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Ifyou'veseentheexcellentmovie"Spotlight," you know what it takes for a newspaper to expose the sexual abuse of children by priests in the Catholic Church. "Spotlight,"whichwonthe Academy Award for best pic- ture of 2015, is the true story of how the Boston Globe's in- vestigative Spotlight team uncovered the massive scan- dal of child molestation and cover-up within the Boston Archdiocese. Challenging one of the most powerful institutions in Bos- ton, digging up the ugly truth and detailing it on Page 1 took a strong mix of principle and guts by the Globe's editor, Marty Baron. Many journalists and editors around the coun- try before him had heard sim- ilar charges about priests re- peatedly molesting children in their cities and towns, but they had done nothing. The Globe's in-depth in- vestigation, which began in 2001, made headlines around the world, shamed the Boston Archdiocese and shook the en- tire Catholic Church to its core. It set off a series of exposes in other cities that proved that the problem the Catho- lic Church — my church — was having with serial pedophiles was nothing new or restricted to Boston. Soon after, the L.A. Times, my hometown paper, showed that for decades the hierar- chy of the Los Angeles dio- cese "plotted to keep law en- forcement from learning that children had been molested at the hands of priests." In 2005 and 2011 grand jury probes found rampant child abuse in the Philadelphia Archdi- ocese, which included mov- ing known pedophiles around from one unsuspecting parish to another. What went on in L.A. and Philly fit the pattern described in the 2012 HBO documentary, "Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God." As I wrote in the 2013, that powerful documentary proved that from Ireland to Wisconsin "the church's bishops and car- dinals have a long and disgust- ing history of protecting pe- dophile priests, ignoring chil- dren's allegations of sexual abuse, paying the parents of victims to keep quiet and keep- ing the sex crimes of priests se- cret from law enforcement." We can now add the diocese of Altoona, Pa., to the Church's list of sins against children. The headlines in Tuesday's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette told a familiar story: "Grand jury: Al- toona diocese concealed sex abuse of hundreds of children by priests." According to a graphic 147- page report by a state grand jury, at least 50 Catholic priests and other Church members in the western Pennsylvania town had molested and raped hundreds of kids between the 1940s and the 1980s. What the pedophiles did to kids at summer camp, in their own homes and in Altoona's cathedral was not only cov- ered up by their bishops and their immediate superiors, it also was abetted by judges, sheriffs and other law enforce- ment officials in two counties who knew about the abuse. The grand jury report said the sleazy church-state conspir- acy to avoid public scandal and protect known and dan- gerous pedophiles in Altoona amounted to the "soul mur- der" of the victims. As some- one who was molested by a day camp counselor in third grade, I understand what that term means all too well. The most frustrating part of the Altoona investigation, which is ongoing, is that the abusers and their enablers — though known — are never go- ing to be indicted or punished. Some of the guilty are dead. Some of their victims were too traumatized to testify. But in most cases it's too late to prosecute because the statute of limitations for crim- inal and civil cases that was in effect at the time of the crimes was only two or three years. The law has been changed. Victim now have until age 30 to sue for child abuse in civil court and in some cases are able to file criminal charges until they turn 50. But Pennsylvania should join other states and do what its grand jury report proposes — completely remove all stat- utes of limitations for child abuse. If the Catholic Church is sin- cerely sorry for its sins, and truly interested in preventing future victims of pedophila, it will publicly support that idea. MichaelReaganisthesonof President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution" (St. Martin's Press). Send comments to Reagan@ caglecartoons.com. Follow @ reaganworld on Twitter. MichaelReagan 'Soulmurder' in Altoona Cartoonist's take Although the editor prefers contributors to write about lo- cal matters, on everyone's mind these days should be who will be the candidates for the next presiden- tial elections. Not that I can influ- ence your vote, but I can keep ham- mering away at the lack of humanity advanced by D. Trump. To break through the façade that the me- dia has created for this man by reporting his every inane utter- ance, he can only appeal to that segment of society desperately looking for change. There can be no other reason. He is apparently not the choice of the Tea Party. The Tuesday col- umnist has stated that. He has alienated women with his sexist and vulgar behavior. He has pro- voked the ire of Hispanics. The Pope has deplored his antics and pronounced he is not a Christian. We are exposed to sound bites on the telly where his advocates brand him "a business man" de- spite his failures and law suits pending. And now we have this Presidential contender who was asked repeatedly by a CNN an- chor Jake Tapper if he, Trump, would condemn David Duke of the Ku Klux Klan who recently endorsed him. It was some time later when Trump allegedly re- searched Duke, claimed not to know him or even know of him and prudently disavowed him. Recent sound bites indicate Trump did know of Duke. The Klan member was quoted as say- ing on his radio show that "Vot- ing against Donald Trump at this point is really treason to your heritage." Tsk,tsk. That said, we have good news and bad news. The good news is that a radio station invited lis- teners to call in and recall their most frightening nightmares. Most responded it would be if Trump became the Republican candidate. The bad news is the radio station was PBS which suggests that only those of a liberal bent subscribe to this nightmare scenario. ••• Speaking of candidates, I just learned of some discourag- ing remarks from Bernie Sand- ers. They were uttered way back in 1988, but he had held a press conference to say that he would "support the historic candidacy of Reverend Jesse Jackson." He framed his message at the time because of "Jackson's willing- ness to stand up to the banks that presently own and control America." With that specious thinking, Bernie seems ill equipped to be- come our next President. ••• Thoughts to live by: "That which does not destroy me makes me stronger." Except for