Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/607761
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 have just enjoyed reading "The Residence," a book by Kate Andersen Brower. It is clear that she spent an enormous amount of time researching half a dozen American Presidents and their families. Shegivesusdetailsonmany of our first families, up to and including the Obamas, as they moved into and out of the White House, which was built from 1791 to 1800. As it turns out, she found that our first families are just as real as we are. For instance, after Jimmy Carter lost to Ronald Reagan the Carters had to remain in the White House for two long months before moving. Presi- dents win or lose their elections in November. But, every new President isn't sworn into office till January arrives. Brower re- ported the Carter family cried for a good two weeks during that period. I have personally been in the White House two times on leg- islative business when I was serving in the California As- sembly. Bowers book reveals many in- teresting things about that cen- ter of power that most of us are unaware of. You will probably be sur- prised to learn that all members of the first family must pay for all the food they consume while they are living there. Brower discovered that for- mer President Gerald Ford told the serving staff that he likes to eat left overs. Jerry and Betty Ford were among the least fussy of the most recent first fam- ilies. Brower writes that one time the White House staff was with President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy suddenly entered the room and pretty much yelled. She said that her husband needed his rest and should have been in bed. His defense was that he wanted to watch the 11 o'clock news. I think Nancy should have given Ronnie a break. To obtain this kind of de- tail Brower made arrange- ments to interview literally dozens of employees working in that unique residence, all on an anonymous basis. They all emphasized that the divulg- ing of personal or intimate in- formation is a real no-no in the White House. Loyalty is for- tunately a given. In fact, it ap- pears that all of the 150 em- ployees who run and maintain the White House go over board to protect the first family. They do their very best to keep in- formation private and confi- dential. I think most first fam- ilies must love their attention and service. Many employees were espe- cially close to George W. Bush, because it is pretty well know that he operates like a regu- lar guy. Remember how he got many of us to think of his Sec- retary of State Condoleezza Rice as "Condi." I enjoyed learning that one time an employee opened a door and heard some music and then stumbled into the Obamas enjoying an intimate dance, to which our 44th Pres- ident suddenly said; "I bet you haven't heard Mary J. Blige in this house before." Or, did you know that the President and first lady are ac- tually offered separate bed- rooms in the White House as they begin their stay there. Before I ruin this book for you, let me say that it seems clear that Nancy Reagan was by far the most troubling and demanding first lady America has ever had. Obviously, Ron- ald had to be a remarkably pa- tient man. I am skipping my movie re- view this week. I have been in my back 40 doing a tremendous amount of manual labor on my personal 20 acres of forest land at Oak Run, so no chance for a movie this week. Happy Thanksgiving to all. 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 TheWhite House and the families within To obtain this kind of detail Brower made arrangements to interview literally dozens of employees working in that unique residence, all on an anonymous basis. HappyThanksgiving Editor: Our family would like to wish the residents of Red Bluff and all of Tehama County a wonderful Thanksgiving. My wife was born here and my family came here from Ari- zona when I was 3 months old. This area and all of its people are so special to us. We are so grateful. As we drove east on Ante- lope today, we crossed the pretty Sacramento River and looked straight ahead at the beautiful last of the Cascade Mountains, Mt. Lassen. What a scene. For those who composed vit- riolic opinions in Saturday's Daily News, Nov. 21, it seems all you can do is complain, com- plain, complain. Please feel free to leave this area at anytime. Nobody is keeping you here. Be careful and don't let the door hit you on your backside on the way out. — Tom Robinson, Red Bluff FortheheartofBabyPenn Editor: Our son, Penn, was born on Oct. 5 with a rare heart de- fect. Penn was taken to UC Da- vis where he spent 20 days in the NICU/PICU and had lifesaving surgery. This past weekend, our friends, family and many mem- bers of the community organized "For the Heart of Baby Penn," a spaghetti feed fundraising din- ner to help us pay for Penn's medical expenses. We would like to extend our gratitude and thanks to Jennifer Ferguson and Alena Burlison for planning and hosting this event; Sonja Akers for assisting in the planning and preparation; the Gillett family for cooking and serving all those in attendance; Tehama County Youth Focus for helping and the Los Molinos Ma- sonic Lodge for donating the space to hold the event. We would also like to thank the many businesses and the fol- lowing individuals who donated and helped: Tom Stephens, the Wohletz Family, Ron Slavin, Candy and Bob Williams, Shel- ley McCullough, Karina Zumalt, Ramona Williams, Michele Har- baugh, Chaplin Gil Delao, Helen Wall, Kayla Marshall, Tristan Marriott, Pat Swithenbank, Tim and Joanne Carroll, Paul Gad- bois and Dean Cofer. Thank you to everyone who came to the fundraiser, to those who donated but were unable to attend and those who donated to us and our GoFundMe ac- count. We would also like to ex- press our deepest thanks for the prayers we have received. Our family is very blessed to be part of this community and we are sincerely grateful for all of the support. — Laura Burlison, Vina Churchgratefulfor Oktoberfestsupport Editor: We want to thank all those who joined in celebrating Okto- berfest on behalf of St. Peter's Episcopal Church. We would especially like to thank all the sponsors of our re- cent Oktoberfest celebration whose generosity made the event a wonderful success. Funds