Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/666544
Ihavealwaysstoodin awe of America's Presidency, whether the person hold- ing the job was one of my favor- ite Presidents or not. I person- ally have several favorite Presi- dents. America's first big guy was George Wash- ington. He is credited with starting a group called The President's Club, whose mem- bership is limited to all the living ex-Presidents. An act of Congress in 1957 during President Eisenhower's time gave Washington's idea even more substance. I usually think of Abra- ham Lincoln because he is so iconic. Then I think of Harry Truman because he was such a bottom line guy when he told us "The buck stops here." One of the things I find most positive and rewarding is the fact that our ex-Presidents don't spend any time criticiz- ing one another. I once had the pleasure of a personal, short conversation with Il- linois Sen. Barack Obama about seven years ago when his hair was much darker. All our Presidents eventually do turn grey however. It takes no guessing as to why that happens. How civilized it is that our ex-Presidents try not comment on their predeces- sors or each other. Of course, I am sure Presi- dent Thomas Jefferson winds up at the top of everyone's fa- vorite President list. He was even quoted as saying his Presidency was a "splendid misery." Please let us all give Mr. Jefferson a lifetime of standing applause for all he did to improve America. President George W. Bush is our most recent and per- fect example of proper ex- Presidential decorum. "W" has treated President Barack Obama with total re- spect since he left the White House. My take is that our main stream media could and should learn to be more Pres- idential. It feels to me like the media today is spend- ing more time commenting on our elected officials and even the news, than just giv- ing us straight forward re- porting like Walter Cronkite used to do. However, don't get your hopes up about that. In today's world, politics seems to be more aggressive. I think it has grown into an "unbal- anced" game of attack. Let us go back to Presi- dent Truman's time again. You may not remember that Harry was actually denied a chance to attend West Point because he could not pass the eye chart, yet he was the one capable of deciding to drop that first atomic bomb in Au- gust of 1945. Straight talking Harry spoke in very understand- able terms. No wonder citi- zens came up with "Give 'em hell, Harry." Truman actually makes me think of Winston Churchill's "We will fight them on the beaches, etc." We have to remember that Mr. Truman was Vice Presi- dent under Franklin Delano Roosevelt and primarily only got the top job by the circum- stance of FDR's death. In my memory, "incom- patibility" on this level was most prominently displayed by the dislike and disdain President Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew had for each an- other. Nixon was brilliant, but must have been battling some kind of inferiority com- plex while his Vice President Spiro Agnew had his own challenges. Agnew was in- vestigated in 1973 for receiv- ing bribes of over $100,000 and several other possible fel- onies. He was forced to re- sign the Vice Presidency that same year. Mytakeonthemovies This week's movie review is for "Miracle From Heaven." The next time you need your positive mental attitude adjusted, this is the perfect movie. New 12-year-old actor Kylie Rogers is cast as Jenni- fer Garner's terminal child. I highly recommend this movie, as long as you take some Kleenex for your tears. 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. StanStatham My take on the Presidency of the United States President George W. Bush is our most recent and perfect example of proper ex- Presidential decorum. "W" has treated President Barack Obama with total respect since he left the White House. Questions surround basketball coach removal Editor: It has come to my atten- tion that Red Bluff High School has decided to remove Kathy Brandt as head varsity women's basketball coach for the '16-17 school year. This is a huge mis- take. There is very little infor- mation being offered by the ad- ministration except to say they have decided "to go in a differ- ent direction." What direction could that possibly be? The com- munity and especially the play- ers on the team, deserve to know more about why this decision was made. I have known Kathy for over 23 years. She was my varsity coach when I attended Red Bluff High School from 1991-1995. She then went on to coach at Cal State Fullerton where I attended from 1995-1998 and again at Cal State Chico in 1999-2000. Kathy was the best coach I could have ever hoped for. She was always fair and consistent; she expected us to show up ev- ery day, committed to the sea- son and to do our best, she would accept nothing less. She taught us how to compete with aggressiveness but also with class and dignity. Some of my greatest athletic moments have occurred with her as my coach and mentor. She has continued to be my biggest supporter, ad- vocate, mentor, and most impor- tantly she has become a cher- ished friend. She has wanted nothing but the best for me; all I ever had to do was give her my best effort in return. Kathy is a competitive, strong- willed, assertive, successful woman. She is, by far, the best role model a young adult (espe- cially female) could look up to. She graduated from Red Bluff High School, obtained a full-ride athletic scholarship to a Division I school, attained a college de- gree, and then returned to this community where she is a busi- ness owner and resident. Kathy instills and inspires people to rise above the hard and competitive parts of life and learn how to turn those into successes. I've known a lot of success in sports and in life. Kathy is a large part of the rea- son for that. The young ladies of Red Bluff deserve to have Kathy continue to be their coach. Be- yond the wins and losses, Kathy is the very best this area has to offer and I implore the adminis- tration to re-think its decision. The girls deserve better from the administration and we, as the community, should be de- manding information. I'm sad that it has come to this. I'm disappointed that I had to write this letter. In all serious- ness, I cannot believe the admin- istration would even consider the possibility of removing Kathy. But I take pride in being a former Red Bluff High School athlete and member of this community. We accomplished some amaz- ing things; our women's athlet- ics and