Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/709557
Writer beware: I am writing this on Sunday, July 24 on the eve of the Democratic follies in Philadelphia, about which I will comment later. MeredithMcIver,norela- tion to the local McIvers, took the fall for the speech given by the Don- ald's wife on the opening day of the Republi- can Convention in Cleveland. There was a lot of confusion, and the pendu- lum moved from indignation to embarrassment when it was pointed out that Mrs. Trump's speech had bor- rowed language from a speech of Mrs. Obama, the wife of the current President whom Mrs. Trump's husband has deni- grated every chance he had. The confusion came from conflicting statements from Mrs. Trump and the staff it- self. At one point Mrs. Trump claimed she wrote the entire speech, at another she said she had "input", and various staff member blamed Hillary Clin- ton for pointing out the al- leged plagiarism. McIver rose to the occasion, however, and said that Mrs. Trump had ex- pressed her admiration for Mrs. Obama, and McIver had inadvertently used some of Mrs. Obama's language in pro- viding input on the speech. McIver had previously fallen under the bus when Trump testified in court she was at fault for some inaccuracies in a book she helped him write. Aren't scapegoats wonderful. One wonders if Mrs. Trump's admiration of Mrs. Obama has to do with the overshadowing presence of her own husband who grabs the headlines, and even made a ghostly entrance to introduce her before the "team writ- ten" speech. Who knows? In the great scheme of things, the "speechgate" brouhaha was merely a diversion from the se- rious business of bashing Hill- ary Clinton that was going on. My concern, however, is that the campaign staff was not prepared immediately to deal with its faux pax in a straight- forward way, and it could not keep from looking foolish in this very trivial matter. One wonders how they may han- dle more substantive matters. The seat of their pants could wear pretty thin if this keeps up, and I am not sure we want to see what becomes exposed when that happens. In the meantime, another of Trump's ghost writers has pub- licly stated he is embarrassed by creating the image of The Donald he did when he actu- ally wrote the bestselling book, The Art of the Deal; he re- ceived half of the royalties for the book, in excess of $500,000. He says the person he wrote about was pure fiction, and the real Donald Trump is a meg- alomaniac. He is ashamed he created the character Donald now claims he really is. Ted Cruz was on cruise control, so to speak, demon- strating both courage and selfishness in his refusal to endorse Trump for the Presi- dency. Cruz may have thought he would be the next logi- cal candidate after a Trump defeat this year, but he may have burned his frag- ile bridges, building his own wall around himself. "Pillory Hillary" seemed to be the game the dele- gates were playing through- out the convention. Poor Hill- ary was blamed for every- thing anyone could think of from deaths in the streets to stale bread — real stretches of the imagination — however she has become an easy tar- get of late and even the exag- gerated claims will resonate with many. Our country was described as an area in deep distress, far gloomier and desperate than many would think. Our coun- try was described as a dysto- pia. It almost seemed the con- vention was about creating another world and a glorious future in that mythical dark place created by the speakers. The final day of the con- vention was more focused, al- though the themes remained essentially the same…doom and gloom unless Trump is in charge. Trump reaffirmed the pro- found truth in my favorite Mark Twain quotation: "Sta- tistics are like a woman of the night; once you get them down you can do anything with them." Time and again he picked and chose statistics to make his exaggerated points. The presumptuous nominee told everyone he would fix ev- erything, neglecting the fact that we have a federal govern- ment, not a centralized one, that we have states' rights, that all crimes are not fed- eral crimes, and that there are three branches of government. Maybe he hasn't had time to re-read the Constitution; it has been a long time since he took high school civics. He was long on prom- ises, short on specifics. He did say he would build a wall, and somehow allow churches to retain their tax free sta- tus if they entered the politi- cal arena. I am not sure this is consistent with his message to get big business out of poli- tics, but it makes me wonder if Trump is running for Ayatol- lah instead of President. There was a brief humane side to the candidate when he said he was pleased about the applause he received when he spoke of LGBTQ rights, some- thing the Republican platform did not want to affirm. Trump promised to unify all of us. In a recent inter- view he told the Washington Post, "I am not a racist; I'm the least racist person you have interviewed." His most recent statement was an interesting contrast to one attributed to him in de- position he made about an ac- countant whom he blamed for financial problems in his At- lantic City Casinos: "I think that the guy is lazy. And it is not his fault because laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is. I believe it is not anything they can control." There will be more refer- ences to statements he has made off of the top of his hair in the past. Stay tuned. The free entertainment will continue in the Philadelphia convention where a lot of di- visiveness is bound to surface, and I will enjoy writing about it as well. JoeHarropisaretired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net. JoeHarrop The Republican Cleveland Follies Cartoonist's take RoadsinRedBluffarea disgrace Editor: My greatest concern in our community is the city of Red Bluff Road Department. I am unaware of their budget for roads, but whatever the budget amounts to, the budget is far from enough, or is being terri- bly mishandled, or there is so much overhead expense that there is not enough left over to take care of the city roads. I have been told that the Road Department budget is the only one that other de- partments "borrow" from