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6A Daily News – Saturday, March 31, 2012 Opinion 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 Young Marines Editor: 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. 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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 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. Alternatives Commentary Last summer, well before his third birthday, after a bad day, my oldest grandson was having a serious discussion with his father over a behavior problem. In the middle of his father's les- son my grandson blurted out. "What are my options?" Even at his age he had begun consider- ing alternatives. When it comes to fuel for our vehicles many of us speak of alternatives, or options, but one person I know is actually doing something about seeking alternatives. I had lunch last week with Bill Gaines, a Red Bluff native, who has a business in Chico. Bill is a real "Red Bluffian"; his father was one of the founding doctors of the Lassen Medical Group and served on the Red Bluff High School Board; you may have noted that the Red Bluff High School gym is named in his father's memory. Bill also has some Berkeley roots; his grandfather was the mayor of Berkeley, and Bill's family has been keen Cal root- ers. We have had a friendly rivalry around Big Game time for many years. Some even sus- pect he was responsible for the small banner on Latane Sale's memorial service program: "Go Cal, Beat Stanford." An engineering graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Bill has been involved in the auto- motive industry his entire career. He decided to form his own company when he realized he would have the flexibility to use his own engineering talents and salesmanship skills more effec- tively if not encumbered by the inflexibility of a large company. He can recite many examples how those with whom he worked at General Motors refused to make difficult deci- sions and only haltingly made marginal changes. Bill's company, Transfer Flow Incorporated, has been in business since 1983. Even in these rough economic times Transfer Flow employs 72 employees. Transfer Flow could have been located in Red Bluff, but Bill placed his facility in Chico after being given the run around by our local authorities; this is an example of local opportunities missed. Bill has been busy lately holding three day workshops on alternative fuels for vehicles. The purpose of the workshops is to create greater exposure to the most recent information about alternative fuels. Fleet man- agers, car aficionados, commu- nity college instructors, and graduate students have attended. When Bill began to prepare for his workshops he was immedi- ately aware of the need for his workshops; he was surprised to see that colleges are not keeping their curriculum up to date about alternative fuels; some materials were even nine years old. He was also disappointed that the Secretary of Energy Dr. Steven Chu, from Berkeley, appeared to have been unaware of or uninter- ested in alternatives to current fossil fuels. Bill believes Chu's vision is clouded and that we cannot just jump from fossil fuels to other sources of energy; he also believes we can develop the infrastructure and expand current technologies to bridge the gap between now and the use of non-fossil fuels. Bill also points out that we have all been too quick to play the blame game with high gaso- line prices and too slow to seek alternative fuels. While ulti- mately we will most likely have to eliminate fossil fuels for our vehicles because of supply, logistic, and ecological con- cerns, Bill believes that there are some interim solutions that might provide an economical bridge until that time when we abandon fossil fuels, solutions that are available now. While Bill's workshops ana- lyze a wide spectrum of alterna- tive fuel systems such as elec- tric, hybrid, bifuel, hydrogen, natural gas, biodiesel, and propane as alternatives to either gasoline or diesel, the mounting evidence seems to indicate that propane would be a log- ical bridge fuel between current fossil fuels and non-fossil fuels. There are many advantages to propane. Creating an infra- structure to distribute propane would be rela- tively safer and less expensive than for other fuels such as natural gas or hydrogen. Propane is available here in the United States and would dramatically reduce our current need to import oil; experts agree we have at least a 200 year supply. Propane is less expensive than gasoline or diesel. One estimate is that we "export" $674,000 per minute to foreign countries for crude oil (2008 figures). Forty percent of oil imports are from countries that are not friendly to us, according to TB Pickens. Using a base population of 310 million citizens, that would mean that each of us sends $1,150 per year overseas for crude oil; that is $3.13 per capita per day. Some basic facts about propane support Bill's conclu- sions regarding propane. One case is very illustrative. A home medical equipment provider in Michigan converted their Ford E-350 vans to propane use. The owner reported that "At the high point of this year (2011) we paid $1.20 per gallon for Joe Harrop propane…compared to the retail pump price of $4.09" In addition to the savings on fuel costs, maintenance costs have been reduced because propane fuel is less wearing on the engine. The company estimates it will have reduced its carbon footprint by almost one million pounds of carbon dioxide per year; eliminate consump- tion of 48,000 gallons of gasoline per year; and save approxi- mately $3,000 per year per vehicle. It is necessary to make modifications on a normal automobile engine to use propane, but the pay- back period and the prolonged life of the engine make up for these costs. Super Shuttle in Phoenix has reported proportional savings since it switched it fleet of 35 Ford F-30 vans to propane. A lawn care company found that the life expectancy of its equip- ment was increased enough to delay replacement, and they found that the lower emissions propane meant that they could operate their lawn care equip- ment on so-called "Ozone Action Days" in Michigan because of the decreased emis- sions from propane. We should wish Bill well in his efforts to improve our pock- etbooks and our environment, even if we did not let him do that in Red Bluff. I can just see my grandson saying to his father: "Daddy, can we try propane this time?" Joe Harrop is a retired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net. My name is Christian Perez, I am 13 years old and I live in Rancho Tehama Reserve. The first time I heard of the Young Marines was when I went to the Chico Sui- cide Prevention Walk 2 years ago. The Young Marines were up on stage when we all were doing the National Anthem. The crowd, including me, had our hands over our hears while the Young Marines were hold- ing the flags. They were in their greens. It was cool. To me, they looked like real Marines, but smaller. After the walk it took me 2 years to get into this program. Now I am in the program and it is fun. We do C.O.D., which means Close Order Drill, at the end of the day. We practice marching and we learn how to put a rifle on our shoulder and how to properly hold the rifle and how to set it on the ground. That is my favorite part. Before C.O.D. we have PT, which means Physical Train- ing. Then we go to chow, in other words, lunch. This pro- gram is to help kids stop using drugs and have a drug-free life. During chow, we talk about how we can stop drugs from taking over you. You can join if you are at least 8 years old and it costs $50.00 and you can stay in until you are 18 years old and graduate. So, if you interested in the Young Marines, go to the Red Bluff Office, call them at 366- 013 or visit the Website: www.youngmarines.com. Christian Perez, Rancho Tehama Time to end Corning brownie vendetta Editor: Your Turn California legisla- tors and voters created a mon- ster by making recreational pot readily available through a doc- tor's permission slip. Of course recreational pot will spill over into the schools. Knowing this would happen, past school boards created rules and regulations to punish offenders. The current responsible administrators investigated the pot laced brownie incident, obtained facts and took action against the child and family by imposing the documented rule of one week of suspension. The school board parent should not be further punished. End the vendetta since the truth has already been dis- covered, it is not fair to all concerned to con- tinue actions, it does not build goodwill and better friendships, and it is not beneficial to further punish the school administration, the child or the family. It is a rare child who does not make dumb mistakes during their development. No more punishment is needed. A majority of public schools are in academic failure mode because of too little family par- enting, too many union rules, and too many teachers unpre- pared as educators. Allow the administrators, the teachers and parents to put the emphasis on academic excellence instead of brownie witch hunting. Joseph Neff, Corning