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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 WendellOliverChatfield was a friend of mine. We were never best friends, but we were friends just the same. Wendell was born in Red Bluff on August 9, 1945. He was not a star ath- lete, nor was he the smartest kid in class. Having said that, Wen- dell was a friend to most every- one who knew him. Wendell was a quiet, happy-go-lucky kid who would never hurt a fly. Wendell and I graduated from Red Bluff High School in 1963. I suspect that like me, Wendell at that time really didn't have a plan for the rest of his life. I am not sure what Wendell did immediately af- ter graduation. I don't believe he enrolled in college; and if he found employment, such de- tails are unknown to me. What I do know is that in 1965 Wendell Oliver Chatfield joined the United States Ma- rines. Wendell, who would never hurt a fly, was one of the last classmates I would have picked to enlist in the United States Marines. Last evening, I Googled Wendell Chatfield-Vietnam on my computer. This is what I found: "Wendell Oliver Chat- field—On the Vietnam Wall, Panel 8E Line 19. Home of Re- cord: Red Bluff, CA. Date of Birth: 08/09/1945. Service Branch: United States Marine Corps. Rank at Loss: Private First Class. ID No: 2196561. Specialty: Rifleman. Unit: H CO, 2nd BN, 4th Marines, 3rd MARDIV, III MAF. Incident Date: 05/21/1966. Casualty Date: 06/08/1966. Age at loss: 20 Location: Quang Nam Prov- ince, South Vietnam. Remains: body recovered. Casualty Type: Hostile, died of wounds. Casu- alty Reason: Ground casualty. Casualty Detail: Gun or small arms fire." Wendell Oliver Chatfield died on June 8, 1966, in some insect-infested rice paddy, in the middle of the Vietnam War. Wendell Chatfield was a friend of mine; more important, Wen- dell Chatfield was a true hero to us all. Please take a minute, or maybe several, on Memorial Day, Monday next, to say a prayer for, or at least say thank you to, the tens of thousands of Wendell Chatfields who, as part of far too many mili- tary conflicts, died in service to this country so that you and I might have the precious free- doms we enjoy today. Thank you, Wendell Chatfield. You were a far better man than I. •••• Along with Jack Fennel, Tom Amundson and Larry Jantzen, I serve on the Red Bluff Rotary Club's High School Scholarship Selection Committee. Every year we pore over several hundred applica- tions from graduating seniors attending Red Bluff, Los Mo- linos and Mercy high schools. Our task has become increas- ingly difficult, in that the num- ber of students deserving fi- nancial support increases each and every year. I am pleased to report that with funds generated through our beer sales partnership with the Red Bluff Round-Up As- sociation, Chili Cook-Off pro- ceeds and our Dancing with Cupid Valentine's Day dinner dance, this year we are award- ing $1,500 scholarships to a to- tal of 15 students. We are con- fident that our $22,500 invest- ment is money well spent. Congratulations to Red Bluff High students Zinnia Bal- kan, Timberline Bealer, Jer- emy Cantrell (Curtiss and Ruth Wetter Scholarship), Shelby Carver, Charles Cro- man, Joseph Dagan, Sean Derby, Ceighlee Finnel, Rich- ard Fryer (Gene Penne Schol- arship), Ryan Gamboa, Bryce Sinclair, Mitchell Sauve, Kloie Hiemstra, Ashlie Morgan (Los Molinos High) and Megan Re- alander (Mercy High School). You done good. •••• If you look closely at the above list of scholarship recip- ients you will see the names of Ryan Gamboa and Bryce Sin- clair. On May 14, these two stu- dent athletes chowed down on some Rotary grub while receiv- ing well-deserved Rotary schol- arships, and then adjourned to the Red Bluff High baseball di- amond where they helped the Spartans advance to the Divi- sion II Region finals by defeat- ing Foothill High School by the lopsided score of 10-0. Young Mr. Sinclair pitched a 2-hit gem, and both he and Gamboa will take their consid- erable baseball talents to Butte College where they will play baseball in 2017. While I would love to report that the Spartans went on to capture the division crown, the truth is that on Saturday last, Red Bluff High's "Boys of Sum- mer" were defeated by a score of 3-2 at the hands of baseball powerhouse Chico High School. No need to be sad, how- ever as the team will lose only four players to graduation, and the 2017 team promises to be stronger than ever. Congratu- lations, Spartans, on a job well done. •••• While attending