Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/777354
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 Forthethousandsandthousandsofyouwho take the Daily News solely because it allows you to read this column, you may be interested to learn that Cheryl Smith, if that is really her last name, recently retired from her lo y posi- tion with the city of Red Bluff. IbelieveImetCherylabout 30 years ago when we were both relatively young. That ship has since sailed. At that time Cheryl was work- ing at Louisi- ana Pacific with my good friend Larry Jantzen, who was at the time manager of said plant. We were much younger in those days, so it was natural that we would venture out and kick up our heels on Friday or Saturday night. In those days, a primary heel-kicking destina- tion for most heel-kicking afi- cionados was Papa Joe's Pizza Parlor, run by the best pizza parlor proprietors ever, Tony and John Dagan. It was common for Billie and me, along with the Jantzens, to frequent Papa Joe's on a Friday night. It was common for Cheryl and her husband Dave to be there, as well. Papa Joe's in those days was sort of the Cheers of Red Bluff, where everybody knew your name. Seems like ev- ery time we walked in we would see Cheryl and her husband Dave, along with other folks like nice guy Fred Poore and his equally nice but way more at- tractive wife, Jeanette. We would belly up to a Wal- ton-sized family pizza or a gi- ant order of the best chicken in town and wash it down with a pitcher or three or four of the coldest beer in town. It was during those times that I came to know Cheryl Smith. I found Cheryl to be a seem- ingly quiet person who seldom spoke unless she had some- thing relevant and important to add to the topic at hand. I came to know Cheryl as a strong si- lent type whom obviously "wore the pants" in her fam- ily. Her husband Dave, who oth- erwise seemed somewhat nor- mal, masculine and self-confi- dent, often twitched, quivered and cowered when making eye contact with Cheryl Smith. It was this quiet strength that Cheryl took with her to her po- sition with the city of Red Bluff a quarter century ago. •••• Like many women who end up in positions of critical impor- tance, Cheryl Smith started at the proverbial bottom as a dep- uty clerk-typist assistant, and over 25 years quietly and effi- ciently worked her way up the ladder to a point where she was not only swearing in the latest and greatest of city managers, she was occasionally serving in relief as the city manager. While my relationship with Cheryl Smith has in large mea- sure been limited to fighting over the last piece of pizza, I be- lieve that she, and others like her, deserve much more credit and consideration than they ever receive. While working for the county I had regular contact with a wonderful friend by the name of Mary Peachman. Mary worked for Tehama County for three or four decades, and it was her job to quietly steer the ship on behalf of the Tehama County Board of Supervisors and County Administrator; and an excellent job she did. City council members come and go. County supervisors come and go. City managers come and go. County executive officers come and go. Some of these folks are bright, articulate and capa- ble — others, not so much. In a revolving world of city managers, county executives, chief probation officers and head dog catchers, you can bet your last dollar that it is only the executive assistant or de- partment manager that knows not only where the skeletons are buried, but why they are buried there. It is these folks who train big deal new bosses on how they should do their job. Often times the only thing consistent in the inconsistent world of government is the quiet leadership provided by a per- son who day in, day out, year in, year out, does their job without ever seeking or getting credit for the work they actually do. Every time we lose a depart- ment head or city or county ex- ecutive officer, we undertake an extensive and expensive nation- wide search for a replacement, who will likely spend most of their time making holes in the wall while nailing up highfalu- tin diplomas and certificates, while their overworked and underpaid executive assistant is busy doing what only she knows how to do. With no mal- ice intended to current govern- ment administrative officers, could it be that we are hiring the wrong person to run the or- ganization in the first place. To the Mary Peachmans and Cheryl Smiths of the world, thank you for being the straw that stirs the governmental drink. Simply put, you were the best. And to Cheryl, should John and Tony Dagan get back into the business, we'll see you at the pizza parlor. •••• The State Theatre is in the midst of a campaign to replace 740 seventy-year-old seats. We hope to install beautiful new seats throughout the theater this summer, but we need your financial support to do so. For $500 you can sponsor a seat and honor your family, friends, busi- ness, high school graduating class, etc. As an example, a very nice nurse in the community re- cently sponsored a new seat in honor of "Tomasina, Our Dog Lady," which will be inscribed on the seat nameplate. Who would you honor? Call 529-2787 for additional information. •••• Coming to the State Theatre Feb. 2, Terri Clark, "Unplugged and Alone." A member of the Grand Ole Opry, Terri Clark is eight-time CCMA Entertainer of the Year, with six number one country hits including, "Better Things to Do," "Poor Poor Pitiful Me," "Girls Lie Too" and "I Just Wanna Be Mad." At $25/$30, tickets are selling fast. Get yours at the Tehama Country Visitor Center or by accessing www.sta- tetheatreredbluff.com. 