Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/708348
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 Writingaweeklycolumn for a major daily newspaper is, quite frankly, not nearly as easy as I make it seem. Don't get me wrong. Like most of you who read my column on a regular ba- sis, I am con- stantly amazed at my ability to turn a phrase to make the ordinary seem absolutely extraordinary. My problem is not so much how to write, but rather what to write about. Let me tell you why. The Red Bluff Daily News has operated since 1951. It may have actually started several de- cades earlier, but it was in the fifties that I became aware of the paper. As most of you know, I was an exceptional athlete; in those days the paper actu- ally employed a full-time sports reporter. It was really cool to read that I had pitched the Lit- tle League Cardinals to a win over the pesky Giants who had Pat McCoy toeing the rubber — that's baseball talk. Not to bite the hand that feeds me, but the Red Bluff Daily News is an example of things that I do not completely understand. Why is it that in 1955, with a county population of 20,000 citizens, the paper was able to publish six days a week and have a sports reporter at virtually every sporting event taking place? Why is it that with a current county population of 65,000, the Daily News is only able to deliver on its promise five days per week? Why is it that when covered at all, sports coverage depends on self-reporting by coaches and parents, or on the Daily News editor and on staff that is better assigned to other news categories? For that matter, why is it that in a town of 25,000 people, is it necessary to travel all the way to Redding or Chico when one wants to enjoy a special meal with that special someone, but I digress. Don't get me wrong; the cur- rent publisher, editor and re- porters are doing an excellent job, given the resources pro- vided by some big-deal corpo- rate ownership located some- place far, far away. Absent the ability to fully staff the paper with profes- sional journalists, the paper has found it necessary to settle for the next best thing. In addition to half a dozen or so nationally recognized syndicated colum- nists, the paper has recruited another half dozen self-impor- tant, ego-driven and uncompen- sated local columnists who are each responsible for submitting 1,000 words per week. Therein lies the rub. We live in a small commu- nity. In an attempt to co-exist and in order to protect and pro- mote the cult-like following that we each enjoy, we have an un- spoken agreement that we will never ever wander into an area of expertise that is routinely ad- dressed by another columnist. In his column, former state legislator and retired television anchorman Stan Statham pro- vides political insight, as well as a weekly movie review. I found his review of "Finding Dory" riveting. Real estate magnate Don Pol- son also writes a political col- umn. He appears to be a conser- vative — and I fear he may pop a vein. The educated educator Joe Harrop serves as the conscience of all things government. He ac- tually attends numerous board and council meetings. Tough job but someone has to do it. Jean Barton is a fifth-genera- tion member of this community. Jean mostly writes about life as a rancher, both present and past. Jean often writes about cows, horses and dogs. Robert Minch, the dean of Daily News columnists, is also a fifth-generation member of this community. Robert mostly writes about life in this city, both present and past. Robert often talks to cows, horses and dogs. As you can see, my colleagues have already claimed all the good stuff to write about, leav- ing me with nothing other than my exceptional athletic accom- plishments and the accomplish- ments of my immediate family. In an effort to broaden the scope of what I might write about, I am adding a new sec- tion to my column that I admit- tedly and blatantly stole from former Daily News columnist Faydra Rector. I call this sec- tion, "You matter…a lot" and in this section I plan to honor folks who have been an important part of my life and of the entire community's life. •••• When I was about 12 years old, we lived directly across the street from Red Bluff High School. As with any 80-pound weakling worth his salt, my he- roes were five or six years older than I, and they were stars on the high school baseball, basket- ball and football teams. I remember chasing foul balls during baseball practice and sit- ting quietly in the stands of the old boy's gym as Coach Sale put players like the Gilbert brothers, Jim Richelieu, Bobby and Jimmy Brownfield, Charlie Smith and Mickey Chapin through a more than strenuous practice. I remember Mickey Chapin, because like me he was small in stature. I also remember Mickey because unlike me, Mickey was smooth. Unlike me, Mickey was cool. Unlike me, everything came easy to Mickey Chapin. As life would have it, a de- cade or so later I was privileged to play with and against Mickey in both basketball and soft- ball; and even on the rare occa- sion when he booted a ground ball Mickey Chapin was still the coolest and smoothest player on the field. Though he retired as an ex- tremely successful real estate broker, the Mickey Chapin I will remember will always be the bread man. The Mickey Chapin I will remember will always be cruising Main in the clean- est and coolest car in town. The Mickey Chapin I will remember had a sharper wit than I. The Mickey Chapin I will remem- ber raised two terrific children, Cathy and Chris. The Mickey Chapin I will remember never failed to stop and visit with my mother during his daily walk around town. Mickey Chapin was my friend. He was cool. He was smooth. He was one of a kind. Rest easy, Mickey Chapin. You mattered...a lot. 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 Broadening the scope of column topics Cartoonist's take "Can you believe Melania Trump used some of the same words in her Republican con- vention speech that First Lady Michelle Obama used in one of hers." "Ah, yes, you speak of the pro- pensity of too many people in our country — and too many alleged journal- ists in our media — who make trivial matters into great af- fairs as they completely over- look the many serious chal- lenges our country faces." "Such as the nasty speech Chris Christie gave at the Re- publican convention? He said Hillary should be locked up. That is inflammatory." "No, I'm talking about real problems, such as Ameri- ca's federal debt. It shot up to $19,400,000,000,000 a week ago, the highest it has ever been. It will soar as baby boomers keep retiring and en- titlement costs explode. It will soar when interest rates eventually readjust to higher rates." "Who cares about that? I hear Donald Trump's son may have borrowed sections of his convention speech from other speeches, too. Thank good- ness the media are all over