Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/572137
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 Earlier this month the legislature asked Governor Jerry Brown to declare a special session in Sacramento to address Califor- nia's horrible drought. Don'tbesurprised,butJuly 2015 was the hottest tempera- ture on record. And, I believe that climate change and wa- ter are at least connected. The challenge our golden state has always had is the proper management of all the water we have available to us. As you know, it mostly be- gins in the great north state, and because of the Central Val- ley Project we manage to send most of it south. At our State Capitol the politicians always use the term "water storage." They seem to be afraid to just use the word "dam." If our state had built a few dams over the last several de- cades, we would not be so worried about this drought to- day. As a matter of fact, there would be no water crisis at all. Ninety percent of Califor- nia's water starts flowing north of Sacramento and 90 percent is transported and used south of the Tehachapi Mountains. El Niño may be on its way, but we should not have to wait and depend on mother nature's water to solve the challenge we are facing now. You know, mother nature cannot actually be trusted. Many things have stood in the way of building new dams to help give us all the water we need and desire. Almost 40 years ago, immediately af- ter I was elected to our Cali- fornia Assembly, Speaker Wil- lie Brown appointed me to the Assembly Water Committee. Coincidentally, 1976-77 was when our state had its last se- vere drought. Because of that, I found myself on at least one occasion being the pivotal vote in our legislature on the management and development of California's water. Senator Rubin Ayala had just introduced SB-346 to build a controversial and in- famous peripheral canal. The canal was proposed to be built just to the east of California's Delta area, inland from San Francisco. Such a canal would quickly stop so much wa- ter from simply being wasted as it goes out into the Pacific ocean. Two members of the water committee voted "aye" and two others "no" on Ayala's proposal. The pressure of passing SB- 346 then became up to only me. Pressure from the Oper- ating Engineer's Union was considerable. They obviously wanted to help build that ca- nal. A very dear friend of mine, the late Ken Green of Cottonwood, guided me to eventually supporting it. The proposal was subse- quently on California's ballot and defeated. My agony in eventually vot- ing for the proposal was sub- stantially reduced by Clyde MacDonald, the Chief Con- sultant of the Assembly Water Committee giving me an idea. I had asked Clyde to teach or brief me on water so that my already short political career would not go down that well known creek filled with some- thing else. Because of Clyde I was able to put a new and important provision in California law. I am happy to say it is still law today. Mytakeonthemovies This week's movie review is a film titled "The Perfect Guy," which I thought would be a chick flick, but remember, no guy is really perfect. "The Perfect Guy" stars the beautiful Sanaa Lathan, Mi- chael Ealy and Morris Chest- nut. They all hold the screen and keep your attention easily. I discovered I went to a crime thriller. I would highly recommend this film. This is a good movie. StanStathamserved1976- 1994 in the California Assembly and was a television news anchor at KHSL-TV in Chico 1965-1975. He is past president of the California Broadcasters Association and can be reached at StanStatham@gmail.com. My take Water management during drought El Niño may be on its way, but we should not have to wait and depend on mother nature's water to solve the challenge we are facing now. Community's generosity is legendary Editor: When asked to give, this community's generosity is leg- endary. Over the years I have asked you to join with me in helping to feed our fellow citi- zens in Tehama County. Your contribution ensures that 15 Tehama County food banks can feed those that come knocking on their doors. With the participation of our two food partners, North State Food Bank and locally owned Nu- Way Market in Los Molinos, food baskets can be tailored to meet the specific needs of our families. Fresh vegetables, pro- tein and even baby formula can be purchased for infants. We are asking you to join the efforts of more than 150 businesses by making a heart- felt donation towards this very worthwhile endeavor. For a list of participating food banks, sponsors and collection sites please visit our website at www. FoodFromTheHeartTehama- County.com. One hundred per- cent of all donations go toward the purchase of food and are tax deductible. Together we can accomplish great things, by holding hands we create miracles. Will you take my hand to walk into a fu- ture where no child goes to bed hungry? For more info please contact me at 528-8000. — Jessie Woods, Red Bluff Leaving California for good Editor: Monday, the 14th, we left Cal- ifornia for good. I have family in Arizona and it's out of Cali- fornia. California is a beautiful state but it's my belief that for one reason or another it's going to hell like all of this country. I called to cancel our tele- vision service plan that we've had for over 30 years. It's not Direct, I will tell you that. It's the other big guy. I asked them to send me boxes. They said they would. Called again after about 10 days, they said our call wasn't conclusive. These crooks will not let us go, we've been on the phone for over an hour, they will not take no. So, we're go- ing to box this junk up and ship it UPS at our expense and will never deal with them again. This is not new these days. Another local Red Bluff cell phone company put us through the ringer a year ago. Five months later our problem was fixed. People say report it to BBB. Yeah, if you can contact the appropriate one. Not worth the time of day. Everyone you deal with these days claim customer service is their one priority but you don't get it. Can't talk to a human being if your problem doesn't come up as "press 1" or "press 2." Not enough jobs they say. There's jobs, everything is au- tomatic. We had no A/C for over five days this week. Couldn't talk to a human being and we have a plan with this company. After I blew up my husband somehow