Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/7842
6A – Daily News – Saturday, March 13, 2010 Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer's home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. Letters are published at the discretion of the editor. 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How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 Opinion This is the time of year my wife always said I underwent a personality change. It was the almonds and other blooms that triggered my histamines, which caused me to be irritable, and I looked stressed. In the '70s I got one or two Kenalog shots, and that plus anti-histamines and inhalers seemed to help. By the middle of May I returned to what passed for normal. Kenalog shots are no longer an option for me because the cumulative effect of taking steroids can be detrimental; fortunately I am not a professional athlete. The last few years I have had to rely on inhalers and anti-histamines, with okay results. Apparently my personality has been stead- ier than before; maybe I am grumpy all year around. I had been taking blood pres- sure medicine for many years when medical complications indicated I should discontinue the medicine. Therefore I have been monitoring my blood pres- sure carefully for several months now. Believe it or not my blood pressure has recently been the best it has been for sev- eral years now that I am off of the medicine! There was an exception, however. We enjoy the pre-spring sea- son; unfortunately, it is also tax preparation season. Our taxes are relatively uncomplicated, but they do take time to prepare. Last year we created a medical expenses file, and a general file for tax related materials. We use Turbo Tax to prepare our taxes, and the oper- ation mainly consists of adding up numbers and putting them into forms, and copying num- bers from W-2's and 1099's into Turbo Tax forms. The problem is this requires organizing a myriad of papers, forms, receipts, and notes into a logical order; I have always disliked paperwork, and preparing taxes certainly can be included in the category of paperwork. First we had to separate our medical expenses into the cate- gories needed to file our taxes. We culled through bills, receipts, and highlighted credit card statements; we took these subtotals and transferred them onto the Turbo Tax form. Last year I kept a medical mileage record, and fortunately all we had to do was add up the list and then include the parking and bridge tolls. We checked the totals twice and felt a little smug. Next we had to total all our donations; we are not the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but we do support our church and a few other organizations. Unfortunately, we didn't receive thank you letters from all our donees, so we had to comb through our checking account, scraps of notes, our monthly credit card statements, and any receipts or proofs of payment we had. Each time we did this we double checked numbers. Because of my attitude about paperwork, it takes both of us to make sure the numbers are cor- rect. Fortunately, the Turbo Tax program added up all these numbers for us and provided a total. That took care of an entire afternoon, and I went down- stairs to take my blood pressure and relax. Well, you guessed it, my blood pressure was very high, and all I had been doing was shuffling paper and using lower math—that is, addi- tion. I hadn't even been cheating. I began to wonder what someone like Bernard Madoff must have felt when he filed his income taxes before he became a guest of the govern- ment. Most likely he had a team of accoun- tants to prepare his returns using arbitrary and obfuscasive (this may be a word I made up) num- bers, and so he didn't have to worry about being accurate. Not only that, now he doesn't even need to worry about where his next meal will come from. My blood pressure remained high for a full day; being slight- ly hypochondrical, I wasn't sure I wanted to do the income side of the return. But we did, and we were very careful when we copied the numbers from the various forms onto the Turbo Tax forms. Even though copy- ing is fairly straightforward, some of forms seemed to hide required information, but we eventually found what we were looking for. We even reported the $1.24 we received in interest on our checking account. Of course, I began to muse about where all that income had gone and I wondered about the amount of the taxes we paid, and when we took a break before the final check for errors, I took my blood pressure. That was a mistake. I realize that my time in the Army and paying taxes are my price being able to live in this wonderful country, and I consid- er it a modest price for what we are blessed with. Even with this philosophi- cal approach, my blood pressure was high once again for two days. I wondered why preparing taxes is such a stressor for me. Then I remembered a story I heard in high school. A girl was reading the newspaper when her father came into the room. "What are you reading?" he asked. "There's an article about the dangers of kissing," she said. "It says all kinds of diseases can be transmitted through kissing." "What do you think of that?" asked the father. "I think I'll quit," she answered. "Quit kissing?" said the father. "No, quit reading," she replied. Next year I'll forego blood pressure testing during tax preparation. Joe Harrop is a retired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net. Taking your medicine and preparing taxes Commentary N EWS D AILY RED BLUFF TEHAMA COUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Joe Harrop STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R), State Capitol Bldg., Room 4164 P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento 94249; (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319- 2102 STATE SENATOR — Sam Aanestad (R), State Capitol Bldg., Room 2054, Sacramen- to, CA 95814. (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: gover- nor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2635 Forest Ave. Ste. 100, Chico, CA 95928; 893-8363. U.S. SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (415) 403-0100. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Your officials Not in Gerber now, nor ever Editor: I came to Tehama County in 1954, Gerber to be specific, and Jim Nielsen does not now live in Gerber. Jim Nielsen married a woman that lived in Gerber and they moved south. Jim Nielsen does not live in Gerber now, never has. I don't know who is running against him, but he gets my vote. Raymond Willis, Gerber Animal shelter Editor: What gets me is that the adoption fee at a shelter is usu- ally less than what people will pay for a low quality — many times with questionable health, birth defects or just plain nut cases in disposition — pure- breds or designer mutts with or without papers from a pet shop, puppy mill or quick bucks for pups back yard breeder. It's so nice to see someone in the shelter finally with some vision and caring enough to take a more proactive stance. The shelter and PAWS will continue to get my donations. I hope the kitten situation gets better. Thank you Sheriff's Depart- ment for providing better ani- mal control services than we had. It shouldn't be your job in the first place and I wish it was- n't needed at all. But thanks any- way. Kelly Walen, Red Bluff Patient options Editor: If the new ordinance for mar- ijuana cultivation passes, what will become of the patients that legally receive marijuana from their caregiver or grow collec- tively as allowed by state law? I have been notified by my caregiver that if this ordinance is passed, the caregiver will no longer grow my medication. My caregiver had last year's crop double fenced with an alarm system, guard dogs and security cameras — more security than the board previously recom- mended. I am not able to grow my own and there are a large num- ber of people that also cannot grow for various reasons. If this ordinance is approved, many more people will not be able to grow for themselves, such as if you are a renter and the landowner does not give per- mission, live in a designated no grow area — near schools, etc. or just are not able to provide the security or other requirements necessary to success- fully grow their own medicine. Caregivers and col- lectives provide a valuable ser- vice to those of us not able to grow our own legal medicine. The state law allows patients and caregivers to collectively grow marijuana for medicinal purposes. The California Supreme Court has stated coun- ties and cities cannot limit the amount of marijuana grown by patients. This ordinance is in violation of state law. We all know there are prob- lems that come with the cultiva- tion of marijuana; I believe that this ordinance will only affect the responsible growers that try to follow the guidelines handed down by the state. There will still be the illegal commercial growers that will probably end up providing the medication at a profit for the people that cannot grow their own. This ordinance creates the very atmosphere it is trying to eliminate — illegal cultivation and a black market. Regarding complaints about the stench of growing marijua- na, true, the growing plants do give off an odor that some find offensive. How far is the board willing to go to protect its citizens against a smell? If I were a vegetarian, the odor of my neighbor grilling a steak or smoking some meat could be offensive to me. It seems to me that a lot of time and money are being spent on this issue in Tehama County. When election time comes around I hope the voters of Tehama County will send a message to the Board of Super- visors that there are far more important issues for the board to address than trying to make the state approved cultivation of medical marijuana illegal by passing this ordinance — like creating zoning regulations to allow dispensaries instead of driving patients to the black market. Douglas Gunning, Corning Your Turn