athletes were the talk of the North State. People wanted to come here and watch games and wanted to participate in our tournaments and compete against us. Kathy is responsible for a good portion of that. Kathy helped put Red Bluff on the map first as a Red Bluff High School athlete and continues to do it now as a coach. We simply can- not allow the administration to make these decisions and decide the fate of a program and give no solid reason why. The administration is doing a severe injustice to the wom- en's basketball program if we let Kathy go without trying to get answers. The program needs Kathy to stay. — Justine McMahan, Red Bluff Good old boys are at it again Editor: It looks like the good old boys are at it again — business as usual. The 5-0 vote by the Board of Supervisors not to renew Te- hama County Planning Direc- tor Sean Moore's contract is just an example. Enforcing the codes of the county was his job. Apparently while doing his job, he stepped on toes with more clout than our five supervisors. The loss of this advocate of environmental protection is counterproductive to the land and we the people, which are pretty much one. The man was against many unwarranted and not permitted well drilling. Questioned the pump ponds, unnatural ponds, no well, no pond. He dealt with all manner of environmental infractions and code violations. The environment of Tehama County and its inhabitants, that covers a lot of area, were impor- tant to him. He did his job and he lost his job. In my opinion Sean was our county's watchdog, excuse the analogy but it fits. It doesn't take too much thought to figure this one out. By the way, two of those "good old boys" want your vote to con- tinue on with the same old, same old. What do you think, time for a start of the change? Vote them out as their terms come up. You all may want to pay at- tention to whoever replaces Sean. That person needs to be approved by our Board of Su- pervisors. Ring around the rosy. — Joseph Ostrowski, Red Bluff Top-notch baseball is free Editor: The editorial cartoon of the MLB player and the high price of tickets to watch a well-paid, grown man play a game struck a cord. If people want to see baseball played with joy and enthusiasm, go watch the local little league players. Go sit in the bleachers and watch the high school team. Make a donation for the local youth. Have fun and support the local community. The big time pro players and owners don't support the fans. Seems the caps, T-shirts and other items aren't even made in our country. Read the labels. — Sam Collins, Red Bluff Your opinions Cartoonist's take To satirize, or not to satirize. That is the question. April 23, 2016 is the 400th an- niversary of the death of play- wright, poet, actor William Shakespeare, generally regarded as the greatest writer in the his- tory of the English language. ("Press two for Spanish.") Perhaps you first came to ap- preciate Shakespeare via a soph- omore English lecture or a digni- fied live performance of one of his plays. Or maybe, like me, you fell in love with his works via the ep- isode of "Gilligan's Island" in which movie producer Harold Hecuba (Phil Silvers) wound up starring in a one-man musical of "Hamlet." Who can forget Silvers singing, "Hamlet, Hamlet, do be a lamblet..." in drag as Ophelia? (For those of us who watched the episode multiple times, I can only say, "What's in a name? That which we call a couch potato by any other name would smell as pungent...") Shakespeare coined an as- tounding number of words or phrases we still use today, includ- ing "catch a cold," "break the ice," "foregone conclusion," "good rid- dance," "uncomfortable" and "manager." Of course there were some misfires; you don't often hear anyone gushing, "Oooo, I've just been shuffling off this mortal coil to meet you!" Shakespeare has inspired countless other writers and per- formers over the centuries. Surely you remember Merle Haggard's anthem "You're Walkin' On The Forsoothin' Side of Me"? Shakespeare's works are among those things that are really good for us but that we stubbornly re- sist. Perhaps a dinner theater should advertise, "Come for the broccoli and flossing, but stay for the soliloquies." Teachers fight an uphill bat- tle getting students to pay atten- tion to Shakespeare. It's a shame. Yes, sometimes the archaic lan- guage and stilted proclamations can make the works tedious, but the man had so much to say about the Human Condition. Surely the students find star-crossed lov- ers relevant. Granted, some of the students have no frame of refer- ence for the unbridled ambition of Macbeth. ("A little help, please? The Cool Ranch Doritos are waaaaay down on the other end of the sofa.") Scholars are fascinated by the various "lost years" gaps in our knowledge of Shakespeare's loca- tion and activities. I tend to think he was out hitchhiking and try- ing to find himself. ("By the hoist- ing of my thumbs, something 18-wheeled this way comes.") Don't you wish we could ask the Bard of Avon if he would have done anything differently if he had known his works would en- dure for four centuries? ("Emo- jis. More sonnets with emojis. Re- place Hamlet's father's ghost with Hamlet's father's zombie. And stop worrying so much about competing with the Bard of May- belline and the Bard of Mary Kay.") We are so fortunate that Shakespeare isn't writing his works today. Timeless truths would be downgraded to Tele- Prompter dialogue such as "If you like your apothecary, you can keep your apothecary." Shy- lock in "The Merchant of Venice" would forego a pound of flesh for a pound of certified-organic kale. Hamlet's first reaction when looking at Yorick's skull would be to snap, "Somebody get the CSI team." Romeo, coming upon an apparently deceased Juliet, would walk away with a quip of "What difference, at this point, does it make?" My word limit approaches. Parting is such sweet sorrow. Re- member: The evil that men do lives after them; the stuff they throw together to beat a dead- line oft gets passed over for "Dear Abby." *Sigh* Danny Tyree welcomes email responses at tyreetyrades@aol. com and visits to his Facebook fan page Tyree's Tyrades. Danny Tyree William Shakespeare's death: The 400th anniversary 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 Stan Statham By Danny Tyree Teachers fight an uphill battle getting students to pay attention to Shakespeare. It's a shame. OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, April 14, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6