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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 Thiscolumnwriting duty is a bit harder than I realized. Not only does it take time away from the golf course, where I ex- cel, it also requires that I think clearly and present my thoughts in a gram- matically-correct fashion. This is an area in which I don't necessarily excel. But I digress. A primary purpose of this column is to pique your interest in the goings-on at the historic State Theatre; and I believe I am ca- pable of doing that, spelling and grammar aside. Before I pique your interest in the theater, I would be re- miss if I didn't acknowledge the marginally kind remarks of the undisputed patriarch of local column writers, Rob- ert Minch. I am pretty sure he has been doing this stuff since before I was born, or for that matter before either Buck Rog- ers or Flash Gordon were born. If Robert says I was watching Flash Gordon rather than Buck Rogers at the State Theatre in 1957, he may well be correct. On a positive note, to have Robert mention me in the same sentence as one of my personal all-time favorite cit- izens of this community, the highly respected, extremely in- telligent and extraordinarily classy Sydney Lindauer, is humbling indeed. As for the bigwigs at the pa- per requiring Robert to re- place his favorite photo of him with his dog with a photo of himself alone, I would sug- gest he quietly accept this edict and move on. If they re- ally had wanted to increase readership they could have re- quired that he replace said photo with one of the dog. The State Theatre served as the entertainment hub of the community from 1946 to about 1980, when some corpo- rate genius came up with the idea to maximize profits by putting cookie cutter multi- screen theaters in every shop- ping center in America, in- cluding the towns of Redding and Anderson, only a stone's throw from Red Bluff. In an attempt to keep up with the times, in 1980 absentee own- ership subdivided the 900-seat State Theatre into two separate and distinct theaters by crudely erecting a wall between the lower and balcony sections. Fail- ing to leave bad enough alone, they unfortunately subdivided the lower section again in 1992, resulting in significant damage to the magnificent ceiling mu- rals, damage that can still be seen today. Because the State Theatre was never designed to serve as a multi-screen movie house, it was only a matter of time be- fore absentee ownership threw in the towel. The State Theatre went dark in 1993. For the next five years the theater sat vacant, occupied perhaps only by an occasional ghost of a movie hero from a bygone era. Even now someone or something can be heard walking up and down the balcony stairs when one is alone on a dark and dreary evening at the State Theatre. Fortunately, in 1998 the State Theatre was rescued from the scrap heap when Ben Sale and Dr. Ron Clark, pur- chased it. While these gentle- men undoubtedly know what they are doing when it comes to hauling rock and pulling teeth, I am not so sure buy- ing a drafty old outdated 25,000-square-foot movie house made much sense from a business standpoint. But then again, these are the same two gentlemen who put so much of their time, energy and personal finances into plan- ning and building the wonder- ful community and senior cen- ter that we all frequent on a regular basis. And then again, these are the same two gentle- men who for years quietly or- ganized and funded a gift-giv- ing program, ensuring that ev- ery child in the county enjoyed a very Merry Christmas. And again, these are the same two gentlemen who continue to an- swer the call every time we at the State Theatre ask them to donate equipment and man- power for whatever we need. Ben Sale and Ron Clark, you are a couple of exceptional people, and the State Theatre is proud to call you friends. Next week I will discuss the state of the State in the new mil- lennium under the leadership of the venerated Venita Philbrick. You ain't heard nothing un- til you have heard a big band play the historic State Theatre. On Tuesday, March 17, the iconic Count Basie Orchestra will grace the Haleakala stage; their fan- tastic sound is not to be missed. The first 50 patrons through the door that evening will receive a free box of popcorn, courtesy of the State Theatre and Harry and Betty Dudley. BillCorneliusisalifelongresi- dent of Red Bluff, a retired Chief Probation Officer, a champion of the State Theatre and an excep- tional athlete. He can be reached at bill.cornelius@sbcglobal.net. William Tells Grammatically correct history of the State Cartoonist's take In recent weeks, the Federal Reserve and its apologists in Congress and the media have launched numerous attacks on the Audit the Fed legislation. These attacks amount to noth- ing more than distortions about the effects and intent of the au- dit bill. Fed apologists continue to claim that the Audit the Fed bill will somehow limit the Federal Reserve's independence. Yet nei- ther Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen nor any other opponent of the audit bill has ever been able to identify any provision of the bill giving Congress power to dictate monetary policy. The only way this argument makes sense is if the simple act of in- creasing transparency somehow infringes on the Fed's indepen- dence. This argument is also flawed since the Federal Reserve has never been independent from political pressure. As econo- mists Daniel Smith and Peter Boettke put it in their paper "An Episodic History of Modern Fed Independence," the Federal Re- serve "regularly accommodates debt, succumbs to political pres- sures, and follows bureaucratic tendencies, compromising the Fed's operational independence." The most infamous example of a Federal Reserve chair bow- ing to political pressure is the way Federal Reserve Chairman Arthur Burns tailored monetary policy to accommodate Presi- dent Richard Nixon's demands for low interest rates. Nixon and Burns were even recorded mock- ing the idea of Federal Reserve independence. Nixon is not the only presi- dent to pressure a Federal Re- serve chair to tailor monetary policy to the president's political needs. In the fifties, President Dwight Eisenhower pressured Fed Chairman William Martin to either resign or increase the money supply. Martin eventually gave in to Ike's wishes for cheap money. During the nineties, Alan Greenspan was accused