Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/678441
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 IgraduatedfromChicoState in June of 1968. I would love to tell you that it was always my plan to serve and save mankind. The real truth is that a primary reason for even attending college was to avoid be- ing drafted into the military dur- ing the terrible conflict of the Vietnam War. I began my less than distin- guished college career by rid- ing a school bus to Shasta Col- lege every day when it was lo- cated in the northwest portion of Redding. I actually attended Shasta College for five semes- ters rather than the recom- mended four. Frankly, I was much more interested in play- ing pickup basketball in the col- lege gym than attending class. I didn't own a car and was unable to participate on the baseball team, even though I was recruited to pitch for the Shasta College team. I made up for that disappointment by wooing my wife of 48 years af- ter meeting her in a college vol- leyball class. I love my wife, but sure would have liked to play college baseball. In the spring of 1966 I trans- ferred to Chico State, and five semesters later I graduated with a degree in Social Welfare and Corrections. While waiting for my draft notice I ran into Jimmie Hinkle, Tehama County Auditor, and one of my all-time favorite ladies. Jimmie told me the county was hiring a deputy probation officer. One month out of college, I applied for the position; and as they say, the rest is history. The Probation Department in 1968 was very different from the operation you see today. The county's first Juvenile Hall was completed in 1967. Rather than employing correctional counselors, the facility was managed by two married cou- ples that for three or four days every week actually lived in Ju- venile Hall. On occasion, Bil- lie and I filled in for the couples during vacations, etc. My first boss was Chief Pro- bation Officer Roger L. Parker. Mr. Parker had previously op- erated a gas station, and was given the chief's position pri- marily because he had been active as a Boy Scout leader. His assistant was a wonder- ful lady by the name of Lucille McCready. While neither pos- sessed a college degree, Roger Parker and Lucille McCready were both very intelligent. Each was utterly and completely ded- icated to their job. It was com- mon for each to work 50 or 60 hours per week, and much to my chagrin they expected their employees to do the same. For the first several years of my employment, the Judge of the Superior Court was the venerable Curtiss E. Wetter. Judge Wetter was extremely intelligent, and commanded a great deal of respect. In those days, juvenile proceedings were not adversarial by defi- nition, but rather an informal hearing to determine the best possible outcome for misbe- having youth. The district at- torney played no role in these proceedings. The attorney rep- resenting a juvenile would, from time to time, recommend incarceration in Juvenile Hall or the California Youth Author- ity, something you would never see today. In 1970, the County Board of Supervisors fired Roger Parker and replaced him with a fel- low by the name of Pete Capo- villa. Capovilla was a very nice man, and in fact was probably too nice for the position. After a few short years he left Tehama County, only to be replaced by my last boss, Robert Lucas. Bob Lucas came to the Te- hama County in the early '70s, and led the probation depart- ment until he retired in 1981. Mr. Lucas created a profes- sional environment and pro- gram structure that had not previously existed. I certainly benefited from his hard work and organizational skills when I assumed the Chief Probation Officer position. When Lucas left, I had served in the department for a dozen years. I remember com- peting for the Chief job against seasoned Chief Probation Offi- cers from other counties, and I remember that after the rank- ings by the interview panel I was not on top of the candidate list. Fortunately, Presiding Su- perior Court Judge Noel Wat- kins made the final selection; and for some strange reason on October 1, 1981, Judge Watkins appointed me Chief Probation Officer of Tehama County. Judge Watkins told me early on that so long as I did not em- barrass the Court and stayed out of the newspaper, he would leave me alone to run my de- partment without interference from the Court. Judge Watkins kept that promise, and I shall always be indebted to the bril- liant Noel Watkins for his trust and support of my ability to lead the Tehama County Proba- tion Department. For the most part, I enjoyed the 16 years I served as Chief Probation Officer. I enjoyed a great working relationship with other agencies as well as the County Board of Supervi- sors, my Juvenile Justice Com- mission, the court system and, most importantly, my staff. By the time I retired in 1997, the Honorable Dennis Murray was Presiding Judge. Like Judges Wetter and Watkins before him, Judge Murray was one ter- rific judge. Don't get me wrong. Being in charge kept me awake many more nights than I would like to admit. Operating a dilapi- dated, outdated and totally in- adequate Juvenile Hall was not easy. Supervising and some- times having to discipline mem- bers of my 50 person staff was not easy. But I did it and I sur- vived. I also just now managed to complete another 1,000-word column, which in my world to- day is much more important than working with judges. •••• Happy belated Mother's Day to all you ladies who hold this title. I am not sure about the rest of you but within my household Billie has always been the straw that stirs our drink. Thank you for being you. •••• Tickets remain available for the Saturday night, May 14, concert at the State Theatre: Tommy Castro and the Painkill- ers. North State fans can hardly wait to hear the "Funky South- ern Soul, Big City Blues and Classic Rock" for which Cas- tro and his band are known. At only $35, this is one concert not to be missed. Call 529-2787 for ticket information. 