Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/53137
4A Daily News – Friday, January 20, 2012 Opinion Not ready to lose sight of the shore D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 French author and Nobel Lau- reate Andre Gide said, "Man can- not discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore." With all the changes happening Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer's home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. Letters are published at the discretion of the editor. Mission Statement We believe that a strong com- munity newspaper is essential to a strong community, creating citizens who are better informed and more involved. The Daily News will be the indispensible guide to life and living in Tehama County. We will be the premier provider of local news, information and advertising through our daily newspaper, online edition and other print and Internet vehi- cles. The Daily News will reflect and support the unique identities of Tehama County and its cities; record the history of its com- munities and their people and make a positive difference in the quality of life for the resi- dents and businesses of Tehama County. How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 in the newspaper industry, I often find myself pondering the words of those smarter than me on the subject of change. But I chose these words this week because we have spent much of it looking at ways to spruce up the shore, rather than exploring unknown oceans. There is a laundry list of changes coming to your print edi- tions of the Daily News, most of which we believe will make them more valuable to readers. But let's get the bitter pill out of the way first. Starting Feb. 4, those who buy the Daily News from racks and retailers will pay $1 for the Satur- day edition. This change won't impact subscribers, which make up about 90 percent of our readers. We know some will balk at paying $1 for the Daily News, even if only one day a week, so we plan to add value to soften the blow. More on that later. Another change has to do with inserts — sales flyers, American Profile, Select TV, etc. — in the Daily News, which are done at the printing plant in Chico. Soon, we will only be able to insert Wednes- days, Thursdays and Saturdays. Big deal, right? Well a newspa- per is something like a slide puz- zle — the 2D version of a Rubik's Cube for the youngsters. You can't move one thing without moving another, and another, and another. The supermarkets insert their sales flyers on Tuesdays, which we call our food day, a time that hearkens back to the day when even small newspapers ran a food page. Now our food day will have to shift to Wednesday and our one regular food feature — beef recipes from the Tehama County CattleWomen — will follow. That means Faydra Rector's You Mat- ter column will bump up to Tues- days. Bonus: We plan to revive the food page, assuming this paper once had one, and run it in Wednesday's edition. Good so far. The television listing book Select TV will have to move to Saturdays. The listings start with Saturday morning, so there's no problem there. Select TV isn't the only thing we'll be adding to Saturday's edi- tion. Four new pages will bulk up the edition. The plan is to add an Outdoors Page, Home and Garden Page, Pets Page and a page geared to the interests and issues of those 55 and older. The final product should be a bulkier paper arriving at the start of your weekend, when you have the time to not only read the extra con- tent but, if any of it inspires you, put the information into prac- tice. coming to the Daily News in the next few weeks, and there are few things newspaper readers like less than change. Tallying up the score, though, I think readers come out well ahead because of these changes. Con: Single-copy Chip From a consumer's standpoint, we asked what would make that single-copy buyer more willing to plunk down a buck for the week- end edition. We think the extra feature pages and television list- ings accomplish that — not to mention the news and information you find in every edition of the Daily News. Thompson 545 Diamond Ave. buyers will need to pay $1 for the weekend edition of the Daily News. Pros: The weekend edition will have sub- stantially more content that readers value — and only non-sub- scribers will pay the higher price; a food page will appear in Wednesday editions and some regular content will change days, but none will be dropped. We'll continue venturing out in the ocean, but I don't want readers to think we'll forget about the shore. If the opening couple of para- graphs didn't make you seasick, the subsequent explanations most certainly left you at sea. Suffice it to say, there are plenty of changes Chip Thompson can be reached at 527-2151, Ext. 112 or by email at editor@redbluffdailynews.com. Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 6031 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319-2102 STATE SENATOR — Doug LaMalfa (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 3070 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: gover- nor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2595 Cean- othus Ave., Ste. 182, Chico, CA 95973; 893-8363. U.S.SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Wherein Minch shamlessly pitches his book Commentary Three recently published books are about ancient Rome and the rise and fall of same. They appear to be of modest dimensions and priced accordingly. One is selling for $24.95, another at $25 and the third has an asking price of $35, but has a greater number of pages. Book readers, of course, should be concerned with the quality of the text rather than the number of pages. However, the size and shape of these books is of particular inter- est to us because our book is about to see the light of day. If all goes well, we will be going on sale Tuesday, the 24th of this month. The venue for sales will be the Copy Center, 16 Antelope Blvd., which has published this little trea- sure. The book will also be avail- able at our real estate/property management office at 760 Main St. Business hours at the former are the conventional 8 to 5, whereas, at the latter, we are eccentric and available only until 3 each week day. Joe Vine can handle the trans- actions at his Copy Center, but autographed copies at that location would bear only his signature unless I signed them ahead of time and addressed them "To Whom it May Concern"…or possibly "Good luck... Go Giants and Nin- ers!" I mention the books about Rome to indicate how we arrived at our price of $24.95. Ours has 200 pages of text and photos, contained in 60 exciting chapters, plus sever- al pages of dedication, acknowl- edgments, preface and an index of people named in the stories. Regarding the latter, we refer to nearly 150 men, women and chil- dren encountered over the life of Minch's Wholesale meats....1929 to 1975. This enables the frugal buyer to check the index to deter- mine if he or she is mentioned. If not, then it is understandable that the disappointed might decline to purchase. If you do see your name (or a loved one) in the index, you may proceed to the page numbered to see if you are praised, slandered or otherwise maligned. I think most folks will be pleased with the reference... and those mentioned but previously demised, won't care one way or another. If you are really curious to read the book, but still suffering from the recession, I shall see if the Tehama County Library will accept a copy. If the City Council had seen the light and cleared the way for a home for the homeless, then the homeless could have had a place for their head...and a shelf for our book. Without giving away the plot of "The Knocking Pen... the rise and fall of a family enterprise," it should suffice to say that it is non- fiction and virtually a day-to-day account of what it was like to be in a business whose objective was to slaughter animals and provide salaries to hundreds of workers, suppliers and their families over the course of many years. It may appear to be a barbaric undertak- ing, the doing and the recounting, but that's the way it was, while, along the way, stories of individual successes and failures are told. I found it to be, in the retelling, both invigorating and chilling. I hope readers will at least turn the pages. It was quite a show while it lasted. *** I think Murray Clyde will enjoy the book, but currently he is smarting from a scathing e- mail from L. Brown, who took both me and my dog to task for sloppy reporting. In last week's effort, Murray and I agreed that whereas the departure of City Manager Nichols might be con- strued as a loss or a gain to the city, his new job in Susanville would at least provide a shorter commute. Not so, says L. Brown, who esti- mates Nichols' commute will be about twice as long as it is now. Murray, in his defense, says he was thinking "as the crow flies," but even that measurement does not hold water. No, unless the fel- low moves his base camp to at least Chester, he will continue his lengthy commutes, which does not bode well for him or Susanville. *** "Bespoke" is a word you may have read but perhaps did not take the time to look up. It was used in the title of a famous short story, "The Bespoke Coat." The literal meaning of the word is "made to order"…and can refer to things other than coats. For example, if you paid someone to write a pro- gram to your own specifications for your computer, it could be con- strued as a "bespoke program." People would look at you funny if you so described it in that manner, but who cares? *** Robert Minch I Say Last week's quiz was first answered correctly by S. Frey, who knew that when Action Comics' Super- man first tra- versed the sky, it was by "leap- ing tall build- ings in a single bound" and only later did he fly, that all months of course have 28 days and both correct gram- matical answers were designated as "A." This week's quiz: How many common words of 4 letters or more can you make out of the word peace by only using each let- ter once? I could only come up with two, but in the word January, you might be able to come up with 5 or more. And what color were Dorothy's magic slippers in the book by L. Frank Baum? Not in the movie but in the book. *** A small businessman received yet another government question- naire which began by asking, "How many employees do you have broken down by sex?...and the beleaguered employer respond- ed, "None at all. However, a few people do come in late for work after a long weekend." Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff and former columnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine. He can be reached at rminchandmurray@hotmail.com.