Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/481492
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 Ihaveenjoyedthreepri- vate and personal conversa- tions with Governor Jerry Brown since 1977. I have al- ways liked him because he is smart, but mostly because I have always considered him "unpredictable." I tried to be that same way (except for the I.Q. part) between 1976 and 1994 when I was one of the 80 members of the Cal- ifornia Assembly. My friend Brian Dahle now has that job. As I arrived in 1976 and began working in the Califor- nia Assembly, I was only 37 and nervous to be in what I thought was a job well over my head. Actually, it turned out differently. As it hap- pened, I was not in over my head and I grew to love it. The first couple of years I was actually too nervous to even speak on the Assembly floor, thinking I was not ar- ticulate or smart enough to do so. At that time, California's 1977 drought was already un- derway. After about a year or so serving as an Assembly- man, I got a call from Gover- nor Brown's office saying he wanted to see me. I asked; "When does he want to see me?" They replied; "Would now be convenient, Mr. Sta- tham?" I said yes, I would come right down to his office. When I arrived at the Gover- nor's first floor office his re- ceptionist had already been alerted and told me to have a seat. Someone came out in a few minutes and guided me to his office. The Governor was wait- ing there for me with Ronald Robie, his director of Water Resources. He immediately started to ask me for my vote for Senate bill 346, a proposal to build an enormous ditch called the Peripheral Ca- nal — some called it the Dev- il's Ditch then. The enormous ditch was proposed to move water more easily around the Delta area inland from San Francisco. The Governor said it would accomplish two pur- poses. It would stop so much water from being wasted when it simply goes out to the Pacific Ocean. And, he said a new canal would better in- sure the water supplies of Cal- ifornia's central valley and Los Angeles for a long, long time to come. What I found most inter- esting was Brown's lobbying modus operandi to get my vote. It was at first a very for- mal setting in his office and I was easily outnumbered by both the Governor and Ro- bie. I told the Governor I was still working on some amend- ments to the bill that would make certain in time of scarce water, where the wa- ter originates is who gets the first use (right) to it. That is called the County of Origin Water Rights. After I left him and went through another week of con- sternation, the Governor's of- fice called me for yet another meeting. This time, Governor Brown himself came down a hallway to greet me and ac- tually touched my shoulder, as a good friend might. He had gone from what I call "formal to friendship," which in politics can beat any- thing. To make a long story short, I did finally accom- plish getting three amend- ments to that water bill. As I predicted, I also had to de- fend myself before the Red Bluff Rotary Club a couple of weeks later. It was not easy, yet the Great North State to- day still has that County of Origin protection for its wa- ter. May that protection last forever. Please give me your opin- ion about the job you think Jerry Brown is doing now in his fourth and final term as Governor. Thank you. StanStathamserved1976- 1994 in the California Assembly and was a television news anchor at KHSL-TV in Chico 1965- 1975. He is president of the California Broadcasters Association and can be reached at StanStatham@ gmail.com. My take How Jerry Brown is doing as Governor The Governor was waiting there for me with Ronald Robie, his director of Water Resources. He immediately started to ask me for my vote for Senate bill 346, a proposal to build an enormous ditch called the Peripheral Canal — some called it the Devil's Ditch then. Somethoughts on the drought Editor: Here are some thoughts on the drought. Actually, we don't have a drought in northern California. This is a dry period in a nor- mally dry area. With the moun- tains we get a snow pack that usually lasts most of the sum- mer, but in any case it feeds the streams and rivers all year long. I don't think there ever was a drought in Northern Califor- nia that was so severe that the Sacramento River ran dry. Or any of our other rivers either for that matter. Our problem is the people in Sacramento and points south say we are in a drought because they are in a drought. To me, that is their problem, but they want us to share the pain. Ac- tually if they had their way they would build a pipeline at the base of Shasta Dam and run the entire Sacramento River south to Los Angeles county. True story. The plain fact is this, the normal rainfall in the state of California is not capable of providing for the needs of the population of California. We just have too many people. So, what can we do about this sit- uation? The current solution is to ra- tion the water we have. Obvi- ously that is a first step, but it will not alleviate the problem. We could build some more reservoirs, but in fact we can't save enough water to solve the problem either. What we really need is a pro- gram to start building desalina- tion plants all along our Pacific Ocean coastline and don't just build enough to alleviate our current problem but enough new plants to supply all of Cali- fornia's water needs into the far distant future. Then we need to recycle our wastewater and use that for manufacturing and agricultural needs and to fill our swimming pools. What I'm saying here is that we need to not only not take any water from our aquifers but actually start to replace what we have already emptied out of them. — Fred Boest, Red Bluff Thoughts on the death penalty Editor: The wimpy do gooders cry that the death penalty is unjust, but they don't hesitate to con- demn the victims and families of atrocious acts to supporting these lousy people in prison. Thou shall not kill in their book is not in my backyard, as long as I can't see it. Their attitude toward send- ing the miliary to kill in for- eign lands is not considered un- just in their opinion. Talk about double standard. As for me I have no doubt God and I are going to have a serious discussion about the subject, if condemned to hell is my sentence I can live with that, because I have been ac- cused of judge and executioner of many Germans. Believe me under the