Bulletin, Record, Progressive, Reporter Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012 7B
COMMUNITY
PERSPECTIVE
Prospects remain bright for ag grads
WHERE I STAND
SHANNON DOUGLASS
CHAtRWOMAN, YOUNG FARMERS
& RANCHERS COMMITTEE
I can't recall the last time I
saw a farmer holding a pitch-
fork, wearing overalls and
chewing on straw, but that
stereotypical image of a
farmer and agriculturalist
still captivates the imagina-
tion of many Americans. Re-
cent media coverage has also
demonstrated an antiquated
view qf food and fiber produc-
tion, misinterpreting U.S. De-
partment of Labor and U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
information t ° proclaim
college degrees in agriculture
as "useless" or "headed for
the dustbin."
This lack of understanding
about where food comes from
and the array of people work-
ing to get it on our plates
represents an opportunity to
invite the public to learn
.more about farming and
ranching, as well as how
valuable ag.degrees truly are.
I have experienced that
firsthand. After graduating
with an agriculture diploma,
I worked in outreach for the
College of Agriculture at
California State University,
Chico, and now have a posi-
tion focused on encouraging
more students to consider a
career in crop protection as a
• licensed pest control adviser.
There is such tremendous
demand for PCAs that my
position was created solely to
recruit more young people
into this path. One of the
articles downplaying the
importance of agricultural
degrees came to my attention
when one of the many young
people I work with sent me a
panicked email, questioning
his career choice after read-
ing the article. I quickly
assured him that agriculture
was a great path to be on and
itemized the reasons.
Here are facts we should
share with young people; as
well as anyone who questions
if there is a place for agri-
cultural graduates in our
economy:
--A June 2011 study by the
California Community Col-
leges Workforce and Economic
Development Centers of Excel-
lence found that agricultural
jobs are expected to grow by
180,000 positions in the com-
ing years. While the Bureau
of Labor Statistics estimated
a decrease in production jobs,
reflecting increased mecha-
nization and productivity, the
grow!, h in supporting indus-.
tries such as research, pro-
cessing, marketing and sales
outpaces this loss.
--The Centers of Excellence
study also found that the
average salary in.California
agriculture pays $7,000 more
per year than a position
outside of agriculture.
I
--The world population sur-
passed 7 billion last year. It
takes a lot of work from a
multitude of people to meet
the demands of our growing
population with our limited
natural resources.
I also suggest that for a
closer look at the topic, we
turn to the people most famil-
iar with the subject of agricul-
tural degrees: California's
agricultural colleges. Across
the board, the schools report
strong prospects for their agri-
cultural students. Many of the
schools have responded to
questions in the media with
tangible evidence of just how
valuable an agricultural.
education carl be today:
--David Wehner, the dean of
the College of Agriculture,
Food and Environmental
Sciences at Cal Poly, San Luis
Obispo, wrote, "Industry
leaders throughout California
and across the country tell
me'time and again that they
need more of the kinds of stu-
dents that we graduate from.
Cal Poly. Each year, compa-
nies like Dole, J,L0hr Vine-
yards and Wine, and Foster
Farms, to name a few, actively
pursue our graduates from
across all disciplines."
----Studies by the University of
California, Davis; found that
88 percent of agricultural.
sciences graduates report
that they are employed in
positions related to their
education.
--"Here at CSU Chico, the
optimism for agricultural
careers can be seen in the 50
percent enrollment growth in
programs offered through the
College of Agriculture during
the past five years," wrote
Jennifer Ryder Fox, dean of
the College of Agriculture at
Chico State.
Furthermore, a study re-
leased this January by
Georgetown University
showed that agriculture and
natural resource graduates
were among three disciplines
least likely to be unemployed,
behind only health and
education.
A career in agriculture can
be in an office or in the out-
doors, in sales or production,
workingwith plants, animals,
people or in a laboratory. Agri.
cultural careers are available
in big cities and in small towns.
They are well-paid careers and
best of all, they are rewarding.
Agriculturalists work to
supply safe, wholesome and
affordable food and fiber to
support the growing world.
We should also work to
spread the word about this
noble career-- one that we
hope more young people will
consider.
Shannon Douglass may be reached
at shannondouglashotmai1.com.
Reprinted with permission from
the California Farm Bureau
Federation
History shows term limits are a bad idea
WHEP,.E I STAND the number of bills a legisla-
............................................................................................................ tot can introduce. The always-
STAN STATHAM
'ASSEMBLY MEMBER 1976-1994
In 1994, I sought a promo.
tion that I didn't want.
