Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/525498
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 CongratulationstoKyleSanders,RedBluff's new chief of police. Openany newspaper or turn on your television, and you will realize that being a po- lice officer is dif- ficult, compli- cated, dangerous and often thankless. Any time one's job is based on interaction with the pubslic, decisions will be made that beg for second- guessing. As a probation officer, I learned very quickly that most folks in the community would call for swift and significant punishment for offenders — un- less that person was a friend or relative, in which case an excep- tion was certainly in order. I do not personally know Kyle Sanders, but I had the pleasure of working with his father, Bob Sanders. Bob was an excellent officer at the Red Bluff Police Department for at least a cou- ple of decades. If young Chief Sanders is anything like his fa- ther, the department's future is bright, indeed. Speaking of exceptional peo- ple, I would like to tell you about one of my favorites in this community. A few years ago I was serving as master of ceremonies at the Red Bluff Round-Up Association's appre- ciation dinner; in attendance was a lady by the name of Rose Crain. I was aware that as owner of the Haleakala Ranch, Rose had been a primary finan- cial supporter of the Round- Up's Tough Enough to Wear Pink campaign, which raises funds to help stamp out breast cancer. After the dinner I ap- proached Rose, and she invited me out to the ranch to discuss the State Theatre project. When I arrived at the Haleak- ala Ranch, which is located on the outskirts of Gerber, Rose, who is somewhere close to my age, greeted me. Rose was dressed in shorts, a shirt with the sleeves cut off, and she was wearing a hair net. Rose Crain, chief execu- tive officer of a significant walnut growing and drying operation, had just come from working on the line sorting walnuts. I am bet- ting she was the hardest-working member of the Haleakala team on that particular day. Since that memorable meet- ing, I have been privileged to sit down with Rose on many other occasions. Along with the the- ater, we have discussed her up- bringing, and my upbringing. We have talked about our obli- gation to take care of family and community. We have discussed work ethics, morality and the weather on any particular day. I have grown to absolutely adore Rose Crain. She gives so much to this community, and asks for nothing in return except for an occasional glass of white Zinfan- del when she attends an event at the historic State Theatre. If the wife didn't absolutely adore me and if Rose would lower her standards a bit, I would run away with her in a heartbeat. Thank you, Rose Crain, for being Rose Crain. Incidentally, the next time you attend a State Theatre event, realize that it will take place on the Haleakala Stage. I would be remiss if I did not take a moment to recognize an- other Tehama county multi- generational family who has contributed so much, not only to the State Theatre, but to this community as a whole. When I was about five years old, my family lived for a cou- ple of years at the Forward Mill in the Manton area. My father worked at the mill; in my mind I can still see the mill pond as it looked in 1950. I remember that we lived in one of those plat- form tents. One other thing I re- member is that every time we travelled down to the big city of Red Bluff, as we got within four or five miles from town we could see the spectacular neon State Theatre sign blinking on and off. I had no idea then that the Forward family and State Theatre would mean so much to me 65 years later. I have sort of known Rich- ard and Ann Forward for 20 years or so, in that our paths have crossed at various func- tions. I was aware that Richard was scarred from having lived in a household of all women: his lovely wife Ann and a half dozen or so equally attractive daughters, who incidentally, all look pretty much alike to me. But what I didn't know was that as individuals and as a family, the Forwards fully realize the importance of giving back to their community, and they do so without seeking fanfare or per- sonal attention. Next time you see Richard or one of his gaggle of Forward gals, please thank him or her for their amazing support of the State Theatre, and let them know that you will be buying a ticket at the Rich- ard and Ann Forward Box Of- fice in the near future. Speaking of the State The- atre neon sign, I would like to recognize our friends from the McConnell Fund of the Shasta Regional Community Founda- tion. Because these folks are based in Shasta County, we sometimes fail to realize and recognize the amazing support they provide to the entire north state community in the form of grants for a variety of worth- while programs. Since its inception in 2001, the McConnell Fund of the Shasta Regional Commu- nity Foundation has awarded nearly $13 million in support of worthy programs within Mo- doc, Shasta, Siskiyou, Trin- ity and Tehama counties. This year alone, the foundation has awarded grant funds total- ing $716,197, with more than $150,000 being awarded to the following deserving pro- grams within Tehama County: NVCSS, $40,000—two cars for Foster Family Program; RBUHS, $50,000 for marching band uniforms; Sacramento River Discovery Center, $11,750 for information centers. Additionally, the State The- atre for the Arts is proud to an- nounce that we were awarded $49,700 in order to replace our 1946-vintage boiler heating sys- tem. Over the three prior fund- ing cycles we have received a total of nearly $150,000 in sup- port of a lighting system, sound system and our beautiful blade and marquee. To the wonderful folks at the McConnell Fund of the Shasta Regional Commu- nity Foundation, Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Coming Attractions: June 12-13 — Selah Dance Academy recital 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 Great people make a great community Cartoonist's take "ObamaCare is being chal- lenged at the Supreme Court again? What now?" "Ah, yes, you speak of the Pa- tient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which the then-Demo- crat-controlled Congress passed on a party-line vote back in 2009. It's been the subject of lots of confusion and lawsuits ever since." "I thought the Supreme Court ruled on ObamaCare in 2012." "That ruling had to do with the constitutionality of the Af- fordable Care Act's individual mandate. The federal mandate requires individuals to pur- chase health insurance — but the Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, that this requirement