Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/512454
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 In case you hadn't heard, a week from today — Friday, May 22 — will mark the 100th anniversary of the largest of Lassen Peak's eruptions. TheDaily Newshas been anticipating this centennial for some time and wanted to do something special to mark the occasion. A story about the com- memoration planned at Las- sen Volcanic National Park is slated to run in Saturday's edition and a reporter will cover next week's events at the park, but that didn't seem like enough. Maybe a special section dedicated to the anniversary? We began discussing that this might look like back in February. As luck would have it, I re- ceived a note from an ac- quaintance, David Schlom, who teaches science at Corn- ing Union High School say- ing that his classes would be doing an in-depth study of the eruptions this spring. Would the paper like a story about that project? This led to a discussion where it came out that David is something of a local expert on the geology and history of the 1915 eruptions. Just the kind of expert who could write the complete story of the eruptions for the planned special section. Around that time I was at the Tehama County Library gathering stories for the "100 years ago..." feature that ap- pears each day on the Com- munity page. I skimmed ahead through the editions from late May 1915 and was fascinated by the daily cov- erage of events that, at the time, were mysterious and sometimes frightening to lo- cal residents. A massive flood wiped out Hat Creek. Fire leapt from Lassen Peak. Finally, a plume of steam and gas shot, by some accounts, 40,000 feet into the air. Watching the events un- fold in the news reports of the day was an entirely dif- ferent perspective on the his- torical event than looking through the confident prism of modern science and his- tory books. It was boots on the ground — happening in real time, before real people. It seemed the kind of thing readers might enjoy. The spring edition of Te- hama the Magazine was due to publish around the time of the centennial and we de- cided that dedicating the en- tire edition to the eruption's centennial would be a fitting tribute. That edition is scheduled be inserted in the Saturday, May 23 edition of the Daily News, online at redbluffdai- lynews.com and available at various places around the county. We will even be tak- ing some up to the park Fri- day to hand out during the commemoration ceremony. David wrote a thorough, engaging and accessible ac- count of the events of the eruption. It's rare to find somebody with such detailed knowledge who is able to present it in such a digest- ible form — then again, that knack is probably what led him to teaching. Freelancer Melissa Men- donca turned her writing tal- ents to a story about how readers can view evidence of and learn about the eruption while visiting the park. Historical photos were pro- vided courtesy of the Na- tional Park Service and cur- rent photos of the park were interspersed. Some 20 archived articles from late May and early June 1915 were retyped — nearly 9,000 words in all — and most were able to fill out the spring edition of Tehama the Magazine. Those that didn't fit will be running next week in the Daily News in avail- able space. Designer Laurie Dana pulled it all together and made it look fantastic, as she always does, and everyone here is excited to see it pub- lish. Thatdidn'tjusthappen Astute readers will no- tice a story on page A11 to- day about the company that manages the Daily News and many other newspapers and websites around the nation, Digital First Media, no lon- ger being for sale. As came up during a conference call with the other Northern Cal- ifornia editors Thursday, do readers even care? Being a small property in a large company means we don't draw much notice from the big bosses. More impor- tantly, what goes on at the top of the food chain has lit- tle or no impact on what you read in the Daily News each day. Last fall the company an- nounced it would be ex- ploring the potential for a sale. Thursday it announced that was no longer the case. Hardly earth-shattering in Tehama County, but we thought you should know all the same. Moving slowly To avoid confusion, the non-sale of the Daily News' parent company has nothing to do with the very real sale of the Daily News' building. I'm asked regularly about the building and what it will mean for the Daily News, and I've written about it in this space — though not for awhile, so here goes. The building is still for sale. It is for sale because it is many times larger than the needs of the much downsized Daily News staff — at 17,000 square feet for around 15 em- ployees, that would seem like overkill for anyone but the landfill. When the building does sell the Daily News will move its offices to a more appropri- ately sized property in Red Bluff. And I'll have to rename this column. Where exactly the new of- fice will be isn't up to me. If it was, we would move some- place downtown because that's where a lot of news happens and most local gov- ernment offices are. The com- pany won't start looking un- til the existing building is under contract. If there was more to story, I would tell you. But it's just as simple as setting up shop in the right sized shop. ChipThompsoncanbe reached at 530 527-2151, Ext. 112 or by email at editor@ redbluffdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @editorchip. 