same circumstances I would repeat unequivocally the reaction to atrocities I witnessed in Eu- rope. Especially to those chil- dren orphaned and left as trash to fend for themselves. I have seen hell, I know first- hand what it looks like, I visited it three times already so I have a far different attitude when it comes to the death penalty. My deepest regret would be sepera- tion from those I love most. — Thad Blanchard Sr., Gerber Poor get poorer without education Editor: Although there is significant growth in US jobs these past four years, they are often low pay, low skill or high pay, high skill, with too few middle class jobs. Hence, the poor get poorer without continuing education after high school or college. In- novation has long resulted in an elimination of lower pay jobs and an expansion of jobs re- quiring more technical or voca- tional skills. The huge growth in welfare entitlements has removed many lower pay jobs from the selec- tion list. It is easier to accept Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits, food stamps, extended unemployment benefits and then disability under the re- laxed Social Security disability programs, than to take the edu- cation courses needed for mid- dle class vocational skills. Legal citizens need to be aware that the growth of inno- vation and information technol- ogy is not going to slow down. The path to prevent getting poorer and poorer is lifelong continuing education to develop and maintain skills needed to hold long career jobs. Moving to where there are jobs to match marketable skills has long been a part of the US economy. The capture of low skill jobs by illegal border crossers is not going to slow down, as evi- denced by the recent presiden- tial anti-Congress move to al- low those illegally here to le- gally hold jobs, Social Security cards and driver's licenses. Ed- ucation is the avenue to capture the available higher skill jobs. — Joseph Neff, Corning What we put in our bodies Editor: Doodles says most peo- ple don't know the quality and quantity of the chemicals they ingest or are exposed to in their environment. Food, medicine, illegal drugs, insecticides, pesticides and other chemicals have short and long term effects, especially un- known quality may be detri- mental to their health and well being. How many try daily to under- stand more and practice what they are learning? What will help improve the situation with obesity, being over medicated and sleeplessness? Maybe focus on nutrition and sleep — 7-9 hours in 24 hours. — Steve Kelsey, Corning Your opinions Cartoonist's take One of my college roommates had a propensity for dismissing a rule (or someone else's inter- ests) with "Pish posh. That's for lesser mortals." That came to mind when I read in "U.S. News & World Re- port" about a study conducted by Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Researchers con- cluded that children whose par- ents overvalued them were more likely to develop narcissistic traits such as superiority and entitlement. Wow. Imagine that. And the odds-makers were all bet- ting that children whose par- ents overvalued them were more likely to crumble and float away in the Arctic Ocean. The study caused quite a stir, eliciting responses such as "Nar- cissism is un-American. Peo- ple aren't supposed to be full of themselves — they're supposed to be full of empty calories. Su- per-size that?" Others have remarked that it's not the responsibility of parents to make their offspring feel en- titled. It's the job of community activists. ("You say those mean old cops slapped ice-cold hand- cuffs on you after you allegedly got caught red-handed butcher- ing that family of five? I feel a protest coming on.") More controversy: saying that a narcissist thinks he's God's gift to mankind is no longer al- lowed. For the sake of strict sep- aration of church and state, a narcissist must be derided as "he thinks he is the culmination of a long and mutation-fraught evolutionary process." What are some of the warn- ing signs that you are creating a future adult who will feel he is above the law, lack empathy and react violently if he doesn't re- ceive the "proper" recognition? The kid feels eminently quali- fied to be the first female pres- ident — even though he is nei- ther female nor transgendered! Instead of being stalked by fur- tive strangers wearing a trench- coat, he is stalked by Oompa Loompas. What drives parents to over- value/overpraise their children? Perhaps it's competitiveness with their peers, or a misguided attempt to give the next gener- ation a better chance in life. Or maybe they've always wanted a way to create monsters with- out all the angry-villagers-with- torches-and-pitchforks stuff. Parents seem oblivious to the unintended consequences of building their kids' confidence too high. It could lead to hor- rific exchanges such as "Mom, I got bored sorting paper clips at that VP job you got me. Here, let me perform a triple bypass on you." Some people think it's worth having insufferable narcis- sists around just for the chance to see them get their comeup- pance. You know, like the elit- ists who think they should be running our lives for us. "My breeding and intelligence make me nearly superhuman — but can someone show me how to operate this plumber's helper? Turns out my stuff really does stink." I have this tongue-in-cheek routine with son Gideon in which I exclaim, "Remarkable boy" when he performs some ri- diculously simple task; but I also teach him things about him- self and his fellow human beings that keep him well grounded. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Instead of be- ing locked into one style of par- enting, reevaluate on a regu- lar basis. Keep refining your praise, encouragement and dis- cipline until your child has a shot at being a well-rounded in- dividual. Yep, keep balancing self-es- teem and humility until you get them juuuust right. Of course then the copyright cops repre- senting the Brothers Grimm will show up with a lawsuit. "Admit it. Robin Thicke helped you rip off Goldilocks. We're entitled to half the settlement." Danny Tyree welcomes email responses at tyreetyrades@aol. com and visits to his Facebook fan page Tyree's Tyrades. Danny Tyree Entitled, narcissistic children: Can they be stopped? Stan Statham OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, March 19, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6