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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 IgrewupinSanFrancisco, near the border with Daly City. The railroad ran very near us, at the end of our block. I am not sure if we were living on the wrong side of the tracks or not, but the rail- road provided us with some free entertainment. We could try to count the cars, guess the number of engines, or wave to the engineer. In those days the train cars were not "decorated" with graf- fiti or gang tags, and there were cabooses. Times change. One thing we did that was sort of fun was to put pennies on the track and then, after the train had passed scoop up the hot flattened coins to set aside with the other treasures little boys collect. Recently a friend of ours was crossing the tracks at Mon- roe and Cedar and noticed two boys, both pre adolescents, throwing rocks at the train which was heading north. He smiled recalling similar activi- ties when he was a young boy. Then he became alarmed, be- cause after the train had passed those same boys took a metal rod and laid it across the tracks. Given the recent train de- railments my friend was con- cerned, so he flagged down a police officer in a pickup truck and told him what he saw. The officer said he would take care of it. About ten minutes later my friend was again cross- ing the railroad tracks an no- ticed the metal rod was still on the tracks. He parked his vehi- cle, walked over to the tracks and picked up what he thought was a grounding rod, proba- bly taken from the PG&E tem- porary storage area along the tracks by Walnut Street. The rod was only about half an inch in diameter, and it most likely would not have caused any problem for a speeding train, but my friend did not un- derstand why it was still on the tracks. As a former cop, he was con- cerned, so he called the po- lice department and spoke to the dispatcher who was a lit- tle vague about what had hap- pened; however, she assured my friend that the matter had been taken care of. My friend then asked to speak to someone who was a sergeant or higher; a male offi- cer came on to the phone and said the officer in the truck had spoken to the boys. He was un- able to explain why the officer had not removed the ground- ing rod. There are several ways to in- terpret this string of events. My friend was angry because he clearly had not been told the whole story, and a potential safety hazard was not removed. He wondered what those boys might do next. One way to interpret this in- stance is as another example of what our short staffed law en- forcement folks are trying to do, to prioritize their efforts, and focus on major items. When I was a kid, my brother and I did something stupid, I can't remember what, but a po- liceman saw what happened and escorted us home to meet with my parents. We received a warning, and my brother and I had some kind of immediate consequence from my father — most likely a spanking. It is a shame that our police do not have time for that kind of intervention; a few minutes spent with those two boys and their parents might make a big difference in their futures. The incident reminds me of something else about children and our future. When I first was appointed principal at Gerber School I had problems relating to students who really didn't care about school or learning; often this led to feigned boredom and in- appropriate behaviors. When those students came to my of- fice I would ask them, "What would you like to be when you grow up?" For many of the students I saw that question was not rel- evant because they had no role models at home to follow. I soon learned to ask another question to help them relate schooling to their future: "Would you like to have a nice apartment when you finish school? Or would you like to own a nice car when you fin- ish school?" Few students dared to answer "no." That set them up for the next question, "How will you get the money to pay for that?" The an- swer to that question led to questions about good jobs and preparation for good jobs, and of course the importance of schooling. For most of the students who heard these questions the re- sults were probably short term at best. Without role models it is hard for children to be persis- tent in their efforts to grow and mature. Recently, while reading about a project my daughter-in-law is involved with in Wisconsin, I came across a more power- ful question, one she uses with her students in a program to de- velop creativity, to draw on curi- osity, and to teach a disciplined approach to problem solving. The question is not, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" but rather "What would you like your world to be when you grown up?" That is a powerful question. What if we all lived in a way to help create the world we would like? JoeHarropisaretired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net. Joe Harrop Lessons children can readily learn Tiredofthehomeless Editor: Regarding this homeless thing. It's getting out of control. I have tried to be compassionate and we donate to the local shel- ters to help. I can no longer take my dog to the river park here in Red Bluff or Redding to run for ex- ercise. You can't move two feet with out stepping in garbage or getting attacked. I will not uti- lize the parks any longer. These idiots choose this way of life and are joining in to ban- dit groups. They trespass at all hours of the night and start squatting and taking over. They chose this way of life de- liberately or by making crappy choices. I no longer feel sorry for any of them. From now on they are the enemy to my safety. I've been attacked at 7 a.m. in the Raley's parking lot. Big guy got (angry) because I didn't carry cash so went after my 7-year-old niece. He attacked her. I have a friend that works in a building near the parks and they can't go out and have a break because they get attacked. The cops say they can't do anything. They pollute tons of (litter) along the river that we all have to clean up. I'm not going to apologize for feeling animosity towards these people. I don't care about them anymore and I will no lon- ger make donations to the food banks. I'm tired of being attacked, the cops are useless as usual. It's every man for themselves now. Save your diatribe bull in de- fense of these people. They count on that to justify their bad behavior. If I have to sit in a filthy ill run jail full of feces eating idi- ots for defending myself then so be it. I'm fighting back and vio- lently. Don't ever ask for dona- tions again from me. It was their choices not mine to lead a life of banditry. I will defend myself from here on out and I'm not calling a use- less cop. And I don't think I should have to pay taxes to sup- port parks I can't use in safety. I'm sick and tired of the ca- reer welfare. Beware. I will fight back. — Kelly Walen, Red Bluff Hegemony Editor: We are in the process of dis- patching 3,000 troops and more than 100 armored vehicles to the