Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/590997
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 ImissedtheCoffeewiththe Cops event because of a Fam- ily Counseling Center Board meeting, and I hope the turn- out was good and that many impor- tant issues were discussed. Sup- porting and un- derstanding law enforcement is important. Most people remember the first, second, and third place winners of a race. Few remem- ber who came in fourth. If a team is ranked number four na- tionally it receives significant recognition. Red Bluff may now have to deal with being num- ber four for a less honorary dis- tinction. According to Road Snacks: "Red Bluff's motto might tout that the city is 'A Great Place to Live,' but its status as the 4th most dangerous city in Califor- nia might stain that saying a bit. Located 125 miles north of Sacramento, Red Bluff residents have a 1 in 15 chance of being the victim of a property crime every year." "Violent crime has also gone up nearly 30% between 2011-3, with a higher than 1% chance of being the victim of violence." My first reaction was "wow" followed by some disbelief. Then I went to the Road Snacks web page and read the complete report. Besides number four Red Bluff the following also appear on the top ten list: Emeryville, Oakland, Stockton, Com- merce, San Francisco, Ander- son, Vallejo, Modesto, and Grass Valley. It seemed to me that Red Bluff looked out of place, and that some on the list were the "usual suspects." Even An- derson seemed a little out of place. The data that Road Snacks used came from the FBI crime data base, and are presumably accurate, but how, I wondered, could such infa- mous crime centers as Los An- geles (ranked 139) and San Jose (ranked 137) be left off the list of the top ten. Surprisingly our neighbor to the north, Redding, despite the hue and cry of its City Council members and the headlines in its newspaper, was also not on the list. There is no question that there is concern about crime in Red Bluff, and that there is a need to increase staffing at the Police Department. Hope- fully our balky City Council will move to address those concerns. If the Council could more expe- ditiously and not bicker about the minor inconvenience of ex- panding our jail, we could get some more undesirables off of the street, making this a safer town. After my shock and wow mo- ment about being number four, I remembered that you cannot compare apples and oranges. While the Road Snacks sur- vey looked at all 368 Califor- nia cities with populations over 10,000, not all cities are the same, and the math may distort some of the statistics. No city is uniform; each is composed of a variety of neighborhoods. When the city as a whole is considered it requires an oversimplification of the data by reducing mea- sures to a per capita amount. For example, Los Angeles has a population of 3.8 million, or the equivalent of over 270 Red Bluff's. If you were to look at 270 population pockets of folks within the City of Los Angeles, I am sure you would find many such pockets with far higher unsafe ratings than our town; however the large number of other pockets bring the average rate of per capita crime down to a lower level than in Red Bluff. The same would be true of other large cities in California and elsewhere. My apples and oranges anal- ogy is not meant to downplay our crime problems, nor to be- little it. We do have issues that need to be addressed, and an expanded police department under its new leadership will be a good step. It is not good to live in a community where one in 15 of us has a chance of be- ing a victim of a property crime each year. Furthermore, we do need to look at the commotion the Road Snacks survey will cause. We may not be number four in re- ality, but the fact is we do have problems, and simply dismiss- ing Road Snacks will not make them go away. Simply downplay the rating will not do. All of us, The City Council, the Chamber of Commerce, and the citizenry, will need to pull together to show those who con- sider moving here, who think about opening a business here, or who are simply describing our Victorian City on the River, that we can be a responsible and safe community. JoeHarropisaretired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net. Joe Harrop Apples, oranges or are we number four? It is not good to live in a community where one in 15 of us has a chance of being a victim of a property crime each year. Wasdonationinexchange for city support? Editor: From the Oct. 10 Daily News: Tribe seeks support letter from council. The Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians seeks a letter of support from the city of Corn- ing to apply for federal funds to build a "…community ser- vices building exclusively for tra- ditional tribal programs, edu- cation and social service deliv- ery…." From the Oct. 15 Daily News: "Local tribe donates to po- lice; after receiving support for building, the group gives back." On Oct. 13, the Tribe donated $8,569 to the Corning Police De- partment for purchase of body cameras. Was this bribery, extortion or an incredible coincidence? The tribe is rolling in dough — why should U.S. taxpayers, who are $18 trillion in debt, build them a clubhouse? Linton Brown, Red Bluff Response to thoughts on gun control Editor: I am writing in response to Mr. Robert Minch's request for readers to give their two cents regarding gun control. A few days ago, Kronan School in Trollhattan, Sweden was the scene of another sense- less, brutal attack resulting in the deaths and injuries of inno- cent children and a teacher. The weapons of choice were a sword and knife, no guns. Should own- ership of swords and knives be regulated? I don't know that we have the right to attend church, mov- ies, school or public events with- out the threat of being shot. It is more of an expectation than a right. We do not live in a perfect world. The police cannot always protect you. There are too many of us and not enough police of- ficers. The second amendment gives us the right to bear arms. Rather than chip away at this right, how about some personal responsibility for oneself and others? Who lives in your neigh- borhood? Don't know? Well, find out. All of these mass killers lived in someone's neighborhood. Pay attention to your surroundings, at home and in public. Take re- sponsibility, not our guns. Vickie Linnet, Corning Dog parks get mixed reviews Editor: Last month the Red Bluff City Council agreed to allow private citizens to use acre in Trainor Park to build a dog park if they can generate the estimated $18,000 to $35,000 needed to build it. Googling "dog park problems" produces a long