that one!" "The media should be fo- cusing on our tepid economic growth. Do you know that Pres- ident Obama is the first presi- dent in our history to never ex- perience a single year with 3 percent GDP growth? The econ- omy grew only 1.1 percent last year. If we don't start growing at 4 percent, we will never gen- erate enough tax revenue to meet our future obligations." "Well, what are you worried about? Isn't Donald Trump go- ing to make America great again if he becomes president?" "In the same way President Obama brought America the 'hope and change' he promised? Look, I'm rooting for whoever our next president is, but I con- tinue to worry about the way this election season has played out. The trivial and the bom- bastic are making the news, while the real problems we face are being glossed over." "What are you talking about? Bernie, Hillary and Trump have been a boon to late-night comedians. This election cycle has been a hoot!" "Look, Edward Morrissey ex- plains the problem well in The Fiscal Times. He cites a study by Harvard's Shorenstein Cen- ter on Media, Politics and Pub- lic Policy that credited the na- tional media with giving birth to Trump's rise. By 'constantly covering Trump's every move' — because his stories were of- ten entertaining — the media snuffed out the other Republi- can candidates and helped him win the nomination." "Yeah, well, Americans are fed up with the same old, same old and Trump is one way they're thumbing their noses at the elites." "Maybe so, but that isn't the point. The point is Bernie Sand- ers benefited the same way Trump did. The Harvard study found that the media were ea- ger to drum up a 'David vs. Go- liath' story line — Bernie vs. es- tablishment Hillary — and gave Sanders way more credibility and energy that he would have had otherwise." "Hey, tired old hippies de- serve a little news coverage now and then." "Look, the Harvard study es- sentially concludes that the me- dia are no longer in the busi- ness of serious substance and 'determining competency' in presidential candidates. The mass media are in the busi- ness of developing entertaining stories and, writes Harvard's Thomas Patterson, 'Donald Trump was the mother lode.'" "So what's the big deal?" "As Morrissey points out, the big deal is that a representative republic depends on 'a well-in- formed electorate and respon- sible journalists.' As voters and the media continue to dwell on the trivial and entertaining — as they continue to ignore the many real issues and chal- lenges our country is facing — we will continue ending up with presidential elections that are more circus than serious discussion. And that doesn't bode well for America." 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 How the trivial and entertaining mask real issues In addition to half a dozen or so nationally recognized syndicated columnists, the paper has recruited another half dozen self-important, ego-driven and uncompensated local columnists who are each responsible for submitting 1,000 words per week. Bill Cornelius Tom Purcell Last week, I proposed that the liberty movement capitalize on Brexit with "Fed-exit" a cam- paign to "secede" from the Fed- eral Reserve. Fed-exit could be accomplished with a few simple policy changes. Passing "Audit the Fed" is a good first step toward Fed-exit. Contrary to the Federal Reserve's propaganda, auditing the Fed will not reduce the Federal Re- serve's mythical "independence." It will simply allow Congress and the people to learn the full truth about the Fed's conduct of mone- tary policy. However, the desperation with which the Fed fights the audit bill suggests it believes increased transparency will boost support for Fed-exit. Considering what we discovered from the limited audit of the Fed's activities dur- ing the 2008 financial crisis, the Fed's fears may be justified. That audit revealed that between 2007 and 2008 the Federal Re- serve loaned over $16 trillion — more than four times the annual budget of the United States — to foreign central banks and po- litically-influential private com- panies! Imagine what would be revealed by a full audit that in- cludes looking at the Fed's recent explosion of money creation via "quantitative easing." Once Congress and the pub- lic know the full truth about the Fed's operations, we can begin working on ending, or at least reining in, the Fed. A good next step would be to explicitly for- bid the Fed from making "loans" to private businesses or foreign governments. Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act, which the Fed claims gives it the author- ity to provide "emergency as- sistance" to private companies, must be repealed. Congress should also pass leg- islation reversing President Ron- ald Reagan's executive order cre- ating the "Plunge Protection Team." Created after the 1987 stock market crash, the Plunge Protection Team's "job" is to in- tervene whenever the finan- cial markets appear to be on the verge of a meltdown, in order to prolong the Fed-created illusion of economic prosperity. Congress should also restrict the Fed's ability to purchase gov- ernment securities, which the Fed uses to monetize the federal debt. Congress should also stop the Fed from manipulating in- terest rates. These actions would reduce the economic instability wrought by the Fed's monetary policy. Ending the Fed's mone- tization of the debt could also force Congress to not just halt the growth of, but actually be- gin to roll back, the welfare-war- fare state. The best way to rein in the Fed is to restore the gold stan- dard. However, this must be a true gold standard, not the phony post-war Bretton Woods gold standard or the "gold price rule" promoted by the supply- siders. The "gold price rule" re- quires the Fed to raise interest rates whenever the price of gold matches or exceeds a Fed-deter- mined target. Thus, this rule still allows the Fed to attempt to "fix" the price of money. It just pro- vides the Fed with another af- ter-the-fact indicator that the lat- est inflationary bubble is about to burst. The most important step to- ward Fed-exit and the restora- tion of a true free-market mon- etary system is the repeal of all laws that in any way restrict in- dividuals from using alternative currencies. Under a free-mar- ket monetary system, some indi- viduals will choose to use metal- based currency, while others will choose to use digital currency. Some many even stick with fiat money. The important factor is not the type of currency individ- uals use, but that people have the right to decide for themselves what unit of exchange they use for their economic transactions. Ron Paul is a former Congressman and Presidential candidate. He can be reached at the RonPaulInstitute.org. Ron Paul The path to Fed-Exit OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, July 27, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4