bears. Bears will kill you. "To err is human, to forgive is divine." However, to blame some- one else demonstrates good man- agement skills. ••• Sources say inclusion of meat and poultry as a portion of a home-cooked dinner remained steady at 3.7 times per week. Convenience meats, which in- clude heat-and-eat, ready-to- eat and value-added products, also experienced sales growth, particularly among millennial shoppers, who seek flavorful, fast and easy meal solutions. Price per pound, along with to- tal package price, emerged as the dominant factor influencing meat and poultry product pur- chases. As a former meat pur- veyor, I find this heartening. ••• Something else I didn't know: As we have just concluded the awkwardly spelled month of February, it is interesting to learn that Leap Year occurs ev- ery 4 years, but not every 4 years, that is. The exception be- ing years that end in "00" and are not divisible by 400. ••• Astronaut Scott Kelly has re- turned to earth after nearly a year in space. Scientists will be pouring over his physical data to determine how such a pe- riod in weightless space effects the human body. They will com- pare Scott's condition to that of his twin brother who remained on earth during this lengthy pe- riod. However, what is proba- bly on the mind of the rest of mankind is, with a mixed gen- der crew, to put it delicately, did consensual sex ever occur in the space capsule? If so, was it an assignment? In the inter- est of science, of course. A book on this subject might be a best seller. As I recall, comic book heroes Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon did not dwell on this provocative subject. ••• The late Supreme Court Justice Scalia has been lion- ized fairly well, but his detrac- tors are numerous. Whereas the great Justices have always looked forward, Scalia has looked backwards. His revul- sion toward homosexuality ap- pears straight out of his shel- tered 1940s boyhood. When in 2003, the Court ruled that gay people could no longer be thrown in prison for hav- ing consensual sex, Scalia dis- sented and wrote, "Today's opinion is the product of a Court, which is the product of a law-profession culture, that has largely signed onto the so- called homosexual agenda di- rected to eliminate the moral opprobrium that has tradi- tionally attached to homo- sexual conduct." And further, even Scalia's ideological al- lies recognized the folly of his trying to divine the "intent" of the authors of the Consti- tution concerning questions that those bewigged worthies couldn't ever have anticipated. ••• Ever since I was a child, I've always had a fear of someone under my bed at night. So I went to a shrink and told him: "I've got problems. Every time I go to bed I think there's somebody under it. I'm scared. I think I'm going crazy." "Just put yourself in my hands for one year, said the shrink. "Come talk to me three times a week and we should be able to get rid of those fears." "How much do you charge?" "One hundred fifty dollars per visit," replied the doctor. "I'll sleep on it," I said. Six months later the doc- tor met me on the street. "Why didn't you come to see me about those fears you were having?" He asked. "Well, $150 a visit, three times a week for a year, is $23,400. A bartender cured me for $10." "Is that so? And how, may I ask, did a bartender cure you?" "He told me to cut the legs off the bed. Ain't nobody un- der there now." Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff, former columnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine and author of the "The Knocking Pen." He can be reached at rminchandmurray@ hotmail.com. I say Would Trump be our worst nightmare? According to a graphic 147-page report by a state grand jury, at least 50 Catholic priests and other Church members in the western Pennsylvania town had molested and raped hundreds of kids between the 1940s and the 1980s. GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD 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 A shabbily dressed man with three bulging garbage bags in his left hand and a crutch support- ing his right side waits patiently as the line snakes around the park- ing lot. Behind him is a stooped older woman wearing an oversized hat to shield her from the sun as she pushes a beat up baby carriage contain- ing her cargo. They wait in line for over two hours, and for what? To collect the deposit on bottles and cans owed by the State of California. Recycling, here and in much of the nation, has hit a serious bump. As the system falters the environment will be injured, but so too will the needy, who often suffer most when government programs fail to deliver. The problem involves the plunging price of key recycled materials: plastic, aluminum, glass and paper. The value of a bale of recyclable plastic has dropped in the past year by more than half. Compounding matters is that the cost of transporting, separating and rejuvenating the material is rising. And at the bottom line, evi- denced here where folks stand for hours to collect a few dollars, is the fact that deposit programs in most states are based on phony math: the system only works if a high percentage of people don't ask for their money back. Last month California's larg- est recycler, rePlanet, abruptly closed 191 recycling centers, leav- ing open only a handful of un- derstaffed facilities. Many peo- ple who had been able to walk or ride a bicycle to a nearby center are now forced to find auto trans- portation to more distant points. Nationally, Waste Manage- ment, the country's largest re- cycler, has closed 30 plants that sort and ship materials around the world. Nearly 1,000 jobs were lost. At the rePlanet redemp- tion facility in Sand City, on Cal- ifornia's Central Coast, the line "is like this from the minute we open until we close," explained the man on duty, who identi- fied himself only as "Lee." His co- worker had just walked off after complaining of back pain due to the increased loads, and Lee in- dicated he might quit for good when his shift ended. "We never get a break," he said. Because states must pay com- panies like rePlanet to handle material — even the bottles and cans on which a 5- or 10-cent de- posit has been paid — the pro- grams lose money unless enough people decline to redeem the con- tainers. According to rePlanet, re- cycling centers in California will only reopen if the state increases subsidy payments. Peter Funt can be reached at www.CandidCamera.com. Peter Funt The collapse of recycling and those that will suffer most Robert Minch By Michael Reagan Peter Funt OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, March 4, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4