Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/698337
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, 728Main St., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS Oneofthe by-productsof being 71 years old is that by that age you have accumu- lated pretty much every- thing worth ac- cumulating. While that is for the most part a good thing, it poses a problem for those who feel obligated to shower you with gifts on Christmas, birthdays and other special occasions. Frankly, some seem to han- dle this responsibility better than others. Take my family, for instance. My daughter Cori long ago claimed the rights to the sports team logo apparel gift- giving program. I am an avid San Francisco Giants fan. Thanks to Cori, I can prove it any time I choose by wear- ing a variety of gifted logo embossed jerseys, tee-shirts, sweat shirts, caps, beanies, pajamas, underwear, etc. etc. etc. I only hope they make adult diaper products embla- zoned with a Giants logo, as I have a feeling I will be add- ing that item to my ward- robe in the reasonably near future. My son Cabe has taken a different approach in giving gifts to his father; no better or worse than his sister's ap- proach, just different. On al- most every birthday, Christ- mas or Father's Day I can count on opening a package or card that contains a SF Gi- ants schedule, a Sacramento Kings schedule or another sporting event schedule. The following days or weeks invariably find us pick- ing out a mutually-accept- able game, followed by his purchase of tickets, followed by me driving my car to said game, followed by me pur- chasing a couple $12 beers for each of us along with a $17.50 sandwich for each of us, followed by me realizing that by the time we get home I probably spent more on my gift than he did. But that's okay. The real gift is being able to spend a day at the ball park bonding with my son while wearing the cool- est gear in the stadium given to me by the best daughter in the whole wide world. While my children have taken gift giving to a very good place, the wife, quite frankly, just doesn't get it. Don't get me wrong. For the most part Billie is everything I could ask for in a wife. She is an excellent cook and she allows me to watch what- ever I like on television. She has held up reasonably well in the looks department and is a really good mother and grandmother to her family. That said, from day one the gift exchanges between us have always been awkward and clumsy. I remember clearly the very first gift I gave Billie. We were both 19 years old and though I had no money, I somehow scraped up enough cash to buy her the cool- est looking ski jacket I had ever seen. If memory serves, the jacket pattern featured huge gold and brown and white flowers that were sure to make her the most visi- ble person in any room. I will never forget the look on her face the moment she opened the package. Unfortunately, it's the same look I have seen countless times since. Who- ever said "It is the thought that counts" is an idiot. Back to the store went the ski jacket, followed by a dozen or so other thoughtful gifts I have given to her over our al- most 50-year marriage. Absent my request for golf clubs, or hunting and fishing related gear, Billie normally presents me with a shirt or two and perhaps a pair of shorts in every gift-giving situation. Because a man can only wear one shirt at a time, I decided this past Father's Day to request a much more useful health-related gift. I consider my body to be my temple. I look as good as I do only because I work hard at looking good. It therefore makes sense for me to own a Fitbit bracelet. Apparently the primary role of my Fitbit is to nag and complain every time I sit down to watch a ball game on television. Turns out my Fitbit expects me to move. My Fitbit expects me to walk at least 10,000 steps a day. My Fitbit talks to me. Every hour my Fitbit buzzes and a message streams across its face like "get your fat ass out of that chair and mow the lawn." Geez, owning a Fit- bit is like getting married all over again. My Fitbit also measures the level and quality of my sleep. Six or eight times a night the damn thing buzzes and a message streams across its face such as, "Hey, quit snoring," or even worse, "Who farted?" There ain't no- body sleeping at my house — except perhaps Mr. Fitbit. Fortunately, I have finally figured out a way to satisfy Mr. Know-It-All Fitbit. I was going to strap it on to a front leg of our family dog, Bandit, and let him run around in the yard all day, but we don't have a family dog; so I moved on to plan B. Every time I settle down on the coach to take a nap and watch a ball game or Judge Judy, I strap the little sucker to one of the arms of the ceil- ing fan whirling over my head. As I doze off, I think I can hear Mr. Big Deal up there as he buzzes and says, "Hey, slow down, will ya? I think I'm getting sick." Next year I am asking for a shirt. •••• In a few short days we will celebrate the birth of this great nation with a tra- ditional fireworks show that can best be viewed at the City Park on July 4, starting at 8:45. For a variety of rea- sons the fireworks celebra- tion has been a hit or miss proposition for the past de- cade or so, and it is only be- cause of the hard work of the Tehama County Fireworks Committee that it returns to the community this year. You can help support this great community effort by purchas- ing your safe and sane fire- works at the parking lot of The Home Depot. See you at the show. BillCorneliusisalife long 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 Whattogive the man who has everything Cartoonist's take I became angry when I saw the neglected World War II me- morial. The stone trib- ute sits on a tri- angular piece of property at the junction of Brownsville and Piney Fork roads in South Park, PA (a suburb of Pitts- burgh, PA). On Memorial Day 2015, it was sur- rounded by clumps of dead, brown grass and overgrown weeds. It was a disgrace. After making some calls, I learned that Allegheny County was responsible for maintaining it — that the county cut the grass "now and then" but not with the attentiveness the old memorial deserved. So I took ownership of it. I be- gan maintaining the grounds with my lawn equipment. I weeded the flower bed. I pres- sure-washed the dead, clumpy grass that had been matted to the pavement. Then, after doing some re- search, I discovered that the me- morial had a remarkable history. It dates