Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/448055
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 Sometimesitishardnotto chuckle when reading what is happening with our governing bodies, the City Council and the Board of Super- visors. The re- cent back and forth over pay- ing costs as- sociated with the Community and Senior Cen- ter is like free entertainment. One wonders if anyone knows just what is going on or what needs to be done. The current passing of the buck back and forth between the two boards is indicative of doing "business as usual" or of the "crossing of fingers and holding your breath" approach to the future. Ultimately the future of the Community and Senior Center may be at stake; in the meantime we can chuckle a bit. Handshakes are fine, fist bumps are okay, a wink and a smile may do, even a pat on the shoulder may seem right, so too a statement that the work was done; long memo- ries help, oral promises are fine; even saying," I won't for- get this" passes for okay. How- ever, ultimately, one party to an agreement has to ask, "Will you still love me in the morn- ing?" Good intentions cannot re- place well written and care- fully reviewed and ratified contract language, and most contracts do not give one party an out if the fiscal cup- board is empty. Mayor Clay Parker was quoted to say, "Maybe we need to look into redoing this con- tract so that we're not go- ing against what the con- tract says." As the linebacker might be tempted to say to the line judge, "Maybe we should change the rules so I wouldn't be offside." The City Manager said, "The agreement is old and may not reflect how practice has evolved." In other words peo- ple have "sort of" followed that agreement over time; it has been convenient to ignore it. That statement reminds me of the water conservation mea- sures "imposed" upon us by the council. A county official said, "…the county and city have histori- cally agreed to split large costs associated with the center, notwithstanding the strict lan- guage of the agreement." Another county official stated that it was understood that the city could share in costs, particularly since the center has been in the red about $75,000 per year. If the city and the county cannot agree what the contract they signed means; or if they have taken convenient liberties with the contract over time; if they have not recognized the serious problem of a $75,000 annual deficit until now; and if they both want to use lack of funds to excuse themselves from contracted obligations, then we have a problem, right here in Red Bluff. The saga began early this year as the City Council grumped and groaned their way around a request from the County that the City share in some major repair costs as- sociated with the Commu- nity and Senior Center. No one seemed to understand the written agreement between the city and the county and past practice. The central issue was ad- dressed very accurately by the newest member of the coun- cil, however, when he said the whole contract should be re- viewed. It probably should have been carefully reviewed even before it was signed. Certainly City Management should have been able to ex- plain the agreement in simple language for the various coun- cil members over the years. Maybe the county was just asking for some help in hard times. Having worked with poorly worded contracts and with the selective memories of those who claim "they understood" what those contracts meant, I can attest to the weakness of poor contract language. If neither party can meet its obligations, and if the cen- ter is not paying for itself, and if the neither the county nor the city can afford its share, then the center either needs to be closed, cut back or recon- figured. That would be a dis- service to those who depend on the center and for those an- ticipating the new library site next door. With a little focus I am sure the two bodies can develop a creative solution to this problem. Certainly when both gov- erning bodies built their bud- gets this year the potential fiscal problem of the center should have been given due consideration. It sounds like the old "wing and a prayer" approach to budget building. Sometimes an arbitrator can help parties understand what they "really" meant when they signed the agreement. Arbitrators, however, cannot deal with the budget building process or the politics of con- venience; those are different kinds of problems. Stay tuned. JoeHarropisaretirededuca- tor with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHar- rop@sbcglobal.net. Joe Harrop Public squabbling, community center FixingCommunity Center problems Editor: In one way or another I have been involved with the Community Center for more than 20 years. First as a vol- unteer, then as an employee, then as a council member and finally back as a volunteer. I have seen its operation from all sides. Eight directors and managers have come and one remains. There already is a joint powers committee established years ago. Why aren't the city and county using it? Ap- pointed to the committee are two supervisors, two council members and three citizens. I applied and nothing hap- pened. To eliminate red ink the city and county must keep the building's appearance and needs up with the competi- tion. Renters need things that can be gotten elsewhere. Don't just treat it as a government building. Give it a stand alone website. Use video and adver- tise it for its possibilities of use. Marketing in the media outlets is critical to the suc- cess for income to support the operational costs. Mainte- nance workers should be prop- erly dressed during sched- uled events. Image is part of the bigger picture. Furniture, equipment, services partner- ship would also be nice. Tick tock, the clock is run- ning out. Fix the problem while there is still time. — Larry Stevens, Red Bluff Thankful for donations Editor: This past Christmas, Care Net Pregnancy Center was in- vited to participate in Christ- mas For a Cause through Red Bluff Gold Exchange. We were blessed with do- nations of office supplies and items for our baby boutique. These items will be greatly ap- preciated by our clients who are enrolled in our incen- tive program. We were espe- cially blessed to have also re- ceived contributions for a new sign for the center, which was made by Mike Metherd. On behalf of the staff and volunteers of Care Net, I want to thank Jessie Woods, Red Bluff Gold Exchange and all of the members of our commu- nity who contributed to the cause. It was wonderful to see the community support for our local non-profits and the people who we serve. — Janet Forward, Red Bluff County tops state in voting accuracy