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6A – Daily News – Wednesday, April 14, 2010 Opinion Enough Neff D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY 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 already Editor: 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. Mission Statement We believe that a strong com- munity newspaper is essential to a strong community, creating citizens who are better informed and more involved. The Daily News will be the indispensible guide to life and living in Tehama County. We will be the premier provider of local news, information and advertising through our daily newspaper, online edition and other print and Internet vehi- cles. The Daily News will reflect and support the unique identities of Tehama County and its cities; record the history of its com- munities and their people and make a positive difference in the quality of life for the resi- dents and businesses of Tehama County. 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 After a number of years of patiently and silently enduring Mr. Joe Neff's hackneyed Hoosier hortatory harangues, I am finally moved, out of sheer accumulated pique, to respond to his latest tiresome epistle. Indiana Joe's arbitrary appor- tionment of one-third of high school graduates to four-year colleges with the remaining two-thirds to be relegated to high school graduation or enrollment in technical and vocational associate degree pro- grams suggests an underlying, if not explicitly stated, education- al elitism. The idea that there should be a limit as to who should aspire to achieve a four-year degree runs counter to long held posi- tive concepts of education such as: 1. A path of upward mobili- ty, both socially and economi- cally 2. A critical means of improving and expanding the body of knowledge for the ben- efit of both the individual and society as a whole. 3. An essen- tial component of a society's overall quality of life and ability to sustain its values. Mr. Neff would have us believe that there are too many high school graduates crowding our four year colleges with their needs for remediation and their pursuit of degrees "with little market value." Joe further decries the taxpayer subsidy associated with what he appar- ently views as their misguided efforts. In the Neff universe it seems that only science and engineering count as real educa- tion and that all other disci- plines are not sufficiently cost effective. Not satisfied with having denigrated the value of non sci- ence and engineering pursuits, Neff's proposed solutions sink to an abysmal level of unadul- terated boilermaker BS. Let reductions in public ser- vice pensions pay the cost of Joe's remedies. Gee, thanks Joe. Implementing such solutions would sink the average public service retiree to poverty levels. Applying a 1 percent formula to a hypothetical $50,000 high salary to someone with 45 years of public service would yield a pension of $22,500.If one assumes, as does Joe, the need to bear the full cost of non- Medicare insurance after retire- ment — easily $10,000 or more — that bloated public pension is reduced to below $13,000 annu- ally — a sufficient amount for 45 years of public employment according to the happy Hoosier. Mr. Neff's willingness to achieve educational economies at the expense of someone else's retirement security and his mar- ket value assessment of educa- tional pursuits are not solutions but rather continuing expres- sions of a narrow, exclusive and parochial viewpoint that dispar- ages all values not his own. Marty Mathisen, Corning Save our schools Editor: Our education system is the cornerstone for the quality of life that we enjoy in California. A decline in the quality of the edu- cation of our children and grand- children will affect the quality of life for us and future generations. The horrible budget cuts that our federal and state govern- ments are imposing on our schools are causing too much damage to our education system. Class sizes are growing and pro- grams are being eliminated. Our education sys- tem is necessary for our safe communities. Schools provide so much more to our communities than just reading, writing and algebra. Schools provide acade- mic education and work experi- ence during the day. Sports, arts and music programs provide physical and social activities in the afternoon and on weekends. These school programs teach the acceptable actions, social skills and work ethics that students need in order to become respon- sible citizens in our society. Par- ents can't do it all. Without these programs, we will see an increase in the drop- out rate and an increase in crime. I am tired of watching the education system in our state fall apart. In the last two years, Tehama County schools have lost more than $18 million in state funding. Next year (2010- 2011) we will lose an additional $3 million. And the governor wants to cut even more. Do you know what this means to the education system? Eventually, everything will go except for reading, writing and algebra. Next year, Corning Union High