Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/542051
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 What's the big deal about death anyway? I almost died of a heart attack about six years ago. I now have a 14 inch scar that I can see regularly on my le forearm. I was fortunate enough then to have open heart surgery, at which time a good vein was removed from my arm and is now be- ing used to get a better blood flow to my heart. Myfirstpieceofadviseis to relax and enjoy the ride of life. Not to be maudlin, but the older I get the more I think about the end of my life. I think it must be a nat- ural thing to do. From time to time "Dr. Death" makes an ap- pearance on the television show "Family Guy." The creator, Seth MacFar- lane, has Dr. Death in many of his episodes. I think the problem with death is how humans handle it. Frankly, I think we do not handle death very well. Even our media highlights the end of a life as too sig- nificant. Whereas, nothing is more natural. It is an enormous deal of course, but who or what will change things and make death better? Death can be depended on to occur in everyone's future. When one is born, death is al- ready a done deal. So, con- sider it, but mostly forget about it. Earlier this month I offi- ciated at the "Celebration of Fred Davis' Life." It was my third time having that ex- perience. My friend Fred died at the ripe age of 90 and among other impressive things, he was the City Man- ager of Chico for several de- cades. During the second world war he was even a bombar- dier over many areas of Nazi Germany. He had been mar- ried twice and enjoyed a won- derful, long life. For some reason the un- known — death — reminds me of the doctor who had to give his patient good news and bad news. The bad news: The patient had cancer and would not last more than six months. However, the doctor quickly added the good news. And that was the fact that the doc himself had just started an affair with his receptionist. Funny joke? I don't think it is to women. Yes, one should look on the bright side of things, even though I am certain my wife will tell me that joke is not the bright side of anything. Sometimes even in bad taste, I would suggest to everyone that they throw in a little hu- mor every day and in every way. It is by far one of life's best ingredients. As I mature, and hope- fully never stop, I continue to know that everyone will die, but I still don't want to be- lieve that will ever happen to me. We are born alone and will die the same way. Thus, my mind looks for humor and enjoyment in every moment I get to experience. Bottom line: Our planet has roughly 6.6 billion peo- ple. Every one of those dudes and babes will have to visit Dr. Death sooner or later. The good news is that visit will be just one time. Mytakeonthemovies My movie review this week is "Terminator Genisys." This film is a fast ride of special effects of all the Terminators you will see. Ahhhnnnuuulllddd does his usual job and delivers his expected lines on the big screen. There are even a few laughs here. We get see the Terminator attempt to perform a genuine smile. This film has no sig- nificant redeeming value, but can be fun to see if you like non-stop action. Give me your thoughts please. Thanks. StanStathamserved1976- 1994 in the California Assembly and was a television news anchor at KHSL-TV in Chico 1965- 1975. He is president of the California Broadcasters Association and can be reached at StanStatham@ gmail.com. My take What'sthebig deal about death? We are born alone and will die the same way. Thus, my mind looks for humor and enjoyment in every moment I get to experience. County not listening to the voters Editor: Many people lately have been getting orders from the sheriff's department to chop down their marijuana plants. The order states that a mari- juana plant growing outdoors is a public nuisance. Does yes mean no, or does no mean yes? Does private mean public? The basis of this eradication campaign that Tehama County has launched against the pot growers is based upon a lie. Many lies actually. The vot- ers of this county have elected people that are unfamiliar with our standard English dic- tionary. These common garden plants anchored in the ground on private property out of view and behind a locked gate are not a public nuisance. I witnessed the proceedings with my own eyes and ears. They were conducting court without a judge and with- out any representation. All in- put by the accused parties, in- cluding eyewitness and pho- tographs, was totally ignored and the judgment of noncom- pliance was issued in virtually every case. There is a bigger picture that shows that when capitalism can eradicate the small farmer by use of the political system and the lawmakers, you will see a large Phillip Morris type company create a monopoly on the cannabis market. How long do you want to put up with and be oppressed by our corrupt government? The new kingdom we are about to enter will be oper- ated with zero corruption. En- joy the remainder of your time county supervisors. — Robert Bill, Red Bluff Hope Chest ignored by local officials Editor: Recently the Hope Chest cel- ebrated its fifty years of con- tinuous business in Red Bluff with an open house and recep- tion attended by volunteers, staff, customers and friends. The Board of Directors wishes to thank all who at- tended and helped make the day such a special and memo- rable occasion. Thanks, also, to the Daily News for its front page article including details of our history and accomplish- ments. However we all were ex- tremely surprised and disap- pointed that we had no re- sponse or recognition from the local officials — Board of Supervisors, Red Bluff City Council, Chamber of Com- merce — who received spe- cial invitations, some hand de- livered. Not that we expected them to necessarily appear at the party but we did ex- pect some kind