Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/691398
WhenIconsidertheoutra- geous statements by the pre- sumptuous presumptive Repub- lican nominee I am reminded of a character I had to deal with while I was in the education busi- ness. In 26 years as a school adminis- trator, I had lots of experience working with cer- tifiably crazy people, but Bobby Joe was the most memorable. My first encounter with Bobby Joe was early one foggy December Monday morning, the pre-school time of the day when students have a quiet breakfast in the warm multi- purpose room. The Mainte- nance Supervisor and I were discussing the condition of the boiler when one of the cafeteria supervisors rushed into the of- fice and said there is a loud man in the cafeteria. The loud man turned out to be Bobby Joe. He was fit to be tied, and his stare was as dull as his words were pointed. He was trying to get to a student in the line, but one of the cafeteria em- ployees was blocking him. I al- most literally dragged him from the cafeteria into the office. "I'm sorry, sir," I said, "but you will have to come with me." "Who are you," he said while staring at the wall. "I'm the person you need to talk to if you have a problem with the school." As we ushered him into the office, his language was filled with words that would have brought the stiffest reprimand to any of our students. He be- came even more agitated and loud, so the secretary cleared the office of children while I guided him into my office, closed the door, and got him to calm down to the point of be- ing able to actually talk about what was going on. I introduced myself and shook his hand and told him that if we were going to solve his problem he had to use lan- guage appropriate around children and calm down. He looked a bit suspiciously at me, and then began. He told me that he had seen that boy in the cafeteria talk- ing to "one of them" yesterday and overheard his instructions to make his daughter "a re- ject." He said "they" belonged to the underground depart- ment, and they were out to get him and his daughter. He told me that I probably didn't know it, but "they" were trying to control the school. I told him that if he had a problem with the school he needed to come and see me. It was my job to solve those problems. I would talk to the boy he was trying to grab and make sure that he stayed away from his daughter. This was the first time I had met Bobby Joe, but it was not the first time I had heard of him. His daughter's kindergar- ten teacher had brought me semi-literate notes from him complaining that she was be- ing given drugs at school and that someone was trying to make her into a reject. I spoke with him about these concerns and reiterated that I was the person he needed to contact if he had problems at the school. I emphasized that we were both on the same side, looking out for his daughter's interests. He seemed a little apologetic when he left. I then contacted the sher- iff's office and filed an inci- dent report because of my con- cern about his erratic behavior and its possible consequences for our students. The sheriff's department was familiar with Bobby Joe, but they said he was just a little "touched." I also dashed off a note to members of the school board so they would know what happened and not appear ignorant if questioned by members of the community. Less than a week later Bobby Joe and two companions came to my office. I had never met or seen his two companions be- fore. One was a pale woman, se- riously overweight, with a scoop neck peasant blouse. The other person was a young man with no apparent muscle tone, sev- eral tattoos, a dirty A's base- ball cap turned slightly askew, and a half full bottle of Dr. Pep- per that he sipped on from time to time. He, too, had not pushed himself from the table soon enough for a long period of time, and when he leaned for- ward he looked like was looking for a missing morsel. Bobby Joe still exhibited a permanent red tone to his skin, almost sunburned in appear- ance. He had a ruddy white beard and matching unkempt hair with an orange cast, nei- ther of which had seen scissors for a while. He wore dirty wrin- kled clothes, his shirt missing a couple of buttons, which proba- bly explained why it was tucked in on one side and not the other. He had a slight twitch to him that made him seem to look up to his left from time to time; that twitch would increase in magnitude as we talked. I wasn't too sure why the companions were there, but as our discussion progressed they nodded their heads in agree- ment in much the same way Afro-American congregations sound the Amen at the appro- priate time during a preacher's sermon. In this case it was each time Bobby Joe said "I know about these things." Half an hour later I had learned more about the under- ground department, that the computer in Sacramento had bad data about him, that it was hooked up to many other com- puters, including the one in our school, that his daughter had been picked out by the organi- zation to be turned into a reject, that he had seen people paid to hurt his daughter; that his sis- ter was a living psychic; that he could see through all the scams; that he had lots of sound advice about how to run this school; that those crooks in Sacramento were really at the bottom of "this," whatever "this" was; and that he sure as hell wasn't go- ing to sign my damned physi- cal waiver because he was sure those doctors just wanted to get their hands on his daughter. I appreciated his concerns about his daughter's safety, told him that was my concern also. I also explained as best I could the requirement for a physical before first grade and his right to waive it. He smiled, his companions bobbed their heads in agreement, and he left my office with the smirk of victory on his face. Mentally I knew I should laugh, but somehow I wor- ried about the damage this de- ranged person could accom- plish. I wrote another note to the school board members. JoeHarropisaretired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net. JoeHarrop Underground department Cartoonist's take Stranger'skindness appreciated Editor: The first of this month my son and I went to Safeway, we were at the checkout counter when the clerk got our groceries tallied up it came to over $300 and we were short $70. The lady behind us was so kind she handed the clerk $100 to finish paying for our grocer- ies. My son told her we couldn't pay her back and she said that was fine, just help someone else when we could. Her name was Mavis but I believe she was an angel in dis- guise. This doesn't happen ev- ery day. She made it possible for us to have food for the month. I am a widow. My husband passed away in '02. He was a 100 percent disabled veteran. He always helped people and I did too, but this is not about