School will cut: • Day Care Center for stu- dents with babies - provides them with the latest health and child care information, and child care facilities • Adult Education classes - helps 18-year-olds continue earning credits for their high school diploma instead of drop- ping out. Red Bluff Union High School will cut: Your Turn • Summer school classes • Ag classes • ROP (Regional Occupational Prepara- tion), which gives stu- dents work experience in the real world. There are teacher and staff layoffs in all schools. This means larger classes and less individual instruction. Only the strong will survive. What's next? Busing, school lunches and libraries? No more ignorance, please. We are losing our education sys- tem too fast? When will these horrible budget cuts end? Will we ever recover and reestablish our education system to its full potential? If you love your lifestyle and want to pass it on to your children, I suggest you get involved in our state's crumbling education system today. Call your local legislators, Sen. Sam Aanestad and Assem- blyman Jim Nielsen, at 1-888- 268-4334 and visit www.standupforschools.org. Demand that they make edu- cation their priority. Tell them to stop the budget cuts to public schools and colleges. We must have adequate funding to main- tain the high quality of educa- tion that our children and grand- children need. These students are our future leaders. Stop hurt- ing our students. Stop hurting our schools. Stop hurting our future. Randi James, Corning Your officials 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. Enough chirping Commentary I hate birds when they chirp. It's the government's fault. I am sitting by an open door, with a nice spring breeze, the sun shining, the birds chirping. But I cannot enjoy this beautiful day. I am surrounded by a sea of receipts, you see -- receipts of every kind. I keep every receipt for every transaction that I make all year long because my gov- ernment says I must. I have spent the last few days organizing the massive pile of paper. I must organize each receipt into its appropriate fold- er and then tally those receipts with great precision -- not easy for an English major -- into numbers that my CPA can then transform into a long return, which we send to the govern- ment along with a big fat check. My CPA has the more diffi- cult job. He must keep up with the massive tax code so he can determine what I can and cannot deduct and how I must go about it. Considering the tax code is some 70,000 pages long -- and that Republicans, when they were in power, complicated it plenty -- I have no idea how he does this. I suspect alcohol is involved. I'm running way behind this year. And so, as the weather has broken and the birds have begun singing, I sit here in the middle of a sea of paper, overcome by powerlessness and wondering what the heck has happened to America. America is supposed to be the land of the free, after all. It's supposed to be a dynamic, bureaucracy-free place where any fellow can easily start his own business -- any fellow can chase his own dream, unbur- dened by regulations and a mad- dening tax code. Yet, as our tax code grows ever more complex, a new narra- tive is forming: that our country is so in debt and our spending so egregious that the only way to keep things afloat is lots more taxes. It's painful for a fellow drowning in a sea of paper to contemplate this when, as we move toward higher taxes and more complication, former com- munist countries have moved in the opposite direction. Russia, Slovakia, Poland, Estonia and Serbia all have ditched their "progressive" income-tax systems for a much lower flat tax -- one that makes compliance simple as it spurs economic growth. Slovakia, says BusinessWeek, "swept away 21 categories of personal income taxes, five tax brackets, and scores of exemptions and deductions, replacing them with a flat 19 percent rate." The country's 19 percent corporate flat tax led Hyundai Corp. to locate a Kia plant there. How about that: Low taxes result in investment and growth. Only the for- mer communist nations under- stand that concept now. Sure, here in America, the FairTax people have the right idea. They want to repeal our incredibly complex income tax (the 16th Amendment) and replace it with a simple, progres- sive national sales tax. Some of our big spenders surely love the idea of a national sales tax -- a national value- added tax is suddenly being bandied about -- but only if they can keep, and raise, our income taxes, too. I dream of faraway formerly communist lands where tax com- pliance is so easy, I'd be able to enjoy the spring weather -- I'd sit at an outdoor café, sip vodka and nod approv- ingly as pretty Eastern European women stroll by. Tom Purcell Instead I am immersed in a sea of receipts. I have come to loathe the spring breeze, the blooming flowers and, most of Tom Purcell, a humor columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. Visit Tom on the Web at www.TomPurcell.com or e-mail him at Purcell@caglecartoons.com. all, the annoying chirping birds. ———