Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/636267
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 MytakeisthatIalwaysenjoypolitics,espe- cially when citizens actually vote as they did Monday in Iowa. Ihavealwaysbeendisturbed that many smaller states get the early chance to thin out America's can- didates for Pres- ident before we do. In California we must wait for our June primary every four years, which always gives our golden state a smaller number of choices. I think we can agree that "The Donald" was much more than a key ingredient to our political fun so far in this year's election. Remember, he's the guy that said some- thing like he could shoot someone in downtown New York and still get everyone's vote. Frankly, I think Donald Trump may have few faults, but I am now starting to be- lieve he does make the most of the one's he has. He will say just about anything. The ex- amples of this are countless. If you take your politics as seriously as I do, you know by now that this year's race for our next President has moved into a top five can- didates competition. At the moment, pure conservative Texas Senator Ted Cruz is on top of the Republican field and Hillary Clinton and Sen- ator Bernie Sanders are in a virtual tie for the Democrats. For my column today I would like to share with you all the one liners I can come up with that I think describe some of the candidates. A lot of us take our politics very seriously. I would like to have your candid opinions also. Let's start with the Dem- ocrats. In my mind Hillary Clinton remains old news, but she is a competent and experienced candidate. How- ever, I believe Americans are a bit tired of the names Clin- ton and Bush. 74 year old Senator Bernie Sanders is now equal to Hillary at this point in the game, but he is the pure definition of so- cialist. And, Mark O'Malley seems to be a nice guy, but obviously wasting his time. On the Republican side, Texas Senator Ted Cruz is for the moment a giant killer by beating billionaire Donald Trump. Also, knowledgeable and articular Florida Senator Marco Rubio is now in a more comfortable third place finish. I am still anticipating a surprise or two from people like Dr. Ben Carson and former Florida Gov- ernor Jeb Bush. At this time, I would ad- vise all Tehama County vot- ers to be patient and con- tinue to watch the election this year. We do not get a vote in this race until the first Tuesday in June during the California primary. That is still four months away. My take has always been, based on my 18 years serving in California's legislature, pol- itics is just a popularity con- test, pure and simple. You can either vote for who you think is the best looking human be- ing, or maybe even the most intelligent. Not to be critical, but this is also when you can use and enjoy your prejudices. We all have them. I am afraid denial is futile. My take on the movies My wife Roleeda and I saw "Fifty Shades of Black," which was a humorous but almost a pornographic adap- tation of the popular "Fifty Shades of Grey." Use caution if you see this film. It is extremely crude. It would be a good idea to leave your kids at home. We en- joyed half a dozen laughs, but we also almost left the theater during the first ten minutes. How much box office this movie will generate will be very interesting. 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 The Iowa caucuses and democracy Frankly, I think Donald Trump may have few faults, but I am now starting to believe he does make the most of the one's he has. He will say just about anything. The examples of this are countless. Applausefromthegallery Editor: I would like to take this op- portunity to not only greatly thank but bring attention to the following men and women who often go unheralded in their public service efforts for the city of Red Bluff, Tehama County and beyond. Senator Jim Nielson, 4th Sen- ate District, State of California, James Atkinson, Chief, Safety and Security Division, U.S. Bu- reau of Reclamation, Don Bad- der, U.S. Deputy Area Manager, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Irene Hobbs, U.S. Realty Spe- cialist, U.S. Department of the Interior, Warden Scott Williams and Warden Mitch Carlson, U.S. Federal and State of Cal- ifornia Fish and Wildlife Ser- vices, Steve Chamblin, Tehama County Supervisor, District 1, Candy Carlson, Tehama County Supervisor, District 2, Dennis Garton, Tehama County Super- visor, District 3 along with Red Bluff Mayor and former Tehama County Sheriff Clay Parker, Red Bluff City Council members Suren Patel, Daniele Jackson, Robert Schmid and Gary Jones, together with the dedicated of- ficers of the Tehama County Sheriff's Department and the outstanding officers of the Red Bluff Police Department are to be recognized in what can be described as nothing less than a spectacular example of multi- agency co-operation and col- laboration leading to the mas- sive combined cleanups of the banks of the Sacramento River and the adjacent portion of The East Sand Slough as well as the city of Red Bluff, Spider Island Park, which was generously do- nated by Durango RV Resort of Red Bluff. This area, a convergence of city, county and federal multiple- agency properties adjacent to the very nice and well maintained RV park, was being utilized by a mul- titude of tent campers seeking to illegally camp in non-designated camping areas. They, through their actions, succeeded in intim- idating and discouraging citizens and visitors from accessing the area for walking, jogging, fishing and recreating. Due to local budget re- straints and other factors, this day-use area was in dire need of assistance as it is not equipped with the facilities or staff to in any way address the illegal ac- tivities and detrimental effects of numerous campers and mo- torized vehicles in and around waterways, water sources and wildlife. The above mentioned indi- viduals, who hold a wide va- riety of governmental posi- tions, reached across federal, state, county and city agencies to come together in a superb effort to make the area again safe for wildlife, visitors and lo- cals alike through an extensive clean-up program that is still being enacted to this day. They are a wonderful ex- ample of what can be accom- plished when local, state and federal officials work together for the