is OK be- cause it is really a tax." "Congress may be incompe- tent in many areas, but it sure is good at creating new taxes." "Well, a ruling is expected this month in the case now be- fore the Supreme Court, which has to do with health-insur- ance subsidies. When the bill was written in Congress, four simple words were put in: 'es- tablished by the state' The idea was that subsidies would only be available to people who pur- chase insurance in a market exchange established by their state." "Why would the drafters of the bill include a term like that?" "Some suggest it was done to force states to set up Obam- aCare market exchanges or risk losing federal subsidies that help those who can't afford ObamaCare — no small number of people — afford their premi- ums. But 34 states still refused to set up exchanges." "Which means?" "Well, since 34 states re- fused to set up ObamaCare ex- changes, the federal govern- ment stepped into those states and set up federal exchanges that provide ObamaCare cus- tomers with federal subsidies to help them purchase ObamaCare policies. The IRS, the federal agency tasked with enforcing ObamaCare, decided to ignore the four words, 'established by the state,' even though they are plain as day in the law. So var- ious states and local govern- ments filed suits." "So, what happens if the Su- preme Court rules that only the state-run exchanges can receive federal subsidies?" "It means that 34 states that run only federal exchanges will no longer receive federal sub- sidies. Some 6.5 million peo- ple in these states will lose their subsidies and, analysts believe, many will drop their coverage due to the high costs." "That sounds like a disaster in the making." "It could lead to a 'death spi- ral' in which healthy people, who by law can now get cov- erage if they ever do get ill, will simply stop paying for it. They'll buy it if they get sick. That means the people who keep their policies are more likely to be those with current health issues. Costs could spiral out of control." "The politicians might take some heat for that. Do you think Republicans in Congress are willing to take that heat?" "According to The Hill, 'House conservatives are hint- ing at support for a temporary extension of Obamacare subsi- dies if the Supreme Court crip- ples the law, even as they set up a working group to develop their own plan.' They are hop- ing there will be a Republican president in 2017 and they will then be able to reform or re- place ObamaCare." "It's a heck of a mess, isn't it?" "Yes, it is. This is why the wiser analysts in the country pleaded with our politicians not to attempt to reform one-sixth of the U.S. economy in one fell swoop. It is why we asked that our representatives read the bill before voting on it — not pass it to find out what was in it, as Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who was then House speaker, suggested." "What we are finding isn't very pretty." "That's right, and it's likely to get a lot worse before it gets better. It's amazing, the power that our plain-written words can have over an entire coun- try." 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 Tom@ TomPurcell.com. Tom Purcell The power of plain language I have grown to absolutely adore Rose Crain. She gives so much to this community, and asks for nothing in return except for an occasional glass of white Zinfandel when she attends an event at the historic State Theatre. Bill Cornelius Tom Purcell If you look at the track re- cord of the interventionists, you might think they would pause before taking on more projects. Each of their past projects has ended in disaster, yet still they press on. Last week the web- site Zero Hedge posted a re- port about hacked emails be- tween billionaire George Soros and Ukrainian President Poro- shenko. Soros is very close to the Ukrainian president, who was put in power after a U.S.-backed coup deposed the elected leader of Ukraine last year. In the email correspondence, Soros tells the Ukrainian leadership that the U.S. should provide Ukraine "with same level of so- phistication in defense weapons to match the level of opposing force." In other words, despite the February ceasefire, Soros is pushing behind the scenes to make sure Ukraine receives top-of-the-line lethal weap- ons from the United States. Of course it will be up to us to pay the bill because Ukraine is broke. But Soros seems to have the money part covered as well. In an email to Ukrainian leaders, he wrote that Ukraine's "first priority must be to regain con- trol of financial markets." Soros told Poroshenko that the IMF would need to come through with a $15 billion package, which was confident would lead the Fed to also come through with more money. He wrote: "the Federal Reserve could be asked to extend a $15 billion three months swap arrange- ment with the National Bank of Ukraine. That would reassure the markets and avoid a panic." How would the Fed be con- vinced to do that? Soros as- sured Poroshenko: "I am ready to call Jack Lew of the U.S. Treasury to sound him out about the swap agreement." So George Soros will use his influence in the U.S. govern- ment to put the American peo- ple on the hook for a bankrupt Ukraine — forcing us to pay for weapons, more military train- ing, and Ukraine's crippling debt. Who is thrilled with So- ros' drawing the U.S. govern- ment into more intervention in the region? The military-indus- trial complex for one is happy at the prospect of big weap- ons "sales" to Ukraine. The bankers are thrilled. Washing- ton power-brokers are thrilled. There is something in this for everyone who is politically well- connected. The only losers are the people who will be forced to pay for it, the American tax- payers. No one seems to ask why we are involved in Ukraine at all. Is it really any of our business if the east wants to break away from the west? Is it a vital U.S. interest which flag the people wish to hang in Donetsk? One thing we should be sure of is that Ukraine's debt will not be paid. As in other bail- outs, much of it will be trans- ferred to the U.S. taxpayer through the IMF and the Fed- eral Reserve. All of this is only possible because of the percep- tion that the dollar is still the world's reserve currency. But this too is coming to an end. U.S. military and financial in- terventionism worldwide are only speeding up the process. Ron Paul is a former Congressman and Presidential candidate. He can be reached at VoicesofLiberty.com. Ron Paul Soros pushes US bailouts, weapons for Ukraine OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, June 10, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6