college a lifetime ago, I worked each summer at the Diamond Inter- national Pulp Mill located at the south end of Diamond Av- enue. In those days the mill was a thriving concern, man- ufacturing egg cartons, paper plates and other assorted food containers. If you did not work at Diamond, you were certain to be related to someone who did. My mother worked at Dia- mond for a couple decades. My sister Judy met her future hus- band Henry at Diamond while they were both relatively young and innocent. While I was only an em- ployee for three or four short summers, it was always ap- parent to me that long-term employees took pride in be- ing part of the Diamond story. Even today, retired employees take pride in sharing that they were a part of the Diamond family. Sadly, we recently lost a long-time member of the Dia- mond family. As a summer employee at Diamond, I looked up to John VanOrnum. He was one of the guys who carried a purple rag in his back pocket, signifying that he was part of the elite day-shift millwright crew. I be- lieve he went on to head up the entire maintenance division at the Diamond plant. I came to know John on a personal basis by competing against him in local basketball and fast pitch softball leagues. John had a very competitive personality. He was feisty and he was opinionated. Most im- portant, John was a very good person who cared about his community. Rest in peace, John VanOrnum. You will be missed. 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 Rememberingafriend for Memorial Day Cartoonist's take God bless the Little Sisters of the Poor. They just put our over- zealous federal government back in its constitu- tional place. The Little Sis- ters of the Poor is an international congregation of Roman Catholic nuns who have de- voted their lives to caring for the el- derly poor. Since the order's 1839 founding in France, its mission has been to give dignity and love to the frail and weak in the very last stage of their lives. When ObamaCare became the law of the land, it demanded that the sisters purchase insurance policies for the order's employees that cover the cost of contracep- tion, abortive drugs and steril- ization. But the nuns could never do so because their vow is to ad- vance the dignity of life for every person, including the unborn. The Little Sisters sought a re- ligious exemption from the rules, but, according to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a le- gal group that defended the sis- ters in court, the government said the nuns were not religious enough to be exempt. The gov- ernment insisted that the Obam- aCare exemption applied only to churches and church-controlled ministries. The government threatened massive fines against the 27 re- tirement homes that the sisters operate in the United States — at a cost of $100 per employee per day or $70 million in fines per year. This amount repre- sents one-third of the Little Sis- ters' operating budget and would have severely hampered the sis- ters ability to care for the elderly poor. So, in 2013, the good sisters sued the government. They argued that their consti- tutional right to freely practice their faith was being obstructed by our ever-growing govern- ment. The federal district court in Denver, Colo., ruled against them. Thankfully, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued an injunction siding with the sis- ters. Her injunction temporar- ily stopped the fines as the case worked its way through the legal process. The sisters appealed the dis- trict court ruling. They lost again in 2015 when the 10th Circuit Court ruled against them and sided with ObamaCare. The Little Sisters filed a peti- tion to the Supreme Court. Fi- nally, last week, the Supreme Court gave the sisters a huge win. According to the Becket Fund, "The Supreme Court unanimously overturned the lower court rulings against the Little Sisters, ordered the gov- ernment not to fine the Lit- tle Sisters, and said the lower courts should provide the gov- ernment an opportunity 'to ar- rive at an approach going for- ward that accommodates the petitioner's religious beliefs.'" What is most puzzling about the whole situation, however, is that none of this was necessary. The sisters "never sought to prevent the government from providing these (contraception) services, but have simply asked that the government pick a way that doesn't force them to deliver services — like the week-after pill — that violate their faith." President Obama himself ac- knowledged