by many political and financial ex- perts — including then-Federal Reserve Board Member Alan Blinder — of tailoring Federal Reserve policies to help Presi- dent Bill Clinton. Some Federal Reserve apol- ogists make the contradictory claim that the audit bill is not only dangerous, but it is also un- necessary since the Fed is al- ready audited. It is true that the Federal Reserve is subject to some limited financial au- dits, but these audits only re- veal the amount of assets on the Fed's balance sheets. The Au- dit the Fed bill will reveal what was purchased, when it was ac- quired, and why it was acquired. Perhaps the real reason the Federal Reserve fears a full au- dit can be revealed by examin- ing the one-time audit of the Federal Reserve's response to the financial crisis authorized by the Dodd-Frank law. This au- dit found that between 2007 and 2010 the Federal Reserve com- mitted over $16 trillion — more than four times the annual bud- get of the United States — to for- eign central banks and politi- cally influential private compa- nies. Can anyone doubt a full audit would show similar in- stances of the Fed acting to ben- efit the political and economic elites? Some fed apologists are claim- ing that the audit bill is part of a conspiracy to end the Fed. As the author of a book called End the Fed, I find it laughable to suggest that I, and other au- dit supporters, are hiding our true agenda. Besides, how could an audit advance efforts to end the Fed unless the audit would prove that the American people would be better off without the Fed? And don't the people have a right to know if they are be- ing harmed by the current mon- etary system? For over a century, the Fed- eral Reserve has operated in se- crecy, to the benefit of the elites and the detriment of the people. It is time to finally bring trans- parency to monetary policy by auditing the Federal Reserve. Ron Paul is a former Congress- man and Presidential can- didate. He can be reached at VoicesofLiberty.com. Ron Paul Don't be fooled by the fed's anti-audit propaganda Another view "All right, tubby, if you aren't going to stop sitting in front of the TV, eating fatty and sugary treats, maybe the government should force you to change your ways." "Force me to change my ways? But I know what foods do and don't make me tubby. I choose to live this way." "Yeah, and that's why the federal committee responsible for nutrition guidelines, the Di- etary Guidelines Advisory Com- mittee (DGAC), says it needs to step in." "What do you mean, 'step in'?" "DGAC just released a far- reaching 571-page report that gives proposed recommenda- tions to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Ag- riculture that explain how to 'transform the food system' and, hopefully, make Ameri- cans less fat!" "What kind of proposed rec- ommendations?" "Well, according to The As- sociated Press, they are call- ing for interventions by trained weight-management interven- tionists in health-care settings, community locations and work- sites." "Interventions?" "Sure, DGAC also called for interventions into public policy that would limit access to high- calorie grub in government- owned buildings, limit the abil- ity of fatty-foods companies to advertise their goods, and tax salty and fatty treats." "They want to tax my junk food?" "Sure. They are thinking they can use tax revenues, based on foods that aren't so good for us, to fund healthy-eating educa- tion and obesity-preven- tion programs." "Who doesn't know that cakes and sweets and other delicious treats are high in calories or that vegetables are good for us? We choose one over the other aware of the consequences." "But you're not getting with the program, are you? DGAC is not just coming after your treats, either. They're coming after you and the way you be- have." "It's none of the government's business how I behave!" "But that's not what the gov- ernment thinks. You would ad- mit that you spend way too much time sitting in front of the tube. That is bad for your health. And, when you consider how much health care is cost- ing the government these days, your behavior is now the gov- ernment's concern." "So what does DGAC want to do to prevent sedentary behav- ior?" "It recommends coaching and counseling sessions and peer-based support programs. It also likes the idea of us- ing electronic monitoring de- vices to limit screen time. Ac- cording to AP, that idea 'came from The Community Guide, a group affiliated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which re- viewed studies that used an electronic monitoring device to limit screen time of teen- agers.'" "They want to use high- tech surveillance to stop tubby American people from watch- ing television?" "You have to admit, you are doing a poor job on your own. Their intentions are good. They want you to stop eating so much meat, too, in favor of plant-based foods, as it is good for you and the environment!" "What the heck does the en- vironment have to do with my dinner choices?" "Well, DGAC says it is also concerned about the effects of your diet on climate change. It recommends a Mediterra- nean-style diet with lots of vegetables, since that pro- duces fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the beef-loving American diet." "If God didn't want us to eat beef, why did he make it taste so good?" "Look, DGAC's conclusion is that personal health must be- come a human right. If you aren't on board, you still have a chance to provide public com- ment before final dietary guide- lines are released later this year." "But doesn't every human already have the right to eat healthy? Nobody is forcing po- tato chips down our throats. I just get awfully uneasy when the government uses good in- tentions to force specific be- haviors on citizens. What are they going to forbid next, cof- fee?" "DGAC says it's OK to drink three to five cups of coffee a day — but not more." "Why not?" "I think it's because more coffee makes people crabby and more likely to vote for Repub- licans." Tom Purcell, author of "Misad- ventures of a 1970s Childhood" and "Comical Sense: A Lone Humorist Takes on a World Gone Nutty!" is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor col- umnist. Send comments to Tom at Purcell@caglecartoons.com. Food intervention, government style Tom Purcell Bill Cornelius OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, March 11, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6