545 Diamond Ave. 100 years ago next week Cartoonist's take Sources say that men, to boost their cardiac health, should limit their time of watching tele- vision, listen to music, put a stop to snoring, relax via meditation, yoga, etc. and not live alone. A Harvard study showed that peo- ple who lived alone were more likely to die from heart attack, stroke or other heart-related problems than those who lived with oth- ers. Bachelors desiring long life should rethink their solitary ways. ••• Something else I didn't know, department: Early on, I misread the familiar phrase "Far from the madding crowd" as "maddening crowd" and I now wonder how many times I have misquoted it and un- knowingly suffered criticism from fellow elitists. In the phrase, adapted from the "Elegy Written in a Coun- try Churchyard," by Thomas Gray, "madding" means "fren- zied." The complete stanza is, "Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife / their sober wishes never learned to stray." This refers to the bur- ied who are far removed from everyday strife. The phrase re- affirms that those who have passed away are indeed at rest. For some that will be a comfort. For others it will be an unresolved departure, but you knew that. ••• Musical notes from all over: Letters to and from com- poser and conductor Leonard Bernstein ("West Side Story") have been edited in a recent book by Nigel Simeone. In a surprising letter to his sister in 1949, Bernstein wrote that he had heard that librettist Al- lan Jay Learner had declined to use him to do the score for an unnamed musical, and in- stead decided to collaborate with Fredrick Loewe. Lenny was furious, called Learner a bastard, and asked his sis- ter to destroy the letter. For- tunately she did not. Appar- ently the duo of Learner and Lowe then produced in 1956 the great musical for the stage "My Fair Lady." This begs the question: what would that have sounded like with mu- sic by Bernstein instead of Loewe? I for one cannot fathom that show with oth- erwise. Think "On the Street Where You Live," "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" and so on. It boggles the mind. ••• Readers should take pity on local columnists who strug- gle to produce a thousand words on just one subject. Even the newly minted and vastly knowledgeable W. Cor- nelius has been forced to doc- ument his life through various age brackets to fill space allot- ted. To ease his chore I would have no objection to his use of the Herb Cain 3 dot mode in which to convey a variety of subjects. Of course it might be embarrassing for him to change course, but at least it would allow him to sleep at night rather than toss and turn wondering why he ever thought column writing would be cathartic and fulfilling. However, the singularity of his description of the resuscitated State Theatre is rewarding in itself. Bravo! ••• The popularity of solar pan- els has caused utility com- panies concern. At first they thought that only a few ad- venturous folks would elect to supplement their use of PG&E power with panels. But now the use has expanded, the in- stallation is cheaper and the big boys are looking at their bottom line. They have con- cluded that when their cus- tomers buy solar panels, fewer customers are left to pay for utilities' infrastructure, and they will lose revenue. Appar- ently their solution is to raise the rates on their remaining customers. Tsk, tsk. ••• Last week's quiz was first answered by early bird N. Rick who suggested the line of suc- cession to the British throne is now Charles, William, George and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge. This week's quiz (and where is J. Yingling?): The log cabin has been a symbol of hum- ble origins in US politics since the early 19th century. Seven United States Presidents were born in log cabins. Name three. ••• A small boy was named Wally. None of his classmates liked him because of his gross stupidity. One evening, his teacher told his mother that her son was simply a disaster, getting very low marks and she had never taught such a dumb boy in her life. Wally's mum was so crushed at the teacher's remarks that she withdrew him from the school reasoning that a moth- er's love and a fresh start would allow Wally's full poten- tial to be realized. Her dedica- tion and prayers would over- come all, she reasoned, and bring success that her son so richly deserved. Some 25 years later the teacher was diagnosed with an incurable form of cardio- vascular disease. Attending cardiologists advised her to have corrective heart surgery, but there was only one sur- geon in Australia trained in the technique. With no other options and deteriorating health, the teacher decided to have the operation and it was successful. When she opened her eyes post operatively she saw a handsome doctor smiling down at her. Overcome with gratitude, she wanted to thank him but she could not talk. She was becoming increasingly weak and deeply cyanosed be- fore the doctor's very eyes. Her face and tongue now blue, she raised her hand desperate to tell him something, but she suddenly collapsed and was unable to be resuscitated. The distraught doctor fran- tically tried to work out what went wrong, but when he turned around he saw our friend Wally, working as a cleaner in the recovery ward, who had unplugged the ox- ygen equipment so he could connect his floor polisher. You didn't really think that Wally became a heart surgeon did you? Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff, former columnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine and author of the "The Knocking Pen." He can be reached at rminchandmurray@hotmail. com. I say Man does not live by bread alone Watching the events unfold in the news reports of the day was an entirely different perspective on the historical event than looking through the confident prism of modern science and history books. Sounding off A look at what readers are saying in comments on our website and on social media. Congratulations Mr. Spangler. You are very deserving of this award. One of the best. Mario Martinez: On Scott Spangler being named American Legion Firefighter of the Year Congratulations Scott. And thank you American Legion for recognizing an amazing member of our community. Michelle Hickok: On Scott Spangler being named American Legion Firefighter of the Year Robert Minch OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, May 15, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6