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4A Daily News – Saturday, June 16, 2012 Opinion DAILYNEWS RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer's home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. Letters are published at the discretion of the editor. 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How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 Editor: First off thank you Daily News for putting the Monday comics in the Tuesday edition. Now for the meat and potatoes. Don Polson's recent column Comics, Polson regarding the "disgusting, disin- genuous and deceitful" mailer he received, had him all in a tizzy. Writing of "slime, lies and charac- ter assassination" of Bob Williams. He even condemns those involved. And I'd have to say I agree with him — extremely rare occasion. But then, in what I assume to be the same breath, he tells his read- ers "I have no hesitation whatsoev- er advising readers to vote for Doug LaMalfa for Congress." Really? The same Doug Now Mr. Polson, why exactly do you endorse LaMalfa? Your hypocrisy is laughable. News, now I get three comic pages on Tuesdays. LaMalfa whose campaign put up a website slamming fellow conserv- ative Sam Aanestad and saying the sight was sponsored by another candidate. That's right LaMalfa's chief of staff was responsible for register- ing and paying for said site. Now when confronted about the site, LaMalfa said "neither he or any of his staff knew nothing about it." When shown evidence to the con- trary, LaMalfa's response was "I'm not going to discuss the matter any longer." Editor: I regret that I, like many others, sat aside and didn't really keep an eye on the way things were man- aged over the last few years, here in Red Bluff. This City should never have sunk into the financial abyss of financial stupidity that we now find ourselves. After all, this is not a large city, but it is showing the signs of huge, stupid, out of control problems. Very clever. That takes some doing. I was shocked also, to read that our illustrious City Council had decided to "run the building department in the red", rather than raise the fees to the proper funding level. I understand that these fund- ing levels should have normally been established in 2009! Most of us recognize that bills not paid become harder to manage, so it is something to avoid. Wow! Here it is well into 2012, a third year, and we are subsidiz- ing incompetent businesses. This is, no doubt, a result of the deci- sion by council to "run the build- Run in the red Richie Mehling So thank you again Daily ing department" in the red. I think the business of govern- ment includes support for busi- nesses with minimal taxes and optimum complimentary access for public consumption. It does not or should not, become involved with managing those businesses. Lend- ing financial support is becoming involved, as is "running city business in the red." of government involves becoming involved in commercial issues like branding. Again, this is outside the realm of government. Let people who know the business define the advertising methods and promote those activities commensurate with aggressive commercial activ- ity. We have a well defined com- mercial groups well versed in pro- motional activities. Let them have some leeway in A common abuse and misuse this. As many of you may have noted, I am a proponent of swim- ming as a fantastic physical activity, but the city pool, it's size and it's potential, was unknown to me until recently. It was mired in a prescribed non- use category. Whoever told any of you that non-use of a pool is a way to save money? It is stupid. It is wasteful. That pool is capable of immense public benefits, but it is also capable of significant monetary benefits. If wasting is your answer, you will have to fill in the pool for safety reasons very soon. Your Turn I openly supported the young people who appeared at a recent council meeting seek- ing a positive response to the pool problem. I pledged $10,000. I wish we had the option and the benefits that such a pool could offer to the young people of this communi- ty. I am certain that it would offer significant "Branding" to a community awash in misad- venture and failure! For, this is the "Branding Opportunity" of a lifetime. Think about it. My $10,000 was supported by an additional $10,000 offer that was refused by the coun- cil. They propose to run the building department in the red rather than raise fees to the proper funding level. This fumbling and bumbling, is not appropriate, not honest and not effective. How astute. I know some families who do such things, ie: spending beyond their means, but they, too, create financial disasters and look to others to clean-up-their-mess. Greel Foshee, Red Bluff Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 6031 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319-2102 STATE SENATOR — Doug LaMalfa (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 3070 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: gover- nor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2595 Cean- othus Ave., Ste. 182, Chico, CA 95973; 893-8363. U.S.SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Viewing the seasons Commentary April. We arrived in Minneapolis on a This column was written in Friday