Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/772629
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: Daily News 728Main St., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS I have an opinion on those cell phone towers that you may have already noticed and won- dered why some of them actually look like something else. Well, telecommunication companies are trying to sometimes make them look like a real tree. SinceIspendmuchofmy time in Oak Run just east of Redding, I have a regular op- portunity to see one of those thinly disguised communication towers on a reg- ular basis. It's as I drive down the hill on highway 44 just east of Redding and go into the small community of Palo Cedro. I have noticed another tower just north of Corning on I-5. It does not look like a tree. It has at least a dozen dishes attached. Both kinds of tow- ers are not aesthetic and seem to me to be out of balance. The tree one is the worst. Just before Christmas Cal- ifornia's State Supreme Court decided whether San Fran- cisco can prohibit such a fake tree just for the sake of aes- thetics. That higher court said a city could do that simply by enacting an ordinance. A few justices on the court said such towers could dis- turb or discomfort the pub- lic. However, should that be allowed for purposes of com- munication? San Francisco, which properly considers it- self a beautiful city, is try- ing to lead the way by passing such an ordinance to protect its beauty. Telecommunications com- panies have already appealed this recent decision. My take is that we should have more important things to worry about. It has been clear to me for a long time that es- pecially today's generation, Generation X, is communica- tion addicted. Smart phones have become very important to most of us. The more I think about this the more I realize that all these smart phones are no lon- ger thought of by us as a lux- ury. People now think of and use them as necessities. I have to also count myself among that group. The last thing I check as I leave my home for any errand or trip is to make certain I have my iPhone with me. As I travel up and down I-5 mostly between our cap- itol and Oregon, it seems as though I see about one new cell tower a month. My advice is that we had all better get used to these mod- ified towers. That may be bad news now, but I believe our society will find some future camouflage design that will look better than just a fake tree. As a species, I feel confi- dent that we will eventually find something more aesthet- ically pleasing than what we have to look at now. I think all we have to do is wait a while. That next design will probably make these cell towers look better because our addiction demands it. On yet another topic, newly elected State Senator Scott Wiener introduced a bill on Monday in the legislature that would require all new con- struction in California to have solar energy as a signifi- cant part of its building plan. Please let me know if you would vote for or against this bill. Government never seems to stop, does it? Mytakeonthemovies Michael Fassbender stars in "Assassin's Creed." This film is a sword fighting movie from the Knights of The Round Table days based on a video game. If I had known that in advance, I would have picked another movie. This film claims to find the answer to eliminating vio- lence. But, frankly is was too violent for me. 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. Stan Statham My take on cell towers The more I think about this the more I realize that all these smart phones are no longer thought of by us as a luxury. People now think of and use them as necessities. I have to also count myself among that group. Sorry to hear about Staples closing Editor: Many big box stores are closing, as customers switch to on line purchases. Profitability is the only rea- son for a company to remain in a local business location, and it is doubtful customer ap- peals will affect a decision to close a local branch store. I visit the Red Bluff Sta- ples a half dozen times yearly to replenish printing paper and ink supplies for the com- puter printer, to buy a special brand of high visibility pens in quantities of about 25 yearly, to buy a half dozen shipping boxes and several rolls of ship- ping tape yearly to ship items to a second home destination, rather than checking baggage, and we also use the in store UPS counter to ship that box. The 2014 closure of the Corning UPS shipping location made that action necessary. We had a total of $552 in 2015 Staples purchases. Local businesses need local customers to buy their prod- ucts, which indirectly provides city taxes for schools, roads, government jobs and many lo- cal welfare programs. Internet purchases from centralized warehouses do not provide local jobs nor lo- cal sales and property taxes. It is important to support local businesses so they do not close their doors. — Joseph Neff, Corning Top city, county salaries are too high Editor: How the heck can Tehama County and the city of Red Bluff pay such high salaries when our county has no big industrial businesses in the county and our city is a busi- ness deterrent? No wonder we're so broke we can't fix our roads, side- walks and sewers. Example; Highlights of (City Manager Richard) Crabtree's contract with the city 2016. Salary $212,468, and all health, disability benefits plus life insurance. He is to receive $600 for his cell phone, plus cell phone monthly service charges. He will be credited with 10 days of accrued administrative leave on first day of each cal- endar year which adds up to $5,821 a year. City will pay employer share of his PERS. City shall con- tribute $75 per pay period to a deferred compensation ac- count of his choosing. If paid monthly $900 extra yearly, if paid twice a month it will be $1,800. City