me or my wonderful husband, it is about angels that are out there. Thank you. — Jeannette Minor, Corning What has this country come to? Editor: It is very difficult for those of us in the generation follow- ing the generation that fought and sacrificed life and limb to win WWll, that saved the free- dom we as a nation are guar- anteed in the Constitution of the United States of Amer- ica, seeing our elected officials allowing the desecration of the flag of the United State of America. There are hundreds of thou- sands of young Americans that gave the ultimate sacri- fice that still occupy graves all over Europe, the Atlan- tic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Philippines, Pearl Harbor, the Islands of the South Pa- cific and all those who came home in a casket covered with the flag of the United States of America. Those of us that entered school were taught patrio- tism, to pledge our allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, we sang the na- tional anthem and the anthem of one of the branches of our military every day. We learned to respect and appreciate the men and women that served our country and were furious when Vietnam veterans came home and the disgusting draft dodgers spat on them and called them disgusting names. Those draft dodgers, many of whom now occupy and con- trol Washington D.C. refuse to secure our borders and as a result illegals, of all descrip- tions, are pouring across our borders that have no intention of assimilating and becom- ing an American but to enjoy our freedoms and benefits and remain separate and loyal to their faith and country of ori- gin and therefore they are un- American. The most recent example of this is the out-of-control thugs demonstrating at the Trump rally in San Jose. In an out- rageous show of contempt for the very flag of the United State of America they set fire to it, stomped it, all the while waving the Mexican flag. What are the odds that we the people are giving them a wel- fare check? These disgusting low-life dregs of humanity did this to the flag that is draped over the caskets of our fallen heroes; the Mayor of San Jose should be arrested for letting this atrocity happen. I submitted President Teddy Roosevelt's 1907 speech "Be- coming an American" sev- eral years ago and a couple of times since then as others have also. I submit it again; it cannot be presented to the public too many times. "In the first place, we should insist that if the im- migrant who comes here in good faith becomes an Amer- ican and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with every- one else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the per- son's becoming in every facet an American and nothing but an American ... There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag ... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language ... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the Amer- ican people." Theodore Roos- evelt 1907 — Les Wolfe, Red Bluff Retirees cannot afford higher state or local taxes Editor: With the exception of public employees and a few unions, re- tirees face a yearly inflation de- cline in income, if they are so fortunate as to have a pension. In 2016 the White House de- cided that there is no inflation, even though public sector em- ployees are seeing 2 to 3 percent inflation adjustment pay raises. No matter what tax cities, coun- ties and states impose, there is never enough income to match the constant public sector spend- ing. It is rare for tax payers to re- ceive services for their ever in- creasing taxes. As a retiree, I hope a major- ity say no to the constant in- crease in state, county, and city tax increases. California politi- cians continue to be the creator of excess taxes and spending, as a majority support the Democrat tax and spend legislative actions. Some examples of excesses in- clude the 45 percent higher Cal- ifornia minimum wage than the Federal $7.25 level. This past year our PG&E electricity cost is 26 percent above the Midwest level because of costly solar and wind energy mandates. Gasoline prices remain at 2010 and prior levels yet, vot- ers are asked for an inflation- ary 7 percent Corning city tax increase to compensate for ex- cess spending. Local gas costs are now 22% above Midwest lev- els because of Sacramento man- dated carbon taxes and specialty fuel mandates. Each year retir- ees who have long self funded their Medicare and Supplemen- tal insurance, face an added 15 percent average annual increase in out of pocket health care costs, now averaging one-third of total retirement income. Retirees need a cut in state and local taxes to match the av- erage 6 percent inflation rate imposed on retirees. It makes sense to vote no for increased taxes that provide no added retiree benefits. Added wel- fare programs for those not le- gally here, is not an added ben- efit. Carbon taxes and alterna- tive energy programs, benefit only a few, in this 10,000th year of global warming since the last ice age. Just say no to more government theft of our sav- ings and small inflation declin- ing pensions. — Joseph Neff, Corning Letters to the editor His daughter's kindergarten teacher had brought me semi- literate notes from him complaining that she was being given drugs at school and that someone was trying to make her into a reject. 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. 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Box 220, 728Main St., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS Joe Harrop State and National Assemblyman James Galla- gher, 2060 Talbert Drive, Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 895-4217, http://ad03.asmrc.org/ Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634 Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, senator. nielsen@senate.ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown, State Capital Building, Sacramento 95814, 916 445-2841, fax 916 558- 3160, governor@governor.ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug La- Malfa, 507 Cannon House Of- fice Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Fein- stein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415 393- 0707, fax 415 393-0710 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, 1700 Montgomery St., San Fran- cisco 94111, 510 286-8537, fax 202 224-0454 Local Tehama County Supervisors, 527-4655 District 1, Steve Chamblin, Ext. 3015 District 2, Candy Carlson, Ext. 3014 District 3, Dennis Garton, Ext. 3017 District 4, Bob Williams, Ext. 3018 District 5, Burt Bundy, Ext. 3016 Red Bluff City Manager, Rich- ard Crabtree, 527-2605, Ext. 3061 Corning City Manager, Kris- tina Miller, 824-7033 Your officials OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, June 11, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4