Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/541550
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 Ithasbeenafewweeks since I devoted my column to recognizing those businesses, groups, other en- tities and just plain folks who have supported the acquisition, restoration and day-to-day oper- ation of the his- toric State The- atre. The list of those who support our efforts is long indeed, and continues to grow on an almost daily ba- sis. •••• When we began our capital campaign to purchase the the- ater, one of the first contacts we made was with the Sierra Pacific Industries Foundation. As most folks are aware, Sierra Pacific Industries is headquar- tered in these parts. They pro- vide good, stable employment to thousands of employees lo- cally, in the Northwest, and throughout the entire country. What folks may not realize, however, is the value that SPI places on improving the qual- ity of life within the communi- ties they serve. In calendar year 2011, the SPI Foundation awarded ST- FTA — State Theatre for the Arts, the non-profit organi- zation that exists to support the State Theatre — a sizable grant to assist with the pur- chase of the theater. In 2014, the Foundation awarded the theater an additional finan- cial grant in support of a proj- ect to replace our 65-year old stage. Additionally, the SPI Foundation has underwritten several programs targeted to- ward children, as well as pro- viding wood products to assist with State Theatre restoration projects. It is important to note that Sierra Pacific's philanthropic efforts extend far beyond the confines of the historic State Theatre. While space will not allow me to list all the pro- grams supported through the SPI Foundation, I would like to highlight the amazing SPI academic scholarship pro- gram. Every Sierra Pacific em- ployee's child who is graduat- ing from high school, and will be attending college, has the opportunity to receive a finan- cial scholarship. Over the past three decades, over $5,000,000 has been awarded to support Sierra Pacific children who are pursuing a college education. Several weeks ago, 247 college- bound children of Sierra Pa- cific employees received a total of $640,000 from SPI in sup- port a post-high school educa- tion. What a country. What a company. In recognition of Sierra Pa- cific's meaningful contribu- tion to the State Theatre we are designating our iconic old tiled drinking fountain the Si- erra Pacific drinking fountain at the historic State Theatre. •••• I am a proud 35-year mem- ber of the Rotary Club of Red Bluff. Most folks think that Ro- tary is comprised of a bunch of really old blowhards who do little more than sit around pontificating and occasion- ally writing a check for one community cause or another. While I agree that we have our share of really old blowhards, I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to em- phasize that we are a hands- on club that not only puts its money where its mouth is, but several times a years rolls up it sleeves in support of various community-based projects. In addition to having com- pleted the monumental Cone- Kimball tower project, the Ro- tary Club of Red Bluff pro- vides labor and funding for well more than 20 worthy pro- grams every year. During Ro- tary year 2014-15, more than $50,000 was raised and ex- pended on behalf of the fol- lowing programs: free diction- aries for every third-grader in Tehama County; Carl Havener Memorial ALS contribution; 4-H judging and awards pro- gram; Kelly Griggs Museum contribution; Books for Chil- dren program; Sober Gradu- ation program; developmen- tally disabled holiday dinner; Tax Aide program for 800; Lit- tle League Sponsorship; Hal- loween candy program; Fam- ily Counseling Center sponsor; Tehama Concert Series spon- sor, beer concession, Red Bluff Round-Up; chili cook-off spon- sor; 4-way speech contest; ac- ademic scholarship program; Super Bowl pancake break- fast; Valentine's Day dinner and dance; Boy Scout sponsor- ship program; Growney Ranch Tough Enough to Wear Pink campaign; Camp Royal leader- ship sponsor; Special Olympics play day sponsor, SERRF car- nival and dinner sponsor; Stu- dent of Month program; In- ternational Student Visit Pro- gram. Our club is especially for- tunate this year in that Tom Amundson is serving as club president. Tom, a graduate of Loma Linda University, is the very intelligent and well- respected owner of Amund- son Physical Therapy. He and his lovely wife Rosemary are the parents of three bright, attractive grown daughters, Kelsey, Lindsey and Tracey. With Tom's leadership, 2015-16 promises to be a banner year for the Rotary Club of Red Bluff. Thank you, Red Bluff Ro- tary, for your $25,000 contri- bution to the historic State Theatre, and for all you do for this community. •••• I guess this is the appro- priate time to also recognize Brand-X club's contribution to the State Theatre project. For the past century or so there has been a running argument regarding the overall contribu- tions made to this community by the "old-man" Rotary Club vs. the much younger Kiwanis Club of Red Bluff. While word limit require- ments will not allow me to publish the entire list of Ki- wanis Club contributions to the community, I am sure such a list would be long indeed. For the past 30 years or so I have annually given Kiwanis member Lou Bosetti a crisp $20 dollar bill in support of the Round-Up Pancake Break- fast. In return, I have been able to watch my children and grandchildren as they look for Kiwanis-sponsored Eas- ter eggs, or wave goodbye as they left to attend the wonder- ful week-long Kiwanis Camp at Camp Tehama. Seems like a pretty good deal to me. Thank you, Kiwanis Club of Red Bluff, for your $10,000 contribution to the historic State Theatre, and for all you do for this community. •••• Congratulations to the 11- 12 year old Red Bluff Lit- tle League all-stars for get- ting one-step closer to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylva- nia, by winning the District 1 tournament. Players include Blake Tweedt, Brice Tweedt, Chamberlin Turnbow, Jakob Fregoso, Kurtis Rodriques, Luke Arvig. Christopher Huhn, Garrett Freeman, Bryce Acree, Jordan Shank, Logan Carver and Justin Hinkston. Coaches include Vince Ro- driguez, Wes Arvig and Rob Huhn. •••• Having lost a bet, I hereby publicly acknowledge that in- surance magnate Tod Dolling is a better golfer than me. 