that "the govern- ment can continue to provide these services without the Little Sisters and their health plan," ac- cording to the Becket Fund. So why did our government at- tack the wonderful sisters who have dedicated their lives to car- ing for the elderly poor? It beats me, but it is a textbook case of why I and others worry about the erosion of our country's most basic freedoms as our over- zealous government extends its tentacles more deeply into every aspect of our everyday lives. In our current state, it takes the incredible fortitude of a group of selfless nuns to protect and restore our freedoms. They fought the good fight against a mighty foe so that they may continue to practice their faith freely in what is supposed to be the freest nation on Earth. God bless the Little Sisters of the Poor. 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 Little Sisters of the Poor and the fight for freedom Please take a minute, or maybe several, on Memorial Day, Monday next, to say a prayer for, or at least say thank you to, the tens of thousands of Wendell Chatfields who, as part of far too many military conflicts, died in service to this country so that you and I might have the precious freedoms we enjoy today. Bill Cornelius Tom Purcell If Hillary Clinton wants to be president — and for nearly a de- cade that hasn't been in doubt — she's got to change her act in a very major way. It must be be- yond sobering to the Clinton forces that Don- ald Trump has gone from can't- be-nominated to could-be-elected within weeks. He trails Clinton by just 3 per- centage points in the latest Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll. And it's not even June. The most radical thing Clin- ton should do to get her cam- paign back on track is com- pel her husband to step back — way back. Bill Clinton is a plus among voters who will vote for Hillary no matter what. But, among those who have pushed her "unfavorable" rating off the chart, Bill is a negative. Even those who admired his presidency believe enough is enough. They don't want a co- presidency. They don't want Clinton's foundation muddying up global affairs. And they don't want to think about Bill trolling through the West Wing looking for interns to befriend. The Clintons should an- nounce publicly that Bill will have no role in Hillary's admin- istration. In fact, say he'll divide his time, living in Chappaqua and visiting the White House on weekends. Next, Hillary Clinton should stop declaring herself the nom- inee, even if math and logic in- dicate so. It's part of the "entitle- ment" scenario that has many voters angry. Wait until the con- vention confirms it in July. She should name Elizabeth Warren as her running mate. It's a somewhat flawed choice in governance but necessary to win over Bernie Sanders' supporters. Then, stop attacking Trump. If Trump's incredible rise has shown anything it's that attacks against him don't work. Clinton should leave the Trump bashing to Warren and other surrogates, as needed. Clinton must also take Ber- nie Sanders and his supporters seriously. Don't just pay him lip service; start actually praising him. The guy can't win the nom- ination, right, so why not boldly state in interviews that "Ber- nie Sanders is a great Ameri- can from whom we can all learn a lot." Give Sanders a prime slot at the convention and incorporate as many of his ideas as possible in the Democrats' platform. And then, work with a speak- ing coach and fashion stylist im- mediately. Yelling from the po- dium doesn't work for everyone — Sanders, yes; Clinton, no. So be more conversational and let the microphone do the work. Start dressing like a busi- ness person. It's not sexist to say that appearance counts; it's a fact. The dowdy outfit Clinton wore the other day on "Meet the Press" set an all-time low. Clin- ton should let her ideas stand out, not her wardrobe. Finally, get a new slogan, and not necessarily "We Are Stronger Together," which has been kicked around. Something like, "Amer- ica Matters." Short, sweet and fo- cused entirely on the voters. Months ago it was thought that Hillary Clinton was the Democrat who could most eas- ily defeat Trump. Now, it seems she might actually be the one he could most easily beat. Unless she changes her act. Fast. Peter Funt can be reached at www.CandidCamera.com PETER FUNT Clinton needs a crash course Peter Funt OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, May 25, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6