Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/38421
4A Daily News – Friday, August 5, 2011 Opinion Animal abuse D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Editor: As I drive from Corning to Red Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer’s home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. Letters are published at the discretion of the editor. Mission Statement We believe that a strong com- munity newspaper is essential to a strong community, creating citizens who are better informed and more involved. The Daily News will be the indispensible guide to life and living in Tehama County. We will be the premier provider of local news, information and advertising through our daily newspaper, online edition and other print and Internet vehi- cles. The Daily News will reflect and support the unique identities of Tehama County and its cities; record the history of its com- munities and their people and make a positive difference in the quality of life for the resi- dents and businesses of Tehama County. How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 Bluff I see cattle with no shade of any kind, even when the tempera- ture is 100 degrees or above. This has been going on for years. I hope something can be done about this. I plan on reporting this to animal rights persons and see if something can be done about this. Lloyd Johnson, Corning Who runs the show? Editor: I must say something to the folks who seem to think the work day of a public sector employee, particularly teachers, is the same as the school day their children put in. When I taught high school, vocational classes, high risk stu- dents we reported to work before 7 a.m. so we could stand guard on the playground until the begin- ning of school at 7:45. If so assigned, we ate lunch standing up while on playground duty. We taught our classes until 3 p.m., then stayed and baby sat the detention crowd until 5 p.m. That is already a 10-hour day. Since these students were high risk, they were not allowed to take textbooks home, and virtual- ly no homework could be assigned due to the expense of replacing loaned reference mate- rials. The school library is open only during school hours, and the underserved minority communi- ties often have no libraries at all. We are expected to prepare professional lesson plans, grade papers and do other tasks such as "Individual Work Plans" or "Indi- vidual Education Plans" on our own time. During the time I was a teacher I felt guilty about every minute of time I used for my own refreshment. I corrected papers while I ate my food, and got up at 4 a.m. to prepare lesson plans. By the way, I was by far not the most motivated teacher in the school. Many people seem to think we leave school in June for a two or three month hiatus, but they are wrong. Most of us have summer work, such as in-home visits, preparing a years' worth of lesson plans, selecting and ordering sup- plies, making and submitting req- uisitions, traveling to competi- tions — I was FFA advisor — and conventions with several of your least unruly students, or tak- ing classes in college in order to keep the certifi- cate current. Summer is only a time when your work is not in the classroom, but more in the community. Your Turn And during campaigns and elections we teachers were for- bidden to participate in petition- ing, rallies or even to give dona- tions to our preferred candidates. This did not come from the union, it came from the school adminis- tration, every time. I was con- stantly on the hot seat for exercis- ing my civil rights in spite of being expressly told not to by my principal. I never joined a union, although during the almost 30 years I worked as a teacher or other public employee, I had to pay to support them. I could never see that they did a thing for me. I always felt that they were just another hand in my pocket. Yet, labor unions brought the nation to a more humane and sustainable work environment, far more than the government has. The reason pen- sions seem so bloated today is not that the unions have made so many unreasonable demands. It is because the insur- ance and investment community has functionally defaulted on the bet. I can't understand and am highly resentful of all this outrage about public employees — teach- ers are only a subset of this hard working, well educated and loyal class. This rage should be directed at the financial industry, who recent- ly stole all the money in the world and are now fat, still greedy, still stealing and watching everyone else slide down into a virtual hunter-gatherer society. Save your rage for the actual crooks. Martha Kleykamp, Red Bluff Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 6031 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319-2102 STATE SENATOR — Doug LaMalfa (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 3070 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: gover- nor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2635 Forest Ave. Ste. 100, Chico, CA 95928; 893-8363. U.S.SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224- 0454. The modern day dating game Commentary There are a few out there who have not been blessed with a happy and intimate relationship with a fel- low human. I am not suggesting there are non-human relationships just as rewarding. I am just trying to narrow the field. If you are unat- tached and would like to be other- wise, do not despair. Just because the Crystal Tavern and