Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/431927
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 LastmonthIwasrequired by California law to attend an Ethics Orientation Course for Lobbyists. It was standing room only. Every seat was taken. I am just one of a few thou- sand registered lobbyists and I represent all the radio and televi- sion broadcast stations within our state. Every year we lobby- ists must attend one of these classes, I feel that ethics can be learned, but I am never sure it can really be effectively taught. California Government Code Section 86103 requires lobbyists to attend an ethics course as a condition of reg- istration. It is my responsibil- ity to obtain the course sched- ule, to sign up for and at- tend the course as required, and certify the ethics com- pletion date with the office of the Secretary of State's Politi- cal Reform Division. I left the course with a huge booklet on what and how to operate eth- nically. I was told during this year's course that the FBI is always present in the state capitol. Back in the late 1980s I was actually interviewed by an FBI agent a few months be- fore a small handful of legis- lators were indicted and con- victed of something called Shrimpscam. That was when a fake shrimp company was created by the FBI in order to capture those in the cap- itol that had wandered over any ethics line. The Governor at that time, George Deukme- jian, was privately told of the sting operation and was not pleased. The federal act in- volved is RICO, the R stand- ing for racketeering. That's basically selling your vote for money, and jail time if you are caught. I am sure all of this eth- ics training started as a good idea, but it certainly did not stop 2014 from becoming a very bad year for our state sen- ate. If you like crime dramas listen to this. In August San Francisco State Senator Le- land Yee was accused and ul- timately convicted of a string of illegal actions in exchange for campaign contributions. The charges included conspir- ing to mastermind an "inter- national arms deal involving machine guns" with an under- cover FBI agent posing as a mob figure. That sounds like it could be Matt Damon's next movie to me. That was followed by State Senator Rod Wright resigning from his seat in September af- ter he was convicted of eight counts of voter fraud when he lied on his voter registration in order to run for the Legisla- ture. Wright was found guilty on Jan. 28, 2014. Eight months later he was sentenced to 90 days' confinement and banned from public office for the rest of his life. There are countless ways to look at ethics. I remember that Mahatma Gandhi once said; "The greatness of a na- tion and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." I liked that very much. I know it should break one's heart when a defenseless animal is mis- treated. And, Aristotle said; "Educating the mind without educating the heart is no edu- cation at all." Do you remember when for- mer President Lyndon Johnson picked up his personal beagle by its ears? It did make rather big news in 1964. I am rather certain he lost a good number of votes from those who love animals. I feel the same way. I wish I could time travel and tell his beagle Lyndon Johnson was wrong when he did that. The elusive topic of eth- ics is more than just right and wrong. Please tell me what you think. I would appreciate it. StanStathamserved1976- 1994 in the California As- sembly and was a television news anchor at KHSL-TV in Chico 1965-1975. He is presi- dent of the California Broad- casters Association and can be reached at StanStatham@ gmail.com. My take Ethics can be learned, not taught Back in the late 1980s I was actually interviewed by an FBI agent a few months before a small handful of legislators were indicted and convicted of something called Shrimpscam. Thanksforsharingthe warmth Editor: This year's Recycle The Warmth at LIFT Tehama was able to provide warm blan- kets and clothing for hundreds of folks in our community who would otherwise be cold. Our team would like to thank everyone who helped make this the most successful event in its almost 30 years of operation. The need, however is ongoing and our job is not done. This season of the year has arrived all wet and chilly — and there are still many who are cold. If you find yourself with an ex- tra blanket and warm heart, it is not too late to donate it to make a difference for someone in need. There are many organiza- tions in this area who reach out to help the needy. They would be thankful for the extra blan- ket and would appreciate your donation. We also experience a steady stream of folks asking us for help, and would be willing to connect your warm gift to someone in need. For more information on how you can help, contact either Rose Cardenas at 528-7339 or Wayne Owensby at 526-0382. — Rose Cardenas, Cottonwood Faith renewed in humanity Editor: Last night my faith in the hu- man race was restored. I had gone to bed listening and kind of snickering over my neighbors across the street. They managed to get about 12 vehicles stuck trying to pull each other out of the field. Not having too much luck. As a fan of mud bogging I've been there. Anyway, I went to bed. Soon there was frantic knocking at my door. They no- ticed my shop on fire. They jumped my locked gates passed no trespassing signs and woke me up, and called the fire de- partment, then just jumped in and started helping me with my animals. The shop kitten got out safe and I didn't lose any of my animals in pens I have back there. So I have a tons of thank yous to get out so here goes. To my neighbors across the street and all their visiting family. You all came over and made sure I woke up and jumped right in to try and control the darn thing and helped me evacuate crit- ters. To my neighbors north of me, you came out with sup- port and offers of showers and such. I don't know you well yet since you just moved here re- cently but I think I have some of the best neighbors in the world. To Cal Fire, Tehama County Fire and the Tehama County Sheriff, you guys all were al- ready dead tired and worn out after the monster storm but you wouldn't know it to see you all work. You were all great and supportive with my crit- ters. To Tehama County Social Services where my renter Cassie works, thank you for under- standing the need for her