Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/333341
Whilewritingthisona cool sunny Sunday morn- ing, my reverie was dis- turbed by three e-mails whose authors, R. Casey, S. Russell and N. Barber cas- tigated me for writing, in last Friday's column, that we have too many cats. They berated me for not having the intellect or the fortitude to handle the situation properly — i.e. spaying and neutering. I have brought this upon my- self, of course, but out of mis- guided kindness. Said cats have shown up on the ranch from what I assume were near-by homes whose owners mistreated or abandoned them. My mistake was feeding them. They have survived and multiplied and I wrote of the distasteful job of "culling the herd." The response has been that I should have taken them to a vet to have them altered. How- ever, the cats are feral and al- most impossible to catch. The letter writers suggested caging them for transport. I will give that a try. The phrase "culling the herd" applies to many aspects of our lives. From the steaks we eat to the leather shoes we wear and the handbags that we carry. The Red Bluff Round-Up, which we honor and cherish, is a reminder of the old west when horses were ridden and cows roped. These days some may be retired to pas- ture, but most wind up in an ab- attoir…the preferred name for a slaughter house. My father operated one such and I followed in his steps. We felt our methods, when "put- ting down" the animals, were humane. The kosher method, which we did not practice, ap- pears to be less humane where the animal's throat is slit with a ritual sword while the animal is still alive. This seems barbaric as opposed to a rifle bullet to the head which segued to a captive bolt stunner. Do I digress? Probably, but once I lost the plant, I also lost the desire to take the life of an animal…so the many critters that find a home on our ranch are pretty much assured they had found a lasting home with food and shelter. And that's why reducing the number of cats is such a dilemma and constant source of anguish. There was a time, when we had just one barn, down in our grove, that the feral cats hung around there and were eventu- ally fed as it was the thing to do. In those days, when the cats be- came numerous, their numbers decreased through a sort of nat- ural selection as raccoons, foxes or stray dogs kept the numbers at manageable levels. But today, most of the cats have gravitated to the small fenced area near our house where we have a shop, and they are less likely to encounter dangerous foes…ergo, they pros- per and multiply. Speaking of which, when fa- ther owned his 400 acre portion of the Cone ranch, he planted walnuts and prunes, but left an acre or so of large oak trees back in the southern part of the orchard and built a corru- gated shack for his old friend from the meat plant days, aka Uncle Dick Hyde. Dick, and his wife Lily, lived there with a horse, a pig, a dozen or so chickens… and 22 dogs. One eve- ning after their hoeing of Dick's vegetable garden, fa- ther suggested that Dick should get rid of most of his dogs. Uncle Dick did just that. A week later, only 5 or 6 remained. The point of the story is that father just made the suggestion, and left without knowing, or wanting to know, how Uncle Dick disposed of them. Hopefully, he gave them away, which makes for a better ending. Our family has always been dog oriented. Unlike S.F. Chroni- cle writer Jon Carroll, we do not have a cute cat named Bucket. We have lots of cats…and they go nameless. It is a situation most would prefer not to dwell upon. ••• Catholics and other folks of a liberal bent applauded Pope Francis when he said, "If some- one is gay, who searches for the Lord and his goodwill, who am I to judge?" To many, those words signaled a more compassionate Pope, agreed? ••• 760 Main has a new front door courtesy of Moule's Tehama County Glass. At the turn of the century, our building was a brick stable. Over the years it morphed into the Motor Inn Garage and then it became Clark's Drug Store. The original front door lasted for many years, but like many things in life that swing to and fro, it wore out. A good show, W. Moule and crew! ••• Last week's quiz was easily answered by L. Brown when he completed the sentences which began with the first 3 letters of the calendar : AUGers go into the ground, SEParate tables make lonely diners, OCTaves can be spanned by most pianists, NOVeau riche are different than you and I, and DECidedly deca- dent are the Kennedys. This week's quiz: The late Herb Caen devised a word game that began: "I could have been a dermatol- ogist but I was too thin skinned." Finish these others: "I could have been a ____, but I had sworn to kick the habit. I could have been a ____but I could not make tracks fast enough. I could have been a ____but there wasn't enough dough in it. I could have been a ______'s assistant but wasn't enough far right for the job (in- sert a local conservative's name). ••• A revamped oldie: At the end of the school year, a teacher re- ceived presents from her first grade students. She said, "Here's a lovely wrapped gift, is it a box of chocolates?" A young student said yes it was. She felt another and asked, "Is it a basket of flow- ers?" A student agreed it was. She then shook another pack- age and a drop of moisture fell out. She tasted it with her fin- ger and asked, "Pickles?" A lit- tle kid proudly replied, "No…it's a puppy!" ISay Be fruitful and multiply Tribalri 'stoll on sheriff's budget? Editor: Just curious. With the com- manding presence of the Te- hama County Sheriff's Office at Rolling Hills Casino, how much is this fiasco costing the tax- payers? Seems the whole thing hinges on the greed of the principals involved. Maybe they should cut a check to the county to compensate for their failure to safely operate a multi-million dollar enter- prise that is exempt from pay- ing taxes. Everything I've heard, the sheriff's budget was strained long before this occurred. —BarryLaVette,RedBluff Obama's immigration laws and cuts to the military Editor: On June 10 in your paper there is an article by Erica Wer- ner of the Associated Press. She writes that the chief executives of Coca Cola, McDonald's, Ty- son Foods, Cargill and a half- dozen other national and re- gional companies write that without action to overhaul "in- effective immigration" laws and allow lower skilled workers into this country legally their businesses cannot ensure the workforce they need. This is a bunch of baloney and an absolute lie. Here in Red Bluff, as well as other cit- ies across this nation, thou- sands of Americans that are unemployed are not getting these jobs. This is a