Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/668971
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 InanotherweekorsoIwill celebrate my 71st birthday. Age is a funny thing. As a young person, it was my opinion that 70-year- old people were pretty much done with their lives. To me, it seemed that their primary purpose in life was to attend grandparents' day at the local elementary school, or to drag their lawn chairs to the shad- iest spot at the Little League field. Now that I have reached that age, I realize that age has less to do with the num- ber of rings on the tree than it has to do with what one does with those rings. In today's world, age is about diet, exercise, atti- tude, opportunity and dumb- ass luck. A couple months back I ended up on a bas- ketball court with my friend Larry Jantzen and a cou- ple other old codgers, play- ing basketball against Lar- ry's grandson, Mike Molarius and his 8th grade basketball team. While admittedly hav- ing to resort to "alley cat bas- ketball", we actually won the game. This is an example of how one might use the rings on one's tree. The fact that two months later I am still unable to walk fully upright is not necessarily relevant to the aging issue. Unfortunately, about the time you start feeling good about how you are handling the onset of old age, real- ity rears its ugly head. I have been assisting my son-in-law coach my grandson's little league team. A couple weeks back I was trying to help one of our play- ers learn how to pitch a base- ball. After throwing about five balls over his head, I ex- plained to the lad that back in the day I was a very tal- ented pitcher. The kid stared at me for a minute or so and then said, "What the hell happened?" It probably is not necessary to point out that the kid cur- rently bats last, and plays right field… when he plays at all. I am not sure why, but one of my must read sec- tions in the newspaper has al- ways been the obituary sec- tion. Unfortunately, I have noticed that the ages of the folks listed in this section are —increasingly often—younger than me. Many are folks I have known personally, folks who have been an important part of my life and this com- munity. Sadly, such has been the case in recent weeks: •••• Tom Miles was my school- mate, and a teammate on my first little league team. His fa- ther was my very first base- ball coach. Although Tom was pretty average as a ball player, he excelled as a hu- man being. A bear of a man, Tom never met a person he didn't value as a friend, and his love and devotion to his wife Carla and family bor- dered on the ridiculous. Tom Miles was a good man. •••• When I signed on with the State Theatre project, I met an attractive, intelli- gent STFTA board member by the name of Linda Mc- Cay. Linda was a drama in- structor for Shasta College, and every year about this time she brought her college class to perform an Old West program on the State The- atre stage. Sadly, we recently lost this classy lady; but we will think of her often when someone performs an Old West program at the historic State Theatre. •••• In 2010 Merle Haggard ap- peared at our very first State Theatre Concert in sup- port of our efforts to pur- chase and restore this beau- tiful old community treasure. Along with millions of other Country Music fans we thank Merle Haggard for being Merle Haggard. In the world of Country Music he was the best there ever was. •••• While I did not person- ally know him well, I had met Howard Finn, and found him to be a quiet and polite man. A graduate of UC Berkeley, Howard was obviously a very intelligent and accomplished person. His professional achievements were impres- sive, and the fact that Clint Eastwood thought enough of him to travel to Red Bluff for his memorial service says vol- umes about Howard Finn. For me however, the smart- est thing Howard ever did was marrying the nicest lady in Tehama County, his wife Sharen. One smart man was Howard Finn. •••• I met Floyd Hicks in 1968 when I came to work for Te- hama County. For the next 30 years I worked with Floyd in his capacity as the Clerk and Recorder and later when he served as a County Super- visor. Floyd was a war hero. Floyd was a leader. Floyd was a friend. Most of all, Floyd Hicks was a champion for his community. •••• A few of you out there will remember when your family doctor was actually your fam- ily doctor. William Martin was our family doctor. He de- livered both of our children, though he was almost late for the second one because he was serving as team doctor at a Spartan football game. Doc Martin couldn't sing a lick, but that never stopped him from singing in the hallway. Most important, if he signed on as your doctor, you had a friend for a lifetime. Just a couple of months back he sent me an email with a com- ment about my column, and inquired about my family. Doctor William Martin truly was a family doctor. Most important, Doctor William Martin was a friend in every sense of the word. •••• Rest in Peace, Tom Miles. Rest in Peace, Linda McCay. Rest in Peace, Merle Haggard. Rest in Peace, Howard Finn. Rest in Peace, Floyd Hicks. Rest in Peace, Doctor Martin. We miss you all very much. •••• Tickets are still available for the Motown Experience appearing this Friday eve- ning at 7:30 p.m. at the his- toric State Theatre. At $30- $40 per ticket this is a must see concert. Call 529-2787 for tickets or pick yours up at the Tehama Country Visitor Cen- ter on Antelope Boulevard. 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 Age not about years, but what you do with them Cartoonist's take Get this: Prisoners spend more time enjoying the out- doors than modern children. That is the find- ing of a global survey commis- sioned by the "Dirt Is Good" Child Develop- ment Advisory Board in the U.K. According to the survey, about 75 percent of children are spending less than an hour out- side on an average day — and 10 percent of children do not play outside at all. I wish they could grow up the way I and millions of other kids did in the '70s. Unlike modern kids, we didn't sit inside air-conditioned homes playing video games and texting our pals. We were out in the hills roaming, exploring and creat- ing all day long. We collected discarded wood at new hous- ing sites and built shacks. We dammed up the creek to go swimming and catch pet min- nows and crayfish. One summer, we built a mo- torized go-cart with scrap items from a junked riding mower, a piece of Formica and a handful of old two-by-fours. Despite hav- ing no brakes, it had plenty of power and was one of the great engineering feats in my neigh- borhood's history. As soon as the spring