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4A Daily News – Saturday, January 28, 2012 Opinion 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 Thanks to the community Editor: Epsilon Sigma Alpha 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. 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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 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. Tea Parties and civility Commentary Civility is glue that holds society together; practicing civility allows for orderly social process, affirms respect for each other, and provides common ground for all of us to go about our business. I once worked with a middle school teacher who taught her students the Japanese tea cere- mony; the ceremony involves several conventions that encour- age civility and respect. The teacher hoped that the lessons of structured personal interchanges would help her own students internalize polite behavior and respect for each other. She felt that her students followed class- room procedures and participat- ed in group activities in a more productive and positive manner after participating in and under- standing the tea ceremony. I often think about the tea party in Alice in Wonderland which was full of puns, slapstick humor, and mock ceremony, and not at all full of civility. The March Hare and the Mad Hatter were having tea when Alice appears on the scene. You may remember this exchange: `Then you should say what you mean,' the March Hare went on. `I do,' Alice hastily replied; `at least--at least I mean what I say--that's the same thing, you know.' `Not the same thing a bit!' said the Hatter. `You might just as well say that "I see what I eat" is the same thing as "I eat what I see"!' `You might just as well say,' added the March Hare, `that "I like what I get" is the same thing as "I get what I like"!' `You might just as well say,' added the Dormouse, who seemed to be talking in his sleep, `that "I breathe when I sleep" is the same thing as "I sleep when I breathe"!' Alice's adventure at the tea party was certainly not filled with civility, nor was a recent public meeting in Red Bluff. According to the Red Bluff Daily News there was a less than civil meeting seeking input from the public on the draft water plan required by Propositions 50 and 84. There was raucous con- cern by some about the use of the Delphi Technique as a way of dividing and conquering much of the audience, or at least co-opting it into submission. Apparently the use of the Delphi Technique, if it was attempted, was not successful and submis- sion was not attained. Those less than polite atten- dees at that meeting must have read a web post by the Virginia Land Rights Coalition, a rightwing organization; that post claimed that the Delphi Tech- nique was developed as a psy- chological warfare tool. It then progressed into a way for some- one to control meetings about issues of concern. Their post says, "First, the person who will be leading the meeting, the facil- itator or Change Agent, must be a likable person with whom those participating in the meet- ing can agree or sympathize. It is, therefore, the job of the facil- itator to find a way to cause a split in the audience, to establish one or a few of the people as "bad guys" while the facilitator is perceived as the "good guy."" Still other rightwing sites refer to the technique as a way to pre- serve the illusion of participa- tion in public decision making. For true conspiracy theorists, this is great stuff, full of evil manipulators and deception. The Delphi Technique has been around for quite awhile now and has been adapted to varying situations. According to Alan Cline of Corrola Develop- ment "The Delphi is particularly appropriate when decision-mak- ing is required in a political or emotional environment, or when the decisions affect strong fac- tions with opposing preferences. The tool works formally or informally, in large or small contexts, and reaps the benefits of group decision making while insulating the process from the limitations of group decision- making; e.g., over- dominant group mem- bers, political lobby- ing, or "bandwago- nism". I have had to sit through that process over the years, and, while I have felt impa- tient when participat- ing in a Delphi process, I never felt I was being co-opted. The Delphi Technique, in short was designed to bring order to proceedings like those on last Thursday night. It was not clear from the newspaper account whether it was going to be used that night or if it was just a red herring brought up by some in the audience. When Newt Gingrich deflect- ed questions about his sexual appetites he jumped all over the liberal media for devoting time and space to his duplicity with his second wife; he did not answer the character question, however. The media certainly does pick and choose what and when it publishes something, but Newt avoided answering the "character question" and chose to attack the media instead. Attacking the Delphi Technique is a similar tactic. Instead of engaging about the issue, it is easier to just complain and gripe and groan about something else. The hope is other people will forget about the issues and join in what is really mock anger in the case of Gingrich; when this happened Gingrich was being a manipulator. In any case this kind of behavior is not produc- tive. At the meeting on the water plan there were references to "guns" and "war" by some members of the audience; it makes you understand the diffi- culty in branding our communi- ty. Maybe the effort to create the state of Jefferson is alive and well; maybe Homeland Security will be investigating what is behind those seeming threats. As I have pointed Joe Harrop out several times, Stephen Covey has divided our lives into three stages: depen- dence, independence, and interdependence. We live in a complex world of interdepen- dence; we have to be able to depend on each other. We rely on common ground. The absurd problems with the Euro zone are good examples when countries cannot rely on each other. One of my favorite books is Leadership Without Easy Answers by Ronald Heifetz. A quote from his book probably describes what happened on Thursday night: "In times of global change, everything ends up feeling like a crisis, even when it is not. As a result, doubts, the exchange of ideas, weighing contrary values, col- laborative working, the testing of vision against competing views, changing one's mind, [all] seem like unaffordable lux- uries." Those items Heifetz men- tions are not "unaffordable" luxuries. They are the way we accomplish things in this coun- try. To quote George W. Bush "… we affirm a new commit- ment to live out our nation's promise through civility, courage, compassion and char- acter." I hope we can share his optimism by our example. Joe Harrop is a retired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net. would love to thank the Red Bluff and the Cattlemen com- munity for attending and donating to our Red Bluff Bull & Gelding Sale Pancake and cowboy breakfast. We have been serving your breakfast for more than 40 years. This has been our main source of income that we directly donate back in to the community. We have donated to Easter Seals for many of the earlier years, but have also donated to The Special Olympics, Relay for Life, Salvation Army and several families in need at Christmas time through North Valley Catholic Social Services. Sadly, times change and the Bull & Gelding Commit- tee has voted to take us out of this great event. We will not be serving you this year. It has been given to a local vender that will profit for themselves, hopefully a por- tion will be given back to all the great people of the Red Bluff area. Again, thanks to so many of you who have helped through the years in the kitchen and who have visited us, some every year, for more than 40 years. We have had a wonderful time serving you. Thank You. Teresa Colgate, Red Bluff Response to Boest letter about Nielsen Editor: In response to Mr Boest's Jan. 26 letter "Nielsen," property owner- ship is part of the public record. You can research deeds and other recorded information about property at the County Clerk's office. This is what a Title Search specialist would do. However, this is not an easy task for the individual. Easier is to find the proper- ty information at the Asses- Your Turn sor's office. They keep the assessor maps, lists of parcel numbers and alphabetical lists of parcel owners, etc. These are available at the Assessor's office front desk, and are updated frequently. Some counties maintain websites with access to this data. Others rely on outside services to provide on-line information. You can purchase CD disks from various suppli- ers. It would be interesting to see what the mailing address is for the property supposedly owned by Mr Nielsen. He has to get his annual tax bill somewhere. John M. Elko, Red Bluff Your officials