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. Editorial BillCornelius: Looking back over my career Cartoonist's take My mother is in an envi- able place in life as she nears the beginning of her eighth de- cade. She's lost her filter, and that doesn't bode well for me, her only son. "You have six months to get married or else," she said to me re- cently. I can't fault her for her con- cern. Single men can be knuck- leheads. We don't take care of ourselves as we should. We don't live as long (though some of my married friends tell me marriage only makes life seem longer). The fact is, marriage is good. Married people have lower rates of depression. Married men earn more — partly be- cause they need to but mostly because they desire to — and married couples are much less likely to experience poverty. A recent study by the Na- tional Bureau of Economic Re- search found that married peo- ple are generally happier than single people. It found that the "happiness bonus" from mar- riage is greatest during middle age, when people, struggling to pay college tuitions and save for retirement, benefit most from the support of a lifelong partner. My mother knows this. Thus, the regular phone calls. "You have five months, one week, four days, two hours and 27 minutes to get married!" "But, Ma," I try to explain, "the world has changed. It's not like the old days when peo- ple married just out of high school or college. A Pew study found that the share of never- married Americans has risen dramatically in the past five decades. It found that 1-in-5 Americans aged 25 and older have never been married, com- pared with just 1 in 10 in 1960." "You have four months, two weeks, six days, 12 hours and 48 minutes to get married!" "But, Ma," I say, "more and more people are marrying and starting families in their 40s and 50s. Maybe I'm fooling my- self, but I still have some time. Tony Randall had his first kid to a young woman when he was 78. Novelist Saul Bellow sired his fourth child at the age of 84. Author George Plimpton had twins at 68. Sure, all three are dead, but I think I made my point." "You have three months, one week, five days, 18 hours and 12 minutes to get married!" "But, Ma," I say, "it's not that I don't want to marry. I always wanted to have a marriage like you have with my dad. I had my opportunities over the years, but couldn't do it when I was younger. I made some bonehead decisions, no doubt. I can't imagine how different my life will be when you and dad are no longer in it, and I know as I go into the last third of my life, that I'd be incredibly blessed to have a wife to share my life with. But then again I'm awfully set in my ways and maybe marriage just isn't in the cards for me." "You have two months, two weeks, six days, seven hours and 18 minutes to get mar- ried!" "But, Ma," I say, "part of the challenge is to find a woman who is as honest, caring and compassionate as you. You taught me what really matters in life: family, laughter, hon- esty, beauty. Surely, you don't want me to marry just any- one — I could have done that a dozen times. Don't you want me to hold out until I find a woman who is as sweet and fun and funny as you?" "Nice try, but you have one month, three weeks, two days and 11 minutes to get mar- ried!" 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 Marriage trends and my mother Judge Watkins told me early on that so long as I did not embarrass the Court and stayed out of the newspaper, he would leave me alone to run my department without interference from the Court. Bill Cornelius Tom Purcell In a recent interview I was asked why Bernie Sanders, a self-described "democratic so- cialist" had seemingly attracted so much support among young people. In fact polls suggest Sanders is the most popular can- didate among people aged 18- 29, and 51 percent of that same age group appears fed up with "capitalism in its current form," according to a recent Harvard study. It was just four years ago that so many young people turned out to hear and support my mes- sage of personal liberty, non- aggression, and non-interven- tion at home and abroad. I was thrilled that so many young peo- ple were attracted to a candi- date whose main message was "I don't want to run your life." Socialism, of course, is the op- posite philosophy. The social- ist philosophy has at its core the desire to run people's lives. It is by design an authoritarian sys- tem. Who would willingly give up so much of their own prop- erty to the state to redistribute to others? That is where the use of government force comes into play. Socialism tells how much of your money you can keep, how you can spend it, if you can spend it, which of your personal habits must be modified in order to qualify for your "free" health- care, what course of study you must pursue to qualify for your "free" education, and so on. But we also know the false promises can be very seductive. Socialism preys on that human fault that would like to have something for nothing. You de- serve an education, the social- ist tells young people, so I will give you one for free. He never tells the student that he will pay for that education many times over in the hidden tax called in- flation. Or the student may "pay" for that education with unem- ployment after college as his po- tential employer was forced to shut down over the high taxes required to pay for all the things the socialist promises. So am I surprised that it seems so many young people have fallen for the seductive lies of socialism? Well I don't really believe they have. They are frus- trated by a system they are told is capitalism. They are angry over the same things I have been talking about for years. Our current system is far from the free-markets that we in the Austrian school of econom- ics espouse. We have a system of cronyism, corporatism, infla- tionism, regulated and managed trade to the benefit of special in- terests, and the criminality of central banking. Unfortunately because of our faulty and biased education system and the relent- less propaganda of the main- stream media, many young peo- ple are taught that the mess they see all around them is all caused by "capitalism." Politics is about getting peo- ple excited about a candidate. Ours is a much longer effort. The young generation that first attended my rallies in 2007 is by now in its mid-20s. They are raising a new generation that in many cases will be home- schooled and outside the pro- paganda machine that is mod- ern public education. They un- derstand that the real freedom revolution will not be won at the ballot box, but in the battle- ground of ideas. They continue to learn the freedom philoso- phy and they support the vari- ous educational organizations that provide the intellectual am- munition for our fight. I am more optimistic than ever that our message is taking hold and growing deep roots. Ideas really can change the world. Contrary to what many would like us to believe, the Freedom Revolution is alive and well. Ron Paul is a former Congressman and Presidential candidate. He can be reached at the RonPaulInstitute.org. Ron Paul What happened to the revolution? OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, May 11, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6