Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/319437
Allenistheright candidate for superintendent Editor: I have known Charles Allen for the last 15 years. During this time I have worked closely with Allen on numerous educational issues, committees, and task forces. I have known him to be collaborative, knowledgeable, hard-working and honest. I have observed Allen work- ing with a number of stakehold- ers, seeking the best ideas to in- crease student achievement. Under his leadership, Rich- field Elementary School was recognized as a Blue Ribbon School; a national recognition only awarded to high achieving schools. His work at Red Bluff Ele- mentary created a culture of continuous improvement. He believes in results driven ac- countability and developing pro- fessional and collaborative sys- tems that focus on the needs of students. As Deputy Superin- tendent, he has worked success- fully with the districts in Te- hama County. In my opinion he is commit- ted to all students and families in Tehama County. I agree with Dr. Joe Harrop, no one deserves the job of County Superinten- dent, but that the voters will de- cide which candidate is the best for our county. For me, based on my personal experience, that candidate is Charles Allen. —ToddBrose,RedBluff North focused on what's best for students Editor: I taught under the leadership of Harley North for 23 of my 25 years of teaching. As union president, I negotiated and collaborated with him for 10 years. In every circumstance North focused on what's best for students as well as main- tained fiscal solvency during a financially difficult period of time in education. His innovation and com- mitment to student perfor- mance guided Evergreen to be- come one of the top perform- ing schools in the North State. Through tenacity and a de- mand for a solid work ethic, he led our staff in the implementa- tion of the most innovative and successful strategies known in the educational community. Our sustained levels of student performance were consistent and continue to this day. I have not heard nor seen any evidence that his opponent, Charles Allen, can boast of the same level or degree of student performance, short term or long term. Allen and his supporters claim he is a man of integrity. Someone with integrity does not publicly claim or post on a resume that they have a degree they never earned. I was pres- ent at a public forum where he affirmed having a mas- ter's. Taking classes and earn- ing credits for a master's de- gree is not the same as creat- ing a thesis, being interviewed by a panel of professors or sub- mitting a project report — all of which earn the right to pro- claim having such a degree. It is an insult to anyone that ac- tually fulfilled all requirements to earn any level of an educa- tional degree. Would you want your child's teacher to have an equivalent teaching credential? So why didn't Charles sim- ply acknowledge that all he had was an equivalency to the ac- tual degree? What harm would come from that? Charles chose instead to make the claim he had the full degree. My wife, an administrator, and I watched Allen in a KRCR interview ad- mit he should have done so. He followed that by stating it was the HR Department that was responsible for making sure he had all the credentials listed on his resume. I find no integrity through that statement. If you are looking for expe- rience, real credentials, and higher student performance, vote Harley North. — Michael Mitchell, Cottonwood North for superintendent Editor: As I have been reading the different letters to the edi- tor regarding the candidacy for County Superintendent of Schools, I have become dis- heartened with the different views regarding the respective candidates; specifically, Har- ley North and his so-called dirty politics. This letter is to clarify some of these negative views of Mr. North and to bring light on the important issue at stake. When I think of Harley North, I think of two words: in- tegrity and accountability. You see, I worked for Harley directly for eight years as his executive assistant. Harley doesn't ex- pect anything more from any- one that he does not expect of himself. Evergreen is a distinguished school because of his leadership; he worked daily at Evergreen from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. to ensure his administrators and his staff had the support needed to do the best job they could do. He never micro-managed, he let his staff do their jobs, but they were held accountable. He didn't take a raise for many years because it was not about him, it was about the kids. Any successful business starts at the top; if you have a leader who is honest, hardwork- ing and has integrity, you have employees that are the same. Evergreen is and has been a dis- trict of integrity and account- ability; we are proud of that and we are proud of having a super- intendent who cared so much. Harley has lived and breathed for the betterment of education and of the students his whole life; he is someone I have great respect for. The situation with Charles Allen and lying about his mas- ter's degree shows no integrity. How does he run a county of- fice that oversees 14 school dis- tricts when you have no integ- rity? How does he oversee 14 schools to ensure they are fis- cally accountable when he has accepted an annual stipend of public funds for a degree that he does not have? As a profes- sional educator, he should be the example for his staff, for the students and for the com- munity because if he lies about this, what else is he going to lie about? I hope everyone who votes truly thinks about this posi- tion carefully. It is not dirty pol- itics by any means; it's about in- tegrity and accountability and someone who will do the best job possible so that our students of today have the best opportu- nities tomorrow. — Debra Swank, Cottonwood No on Measure A Editor: I am proud of California, was born and raised here and don't need any Jefferson State. I plan to vote no on all three measures on the June 3 ballot, and urge voters to do the same. — Holly Wilson, Corning Thanks to community volunteers Editor: I want to thank the many community members who de- vote their time, effort and money to support the important volunteer organizations in this community. The Sacramento River Discovery Center was re- cently the beneficiary of some of these efforts. Through the year the build- ings and gardens have bene- fited from the efforts of a group of regular volunteers. This in- cludes groups such as Work- Ability1 students of Red Bluff High School led by Kathy Smith; Bruce Gray, Randy Baker, Rene Henthorn, Carl Stoldt, Malia Hard and Larry Ridgel. Help with our new wa- ter system has been provided by AB 109 members and the Job Training Center's Landscaping and Horticulture class. Saturday morning May 17 started with the Sacramento