Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/587643
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 I catch heck from time to time because I o en forget to carry my cell phone with me while I am away from home. It's probably a husband trait, like selective hearing. The last several days have presented me with a few new rationalizations for leaving the phone at home, or wherever I forgot I last set it down. Acoupleofweeksago,for example, on the way for a doc- tor's appointment in Red- ding I received a phone call from someone in Da- vis; I didn't an- swer it in time, but my smarter than I phone had recorded the number; since my wife was driving, she suggested I call the number to see who needed to contact me. I pushed the call button, and the phone was answered by someone who had not learned English as a first lan- guage; I believe he may have had a Chinese background, perhaps because of his accent or the fact that he introduced himself as "Charlie." He called me Joe, and im- mediately told me this was not a sales call, and that he represented a company I could not understand the name of even after I asked him to repeat it twice. It turns out his company was prepared to give me three free references. When I asked him why I needed some references, he suggested I might want to use them to apply for college ad- mission. If I had been more alert, I would have asked the title, name, and position of the person making this gener- ous offer; I could have asked him if his firm also sold items like admissions essays, or fancy resumes, or perhaps even appropriately edited bi- ographies for potential politi- cal candidates. I guess I was just not up to the task of leading this poor fellow on, but I did ask him how someone in Davis who clearly did not know he was talking to a 75-year-old man with a PhD, thought I might need some references and what his "non sales" scam was. I then simply told him to take my number off of his call list, get a real job, and make sure he did not call again. I tried to be firm and polite, but it was not easy. The medicine I was given in Redding prevents me from sleeping for about a day, but it does make me tired. Six hours after returning home, while I was resting at home from the treatment and my cell phone rang again. The num- ber displayed on my phone was very long. The man on the end of the line also had not learned English until later in life; there was the buzz of other operators echoing in the background; he called me "Mr. Harropo" and tried to tell me something about be- ing from the United States Government Grant Depart- ment, or some similarly unbe- lievable entity. Although I was tempted, I didn't ask him if he had to pass an English test to work for the government or learn how to pronounce "Harropo," but I did ask him why he was calling me. He said the United States Government was pre- pared to give me a grant of $1,500. "Wow," I said, "that would be great; just make the check out to my favorite charity. Thank you." I hung up. I have since gotten three more calls from the same al- leged entity, each one from a similarly equipped "Eng- lish speaker." On the last one I told the woman calling that her mother must be ashamed of her and that she should get a real job. Then I hung up. Maybe that worked; I have gotten no more calls. I had finally drifted off to sleep at 7 the morning af- ter my medication; as I nod- ded off, I was startled by a cell phone call at 8:14 a.m. By the time I stumbled over to my desk to retrieve the phone, I had missed the call. Be- ing a slow learner, I returned the call, but all the opera- tors were busy. If I pushed "1," however, they would remove me from their call list. Ten minutes later as I was finally beginning to doze off again, the cell phone rang again; whoever it was who called earlier now called to tell me I had pushed "1" and my num- ber had been removed. The call was a recording, so I could only think of impolite thoughts. While I was writing this my cell phone rang; it was near me so I answered it im- mediately. When I answered I was told the phone had been muted, and a con artist wel- comed me and all those who had been invited to this con- ference call and who were in- terested in improving their cash flow. Because I was muted, I could only hang up. That didn't seem fair. There wasn't even a hint I could push a number to be taken off of the call list. Every so often we try to set up the do not call fea- ture on our land line phones; there must be a time limit be- cause it is not working. Some- times we simply say "we do not take phone solicitations," and when we get a call from the alleged Peace Officers As- sociation, I always ask which police department the caller serves. Then I hang up. We are lucky our new land line phones have a block this number button on the hand- sets, and we can do that by looking at the caller's number and not bothering to answer the phone. I am getting better about keeping my cell phone with me, and I am almost enjoy- ing toying with those annoy- ing people who have an offer too good to be true. Mostly I just look at the number on the phone display, and if it is un- familiar, I simply do not an- swer. JoeHarropisaretired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net. Joe Harrop Cell phone invasions Cartoonist's take Dogswouldenjoyfountain Editor: The article about the dog park was very interesting and I'm sure the dogs would enjoy having a place to run free and enjoy being with other dogs. Reading further on it said for a simple fenced field and water fountain for the dogs would be about $18,000. Then they figure it would take about $35,000 for a monument and water foun- tain for the owners. So many carry bottles of wa- ter with them and a monument could be added when they see how successful the idea is. The dogs would enjoy a wa- ter fountain much more than a monument after a good play day. — Elizabeth Watson, Red Bluff Why is PG&E paying to advertise? Editor: Don't you just love all the PG&E ads on TV and in the pa- pers? They just make you all warm and fuzzy