and never repay. I am interested in knowing what their actual budget is, and how it is being spent, as it is not being spent on the roads. I have also been told there is only one employee of the road department that ever fills holes. Shocking for a city of our size. If the budget is truly being borrowed from, then that needs to stop right now. We, the resi- dents of Red Bluff, need to have any problem that prevents the road department from fixing our roads to be corrected im- mediately. I speak for the res- idents as I cannot imagine anyone in the city thinks our streets are in good shape. Our city roads are a dis- grace. There are so many pot- holes everywhere. The holes are filled in occasionally, and the holes the road depart- ment fills on a rare occasion is moved out as soon as a few cars drive over the fill in. If a fill in is even done. A great example is South Jackson Street from before the Red Bluff Community Cen- ter to past Vista Preparatory Academy. There is not even one great area to drive on that is not filled with huge holes. It is a dangerous road because people will drive from the cen- ter line to the curb trying to miss the huge holes and un- even surface. I hope that a child is not in one of those ar- eas, as the city will be liable. The traffic throughout this area is extremely large due to the apartments, homes, Vista school and the access to the airport. I hoped they had planned on resealing the road while school was out — but that hasn't happened and schools are starting soon. Please, Daily News, research what is happening to our city roads. There are many other areas in our city that are in equally bad shape as is South Jackson. I would mention the other roads, but they are too many to list. Something needs to be done immediately. The city yard is even located near this area, they drive it daily as I see their vehicles frequently. They have to be aware of the seri- ous problem. Nothing is being done about the terrible roads in our city and something needs to either be corrected immediately, or we, the city residents, need to know why it is not been done properly. I have noticed the county roads are in much better con- dition than the city roads. Guess their budget is handled better? — Sharon Chambers, Red Bluff Comments on animal cruelty prompts response Editor: This is in response to Mr. Minch's statement in his col- umn today regarding the woman convicted of animal cruelty. He said "Nothing to see here, folks. Let's move on." Mr. Minch is either unin- formed about animal cruelty, doesn't care about animal cru- elty or made the statement to provoke a response — this def- initely worked. In case he is uninformed, this person has been charged numerous times over several years for many, many counts of animal cruelty. Countless animals have suffered from her neglect. Just ask the An- imal Control Officers and the county Animal Shelter who have put in many hours rescu- ing these animals and eutha- nizing most of them because they were too sick to save. Would any of us last very long in a job at the Animal Shelter putting animals to death because they have been neglected and dumped? I find it hard to believe that Mr. Minch doesn't care about animals because he writes about his own dog in such a kind way. Or does he just not care about animals other than his own. I would like to invite him to visit the County Ani- mal Shelter several times and see in what condition some of the dogs, cats and other ani- mals arrive. Animal cruelty is very real and occurs much more of- ten than most of the people in this county and elsewhere re- alize. The hard-working, dedi- cated Animal Control Officers and County Animal Shelter staff can educate not only Mr. Minch but many others. Just to give a little back- ground, I was raised in this county on a ranch and my stepfather, Herb Flournoy, who worked for Minch's Wholesale Meats, was always bringing home stray animals he either found wandering along the highway or dumped at an auction yard. All those animals became part of our family. I am part of a dedi- cated group of volunteers and a board member of PETS. Before Mr. Minch writes off a case of animal cruelty con- viction, I hope he will think about the countless hours, hard work and tears put in by the Animal Control Officers and the Animal Shelter staff to get this cruel, uncaring per- son to court and get her con- victed and sentenced. And think about all the animals that have suffered, not only at her hands, but many others that we don't know about or can't prove. — Sharon Russell, Red Bluff A big deal over nothing Editor: Democrats made a huge deal out of electing Barack Obama as the first black president. Now, as expected, they're cel- ebrating the nomination of Hill- ary Clinton as the first female party nominee for president. So, what's next? Should our first Cambodian nominee for president receive such accolades? How about the first Asian? Of course, the first gay or transsexual de- serves equal treatment. And then, by all means, let's not fail to recognize the first Mus- lim, Jew or Hare Krishna? Where does this insanity end? When does it ever end? Dare I say, how about we judge our candidates solely on the basis of their character, qualifications, vision and lead- ership without regard to gen- der, sexual persuasion, reli- gious affiliation or ethnicity? — Pete Stiglich, Cottonwood Letters to the editor My concern, however, is that the campaign staff was not prepared immediately to deal with its faux pax in a straightforward way, and it could not keep from looking foolish in this very trivial matter. One wonders how they may handle more substantive matters. Sounding off Alookatwhatreadersaresayingincommentsonourwebsiteandonsocialmedia. Iwanttothankthewonderfuloldfashion band concert for turning out Monday night in 100degree weather. Good job. Frances Smith: On weekly concerts at River Park by the Red Bluff Community Band It's a start in the right direction. Dorothy Kersey: On a ballot measure to increase the salary of county supervisors 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 Joe Harrop OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, July 30, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A5