agrees to pay member- ship dues, and pay travel and subsistence expenses for his professional organizations for his continued legal education. "This is for Crabtree's profes- sional development. City to pay his membership in ICMA and his participation at the annual ICMA conference. City to pay his State Bar Asso- ciation yearly dues at $430. City to pay for travel in his private car and reimburse him his general expenses. City shall pay for membership for a local civic club or organization. If Crabtree decides to move to Red Bluff, the city shall pay him $3,000. The city shall, to the maxi- mum extent permitted by law, indemnify, defend and hold harmless Crabtree for any claims, demands, litigation or other proceedings which al- lege negligent acts, omissions, decision, professional liability claims or other torts, whether groundless or otherwise, the city will pay all expenses. Such defense and indemnity obliga- tions shall continue beyond his service to the city. All of these things will be added to his base pay of $213,068. Chief administer for the county makes $199,230 plus all his extras. There isn't one of the top positions that doesn't make under $140,000 plus extras. Don't get me wrong, some of these people deserve their pay. I know one of these guys writes his own contract and gets what he wants. I'm sure you know which one I'm refer- ring to. — Kathy Nelson, Red Bluff The ultimate law Editor: The oath taken by all public servants, elected or appointed, is to be obeyed. There are no weasel words, no excuses in small print. The question to ponder: We the people should expect all court to obey and accept the exact words. When the Su- preme Court argues any case, the jurists should never make split decisions. It is hypocriti- cal to divide the oath. Can't have it both ways Americans. Our founding fa- thers failed to include some sort of punishment when the oath is broken. The Supreme Court from the day of its birth has caused much of America's division. The life long tenure was an- other error. Until all those, especially judges, can be seriously pun- ished for oath violations, our people will be fed a lie. Perjure themselves, they can be con- victed and jailed. A violation of the oath is perjury. — Don Bird, Rancho Tehama Your opinions Cartoonist's take Most of us remember the scene in Star Trek IV: The Voy- age Home, when Scottie says "computer" to a 20th Century desktop. We all thought it was funny since no one could talk to computer — yet. But the future has arrived. We've had com- puters that can communicate with us for a few years now. In fact, "Cortana" asks me what I want to do whenever I fire up my laptop. I just ignore her. She doesn't work well for me. But I have started using Google's microphone option with my smartphone, and I am definitely not going back to typing, as nine times out of ten I get ex- actly the information I want. I was always having a hard time typing on my phone and usually had to search a couple of times. While I haven't enabled "Siri", talking to Google is a paradigm shift for me. My son said he got an Am- azon Echo for Christmas. He's pretty much on top of the new technology. I sent him a CD re- cently, and when I asked him about it, he somewhat sheep- ishly said that he didn't have anything to play it on. He gets his music directly from the in- ternet. And with his Echo, now all he needs to do is tell "Alexa" what music he wants and she'll play it for him. I guess he could also ask her to get him an Uber ride too. The capabilities of these virtual assistants is stag- gering, and they're increasing all the time. Wild. We had a brief power outage during the storm last week. I was thinking about Musk's new solar shingles that are com- ing on the market. He expects many houses to get them when they get a new roof, since they cost the same as a conventional roof, and supposed to be even more durable. The system also has a big battery for back-up power. I can see the grandkids someday asking me how could the power go out. Did my bat- tery break or something? I picture being met with ut- ter incredulity when I tell them it was caused by someone crashing their car into a util- ity pole and knocking the wires down. "What wires, Grandpa?" "The ones that carried the electric- ity," I will answer. "Didn't they generate their own power back then?" "And how could the car crash? Did the computer mal- function somehow?" I've also been seeing quite a bit lately about personal robots, as artificial intelligence — or AI — is developing exponentially. After all, robots aren't much more than mobile virtual assis- tants equipped with GPS and robotic arms. I saw one that will mix and deliver your cock- tails for starters. The 2017 Consumer Electron- ics Show just wrapped up in Las Vegas. The news been en- tertaining us with snippets from the show. One gadget I saw was a very small drone camera about the size of a VHS tape — assuming you know what those are. The woman just turned it on, tossed it into the air and started walking away. The drone followed, stay- ing a few feet behind and above her, ready to take photos or video when told to do so via her smartphone. Amazing. Military drone applications are also pretty astounding. On 60 Minutes, they had a seg- ment that showed hundreds of small drones controlled by AI, and work in concert to carry out whatever commands were given. They computed the most efficient formation and best method of carrying out their orders themselves, i.e. "guard the camp perimeter." And they would just do it. Yep, that's the future. But it's here now. 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 The futuristic world of Star Trek is here today Stan Statham Corky Pickering OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, January 12, 2017 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4