benefit of the people of America. For this and many other oft unnoticed and un- heralded efforts, we recognize them singularly and collectively with a huge and thunderous ap- plause from the gallery. Thank you all and keep up the great work. — Susan Serna, Red Bluff Oregon shooting will be covered up Editor This is an update on the shooting in Oregon of a farmer, patriot and person standing up for others rights and getting shot by police with his hands up. The news and the federal government will cover this up and say false things about what really happened there. The one thing no one disclosed was there is uranium under the ground in the game refuge that Bundy was defending and BLM wanted it. This issue goes far- ther than was told by BLM and news. We must support our fellow patriots. Fear is in our country and fear is our enemy and the government does everything to ensure it. Realistically, we the people out number them. The power is with the people. This is not the time to cower in insolation and fear. This is the time to unite in strength. We must stand together. — June Cooper, Red Bluff Trap-neuter-return of cats works well In his letter of Jan. 31, Wil- liam Todd-Mancillas argued trap-neuter-release programs are dubious at controlling cat populations, that cats kill birds and small animals and that cats should be sterilized, kept indoors and owners fined for noncompliance. I largely disagree. An 11-year University of Central Florida study of a trap-neuter-release program showed it reduced the cat pop- ulation 66%. Further, the U.K. Royal Society for Protection of Birds found no scientific evi- dence indicating cats reduce bird populations. Since birds are hard to catch, cats gen- erally prefer rodents and cat food. When cats do take birds, they likely help their popula- tions by culling the slow, weak and sick. I agree cats should be ster- ilized to control their popu- lations. Keeping cats indoors though isn't always neces- sary. So long as they're ster- ilized, well-fed and have pri- vate yards and cat doors, most probably won't wan- der far. Spending time out- side can foster cat health and happiness. They should how- ever have leather collars with ID tags so people know they're not strays. Finally, fining neg- ligent cat owners would likely cause ill will. Media cam- paigns would probably more- effectively effect responsible cat ownership. — Nathan Esplanade, Rancho Tehama Your opinions Cartoonist's take USA Today recently reported on the release of "The Future of Sports," a 50-page document commissioned by sports conces- sionaire Delaware North to take some guesswork out of planning for impending developments in the industry. Among the predictions tossed around by academics and futur- ists are: stadiums with morph- ing roofs; tailgating inside the stadium; the proliferation of pro- fessional women's leagues; and robots replacing some human workers. Broadcast network TV, we are told, will have to settle for what it can scrounge together, after satellite and streaming sew up all the major sports. ("Tonight, a very special epi- sode of 'I Can't Believe It's Not Badminton', guest-starring Heather Locklear's clone!") Supposedly, the role of Twit- ter, Facebook and the like will make sports commentators and reporters almost obsolete. Just what we need: hordes of under- employed sports personalities holding up "Will color com- mentate for food" signs and working children's birthday parties. ("He shoots, he scores! He eats, he hurls!") And what of the fans who be- come overly reliant on social me- dia for their sports experience? They'll be bubbling, "I can get my favorite on the all-star team if I vote repeatedly — and let a Nigerian widow deposit $80 million in my bank account." It is prognosticated that fans will get to use a virtual re- ality headset and watch the game from the perspective of their favorite player. Ha! Sports franchises will probably start beaming the games straight into our heads. ("Can I borrow the sports section, pal? Aggh! Wrong section of your brain! That's the one of your kissing encounter with your cousin! Ick! Do over!") The proliferation of driver- less cars is projected to mean smaller stadium parking lots AND higher alcohol sales (be- cause the whole gang can im- bibe and still have a designated "driver"). Yep, everyone can get hammered, and then go to their job — which probably in- volves building and program- ming driverless cars. Hijinks ensue. The study claims that, as es- calating ticket prices make it prohibitively expensive for or- dinary fans to attend in per- son, there will be an explosion of a new generation of sports bars. On a negative note, the De- partment of Homeland Security is already concerned about the prime target that the wretched excess will generate. ("Just mo- ments ago, ISIS smashed two jetliners into the HD flatscreen TV in the men's room of Bo's Sports Sanctuary.") Baseball is expected to con- tinue its slow decline. Per- haps "America's Pastime" can be saved by rebranding itself as Mixed Martial Arts Spitting And Scratching. Of course that won't matter if a quarter-cen- tury of technological "improve- ments" brings us announce- ments such as "The game is de- layed while we call a convention of states to look at that instant replay and determine if it was a ball or a strike." Some of the more fantastic predictions involve the creation of separate leagues for "natu- ral" athletes and "enhanced" athletes (those who have been souped up via genetic modifica- tion, man-made parts, league- approved steroids and the blocking of pain receptors — as in "the thrill of victory, the numbness of defeat".) Of course fans who have been relieved to see concus- sions publicly debated will have to sigh, "Here we go again" as super-athlete problems arise. ("So, a few crybabies are com- plaining about an isolated 750 cases of disemboweling by Wol- verine-like adamantium claws? Does no one remember how to WALK IT OFF? Hey, no us- ing the X-ray vision on Heather Locklear's clone!") Danny Tyree welcomes email responses at tyreetyrades@aol. com and visits to his Facebook fan page Tyree's Tyrades. Danny Tyree Will we recognize the sports world in 25 years? By Danny Tyree Stan Statham OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, February 4, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6