Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/477727
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 Ihopeyounevergettired of voting because Californians do more of that than any other state. Soon it will probably be time for us to vote again, this time on an en- vironmental is- sue. It's whether or not you want those plastic bags available to you as you go through the gro- cery line at your super market. I guess the actor who told Dustin Hoffmann in his movie "The Graduate" that plastics was the future might not have been totally right if we elimi- nate these bags. Three-time Governor Jerry Brown approved a legislative bill last September to elim- inate the use of plastic bags starting in July 2015. The idea was initially co-authored by State Senate President Kevin de Leon, State Senator Alex Padilla and State Senator Ri- cardo Lara. Their original pro- posal also would allow grocers to then charge 10 cents for that recycled paper bag they will give you instead. It probably does not sur- prise you that the people who manufacture those plastic bags are on record saying the elimination of them in our state really has nothing to do with helping our environment. The three authors of the pro- posal strongly disagree with that, and so do I. I actually have a good deal of personal experience find- ing those disposed plastic bags and placing them into the gar- bage myself. I have spent a considerable amount of my spare time during the last 40 years running across them in my 20 acres of forest land 30 miles east of Redding. The property consists mostly of cedar and pine trees. As I cut, chop, stack brush for burning season and split cedar rails for fencing, it has become a regular occurrence for me to find those little plastic buggers all over my place. I know from this personal experience that these are very popular bags. As I enjoy our parks and forests, I am one of those people who will pick up debris along my way. Executive Director Lee Cal- iff of American Progressive Bag Alliance said the original proposal was just in order to "line the pockets of big grocers and their labor union support- ers." Most people on his side are hoping we voters will re- ject the plastic bag ban when it appears on our November 2016 ballot. Conservationists want the opposite. One of their impact reports even states that plas- tic bags could take as long as 1,000 years to biodegrade. I am not sure of that time frame, but I know they won't return to dust in my lifetime. I say let's give Mother Na- ture a hand and get rid of them as soon as we can. Tragically and unfortunately, most public policy decided in our golden state means an im- mense amount of campaign money is spent on both sides of an issue. The campaign with the bigger bank account often has the advantage in Califor- nia's ballot fights. The plastic bag industry al- ready spent a whopping $3.2 million fighting the ban of their bags. Imagine how much that kind of money could im- prove our environment if they properly spent it there. Even now the California Fair Political Practices Com- mission is considering raising the threshold for campaign contributions reporting. I don't see any way that will improve full disclosure. In any event, please let me know at this time whether you want paper or plastic. I hope it will be our decision as voters anyway. Please give me your opinion. This topic seems to be more fun than most of our subjects. 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 Wouldyou like paper or plastic? As I cut, chop, stack brush for burning season and split cedar rails for fencing, it has become a regular occurrence for me to find those little plastic buggers all over my place. Don'tmesswith Mother Nature Editor: Water contamination, land erosion and disease — some- thing related to elephants I'm sure —would be inciden- tal. Any of those three are not incidental to the local envi- ronment. We can't mess with Mother Nature. Leave the elephants in the care of the native home of these animals. — Sam Collins, Red Bluff Government owns big business Editor: Many are up in arms con- cerning the affordable care act or Obamacare and his stance on immigration. Instead of getting all ex- cited and upset because some in power want to treat other human beings like human beings instead of diseased maggots, I would like to sug- gest an issue far more worthy of their anger. Did you know about our government's investment pool? That doesn't seem so shocking until you discover they — county, state and fed- eral government — own the majority of stocks in all ma- jor corporations in this coun- try. The major bailouts of car manufactories and banks were not for the public's ben- efit but to protect our gov- ernment's investments. I wonder if that is why Monsanto is allowed to run the FDA. Washington lobby- ists don't hand out bribes, they distribute dividends. Now what is the definition of Fascism? And how many wars have we fought to protect the as- sets of Standard Oil? Far too many in my opinion. The assets of we the people have kept General Motors, JP Morgan and Bank of Amer- ica afloat but how have they expressed their gratitude to- wards us? When did we the people authorize our representatives to invest any of our money? And is that the real reason the not so Supreme Court de- cided corporations were peo- ple with all the rights and privileges of any human be- ing? If you want a legitimate reason to get your blood boil- ing, do a Youtube search for Walter Burien. — Orval Strong, Gerber Phone scammers foiled Editor: Someone just tried to phone scam me and I wanted to share my story with you. I received a phone call the other night from a number I did not know, but I answered it anyway. The lady on the other end said Ms. Nelson I'm calling to let you know your com- puter has been hacked by nu- merous hackers. They've put viruses throughout all your e-mails. We need to