Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/455017
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 "ThankyouRobertforthefascinatingpre- mier of your exclusive in-depth Channel 7, twelve-part series on underinflated balls, Can't wait to see what balls you have for us tomorrow. And now, here's Wayne with our exclusive Channel 7 Eyewitness Weather and your new up-to-the-minute national weather report, brought to you by Easy — the drug that will make you never wonder why. Ever again." "Andthat'sitforsports." "Well, thanks Padma. Hello, Foggy Bottom. Batten down the hatches peo- ple, because it's about to get chilly out there. Not just cold. Long Island Ice Tea on a Ver- mont porch in January cold. Nostril hair cracking cold. Ice cube tray down your pants cold. Tongue stuck to the flagpole cold. Be- yonce's sister talking to Jay- Z cold. "Due to a stubborn high- pressure system emanating from the bases of both the left and the right, the imme- diate political forecast is for a long hard freeze to descend upon Washington DC and stay there. After that, arctic rela- tions are expected to crystal- ize, until all political activity grinds to a halt in the same kind of gridlock that sang the Wooly Mammoths to their rest. "The long-term outlook isn't any rosier. Expect increasing rhetoric with gusts of empty blather to result in virtual leg- islative permafrost. Storm clouds are gathering and the Doppler Radar indicates the Capital climate will become so incredibly frigid, the entire country is at risk of freezing solid over the next two years. And maybe longer, as the trop- ical winds of compromise ap- pear to have been eaten by El Nino. "On one side, you have a de- cidedly frosty GOP Congress promising that anything and everything the President sends is DOA. The issue could be the Republican dream of tort re- form, but if it comes from the desk of the Chief Executive — color it El Morte. "While a distinctly icy Barack Obama has announced he's prepared to unleash a blizzard of Vetos on any legis- lation that threatens his leg- acy. Which theoretically is anything. These two clash- ing icebox fronts could rival in intensity the cyclonic activ- ity that has engulfed the great red spot on Jupiter for over 300 years. "The two sides are so far apart they can't see each other due to the curvature of the earth. And the lack of even glacial progress insures that snowy drifts of abandoned bills will accumulate on Con- gressional desks. So, like nor- mal; only more so. "Folks out there in our view- ing area might want to make a quick trip into town for pro- visions, because the biting winds and refrigerated rela- tionships are going to make a hundred polar vortexes look downright balmy. "With bitterly biting ide- ological winds, heavy rains of disregard and no relief in sight, the 114th Congress looks destined to earn the nickname of... The New Ice Age. As they say in Game of Thrones: "Win- ter is Coming!" And not just any winter: nuclear winter. "So there you have it. The new up- to- the- minute ex- clusive Channel 7 national weather report, brought to you by Easy — the drug that will make you never wonder why. Ever again. Stay tuned as Heather unveils exclusive foot- age of how a rescue of baby kittens from a discarded pi- ano makes for beautiful music. And cute too." WillDurstisanaward-win- ning, nationally acclaimed political comic. Go to will- durst.com for more about the documentary film "3 Still Standing," and a calendar guide to personal appearances such as his hit one- man show "BoomeRaging: From LSD to OMG." Email Will at durst@ caglecartoons.com. Will Durst Thenew political ice age Cartoonist's take Regarding the relocation of the Tehama County Library, a number of interested parties have asked what they might do to further the idea of keeping the li- brary downtown and doing a fea- sibility study as to the purchas- ing of the Her- bert Kraft Free Library building and enlarging same. From a layman's stand- point, the concept seems to have merit. A package deal of ac- quiring the house and lot to the north for creating on-site park- ing for patrons would also be a plus. At this point, these parties should contact their supervisors and urge them to get on with it. What won't get that august body to reconsider their original boon- docks location would be lack of response by the taxpayers. ••• Speaking of taxpayers, city folks may be questioning the goings on at City Hall as there has been quite an exodus of City Council members over the past few months. But it appears that it is only matters of ill- ness that have befallen the de- parted. I thought their resigna- tions might have been hastened by discontent, but that does not seem to be the case. I was zero- ing in on the fact that Richard Crabtree, the current City Man- ager, might have spread himself a bit thin by also being the City Counsel, plus the fact that he lives in Chico and commutes. However there is no ordinance against him doing so and he certainly has the vote of confi- dence of the City Council. Perhaps the wearing of two city hats in Red Bluff while liv- ing elsewhere is a beneficial economic move, but one might wonder if a City Manager can keep his finger on the pulse of the community in this manner. A previous City Manager also lived elsewhere, but with mixed results, as I recall. I inquired into this subject when learning of the resigna- tion and rapid departure of the esteemed Community Develop- ment Director Scott Timboe. In the opinion of many, Scott did an excellent job in that position combining authority with con- cern for the needs of business owners as well as those of com- mercial tenants. In so doing, his guiding hand may not have been obvious as he apparently pre- ferred to remain a diligent but a non-crusading city employee. If anyone in or out of City Hall is aware of any current discontent, other than the mat- ter of the Police Chief, it is not apparent in this cursory exam- ination. ••• I recently wrote of the po- tential consequences of a fail- ure of Shasta