found a human to beg come fix our A/C and they did. After four days, the company assigned to us said it would be Monday which is five more days. It was 109 the day they fixed it. It's a busy time I know, but we're a "preferred" customer. So much for that. Most of those we talk to we can hardly understand because they're probably in India and have an accent so thick between my husband and myself we fi- nally figure out what they're saying. They are very polite. We have far too many im- migrants in this country, most good people I'm sure but they're not all scholars. We have to sup- port them with more benefits than our own Americans have. What is wrong with this picture. It's the liberal plan, buy votes, but do they have brains enough to see down the road? Apparently not. There are vi- cious people in this world, why do we have to dance around with them because we have no guts. Innocent people are being killed anyway, they call it col- lateral damage. That's life. Enough of my raving. I do need to mention that if Mr. Minch thinks we should vote a woman president into office, we do have another woman run- ning with many talents and not near as much baggage. Seven years ago we voted the first Af- rican-American into office, look where we are. I laugh when liberals say so and so has no experience. The only experience this president had was to vote "present" and community service, which has never been explained as to what he accomplished. An absolute joke. Good-bye California and Gov- ernor Moonbeam and all your little friends running this pa- thetic state. You need more sanctuary cities, get the undoc- umented out of Arizona, please. Sadly the problem is all over this country. I was born in this state, we've lived here for prob- ably 50 years but we're going to tell people we're from some place else. — Bernice Cressy, Cottonwood Flunk for a high school diploma Editor: Employers formerly knew that a high school diploma had value, but no more. With refer- ence the writer Michael Rea- gan, the San Francisco Board of Education, decided that flunk- ing the state graduation test three times, entitles one to a di- ploma, because there was not a fourth opportunity to flunk the test. How often must taxpay- ers pay for high school remedial courses taught to college fresh- men? The fact is the sophomore level state graduation test can be taken at the end of the soph- omore, junior and senior years. It is an awful stigma on Califor- nia parents, principals, super- intendents, school boards and teachers that so many flunk the sophomore level graduation test needed for a diploma. — Joseph Neff, Corning Your opinions Cartoonist's take As I begin my 41st year of col- lecting the Fall Preview issues of "TV Guide," my mind drifts back to the programs that turn 50 this fall. Yes, 1965 produced the in- famous "My Mother The Car" and long-forgotten flops such as "Camp Runamuck;" but it also gave the world a number of shows that still hold a special place in the hearts of millions. I'm sure "I Dream of Jeannie" raised some eyebrows during its day; but now the "cohabita- tion" seems innocent and sweet, and Barbara Eden's costumes look about like what Miley Cyrus would wear if the Video Music Awards were held at the North Pole. "The Wild Wild West" (I still remember my brother's 1969 lunchbox) did both the spy and Western genres proud; but now- adays a Western elicits outcries of "Ick! That's so old-fashioned and irrelevant to my daily life. Of course if they replaced the school marm with a Viking warrior..." Reruns of a CGI-free "Lost In Space" still get me excited, but I hope there's not another re- make. Don't mar my memories by having the robot shout, "Dan- ger, Will Robinson! Danger! The feds are raiding Dr. Smith's meth lab!" The popular "Hogan's Heroes" was derided as trivializing Nazi atrocities, but what doesn't get trivialized in 2015? "That Nazi wouldn't let me sell baby parts." Maybe "F Troop" and the oth- ers needed more diverse cast- ing, "I'm thinking the flamboy- antly gay Asian-American ac- tor to play Wrangler Jane — but only if he is clinically diagnosed with Tourette syndrome," but they were still good fun. Perhaps they numbed our brains, but at least we didn't have nightmares about someone trying to eat our brains. "Green Acres" is a particu- lar favorite of my son Gideon, age 11. The surrealistic com- edy about attorney Oliver Wen- dell Douglas's exasperating en- counters with the denizens of Hooterville ran for six seasons, before perishing in CBS's "ru- ral purge." Wouldn't it be funny if the farmers in "flyover coun- try" added possum gizzards or something to the food nibbled by viewers watching the ubiqui- tous Manhattan and L.A.-based shows? "Agghh! Possum giz- zards! There's not enough water in the cee-ment pond to take the taste away!" Yes, some of these "lowest common denominator" shows were formulaic and spoon- fed you your laughs, but to- day's shows are more likely to BREAST-feed you your laughs. I'm not proud of the cigarette commercials sprinkled through- out the shows; but at least in that business environment, shows had FEWER commercials, longer seasons and theme songs more substantial than a sneeze. I'm glad TV once had witches and Martian uncles and talking horses instead of assembly-line office comedies, altered "reality" and forensic spin-offs. I love a lot of current shows; but it was nice to be free of the stress of picking a show that was Edgy, Compelling, Nuanced, Epic, Multi-Layered, Ripped From Today's Headlines, where Every. Episode. Counts. Wait — let's not forget "Get Smart." In 1965 bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart gave us catch-phrases such as "Missed it by that much" and "Sorry about that, Chief." Now his rou- tine has been taken over by an- other celebrity. "Would you be- lieve that I'm going to have the most transparent administra- tion ever? Would you believe that if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor? Really? You would? Then, would you be- lieve that a subparagraph of the Constitution says I can run for a third term?" Danny Tyree welcomes email responses at tyreetyrades@aol. com and visits to his Facebook fan page Tyree's Tyrades. Danny Tyree Boy, I miss the TV class of 1965 Stan Statham OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, September 17, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6