Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/58506
6A Daily News – Thursday, March 15, 2012 Opinion Mr. Spartan Editor: 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 Apparently the Daily News 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. Letters are published at the discretion of the editor. Mission Statement We believe that a strong com- munity newspaper is essential to a strong community, creating citizens who are better informed and more involved. The Daily News will be the indispensible guide to life and living in Tehama County. We will be the premier provider of local news, information and advertising through our daily newspaper, online edition and other print and Internet vehi- cles. The Daily News will reflect and support the unique identities of Tehama County and its cities; record the history of its com- munities and their people and make a positive difference in the quality of life for the resi- dents and businesses of Tehama County. 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 doesn't realize the amount of effort that goes into Mr. Spartan. These young men work hard and practice for months to execute a spectacular performance for our school and community. Adding it to their already busy senior sched- ules; with academics, sports and club obligations. They get their picture in your publication on the last page next to the obituaries. However you reserve the front page for an escaped Salt Creek inmate. Really? Congratulations to all the Mr. Spartans, you are front page news to me. Bonnie Huntsman, Los Molinos Mill Creek salmon Editor: In response to the Fresno-based Orange Cove Irrigation District letter of March 10. Spring-run chinook migrate upstream in the spring, hold in cold pools at high elevations, and spawn in the fall. The fall-run move upstream in the fall and spawn in the lower reaches shortly after they arrive. The fry of both species move downstream in the spring. Chinook salmon are a cold water species. They cannot survive the summertime temperatures of lower Mill Creek. The Los Molinos Mutual Water Company has worked for decades with resource agencies to prevent impacts of their diversions to anadromous fish in Mill Creek. They started screening diversions to protect fish in the 1920s, and over 20 years ago, the Mutual began a water exchange program with the California Department of Fish and Game and Department of Water Resources to provide trans- port flows for chinook salmon in both the spring and fall. Water temperature, creek flows and fish biology are key to the tim- ing of releases for fish survival and migration. In exchange for full creek flows when the fish need them, DWR operates two large pumps to replace irrigation flows during critical low water periods in the summer. This historic sharing program has worked well for both anadro- mous fish and Mill Creek water users for over 20 years. For the exchange program to work well, all the adjudicated water is needed. Orange Cove Irrigation District owns two water rights on Mill Creek and they have every right to use that water within the service area. However, their sale of those rights to Napa Pipe will require that water be left in the stream dur- ing the summer, when anadro- mous fish are not present, and will deprive landowners of needed irri- gation water during low flow peri- ods. When OCID determined to sell that right for an urban develop- ment in Napa, in my mind, they became speculators without regard to the damage they may cause to local farmers and a precious resource. Much of the decimation of the salmon populations in California lies with the elimination of flows from the San Joaquin River and export of water from the Delta. OCID, a Fresno County water pur- veyor, is party to this degradation of the Delta fisheries. Their original Mill Creek water scheme was concocted to replace their own mit- igation responsibilities for Friant Dam, on the San Joaquin. It seems ironic that an organiza- tion that is party to the deteriora- tion of the once magnificent salmon runs of the San Joaquin River can presume to know more about restoring salmon than peo- ple that are actually doing it on the Sacramento. If the Napa Pipe project is suc- cessful, OCID will receive mil- lions of dollars for only a portion of their water right. Follow the money. Burt Bundy, Los Molinos Editor's note: Burt Bundy is president of the Mill Creek Con- servancy. Trickle down Editor: History is replete with refer- ences to Plutocrats, Monarchs and Rulers of various ilk and stripe, who once chose to prove their benevolence by graciously per- mitting subjects to collect crumbs that had fallen from their opulent tables. Fortunately, such inhumane conditions were contested by uniquely motivated individuals, willing to sacrifice life and limb in an effort to affect change, by cre- ating human rights, that managed to put an end to such medieval cruelty and neglect. Your Turn So, who could possibly have imagined that many centuries later, during the 1980s in the Unit- ed States, a modern day version of these deplorable conditions would be introduced as trickle down economics, a term which managed to escape identification as the ultimate insult and threat, but was instead met with general apathy and allowed to take hold and gain