River Discovery Center hold- ing a small but successful Walk- Run event thanks to the work of an all volunteer organization. A great walk-run course has been created along the trails of the Mendocino National For- est's Red Bluff Recreation Area. The logo for the event was de- signed by Roland Lint, mem- ber of the Red Bluff Art Associ- ation. Thanks to Dutch Bros. for providing drink cards for vol- unteer workers for all the day's events. At 9 a.m. people gathered around the old oak tree for the opening Boy Scout flag cere- mony and to learn about the wa- tershed and groups that are working to restore, protect and preserve the quality of life and water resources in this part of the state. One of the highlights of the event was the music of Loosely Strung one of the great musical groups to be found in Tehama County. Groups and agencies pre- senting information and fun learning activities for visi- tors included: US Fish & Wild- life Service with Aquatic crea- tures, Ide Adobe State Park, Resource Conservation Dis- trict of Tehama County pro- vided trees for planting, Te- hama Sanitary Land Fill provided information on Com- posting, Shasta Land Trust and CDF were present. The Recycle–Reuse pro- gram provided used bed frames that were turned into greenhouse growing tables thanks to the welding skills of Larry Ridgel. Nature in art was showcased by both the Red Bluff Art Association and the Red Bluff Photogra- phy club. Bob Madgic shared information about the Sac- ramento River, and his book "The Sacramento, A Tran- scendent River," and Ardith Read showed visitors about Native American basket weav- ing. Whittenberg School and the SRDC Summer camps pro- gram was represented by Zach Whitten, camps director and some of his staff. The concerns about the drought provided many visi- tors with seedlings that were to be grown for planting at the RBRA, but will now be grown in home gardens. The Plant Sale provided other attend- ees a chance to obtain plants that are drought tolerant and deer resistant. These plants will continue to be on sale un- til June 1 for only $5 each. The business community provided items for the Silent Auction that will help fund the Garden Beautification Project. The items came from Alsco, Red Bluff Dodge, Raley's, Walmart, Cramer Family, ServPro of North Shasta, members and friends provided items for bid. Funds earned go toward plant acquisition and trail upgrades. A special thank you to all those who helped return the area to its normal appearance at the program's end. Cleaner Greener Red Bluff has a Brickyard Creek cleanup schedule for May 31 that needs support. — Bobbie Hughes, Red Bluff Wednesdaysoapbox Cartoonist's take Sheesh, China, you sure know how to kick a country when it's on its way down. I speak of recent re- ports that your state- sponsored computer whiz- zes have allegedly been using their skills to steal intellectual property from American businesses. I admit that I am envious of your pluck — how you're so full of pep and vinegar in your desire to compete and grow. America was like that once. Sure, we were never commu- nists at heart like you. We be- lieved in freedom. We believed government should mostly stay out of our way so that individuals could freely pursue life, liberty and happiness. Our approach worked mighty well. We were always blessed with natural resources, which we exploited mightily in our early years. We were blessed with millions of proud immigrants who came to our country to improve their lot and give their children educa- tional and professional op- portunities that they never had. Our work ethic was in- credible. Hard work begat wealth production, which fed investment into inno- vative new ideas that fur- ther expanded growth and opportunity. We have had many ups and downs — recessions and a depression and such — but, for the most part, we enjoyed one heck of a run. We have been the world's largest economy since the late 19th century. We are flattered, then, that you see such value in our methods and ideas that you are allegedly stealing them. One industrial espionage ex- pert told CNN that hungry, emerging economies see advan- tage in borrowing technology in- novations, engineering designs and other intellectual property — ideas that took private compa- nies in advanced countries lots of years and billions of dollars to de- velop. Though industrial espionage has been around a long time, the fact is that the Internet has opened up unprecedented op- portunities for skilled adversar- ies to penetrate company systems and hide in the background un- detected, so they can swipe all kinds of proprietary information. As I said, China, I admire your pluck — but are you sure you want to go to all this trouble to spy on us? First of all, if American compa- nies invent a new product, they're probably going to hire people in your country to build it for them — what with energy costs, health-care mandates and rules and regulations being so burden- some in our country. Secondly, China, you're second only to the U.S. in patent filings — and growing fast. Our young people would rather become per- sonal injury lawyers than engi- neers. It's just a matter of time before your engineers overtake ours in new ideas. Besides, your economy is poised to overtake ours in size by the early 2020s and possibly sooner, reports the World Bank. I don't know if you noticed, China, but our people have taken the wealth and good fortune they have inherited for granted. They just assume it will always be there. They don't know the first thing about sustaining it for fu- ture generations. In fact, our country is hellbent on robbing wealth from future gen- erations. We are spending far more than we are taking in and borrow- ing the rest from you. Sure, it's an unsustainable path, but many Americans are oblivious (we aren't much good at math anymore, but we are No. 1 in self-esteem). What I'm saying, China, is that you better watch your back. The way things are going, you will soon be No. 1. While our young people are moaning about their rights and entitlements, your young peo- ple will be innovating all the new ideas — and our government will be trying to steal them. How about we offer you a lit- tle deal? You give us $2 trillion to cover our overspending for the next two or three years and we'll give you unfettered access to our intellectual property now. What do you say, China? China? I figured. You sure know how to kick a country when it's on its way down. 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. TOM PURCELL China doesn't necessarily need to spy anymore Tom Purcell China, you're second only to the U.S. in patent filings — and growing fast. Our young people would rather become personal injury lawyers than engineers. GregStevens,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. 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