8 percent — would be used "for the purpose of providing funds for the con- tinued promotion of Red Bluff tourism." This and marketing the area to businesses looking to relocate or expand are pri- mary functions of the chamber. The TOT was raised from 8 percent to 10 percent in 1991. By extension, this would mean that 20 percent of TOT revenue should have been going "for the purpose of providing funds for the continued promotion of Red Bluff tourism." Although there was no re- quirement that this revenue be afforded to the chamber of com- merce, we doubt that the city could make a case that it has in- vested 20 percent of TOT rev- enue in the promotion of Red Bluff tourism, as it told voters it would. The city and chamber signed an agreement in 2004 that pledged 16 percent of TOT reve- nue to the chamber. In 2011, the city capped the amount of TOT revenue for the chamber at $70,000 — much less than the chamber would have received at 16 percent. It seems the chamber had done too good a job bringing visitors to the area and the city couldn't keep its hands off the money. Tuesday the city further broke its promise to voters by cutting the chamber's portion of the revenue to just $35,000. The cut will almost certainly hurt the quality of life in Red Bluff, costing residents and vis- itors events such as the Round- Up Parade, Christmas Parade and possibly farmers markets downtown and at River Park. Each of these events draws hundreds, if not thousands, into downtown. Restaurants fill up before and after each event and the crowds certainly benefit re- tail shops. The cut will be a costly one for downtown businesses. Probably the most costly as- pect of the cut will be a reduc- tion in the chamber's ability to market the city and county to businesses that could provide jobs. All this comes on the eve of the council asking voters to approve a quarter-cent sales tax increase based on a prom- ise that the extra revenue will be used for law enforcement. There's nothing in the measure that obligates the city to spend the money where it claims it will. Seems we've learned a hard lesson what a promise is worth to the majority of the council. Even with the support of the local business community, a sales tax increase is a tough sell. We don't like the chances of the tax hike now that the city has slapped the business com- munity in the face. Like most of you and the council, we support our police and fire personnel, but a city is more than police and fire de- partments. If the council con- tinues to diminish every other corner of the budget, Red Bluff won't have much to offer – no matter how safe it is. Editorial Chamber cut disappointing, costly OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, May 8, 2014 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6