Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/413019
Weexperiencedawidevarietyofcostumed kids the last Friday night before we reset our clocks. The vast majority of them were very polite and thankful as we told them to select their treat. Many were accompanied by parents, and that gave me the opportu- nity to tell those parents they were raising polite children. Thequantityandnature of the trick or treaters at our house has changed over the years. A few years back we would get 300 ringing our doorbell; this last couple of years it has been less than 75. In the past we got high school stu- dents, even some with their young children; this year we mostly had prepubescent vis- itors. Although I do not like having to get up from a com- fortable sitting position, an- swering the doorbell was a pleasant experience this Hal- loween. The day after Halloween we began the semi annual ritual of changing batteries in smoke detectors, thermostats, clock radios, etc. The ritual always includes accidentally trigger- ing the smoke detector while I am on a step stool, and, as in past years, I was unprepared for the loud blast of irritating noise, and almost fell off the step stool. The old batteries go in a zip lock orange bag and into the re- cycle can; the bag is full again, and I'll have to track down an- other one. I am not sure just how the batteries are recycled, but I am glad to help the effort to keep our environment less polluted with our discards. Our trees, of course, are pol- luting our backyard with their own discards this time of the year. It is somehow poignant watching the colorful leaves drift down to the grass and then, captured by the breeze, flow across the yard to float in the pool; the trees, of course do not consider that the leaves need to be raked or netted and sent to Tuesday's lawn clipping pick up a form of pollution; they are doing what comes naturally to them, obeying the seasons of growth and dor- mancy, returning nutrients to the soil before they take their winter nap. Next we had to reset our alarms, clocks, and other de- vices to Pacific Standard Time; some take care of this reset automatically, many are easily reset, but in some cases I had to retrieve an owner's man- ual to figure out how to set the time. Eventually we got all the clocks reset except the one in our older car. Our cat, of course, does not understand why he is being fed later in his day. For him, morning is when he is hungry; he doesn't rely on a clock to know that. He has restrained himself somewhat, but he does make his displeasure clear. His coat is a little thicker than it was during our warmer weather, but he refuses to ac- cept Pacific Standard Time. We scheduled a tree service company to help us with the trees I planted too close to the house over twenty years ago, but he can't come until the middle of the month, probably after I have raked up all of the leaves. Timing is everything. I am writing this before the elections, so all I can say is that there will be happy and sad voters; the key is being able to get along once the votes are counted. Most likely there will have been a dismal voter turnout in California, a reflec- tion on what some have called our "ailing democracy" in which we have disenfranchised ourselves and put the blame on those representatives we didn't bother to vote for or against. Fall is in the air. Let us all enjoy it. JoeHarropisaretirededuca- tor with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHar- rop@sbcglobal.net. JoeHarrop Signs of new time make an appearance Our cat, of course, does not understand why he is being fed later in his day. For him, morning is when he is hungry; he doesn't rely on a clock to know that. DannyMurray'srecent letter Editor: Danny Murray's letter touched on some of the prob- lems concerning Rancho Te- hama. I would like to make a few more comments. We are plagued with mul- tiple issues that could easily be solved with the help of us all working together. We are a close community here and the problems seem to affect us all. We have dog owners that al- low their dogs to bark all night, every night. Animal control states there is nothing they can do if the dog is not within 1,000 feet of my home, but because of the hills we have here, the barks seem to be right outside my bedroom windows and are very distrubing even though they are a few lots away. We have neighbors that are up all night, loud music, racing car engines, speeding up and down streets, shooting guns off, and not just a single shot, but multiple shots at a time, which is very scary and very danger- ous. Some nights I feel safer sleep- ing on the floor. Unfortunately, pot growers have all but taken over RTR. To- tally out of control. Some have medicinal permits, and grow the allotted amount of plants, 12, others have the same type of permits but grow in excess of 100 plants. Because of the thousands of plants grown here at RTR along with the severe drought, wa- ter wells are going dry. Some homeowners got lucky and could drop their pump a few feet, others had to buy new pumps because the water level dropped so much their pumps were sucking sand, and then several had to drill new wells, all very expensive to the home- owners. Most pot growers do not have water wells, they hauled their water in, buying or tak- ing water from other growers. Each plant requires at least 6 gallons of water daily, per the Press Democrat, with mature marijuana plants requiring as much as 15 gallons daily, per Tim Blake, founder of the North Coast's Emerald Cup cannabis competition. With thousands of marijuana plants grown in Rancho Tehama, this consumes a lot of water. Not all pot growers own their property, therefore are not pay- ing association dues, Tehama County taxes or state taxes. Some are living on property without a county occupancy permit, in an illegal dwelling, such as a trailer, tent, shed, their truck or car, no electric- ity, no water well, no septic. To- tally illegal. Our by-laws state there is no business for profit allowed on residential lots, only on com- mercial lots, therefore all pot growers growing plants to sell are in violation of our by laws and CC&Rs. Our board of directors has not been on top of all of this, therefore it is