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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 Therewasarush to judgment Tuesday. Twice. The first was when I judged that the Te- hama County Board of Supervisors would first consider com- ments from the au- dience regarding the separa- tion of the State of California, and then either table the sub- ject until they had more infor- mation about how this action would play out in real time, or reject the vote out of hand. The second rush to judg- ment was the resolution by the board to pledge Tehama County to the insurrection. But this we should have seen com- ing because the supervisors were not about to invalidate the results of the ballot they had placed before the public. To challenge said results now would suggest the supervisors regret their knee-jerk action re- garding the ballot on the pri- mary in the first place. In my presentation before the board I suggested they should demonstrate political courage by ignoring the ballot results and allow cooler heads to prevail. Unfortunately this did not happen. I, and my father before me, had long advocated higher pay for supervisors. In so doing, more competent applicants for the job might materialize — at least some who previously demonstrated skills in operat- ing their own business. As vot- ers have turned down pay in- creases time and time again, they are perpetuating peo- ple in office that allow such aforementioned resolutions to unanimously pass. Tsk, tsk. ••• You will note this column has a headline. It supposedly informs readers as to the col- umn's content. However, hav- ing a headline was not my idea. This column once sported a dandy photo of me and Mur- ray Clyde…and the only head- ing was "I SAY." My father con- ceived the column name circa 1939. It suggests that a reader is getting one man's opinion, and that it is not necessarily gospel but it is certainly reac- tionary. It may appear to be an arrogant statement and not appeal to every reader's taste, but of course that can be said about every column in this pa- per — syndicated or otherwise. Not to flog the issue further, but when you read words such as "true faith" as shown in last week's headline, you should know I don't use such a phrase because, there are obviously many, many faiths in this world and to dub one faith as the "one true" depends on where the be- liever was born. It is more geo- graphic than advocates of "one true faith" care to acknowledge. ••• The New York Public Li- brary announced it is aban- doning its Central Library Plan which was to sell off the Mid-Manhattan Library. The collections would have been moved to the main research li- brary on Fifth Avenue. This movement of over a million books is perhaps of little inter- est regarding the proposed Te- hama County Library move ex- cept that this ambitious New York plan raised questions: "What will our libraries be in the future? And will there even be libraries? Will they ex- ist in cyberspace only? Will physical books be necessary?" With that thought ring- ing in my ears, I still can't envision the County Li- brary move to the out- skirts of town i.e. the Community Center area. Many years ago, a group of the Friends of the Li- brary gathered to pack the books — often in surplus Minch's Wholesale Meats cor- rugated boxes — prepara- tory to moving same from the old cramped Kraft Library on Jefferson to temporary stor- age. John Baros and crew loaded the boxes for transport. This was when a local bro- ker, cough, cough, negotiated a sale of the former Safeway Store on Oak at Madison to the county. After renovation, the library was once again en- sconced in a comfortable envi- ronment. Q. Is it too late to consider the purchase of the former Kraft Library building and a move back in, and make do with less book capacity be- cause so many books are avail- able digitally these days? Per- haps just wishful thinking, but I bet the money could be raised for the purchase of the Kraft if the owner would sell. ••• Sightem: A woman, who ap- peared to be wearing hose, was actually displaying dark lines tattooed down the back of her legs which gave her a 1940s look of nylon stock- ings with seams in the back. I guess she doesn't have to worry about runs. ••• Article in the SF Chron: "The handshake is a universal social custom, far more common than even saying hello. But when doctors, nurses and hospital staff greet patients with hand- shakes, they may be spreading germs. Studies show that half the time doctors and nurses don't follow hand washing pro- tocol and then offer their hands to shake. However, given the social importance of the shake, it is not likely this gesture will give way to a more practical means of greeting." Ha! I have advocated the el- bow touch for years. I post a sign on my desk, during flu season, stating that we are do- ing away with handshakes and will merely touch elbows in- stead. A bit of confusion en- sues initially, but soon every- body participates in this new and improved greeting. ••• Last week's quiz stumped most responders. We asked readers to complete famil- iar clichés. Most completed "Go the whole…hog." "A pretty kettle of …fish," and "The … acid test," but failed to re- call "Move…and…." in which should have been inserted "heaven and earth." "….is only …….." is obviously "beauty is only skin deep," and finally "There's the …rub." This week's quiz: What is missing from this little ditty? "Bless the shepherd, Bless the sheep, Bless the shepherdess. Ewe, Bellwether, sheltered keep: Send them blessedness." ••• A tiny turtle began to climb a tree very slowly. When he got to the top, he jumped into the air waving his little front legs and crashed to the ground. He dusted himself off and tried again, twice more. Each time he launched himself out into space waving his little legs only to crash again. As he started up the tree once again, two birds were watching, and the female said to the male, "Darling, don't you think we should tell him he's adopted?" RobertMinchisalifelongres- ident of Red Bluff, former col- umnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine and author of the "The Knocking Pen." He can be reached at rminchandmur- ray@hotmail.com. I say The board of supervisors rush To challenge said results now would suggest the supervisors regret their knee-jerk action regarding the ballot on the primary in the first place. Quellingfears of Jefferson plan Editor: On Tuesday, July 15, the Te- hama County Board of Super- visors fulfilled their promise to honor the voters' wishes and ap- proved the declaration to sup- port the separation from Cali- fornia. The supervisors meeting was exciting, to say the least. There were many state split supporters present, who mostly chose to stay silent since the people had already voted on the issue. There were also many op- ponents present, who made var- ious public statements against