Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/745905
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 Iamaproudlifelongmem- ber of this community. I grew up in the '50s and '60s. In those days, we left our doors unlocked when we left home. We walked to school with- out being admon- ished about talk- ing with strang- ers. As teenagers, we did what teenagers do. We tossed a few eggs on Hallow- een. We cruised Main on Fri- day night. Occasionally, we met where Surrey Village sits today, where we participated in chug- ging contests over a six-pack of beer that we somehow man- aged to acquire. This was pretty much the criminal justice en- vironment I walked into when I signed on with the Tehama County Probation Department on July 1, 1968. Boy, how things have changed. In the '40s, '50s and early '60s few probation departments were staffed with folks with a for- mal college education. Tehama County was no exception. For most of the 1950s and '60s the three-person Tehama County Probation Department was lo- cated in a cramped little corner office on the second floor of the now obsolete Tehama County Courthouse. When I was doing what teen- agers do on the streets of this lit- tle city, the Chief Probation Of- ficer was a man by the name of Roger Parker. Mr. Parker had been the owner of a local gas station; but because he was also a Boy Scout leader, he was se- lected as the appropriate person to deal with community miscre- ants. Assisting Mr. Parker was a terrific lady by the name of Lu- cille McCready. While initially hired as the department secre- tary, Mrs. McCready, over three or four decades, deservedly worked her way up to the posi- tion of Assistant Chief Probation Officer. For most of us who grew up in these parts, it was the depart- ment's sole deputy probation of- ficer that struck fear into our hearts. In the '60s Hollis Harlo Huckleberry was the man you had to answer to. While I was in high school, the very mention of his name was almost enough to make one go straight for the rest of one's life. In 1965 the State of Califor- nia enacted the Probation Sub- sidy Act. Like the present day AB 109 program, the Probation Subsidy Act was designed to re- duce the number of offenders being committed to state penal institutions. For every prison-eli- gible offender who was retained in the community rather than committed to prison, the county received $4,000. With this sig- nificant influx of funding, proba- tion departments up and down the state exploded in size over- night. As relating to that original subsidy program as well as the current AB 109 program, it is my opinion that, at their core, these programs offer the best chance for rehabilitating offend- ers. While AB 109 eligibility re- quirements undoubtedly need review to ensure that danger- ous offenders are removed from our communities, supervising and treating offenders at the lo- cal level offers far greater poten- tial for success—as opposed to warehousing offenders in expen- sive prison beds only to even- tually release them without job skills, treatment, education, self- esteem, etc., etc., etc. When I first walked into the Probation Department on July 1, 1968, the department had al- ready more than doubled in staffing. In addition to Mr. Parker, Mrs. McCready and Mr. Huckleberry, the county had hired John Sasman, Barbara Se- bastian, Ron Afdel and Richard Carpenter. John Sasman even- tually went on to accomplish great things with the Califor- nia Department of Corrections. Ron Afdel moved on to a bigger probation pond in Contra Costa County. Barbara Sebastian, a graduate of UC Berkeley, was a mainstay at the probation de- partment for decades, until ac- cepting a management position with the local department of so- cial services. Richard Carpen- ter (of the pig-farming Dale Car- penter family) later accepted a position with the Shasta County Department of Social Services. Both Sebastian and Carpenter remain in this community today. When I came aboard, the pro- bation department was flush with money. Our caseloads were small enough that the entire staff was able to sit together on a weekly basis. We discussed ev- ery case in the department in order to develop individualized case plans designed to promote success. The probation department I joined in 1968 was a far dif- ferent place than the one I left some 30 years later. Under Park- er's leadership, officers were re- quired to wear suits or sports jackets along with a white dress shirt — only white would do — and a thin dark tie. We were required to be at our work stations fifteen min- utes prior to the official start of our work day. If we were not still at our desk well after the end of our work day, we were viewed as lazy and disloyal to the depart- ment. There was even an unspo- ken expectation that we would report to work on legally desig- nated holidays. As for sick leave, family leave, maternity leave, flex time, job sharing and working at home, such things either did not exist or were not recognized at the Te- hama County Probation Depart- ment. If my fast-failing memory serves me correctly, Barbara Se- bastian took Friday off to deliver her first child Kurt, only to re- turn to work the following Tues- day. I also remember very well the first case I was assigned at the probation department. A young man had been referred for shop- lifting. Fresh out of college, I used every technique I had learned over five years in school to convince the lad to turn his life around. I remember how proud I was of myself as watched him walk down the driveway. I had obvi- ously saved soul number one of the thousands I would save over my long and distinguished ca- reer. Imagine my surprise when I learned that within 100 yards of my office, the young man stole a car from the hospital parking lot. It was at that time that I first realized that saving souls would be much more diffi- cult than I had anticipated. ••• Coming to the State The- atre: Nov. 10, Peter Cincotti (Pop, Rock, Jazz Pianist/Songwriter). Tickets available at Tehama Visi- tor Center or by calling 529-2787. 