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 Quietstrength marks retired clerk's character Cartoonist's take To avoid conflicts of interest on his investments, President Trump plans to "gift" hotel profits from for- eign governments' payments to the U.S. Treasury — gifts that will go directly toward paying down U.S. debt. You see, the Treasury's Bu- reau of the Fiscal Service ac- cepts money gifted to the fed- eral government but, according to the bureau, the gift must be made "on the condition that it be used to reduce debt held by the public." The bureau began allowing volunteer donations in 1961. Though the bureau keeps re- cords of the amount gifted to- ward reducing U.S. debt each year, it keeps no records on the individuals who gave. But lots of interesting people have vol- unteered their hard-earned dough over the years, according to one of the bureau's senior ad- visers I spoke with a few years ago. She shared some fascinat- ing anecdotes with me. Gift-givers generally mail in checks — rarely do they include a note of any kind. Sometimes they return their tax-refund checks, after signing the checks over to the Department of the Treasury. Occasionally, someone leaves a large portion of his or her es- tate to the government. That happened in 1992, when the largest gift on record, $3.5 mil- lion, was received. In the early '90s, a teacher came to the bureau with a large jar of dimes and nickels. The teacher explained that she'd conducted a class exercise on the national debt. Her students contributed what they could. One fellow gifted $10 or $20 every payday for several years. So how much are the gifters reducing the federal debt each year? For the past decade, the Treasury has received between $2 million and nearly $8 mil- lion in gifts every year. The high number happened in 2012. In 2016, gifters donated just un- der $3 million. But our debt has ballooned to nearly $20 trillion. Consider: If our debt re- mained fixed at $20 trillion and we applied $3 million in gifts every year to pay it off, it would take 6.6 million years to become debt-free. And that is with zero-percent interest. Besides, the gift donations aren't technically paying down the debt anyhow. All the dona- tions are deposited to the re- ceipts ledger of the general fund. Since we're running large deficits, the donations don't pay down the debt, per se; they sim- ply reduce the amount of money our government will borrow. In any event, to avoid con- flicts of interest, President Trump has decided to gift prof- its from foreigners to the Trea- sury because of the Emolu- ments Clause in Article I, Sec- tion 9 of the U.S. Constitution, which forbids officials from ac- cepting profits in the form of "any present, Emolument, Of- fice, or Title, of any kind what- ever" from foreign nations. But any U.S. citizen is free to gift money to help pay down our massive debt. According to the bureau, there are two ways for you to make a contribution to reduce the debt: Go to Pay.gov and "contribute online by credit card, debit card, PayPal, check- ing account, or savings ac- count." Or write a check payable to the Bureau of the Fiscal Ser- vice. Be sure to add a note in the memo section that your do- nation is "a gift to reduce the debt held by the public," then mail your check to: Attn. Dept G Bureau of the Fiscal Service P.O. Box 2188 Parkersburg, WV 26106-218 Hey, I know we've got an in- credibly long way to go to be- gin getting our debt mess in or- der, but we've got to start some- where. 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 Your gi can pay down US debt — like Trump While my relationship with Cheryl Smith has in large measure been limited to fighting over the last piece of pizza, I believe that she, and others like her, deserve much more credit and consideration than they ever receive. Bill Cornelius Tom Purcell Throughout the presidential campaign, Donald Trump's for- eign policy positions have been anything but consistent. One day we heard that NATO was obsolete and that the U.S. needs to pursue better relations with Russia. But the next time he spoke, these sensible positions were abandoned or an opposite position was taken. Trump's in- consistent rhetoric left us won- dering exactly what kind of for- eign policy he would pursue if elected. The President's inaugural speech was no different. On the one hand it was very encourag- ing when he said that under his Administration the U.S. would "seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world," and that he understands the "right of all nations to put their own interests first." He sounded even better when he said that under Trump the U.S. would "not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example. We will shine for everyone to follow." That truly would be a first step toward peace and prosperity. However, in the very next line he promised a worldwide war against not a country, but an ideology, when he said he would, "unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradi- cate from the face of the Earth." This inconsistent and danger- ous hawkishess will not defeat "radical Islamic terrorism," but rather it will increase it. Terror- ism is not a place, it is a tactic in reaction to invasion and oc- cupation by outsiders, as Pro- fessor Robert Pape explained in his important book, "Dying to Win." The neocons repeat the lie that ISIS was formed because the U.S. military pulled out of Iraq instead of continuing its occupation. But where was ISIS before the U.S. attack on Iraq? Nowhere. ISIS was a reaction to the U.S. invasion and occupa- tion of Iraq. The same phenom- enon has been repeated wher- ever U.S. interventionist actions have destabilized countries and societies. Radical Islamic terrorism is for the most part a reaction to foreign interventionism. It will never be defeated until this simple truth is understood. We also heard reassuring re- ports that President Trump was planning a major shake-up of the U.S. intelligence commu- nity. With a budget probably ap- proaching $100 billion, the in- telligence community is the se- cret arm of the U.S. empire. The CIA and other U.S. agen- cies subvert elections and over- throw governments overseas, while billions are spent spying on American citizens at home. Neither of these make us safer or more prosperous. But all the talk about a ma- jor shake up at the CIA under Trump was quickly dispelled when the President visited the CIA on his first full working day in office. Did he tell them a new sheriff was in town and that they would face a major and long-overdue reform? No. He merely said he was with them "1000 percent." One reason Trump sounds so inconsistent in his policy posi- tions is that he does not have a governing philosophy. He is not philosophically opposed to a U.S. military empire, so some- times he sounds in favor of more war, and sometimes he sounds like he opposes it. Will President Trump in this case be more influenced by those he has chosen to serve him in senior positions? We can hope not, judging from their hawkishness in recent Senate hearings. Trump cannot be for war and against war simultane- ously. Let us hope that once the weight of the office settles on him he will understand that the prosperity he is promising can only come about through a con- sistently peaceful foreign policy. Ron Paul is a former Congressman and Presidential candidate. He can be reached at the RonPaulInstitute.org. Ron Paul Trump's foreign policy an unwise inconsistency? OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, January 25, 2017 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6