totally out of con- trol. Our Sheriff's Department can't be here 24/7, therefore we are living in a lawless commu- nity. Because of the drought, it seems to be a logical deci- sion for Tehama County to de- clare a moratorium on all pot growing until the drought has ended and our water resources have recovered. In fact, Gover- nor Brown should declcare the same on the state of California. Someone needs to step up to the plate and take control. Wandell Carter, Rancho Tehama Realtors thank candidates Editor: The Tehama County Associ- ation of Realtors would like to thank the following candidates for accepting our invitation to discuss real estate issues and concerns with our members: Candy Carlson and Sandy Bruce, running for county su- pervisor; Darlene Dickin- son, running for Corning City Council; Gary Strack, running for Corning mayor and Robert Schmid, running for Red Bluff City Council. TCAOR is a voluntary associ- ation of local real estate profes- sionals who practice real estate within Tehama County and be- long to the National Association of Realtors. — Donna Medina, Red Bluff Contacting Doug LaMalfa, Jerry Brown Editor: I have contacted Doug La- Malfa and Jerry Brown by phone and by email regard- ing the illegal aliens flooding our borders. Neither official has responded. Maybe I can get through to them by a letter to the editor. I would like to know Doug Lamalfa's opinion on our gov- ernment aiding and abetting the unlawful immigration pol- icies coming from the White House. Does he support wide open borders allowing illegal aliens from around the world to come to America to bring the so- cialism they are running away from? Does he support them being above the law, just so they can vote for more socialism? Does he support giving them welfare from tax dollars of real Ameri- cans? I would like to hear how he will vote. I know Jerry Brown's stance. He is welcoming with open arms all illegal aliens to come to California. I wonder just how long law abiding, tax paying Californians will be able to support a third world country's throw-away popula- tion? Doug LaMalfa, please re- spond to we the people. We want to know your stance on the immigration policies that are straining our economy and patients. Lisa Mille, Red Bluff Your opinions Cartoonist's take It's been years since I used AOL for any kind of meaningful email but I can't bring myself to close the account. I keep think- ing that some- where in my cy- ber past there's an old friend about to reach out — and all he has is my AOL address. As a result I spend an inordinate amount of time deleting junk mail, because apparently whatever AOL has lost in actual customers it has gained in semi- and totally-sleazy mail- box-stuffing spammers. This morning I got an email from Ashley Madison, "The world's leading married dating service." And right below it in my queue was a message from Dentures Online: "Get the smile you've always wanted." I sup- pose if one were considering an extra-marital affair it would make sense to have teeth. Every morning for over a year I've gotten this email: "Join the club. Install a walk-in tub to- day." I also get this one with alarming regularity: "Make fu- neral costs more affordable with burial insurance." And this: "Blowout prices at up to 98% off!" A firm called Beezid claims to have sold a 42- inch LG television, retailing at $1,299.00, for $32.14. My take- away: P.T. Barnum would have made billions in the digital age. Most AOL junk pops in dur- ing the wee hours. At 12:41 a.m. — "Discover the stories of your family's past." At 1 a.m. — "Add to your home's value with replace- ment windows." At 1:21 a.m. — "Depression Help: find options to help you treat the blues." My ad- vice: Stop reading depressing emails in the middle of the night. I got a seemingly urgent message with the subject line "Homeland Security." Turns out the email was about how I could "Safeguard the US" by getting an online degree. Apparently most of this spam is perfectly legal according to the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. It says unsolicited emails like those AOL dutifully distributes must have a "truthful" subject line and no "forged information" in the technical headers. Clearly, no self-respecting spammer would violate a law with teeth like that. Anti-spam regulations are the responsibility of the Federal Trade Commission, which, on April 9, 2014 (and I am not mak- ing this up) issued a news re- lease with the headline, "FTC Warns Small Businesses: Don't Open Email Falsely Claiming to be From FTC." At the bottom of the release was the obligatory: "Like the FTC on Facebook, fol- low us on Twitter." Back in 2004, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates received the unofficial title of Most Spammed Person in the World. It was es- timated at the time that Gates was receiving roughly four mil- lion junk emails a year. Apparently beaten down, as many of us are, by mes- sages with subject lines such as, "Learn about urinary inconti- nence," Gates made a hasty pre- diction. He told the World Eco- nomic Forum in '04 that spam would be "a thing of the past" within two years. Okay, so Bill Gates is so dis- tracted by junk mail that his projections are a little behind schedule. He's probably mulling over the same email offer I re- ceived via AOL: "My name is Mr. Jerry Mor- gan. I am manager of the So- cial Security Bank (SG-SSB LIM- ITED) Ghana. I am writing to so- licit your assistance in the noble transfer of US$7,500,000.00. As an officer of the bank, I cannot be directly connected to this money thus I am impelled to request for your assistance to receive this money into your bank account. I intend to part 30% of this fund to you while 70% shall be for me." There you have it. Proof that a fool and his AOL are not soon parted. Peter Funt is a writer and speaker. His book, "Cautiously Optimistic," is available at Am- azon.com and CandidCamera. com. Peter Funt You've got spam — the price of an aging email address 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. 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 PeterFunt Joe Harrop OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, November 8, 2014 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4