Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/309663
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 The offunds Editor: I would like to compliment you on the Wednesday editorial, your opinion on trusting a council that promises one thing and does an- other was what I tried to explain at the May 6 meeting. Only coun- cilmen Parker and Eliggi got it. I found it ironic that Mayor Jackson corrected the spelling of Trainor Park. I am certain she and councilmen Schmid and Brown have no idea who Mayor Jack Trainor was or that he was a major supporter of local business. While it is well known that Wayne Brown has never been a Chamber of Commerce sup- porter I was surprised at how misinformed Councilman Schmid is of what the chamber actually does. How we miss the days of coun- cilmen like Gene Penne, Bill Brainerd, Lee Tucker and Elmer Zuckwieler, who understood that a thriving business community will anchor a city and sales tax revenue will follow. The theft of voter mandated funds from the chamber is short- sighted and leaves the present council with a serious credit- ability issue. One I'm sure most of us will remember come elec- tion time. —CorkyKramer,RedBluff Support Measure B Tehama County Supervisors' salaries were part of the 2012- 2013 Tehama County Grand Jury Report. It was the jurors' belief that the current salary for our supervi- sors was so low it could discour- age qualified people from becom- ing candidates for supervisor. Su- pervisor salaries are so low, few, non-retired candidates could af- ford to lose so much work time to become a supervisor. The Grand Jury recom- mended that the personnel ad- ministrator evaluate super- visors' job descriptions and propose an appropriate com- pensation package for the June 3 ballot. Part of this evaluation was to survey other California county supervisor salaries. The results of these surveys would assist in making a recommenda- tion for this new compensation package for supervisors. 25 years ago, in 1989, the Te- hama County Charter set the Su- pervisors' salaries at $1,045 per month plus auto and phone al- lowances. Even in 1989, Tehama County Supervisors were one of the lowest paid in California. Six counties border Tehama County: Butte, Glehn, Mendocino. Plumas, Shasta and Trinity. The average salary for all six counties is $3,806.50 per month. Even Trinity County, with only of Tehama County's pop- ulation, pays two times more in supervisor salaries than Tehama County. In counties of somewhat equal population, we rank the lowest in supervisor salaries. Tehama County supervisor salaries are the lowest in all of California's 58 counties. If Tehama County is to con- tinue to improve and prosper, it needs to attract the best candi- dates as possible for our county supervisors. A supervisor with a job or a business to run would miss half, or more, of his or her work time. If a supervisor hired someone to work for them during their supervisor time, it would cost that supervisor a minimum of $32,000 or more, each year. As it stands now, this is more than double the current Supervi- sor's salary. Measure B would put the su- pervisor salary at $3,795 per month, making Tehama County Supervisors fourth in salary comparison with our neighbor- ing six counties. Please note, there is no tax in- crease to the taxpayers to fund this expense. Please join me, along with the Red Bluff-Tehama County Cham- ber of Commerce, Corning Cham- ber of Commerce, Tehama County Economic Development Corpora- tion and many of your neighbors, by voting yes on Measure B, either by absentee ballot or at your poll- ing place on Tuesday, June 3. — Bill Moule, Red Bluff Cohen unfit for office Editor: District Attorney Gregg Cohen has proven to many of his constit- uents that he lacks integrity. His regime, under his tutelage, has ignored his oath regard- ing the Jim Nielsen so-called in- vestigations. There will be those who will re-elect him despite the absolute evidence of Nielsen's crimes. We the people, who re- searched this politician for more than four years, were never al- lowed to submit our proof. The two Grand Juries were manipulated and managed by the people in charge. These 38 spine- less Grand Jurors could have at- tempted to honor their oath. The voters of Tehama County now have a duty to exercise the only civil way to expel this inept District Attorney. — Donald Bird, Rancho Tehama Pot fee seems reasonable Editor: The fee imposed by the county of $109.80 to grow pot — dope, medicine, marijuana — sounds fair to me, an non-grower or user. I was under the impression that government was going to make money on legal marijuana through taxes and fees. Should the grower and user find themselves unable to make money at this rate, Judge Judy would sug- gest a move to