Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/499470
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@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 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 I'vebeenwritingthiscol- umn for a few months now, and a couple of things have become very apparent. First, Wednesday morning comes around way too often. Second, coming up with 700 words worth reading can be a daunting task, in- deed. My respect for Robert Minch and Jean Bar- ton, who have been doing this stuff forever, grows each and every time I sit down at my keyboard. Speaking of Mr. Minch, many of you have asked when I might poke Robert with a stick and engage him in some sort of earthshaking debate designed to shape the future of Amer- ica. Hate to let you down, but my momma taught me a long time ago to respect my elders. Because Robert is one of the dwindling few in the commu- nity who is older than me—and because he is the senior colum- nist in the paper—I do not plan to mess with him. Besides that, Robert ap- pears to have his hands full de- bating good old boy and right- wing redneck Les Wolfe con- cerning presidential candidate Ted Cruz. I don't have a dog in this fight, but I have followed their give and take very closely. While it probably doesn't make sense to most readers, my thought is, "How can these oth- erwise intelligent and civic- minded gentlemen be so right, and yet so very, very wrong at the same time?" Speaking of sitting down at my keyboard, I would like to thank my high school typing teacher for the extraordinary typing skills I still possess. I re- member like it was yesterday the day in 1961 when I first laid eyes on this new young teacher who, besides knowing her way around a typewriter, was the prettiest girl in school, be it teacher or student. It was at that moment I knew that typ- ing would be my favorite sub- ject for the next three years. So, thank you, Nell Savercool, for being the beautiful lady that you were in 1961, as well as the beautiful lady you are today. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be able to type a lick. StateTheatrestuff In the spring of 2010 STFTA dipped into its meager trea- sury and contracted with a gentlemen by the name of Scot Soder who specialized in or- ganizational development and fundraising. With his assis- tance STFTA conducted a com- munity-wide feasibility study in which more than 50 stake- holders were interviewed. They were asked a variety of questions regarding the ad- visability of asking the com- munity to open their check- books for a capital campaign to purchase the State The- atre. Though there was signif- icant concern regarding the deplorable economic environ- ment, virtually all participants agreed that while the State had been an important part of the past, it could be even more important as part of this com- munity's future. Based on this somewhat tepid endorsement, the steering com- mittee decided to do what any worthwhile community group does in such a situation: sched- ule a day-long strategic plan- ning session. Some 25 partic- ipants met on a Saturday at the Department of Education, housed in the building which originally served this commu- nity as the Lincoln Street El- ementary School. Every class- room at Lincoln Street contains a cloakroom which in the de- cade of the '50s served as a ban- ishment room for students who misbehaved. I know this be- cause as a student at Lincoln Street I spent nearly as much time in the cloakroom as I did in the classroom. To this day I break out in a sweat every time I enter the building. But I di- gress. We provided day-old donuts so participants would think we were a first class outfit. We stra- tegically placed flip charts and magic markers throughout the room so it appeared we had lots of stuff to record. We listened to comments and suggestions and technical stuff. We met in small groups and large groups. We discussed pros and cons, and somewhere in the middle of this important day we made the dif- ficult decision that it just might be possible for this wonderful little community to purchase the State Theatre. It was also at this meeting that we crafted the STFTA mis- sion statement: It is the mission of the State Theatre for the Arts to develop the historic State Theatre as a vibrant community center for innovative cultural arts programming and popular events that foster the cultural enrichment and economic sus- tainability of historic downtown Red Bluff. To be continued… Coming attractions May 9, Anthony Kearns pre- sented by the Tehama Concert Series; May 10, Mother's Day film Sleepless in Seattle; May 20-21 Tehama County Writ- ing Celebration, Department of Education; May 30, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band sponsored by Haleakala Walnut Shelling and the Mill Creek Ranch. 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 Settling in to life as a columnist Cartoonist's take Last week two prominent Ukrainian opposition figures were gunned down in broad daylight. They join as many as ten others who have been killed or committed suicide un- der suspicious circumstances just this year. These individu- als have one important thing in common: they were either part of or friendly with the Ya- nukovych government, which a US-backed coup overthrew last year. They include members of the Ukrainian parliament and former chief editors of major opposition newspapers. While some journalists here in the U.S. have started to no- tice the strange series of oppo- sition killings in Ukraine, the U.S. government has yet to say a word. Compare this to the U.S. re- action when a single opposi- tion figure was killed in Russia earlier this year. Boris Nemtsov was a member of a minor po- litical party that was not even represented in the Russian par- liament. Nevertheless the U.S. government immediately de- manded that Russia conduct a thorough investigation of his murder, suggesting the killers had a political motive. As news of the Russian kill- ing broke, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Commit- tee Ed Royce (R-CA) did not wait for evidence to blame the killing on Russian president Vladimir Putin. On the very day of Nemtsov's murder, Royce told the US media that, "this shocking murder is the latest assault on those who dare to oppose the Putin regime." Neither Royce, nor