weather broke, we were on our bikes try- ing to rack up mileage on our speedometers. Our mothers al- lowed us to ride to South Park, as long as we kept within 5 miles of home — though we'd ride 20 miles or more until ex- haustion finally set in. Jumping our bikes off warped plywood platforms also was a favorite pastime. We took our bikes to the top of Marilynn Drive — a hill so steep it may as well have been a cliff — and pedaled like mad as we turned left on Janet Drive and hit un- til liftoff. The typical bike jumper was covered with scrapes and bruises. When a kid went down especially hard, a mother in a station wagon would arrive, the moaning kid would be loaded in the back next to his bike and off he'd go to St. Clair Hospital for stitches or a cast. Sure, we got into some occa- sional mischief, but nothing too bad. I sometimes plucked pears off a tree by Horning Road and whipped them at cars. Ev- ery now and then, a car would screech to a stop and an irate man would chase us. We'd duck into a 5-foot-wide creek conduit that sat 15 feet under the neigh- borhood. You haven't experienced adrenaline until you've run through a pitch-black creek drain while adult footsteps are splashing right behind you. In any event, it turns out that the action-packed '70s child- hood I experienced outdoors was very good for me because it unleashed all five senses. "We don't yet know why it happens, but when all five of a child's senses come alive, a child is at an optimum state of learn- ing, and creative and cognitive functioning go way up," said journalist Richard Louv, author of "Last Child in the Woods." Louv said that the conse- quences of withdrawing a child from nature are not good. Kids lose their sense of being rooted in the world. They're more likely to experience stress, hyperac- tivity, attention-deficit disorder and other modern maladies. Sir Ken Robinson, a leading expert in education, creativity and human development and chairman of the Dirt is Good board, concurs. "Academic research shows that active play is the natural and primary way that children learn," he said in a board press release. "It is essential to their healthy growth and progress, particularly during periods of rapid brain development." Hey, spring has arrived. A lit- tle dirt could do all of us some good, but especially our kids. 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 Why dirt is good for kids After throwing about five balls over his head, I explained to the lad that back in the day I was a very talented pitcher. The kid stared at me for a minute or so and then said, "What the hell happened?" Bill Cornelius Tom Purcell Last week, President Obama and Vice President Biden held a hastily arranged secret meet- ing with Federal Reserve Chair- man Janet Yellen. According to the one paragraph statement re- leased by the White House fol- lowing the meeting, Yellen, Obama, and Biden simply "ex- changed notes" about the econ- omy and the progress of finan- cial reform. Because the meeting was held behind closed doors, the American people have no way of knowing what else the three might have discussed. Yellen's secret meeting at the White House followed an emer- gency secret Federal Reserve Board meeting. The Fed then held another secret meeting to discuss bank reform. These se- cret meetings come on the heels of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's estimate that first quarter GDP growth was .01 per- cent, dangerously close to the of- ficial definition of recession. Thus the real reason for all these secret meetings could be a panic that the Fed's eight year explosion of money creation has not just failed to revive the econ- omy, but is about to cause an- other major market meltdown. Establishment politicians and economists find the Fed's fail- ures puzzling. According to the Keynesian paradigm that still dominates the thinking of most policymakers, the Fed's money creation should have produced such robust growth that today the Fed would be raising inter- est rates to prevent the economy from "overheating." The Fed's response to its fail- ures is to find new ways to pump money into the economy. Hence the Fed is actually con- sidering implementing "nega- tive interest rates." Negative in- terest rates are a hidden tax on savings. Negative interest rates may create the short-term illu- sion of growth, but, by discour- aging savings, they will cause tremendous long-term economic damage. Even as Yellen admits that the Fed "has not taken nega- tive interest rates off the table," she and other Fed officials are still promising to raise rates this year. The Federal Reserve needs to promise future rate increases in order to stop nervous inves- tors from fleeing U.S. markets and challenging the dollar's re- serve currency status. The Fed can only keep the wolves at bay with promises of future rate increases for so long before its polices cause a major dollar crisis. However, raising rates could also cause major eco- nomic problems. Higher interest rates will hurt the millions of Americans struggling with student loan, credit card, and other forms of debt. Already over 40 percent of Americans who owe student loan debt are defaulting on their payments. If Federal Reserve policies increase the burden of student loan debt, the number of defaults will dramatically in- crease leading to a bursting of the student loan bubble. By increasing the federal gov- ernment's cost of borrowing, an interest rate increase will also make it harder for the federal government to manage its debt. Increased costs of debt financ- ing will place increased bur- den on the American people and could be the last straw that fi- nally pushes the federal govern- ment into a Greek-style finan- cial crisis. The no-win situation the Fed finds itself in is a sign that we are reaching the inevitable col- lapse of the fiat currency sys- tem. Unless immediate steps are taken to manage the tran- sition, this collapse could usher in an economic catastrophe dwarfing the Great Depres- sion. Therefore, those of us who know the truth must redouble our efforts to spread the ideas of liberty. If we are successful we may be able to force Congress to properly manage the transition by cutting spending in all areas and auditing, then ending, the Federal Reserve. We may also be able to ensure the current crisis ends not just the Fed but the entire welfare-warfare state. Ron Paul is a former Congressman and Presidential candidate. He can be reached at the RonPaulInstitute.org. Ron Paul What did Fed Chairman Yellen tell Obama? OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, April 20, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6