Baltic State of Latvia over 4,000 miles from our shores, for so called NATO maneuvers directly at the Russian border. Evidently, the turmoil we have created in Ukraine alone seems to be un- satisfactory to war mongers and highly influential ideologues in Washington. One wonders how we would react if Putin were to replicate the challenge by deploying Rus- sian troops and military hard- ware for maneuvers at our bor- ders with Canada and Mexico? Uncle Sam's insatiable quest for world domination cleverly pro- moted as the introduction of freedom and democracy around the world, is now in full swing, but seemingly oblivious to the future escalation of blowback already generated by al-Qaeda and ISIS, whose very existence is a direct result of U.S. policies and military interference in the region. Our unprovoked so called shock and awe invasion 12-year anniversary is upon us and ac- cording to a survey by Brown University has resulted in de- struction and human toll as follows: U.S. deaths 8,000, wounded 80,000, 250,000 Iraqi deaths, 600,000 wounded and 1.5 million displaced or in ref- ugee camps, at an overall cost of $3 trillion unfunded and charged to our national and in- ternational credit cards. The propaganda machine de- signed to justify this waste and carnage extends to every corner of our lives, including an abso- lutely absurd TV commercial in which a child thanks his par- ent in the military for defend- ing his freedom, which to a re- alistic observer looks more akin to our effort at depriving others of theirs. War for profit, with no end in sight. The only real benefi- ciaries can be found in Central and South American countries which we have controlled with an iron fist, but were forced to loosen our grip upon because of the commitment to wage war in the Middle East. Stay tuned, the unfolding Russian debacle is not over by a long shot, because aside from serious saber rattling, we have also turned the screws by en- forcing ever widening economic sanctions upon them, which Pu- tin, macho and obviously no slouch himself, eventually can- not afford to leave unchallenged without losing face at home and abroad. It is one thing to destabi- lize Syria and Yemen, or attack and destroy backward coun- tries like Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, but taking on the likes of Russia — and soon to follow the Pentagon's so called Pivot to Asia, aimed at dealing with China in the same manner — is a decidedly different matter and a dangerous game, because both possess extensive stock- piles of hair-trigger nuclear weapons poised to be deployed at a moment's notice. This kind of U.S. brinkman- ship and drive to impose its will on the rest of the world is the equivalent of playing with fire, which is likely to spread glob- ally and could actually threaten the survival of mankind. Unlike the past two world wars when the U.S. was in a position to in- tervene and put an end to the carnage, at this juncture such entity no longer exists, as a matter of fact, it seems the for- mer patron of harmony and sta- bility itself has now morphed into the ultimate aggressor and poses an existential threat to world peace. — Joe Bahlke, Red Bluff Your opinions Cartoonist's take The incongruous way media have chosen to cover the phys- ical punishment in boxing and mixed martial arts on the one hand, and foot- ball on the other, is enough to give anyone who cares about sports a se- rious headache. Each is bru- tal and dangerous, particularly concerning blows to the head. Each has legions of fans who are either oblivious to the risks or, more likely, don't care. Yet, while football has, for good reason, come under intense media scrutiny regarding players' health, boxing and related "blood sports" are all of a sudden being celebrated in a glorious rebirth — by NBC, CBS, Fox and numerous other television and print outlets. Earlier this month NBC sent 32 cameras and two of its most renowned commentators, Al Mi- chaels and Marv Albert, to the MGM Grand Hotel here for the first prime-time network boxing matches in over three decades. NBC and its sister outlets have committed to 19 more boxing events this year, while CBS plans to cover at least eight. Fox now runs mixed martial arts fighting in prime-time. The motivation for networks is hardly mysterious: money. It buys airtime plus a callous dis- regard for violence that mas- querades as sport. On May 2 boxing's return to prominence will be on dis- play at the MGM in what could be the most lucrative boxing match of all time, featuring wel- terweights Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. This bout is far too rich for free TV and will be restricted to pay- per-view, with the two fighters expected to divide as much as $200 million. Meanwhile, in football news, a relatively unknown San Fran- cisco 49er player named Chris Borland announced his retire- ment at age 24, citing concern about repeated blows to the head during his brief career. This triggered an avalanche of media discussion over the risks in football, which are well doc- umented and could eventually threaten the sport's enormous fi- nancial success. The New York Times has de- voted considerable space — much of it on page one — to football in- juries. The morning after NBC's boxing debut The Times ran a lengthy piece about a former player at the University of North Carolina, now panhandling on the streets of Lakeland, Fla., ap- parently the result of diminished mental capacity due to football. But you'd have to look hard to find similar reporting about boxing or mixed martial arts — sports in which the object is to hit someone's head so hard that he is rendered unconscious. Following NBC's telecast sev- eral major papers carried pieces that oozed with nostalgia and fond memories of boxing's glori- ous past on broadcast TV, with- out a whisker of concern about the permanent damage done to its participants. NBC decided boxing was a good idea after promoter Al Haymon, who manages some 150 fighters, offered a reported $20 million up front. That left NBC executive John Miller to ra- tionalize: "If you play too much on the violence, it can be a little off-putting and doesn't capture the skill that goes with this." If NBC hopes to draw an au- dience for prime-time boxing without playing too much on the violence it might as well also look for sitcoms that don't dwell on comedy or newscasts that stay clear of current events. As much as many of us love football, its long-range future is in question due to the violence. Fair enough. But where's the hue and cry about the fight game? Media have a responsibility to question physical risks in all sports and, with boxing, to stop pulling punches. Peter Funt is a writer and speaker. His book, "Cautiously Optimistic," is available at Amazon.com and CandidCamera.com. Peter Funt Where are critics of the dangers of boxing and MMA? PeterFunt Joe Harrop OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, March 28, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6