Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/545955
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 Filethisinthelargeandgrowing'Govern- ment Unintended Consequences' folder. It seems that when the government tries to make good capitalists out of outlaws, many of the outlaw business practices stay the same. When repeal of the 18th Amendment legal- ized alcohol in the United States, a er 13 years of poorly enforced teetotaling, the Mafia and the Outfit got out of the booze business and le it to the major distillers that had been on the sidelines waiting for sanity to return to a thirsty nation. Thatdidn't happenin Cal- ifornia when the state legal- ized the sale and production of marijuana, because there were no major agribusiness firms that had ever been part of the tokin' culture. Instead these pot outlaws that had been illegal for years were now legal, but with that old outlaw mentality. In fact, it appears the growers don't appear to be very mellow at all. According to an editorial in the Fresno Bee, "Acres of ancient trees are disappear- ing and illegal marijuana farms are popping up in their place. Streams and rivers are be- ing sucked dry, diverted sometimes miles away through plastic pipes into tanks. Several species of fish, along with a rare breed of wild rodent, are on the verge of extinction." Evidently this is because when you are an outlaw, it's cheaper to despoil parkland and steal water than it is to buy your own land and your own water. The Bee puts part of the blame on consumers: "Apa- thetic consumers seem un- affected by the environmen- tal damage that weed causes. We buy fair-trade coffee and free-range chickens. Where's the outrage about the envi- ronmental impact of mari- juana?" But this is confusing. I al- ways thought it was the mar- ijuana consumers who were "free—range" instead of the products. Naturally the Bee is call- ing for more "regulation" of growers, but since when is squatting on state or federal parkland legal? To say noth- ing of diverting water and endangering species. Can't the same environ- mental laws that crush home- owners who want to build an addition, farmers who want to spray for pests, developers that want to build on their land or manufacturers that find a dead bird on the prop- erty be used to stop lawless former maryjane outlaws? Wouldn't it make sense to enforce the law already on the books and see if that solves the problem? Uprooting illegal mari- juana fields in parks, confis- cating the harvest, seizing bank assets and impound- ing growing equipment now would do more to restore or- der now than more "regula- tion" in the future. The EPA is filled with en- vironmental law ninjas that honed their skills on unsus- pecting, law—abiding cit- izens. Why not turn them loose on the gangster grow- ers? MichaelReaganisthesonof President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution" (St. Martin's Press). Send comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com. Follow @reaganworld on Twitter. Michael Reagan No environmental outrage on pot? Cartoonist's take J. Quincy wrote that she is confused about our pub- lic drinking fountains. She re- calls, in the old days, an elabo- rate monument in a small park next to the rail- road station on Walnut and Mad- ison, and a drink- ing fountain on the corner of Main and Walnut. As to the latter, according to historian Maurice Ness, the fountain was installed on the corner in front of the Cone & Kimball building in 1914. It was a memorial in 1912 to the young son of HP Stice, who had died of polio. In 1935 a metal door was installed in the bottom and would be filled with ice around the pipes in the summer time to enable passersby to have a cool drink. The late Jim Hoffman told me he once had that city job. Later, circa 1950, it was moved to the City Park, per- haps because it obstructed the traffic of large trucks mak- ing the turn onto Main. How- ever, after the destruction of the Cone & Kimball building in 1984, and the subsequent con- struction of the C & K Plaza, it was moved from the City Park to a location in the Plaza fac- ing Walnut where it remains to this day. The memorial in the South- ern Pacific Railroad Park (long gone) on Madison, was a trib- ute to a "The Beloved Physi- cian," a Doctor named John Fife, 1860-1910, and relo- cated eventually to the City Park where it was converted into a public drinking foun- tain. Today it appears to have been vandalized and not work- ing but Public Works says that a freeze some years ago ren- dered it useless. That said, there is a prob- lem regarding the Stice Foun- tain in the C & K Plaza. There is a large tree encroaching on the east side where, if left un- attended that may eventu- ally knock off the light post mounted on the top. Rotarians please take note. ••• J. Angelo says Lexophile is a word used to describe those who have a love of words, such as "You can tune a piano but you can't tuna fish" or "To write with a broken pencil is point- less." I say they are a series of puns and I say nuts to that. However, "A boiled egg is hard to beat" and "When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a mall" possibly could be al- lowed in print. Tsk, tsk. ••• M. Oldham e-mailed me the startling news that the month of August contains 5 Sundays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Fridays, and that we will not see this oddity for another 823 years. I replied that I could not make any use of this information but I know of a firm that can. The Daily News will be able to bill me for extra days in the month of Au- gust. But, hold on, this just in. Mel says he has been duped. He writes, "To whomever I sent this to, I apologize. It is not true. Check August in your current calendar. It is Satur- day, Sunday and Monday with the five days in August 2015… not Fridays. The Chinese got us again!" ••• A translator of The Tale of Genji used a word which I had not seen before. "Priapic" is defined as "Overly concerned with masculinity" whereas "ef- fete" is defined as "No longer able to reproduce," but it also means "decadent." Letters to the editor writers take note and use where needed. ••• Those in need of relief from stress take note: Float ther- apy is available. Sources say "A specially designed enclo- sure allows a person, in total darkness, to float in a 200 gal- lon spa type apparatus which contains 1,000 lbs of Epson salts which creates an aqueous mattress reducing demand on muscles and their correspond- ing parts of the brain. It is as close to a zero gravity state as you are ever going to find on earth." Except for reading the Tuesday column, of course. ••• TIME reports that a Penn- sylvania Labrador had 62 hair bands removed from his stom- ach, along with 8 pairs of un- derwear. I mentioned this to All That Jazz and he replied, "That's stupid, even for a Lab- rador. I would never do that." "Some of our previous pets were fond of eating socks and handkerchiefs," I replied. "How would you know that?" Jazz answered incredu- lously. "Because we found evi- dence in the yard. They had ei- ther been barfed up or passed through their system, if you know what I mean." "That's disgusting," said Jazz. "Must be something lack- ing in their diet" he mused. "On the other hand, I have known certain dogs to eat horse poop." Jazz looked uncomfortable with this accusation, and re- tired to his dog bed without comment. There is no accounting for taste, in pets or their masters. ••• With time on their hands, and little to do until their next meal, readers take note of my judicious use of commas in this column. The DN editor can find fault with other as- pects of this effort, but seldom does he insert or subtract my commas. If asked, I would advise writers to insert commas as they would pause when tell- ing a story, when you pause, that is the spot for the comma. However, it is not the spot for inserting "you know" in in- stead. If a person falls into the "you know" trap, they should have their verbal work tape recorded and played back to them. Also, their use of their hands when describing some- thing. Maybe they need to be videotape or some iPhone de- vice. ••• Husband goes with his wife to her high school reunion. After meeting several of her friends and former school mates, they are sitting at a ta- ble where he is yawning and overly bored. The band cranks up and people are beginning to dance. There's a guy on the dance floor living it large, break dancing, moon walking, back flips, buying drinks for people, the works. Wife turns to her husband and says, "See that guy? 25 years ago he proposed to me and I turned him down." Husband says: "Looks like he's still celebrating." 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 Public drinking fountains of yesteryear live on Apathetic consumers seem unaffected by the environmental damage that weed causes. We buy fair-trade coffee and free- range chickens. Where's the outrage about the environmental impact of marijuana? StateandNational Assemblyman James Galla- gher, 2060 Talbert Drive, Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 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 Robert Minch OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, July 24, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4