feeling, but what's the point? I can't change power compa- nies, so it's not to keep me as a customer. It would be interesting to know how many millions are being spent while at the same time they are stuffing the latest rate increase notice into the en- velope with out bills. — Linda Richards, Cotton- wood In support of breast cancer survivors Editor: Concerning breast cancer awareness this month, I'm writ- ing on behalf of a group of men here in the county jail. We may be here for things we have done, but we are all not bad people and we do have the opportunity to voice to the community that we still care. We are still soft hearted peo- ple who care about others, even though it seems people quit car- ing about us. We are a group of men in a tank called the Blue Tank. So to all the women who are suffering and have suffered as well as those who have over- come this struggle, our hearts, hopes and prayers reach out to you. God bless and stay strong. If we could wear pink jump- suits we would. — Derrick Baker, Red Bluff Acies versus isms Editor: Governments, such as democ- racy, oligarchy, patriarchy, mon- archy, plutocracy and our new form of government corpocracy are not economic systems. Corporations run much of our country — laws, tax struc- tures, education, news. They also subsidized political action — Tea Party, etc. Economic structures — capitalism, communism, social- ism, mercantilism, etc. — are forms of how the people's needs are met and their labor and re- sources are used or abused. Most countries and commu- nities are a combination of eco- nomic systems. For example Alaska has a communistic fee on oil, paid to Alaskans. Some countries use extra gas- oline fees to pay for automobile insurance or roads. Is this socialism? Another example — basic So- cial Security. It was structured as a government managed in- surance policy. Later, it added SSI payments for poor benefi- ciaries. Now it is a hybrid insur- ance and socialistic program. Same with Medicare and Med- icaid. The problem isn't socialism, capitalism, communism, but that our country is run by a few oligarchs in a corpocracy. International corporations and the super rich — oligarchs — will not deliver government we need. — Diana Thompson, Red Bluff Federal government overstepping its bounds Editor: I received a letter in early September regarding the dis- graceful, un-American acts of our federal government against Americans who are doing their jobs as citizens. A deputy sheriff in Texas stopped a van for running a stop sign. The driver of the van, which was filled with ille- gal aliens, tried to run over the deputy. The deputy fired at the van's tires. Fine police work. Even his sheriff said so. However, the federal govern- ment brought charges against the deputy and he was found guilty and sentenced to jail for a year and a day. He was also fined and ordered to pay the medical expenses of one of the illegal aliens who suffered mi- nor injuries. Two US Border Patrol agents in the performance of their du- ties shot and injured a drug smuggler from Mexico. Their reward for getting a bad guy, an illegal alien off the streets? They too were convicted and sentenced to prison, one for 12 years the other for 11 years. Our government locks up the people who are working to pro- tect our borders. What kind of judges are in our courts sen- tencing these Americans that are doing their duty and risking their lives to protect us? Who appointed these judges and where do they get the ideas to make decisions using the corrupt left wingers' laws — not our constitutional laws — that they know they did not take an oath of office to use. They are violating our laws in order to punish loyal Amer- icans. Every criminal from all over the world is coming across our borders. These people are fel- ons, murderers, rapists and ter- rorists coming to commit their crimes and are being welcomed by the corrupt left wingers in our government. They are being encouraged to come no matter who they are so that they can vote to prolong the leadership that we have now. Our Attorney General re- fused to enforce any law on im- migration and I am sure his re- placement since he left office is following in his footsteps. Our borders should be sealed. Our president had the audac- ity to claim that they are safer than ever before. — Jean Clayton, Red Bluff Union votes o en result in job cuts Editor: While passing through De- troit this past weekend for the wedding of a granddaugh- ter, the Detroit newspapers in- cluded many articles on the UAW unions mandate for pay 50 percent higher than the $20 hourly US manufacturing aver- age. They also mandated bene- fits 50 percent above the aver- age US manufacturing level. The increased pay and ben- efits granted by the US union- ized auto industry, does not increase job productivity. The result can only be more au- tomation and job exporting to replace people and control costs. It is sad that excess pay and benefits for manufacturing unions has forced so many in- dustries to leave the US for lower cost manufacturing in China, Mexico, the Far East, and Eastern Europe. This in- cludes textiles, appliances, hardware items, lighting fix- tures, half of all small cars, auto parts, and aircraft. Al- though unions comprise only 6 percent of the private sector employment, they have caused a disproportionate loss of US jobs. Similarly, the excess pay and benefits, particularly pen- sions, for the 6 percent who are government union employ- ees, has caused bankruptcy of many California cities. The excess pay and bene- fits for private and public sec- tor unions will continue to cause disproportionate dam- age to our US economy, due to their power over elected pol- iticians. — Joseph Neff, Corning Letters to the editor Although I was tempted, I didn't ask him if he had to pass an English test to work for the government or learn how to pronounce "Harropo," but I did ask him why he was calling me. Joe Harrop OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, October 17, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4