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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 A close friend of mine got me thinking about stem cell research recently. My impressive friend spent 8 years in the California Assembly, 12 years in the state Senate and also served very well as the head of California's democrat party. Now Art Torres is the Vice Chair of the indepen- dent citizen's oversight com- mittee which is the govern- ing board of the California In- stitute for Re- generative Med- icine (CIRM), which was es- tablished in 2005. To date that institute has funded 26 clinical trials. Nine of those have received FDA approval for a trial. CIRM is just one part of this important field. I think a very important one. The latest figures from the Alli- ance for Regenerative Med- icine (ARM) show by the end of this year there were 728 clinical trials around the world. Also, in the final phase, there are 66 trials un- derway to determine if the process would be safe and effective for a larger popu- lation. Heart disease, strokes, cancers, blindness and more are targets that stem cells are beginning to solve. Sim- ply put, stem cells is an enormous repair system for our bodies. Stem cells are frequently used in a variety of medi- cal therapies already, such as bone marrow transplan- tation. On a vague and distantly related note, years ago, as a legislator, I got to partic- ipate in placing a personal letter in the northern cor- nerstone at our restored state capitol building in Sac- ramento. I predicted then that cloning would eventu- ally become commonplace. I wish I had mentioned my hope for stem cell research as well. It always reminds me of Star Trek. Because of this effort, medicine is go- ing faster and faster to get to "where no man has ever gone before." I myself had a six-way heart bypass performed in 2010, not to mention a lit- tle skin cancer that I had to have removed two years ago. My take is to please bring on lots more stem cell research. In the meantime, I will con- tinue fighting gravity, as best I can. We have already learned that some people disabled by a stroke have re- gained their motor functions after using stem cells. I am more than grateful to people like Art Torres at the fore- front of research that will keep us all going. The bad news: I now have some identifying scars on my body. The good news: I am still standing and using oxygen at the age of 77. Be- cause of my personal experi- ences I am naturally excited when medical science can make the wonderful prog- ress that stem cell research is accomplishing now. I felt the same way in Jan- uary of this year when Presi- dent Obama chose Vice Pres- ident Joe Biden to lead a panel to hopefully and fi- nally find a cure to can- cer. Biden was selected be- cause of the recent death of his son Beau from brain can- cer. Leaders of thirteen gov- ernment agencies are on this panel. Biden is calling it a "moonshot," much like what President Kennedy accom- plished in the 1960s when he said America could travel to and explore the moon within ten years. I say onward. The use of stem cells is an area where America can and should be first again. Mytakeonthemovies Movie review: The 1959 "Ben Hur" film starring Charlton Heston is one of my favorites. I saw today's re- make last Sunday and it was also excellent. An impressive new ac- tor, Jack Huston, has the ti- tle role. Morgan Freeman was also cast in a prominent role. I highly recommend this film in either 2-D or 3-D. Stan Statham served 1976- 1994 in the California Assembly and was a television news anchor at KHSL-TV in Chico 1965- 1975. He is past president of the California Broadcasters Association and can be reached at StanStatham@ gmail.com. Stan Statham My take on stem cell research My take is to please bring on lots more stem cell research. In the meantime, I will continue fighting gravity, as best I can. The rest of the story on the school bond Editor: Great article about the $26M bond measure to be on our No- vember ballot but you are miss- ing the rest of the story. Did you know that RBHS has already received a grant for $500,000 for the Career Techni- cal Program to be developed? Did you know that RBHS is hitting the builders up for a 12 cents per square foot fee in- crease? Did you know that the July 20 board meeting gave the RBHS superintendent a 5 per- cent salary and benefit in- crease? And, did you also know that there is a county ordinance that has increased building and de- velopment fees as of Jan. 1, 2017 to pay for library and "other buildings and services?" That means a triple hit for the build- ers. Enough already. On the one hand, RBHS is asking for increased school fees and a $26M bond measure but on the other hand is regu- larly raising salaries and benefit packages for themselves. Seems to me that staff and administra- tors think of themselves before the students they serve. That would be a no on the RBHS bond measure. — Jenny Alexander, Red Bluff Thank you to two strangers Editor: On Wednesday, Aug. 11, we were towing our 37 ft. 5th wheel to go camping at Lake Almonor with friends. Approx- imately 300 ft. from the en- trance of the US Forest Service Campground, The Legacy, we blew a tire on the 5th wheel. We stopped on the shoulder of the road and found we had blown both right tires on the trailer. We slowly pulled the trailer to the inside of the entrance of the campground. Luckily this was the campground we were stay- ing in . At 2:09 p.m., a cell phone call was made to our nation- ally well known RV roadside ser- vice. Right off the bat, we knew we were in trouble. The cus- tomer service person could not find Chester, Hwy. 36E, Quincy or Hwy. 89. We were told help would arrive in about 90 min- utes. Numerous campers, visitors and the camp host continuously checked on us. When no service truck or tow truck showed up Hal called and asked where was our help and he was told they couldn't find us. How can you miss a white king cab pickup towing a white 37 ft. 5th wheel that is leaning and inside a campground entrance? To make a long story short and many phone calls back and forth as to what was being done, two very nice young men, who were visiting family mem- bers at the campground, told us they would be right back with a