Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/778497
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 President Trump's new get-tough attitude on immigration has already stopped one Mexi- can from coming to the United States. Trouble is, the Mexican who stayed home was President Enrique Pena Nieto. President Nieto wasn't coming here illegally, and he wasn't captured in Jeff Da- vis County, Texas, by one of Trump's friends in the Border Patrol. But the Mexican leader and President Trump de- cided to scrap their planned summit next week after trad- ing some testy tweets about whether or not Mexico was going to pay for a new wall along the U.S. southern bor- der. Don't worry. There won't be another Mexican-American war. President Nieto will be back in good time and he and Donald will make their deal. But before the two leaders meet face-to-face — and be- fore Trump starts spending his weekends in Texas pour- ing concrete footers on the border — Trump should get his busy staff to dust off, up- date and improve the Bra- cero program. Most Americans — es- pecially the politicians in Washington — have no idea what the Bracero program was. But from 1942 until 1964, when the federal govern- ment's program was elimi- nated, it made illegal immi- gration from Mexico largely unnecessary by allowing the free flow of Mexican agricul- tural workers into and out of the United States. Over 22 years about 4.5 million Mexican nationals worked temporarily on the vegetable and fruit farms of California and the South- west. The braceros were poor peasants. They were sea- sonal workers. They did hard agricultural work that not enough Americans were will- ing to do. They were greeted and pro- cessed by U.S. officials at col- lection stations at the border. They signed contracts with the farmers and com- panies that employed them, then worked long hours for low wages. It was far from perfect. The braceros weren't treated as well as they should have been by their bosses or the government. They often suf- fered discrimination. But they were free to come and go as temporary guest workers of America, not ille- gal invaders. They could work, save their money and, unlike ille- gal immigrants today, could then easily return to Mexico. The United States and Mexico both benefitted from the Bracero program, which in the long run had a huge impact on American culture, the agriculture business and the northerly flow of illegal immigration. The program was ended in 1964 in part because of Pres- ident Kennedy's concerns that the cheap labor of bra- ceros was hurting American workers and because of polit- ical pressure from self-inter- ested farm labor unions. By ending it and replacing it with nothing, the federal government and Congress essentially created the ille- gal immigration issue in the United States. It turned good men from Mexico who wanted to come here to work into criminals. They had to break into the United States to find work and then break out of Amer- ica if they wanted to see their families again. Many Mexican immi- grants here illegally had lit- tle choice but to stay and then have their families sneak across the border to join them. Fifty years and millions of illegal immigrants later, the Southern border is closed in both directions and Pres- ident Trump is looking to waste billions on a wall he thinks will keep it that way. But before he starts con- struction, he should get rid of the government regula- tions, laws and red tape that have created our illegal im- migration problem. Then he should come up with a new version of the Bracero program, so that the Mexicans who want to work in America can come in le- gally through a gate, not over a wall. Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution" (St. Martin's Press). Send comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com. Follow @reaganworld on Twitter. Michael Reagan Mr. Trump, don't build that wall Cartoonist's take The 76th annual Red Bluff Bull & Gelding Sale is under way and it is a glorious time of year to show off our little commu- nity. The rains have come, the green grass has arrived and cat- tlemen have as- sembled from all over the western states to demon- strate that the cattle industry is alive and prospering. Who would have thought that all of this could have developed into such an event when movers and shakers at the time such as Farm Advisor Don Smith, cat- tlemen Charlie Stover, the Mck- enzie brothers and others came up with the energy and money to put the sale on the map. Cowboy hats off, gentlemen. That said, we could have written off the month of Janu- ary with a commentary on the recent election of D. Trump with a familiar quote from Wm. Shakespeare: "How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on't! O fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden, that grows to seed." This could have been one popular take on the matter. Direct from Hamlet, Act One, Scene two, and served contemporarily right here in river city in 2017. Or we could have put a good spin on the election and offered a quote from Oscar Hammer- stein II and Richard Rodger's "Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day, I've got a wonderful feeling, every- thing's going my way." The evening news seems to have been more entertain- ing pre-Trump to the extent that while consuming a meal in front of the telly offering, at the very least, a vicarious ex- perience of fascinating events not directly affecting our per- sonal lives, we could turn it on, turn it off, and later watch pre- recorded editions of fiction such as "Masterpiece Theatre" and be none the worse for wear. But now we are assaulted at every turn by the President and his entourage explaining how