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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 Ihavebeenwritingthiscol- umn for a while now. Based on the overwhelming positive feedback I have received, I think I must make col- umn writing ap- pear to be easier than it really is. While I ap- preciate being appreciated, I sometimes think that even though I am appre- ciated I am not appreciated enough, because writing a col- umn is much more difficult than I make it appear. Writing this column has been much like my athletic ca- reer. If you are old enough to have played with or against me in baseball or basketball or, for that matter, ping-pong, tennis or ro-sham-bo, you will likely recall that I appear to be a natural at everything I undertake. Nothing could be further from the truth. Few of us are what we appear to be. Just as in sports, my undeni- able success as a journalist is based on practice, hard work, and my dogged determination to be the best that I can pos- sibly be. Writing a column for a ma- jor newspaper is quite frankly a very intimidating assign- ment, and the pressures that come with the job are im- mense; in fact, most of you normal, run-of-the-mill peo- ple would fold as a result of the requirements attached to the assignment. In an at- tempt to have you appreciate me even more than you do al- ready, let me share with you how I handle my column-writ- ing responsibilities week in and week out, month in and month out, year in and...you get the picture. The most difficult part of writing a weekly column is writing a weekly column. Imagine, if you will, having to share with the world 1,000 words every single week, and making each attempt inter- esting and relevant enough to have folks wait with anticipa- tion for the following week's column. As hard as it will be for you to believe, there are weeks when I sit down at my computer to bang out my col- umn without any idea where my fingers will lead me. To- day's is such a column. I have written 350 words; I have no idea how I got to this point, and frankly I have no idea where my brain and fingers will take me from here. Now that I think about it, this week's column should be a piece of cake. We just cele- brated Easter, which is a big deal at my house, and hope- fully at yours as well. In the interest of full dis- closure, I will admit that I am not a person who attends church on a regular basis. I attended as a child and as a member of the Church League Champion, Church of the Naz- arene basketball team, I set a single game scoring record of 42 points. If memory serves, I was really something. In spite of my church atten- dance record — and depend- ing on where you stand on the subject — you will be happy or perhaps unimpressed to learn that I am in fact a believer. I believe most strongly dur- ing Easter and Christmas be- cause I am fortunate enough to understand and accept the real story behind each holi- day. Other than attending too many memorial services, it is during these holidays that I mostly visit a church of my choosing. Religion aside, Easter for me is all about tradition and making memories with fam- ily. For the past 50 years it has been a tradition for my entire family to gather at Easter. We started in the '60s when sister Judy's oldest child Sherrie was a toddler. Her parents, grand- mas, grandpas and aunts and uncles gathered to watch her stumble around the yard look- ing for Easter eggs. Little did we know then what the next 50 years would hold. The decade of the '70s found us mostly at Judy's house where, due to the addi- tion of another four children, Cindy, Henry (Judy's), Cabe and Cori (ours). Sherrie found the hunt just a bit more com- petitive. The decade of the '80s and '90s grew even more com- petitive. While our children were by then young adults, they had yet to bless us with grandchildren. That did not relieve us from egg-hiding responsibilities. Every Eas- ter would find us filling plas- tic eggs with quarters, dol- lar bills, fives, and a ten-dol- lar bill for the prize egg; and every year would find our twenty- and thirty-something college educated children and their spouses, boyfriends or girlfriends stampeding around the yard hoping to find the prize egg just so that they might have gas money for the trip home. And then as things hap- pen in the cycle of life, grand- children Casey, Audrey, Jake, Masy, Wyatt, Samantha, Tai- ton, Luke, Shaye and Alix ap- peared, seemingly out of no- where, to retire their parents and take their rightful place in the annual Cornelius-Ben- ner Easter Egg Hunt that had started with Sherrie some fifty years before. This year 22 members of my family enjoyed another great Easter celebration at our home located at the end of Penneleme Lane. The weather was absolutely perfect for the annual egg hunt. The ham was delicious, as was Judy's sweet pickle potato salad. Bil- lie's sugar cookies and home- made ice cream were to die for. By the way, this year Ju- dy's 15-year old granddaugh- ter Audrey found the prize egg. I hope you had a great Eas- ter as well. •••• Tomorrow I will have been married to Billie Jean Garcia for 48 years. We met while we were both attending Shasta College in 1964. As in any al- most perfect marriage we have stuck together through good times and bad. I want her to know that she is still the pretti- est lady in any room, and that I am so happy that she is my wife. Happy anniversary Billie, I love you very much. •••• Coming Attractions: April 1, The hilarious Wild Oak Com- edy Show makes it's annual stop at the State Theatre, tick- ets are $10; April 9, The Te- hama County Arts Council presents the Missoula Chil- dren's Theatre production fea- turing local students, kinder- garten through 12th grade. BillCorneliusisalifelong resident of Red Bluff, a retired Chief Probation Officer, a champion of the State Theatre and an exceptional athlete. He can be reached at bill. cornelius@sbcglobal.net. William Tells Writing a column harder than it looks Cartoonist's take It's become a cottage indus- try since Donald Trump started winning Republican prima- ries: If he wins the presidency, one in four Americans would consider moving to another country, according to a recent Morn- ing Consult/Vox poll. Google searches for "How can I move to Can- ada" spiked in the beginning of March after Trump had a series of primary wins. A tiny island in County Mayo, Ireland, with 58 inhabitants is letting Americans know they are welcome there if "the unimagi- nable" happens. CBS News reports that a ra- dio host on Cape Breton Island, a small island in Nova Scotia, is encouraging disaffected Ameri- cans to move to the declining re- gion. Apparently, they'll take any warm body they can get. Several news articles offer rec- ommendations on the top coun- tries to move to, and provide links to the necessary forms, if Trump makes it into the White