Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/530037
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 As you might expect, I field my share of grumbling about what appears in the paper and over the years I've gotten pretty good at assessing the grumbler so I can appropriately address the issue. But not always. Suchwasthe casethis week when a gentleman stopped by our office to drop off a copy of the recent Te- hama the Magazine focussed on the eruption of Lassen Peak and a photocopy from a book, "Pictorial History of the Lassen Volcano." He left his name and phone number and said something along the lines of "If you're going to tell the story, you might as well get the facts right," according to the person he dealt with. Along the top of the photo- copy he had written "The real Wid Hall story." The edition was met with much enthusiasm by readers and many have asked for ex- tra copies to send to friends and relatives. Aside from a couple of embarrassing typos I didn't catch until the day it came out, I hadn't heard any complaints. Besides, I had ev- ery confidence in the care- ful research of Dave Sch- lom, who wrote the article in question. I was stumped and quickly read the photocopy and the section of the mag- azine referenced, unable to find any significant differ- ence between the two ac- counts. In contacting Dave, he told me he used "Pictorial History of the Lassen Volcano" as his source for the story. He, too, was stumped. About two minutes from deciding the gentleman was just some crank who likes to complain and dismissing the note because I'd wasted enough time on it already, I gave him a call. Sure glad I did. Jim Davis turned out to be the grandson of Wid and Carrie Hall — our story said Wid and Eileen. The other er- ror involved his mother and aunt, Marian and Evelyn re- spectively. Our story implied that Marian was the younger daughter and, in fact, she was older. Wid Hall's first person ac- count of the Hat Creek flood from the book doesn't name Carrie, so Dave called a fel- low historian to fill in some gaps. Do these errors substan- tially alter the story? Not so much, but they sure are the type of mistake that would jump out to a family member. And we are in the business of being accurate, so I thank Mr. Davis for helping us out. Even better, when I told Dave who I had just spoken with he was ecstatic. In fact, the idea for the magazine came about, in part, when I spoke with Dave months ago and he asked whether I knew of any sources for information about the story of the flood. I didn't, but agreed to check the archives at the library the next time I was there gather- ing items for the "100 years ago..." feature. Now Dave had a living, breathing source to supple- ment his research on the eruption. They quickly set up a meeting for later in the week. There may even be a follow- up story in the paper. As for me, it's been a good reminder about not jumping too quickly to a conclusion. Realestatesof Red Bluff If the sale of our office to the county for use as a li- brary goes through, I'll have to change the name of this column. But take note there is a way to go before it's a done deal, as they say. In an effort to head off many of the questions I've answered repeatedly over the last year: The Daily News isn't go- ing under, it's simply mov- ing into the right size facil- ity for an office staff of 17 people. That office will be in Red Bluff, but I don't know where. Nobody does because we have not yet started look- ing. Anyone who tells you where our new office is going to be at this point is blowing smoke. Finally, the only reason for the move is that we are a small staff working in a 17,000-square-foot building and the vast majority of that space is completely unused. Picture a typical local bank branch operating in a gym- nasium. ChipThompsoncan be reached at 737-5042 or by email at editor@ redbluffdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @editorchip. 545 Diamond Ave. A rare find who found us Cartoonist's take Sightem: A bicycle built for two is a rarity in this day and age. A blue one was parked out- side the popu- lar Tremont Café, and I waited until the riders exited and were ready to depart. The rid- ers were two very lean people in their late 20s or early 30s and ob- viously in great condition. I inquired as to where they were from. The woman said they started in Arcata and were headed to Yosemite. I asked if they were planning to go down I-5 but she said no, they were headed for Lassen Park and then to Tahoe. I remarked they would have a steep climb ahead of them. She smiled and agreed that was true, but they could handle it. My last question was how far they usually traveled in a day, and she replied, "About 50 miles in good weather." I wonder if a 105 temperature in the shade was considered good biking weather. ••• Mayor and former County Sheriff Clay Parker called in re- sponse to my question about lo- cal police cars bearing license plate holders indicating they came from Folsom Ford. Clay said the city, and I suppose the county, accept the lowest bid for official autos and that Fol- som Ford is usually the lowest bidder for thousands of state ve- hicles. Apparently they corner the market. So, it is the bulk op- erator that gets the action, and local dealers don't have a fid- dler's chance of meeting the Folsom bids. This expression, "a fiddler's chance" is dated, as is this writer, but I can find no refer- ence as to its origin. The com- plete expression is "(fill in sub- ject) does not have a fiddler's chance in hell of (complete de- sired action or activity)." How- ever, it is still appropriate in some situations today. Tea Party activists, State of Jefferson ad- vocates, bipartisan cooperation