Secretary of State John Kerry, nor Presi- dent Obama, nor any U.S. gov- ernment figure has said a word about the series of apparently political murders in Ukraine. On the contrary, instead of questioning the state of democ- racy in what looks like a lawless Ukraine, the Administration is sending in the U.S. military to help train Ukrainian troops! Last week, just as the two political murders were taking place, the U.S. 173rd Airborne Brigade landed in Ukraine to begin training Ukrainian na- tional guard forces — and to leave behind some useful mil- itary equipment. Though the civil unrest continues in Ukraine, the U.S. military is as- sisting one side in the conflict — even as the U.S. slaps sanctions on Russia over accusations it is helping out the other side! As the ceasefire continues to hold, though shakily, what kind of message does it send to the US-backed government in Kiev to have U.S. troops arrive with training and equipment and an authorization to gift Kiev with some $350 million in weapons? Might they not take this as a green light to begin new hostil- ities against the breakaway re- gions in the east? The Obama administration is so inconsistent in its foreign policy. In some places, partic- ularly Cuba and Iran, the ad- ministration is pursuing a pol- icy that looks to diplomacy and compromise to help im- prove decades of bad relations. In these two cases the adminis- tration realizes that the path of confrontation has led nowhere. When the president announced his desire to see the end of Cuba sanctions, he stated very correctly that, "...we are end- ing a policy that was long past its expiration date. When what you're doing doesn't work for fifty years, it's time to try some- thing new." So while Obama is correctly talking about sanctions relief for Iran and Cuba, he is add- ing more sanctions on Russia, backing Saudi Arabia's brutal attack on Yemen, and pushing ever harder for regime change in Syria. Does he really believe the rest of the world does not see these double standards? A wise consistency of non-inter- ventionism in all foreign affairs would be the correct course for this and future US adminis- trations. Let us hope they will eventually follow Obama's ob- servation that, "it's time to try something new." Ron Paul is a former Congressman and Presidential candidate. He can be reached at VoicesofLiberty.com. Ron Paul American double standards on display in Ukraine Another view After I read the news report, I popped the wine cork and praised the science gods. Al- cohol consump- tion helps us live longer. A new study, published in the journal "Alcohol- ism: Clinical and Experimental Research" found that teetotalers are more likely to croak sooner than regular drinkers. If you don't understand what a massive turn of events this news represents — a vice has been turned into a virtue — you need to go back a lit- tle ways. When I was a kid in the 1960s, breakfast consisted of sausage links and fried eggs. Lunch, for adults, consisted of three martinis. And dinner consisted of a fat, juicy steak with a potato smothered in butter, washed down with a pitcher of beer. We didn't know this stuff was bad for us, just that it was tasty. But around the 1970s, the onslaught began. People like Jim Fixx, a former fat guy who lost weight by jogging, initi- ated the jogging fad. That was followed by the aerobics fad in the 1980s when Jane Fonda got richer wearing bright leo- tards and showing people how to dance themselves fit. At the same time, scientists began attacking American cui- sine with great earnestness. They said cholesterol, fat and salt were bad. They said alco- hol was the devil's brew. Their scientific methods appeared to be pretty simple: If it tasted good, it was bad. Things only got worse from there as several studies began singling out all kinds of goodies. Scientists said Chinese food had enough fat and goop in it to clog the arteries of a rhino. They said delicatessen sand- wiches contained enough creamy mayonnaise, dry Swiss cheese and fatty corned beef to turn a Madison Avenue model into John Madden. They said the cream sauce in Ital- ian foods would kill you faster than the opera. They even sin- gled out theater popcorn, tell- ing us it was worse than arse- nic. By the 1990s, American life was pretty glum. Scientists took a more positive approach and started telling us what was good for us. They said roughage was good, so we started filling up on lettuce. This wasn't too bad, until they told us the salad dressing was killing us. Then they told us to eat bran muf- fins, so we did, and, boy, did that gastronomic miscue have gastronomic effects. They told us carbs were great, so we ate lots of pasta — until they told us too many carbs were bad, which is why we are so fat. And now, in the 2010s, their advice is changing again. Many scientists say that alcohol isn't so bad, after all — that those who never drink are more prone to dying sooner than moderate drinkers who imbibe on a reg- ular basis. So it's true that non- drinkers don't live longer. It just seems longer. The study specu- lates that drinkers are more so- cial and have stronger networks of friends, which is good for one's health, whereas non-drink- ers have less-cheerful social lives and suffer higher levels of de- pression, which is bad for one's health. In any event, my scientist friends, now that you are doing studies that we can live with, why not keep the good work go- ing? Weren't you working on an exercise pill that can trick the chemical pathways that our muscle cells use into thinking we are actually exercising? While you perfect that, can you please discover some healthful benefits in cheese- burgers, chocolate mousse, ice cream, sausage links and sit- ting on the couch all weekend eating Doritos? I'll be happy to discuss these suggestions in person. You can find me at the pub expanding my social network, staving off depression and enjoying my good health. 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. Drinking a toast to a long life A new study, published in the journal "Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research" found that teetotalers are more likely to croak sooner than regular drinkers. Tom Purcell Bill Cornelius OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, April 22, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6