Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/350942
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 "Isayit'shightime we update the wording of the presidential oath of office, which is spec- ified in Article II, Sec- tion 1 of the U.S. Consti- tution." "Update it?" "That's right. Our cur- rent president isn't following it much anyhow, so why don't you recite it from the top so we can get to work?" "I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Of- fice of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." "'I,' you say? Since some want our country to be more collectivist, I think we should go with 'we.' Continue." "We do —" "'Do?' Only a determined president would do what he says he will do. Change that one to 'may.'" "We may solemnly —" "Stop! 'Solemnly? As in 'sol- emn resolve'? That sounds so serious. Our president is the opposite of serious about many of our country's challenges. Change that to 'frivolously.'" "We may frivolously swear —" "'Swear?' As in 'affirm'? As in 'assert strongly and publicly'? I don't think so. The only time our president talks with such resolve is when he is criticiz- ing Republicans. Better change that to 'consider.'" "We may frivolously consider that I —" "'I?' You realize a president requires several bureaucrats to impose a European-style de- mocracy on a half-asleep popu- lace. Change that to 'we.'" "We may frivolously consider that we will —" "'Will' is way too strong a word. It evokes certainty and determination. Better change that to 'may.'" "We may frivolously consider that we may faithfully —" "Stop! 'Faithfully' has reli- gious overtones. That might of- fend some. Take that out alto- gether." "We may frivolously consider that we may execute —" "'Execute' is so weighty and confining. Change that to 'attempt to carry out.'" "We may frivolously consider that we may at- tempt to carry out the office of the President of the United States —" "Whoa! That is not correct. The goal of our pres- ident appears to be to give promises and government lar- gesse to people who will vote for him and his party. His duty appears to be to those people. Change that to 'the will of the people who vote for me.'" "We may frivolously consider that we may attempt to carry out the will of the people who vote for me and will —" "Change that second 'will' to 'may,' please.'" "We may frivolously consider that we may attempt to carry out the will of the people who vote for me and may to the best of my ability —" "Change 'my' to 'our.'" "We may frivolously consider that we may attempt to carry out the will of the people who vote for me and may to the best of our ability preserve —" "Stop! Our president doesn't want to preserve things like American exceptionalism. He believes in more 'progressive' ideas. Change that to 'prog- ress.'" "We may frivolously consider that we may attempt to carry out the will of the people who vote for me and may to the best of our ability progress, pro- tect —" "'Protecting' requires lead- ership and hard work. It is eas- ier to just give things to people. Change to 'provide.'" "We may frivolously consider that we may attempt to carry out the will of the people who vote for me and may to the best of our ability progress, provide and defend —" "'Defend?' As in 'defend the Constitution'? That's a good one. We need a term that aligns better with our presi- dent's thinking. Change that to 'amend.'" "We may frivolously consider that we may attempt to carry out the will of the people who vote for me and may to the best of our ability progress, provide and amend the Constitution of the United States." "Now that's an oath of office our president might be willing to keep!" TomPurcell,authorof"Mis- adventures of a 1970s Child- hood" and "Comical Sense: A Lone Humorist Takes on a World Gone Nutty!" is a Pitts- burgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. Send comments to Tom at Purcell@caglecartoons. com. Tom Purcell Anoath for Obama The goal of our president appears to be to give promises and government largesse to people who will vote for him and his party. OnIdeAdobehistory Editor: Quoting from the Tehama County 1856-2006 book, page 3: "For many years the 'Ide Adobe' just north of Red Bluff was thought to be Ide's. It was purchased by the State of Cali- fornia and made a state histor- ical park with a dedication be- ing held in the spring of 1960. It appears that A. Dibble actually built the adobe in 1852, but it is considered to be a memorial to William B. Ide." Much more on Ide in the book. He and his family did live in several other locations in and near Tehama County. The book is by the Tehama County Genealogical and His- torical Society. I think the appearance of the adobe changed considerably, even after its acquisition by the state. — June Quincy, Red Bluff Water curtailments Editor: In January, Governor Brown declared a drought State of Emergency to exist in Califor- nia due to severe drought con- ditions. The January Proclama- tion notes that the state is expe- riencing record dry conditions, with 2014 projected to become the driest year on record. This follows two other dry or below average years, leaving reservoir storage at alarmingly low lev- els. The drought has presented problems to drinking water supplies, for wildlife, as well as agricultural use. In a study re- cently released from the Univer- sity of California, Davis, the es- timated impacts from the water shortages on farms and ranches could include loss of 17,100 jobs and $2.2 billion in economic damage. The State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) issued a Notice of Unavailability of Water and Immediate Curtail- ment for Those Diverting Water in the Sacramento River Water- shed with a Post-1914 Appropri- ative Right in May. This re- sulted in the SWRCB adopting emergency regulations, autho- rizing the curtailment of water diversions, including pre-1914 and riparian water rights on Antelope Creek, Deer Creek and Mill Creek in Tehama County. Following the emergency curtailment notices for the three tributaries, the SWRCB significantly broadened its curtailment efforts, sending nearly 2,700 curtailment no- tices to junior water-right holders in the Sacramento River watershed. This area in- cluded right holders in the Sacramento River and the North Delta, including the Pit, McCloud, Feather, Yuba and American Rivers. In order to avoid enforce- ment proceedings, the affected water-rights holders were given a mere seven-day response time to confirm that they were no longer drawing from the wa- ter sources. Shortly after the notices were sent out, Califor- nia Farm Bureau held a meet- ing explaining the situation to 125 members at the Shasta Auc- tion Yard in Anderson. The cur- tailments will last until further notice and many other water- sheds, as well as senior rights holders, may face further cur- tailments in the upcoming weeks. Back