acceptance in fact and lingo, with hardly a dissenting voice. Moreover, the accompanying slogan "a rising tide lifts all boats" significantly added to the absurdi- ty, by interweaving such opposite concepts as trickle and tide. Clearly, most of our boats ended up beached and stranded, and instead of wealth trickling down, as advertised, it turned out to be an immense upward gusher to benefit the rich, who in essence have been elevated to the status of a modern day American version of medieval aristocracy. Accord- ing to latest reports, 400 families now own and control more wealth than 155 million of our citizens combined, many of whom already live in poverty, or just a couple of paychecks removed. Speaking of foul play in this context, and fowl in particular: Herbert Hoover's promise of a chicken in every pot sounds downright altruistic these days, because the collective goose of our working class has been thoroughly and irreversibly cooked. Joe Bahlke, Red Bluff Your officials 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. Voter ID laws protect electoral process Commentary In an attempt to alleviate rampant voter fraud discovered in previous elections, the state of Texas passed a new voter ID law in 2011, which the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) brazenly blocked March 12 because it claims the law would disenfran- chise minority voters. It did not matter to the DOJ that an estimated 160,000 to 333,000 non-citizens were ille- gally registered to vote in Texas in 2008. But then again, this is the DOJ of Attorney General Holder – who was all about repressing the white vote when he dismissed the Black Panther Party case -- because he thought it demeaned "my people." With that in mind, no one should be surprised by Holder's state-by- state whack-a-mole game to exterminate voter ID laws. Because the Obama adminis- tration cannot run an honest election based on accomplish- ments, its lust for power has resulted in yet another Constitu- tional overreach by preventing individual states to do their job to preserve ballot box integrity. In this attempt to dismantle voter ID laws state-by-state, the administration is, in essence, stealing away one of our most basic freedoms – the right for free and fair elections -- for which many Americans have fought and died. Is it bigoted or racist to expect that Constitutional stan- dards be upheld? Many on the left think so despite reputable research revealing that in states where voter ID is required, voter turnout improves. One such study completed in 2006 by University of Missouri professor of economics and pub- lic affairs Jeffrey Milyo, found turnout in "Democratic-leaning counties actually increased" with the new photo ID require- ments. There was no "significant evidence" that it decreased turnout in locations having high- er percentages of "minority, poor or elderly voters." Another study completed by the Univer- sities of Nebraska and Delaware, "The Empirical Effects of Voter-ID Laws: Pre- sent or Absent," came to a simi- lar conclusion. I could go on with many additional examples, but the truth matters little to those bent on twisting it to their own polit- ical advantage. Despite a moun- tain of evidence to the contrary, rivals of voter identification (ID) laws continue to participate in a careless exchange of rancorous rhetoric suggesting the require- ment for voter ID is suppressive. As I write, representatives from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) are sidestep- ping these undeniable truths, and crossing the ocean to file a voter ID law complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva, Switzerland. To the unaware, this "human rights" coun- cil's roll call includes some extremely repres- sive regimes like Saudi Arabia, Cuba and China. Nonetheless, President Obama threw America's hat into the ring for membership in 2009. Former president George W. Bush boycotted par- ticipation with the HRC because doing so would legitimize this ersatz human rights organization that has overlooked barbarisms in places like Sudan's Darfur, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. So let's get real now. We need photo ID to get a job, cash a check, use a credit card, pur- chase alcohol and cigarettes, board a plane, buy medicines, watch an R-rated movie, get a passport, go to a bar, buy a house or car, buy a gun and rent an apartment. Laws are Susan Brown already on the books to prevent election fraud, and the Consti- tution puts the onus for the oversight of elections on indi- vidual states, which have the right to mandate voter ID. Unless concerned citizens speak out by sending letters to their state's gover- nors demanding that they take rigorous action to ensure hon- est and fair elections by enforcing voter ID laws in every polling place, legiti- mate votes will be negated by unregis- tered voters, crimi- nals, illegal aliens and the deceased. This is, after all, America -- that special place on the planet where our constitutionally protected free and fair elections serve to keep us free. Susan Stamper Brown is an op-ed columnist, motivational speaker, military family advocate and grief counselor who writes about politics, the military, the economy and culture. She can be reached at susan@susanstamperbrown.co m.