Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/484996
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 Being marginally well rounded, my world extends beyond the confines of the State Theatre. Every year at about this time my attention turns to Little League baseball. Iwasraisedina single-parent house- hold by the best mother one could ever imagine. While I would not trade her for any two parents who ever lived, I must admit that as a child I was always envious of friends who lived in what ap- peared to be Leave it to Beaver households. Fortunately, when I was nine years old in 1954, Little League baseball came to Red Bluff. From that time forward, I had more "fathers" than I knew what to do with. My first little league coaches were Hale Miles and Hal Em- ery. One or both of them taught me that I was actu- ally left-handed. The follow- ing season I was promoted to the major league Cardinal team and Bob Perry and Mel Silva coached me. I especially looked up to Mel Silva because not only was Mel Silva a great athlete, he was just plain cool. In high school I played base- ball for Coach Bill Jacobs. Jake was an All-American quarter- back in college, and was tough as nails. He seldom spoke just to hear himself talk, a lesson I admit I failed to learn. I also played basketball. In the seventh grade Lou Bo- setti taught me how to shoot a set shot. I will always remem- ber my high school coach Ber- nie Gleason assuring this 5'3" 105-pound sophomore that because I had large hands I would likely someday be a nor- mal sized human being. During my Babe Ruth and American Legion years, one of my favorites, a bear of a man by the name of Wilber Hin- kle, coached me. In a way I be- came a member of the Hinkle family during that 6- to 8-year period and I shall always be grateful to Wilber and Jimmie and Wayne, and Butch and Linda for taking me in as one of their own. Great people all. As a young adult I played softball for the banty rooster of all coaches, Ralph Hobbs. Ralph taught me that while a person might present a cocky, combative attitude on the outside, you should still find a place in your heart for friends and family. Having hung up my cleats a few decades ago, I still find myself adopt- ing coaches as role mod- els. I am particularly proud to count Doug Sale among my personal heroes; he is the dean of all coaches in this community. Though I never had the pleasure of play- ing on his teams, I have spent many hours listening to Coach Sale talk about sport, about respect and discipline, about family values, and about soci- ety as a whole. If only it were possible to go home again. So, as I approach my 70th birthday I would like to be- latedly say thank you to Hale Miles, Hal Emery, Bob Perry, and Mel Silva. Thank you coaches Jacobs, Bosetti and Gleason. Thank you Wilbur Hinkle and Ralph Hobbs. And thank you Doug Sale for be- ing Doug Sale. Thank you all. Thank you not only for teach- ing me that I am actually left- handed, but for teaching me so much more. Many readers of this col- umn likely know a good friend of mine by the name of Tom Amundson. While not the sharpest tool in the shed, Tom is for the most part a decent man who does what he can to give back to his community. Tom, president-elect of the Ro- tary Club of Red Bluff, is also a good friend of the thoroughly entertaining High Street Band, based in Nampa, Idaho. Through Tom's connection, the Rotary Club of Red Bluff is bringing this fun group to the State Theatre on Friday, March 27. High Street concerts fea- ture comedy, audience re- quests, dancing, crowd inter- action and music from the '40s through current times. Check them out on YouTube, and remember net proceeds from this concert will support Rotary projects in this com- munity. Tickets are available at the Tehama Country Visi- tor Center, Amundson Phys- ical Therapy, online at www. statetheatreredbluff.com, as well as at the theater box of- fice on the evening of the per- formance. BillCorneliusisalifelong resident of Red Bluff, a retired Chief Probation Officer, a champion of the State Theatre and an exceptional athlete. He can be reached at bill. cornelius@sbcglobal.net. William Tells Many'fathers' shaped my youth Thank you not only for teaching me that I am actually left- handed, but for teaching me so much more. Cartoonist's take Twelve years ago last week, the U.S. launched its invasion of Iraq, an act the late General William Odom predicted would turn out to be "the greatest stra- tegic disaster in U.S. history." Before the attack I was ac- cused of exaggerating the po- tential costs of the war when I warned that it could end up costing as much as $100 billion. One trillion dollars later, with not one but two "mission accom- plished" moments, we are still not done intervening in Iraq. President Obama last year or- dered the U.S. military back into Iraq for the third time. It seems the Iraq "surge" and the Sunni "Awakening," for which General David Petraeus had been given much credit, were not as suc- cessful as was claimed at the time. From the sectarian vio- lence unleashed by the U.S. in- vasion of Iraq emerged al-Qaeda and then its more radical spin- off, ISIS. So Obama sent the U.S. military back. We recently gained even more evidence that the initial war was sold on lies and fabrications. The CIA finally declassified much of its 2002 National Intel- ligence Estimate on Iraq, which was the chief document used by the Bush Administration to jus- tify the U.S. attack. According to the Estimate, the U.S. Intel- ligence Community concluded, "[W]e are unable to determine whether [biological weapons] agent research has resumed... the information we have on Iraqi nuclear personnel does not appear consistent with a coher- ent effort to reconstitute a nu- clear weapons program." But even as the U.S. Intelli- gence Community had reached this conclusion, President Bush told the American people that Iraq, "possesses and produces chemical and biological weap- ons" and "the evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program." Likewise, Defense Secre- tary Donald Rumsfeld's "bul- letproof" evidence that Sad- dam Hussein had ties with al- Qaeda was contradicted by the