the Blue Ribbon are long gone, there are convenient places to meet when playing the dating game. The place I have in mind is the Internet. Sources say the obvious advan- tage of online dating is that it pro- vides a wider pool of possibility and choice. Though there are thou- sands of dating sites, Match.com is now the biggest dating site in the world. Reports indicate one in six new marriages is the result of meetings on Internet dating sites. Reports also indicate that in the dating world, and the world at large, there is apparently a surplus of available women, especially in their 30s and beyond. And, according to political scientists at Yale and Stanford, sift- ing through dating service data to determine how political opinions factor in choosing social partners, conclude that Republicans have more in common with Republicans than Democrats have in common with Democrats…which suggests to some wits that Democrats are doomed. Matches in the dating game are sometimes more difficult if one of the potential partners is an atheist, for example, or has been divorced twice. And yet people find each other every which way, and often achieve something they call happi- ness. The missus suggests that in the final analysis it all comes down to chemistry. I second the motion. * * * Once again, the fascinating Police Reports. A grey pickup with a dog inside reportedly backed into the Walmart Garden Center. Offi- cers contacted a man in a grey pick- up with a dog in back. The man told the officer that prior to the officer’s arrival on the scene, a similar truck with a dog in the back had left the parking lot. Thus ends the report. It has been my experience that if the dog in or about a grey pickup was large, bystanders would identi- fy it as being so, and thus make the tracking down of the perpetrator easier. However if the dog were small…like for instance that of DN columnist C Barber’s, the pup might go unnoticed if a participant in a vehicular dust up of sorts. Our Murray Clyde would have been identified in an instant…even by a City Councilman otherwise noted for observational insensitivity. * * * Allegedly children’s mispronun- ciations: “Jesus has 12 opossums.” The worst was Judas Asparagus who was so evil they named a terrible vegetable after him. Jesus healed many leopards and even preached to a German on the mount.” * * * By this reading, the Congress and President Obama may have temporarily resolved the debt ceil- ing, but sources say that every democratic country, with the excep- tion of Denmark, has no debt ceil- ing. Also there is no mention of the debt ceiling in the Constitution. The ceiling, which was adopted in 1917, may once have had a pur- pose, but this hasn’t been the case since 1974; Congress now passes comprehensive budget resolutions that detail exactly how the govern- ment will tax and spend, and the Treasury Department borrows only the money that Congress allows it to. These days, the debt limit actu- ally makes the President less accountable to Congress, not more. If the ceiling is not raised, it’s Pres- ident Obama who will be deciding which bills are to be paid and which don’t, with no say from Con- gress. * * * The missus has long bemoaned the state of the landscaping at the TRAX sta- tion on Rio, but now reports the Job Training Cen- ter people have recently cleaned it up... and bully for them. * * * Robert Minch I Say The USDA reports that as of 1 July, the nation’s inventory of all types of cattle and calves fell to a record low, which would make the herd the smallest since 1958. These conditions will mean rising cattle prices which will be good for Tehama County cattlemen if they have a goodly number of feedlot ready steers and heifers. It will also translate, of course, into higher beef prices in the meat counters. How- ever, we have seen government sta- tistics skewered over the years...and they often come back with a revi- sion of the numbers after a month or so. I am just glad not to be in the slaughter business these days even though the real estate business is just, to mix metaphors, treading water. * * * Last week’s quiz to name major league sports teams in baseball, football, basketball and hockey that do not end in the letter “S,” was answered early by a few knowl- edgeable folks such as L. Bullock, F. Boest, R. Ramsey and R. Cox who contributed all or in part: Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Utah Jazz, Okla- homa City Thun- der, Tampa Bay Lightning, Min- nesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche. How- ever, there are none in professional football. This week’s quiz: Name the city in which their hockey, football and baseball teams all wear the same colors. And we just discovered a second city, cour- tesy of the Iceman of the Marin Independent Journal. * * * The General received word that Lance Corporal Perkins’ mother had died. At parade, the Sergeant Major volunteered to break the sad news to Perkins. “Shall I go and tell him, sir?” “Steady on”, said the General, “you just can’t go over and tell him in front of the rest of the regiment. This calls for tact and diplomacy.” “Very well, sir, I shall do as you suggest.” He goes over to the line of soldiers and bellows out the com- mand, “All those with mothers still alive, one pace forward....Not so fast, Perkins!” Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff and former columnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine. He can be reached at rminchandmurray@hotmail.com.