list of mixed re- views on the desirability of dog parks — the most credible likely being that of the ASPCA. The general perspective is that while dog parks can be beneficial to larger, more-social dogs, they can also be stressful, unhealthy, and dangerous — especially to smaller dogs. Besides the risk of injury in fights, dogs visiting dog parks are more likely to contract worms, fleas, diseases and even become pregnant. The dog own- ers themselves are also more likely to fight — particularly when dog fights cause expensive vet bills. If dogs don't get the constant social interaction they crave — which dog parks don't pro- vide anyway — they'll be more inclined to bark incessantly, thereby causing conflict with neighbors, and destroy things. Accordingly, better than tak- ing your dog to a park may be getting a second dog. Better still, a cat. Cats are cleaner, quieter, safer, and require far less main- tenance. Nathan Esplanade, Corning Trump needs to learn to be kind to others Editor: The ideas presented by Pres- idential Candidate Trump has hit home with many, but his presentation style smells. As conservative Republicans my wife and I will vote for the last Republican candidate stand- ing, but we will not vote if that is Trump. We have voted in ev- ery election since coming of age in 1957. Most support immigration reform including increasing the number with college de- grees, and those with needed vocational skills. There should never be citizenship for those who have illegally crossed the border and fostered families that burden taxpayers with ed- ucation, medical, and housing costs. It makes sense to mod- ify the 14th Amendment, to end birth citizenship for the chil- dren of illegal border crossers. Every citizen candidate who le- gally immigrates to our coun- try has earned our respect. The best candidates for Pres- ident are those who have been state governors and managed businesses, since they under- stand partisan politics and fi- nances, unlike President Obama. A member of Congress, who has served multiple terms, and has had a seat on budget, financial, and defense commit- tees is the ideal candidate. Nei- ther Hillary Clinton or current President Obama meet these criteria and it has shown in their lack of governing experi- ence. It is sad that so few with do- mestic and global experience, are willing to come forward to serve. Former Budget Direc- tor under the first President Bush, Indiana's governor for 8 years, and current Purdue Uni- versity President Mitch Daniels, fully meets those requirements, but he has chosen to not run in the past election and the cur- rent. Surely there is some strong skilled candidate to take over the failing Obama Presidency. Success includes cutting the def- icit spending, initiating global policies instead of drawing lines in the sand, and protecting our border from illegal crossings. Joseph Neff, Corning Your opinions Cartoonist's take If the disappointment of ev- eryone expecting fireworks at the first Democratic debate exhibited itself as perspira- tion, we could de- clare the Califor- nia drought over. A few soggy matches might have been lit but that was it. Heavy on the smoke, non-exis- tent on the flame. This initial gathering of lib- eral presidential wannabees did highlight the differing styles of the two parties. Both may be big on giving away government money, but Democrats prefer la- dling it out to poor people, while the Republicans want to slip it to the rich. Republicans live in Potterville and the Dems call Bedford Falls home. Even their debating styles are as different as rocket-pro- pelled grenades and rainbow- streamer pinwheels. During their recent spate of infernal in- ternal face-offs, the GOP demon- strated a penchant for biting off big chunks of red meat, which they spat into each other's faces while Democrats barely sum- moned the energy to crack the crust of their creme brulee. At Democratic family func- tions everybody sits at the kids' table. With the adults, (Bernie & Hillary) on one side and the three other guys crammed together on the other. They sat up straight and affected nonchalance, but it was clear they were confused by their forks. Overall, civility reigned, with no one pointing out Lincoln Chafee's eerie resem- blance to Grandpa Munster. Martin O'Malley, languishing in the low single digits in polls with margins of error of mid single digits, squandered his big chance to secure a passport to Legitimate Contender Ville, by putting the shill in shilly- shally. All the vision and energy of chilled molasses. Uncaptivat- ing crowds by calling for the re- instatement of Glass-Steagall which sounds like a Vegas high roller knick-knack. Jim Webb approached the whole thing as an audition for a Democratic John McCain tribute band, going so far as to creepily grin while recounting the killing of a Communist. Quick, get his opinion on Sarah Palin. And no need to break out the drug tests for Lincoln Chafee. No performance-enhancing drugs to be found in his urine. And speak- ing of Glass-Steagall, this self-de- scribed "block of granite" might want to lay off informing people that his vote to repeal was due to the death of his dad. Doesn't make much sense and loses points for lack of wit. Focus groups and unrepen- tant hippies declared Bernie Sanders the winner for his lov- able irascibility and corkscrew explanation of how to be a so- cialist and a good capitalist at the same time. He then inexpli- cably encouraged them to look to Denmark. Hillary disagreed, "We are not Denmark," which surprised a sig- nificant portion of the audience who had passed the Eiffel Tower on the way there. But the signa- ture moment was when the Ver- mont Senator handed the for- mer Secretary of State a political gift the size of Ted Cruz's ego by saying "the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails." His gracious- ness was trumped only by her in- sincere laughter. Although Bill's wife's com- mand of the room and the facts made her look, dare we say... presidential, progressives feel the Bern. First a charismatic young black guy, now a charis- matic old white guy. Throw in a beret wearing bimbo and Ham- let waiting in the wings and people are starting to misquote Shakespeare... "2nd Place, thy name is Hillary." Will Durst is an award- winning, nationally acclaimed columnist and comedian. Go to willdurst.com for info about his new one-man show "BoomeRaging: From LSD to OMG," and the documentary "3 Still Standing" premiering at a theater near you. Will Durst Red meat vs. creme brulee Will Durst Joe Harrop OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, October 24, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4