hurry and fix this. I'll tell you the truth, I know nothing about comput- ers. My reply to her was Oh my God my whole computer is going to be destroyed? Yes, she said, if we don't get it fixed right now. I came back at her sound- ing real upset and said dang my computer is connected in some way to my law firm's monitoring computer system in San Francisco if my com- puter goes down then ail of theirs will go down to won't they? What can we do to fix this? She replied, you'll have to pay first. I said OK let me get a pen and paper so I can get your name and address so I can mail it to you. She told me I had to have it electroni- cally sent to an account. I told her how the hell do I do that I don't even know how to use my computer? She told me to go to my bank and I stopped her and said I can't do that my kids keep my check book. I need to send you cash give me your address so I can and my attorneys will want to send a thank you card for saving their computers too. She said OK got a pen? Then I heard a male's voice say "hang up she's scamming you," click. Hopefully they'll lose my number. — Kathy Nelson, Red Bluff County should look into real pollution issue Editor: I would like to address the Tehama County Air Pollution Control District about their role in the air quality here in Tehama County. I know part of their func- tion is to test for smoke, dust, organic pollutants, etc., targeting farmers and land- owners. I wonder if they test the air and soil for barium, nano aluminum-coated fiberglass known as CHAFF and other chemicals included in the persistent contrails being sprayed on us almost on a daily basis. This last weekend was par- ticularly bad, you couldn't even see the mountains. It seems the Air Pollution Control District is only here to control the citizens. Why don't they go after the bigger problem, test what's exactly being sprayed over our skies every day. Maybe then they would be worth the tax money being spent on their bureaucratic agency. — Lisa Miller, Red Bluff Your opinions Cartoonist's take Nationwide, people involved with museums, archives, nature preserves, homeless shelters, battered women shelters and similar endeavors are nervous. Currently, all states exempt nonprofit organizations from property tax, either through laws or through the state consti- tution; but that could change in a hurry. Maine Gov. Paul LePage's pro- posed budget would lower the income tax, increase the sales tax and require cities to levy a property tax on nonprofits with property in excess of $500,000. LePage pointed out that tax- exempt nonprofits are the bene- ficiaries of public services such as police officers, fire fighters and snow removal. He may have been a tad too blunt when he referred to nonprofits as "tak- ers, not givers." Luckily someone shut off his microphone before he could add "You didn't build that" and launch into a litany of "Yo momma" jokes. In the case of McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), Chief Justice John Marshall declared, "The power to tax involves the power to destroy." LePage's plans cut some slack here and there, but once budget makers get a taste of new revenues, things can only get worse. LePage's plans for de- stroying nonprofits just a little bit are apparently patterned af- ter that well-known Maine non- profit The Little Bit Pregnant Crisis Center. Yes, in some cities and states nonprofits do voluntarily make payments in lieu of taxes; but I cringe to see them guilted into such actions. ("So, would it kill you to call up the commissioner of revenue every now and then, Mr.Big Shot?") Nonprofits probably need to do a better job of promoting the intangible "quality of life" ben- efits of their services. One offi- cial made the rather unconvinc- ing argument that taxation of nonprofits could cause cities to lose their "vibrancy." ("Oh, man! Just when I got my groove back and my mojo working, I lose my vibrancy! I'm going to have to start tying the darned thing on. Y'know, right after Marie Antoi- nette lost her vibrancy, she lost her head.") Taxation of nonprofits could have serious unintended con- sequences, including cutbacks (shorter hours, higher fees, fewer meals/whatever provided) or nonprofits abandoning some states entirely. To be sure, some nonprofits have a habit of auto- matic whining. ("Postage went up; we'll have to kick clients out in the street. Utilities went up; we'll have to kick clients out in the street. Yak milk went up; we'll have to write off new Guc- cis for the assistant director to use in kicking clients out in the street...") Yes, tax-exempt thrift shops and charity hospitals have an ad- vantage over for-profit second- hand stores and for-profit hospi- tals, but let's not get carried away with denunciations of tax exemp- tions. ("Earn your merit badges some other way! The Boy Scouts are messing with the stock price of our Uber spinoff that helps lit- tle old ladies across the street!") I was a Cub Scout. My father was a Kiwanis Club member. The Rotary Club gave me my only scholarship. My son benefitted from Red Cross swimming les- sons. So I have an interest in see- ing that nonprofits get treated fairly and that we don't jump headfirst into uncharted waters. For instance, supporters of nonprofits point out that munic- ipalities and nonprofits have al- ways enjoyed a good relation- ship and that tax changes could create an ugly adversarial situa- tion. Sadly, some money-hungry municipal officials are not so up- set over the prospects of conflict. ("Wow! Mixed martial arts cage fighting! Councilmen versus soup kitchen workers! Ka-ching!") Danny Tyree welcomes email re- sponses at tyreetyrades@aol. com and visits to his Facebook fan page Tyree's Tyrades. Danny Tyree Should nonprofit organizations be taxed? Stan Statham OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, March 12, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6