ridiculous, dishon- est statement that they have no Americans to hire. When our young and all ages of American citizens apply for these jobs they are not even in- terviewed. They know that il- legals will work for less money and work at part time jobs without benefits to get the job. They are trying to curry more favor with President Obama to help him pass his immigration laws. Many larger companies and unions have been granted ex- emptions from Obamacare and I am sure these executives are gaining much from Obama in exchange for this political do- nation and support. President Obama has already cancelled deportation of thou- sands of illegal aliens, many of them criminals. He knows if he grants, by executive order, amnesty regardless of the Sen- ate and House of Representa- tives, he is bribing these peo- ple for their votes. He is try- ing very hard for a third term or more. He has already given and wasted trillions of dollars of taxpayer money. He is depriving our military men and women of the things they and their families need, as well as destroying with his so called saving of funds by not giving them the military sup- plies to do their jobs. Also with this cutback on the military he is destroying America's de- fenses. We cannot afford any more of his expensive schemes. — Jean Clayton, Red Bluff What is needed for the problems we face Editor: The United States experi- enced unprecedented freedom during the 19th and 20th cen- turies. Now it appears to be in the cycle of becoming a dicta- torship. Perhaps now is a good time to become educated — register to vote and vote in November. Consider a doctor prescribes a pill for high blood pressure. The side effects get another pill and then another. Soon the pa- tient is over medicated. Maybe it's time to real- ize that too much government with over-taxation and exces- sive regulation is not a viable answer to all problems. Maybe needed is practical, reasonable and realistic solutions to re- solve situations in a civil and timely manner. — Steve Kelsey, Corning Your opinions Alookatwhatreadersaresayingincommentsonourwebsiteandonsocialmedia. Sounding off Cartoonist's take Theytohavemoreeventslikeboatshows, car shows and RV shows and more. Jaime Furnells: On planned stakeholder meeting for Tehama District Fairground They need to plan more stuff that the com- munity wants to support. One suggestion... Bring back the motocross!!!! Gary Smith : On planned stakeholder meeting for Tehama District Fairground By Gail Egbert and John Ward Columnist Richard Mazzucchi might be college educated, how- ever, we find his line of reasoning to be highly absurd. The State of Jefferson movement is not about seceding from California. It is about withdrawing or separat- ing from California, as provided by Article 4, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution. We will still be a state in the United States of America, which by the way will still afford us federal money and unfortunately, federal rules. The State of Jefferson move- ment is not a Tea Party move- ment as Mazzucchi and others continue to state. Both groups are independent of each other. It is a non-partisan movement. The local Tea Party group has nothing to do with the Tea Party Express; we are affiliated with the Patriots. The Tea Party Ex- press is a PAC which endorses candidates, which we do not. People of all affiliations who support the State of Jefferson movement are not the uneducated, nor the simple minded, as Mazzuc- chi seems to think, nor are we the rich, nor Nazis as described by an- other letter writer, nor are we cal- loused people. But, we are the un- derrepresented few of the north state, and generally the unheard voices in Sacramento. Mazzucchi's objection to this effort appears to indicate that he is in agreement with the liberal, progressive, socialist government coming out of the state capital. Frankly, we feel the founding fa- thers of this country would ap- plaud our efforts and the English would love Mazzucchi. We are certainly not anar- chists, but we have lost the gov- ernment of the people, and we want it back. The government was established to work for the people, not the other way around as it stands now. Mazzucchi must feel that the direction of this state and federal government to- ward progressivism and social- ism is the right path. But this country is not faring well un- der this ideology, nor has any other country in the world flour- ished under such rule. Just what is it Mazzucchi envisions for this state and country? The separation movement will be a long process, and we may not be successful. But, the rever- sal of "Reynolds vs. Sims" is an- other option available to rec- tify the representation prob- lem for California, as well as all the other states affected by this Supreme Court ruling from 1964. We believe that the federal model of a bicameral legislature with an Assembly elected on the basis of population, and a Sen- ate based on equal representa- tion for each county, or state, as in the federal government, is the best model of equal representa- tion. What is it about this that Mazzucchi disagrees with? We in the north state, the ru- ral agricultural area of the state, and yes, the typically more con- servative part of California, would once again like to have our voices heard and our votes count. By the way, northern Cal- ifornia is not alone in this move- ment. Many counties even in the central and southern part of the state have shown an interest in this idea, because they also are not heard in Sacramento, and at least six other states are fighting similar battles; urban vs. rural; liberal vs. conservative; nanny state vs. limited government. Perhaps it would be a good thing for Mazzucchi to show up at a town hall meeting and get some facts. We haven't seen him at any meeting on the subject. He could ask questions of the speakers and maybe get informed about who we are and what we want. We have seen several people at these meet- ings who agree with him, and we respect them for getting accurate information before forming an opinion. If he is so inclined, he is free to pose some of his questions to the "Ask Mark" section of the State of Jefferson Facebook page. By the way, the movement's committee has aggressively inves- tigated funding for the proposed state, and state economists have told us that there is no reason that this new state, whatever we decide to call it, couldn't be self- supported from the beginning. Response Readers respond to columnist's take on Jefferson 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 OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, June 20, 2014 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4