logging truck and take the two rims off and put the spare tire on the trailer. They were back within 10 minutes unlike our service company. After Bert and Travis took the rims off, and we were able to move the trailer, Bert followed us to our camp- site to make sure everything would be all right. Hal and I would like ev- eryone to know there are an- gels and heroes in our commu- nity. A big thank you to Bob Pellersels who stayed with and helped Hal from 2-8 p.m. and to Bob and Linda for offering my 90-year-old mother to stay in their trailer while waiting for help and to provide food for us. The two heroes in this story are Bert Harris and his truck, who reside in Paskenta, and Tra- vis Flournoy of Corning. With- out the help of these two young men, we would have spent a very uncomfortable night. These young men would not ac- cept any money or a beer for their help and services. On Thursday, a phone call was made to Les Schwab in Su- sanville and we spoke to Mike. Mike quoted us four new tires, mounting and changing out the spare tire, but wouldn't be able to do this until Saturday morning. He kept his word and showed up Saturday morning. A copy of this letter will be mailed to Les Schwab in Susan- ville and to their corporate of- fice and to our roadside service office. — Johnelle Begbie, Red Bluff Saddened by passing of former teacher Editor: I wish to express my deep sadness towards the passing of a former Red Bluff High School teacher Bernard Gleason. As a former student of Mr. Gleason he taught me in his speech class to lose my fear of public speaking. But he taught me much more, he was never afraid to speak up for his rights and the rights of others — regardless of whether his outspoken words might jeopardize his career, or other opportunities. Despite many disappoint- ments Mr. Gleason continually encouraged me to continue my writing. I ran into Mr. Gleason a few weeks ago, I informed him that I was going to surprise him by dedicating my fourth E novel to him — but not being a patient man I had to tell about the ded- ication before the release of my book in a month or two. Mr. Gleason laughed and told me he too is not a patient man. Sadly Mr. Gleason will never read the book I dedicated to him. On a different note many people may not know Mr. Glea- son was a talented baseball player — so much in fact a pro team once expressed interest in him, but he chose to become a teacher, which was a loss to baseball but a big gain to all his former students. Farewell Mr. Gleason, thank you for inspiring me to never give up and speak clearly and avoid vocal pauses when I give a public speech. — Bill Wong Foey, Red Bluff Your opinions Cartoonist's take August 13 was the one-year anniversary of my daily walk. Although "walk" is really some- thing of a euphe- mism for what I actually do. A "walk" to most people means a stroll, a saunter — a pleasant glide through nature. More accurately — it is a forced march. Those of you who have been in the military know exactly what I am referring to. The fast-paced movement of men and equipment on foot who need to get to where they're going in a hurry. It's not run- ning, although if you fall be- hind you'll soon find yourself doing that to catch up. I know my walk is fast enough that my 13-year-old grandnephew falls behind when I start up a hill. I don't slow down for hills. I want to finish them as soon as possible. How did this get started? Be- ing something of a fat guy, my doctor told me I needed to get more exercise. He really pushed the idea of cycling. I used to cy- cle and liked it. But that was 35 years ago. Plus, you have to ride a bike a long way to get a proper workout. I just couldn't see myself riding to Cotton- wood or Anderson, or down into Red Bluff and back three or four days a week. In my mind I pictured close encounters with cars and trucks, flat tires, the blazing heat, and also realized that there would be times when I might want to stop, and it would be a long way back home. Besides, I can be off to the ER when I fall off a stool, much less crashing into the asphalt at 30 miles per hour. Sure, I would be wearing a hel- met, but my limbs and joints are important to me too, and I couldn't see biking in full body armor. We live in a beautiful place here in Tehama county. I never tire of the golden grass, green oaks and distant vistas. After all, I did move up here to be closer to nature, so how about walking? We have over eight acres. A quick perimeter calcu- lation showed that was not that much distance, but I could be creative, right? Our house sits on a ridge with a large pasture in the back, and a smaller one in the front with a seasonal creek. The two pastures are con- nected by a paddock that strad- dles both sides of the ridge. I knew that the distance it- self wasn't that important, it was the time I would expend doing some aerobic exercise that mattered. In fact, I was surprised when I learned that someone of my girth would burn about 500 calories doing a fast 50-minute walking route. I tried a number of combina- tions and finally came up with one that I liked, which also al- lows me to check my fence- lines and traverse my entire property. And this is the low tech approach, needing only hiking boots and a trusty walk- ing stick. It's great being close to the land every day. Well, almost ev- ery day — I do take a break now and then. It's always dif- ferent, depending upon the time of day, the time of the year and the weather. I never get tired of it. I have several views of Lassen Peak, as well as the Trinity Alps. I get to see if my fence needs mending, trees need trimming or whatnot. I feel like I really know my land. And I think I've become something of a fix- ture around here now. I return my neighbors' waves and have an occasional chat at the fence line. Works for me. Corky Pickering and his wife relocated from the Bay Area to Cottonwood in 2014. He recently retired from the federal government as an attorney advising law enforcement. He has been a rock and roll bass player and a Marine JAG. He can be reached at thecork6@gmail.com. Corky Pickering Walking in circles Stan Statham Corky Pickering OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, August 25, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6