Colorado. — Sam Collins, Red Bluff Yes on Measure A Editor: After reading an opinion let- ter from Red Bluff accusing the State of Jefferson event speak- ers last month of so much tripe, I'm compelled to write. We were there. Nothing she said is the truth. Nothing. There was a man very upset he was almost crying but it was about something that happened when he attended a tea party meeting. He was told this didn't have anything to do with the State of Jefferson, and he was told politely. He wanted an apol- ogy. We were there. He was bel- ligerent and nothing the speak- ers said pleased him. In cases like this, you just have to let it go and then some- times this garbage will be taken out of context. Liberals do it all the time, don't they? Sadly peo- ple like this writer are there to take anything they can scrounge up and make us the bad guys. She also said they'd sell all the public land and when a man complained, they back-tracked and said they would keep it for hunters. Pretty stupid, don't you think? Stand up in front of 500 people and say things like this. Also, proposition 13 would be gone, property taxes would raise drastically. I heard twice the rate would possibly be 1% of the property value. Home prices and property taxes are at an all-time low now because of the stupidity of the liberals anyway, as Hillary Clinton said, "what difference does it make?" This was a peaceful meet- ing at the Elks, standing room only, some were against it I know and they had their questions an- swered but you can't reason with a liberal. They know it all. The speakers gave it their best. I have nothing but respect for those who work tirelessly for this split, all age groups and very well informed. They've researched many items, I believe they said California has 537 commissions, whatever the correct term is, and do we need that many commis- sions? Some are counter-produc- tive with others, no wonder noth- ing works. Just more pork, the same pork this president prom- ised would be eliminated. Yeah, right? Hasn't gotten around to it I guess. Too busy campaign money raising events. She said she sees nothing American about this movement. Lawful assembly is what I be- lieve they call it. Not American? Only for the liberals. She sees a group with special interests, you mean like now? Maybe this time the climate will change. A co-worker was spouting how we wouldn't have Caltrans, our roads would go to hell, on and on she raved. She's never been to a Jefferson meeting, but she knows it all. Another liberal. The opinion writer's bot- tom line said the State of Jeffer- son cannot possibly support the quality of life we have now. Well, for some it's great, others not. In Holiday Market a customer was talking to the checker telling her he's tried and tried and can't find a job. For him, it's not great. Everybody at work lost 20 per- cent of their wages, for good. Not good. Some complain about giv- ing up 5 percent. I'd love to have that choice. Prices have soared on everything. A heater hose for my car was $138. Just the hose. If the fuel pump goes bad, it's more than $600. Everything has gone up. Everything. I would embrace a better quality of life. I think if this measure does fail, it's because people are so scared that it might get worse. They're dealing with the way things are now, they're afraid to make any changes. California is too big. A co-worker said a gov- ernor back in the late 1800s re- signed because he thought Cali- fornia was unmanageable. If he could only see it now. Vote yes on Measure A. I've heard it several times, if we don't do it now, it will never happen. Part of the $500 billion debt will only grow larger, we need to do this now. Do pay attention, citizens. — Bernice Cressy, Cottonwood Your opinions Cartoonist's take IsaythattheU.S.SupremeCourt,intheir divided wisdom — 5 for, 4 against — has ruled that it is OK to open local civic meet- ings with a prayer. Apparently the hotly contested issue was not prayer, per se, but "Christian" prayer. The ruling specified that prayers are OK as long as they do not deni- grate non Christians or try to win converts. Justice Anthony Ken- nedy wrote, "The inclu- sion of a brief, ceremonial prayer as part of a larger exercise in civic recogni- tion suggests that its pur- pose and effect are to ac- knowledge religious lead- ers and the institutions they represent, rather than exclude or coerce nonbeliev- ers." And yet, there are nit- picking curmudgeons such as yours truly, who take offense at the "ceremonial prayer" be- ing proffered at any meetings not housed in a church or syn- agogue. If one attends a traditional church service, one is asking for prayer and safe haven in or- der to cope with the trials of this life. However, when show- ing up for a City Council