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 Changes in probation over the years Cartoonist's take Now that open enrollment is upon us and ObamaCare pre- miums are soaring through the roof (again), my email inbox is be- ing flooded with questions from frustrated Amer- icans. I'll do my best to provide an- swers that even a dummy could un- derstand. Dear Tom: The Affordable Care Act of 2010 was supposed to extend health insurance cov- erage and reduce costs. Why do my premiums keep going up? — Hurting in Houston Dear Hurting: ObamaCare was sold to the public along emo- tional lines — insurance for all, including folks with pre-exist- ing conditions. It was sold us- ing several mistruths — that you could expand coverage and costs would go down. Its architects knew all along that you can't give everyone the goodies they want without causing premiums to explode. ObamaCare archi- tect Jonathan Gruber explained on several occasions that Obam- aCare was designed to dupe stu- pid Americans — and dupe it did Dear Tom: Before ObamaCare become law, President Obama said that my family's policy would drop by $2,500 a year, and he promised we'd get to keep my doctor. But our policy increased by $5,000 a year, our deduct- ibles quadrupled and we lost our favorite doctors. How could Obama's promises go so horribly wrong? — Misled in Mississippi Dear Misled: It must have been Bush's fault. Dear Tom: How could the gov- ernment bureaucrats who mas- terminded ObamaCare get their estimates so terribly wrong? In the private sector, heads would roll. — Peeved in Peoria Dear Peeved: Government ObamaCare enrollee estimates were off by about half. That is, millions of young, healthy peo- ple who were expected to pur- chase health insurance policies are — shocking, I know — spend- ing their money on beer instead. Since young, healthy people don't need as much care, their premiums cover the costs of peo- ple who do need care. Without them, ObamaCare is imploding. Private-sector employees would be fired for getting their esti- mates so wrong. Government bureaucrats get bonuses. Dear Tom: I don't have a ques- tion. I just want to share my frustration. I'm shopping around for an individual policy, but ObamaCare is making me buy coverage for things I don't need. — Agitated in Arizona Dear Agitated: So true. Obam- aCare requires your new policy to meet 10 new minimum stan- dards that include coverage for such things as mental health, drug abuse and maternity — even if you are a 51-year-old man who will never bear children, you must pay for maternity care. Dear Tom: I'm glad individ- uals with pre-existing condi- tions can now get coverage, but couldn't we have helped such people without disrupting one- sixth of the U.S. economy? — Perplexed in Pittsburgh Dear Perplexed: Sure, there are much simpler and better ways to help the uninsured and Americans who were unable to get insurance due to pre-existing conditions — we could have ad- dressed each challenge in a tar- geted manner with risk pools, for instance. However, politicians and government bureaucrats are more interested in outright con- trol than they are in solutions that actually produce the desired health-care outcomes. Dear Tom: I don't think ObamaCare is failing. I think its planners designed it to pave the way for the single-payer govern- ment health care that policy pro- gressives have wanted to impose on the country for years. — Sus- picious in Syracuse Dear Suspicious: I'm not sure ObamaCare's architects were clever enough to pull off such a strategy. That said, ObamaCare is dishing out so much pain to so many middle-class people, it does open up an opportunity for another silver-tongued politician to promise that higher taxes on the rich will fund "Medicare for all!" We are at a fork in the road: Either we apply sensible mar- ket reforms to correct the root cause of our health-care woes — costs are out of control — or we give up as a people and let the government complete its desired health-care takeover. We bet- ter hope and pray for sensible re- form. 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 ObamaCare Q&A for dummies In the '60s Hollis Harlo Huckleberry was the man you had to answer to. While I was in high school, the very mention of his name was almost enough to make one go straight for the rest of one's life. Tom Purcell When Time-Warner an- nounced it planned to merge with another major communica- tions firm, many feared the new company would exercise near-to- tal monopoly power. These con- cerns led some to call for govern- ment action to block the merger in order to protect both Time- Warner's competitors and con- sumers. No, I am not talking about Time-Warner's recent an- nounced plan to merge with AT&T, but the reaction to Time- Warner's merger with (then) In- ternet giant AOL in 2000. Far from creating an untouchable le- viathan crushing all competitors, the AOL-Time-Warner merger fell apart in under a decade. The failure of AOL-Time-War- ner demonstrates that even the biggest companies are vulner- able to competition if there is open entry into the marketplace. AOL-Time-Warner failed because consumers left them for compet- itors offering lower prices and/or better quality. Corporate mergers and "hos- tile" takeovers can promote eco- nomic efficiency by removing inefficient management and boards of directors. These man- agers and board members of- ten work together to promote their own interests instead of generating maximum returns for investors by providing con- sumers with affordable, qual- ity products. Thus, laws making it difficult to launch a "hostile" takeover promote inefficient use of resources and harm investors, workers, and consumers. Monopolies and cartels are creations of government, not markets. For example, the rea- son the media is dominated by a few large companies is that no one can operate a television or radio station unless they ob- tain federal approval and pay federal licensing fees. Similarly, anyone wishing to operate a ca- ble company must not only com- ply with federal regulations, they must sign a "franchise" agree- ment with their local govern- ment. Fortunately, the Internet has given Americans greater ac- cess to news and ideas shut out by the government-licensed lap- dogs of the "mainstream" media. This may be why so many poli- ticians are anxious to regulate the web. Government taxes and regula- tions are effective means of lim- iting competition in an industry. Large companies can afford the costs of complying with govern- ment regulations, costs which cripple their smaller competi- tors. Big business can also afford to hire lobbyists to ensure that new laws and regulations favor big business. Examples of regulations that benefit large corporations in- clude the Food and Drug Admin- istration's (FDA) regulations that raise costs of developing a new drug, as well as limit consum- ers ability to learn about natu- ral alternatives to pharmaceu- ticals. Another example is the Dodd-Frank legislation, which has strengthened large financial intuitions while harming their weaker competitors. Legislation forcing consumers to pay out-of-state sales tax on their online purchases is a clas- sic case of business seeking to use government to harm less po- litically-powerful competitors. This legislation is being pushed by large brick-and-mortar stores and Internet retailers who are seeking a government-granted advantage over smaller compet- itors. Many failed mergers and ac- quisitions result from the dis- torted signals sent to business and investors by the Federal Re- serve's inflationary monetary policy. Perhaps the most famous example of this is the AOL-Time- Warner fiasco, which was a di- rect result of the Fed-created dot. com bubble. Ron Paul Blame government, not markets for monopoly Bill Cornelius OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, November 2, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6