back to 1912, when Primo Bastianini immigrated to America from Italy. Primo worked in the mines in West Virginia. He saved his money and sent for his par- ents and younger siblings (three brothers and three sisters). The family members settled in Snowden, now South Park, and continued to work in the mines. They got a couple of cows, which they grazed in a pasture below their homes. To provide fresh water for the cows, they dammed the stream, Piney Fork Creek, that ran through the pasture — unaware that the dam would change their fortunes. You see, the dam created a wa- tering hole. People from down- town Pittsburgh 12 miles south began coming to it on weekends to swim, picnic and escape the city heat. In the early 1920s, the fam- ily members combined their re- sources and took out a loan. They purchased the 22-acre pasture. They hired farmers and striking miners and built a concrete pool 100 feet wide by 200 feet long. Piney Fork Beach opened in 1927 and was an instant hit. Over the years, the family added pony rides, miniature golf, a bar/restaurant, several cot- tages and a dance hall. Business boomed. In 1941, as America was drawn into World War II, the Bastianinis wanted to show their gratitude to neighbors serving in the armed forces — to show their gratitude for being given the chance to live the American dream. They hired a stonemason friend to erect their monument. It has three sides, like the trian- gular ground where it sits, and, at first, it proudly displayed the names of all service members from Snowden. Bruno Bastianini, who lived in the family's multi-generation home across the street from the memorial, would maintain the memorial grounds for the rest of his life — until he became ill and died in 1976. By 1977, the fortunes of Piney Fork Beach had reversed. High insurance costs caused the fam- ily to close the pool. In 1982, van- dals burned several structures to the ground. The family members sold what was left and moved on, leaving the county to care for the me- morial, maintaining it "now and then" ever since. That changed when I started caring for the memorial more than a year ago. I give it a fresh trim and sur- round the grounds with flags ev- ery Memorial Day, Veterans Day and July Fourth. Better yet, the county mainte- nance crew — not wanting to be outdone by a citizen and his lawn mower — is now maintaining the grounds regularly with greater care. The old memorial is flour- ishing once again. So if you come across a ne- glected war memorial in your community, grab your lawn equipment and go to work. It's a small sacrifice we can make to honor those who have served and show our gratitude to won- derful people like the Bastiani- nis, whose historic war memorial continues to inspire. Tom Purcell, author of "Misadventures of a 1970s Childhood" and "Wicked Is the Whiskey," a Sean McClanahan mystery novel, both available at Amazon.com, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist. Send comments to Tom@TomPurcell.com. Tom Purcell Remembering our history one war memorial at a time I will never forget the look on her face the moment she opened the package. Unfortunately, it's the same look I have seen countless times since. Whoever said "It is the thought that counts" is an idiot. Bill Cornelius Tom Purcell Last week's U.K. vote to leave the EU may have come as a shock to many, but the sen- timent that led British vot- ers to reject rule from Brussels is nothing unique. In fact it is growing sentiment worldwide. Frustration with politics as usual, with political par- ties that really do not differ in philosophy, with an economy that serves the one percent at the expense of the rest of soci- ety is a growing phenomenon throughout Europe and in the United States as well. The Ber- nie Sanders and Donald Trump phenomena are but one exam- ple of a frustrated public sens- ing something is very wrong with society and looking for a way out. What is happening in the U.K., in Europe, and in the U.S., is nothing less than a break- down of the entire system. The EU was meant to be a customs union where post-World War II Western Europe could re- build itself through free trade and a reduction in bureaucracy. Through corruption and polit- ical ambition it became an un- elected bully government in Brussels, where the well-con- nected were well compensated and insulated from the votes of mere citizens. Whatever happens in the near future —— and it is cer- tainly not assured that the vote to "Brexit" will actually end in the U.K.'s departure from the EU —— a line has been crossed that supporters of more per- sonal liberty should celebrate. Rule from London is prefera- ble to liberty-minded Britons than rule from Brussels. Just as Texans should prefer rule from Austin to rule from Washing- ton. That doesn't make either option perfect, just more likely to produce more freedom. Is Brexit the first victory in a larger freedom movement? Can we get out of a system that creates money out of thin air to benefit the ruling class while impoverishing the mid- dle class? Can we get out of a central bank that finances the wars that make us less safe? Can we exit Executive Orders? Can we exit the surveillance state? The PATRIOT Act? Can we exit NDAA and indefinite detention? Can we exit the US worldwide drone program, that kills innocents overseas and makes us ever-more hated? Getting out of NATO would be a good first move. This Cold War relic survives only by stir- ring up conflict and then sell- ing itself as the only option to confront the conflict it churned up. Wouldn't it be better to not go looking for a fight in the first place? Do we really need still another NATO military exercise on the Russian bor- der? It should be no surprise that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was fear-mon- gering on the eve of the Brexit vote, warning U.K. citizens that if they vote to leave they could face increased terrorism. Likewise, the U.S. would do well to exit the various phony "free trade" agreements that provide advantage to the well- connected elites while harming the rest of us. The act of exit is liberating. We should make a longer list of those things we would like to get out of. I am only getting started. Ron Paul is a former Congressman and Presidential candidate. He can be reached at the RonPaulInstitute.org. Ron Paul A er 'Brexit' can we exit a few things too? OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, June 29, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B2