House. According to Mashable, Sval- bard, a territory of Norway, re- quires no visa or resident permit, but transplants are not eligible for "free" social services and they "must be able to protect them- selves from polar bears." That's a good one. I haven't met many progressive American males who could protect them- selves. According to The Indepen- dent, some progressive celebri- ties are threatening to leave, too. Whoopi Goldberg said of a Trump victory, "I don't think that's America. I don't want that to be America. Maybe it's time for me to move, you know." And, Cher, a great actress and singer, said she'd move to Jupiter, and I believe her. I think she's been going there to get some of her nutty outfits. The always classy Miley Cyrus shared her thoughts in "a tear- ful Instagram post." I replaced her cuss words with the word BLANK: "God, he thinks he is the BLANKING chosen one or some BLANK. Honestly BLANK this BLANK. I am moving if this is my president!" But I don't know what people are so worried about. Hey, Donald Trump was never my choice to be the Republican nominee. I don't know how, in a coun- try as big as ours — with so many capable people — that the ones running, in both parties, have been such an incredible let down. But let's say Trump keeps de- fying the odds and becomes president. Are you really so frag- ile a human being that this would cause you to give up on your country — a country that was designed, unlike most every country in the history of man- kind, to be run by the people and not by the elected leaders? If you don't like who the presi- dent is — I have seven years of ex- perience of that — involve your- self in our free country's political process to help elect a president who is more to your liking. Of course, that would require educating yourself about the is- sues and the candidates. It might involve writing letters to the edi- tor, helping local candidates can- vas neighborhoods or sending out mailers, or even participat- ing in civil conversations with friends and neighbors to articu- late your political point of view and try to understand theirs. It certainly requires you to vote. In my opinion, doing such things in our country is much more than just a privilege; it is a civic duty. It is also something that requires thinking and ef- fort — something that whining does not. In any event, after eight years of President Obama — eight years of runaway regulations and a significant increase in my health care costs — the last thing I want is President Hillary Clin- ton to carry on Obama's policies. If she wins, I won't move to Ireland, but I will spend two solid days soaking in the Irish culture — one shot of Irish whis- key after another. Tom Purcell, author of "Misadventures of a 1970s Childhood" and "Comical Sense: A Lone Humorist Takes on a World Gone Nutty!" is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. Send comments to Tom at Tom@ TomPurcell.com. Tom Purcell The only move to make if Trump wins In spite of my church attendance record — and depending on where you stand on the subject — you will be happy or perhaps unimpressed to learn that I am in fact a believer. Bill Cornelius Tom Purcell It was not long after last week's horrifying bombings in Brussels that the so-called se- curity experts were out warn- ing that Europeans must give up more of their liberty so gov- ernment can keep them secure from terrorism. I guess people are not supposed to notice that every terrorist attack represents a major government failure and that rewarding failure with more of the same policies only invites more failure. I am sure a frightened popula- tion will find government prom- ises of perfect security attrac- tive and may be willing to allow more surveillance of their per- sonal lives. They should pause a little beforehand and consider what their governments have done so far to keep them "safe." The government of France, for example, has been particularly aggressive in its Middle East pol- icy. Then-French President Sar- kozy was among the most de- termined proponents of "regime change" in Libya. That operation has left the country in chaos, with much of the territory con- trolled by an ISIS and al-Qa- eda that were not there before the "liberation." As we learned last week from Hillary Clin- ton's emails, Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron were much more concerned with getting their hands on Libya's oil after the overthrow of Gaddafi. The creation of a hotbed of ter- rorism that could easily make its way to Europe was not im- portant. They wanted to secure enormously profitable deals for well-connected French and Eng- lish energy companies. Likewise, European govern- ments have been very active in the five-year, American-led effort to overthrow the Assad govern- ment in Syria. This foolish move has boosted both ISIS and al-Qa- eda in Syria to the point where they nearly over-ran the coun- try late last year. It has also led millions to flee their war-torn country for a Europe that has opened its doors with the prom- ise of generous benefits to any- one who can make it there. Is it any surprise that so many hun- dreds of thousands took them up on the offer? Is it any surprise that in this incredible flood of people there may be more than a few who are interested in more than just free housing and a wel- fare check? Europeans should be demand- ing to know why their govern- ments provoke people in the Middle East with aggressive for- eign policies, and then open the door to millions of them. Do their leaders just lack basic com- mon sense? Usually the so-called security experts who advise more govern- ment surveillance after a terror- ist attack have a conflict of inter- est. They often benefit when the security state is given a bigger budget. Insecurity is the bread- and-butter of the security "ex- perts." But why is it that after a terrorist attack, governments are rewarded with bigger budgets and more power over people? Shouldn't failure be punished in- stead of rewarded? As in the United States, the se- curity crisis in Europe is directly tied to bad policy. Until bad pol- icy is changed, no amount of sur- veillance, racial profiling, and police harassment can make the population safer. Europeans al- ready seem to understand this, and as we have seen in recent German elections they are aban- doning the parties that prom- ise that the same old bad poli- cies will this time produce differ- ent results. Hopefully Americans will also stand up and demand a change in our foreign policy before bad policy leads to more terrorist vi- olence on our shores. Ron Paul is a former Congressman and Presidential candidate. He can be reached at the RonPaulInstitute.org. Ron Paul A European PATRIOT Act will not keep people safe OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, March 30, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6