Dam. Inquiries from the flood control peo- ple revealed that a new set of guidelines was being prepared to deal with that unlikely event. However, a reader dropped off a Daily News article dated Oc- tober of 2001 that offered a fairly succinct speculation of dam failure. It was written by staff member Jack Moran who is no longer with the paper but hopefully still alive and dry. He wrote "Glen Pearson of the state department of Water Re- sources says he is not losing any sleep worrying about the remote possibility that Shasta Dam would break and create incredible flooding through- out low-lying parts of Tehama County. Pearson said Red Bluff residents would have between 6 to 8 hours to escape to higher ground…but it would depend how the dam would break. If it were vaporized, water could rush southward at a higher speed, but any chance the sturdy concrete structure would experience instantaneous fail- ure is very slim. 'That's a mas- sive dam, and it would take something very powerful to cause an instantaneous failure. In any case I don't think you would see a 600-foot-high wall of water coming down on Red Bluff.' Running down the list, Pearson said, 'Escaping water would strike sections of down- town Redding near the river in less than an hour, and a large part of Anderson would end up flooded, but the general ef- fect would lessen as the rush headed south along the river'" News this week of massive snow storms hitting the east coast of the U.S., coupled with a failure — however unlikely — of Shasta Dam, is yet another rea- son to live in our fair county. ••• At last a little common sense exhibited by our friends, the United Arab Emirates. Author- ities there have called a halt to the public flogging of a blogger convicted of insulting Islam. However, this is not a change of heart. An examining doctor has reported that the wounds in- flicted on the poor fellow in the first go-around of lashings have not sufficiently healed to justify the second round of flogging. This seems the practical thing to do, because if they lay the lash on existing raw wounds, the floggers may not attain the high degree of pain required in infractions of this kind. ••• You holders of bachelor's de- grees from colleges or univer- sities may wonder why they are called "bachelor's degrees." Well, they are also referred to as "baccalaureate" from mod- ern Latin "baccalaureates," and are usually earned via under- graduate courses of studies that require years of study. The term "bachelor," in the 14th century, referred to a young squire in training; and by the end of the 13th century it was also used by junior members of guilds or universities. I did not know this because I never got one of those pesky di- plomas to hang on my wall, and have suffered the consequences of the deprived ever since. ••• A man with a large German shepherd walked into an op- tometrist's waiting room. The receptionist growled, "You can't bring a dog in here." The man protested that he had vi- sion problems and it was a See- ing Eye dog. The nurse relented. Later, on his way, out he met a woman coming in with a Chi- huahua. He warned her that dogs were not allowed in the of- fice. However, he told her to tell the receptionist that she was going blind and that the dog was her Seeing Eye dog. The re- ceptionist exploded with, "Are you kidding me? That's a Chi- huahua." The woman replied, "Holy mackerel. You mean they gave me a Chihuahua?" Robert Minch is a lifelong res- ident of Red Bluff, former col- umnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine and author of the "The Knocking Pen." He can be reached at rminchandmur- ray@hotmail.com. I say Urge supervisors to reconsider library location Due to a stubborn high-pressure system emanating from the bases of both the left and the right, the immediate political forecast is for a long hard freeze to descend upon Washington DC and stay there. Sounding off A look at what readers are saying in comments on our website and on social media. My deepest condolences...what a wonderful woman !! Ali Jeanne Garrett: On a column compiling messages about the passing of Debbie Moore I remember Deputy Dustin Maria. He was really rude when he interrogated me when I ran for County Supervisor at the Deputy Sheriffs' Association Candidate Attack. ...apparently he has a very ambitious political agenda with his recent witch hunt against Chief of Police Paul Nanifito for proof. Pat Johnston: Regarding Deputy Sheriffs' Association support of Red Bluff officers Robert Minch Will Durst President Obama's EPA is executing a massive power play, attempting to coerce states into adopting draconian policies that would steeply in- crease the price of energy. States that don't cooperate are being told they'll have their federal highway funding cut off. That's unconstitutional. Obama's cap-and-trade en- ergy tax scheme spectacularly crashed and burned in his first term, and was a significant factor in the 2010 "shellack- ing" he received at the ballot box. The day after that elec- tion, he famously said that the federal legislation "was just one way of skinning the cat; it was not the only way." It turns out the threat to yank highway funding is his all-too-clever way to skin those of us cats who enjoy affordable electricity. We know the threat is un- constitutional because there was an almost identical strat- egy used to coerce states em- bedded in that other deba- cle from Obama's first term: Obamacare. The highway funds threat will therefore be struck down for the same reason the Medic- aid threat was, and states can confidently ignore it. The EPA is going to extraor- dinary lengths to coerce states to adopt policies that Congress and the American people have already rejected. The proper state response is to flatly re- fuse to cooperate. Phil Kerpen can be reached at phil@americancommitment.org Phil Kerpen The EPA's unconstitutional highway funding threat OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, January 30, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4