Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/709224
AfederaljudgehasruledthatJohnHinckley Jr., the mentally disturbed man who tried to assassinate my father 35 years ago, will be set free in about a week. Many people, including members of my own fam- ily, think it's a terrible injus- tice that Hinckley, now 61, will be allowed to leave the mental hospital and live per- manently with his elderly mother in Virginia. I don't. Before I explain, I'd like to remind people of what my father said and did in the days following the events of March 30, 1981. When I walked into his hos- pital room the next day and saw my wounded father, the first thing he said to me, after "Good morning," was "Michael, if you're ever going to be shot, don't be wearing a new suit." What? I thought to myself. "Well, yesterday I was shot." "I know, father. I know." "Well, I was wearing a brand new suit I had just picked up the day before. And I'm telling you, if you're going to get shot don't be wearing a new suit. "When I was on the gurney they cut that suit off me and the last time I saw it it was in shreds in the corner of my hospital room. That's what they do. They cut it off you." My father was only half done with his story. "That young man who shot me, John Hinckley Jr., I un- derstand his parents are in the oil biz." "Yes they are, Dad." "I understand they live in Denver." "Yes they do, Dad." "Do you think they have any money?" "Dad," I said, "they are in the oil business and live in Denver. Of course they have money." My dad looked at me and said, "Well, do you think they'd buy me a new suit?" Humor was my dad's way of making strangers feel comfort- able in his presence. He was the same way with his family. Before my father was well enough to go back to the White House he did some- thing completely serious. He said he had forgiven Hinck- ley. Not only that, he wanted to go to meet Hinckley face- to-face and tell him that he had forgiven him. Hinckley's doctors didn't think that was a good idea because Hinckley was too mentally unstable, so it never happened. But it proves, as I always like to say, that my fa- ther didn't just recite "The Lord's Prayer," he lived it. A lot of people can't forgive Hinckley even today. They were shocked in 1981 when he was found not guilty by reason of insanity and they were angry when they found out he'd become eligi- ble for release some day. Because of Hinckley, the laws were changed. Today if you shoot at the president you stay in prison for life, no matter how crazy you are. Over the years all of us in the families hurt by Hinckley have watched the courts and doctors slowly but surely re- lease him through the mental health system. Hinckley's not a threat to my family or anyone else's. But he's not totally free and never will be. He may not have bars to look through, but he has his own type of jail. People will be watching him all the time. So will the Secret Service. At first I was very upset and angry when Hinckley got off on the insanity defense. How could a person shoot the president of the United States and be allowed to ever have any freedom at all? Fifteen years ago I was still angry. But 15 years later I want to be more like my fa- ther and have a forgiving heart, not an angry heart. So at the same time John Hinckley has been set free, maybe I have been too. MichaelReaganisthesonof President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution" (St. Martin's Press). Send comments to Reagan@ caglecartoons.com. Follow @reaganworld on Twitter. MichaelReagan Freeing and forgiving John Hinckley Jr. Cartoonist's take A knowledgeable Sacra- mento agent, regarding the former Walmart property in the Red Bluff Shopping Center, reports building and land are in escrow, but a suc- cessor tenant has yet to be signed up. ••• As readers will recall, the former site of the Red Bluff Daily News, 545 Di- amond Avenue, was purchased by the county of Tehama and it is destined to become the new home of the Tehama County Library. The building and land were purchased for $500,000. This was considered the fair market value, and library pa- trons probably anticipated the interior, already elegant by newspaper standards, would be revamped for library use in two shakes of a lamb's tail. However, after a design firm got a hold of it, the tab for a turnkey renovation was ear- marked at $6.7 million. Cooler fiscal heads then got involved and the figure was adjusted to $6.4 million and then to a present day $6.3 million. This still seems to me to be a lot of money when one con- siders that libraries around the country are downsizing in face of competition from other methods of reproduction of the printed word. Many book aficionados maintain libraries of their own containing their favorite authors. The missus and I have one such, but sel- dom seem to peruse the books therein. And yet, what about newly published books? Well, we each have a small tab- let called a "Nook," and for few pennies, we can order, di- rectly from the tablets, the lat- est publications at a fraction of the cost of a few years ago. This may appear as progress, but probably not to librarians. ••• Noted in police notes: "A na- ked man was seen in a white pickup exiting I-5 at Adobe Road." This got me to wonder- ing, is it illegal to drive while na- ked? I don't think so. Unless a man, or a woman, is acting or cavorting in an unseemly man- ner, what's