National Intelligence Estimate, which concluded that there was no operational tie between Hus- sein's government and al-Qa- eda. Even National Security Ad- visor Condolezza Rice's famous statement that the aluminum tubes that Iraq was purchasing "are only really suited for nu- clear weapons programs, centri- fuge programs," and "we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud," was based on evidence she must have known at the time was false. Accord- ing to the NIE, the Energy De- partment had already concluded that the tubes were "consistent with applications to rocket mo- tors" and "this is the more likely end use." It is hard to believe that in a society supposedly governed by the rule of law, US leaders can escape any penalty for us- ing blatantly false information — that they had to know at the time was false — to launch a pre-emptive attack on a coun- try that posed no threat to the United States. The fact that they got away with it simply makes it all the easier for Washington's interventionists to try the same tricks again. They already did with Libya and Syria. It is likely they are also doing the same with claims of a Russian "inva- sion" of Ukraine. Last week President Obama correctly blamed the current chaos in Iraq on the Bush Ad- ministration's decision to in- vade. He said, "... ISIL is a direct outgrowth of al Qaeda in Iraq that grew out of our invasion. Which is an example of unin- tended consequences. Which is why we should generally aim be- fore we shoot." However, if the U.S. interven- tion in Iraq created the "unin- tended consequences" of ISIS and al-Qaeda, how is it that more US intervention can solve the problem? A war based on lies cannot be fixed by launching another war. We must just march home. And stay home. Ron Paul is a former Congressman and Presidential candidate. He can be reached at VoicesofLiberty.com. Ron Paul A er 12-year Iraq mistake, time to march home Another view The old grocery store in my neighbourhood is closing next month. Boy, does that make me sad. The family-owned store has been a sta- ple in our community for more than 50 years. Its simple, spartan inte- rior is a snapshot into the past, the way grocery stores were in the '60s and '70s — like the Del Farm grocery store I shopped at with my father every Thurs- day night. Unlike today's mega-grocer- ies, there were no lobster tanks or gourmet food displays. The daily specials were written in black marker on torn sheets of white wax paper and taped to the front windows. The tile floors were worn through to the concrete along the paths shop- pers commonly followed. Inside, everything was painted white and illuminated by the bare fluorescent bulbs that hung above. The giant cash registers were mechanical, not electronic, and the cashiers were paid quite handsomely to operate them with speed and accuracy. The managers and butchers were mostly men — cranky old guys who never smiled and who barked at you if you asked them a question about a sale item or a cut of beef. The selection of items was limited, compared to the in- credible mix of choices mega- groceries offer consumers to- day. The quality of many of those items was also not nearly as good as today. Our old grocery is similar to, but much better than, the gro- ceries of that era. Unlike the mega-stores, where you have to fight traf- fic and a shortage of parking spots, our modest-sized grocery is convenient. I can run inside, get what I need and be back on the road in minutes. It has an unmistakable family feel, too. The store packages pre-cut vegeta- bles daily and prices them cheaply — which is greatly appreciated by older customers who find it difficult, even painful, to hold a knife. All you have to do is call one of the members of the family that owns the store. They'll cut up a batch of any vegetables you ask for. They offer tremendous spe- cials, too. The other day, I saw packages of baby back ribs, which cost $40 at the mega- stores, for only 20 bucks. And they make hot roasted chicken, side dishes and sand- wiches every day for regular lunch and dinner patrons. I understand that the older family-owned stores are fac- ing increased competition from mega-stores that can purchase and resell goods for considera- bly less money — which benefits consumers. Heck, when I was a kid, a typ- ical children's bike sold for $95 — the equivalent of $530 in infla- tion-adjusted dollars today, which was a lot of money for a middle- class family to spend then. Today, however, middle-class families can get a typical chil- dren's bike at a mega-store for only about 80 bucks — because of lower-cost global manufac- turing and economy-of-scale pricing. Like it or hate it, this is the truth, and I understand all of that. Still, I don't want to lose our family-owned grocery. The mega-groceries have had an impact on its business over the years. Others speculate that the family members could not come to terms with their landlord and so, the business will close. I am saddened by the im- pending loss of our fine old- style grocery store. I stopped in there three or four days a week to get fresh ingredients for de- licious, healthy meals, but no more. I know that for all of the con- sumer benefits made possible by mega-store efficiency, there are some downsides — such as family-owned stores, unable to compete on price, that are put out of business. And I understand that change is often for the better — but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Tom Purcell, author of "Misadventures of a 1970s Childhood" and "Comical Sense: A Lone Humorist Takes on a World Gone Nutty!" is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. Send comments to Tom at Purcell@ caglecartoons.com. The loss of family-owned grocery Bill Cornelius Tom Purcell I know that for all of the consumer benefits made possible by mega-store efficiency, there are some downsides — such as family-owned stores, unable to compete on price, that are put out of business. A war based on lies cannot be fixed by launching another war. We must just march home. And stay home. OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, March 25, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6