raised during this event help in supporting our church and min- istries in the local community. Thanks also goes to the eve- ning's musicians and perform- ers, including the band Flash- back, accordion player Brooke Kinner and the German dancers from the Redding International Couples Performing Dancers. Thanks to STARS volunteers for providing safety for all and for the support of the city of Red Bluff. Again, our sincere thanks for your generosity. — Fred Reynolds, Red Bluff Betterplanningneeded Editor: Stupid planning is a dearly beloved hobby for the self-serv- ing good ol' boys of Tehama County. If I had been elected supervi- sor, first I would have sued the Feds and state for the loss of Lake Red Bluff and our wells go- ing dry and settled with them by making them buy and give us the Diamond property. Then, I would have sold all the prop- erty except the old courthouse and built a municipality center on the Diamond property, with freeway access, lots of room and less traffic. Everything in one lo- cation. Unfortunately, that just makes too much sense for the folks running the city and the county. The other stupid idea the city has recently come up with is en- forcing 2-hour parking. They did this before in the early '80s and destroyed the struggling downtown. As a salon owner, that is why we moved our suc- cessful business to Riverside Shopping Center, a big mistake. However, I couldn't keep run- ning out to move client's car and take on that liability. On the other hand, I couldn't send my clients running down Main Street with perm rods or foils in their hair. I asked for a variance for service oriented business and was told to deal with it. I and many other businesses left because of the parking problem. Downtown hit its lowest low. On the 600 block, there are four very successful salons fac- ing the same dilemma. The council isn't sympathetic to the problems it created through an- other stupid idea. Let's face it, there is plenty of parking downtown and this is just another way for the city to get in our pockets for more money, so they can promote more of their stupid ideas. We voted for a sales tax increase to put cops on the street to fight crime, not so the city could hire Community Service Offi- cers to give us tickets. We also didn't vote for it to put people through the police academy. We voted for it to make Red Bluff safer. Apparently, we were lied to again. — Pat Johnson, Red Bluff Your opinions Cartoonist's take By Danny Tyree Let's face it: "A Charlie Brown Christmas," which reaches the half-century mark on Dec. 9, was spawned in a whole differ- ent world. Can you imagine what the holiday classic would be like it if were being produced in the cultural and political envi- ronment that is 2015? For one thing, the network would be ter- ribly tempted to rename the whole thing "A Charlotte Brown Christmas." Our lovable loser would mainly have lost some of his Original Equipment, would bemoan the commercialization of hormone therapy and would struggle to find the true mean- ing of XY chromosomes. That opening scene of the "Peanuts" children ice skating and singing "Christmas Time Is Here"? They would be super- hoarse, since they would have been singing since shortly after Independence Day. Sally's dictation of her let- ter to Santa would still be there, but in politically correct form. ("Please note the size and color of each item, and send as many as possible. If it seems too com- plicated...well, boo-hoo, you privileged white cracker!") Obviously, the part of Snoopy would be played by Grumpy Cat. ("Ever since I was a kitten, I've identified as an anthropomor- phic Christmas-lights-stringing beagle.") The phenomenon of "helicop- ter parenting" would affect the script. When Linus declares, "Of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you're the Charlie Brown- iest," he would add, "but I have a participation ribbon for all the other Charlie Browns so they don't feel left out." Charlie Brown's visit to Lu- cy's psychiatric booth? It would be gone, because financial guru Dave Ramsey conditioned Char- lie Brown to save a six-month emergency fund before spend- ing the nickel. Remember Frieda's line "Do innkeepers' wives have natu- rally curly hair?" Today she'd be busted for profiling. Certainly Charlie Brown would declare "Pig Pen, you're the only person I know who can literally leave a carbon footprint in a snowstorm." When Charlie Brown wails, "Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?", Linus would retort, "That's a got'cha question. I refuse to dig- nify it." But then Linus would re- luctantly quote scripture. My wife assumes that the secu- lar-minded producers wouldn't dare to use the birth narra- tive from the Gospel Accord- ing To Luke at all, but I think they would hold their noses and mention the Almighty if the Al- mighty Dollar could be made. We'd just be subjected to scroll- ing ads such as "BOGO sale on swaddling clothes", "No room at the inn? There's an app for that!" and "Think of Jesus as just a good teacher? Remember the good teachers in your life with these fleece-lined..." Remember the kids waving their arms around and mag- ically transforming Charlie Brown's puny sapling into a full- fledged Christmas tree? If the show were being produced to- day, they would wave their arms around and magically make a $15-an-hour minimum wage not drive a mom-and-pop operation out of business. The carol "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" would not exactly send the shepherds rushing to Bethlehem in today's environ- ment. ("Maybe I'll hark when I get back from vacation. I'm more into binge-harking nowa- days. I've got six months' worth of 'woes' and a whole season of 'repents' to catch up on.") That climactic shout of "Merry Christmas, Char- lie Brown"? That would be re- placed with "Have an ambig- uously festive cup from Star- bucks, Charlie Brown!" But what do I know? I never got my picture on a bubble- gum card, did I? *Sigh* Merry Christmas, Beethoven. Danny Tyree welcomes email responses at tyreetyrades@aol. com and visits to his Facebook fan page Tyrades. Danny Tyree Good grief! A Charlie Brown Christmas turns 50 Stan Statham OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, November 26, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A8