to stay and help here. We had no sleep, no power and no water on a small farm with many up- set critters. We were dead tired, shook up and had our hands full with limited resources for the moment. Thank you also to the elec- trical contractor for fitting me into your busy schedule and getting my power safely back on so I could care for my crit- ters and get a shower. To my insurance people. You were all helpful. My adjusters were great too. They were here way sooner than I expected. Now we heal and rebuild and I couldn't have done it with- out all of you. I would have lost some souls out there. . And to Cassie Westman for staying up with me, helping me move critters in the middle of the night and making sure they were all OK and put up safe for the night, finding all my things like the flash light and phone I kept seeming to misplace in the melee and the hugs and sup- port. — Kelly Walen, Red Bluff Kudos to county supervisors Editor: In the last month or so my good friend Bucky Bowen and I have attended a number of meetings of the Tehama County Board of Supervisors and we would like to publicly commend the board members for the way they conduct their meetings. One thing that immediately struck both of us in observing the meetings is the way the su- pervisors conduct their meet- ings. Regardless of whether or not observers agree or disagree with the issues under discus- sion, the supervisors conduct their meetings and themselves in a professional and delibera- tive manner. They conform to Roberts Rules and in addition treat each other and everyone else in the room with courtesy and respect. Speakers at the meetings we've attended have been treated with respect even when presenting unpopular or dissenting viewpoints, and have not been subjected to any hint of sarcasm or disdain too often encountered at meet- ings of other elected govern- ing bodies. It is safe to say that between us we have attended and par- ticipated in literally hundreds of local, state and national meetings of public agencies so we have some depth of experi- ence to rely on when offering up our personal opinion as to how the supervisors conduct their business. Tehama County residents are lucky to have su- pervisors who take the public trust seriously and handle it accordingly. We respectfully recommend that more voters consider at- tending a Tuesday meeting and see for yourself your lo- cal county governing board in action. We believe you will come away with the same fa- vorable feelings as we have ex- perienced on how well the su- pervisors are conducting pub- lic business. — Dean Cofer, Corning Your opinions Cartoonist's take My little sixth-grader Gideon just participated in his first Christmas parade (riding a float for the Westhills Elemen- tary School Honors Club), and a good time seemed to be had by all; but curmudgeon that I am, I wanted to peek at the dark underbelly of the tradi- tion. Granted, there are pretty slim pickings if you Google "I hate Christmas parades" or "Christ- mas parade + controversy"; but problems do exist. The weather was relatively mild for Gideon's parade, but pa- rades progressing at a glacial pace through wind, rain and cold can strip even the cheeriest onlookers and participants of their holiday spirit. Maybe "Hy- pothermia Around The World" would make a good parade theme. (I came up with that one the year Jack Frost was nipping at my prostate.) Parade organizers face a her- culean task making each year's activities seem fresh, but some- times it's best to stick with tried-and-true themes such as "Home For The Holidays" or "An Old-Fashioned Christmas". You're just asking for trouble if you employ a theme such as "A Fixed-Income Christmas." That one gave a mercifully un- named community lyrics in- cluding "You Kids Quit Walkin' In My Winter Wonderland," "We three kings of Orient are/ Give back our keys/We won't wreck the car" and "Do you see what I see? Of course not — your fancy schmancy doc- tor botched your cataract sur- gery!" Transportation sometimes becomes an issue. Some towns ban horses (to keep the streets cleaner) or limit the number of antique car enthusiasts partic- ipating. Hmph! The car buffs have enough problems already. They obsess all year over ve- hicles built before air condi- tioning, FM radio, airbags and power steering; but they raise H-E-double-hockey-sticks if there's not a 120-inch flat screen TV under the Christmas tree. Go figure. Many towns now ban the tossing of candy from floats, be- cause of liability issues. 'Tis the season when ambulance chasers become sleigh chasers. The Americans With Disabil- ities Act came into play when one burg tried to ban dyslexics from building floats. That came about after one float designer accidentally replaced the "San- ta's Workshop" theme with "Sa- tan's Workshop." The organizers were quite embarrassed that the float won a second-place ribbon. One of the judges admitted, "I didn't notice the pitchforks and writhing souls — I just thought he had this Mr. Heat Miser vibe going." Here and there one will find an overly raucous Redneck Christmas Parade or a sugges- tively dancing gay group, but so far no one has done anything as provocative as "I saw Cosby dop- ing Mrs. Claus/Underneath the mistletoe last night..." Occasionally the "reason for the season" debate rears its head, but most Americans have pretty well resigned themselves to the fact that the season now exists to boost business. Christ- mas is supposed to bring "tid- ings of comfort and joy," but community leaders really push the idea that unless you spend locally and spend a lot, your kids will grow up stupid, gar- bage will go uncollected, fires won't be extinguished and crime will run rampant in the streets. Of course that mantra can backfire. When weather or other circumstances cause the cancelation of the parade, the population can drop precipi- tously. ("Steal a horse! Steal a '57 Chevy! We're getting' out of this town before the apocalypse hits!") At least these warnings give townsfolk a merry tune to carry with them all year. ("I'll pay off my Christmas, if only in my dreams...") Danny Tyree welcomes reader e-mail responses at tyreetyrades@aol.com. Danny Tyree Christmas parade underbellies — let the fighting begin Stan Statham OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, December 11, 2014 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6