approving the declaration. There was so much fear and misinformation relayed by the opposition during the meeting that I felt compelled to respond. I introduced myself to Sue Gal- lagher after the meeting and asked if we could meet for a cup of coffee to discuss and clar- ify some of these issues. My at- tempt to reach out was gracious and sincere; however it was met with a very rude rejection. Spe- cifically, "I do not have time to meet with the likes of you peo- ple." I would like to take the op- portunity to respond to some of the misinformation relayed by the opposition. Mrs. Galla- gher wrote two letters to the board of supervisors that were distributed to the public along with the meeting agenda. Mrs. Gallagher asked for more in- formation on who was behind the State of Jefferson to "iden- tify the organization request- ing our property." What? A state split would not affect your property rights. If anything the state split is designed to ensure proper rural representation and would only serve to fur- ther protect your private prop- erty rights. This organization has never hinted that property within Tehama County would be given away. Where did this come from? Mrs. Gallagher also asked "How will the multitudes of proud native Northern Califor- nians feel about having their heritage erased?" What? The state split is pushing to pro- tect us from decisions made by outsiders that negatively affect Northern California, preserve its heritage and restore its econ- omy. Is it simply the name that is offensive or was this a racist jab at the leader of our commit- tee being an immigrant with an accent? Would it help if we called it "Northern California?" All is this would be decided at a state constitutional convention by the people. Most of the other opponents had fears about funding. Who said we would be a poor state? The State of Jefferson Commit- tee has hired a team of finan- cial analysts to study the finan- cial viability of the split. They used the actual 2013/2014 bud- gets from 20 Northern Califor- nia counties to track the actual operating expenses. Key statis- tics include population figures, state and federal income taxes, secured and unsecured prop- erty taxes collected, retail sales taxes, down to gallons of fuel sold in each county. Based on this model, using the current California tax struc- ture, prepared with actual data obtained from government web- sites, Jefferson, or Northern California, would have an oper- ating budget of roughly $4 bil- lion and the counties would en- joy an aggregate surplus of almost $8.9 billion. If the Jeffer- son model were implemented, with no state income tax, a gas tax cut in half, a modest 5 per- cent sales tax, and no corpo- rate income taxes, the Northern Counties would still have a sur- plus of $6.4 billion. There is nothing in our finan- cial model that indicates that budgets will be slashed and that we would not receive fund- ing for schools, since we used the current operating budgets. The difference is that we will not send the money to Sacra- mento and then wait for fund- ing. Federally funded social services would continue to be routed to the new state. Califor- nia is not a rich state. We are sinking in debt, regulation and idiocy. The State of Jefferson Com- mittee is willing to come to the table with the California First group to discuss what is best for all of us in Northern Califor- nia. We are convinced that we can quell their fears, including the ability to support ourselves and the preservation of our Northern California heritage. We are interested in hearing their fears so that we can incor- porate thoughtful planning and invite participation. Of course there are many un- answered questions, but there are also many reasons to ask these difficult questions and push for change. The movement is in its infancy and the dec- laration made by the Tehama County Board of Supervisors is simply a statement to support the process to change rural rep- resentative and the lack thereof. — Karin Knorr, Corning Toy gun shooting Editor: I read with interest the story in your paper about the young man down in Santa Rosa who was shot and killed by a police officer. The District Attorney has decided to not press charges against the officer. This appar- ently has the boy's parents and the community quite upset. Their attorney was speaking for the family and indicated that they felt the decision was "im- possible" to accept. The family feels the DA is "giving permis- sion to the deputies to kill our children and kill us." I remember reading about this unfortunate case when it occurred. The lad had a pellet gun; one of those knock-offs that look like an AK47. He probably bought it for just that reason. It looked like the real thing. The lad was probably well ed- ucated as to his rights. Unfor- tunately, and I leave this at the parents' feet, he was not edu- cated in what to do when an of- ficer says, "drop your weapon." You see he didn't have a weapon. He had a toy. Unfortu- nately the officer was not with him when he bought the "toy" and so when the boy, instead of dropping the weapon, advanced on the officer with it in his hands the officer shot him. What would you have the of- ficer do in a case like that? You know; one of the officer's obligations is to go home to his own family at night. — Fred Boest, Red Bluff Lack of evidence for letter's claims Editor: I wish to comment on Mr. Tamagni's letter of July 16 in which he said, "First, there is not, nor has there ever been a nation called Palestine." According to the Bible, an Old Testament prophet recog- nized a land called Palestine around 800 BC. Area names are usually associated with the peo- ple who live there. Further on Mr. Tamagni says, "Arabs who took and controlled the Jewish nation of Israel and kept the Jewish people from true ownership until they fi- nally took it back in 1948." Well I think the Romans and later the Crusaders had more to do with driving Jews out of Pales- tine then the Palestinians did. I'm not sure how he defines "true ownership," but in 1931 there were 175 Jews livings in Palestine. I assume some owned their own abode. I wish Mr. Tamagni would have given at least one bibli- cal reference for the statement, "God gave the Jews Israel for all time." I have a Bible and other biblical references but I can't find where God ever promised Israel to the Jews. I can find where He promised the land of Canaan to Israel but finding Is- rael being given to Jews eludes me. Lastly, Can he please tell me why Israeli Jews have the moral right to consistently steal from, harass, torture and murder Pal- estinians indiscriminately? Be- cause that is exactly what they have been doing for the last 66 years. — Orval Strong, Gerber Your opinions Cartoonist's take Robert Minch OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, July 18, 2014 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6