evening; Saturday was a glorious spring day and found us repairing the lawns in our shirt sleeves, planting grass seeds, and pausing now and then for lemon- ade. By Monday the weather had changed; there were snow flurries in the morning and a cold wind all day. Even though it was Round Up Week in Red Bluff, I didn't believe the curse of a week of strange and unpredictable weather should apply in Minneapolis. Maybe I brought the curse with me. The swift change and contrast in the weather made me think of the slogan used by Redding's Channel 7: "Severe Weather First; first alert weather can predict exactly where and when severe weather may occur." The word "may "is a significant disclaimer, probably recommended by the sta- tion's attorney, and reminding us that the weather prediction is an inexact science. Although the data seem to indi- cate our planet is undergoing a cli- mate change based on human activities, we only live the tradi- tional "three score and ten", so it is hard to put the long term weather patterns and changes into human perspective. Scientists are taking deep core samples of polar ice, monitoring atmospheric tempera- tures, modeling climate patterns, and trying to make sense of what may be happening. In the mean- time many of us are trying to reduce our carbon footprints as a matter of economics and ecologi- cal principle; we remember to pick up after ourselves and use only what we need. We listen politely while people rage against climate change, and we just try to be responsible. spring have been less distinct than taught in the textbooks in most of the country. My younger son reports that in Pennsylvania the trees leafed out early when the weather was warmer than "nor- mal" this winter, and then the snow came and broke over laden branches throughout the mid east coastal area. Tornadoes hit in greater numbers and earlier than the weather models predicted; snowfall was rare in the Old Northwest Territories. The weath- er has been in the news seemingly all the time because of "abnormal- ities." Earlier last week, after mid- April, there was a significant snow storm in the north east. Of course bad weather, like bad news sells the papers. This year autumn, winter, and Francisco." I remember that the first day of school, after Labor Day, was normally the hottest day of the year…or at least seemed so to us as stu- dents. I felt that way too when I taught in San Francisco. Since moving here about 40 years ago I have come to appreciate the seasons and "real" hot weather, although I real- ize we do not have "true" winter. I can predict the order of blooming and leafing out in our yard, the onset of allergies, and the dropping of leaves with a degree of certainty. The seasons bring dif- Joe In Minneapolis, because of the short winter this year and numer- ous attempts at spring, the trees were "sort of leafed out"; if you looked carefully, you could still see the birds' nests left over from last year; they would normally be fully visible at this time. I began to think about how I ferent ways to look at the familiar. In our garden there is a succession to the post winter reju- venation starting with the Christ- mas camellia, the standard camel- lias, the small daffodils, the "stan- dard size" daffodils, crocus, iris, gerbera daisies, tulips, and beard- ed iris. Sometimes the petunias return early; other times they need to be replaced; some of our flow- ers give us color through the sum- mer and into winter. view the seasons, and how my view has changed over the years. When I grew up in San Fran- cisco I was essentially unaware of the seasons; we had fog just about every morning and no real extremes in temperature. Summer was always cold. Mark Twain once said "The coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San The roses return in early spring and stay around until pruned in winter. The deciduous trees sprout, drop lots of material, but eventual- ly leaf out to provide shade on our house before assuming autumnal colors and falling to the ground as the ambient temperature drops. In our yard we have four liquid amber trees which also drop "burr balls" from fall through the spring, giving us good reason to rake our Harrop lawn and ample need to look down as we walk. At last count we had filled over eight garbage cans with those little trip hazards last season. Life is like that as well; we have to expe- rience a wide variety of events before we appreciate its diversity and beauty, and see its cycles. One of the ben- efits to this observer is that you do see the world differently each season, and over many seasons. Your eyes do not change, but maturi- ty and experience help you see the world dif- ferently. It's like read- ing a book for a second time; the first time you notice cer- tain aspects of the book, and with new life experiences a second reading new "aha's" pop out to you. When she was in her late 80's my mother in law told me that she saw less black and white in the world and more gray. "Life is complex," she said. "Certainty does not always help make life better." As I have progressed through the seasons of my life I have tried to maintain some core values, but what I now see in the world around me is not the same thing I might have seen several years ago. Joe Harrop is a retired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net.