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 Recognition of State supporters Cartoonist's take Get this: The average human being now has a shorter atten- tion span than a goldfish. According to a new study from Microsoft Corp., reports Time, av- erage people lose concentration af- ter about 8 sec- onds, whereas the average goldfish doesn't begin los- ing interest until after 9 seconds. This is thanks to the effects of "an increasingly digitalized life- style on the brain." At least I think that is what the article said. I lost interest and never finished it. In any event, the report finds that "Heavy multi-screeners find it difficult to filter out irrelevant stimuli — they're more easily dis- tracted by multiple streams of media." Which explains a lot about the lack of critical thinking these days. Remember when President Obama successfully used several vague platitudes to win two elec- tions? All he had to do was prom- ise hope and change and people started fainting in the aisles. He convinced many low-infor- mation voters that he would be their savior. He'd achieve peace with Iran through the force of his charming personality. He'd pull our troops out of Iraq and all would be grand. He'd provide health care for all and it would cost lots less than we had been paying. And the low-info, short-atten- tion-span crowd bought his zeal hook, line and sinker. Now Iran is outsmarting him at every step and, no small num- ber of experts fear, his efforts are expediting, rather than inhibit- ing, Iran's goal of getting a nuke. By pretending the opposition elements in Iraq were of a ju- nior-varsity makeup, he pulled out the troops and left a mas- sive void — unleashing mas- sive chaos that is spreading throughout the region. ObamaCare was sold to the public along emotional lines — insurance for all — and mis- truths — costs would go down. ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber explained on several oc- casions that it was designed to dupe stupid Americans. Now we know insurance costs have soared for the vast majority of those who were happy with their insurance. During Obama's presidential campaigns, it was pointless to get into discussions with the av- erage short-attention-span/low- info voter. If you argued that Obama's hope of negotiating a peaceful outcome with Iran might be a fool's errand — that Iran has a long history of flouting interna- tional agreements — you were called a close-minded neocon. If you argued that it was pre- mature to pull our troops out of Iraq — that we still have troops in South Korea, Germany and Japan — you were called an im- perialist and a warmonger. If you argued that the best way to extend health coverage to the poor and uninsured was to address the cost challenges of our incredibly complex sys- tem, you were told you hated the poor and the uninsured. Look, the more citizens we have who lack the desire or fo- cus to think things through, the more ripe we are for silver- tongued politicians and clever advocates of the latest hot-but- ton issue to make useful idiots out of us. Or we can follow Bill Gates' advice on how to use deep, crit- ical thinking to resolve our problems and achieve dramati- cally improved outcomes. "The barrier to change is not too little caring," said Gates in his 2007 Harvard commence- ment speech, "it is too much complexity. To turn caring into action, we need to see a prob- lem, see a solution, and see the impact. But complexity blocks all three steps." So how do we cut through complexity? Gates says there are four stages: "determine a goal, find the highest-leverage approach, discover the ideal technology for that approach," then "measure the impact of your work and share your suc- cesses and failures so that oth- ers learn from your efforts." We can do better, people — but that will require that we have a much better attention span than a goldfish. Tom Purcell, author of "Misadventures of a 1970s Childhood" and "Comical 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 Short attention spans are consequence of digital life Sounding off A look at what readers are saying in comments on our website and on social media. Cops do some of the dumbest things sometimes. I nearly hit a CHP as he darted out of the oleanders between the north and southbound lanes chasing a vehicle. I was passing a vehicle in tow when I had to slam on the brakes, barely missing the idiot cop. The person behind me nearly hit me as well. Ed Drewsen: On two CHP officers injured in a collision on State Route 99Saturday. That's my girl. Way proud of all of these girls. An experience they will never forget. Cory Grootveld: On the Corning fast pitch All Star Girls winning District 1championship. StateandNational Assemblyman James Gallagher, 2060Talbert Drive, Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530895-4217, http:// ad03.asmrc.org/ Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, senator.nielsen@sen- ate.ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown, State Capi- tal Building, Sacramento 95814, 916445-2841, fax 916558-3160, governor@governor.ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug La- Malfa, 507Cannon House Office Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415393-0707, fax 415393-0710 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, 1700 Montgomery St., San Francisco 94111, 510286-8537, 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, Richard Crabtree, 527-2605, Ext. 3061 Your officials Tom Purcell Bill Cornelius OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, July 15, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B4