in Congress all fit use of the ex- pression. Knowledgeable sources say that none of the above have a "fiddler's chance" nor a "snow- ball's chance" of success, yet par- ticipants march on undeterred. ••• A happening: A woman walked by our front window, waved, then stuck her head in the door at Main and Walnut and made a pronouncement. I do not hear that well, and the traffic noise from outside all but obscured her remarks. How- ever, I realized she was not seek- ing solution or redemption, but merely wanted to let off steam. In such cases, I have devel- oped a series of responses de- signed to fit any statements di- rected my way. Such as, "We just have to take it one day at a time, don't we?" or "It beats me" or "Is that right?" The late Stan Roach claimed he had one phrase that was appropriate for all remarks: "You never know…" However, I would not respond with "I think you need psychoanalysis." That would be demeaning. ••• The DN reports "High school looks at new band uniforms" and states "…the new uniforms will be primarily black with a green and gold section at the top." This sounds, to this old marching band fellow, as a di- saster in the making. "Primar- ily black" in our climate is not practical. Uniforms need to be comfortable for the wearers. Hot days require light colors with our green and gold empha- sized to separate us, for exam- ple, from Shasta's purple. Please try again. For appropriate sea- sonal wear, I would consider coming out of retirement and snare drumming once again if needed. When a drummer for the late Carl Coleman and the RBUHS band, I devised a num- ber for each change of cadence and would call out same to the other drummers. This produced variety and propelled the band forward but did not result in any awards that I recall. ••• Barbara Bush is the Bush that should have been Presi- dent. She recently answered questions for TIME: Q. Your husband jumped out of an airplane for his 90th birth- day. What's your plan? A. "Not jumping out an airplane. I am not an idiot." Q. You once said America has had enough Bushes. Then you thought anew. How come? A. "I am against discrimination of all kinds: race, religion, sexual orientation or whatever your last name is." Q. Your husband is tweeting. You aren't. How come? A. "I promised my family I would keep my mouth shut." Q. If your husband announced he planned to jump on his 95th birthday, what would you say? A. "If you do, please land again in a churchyard. You know why. I think this makes sense." ••• There was a time when peo- ple of oriental origin were de- risively called "slant eyes." To- day, this eye variation would be properly described as "an epi- canthic fold." Rio Street, for- merly High Street, was once home to many workers from the Orient, and it took generations to indicate their worth to the community as business people and purveyors of goods. ••• Apparently the Eastern bro- kers representing the sale of the Daily News property on Di- amond have come to an agree- ment to sell the property to the County of Tehama, and it will eventually become the new home of the Tehama County Li- brary. Good show. ••• A distraught housewife an- swered the phone and was re- lieved to hear a friendly voice on the other end. "Oh, mother," she sobbed, "I've had a terrible day. I sprained my ankle, have not been able to go shopping, the washing machine broke, the baby won't eat, the house is a mess and I'm supposed to be hosting a dinner party tonight." "Now, don't worry about a thing. I'll be over in half an hour. I'll do the shopping, fix the washing machine, feed the baby, clean up the house and cook dinner. And I'll call George and tell him and him to come home to help." "George? Who's George?" "George…your husband. This is 314-4628?" "No, this is 314-4629." "Oh." "Does this mean you're not coming over?" 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 A long, uphill ride on a hot day About two minutes from deciding the gentleman was just some crank who likes to complain and dismissing the note because I'd wasted enough time on it already, I gave him a call. Sounding off A look at what readers are saying in comments on our website and on social media. Go Heidi Thomas. And Lou Aviles and Phillip U. Mackintosh... Coral Ferrin: On law enforcement personnel taking part in a Special Olympics torch run And they le him? My heart goes out to his family.... Mary Broadstock: On the apparent drowning of a teen boy in the Sacramento River Robert Minch State and National Assemblyman James Galla- gher, 150 Amber Grove Drive, Ste. 154, Chico 95973, 530 895- 4217, http://ad03.asmrc.org/ Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634 Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, senator. nielsen@senate.ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown, State Capital Building, Sacramento 95814, 916 445-2841, fax 916 558-3160, governor@governor. ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug La- Malfa, 507 Cannon House Of- fice Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Fein- stein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415 393- 0707, fax 415 393-0710 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, 1700 Montgomery St., San Fran- cisco 94111, 510 286-8537, fax 202 224-0454 Local Tehama County Supervisors, 527-4655 District 1, Steve Chamblin, Ext. 3015 District 2, Candy Carlson, Ext. 3014 District 3, Dennis Garton, Ext. 3017 District 4, Bob Williams, Ext. 3018 District 5, Burt Bundy, Ext. 3016 Red Bluff City Manager, Rich- ard Crabtree, 527-2605, Ext. 3061 Corning City Manager, John Brewer, 824-7033 YOUR OFFICIALS OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, June 19, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4