in Tehama County, cur- tailments have been lifted for the Deer Creek tributary as of June 24. In a notice from the SWRCB, they state that based on existing hydrologic and cli- matic conditions and lack of presence of juvenile or adult ju- venile Central Valley spring- run Chinook salmon and Cali- fornia Central Valley steelhead, all minimum base flow require- ments on Deer Creek are sus- pended until further notice is provided. However, further cur- tailments are likely in October for the fall run of Salmon, if the drought continues. Northern California farm- ers are well aware that rain has not come in abundance for the last few years and are pre- pared to take the necessary ac- tions to save their commodities, notes Tehama County Farm Bu- reau President Michael Vasey. The Tehama and Shasta County Farm Bureaus continue to work closely with the California Farm Bureau Federation on this issue to represent their members. — Kari Dodd, Red Bluff GM culpability Editor: Recent disclosure of malfea- sance and criminal neglect at General Motors, which has re- sulted in various forms of in- jury, even death, is by no means unique to the auto industry, but has been allowed to fester for decades throughout the corpo- rate sector, obviously without concern for the ensuing fallout or consequences. Such practice is widespread and systemic and includes such icons as health care, pharma- ceuticals, agriculture, aircraft manufacturers, airlines, the food production industry and, of course, the criminal enter- prise we call Wall Street, which has opted to sacrifice morality, decency and humanity in favor of greed and a reckless pursuit of profit. Ralph Estes' 1995 expose' titled "The Tyranny of the Bottom Line" comes to mind, which is a real eye opener and describes in great detail an array of egregious unre- ported practices in which the expense of settling potential law suits pertaining to the loss of life or limb is solely weighed against the cost of making necessary repairs or changes in order to right the wrong, with obviously pre- dictable results. Yet another example of the insatiable quest for profit, which sharply runs counter to our cherished and often quoted ideal of life, liberty and the pur- suit of happiness. — Joe Bahlke, Red Bluff Your opinions Cartoonist's take By Tony St. Amant There is increasing concern in the Northern Sacramento Valley that the dwindling well water sup- ply that irrigates the valley's vast fruit and nut orchards and pro- vides water to the large majority of homes and businesses is at risk of being drained beyond recovery. The threat comes from the agribusinesses of the western San Joaquin Valley where farmers no longer have enough local water. They must import what they need through the Sacramento-San Joa- quin River Delta. The concern is heightened by the Governor's fix- ation on the "twin tunnels" that would bypass the Delta as they transfer water south. There can be little doubt that increased pumping of Sacramento Valley groundwater is expected to fill the twin tunnels and irrigate the reclaimed desert orchards of the western San Joaquin Val- ley. But there seems to be no con- sideration of the fact that the soil in the western San Joaquin is be- coming so contaminated with salts that the future of agriculture is in doubt no matter how much water is poured onto it. Yet it is impossible to find a di- rect reference to Sacramento Val- ley groundwater in any justifica- tion of the twin tunnels or in any portion of the Bay Delta Conserva- tion Plan, which seeks to solve the problems of water flow through the Delta as well as provide water for farmers south of the Delta. So what's going on? Pumping too much ground- water too quickly is what caused the current water crisis in the San Joaquin Valley, and it has the potential to do the same thing to the Sacramento Val- ley. But the political pressures to keep up agricultural production in the western San Joaquin are so strong that they seem to have overcome the fact that it takes twice as much irrigation water to grow fruit and nut trees in the San Joaquin than it does in the Sacramento Valley. Rather than deal with these agricultural realities or re- sist the political pressures, the Brown Administration has cho- sen to let the water marketplace determine the outcome without regard to the long-term damage that may occur to Sacramento Valley groundwater aquifers. After all, by the time the dam- age becomes irreversible, all the elected officials will be out of of- fice, all the bureaucrats will be retired, and all the San Joaquin agribusiness executives will have abandoned their salt-con- taminated lands and be cruising the world's oceans. The scheme to nudge all of this into reality is this. Since nobody really wants to take the heat for draining the Sac- ramento Valley of groundwater to irrigate a dying desert, lobby- ing groups for San Joaquin water buyers and Sacramento Valley wa- ter sellers are pushing for ground- water storage to be included in any enabling legislation. Groundwater storage, also known as "conjunctive use," re- fers to a process for temporar- ily boosting water availability by increasing groundwater use when surface water is in short supply and later injecting sur- face water into groundwater ba- sins to replenish them, if surface water is available—a hope that seems unrealistic during an ex- tended drought. But by including groundwa- ter storage in drought and bond legislation, state legislators take the heat off themselves and shift it to the Sacramento Valley wa- ter districts that would imple- ment the programs. The prob- lem is, these districts represent less than two percent of the Sac- ramento Valley population and they have shown no interest in including the huge majority of valley residents in the water management process. Nevertheless, from the legisla- ture's perspective, it's an artful so- lution. They can claim that they are simply responding to the call of regional water organizations. From a Sacramento Valley ag- ricultural water district's per- spective, it's a profitable so- lution. It ensures a long-term stream of income from wa- ter sales in addition to normal farming revenue. From a San Joaquin Valley agri- business perspective, it ensures irri- gation of their salt-laden soils until they must be abandoned. For the rest of the state, the picture is not so rosy. Sacra- mento Valley residents who rely primarily on groundwater stand to have their water pumped out from under them without a say in their economic and environ- mental future, and the state risks the collapse of its last self- renewing groundwater supply. Our kids and grandkids need for us to do better than that. Tony St. Amant lives in Chico. Drought Increasing concern over valley water Tom Purcell OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, July 23, 2014 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6