Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/9735
4A – Daily News – Wednesday, April 28, 2010 Opinion 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 Not what holiday should be about Editor: The month of May is almost upon us which brings the won- derful Memorial Day Week- end. 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 In Tehama County we are so blessed to have people who genuinely care about the men and women who have and con- tinue to fight and die to main- tain our freedom. Prayers will be offered in churches all over our county that morning asking for God's protection for those who are still at their posts. Flags will be proudly unfurled proclaiming our patriotism. Memorial services will be held in cemeteries around the county remembering all those unselfish souls. The Master- works Chorale will be present- ing a rousing tribute to our armed services, both past and present. How proud we can be of our county that we do Memorial Day right. And now , here we are, blessed with a do-gooder who wants to give back to the com- munity and help our financial woes by bringing in some tourist dollars. Well, aren't we special? Isn't it exciting? According to the sponsors, we can expect 150,000 to 250,000 per day to attend Tehama County's first Memorial Day World Hemp Expo Extrava- ganja (sic) where they will camp out, listen to rock music and smoke pot. And their prayer which will be offered at this expo is not a Memorial Day prayer for our armed forces, it will be accord- ing to them, a prayer to end the war on drugs. I'm sure they will argue that the freedoms being fought for includes their freedom to do as they please. If that is the case, then don't try and con the rest of us by shrouding it under the veil of tourist dollars and therefore something for which the coun- ty should be grateful and proud. It may still be considered red-neck to be known for things like rodeos and bull sales, but do we really want to be known as the next Wood- stock? Is that what Tehama County stands for? If you don't like being a red- neck, Tehama County still offers art galleries, community concerts, college outreach cen- ters, high school drama and musical presentations. The list goes on and on depending on one's interests. Please, members of the Board of Supervisors, if you approve of this permit, you will be setting a precedent for what Tehama County stands for. You will have sold the good people of this area down the river. If you insist on approving this, at least make them change the date. If they want a holiday let them chose maybe Halloween. That's when the rest of all the little creepy- crawlers come out of the woodwork, like blood-sucking bats and witches on broom- sticks. And if you do approve it, all I can say is shame on you. Doris Gunsauls, Red Bluff Dignity of the working poor Editor: Do you remember when we actually had "Dignity of the com- mon working person in Amer- ica?" But of course, we'd still Your Turn If we follow the rhetoric of the Republicans, then it appears they think the com- mon working person is far inferior to the value of the cor- porations and the idle rich. As a former Republican, I've heard it frequently said behind closed doors that the people who are poor are lazy, have a low IQ, undereducated, inept, crime prone, alcoholics and drug users. Oh yes, and they are mostly all genetically inferior. With that ridiculous and disgusting attitude, is it any wonder the Republicans have such a strong distaste for the working poor? And why they so admire and emulate the idle rich and the corporation elites. The Republicans detest all of the government social safe- ty nets to assist the poor, sick and elderly. What else could we expect since Republicans have no empathy nor respect for those still struggling to better themselves. have the social safety net for the corporations — especially the bankers and the Wall Street barons. It's always prof- its before people. The so called invisible hand of the free market does not function at all for the common working person. We definitely need strong government regulations to keep check on the heartless and profit-driven corporations and the idle rich. Greed never ben- efits the common person. The two most frightening words to the Republicans are income redistribution. Oh sure, we do have income redistribution, except it all flows upward to the wealthy. There has never been a trickle-down of income or wealth. Are we supposed to huddle under the table of the wealthy and hope some crumbs fall to the floor for us to savor? All the while, our good manufacturing jobs are shipped off-shore to the delight of the idle rich stock- holders? We direly need to return to a strong manufacturing base vs. our present economy based on frantic money shuffling. And return to a government that does help the common working person. Presently, we are rapidly headed towards an economy so similar to the backward countries around the world. Donald Ward, 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. Food stamps for college kids Commentary Let them eat baked potatoes. Maybe I better explain. I came across an interesting article at The Daily Caller Web site: more college kids are qual- ifying for food stamps. Whereas government-funded grub has long been available to the working poor, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), through its Supple- mental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), is eagerly expanding such benefits to col- lege kids, too. For starters, says The New York Times, the USDA has worked to take the stigma out of receiving government grub. It now calls food stamps "nutri- tional aid." Recipients who once received actual stamps now receive a plastic card. It looks and works like a debit card. Only you and your grocer know who is really picking up the tab. Though it's not like college kids feel stigmatized by food stamps. Many can't believe their good fortune. That's because the USDA has made it easy for them, regard- less of their socioeconomic background, to qualify. Many college kids are "poor" on paper even if they're from well-to-do homes. And if they live at home with Mom and Dad, they still may qualify --- so long as they can show that Mom and Dad prepare only half of their meals. And so it is that many are receiving a few hundred bucks a month in free grub. I surely could have used such assistance during my Penn State days in the early '80s, but those were the unenlightened Reagan years, when many college kids would have felt stigmatized for accepting handouts. Boy, was I broke. When school was in session, I worked as a cook, janitor, bouncer and grass cutter. I man- aged the dump of a rooming house where I lived. We had a community kitchen and never locked the doors — the cockroaches needed to come and go, too. One day after I'd earned just enough dough to buy fresh sliced turkey and bread, the lunch-meat thief struck -- no sandwich for me. We never caught the jerk, but he surely suffered no stigma for receiving handouts. I concocted what I thought was a clever strategy to spend less money at the pub. I sold my plasma twice a week - - they drew my blood, spun off the plasma, then gave me back the rest -- and I always planned my donations around happy hours. Lightheaded, my blood thickened, one beer had the effect of three. My bar-tab sav- ings were enormous. The only food assistance I recall receiving came from Ralph, one of our rooming-house ten- ants. lege. In any event, it would appear our government is eager to get more peo- ple hooked on govern- ment handouts — Pres- ident Obama's latest budget includes $72.5 billion for food stamps, almost double the amount from 2008. And while most col- Tom Purcell Ralph was in his late 20s — he'd earned his degree years before but his mother wouldn't let him return to the family farm until he found a wife — and he spent all of his time baking pota- toes. They sat all over the house. The wrinkly spuds didn't look very appetizing, but to a fellow stumbling into the kitchen low on plasma and high on Budweis- er, they may as well have been the finest cuts of filet mignon. Ralph's "bakers" got me through my senior year of col- lege kids figure they'd be dumb not to accept free grub if we taxpay- ers are dumb enough to let our government to pay for it, I offer a dif- ferent take. Nobody minds when his tax dough is used to help the working poor and oth- ers who are truly in need, but food stamps for college kids? Let the spoiled moochers eat 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. baked potatoes. ———