Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/757347
Even though I am a country boy at heart I do enjoy exploring the "personalities" of many of our planet's major cities. I have been fortunate enough to have visited Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, London, Paris, Rome and Honolulu. Thatexperiencehaschanged my view as I discuss travel- ing with my friends and fam- ily. I have now ar- rived at a point where the Hawai- ian Islands are among my favor- ite places to go in the entire world, big city or rural. I am sure it helps that the weather is terrific there. Our 50th Aloha state is geographically closer to our golden state. It is easier to get to and English is spoken. Being at one of our planet's big cities and looking around has always been a special treat for me. I recently discovered that one of San Francisco's favor- ite tourist locations is about to get some changes. That's Lom- bard Street. The street located at the top of Russian Hill. It is sometimes called "the most crooked street in the world." Lombard was designed and built in 1922 when the hill was considered too steep for vehi- cles that were built. It is an al- most vertical, winding street that is travelled by approxi- mately 16,000 people each and every day. Some of the neigh- bors that live near there don't like all the traffic and want some changes. They say the problems are mostly the smell of overheating car engines. Sometimes the contiguous residents have to even wait just to drive into their own drive- ways. And of course, most of all, they are not fond of the re- peated and urgent requests by many of the tourists to use their personal bathrooms. So, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is now think- ing of modifying adjoining streets so that some drivers can wait until it is their turn to do what Hollywood actor Steve McQueen did in that mus- cle car way back in the 1969 in the movie "Bullitt." I am bet- ting that most tourists probably won't drive as fast as Steve did. The San Francisco County Transportation Agency hopes to have a study with possible im- provements approved by the end of this year. My take is that those of- ficials, along with all of us, should do whatever we can to maintain the San Francisco ex- perience, which include its lo- cations, personality and views. Lombard street is a prime ex- ample of all of that. Let me know what your take is. I think we should maintain Lombard Street along with Coit Tower, Transamerica Pyramid, Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz, the Cable Cars, Chinatown, Pier 39 and, it goes without saying, the Golden Gate Bridge itself. A five year study has recently been completed that also re- vealed more danger than you might think has occurred on Lombard. It is a high-crash, crooked and winding street. During 2015 there were 150 au- tomobile crashes, two pedes- trians were killed and 20 other people sustained major injuries. And, the cost for these neces- sary innovations to improve ev- erything has been estimated at around $12 million. I think the modifications are justified and actions are hopefully continuing to start this construction and the im- provements in 2017. Mytakeonthemovies "Allied" is a must see movie starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard. Hollywood simply doesn't make many movies like this anymore. However, they should and you should see this one. You will get intellectually and emotionally involved. It is a slow moving yet riv- eting story of World War II. It highlights a specific espionage activity. StanStathamserved1976-1994 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. StanStatham My take on San Francisco's Lombard Street Sometimes the contiguous residents have to even wait just to drive into their own driveways. And of course, most of all, they are not fond of the repeated and urgent requests by many of the tourists to use their personal bathrooms. Trump victory leads to America's destruction Editor: The election is over, sort of. The bigots, white supremacists and easily mislead are gloat- ing over the win by one of the most evil and immoral leaders since Hitler, but the truth is the only people who won are Putin, Trump and Satan. They are de- liriously dancing on the death of American democracy and amazed that so many Christians sold their soul and salvation to the devil Trump, who was in contact with Putin through the whole election. While the Democrats were trying to win this election le- gally, Putin was hacking into and stealing information from Clinton's campaign and the DNC. Documents that were pri- vate and not for public consump- tion, making something out of literally nothing, while the Dem- ocrats didn't hack into Donald Trump's e-mails, or the court or- dered documents, he already de- stroyed. We couldn't even see his taxes, and we now know why. Pay for play conflicts of interest, all over the place; gifts for him- self, money to pay off judges and bills with his foundation, which was not even a legal foundation, and best of all, while American are under tremendous pressure to pay taxes every year, Donald doesn't pay anything. We are now looking at a re- count in three states, where there appears to have been some manipulation of people's vote. When a candidate can't win the electoral vote, but loses the pop- ular vote by 2 million votes, it is quite apparent that every in- dividual's vote does not count, then something is dramatically wrong and underhanded. If Pu- tin can hack his way into getting the President he wants in office, by hacking private e-mails, why not hack the election itself, espe- cially if it is close in those states. Now, that he is President- elect, he had a chance to prove he wasn't a bigot or Nazi sym- pathizer by appointing honor- able, intelligent leaders from both sides, but his first choice for Chief Strategist is Steve Bannon, a man who pushes white suprem- acy and hate of Jews in his Bre- itbart outlet. The rest are loyal yes men, who will sell their soul to the devil Trump for the glory, much like Hitler's band of scary yes men, void of conscience. That Christian support won this man the White House is very disturbing. This is who our children will look up to for the next four years, as President and First Lady. A man who is a bully, liar, bigot, blasphemer, abuser of women and a Nazi sympathizer. A woman, who came here illegally, made money doing