meet- ing or a Board of Supervisors get together, most attendees, I suspect, want to get on with the matters at hand and not be waylaid by well-meaning wear- ers of the cloth. If one were to ask, "What's the harm?," I would be hard pressed for an answer. On the face of it, the exercise seems in- nocuous. If the prayer is short and sweet and does not frighten the horses, non-believers can examine our fingernails or look the other way. If the head duck on the dais instructs members of the audience to stand, un- cover and bow their heads, then he is asking for trouble, in my book. In any case, I would like to see the practice abandoned; but that is unlikely. No one on the council or board of supes wants to incur the wrath of vot- ers. But what about the pledge of allegiance that proceeds all such meetings? Ho, ho. Now we are getting into troubled wa- ters. If one were proud of his country and prepared to de- fend it with his life, but re- sisted the re-affirming of his devotion every time he is con- fronted with old glory, it could be detrimental to his reputa- tion and even to his health. There are limits to leading an independent life. After all, as the old song goes, "You're a grand old flag, you're a high flying flag…" To ignore it is tantamount to treading on it, and the burning of it is hope- fully reserved for third-rate countries. ••• If all goes well, Main Street may soon see a tearing down and a building up of a new complex. Can't say more at this time. My lips are sealed; and besides, I'm not a party to either side of the transac- tion, drat. ••• Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other. Oscar Ameringer ••• Humorist Dave Barry re- sponds to his critics: "That is where I stand on this issue, and if any qualified member of the industry wishes to pres- ent a rebuttal, I hereby extend this offer: Get your own col- umn!" ••• Regarding the missing Ma- laysian plane story, the mys- tery is no closer to a solution than when the airliner em- barked on its ill-fated flight months ago. I predict that the search by the authorities will be called off, reward money from insurance companies will be offered in suf- ficient amounts to in- duce treasure hunters to find the wreckage. Great sums of money will stimulate private enterprise. ••• "I distrust those people that know so well what God wants them to do, be- cause I notice it always coin- cides with their own desires." Susan B. Anthony. ••• From a New York Times so- cial column: "Pastor Bob Wil- son, a United Methodist min- ister, is to officiate at a non- denominational ceremony incorporating Jewish tra- ditions, including a canopy and the breaking of a glass wrapped in a Pittsburgh Steelers towel." I wonder if Randy "The Rabbi" Grossman has been invited. ••• Sigh…just got word that long time friend George Froome went to his reward early this week. Anyone priv- ileged to have known him would mourn his passing. He wasn't hard to miss, phys- ically. He was a giant in el- ementary school and stood head and shoulders above the rest of us. He was an impos- ing tackle in Red Bluff High football and even gained more stature as a school teacher at Bidwell after graduat- ing from college. I will write more of him in the Passing Pa- rade that can be found every Wednesday in this paper. Tsk, tsk. One more classmate gone and so few left. That is the down side to living long, and the regret of not visiting him more often when he went into a care facility. In my day, as a kid, George lived in the fam- ily Victorian at 917 Washing- ton St. along with his parents and sister Virginia and broth- ers Max and Jim. ••• Last week's quiz was first answered correctly by J. Bauer who knew that Sancho Panza rode a dapple donkey named "Dapple," the moons of Mars are Phobias and Deimos and the dead man's hand held by Wild Bill Hickok was aces and eights. This week's quiz: There have been many fictional de- tectives in novels over the years. Name the author and creator of Simon Templar (The Saint), Travis McGee, Sam Spade, Philo Vance and Nick Charles. ••• Worth a repeat: Three el- derly women were sitting around a table in the kitchen discussing the problems of growing old. One laments, "Sometimes I go to the re- frigerator with a jar of may- onnaise and can't remem- ber if I am putting it away or making a sandwich." Another says, "If I pause on the stairs, I can't recall if I am going up or going down." The third re- sponds, "Well, I'm glad I don't have such problems, knock on wood," as she raps her knuck- les on the wooden table, before adding, "That must be the door, I'll get it." 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 rminchand- murray@hotmail.com. Robert Minch We ask, that the almighty... 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