of acknowl- edgement of our many years of dedicated work and service to the community. From their deafening si- lence we get the feeling that some uninformed regard the Hope Chest as only that funky little thrift shop down in the hollow. Maybe they would be sur- prised to learn what a ma- jor influence it has been. The thousands of dollars in mon- etary support has allowed the Family Council Center — for- merly Family Service Agency — to assist many low income clients who may otherwise have been a societal burden. Families come to the Hope Chest suffering from losses due to fire or flood or other personal tragedies and have been generously supplied with necessities. The Hope Chest donates clothing to the Proba- tion Department and Alterna- tives to Violence and assists Cal Works in choosing suitable outfits for job interviews. In addition to dedicated vol- unteers, many with long time seniority, the Hope Chest has a bi-lingual worker from the Experience-1 Work program, several from Cal Works:, many strong men sent by the Pro- bation Department were able to move boxes and clean out the long time accumulation of merchandise upstairs. Also the local high schools send students to work several hours for volunteer credit. Financially the Hope Chest contributes to this commu- nity — a portion of the sales tax stays locally, our utilities, insurance and maintenance are local and we are members of Red Bluff-Tehama County Chamber of Commerce, and, of course, the six days a week business of selling merchan- dise is amazingly successful. The recent Daily News ar- ticle has caused an upsurge in our very impressive dona- tions of clothing, household merchandise and electronics which pour constantly, into the side door entrance so we benefit and the donors can feel assured their discards and the lightly used items are finding a second home, as well as a tax write-off. Anyone who still would be interested in visiting this well run and interesting business, please feel free to come by for a tour. Meanwhile, how about a lit- tle more respect and acknowl- edgement paid to the Hope Chest, which has been such an important part of this commu- nity for so many years. — Suzanne Sale, Red Bluff Your opinions Cartoonist's take "Sequel reveals dark side of Atticus Finch." "New book por- trays Atticus Finch as a racist." "Atticus Finch fans on Twitter aghast." Those are some of the head- lines spawned by the ar- rival of "Go Set A Watchman," the long-unexpected sequel to Harper Lee's 1960 Pulit- zer-winning novel "To Kill A Mockingbird." The revelation of the heroic small-town attorney as a segre- gationist is not the only compli- cation about the novel. Yes, it's a sequel in that it's set 20 years after the other book; but it was really written first (1957), re- jected by the publisher and completely reconfigured (with a different time period and Scout's first-person narration) to give us the familiar "Mock- ingbird." Yes, it's about as confusing as the order of the nine "Star Wars" films. And, as a recently published graphic novel proves, George Lucas's original idea for "The Star Wars" was vastly dif- ferent than the finished prod- uct. Luckily, the Harper Lee/Star Wars connection ends there, or we would have Yoda telling the townspeople of Maycomb, "There is no 'try' — there is only Boo or not Boo." Some diehard "Mockingbird" fans are vowing not to crack open "Watchman." (Sort of like my classmates, once they real- ized "To Kill A Mockingbird" was short on camouflage gear and hollow-point ammunition.) Others cheer the fact that At- ticus is "now" not so blandly heroic, but rather a richer and more fascinating character. Of course this will make some people take the wrong message from the book. ("Sure, I hog handicapped parking places, share my flatulence proudly and keep hitting on my sister- in-law. But I'm not bad — I'm just nuanced.") Some of the myriad news- paper articles about the "new" book focus on the reaction of the people who were named for Atticus because of the 1960 "Mockingbird" (and even more the 1962 Oscar-winning film starring Gregory Peck). At least we won't have to worry about people being saddled with the names of movie stars and main characters in the future; pro- gressive presidential candidate Bernie Sanders will stick it to the one-percenters by mak- ing sure that babies are in- stead named for motion picture "key grips," "gaffers" and "best boys." We do get attached to our fictional characters, don't we? (Though none so much as "the one I should have married." You know, "He would do a rain dance, create a puddle and then throw his cape down for me like Sir Walter Raleigh. But no, I had to marry you.") Now that Atticus has "jumped the shark" and changed so much, readers are nervously wondering what other literary icons will be the victim of a long-lost man- uscript. Is there a version of "Charlotte's Web" wherein Charlotte spells "Barbecue sure is good eatin'" in her web? Maybe there will even be a sequel to "Watchman." Perhaps Atticus drowns while trying to construct a big wall between the U.S. and Africa. In the wake of recent anti- Confederacy hysteria, some ac- tivists are demanding that Atti- cus Finch's grave be dug up and the bigot reinterred elsewhere. I tried explaining that Atticus is a fictional character, but they countered, "Well, maybe Ge- petto could find some way to turn him into a real boy, and then when he died he could be dug up and —" But Gepetto is also a... *Sigh* To paraphrase Atti- cus, "Equal rights for all, spe- cial privileges for none, a swift kick in the rear end for over-re- actors." Danny Tyree welcomes email responses at tyreetyrades@aol. com and visits to his Facebook fan page Tyree's Tyrades. Danny Tyree The fictional character Atticus Finch jumps the shark? Stan Statham OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, July 16, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4