porn, stole Michelle Obama's speech, wants to stop bullying on the Inter- net, when she needs to just stop her despicable bully, under con- trol and is too good to live in our White House. So, gloat and re- joice, you who blindly traded the Presidency for the promise of no more abortions and getting rid of gay marriage and riches be- yond your wildest imagination. Rejoice in your fake victory. In the meantime, I am working and supporting joining Canada or succession of California, Wash- ington, Nevada, Oregon and Ha- waii to make our own union. It is the only way to protect the blue states on the West Coast from the wrath to hit the rest of the union. That way, we can live under true Democratic laws and Constitu- tion. Protect our forests, water and people from Trump's goon squads and his enemies. We have the money and re- sources to do it. We have the fifth largest economy. We are the bread basket, Internet, en- tertainment and recreational capitols of the world. We will own and benefit from owning the whole West Coast shipping and best of all, it will pull the plug on the ridiculous alt-right idea of the State of Jefferson. — Pat Johnston, Red Bluff 48 states prefer to keep the Electoral College Editor: Given the high number of fraudulent votes from ille- gal border crossers using only their driver's license as false proof of citizenship, the votes by the deceased and the votes of those fraudulently regis- tered, our nation is fortunate to have an Electoral College majority requirement versus a simple majority vote count. Without the wise Elec- toral College of our Constitu- tion, states such as Califor- nia and New York, with their two-thirds leaning towards so- cialism, would capture the na- tional vote and end US De- mocracy and representation of citizens of the remaining 48 states. Thankfully Tehema County voters approved the continuation of Democracy in- stead of Clinton's and Sander's ultra left socialism. Citizens of most of the re- maining 48 states firmly be- lieve that people should work so as to not burden taxpay- ers, rather than being entitled to the high costs of Medicaid, food stamps, aid to dependent children, subsidies to citizens of other countries who ille- gally live in the US, earned in- come tax credits, housing sub- sidies, welfare subsidies for wind or solar energy or elec- tric cars, and public school en- titlements instead of school choice education equality for every child. As a taxpayer who has avoided welfare entitlements, including for public schools, I'm thankful for our Electoral College that protects our nation from Socialism entitlements. It is time for every citizen to be issued a national identity card to limit elections to one vote per eligible citizen, and no fraudulent votes by those illegally here who are citizens of their own country. — Joseph Neff, Corning Your opinions Cartoonist's take Do you have a hobby? Ac- cording to Merriam-Webster, a hobby is "an interest or ac- tivity engaged in for pleasure." Ac- cording to the definition, sports would qualify, as would watch- ing TV, or even sex. I found a list of 308 hobbies on the Internet, which included lots of sports. But things like golf, tennis or bowling aren't the types of things I imagine when I think of hobbies. What pops into my mind are stamp collecting, model trains, wood working and the like. Lots of folks are too busy to have a hobby. Going to work, taking care of chores and spending time with one's fam- ily often fills up the hours. A hobby is something one does in their free time, so if there isn't any — it's hard to have one. Some folks are so passionate about their hobbies that they will make time. They work on them late at night, after every- one has gone to bed, or pursue their hobby instead of spending time with their families. We've all heard of "golf widows" — wives left alone because their husbands play lots of golf. I think some folks use their sport or hobby to escape from their families. After all, work- ing on a successful relationship with one's spouse or children is far from easy. On the other hand, having some time for ourselves is usually good for us. I think fly-tying is a hobby that provides a lot of time for introspection and reflection. I'm not a fisherman, but I've heard that it is the process of waiting, the anticipation and communing with nature that is the real sport. Not that a rous- ing fight with a big fish isn't fun, but that excitement is only a small fraction of the total ex- perience. So fishing isn't actu- ally about catching fish. Eating your fish is just an enjoyable by- product of the experience. Like hunting. If you had to do it to eat, then it wouldn't be a hobby. I wouldn't classify sports as hobbies. I don't view exercise as a hobby either. It is something we do for our health and to stay fit. Most of us wouldn't bother if it wasn't necessary. So, I would have three categories — sports, hobbies and exercise. Some folks get their exercise while engaging in sports or at work, if it involves physical la- bor. Others go to the gym, work- out, run, or walk. Many folks engage in all three activities — sports, exercise and a hobby as well. Busy folks today might play a round of golf every week (or bowl or play tennis) for fun, and still go to the gym three times a week for exercise. Then, late at night, one can find them at home tying flies, going over their stamp or coin collection, or playing with their trains. Some might even be out under the sky with a telescope. I would like to say that would be me out with a scope at night. But that wouldn't actually be true. It was when I was a teen- ager. But I seem to have a diffi- cult time dragging my scope out of the garage in the dark, and there are always plenty of ex- cuses. I have to move my wife's car. It will probably cloud up. It's too cold. It's too windy. Is it really worth all that effort, since I seem to have a heck of a time finding what I want to see? These old eyes don't work so well any more. Besides, I have this other cool hobby. This col- umn. And it's always nice and warm and cozy inside. 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 Sports and exercise not included ... A look at hobbies in retirement GregStevens,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 Corky Pickering Stan Statham OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, December 1, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4