things are going to get bet- ter and better under his benign guidance. But who's to say? The stock market recently broke the 20,000 barrier and so some- body must be betting on the come. And the President is fu- riously signing executive or- ders that will negate the work of his predecessor. That must be satisfying to his ego. And the wall? It may be just a reinforced fence but it will be designed in Trump's view to put our amigos in their place on the south side of the fence. Tsk, tsk. ••• However, let's return to our fair city where the Red Bluff Bull & Gelding Sale is getting under way. The late Liz Dillabo asked me several years ago to write about the early days of the sale and the entertainment provided to the visiting cattlemen by my fa- ther Dave Minch, founder of Minch's Wholesale Meats. Father would travel to the bay area in search of vaudeville act that he found greatly enter- taining and book them through SF agent Bud Moore. Bud would arrange their transport to Red Bluff and rehearse them prior to the evening shows. In fact the shows became so popu- lar father had to present three shows a day to accommodate all the customers. So, for Liz, I wrote of the many first class acts presented at the State Theatre. Patti Page, Jack Benny's Sportsman's Quar- tet, Donald O'Connor, who wouldn't appear unless his sis- ter was in the act, the Nat King Cole trio whose plane was fogged in after the show and they had to sleep on my folks' front room couch. Tennessee Ernie Ford was a favorite at the shows and the Bull Sale itself where he told one of his "country" jokes about leaning down at an everglade pool to take a drink only to come face to face with an alli- gator. Ernie's guide commented he should continue his drink because the gator was as afraid of Ernie as he was of the gator, at which Ernie replied, "If he was as afraid of me as I was of him, that water would not be fit to drink anyhow." We had famous dance bands in those day backing the acts such as Stan Kenton, Charlie Barnett and singers Mel Torme and Helen O'Connell. How- ever, as the shows got more ex- pensive, father asked the Bull Sale Committee and Cham- ber of Commerce to defer some of the costs, but they declined and so the brilliant stage shows came regretfully to a quiet end. However, the Bull Sale it- self continued to attract per- sonalities such as Slim Pick- ens, cowboy singer Rex Allen and former heavyweight boxing champ Max Baer, who was in- vited to auction off the donated March of Dimes Bull — to com- bat polio at the time — on the platform at the sale, which was where Max uttered his famous line, regarding master of cere- monies Darryl Conard, "Didn't I just see you floating over the Bull Sale with 'Goodyear' printed on your belly?" Ah, those were lovely days and the sale continues today to bring in top notch producers from all over the country year after year and sizeable revenue to Tehama County. We are fortunate that early movers and shakers came up with the energy and cash to put the sale on the map. ••• Something else I didn't know: Who lowers the flag at Main and Pine, apparently to honor fallen national heroes? That would be one Vern Raglin of our local fire department. However, how is he notified to do so and by whom? Vern? ••• A guy walks into a bar and sits next to a blonde. The 10 o'clock news is in progress showing a man about to jump off a ledge. The guy says, "I bet you $20 he jumps." The blonde says "I bet he doesn't." However, as the blonde places her money on the bar, the guy jumps. The fellow making the bet says, "I can't take your money. I saw this newscast earlier on the 5 o'clock news." The blonde replies, "So did I, but I can't believe he'd do it again." Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff, former columnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine and author of the "The Knocking Pen." He can be reached at rminchandmurray@hotmail. com. I say Bull & Gelding Sale a good time to be in Red Bluff The United States and Mexico both benefitted from the Bracero program, which in the long run had a huge impact on American culture, the agriculture business and the northerly flow of illegal immigration. StateandNational Assemblyman James Galla- gher, 2060 Talbert Drive, Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 895-4217, http://ad03.asmrc.org/ Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634 Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, senator. nielsen@senate.ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown, State Capital Building, Sacramento 95814, 916 445-2841, fax 916 558-3160, governor@governor. ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug La- Malfa, 507 Cannon House Of- fice Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Fein- stein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415 393- 0707, fax 415 393-0710 U.S. Senator Kamala Har- ris, 501 I St., Ste. 7-600, Sacra- mento 95814, 916 448-2787, fax 202 228-3865 Local Tehama County Supervisors, 527-4655 District 1, Steve Chamblin, Ext. 3015 District 2, Candy Carlson, Ext. 3014 District 3, Dennis Garton, Ext. 3017 District 4, Bob Williams, Ext. 3018 District 5, Burt Bundy, Ext. 3016 Red Bluff City Manager, Rich- ard Crabtree, 527-2605, Ext. 3061 Corning City Manager, Kris- tina Miller, 824-7033 Your officials Robert Minch Michael Reagan We are assaulted at every turn by the President and his entourage explaining how things are going to get better and better under his benign guidance. But who's to say? The stock market recently broke the 20,000 barrier and so somebody must be betting on the come. OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, January 27, 2017 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6