the harm? With this current heat wave it would seem prudent to wear as little en- cumbering garments as possi- ble. However, knowing the High- way Patrol has jurisdiction in this matter, I called them for guidance. A spokesman replied that if a man or woman is "ob- served naked" they are consid- ered guilty of indecent expo- sure. However, if they are not ob- served, then they are not doing anything illegal. Is that clear? Even so, it seems unlikely such behavior would result in a shoot- ing by either party. ••• Best Left Unread Department: In the Daily News, "A Ran- cho Tehama woman was con- victed of animal cruelty." Nothing to see here, folks. Let's move on. ••• The recent conventions held to select the next candidates for President of the U.S. ap- pear to be in turmoil as of this writing. However, at least one columnist and one letter writer in the Daily News are of a like mind, and are con- vinced that Donald Trump is their savior. The Tuesday col- umnist concluded his column with "The Republican conven- tion inspires me to fully en- dorse every word that I heard, particularly Donald Trump's acceptance speech." The let- ter to the editor writer was equally adamant in his admi- ration of Trump. How could these ostensibly intelligent people be led so far astray? What part of Trump could be so appealing that they would drop all vestige of common sense? Perhaps national po- litical columnist Dick Pol- man could set them straight: "As Trump boasted nearly 30 years ago in his bestselling book, 'I play on people's fanta- sies…that's why a little hyper- bole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole.'" And Pol- man concludes with, "I call it something else." I assume he means BS. But speaking of political speech, how about Bill Clinton's speech at the Democratic Con- vention in which he extolled Hillary's virtues and her ability as a "change maker." I thought it a masterful and flawless speech that demonstrated he is not a liability but an asset in her quest of the presidency. Critics suggest he should have delved into his own past, i.e. the intern episode and the failed impeach- ment, to show how Hillary han- dled even those humiliating sit- uations. Instead, he enumer- ated her accomplishments and illustrated how she will make a good President. That we will also have our first female Presi- dent is amazing in itself, a title for women that has proven un- obtainable until now. ••• The New Yorker prints filler under the heading "Con- stabulary Notes from All Over." From the Portola Re- porter they copied "In Quincy, a caller reported that she'd made a wrong turn in Paradise and ended up in Quincy. The caller was crying and very up- set. A deputy met her and gave her correct directions back to Paradise." If I had been on the New Yorker staff, I would have added, "Paradise Lost?" But that would probably be too ob- vious for that hip publication. ••• There was a time, not long ago, that working men and women could look to their unions for job security. An em- ployer had to tow the line when it came to contract renewal. At our meat plant (1929-1975) we had to negotiate on contracts with the Butchers Union and the Teamsters, and if we did not agree with their demands, they could strike or walk out un- til they got what they wanted. This came to a head during our last year in business when they asked for more money per hour than our competitors in the mid west were paying their journey- men butchers. We asked for a reduction and the union said no. We took them to court, and we lost. Soon after the verdict the doors of our plant closed for ever. I note that unions today represent only 11 percent of the American workers. ••• An opinionated woman on her first plane trip found herself a nice window seat. However, a man appeared and claimed it was his seat. She refused to sur- render it and told him to buzz off. The man replied, "OK lady, you fly the plane." Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff, former columnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine and author of the "The Knocking Pen." He can be reached at rminchandmurray@ hotmail.com. I say Changes to former Walmart, Daily News buildings Before my father was well enough to go back to the White House he did something completely serious. He said he had forgiven Hinckley. Not only that, he wanted to go to meet Hinckley face-to-face and tell him that he had forgiven him. Sounding off Alookatwhatreadersaresayingincommentsonourwebsiteandonsocialmedia. Irememberhimwellfromyearsoftreating him as a nurse. He was hard to figure out at first. Once you cracked the shell, he was all heart. He's done a lot for our town and community. He will be missed and remembered as a local favorite, friend and family man. Kelly Halvorsen Heise: On the recent passing of long time local cattleman Bob Kerstiens Sr. Their sister, Vivian Foey, did my moms hair. Their nephew, Stephen Foey, wrote a historical book. D'Lorah Hurton: On twins born and raised in Red Bluff turning 100Thursday Greg Stevens, 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. 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 StateandNational 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, Kristina Miller, 824-7033 Your officials By Michael Reagan Robert Minch OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, July 29, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6