Editor: Tehama County is one of the top two counties in our state to cast a lawful ballot and for that ballot to be accurately counted. Election Integrity Project is a corporation that has as its mis- sion that, "Every lawfully cast vote is accurately counted." To date we have teams of highly trained poll observ- ers in 26 California counties. Their job is to document irreg- ularities and violations at the polls. You may have noticed our observers in the last two election cycles. Our observers were pleased to discover that we have ex- ceptional poll workers throughout the county. The very few discrepancies were easily and happily remedied by workers who are dedicated to doing their jobs according to the law and to the best of their abilities. At one polling place the project discovered a shortage of booths for the amount of voters in that precinct. Within a half hour after calling the Registrar of Voters, a county rover arrived with the needed equipment. If you happen to be a person who has not been voting due to a distrust of the system, I would like to assure you that Tehama is one county where your vote holds its full value. Past Registrar of Voters Bev- erly Ross and newly elected Jennifer Vise have been doing our citizens a great service for many years and have the high- est praise from the president and board of the Election In- tegrity Project. And this should be of no surprise, after all, we truly and lawfully elected them both. Good job Tehama. For information about the Election Integrity Project, or if you wish to participate or do- nate to its cause, please go to www.electionintegrityproject. com. — Michael Smith, Paskenta In praise of Job Training Center Editor: Having been in the job search market for a time, I speak from experience when I say all the people at the Te- hama County Job Training Center on Main Street in Red Bluff are doing a tremendous effort for the employers and job seekers of Tehama County. I want to thank them pub- licly for their help from tips on job search techniques to ideas on refining my resume. Too numerous to list each by name, however I must give a special thanks to Ariana for working so closely with me. The center is a resource for both job seekers and em- ployers in Tehama County and surrounding areas. Their guidance was incredible and I can't give them enough credit for the hard work they all do each day. I also want to thank Lisa and Brandy at Express Em- ployment. Red Bluff employers and job seekers are lucky to have offices such as these and other employment services in the area that help match them with each other. — Susan Messler, Red Bluff Your opinions Cartoonist's take By Joe Gandelman In the wake of the terrorist massacre in Paris, the new bat- tle cry throughout the civilized world is "Je suis Charlie," mean- ing "I am Charlie." The phrase expresses solidarity for the four cartoonists and 13 others butch- ered by Islamic terrorists who attacked the satirical newspaper and a kosher market. But, actu- ally, it's clear now that the slo- gan for this century should be another one: "We are screwed." Because we are. The 21st century will feature terrorists focusing on "soft tar- gets." Terrorism experts, govern- ment officials and military of- ficials now seem resigned to a new era where terrorists opt for lower-cost operations death-cult "soldiers" to select groups of peo- ple of all ages who'll be shot or have their heads sliced off. The world will likely see some more big 9/11 terrorist extravaganzas, but the name of the game will be to butcher innocent people in more every day, vulnerable ven- ues. We're back to the days imme- diately following 9/11 when many felt terrorists would shoot people in the street, poison water sup- plies, or use dirty bombs. More deja vu: World War II saw Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler join with It- aly and Japan to battle the rest of the world. Terrorist groups are competing with but also cooper- ating with each other. Can west- ern countries create transatlan- tic cooperation to short-circuit — and take-out — terrorists who've declared war on them and their populations? News headlines suggest some flinching and cowardice on the part of governments or news or- ganizations who don't want to provoke terrorists. But the ter- rorists don't really need provoca- tion: they are looking for justifica- tions to murder, grab headlines, foment fear, and recruit disaf- fected young people who can hide behind a religious cover-story to satisfy their dreams of being com- batants in a real movie, or having total control over others. You almost run out of breath following depressing headlines and developments. Cartoonist Daryl Cagle pro- duced some outspoken cartoons and columns, documenting how some in the media reacted to the attack on cartoonists by steal- ing Charlie Hebdo cartoons, not showing or censoring more con- troversial cartoons on TV, firing a cartoonist and giving unconvinc- ing reasons why they won't show the cartoons. Then, coinciden- tally, "of course," his website, Ca- gle.com, was hacked. The Daily Beast notes that CNN and ABC wouldn't run the new Charlie Hebdo cartoon cover published after the murders to protect their staffs. The BBC did, with an explanation. AP said it consistently doesn't run material meant to provoke. Etc. If all the world's a stage, then Al Qaeda and ISIS over the past few months got "big B.O." (Box Of- fice) in operations and recruit- ments. ISIS is also known as IS, short for Islamic State. But it should be known as KS: Kinky State: it's the ultimate sadistic, snuff-video producing cult. As the allies ad- vanced, Adolf Hitler tried hid- ing some of his mass murder with Nazis frantically trying to destroy evidence at concentration camps. ISIS and Al Qaeda want to show- case their butchery to weaken foes' resolve, alter opponents' pol- icies — and because some disaf- fected youths really think it's cool. On his popular website, An- drew Sullivan foresees "a series of slaughters to come, and the pos- sible erosion of support for free speech outside these rare mo- ments of cherished unity. I see no other way of getting through this: surveillance, vigilance, an end to invasion, occupation and torture, and patience. And to give not an inch to any infringement on free speech." On January 1, cartoon depic- tions of 2015 showed the new year as an innocent, happy in- fant. Today, 2015 is a menacing, smiling kid out of "Children of the Corn," coming at you with a knife dripping with blood. Joe Gandelman Is 'Je suis Charlie' an accurate slogan? Joe Harrop OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, January 17, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4