I had been in the Legisla-
ture for 18 years, represent-
ing Lassen, Plumas and other
counties in the far north of
California. I loved serving in
the Assembly. I didn't do any-
thing wrong! I didn't even
come close to committing a
felony, unless putting about
90 good laws on the books
was wrong,
As a couple of examples, in
• 19801 increased California's
drunk driving fines from $70
to $320 with Assembly Bill
2086 and I then provided
dozens of millions of dollars
in newly harvested food to
senior gleaners "free" with
AB 2895. I did this while I
simultaneously tried to limit
challenged Legislature killed
that bill. People sometimes
made fun of me. But it was a
great time and I was working
hard.
Too bad though, my time
was up. Californians had
passed term limits in 1990.
Assembly members could
only serve six years, and
senators only eight years.
The clock started in 1990,
and my term limit was fast
approaching in 1996. I was
being forced to get a different
job. SO I ran for lieutenant
governor. I lost in the Repub-
lican primary.
However, as life teaches us,
one is doing fine as long as one
thinks one is doing fine. I am
doing fme,Iremarried. I found
a job working as the president/
CEO for the California Broad-
casters Association and even
moderating gubernatorial
debates. Wow! How's that? "
(That was me trying to pre-
vent Arianna Huffington and
Arnold Schwarzenegger from
killing each other during the
recall debate in 2003). I am not
sure that the Legislature ever
missed me. But I miss the
Legislature.
And the Legislature is miss-
ing something. You know the
last time that a majority of
Californians told pollsters that
they;approved of the job.their
Legislature was doing? Back in
the fall of 1990-- the month be-
-- in part because term limits
require more jumping
around between jobs.
One of the strangest con-
sequences of term limits,
particularly with the new
redistricting maps produced
by a citizens' commission, is
the phenomenon of "quasi-
incumbents."
"Quasi-incumbents" are
what I call sitting members of
the Legislature who had to •
move into a different town
simply in order to stay in
their district once the lines
fore they approved term limits, changed.
If you thought it was bad in
the 1900s when those already
in offme decided the length of
terms, redistricting and what.
ever else they could think of,
how is it now? With all of us
. ?professional" politicians :gone,
how do you like the "amateurs"?
Not very good, huh?
The amateurs are even
more careerist than we were
Moving to a different town
in one of the new citizen-
formed districts keeps these
quasi-incumbents in the
Assembly or state Senate.
That lets them continue to
serve the remaining portioo
of the years that theyare
allowed because of the term
limits.
It also makes them
quasi-carpetbaggers. It is a
confusing time of musical
chairs of districts and of in.
cumbents. And when you're
playing musical chairs, how
do you govern?
The answer is: you don't.
Term limits are part of the
problem. Twenty-one years
after Californians passed
term limits, it is past time to
ask voters: What were you
thinking?
Oh, that's right, many
citizens wanted to get rid of
Speaker Willie Brown. They
thought he was too liberal.
My party supported term
limits then to get rid of him.
I wish we hadn't. I now
believe that limiting your
representative to a certain
length of term doesn't even
make common sense. It is
anti-voter.choice. It is anti.
democratic. Why should you
not be able to keep your rep-
resentative as long as you
like? I am slLrprised the
courts justified term limits as
constRutional for California's
elected officials. •
Speaker Brown had a much
broader, more moderate per-
spective than our legislative
leaders now.
When I decided to intro-
duce AB 2, to study the possi-
bility of dividing California
into more than one state, I
was quite surprised when
my friend Willie helped me
proceed with that idea. He
told me he was elected in
1964, and by 1966 he intro.
duced a bKl on the possible
division of our state. He told
me that he also felt California
was too big and'always
battling dysfunction.
He was right. I wish he were
. still in the Legislature to help
us do something about it. He's
probably smart enough to f
igure it out. I'm still tryingto
decide what would be best.
LETTERS to the EDITOR
Guidelines for Letters
All letters must contain an ad-
dress and a phone number.
We publish only one letter per
i week, per person and only
one letter per person, per
month regarding the same
subject. We do not publish
third,party, anonymou s , or
open letters. Letters must be
limited to a maximum of 300
words. The editor will cut any
letter in excess of 300 words.
The deadline is Friday at 3
p.m. (Deadlines may change
due to holidays.) Letters may
be taken to any of Feather
Publishing's offices, sent via
fax to 283-3952, or e-mailed to
mail@plumasnews.com.
Need to Usten
I am writing today to com-
mend the students of Quincy
Junior-Senior High School
for their democratic, respect-
ful, but firm protest Friday,
Feb. 24. I would like to
preface this letter by stating I
have never written a letter to
the editor before. I do not tell
you this to impress you, but
rather to impress upon you
the importance of this act
and the courage they showed
in carrying it out.
The students organized
this protest by themselves
and without the teachers'
help or knowledge. They had
posters to represent each
teacher from QHS who re-
ceived a RIF. They respected
the traffic laws and returned
as peacefully as they came.
Quincy High School's mis-
sion statement says, among
other things, that it will
prepare its graduates to be
global, national and commu-
nity-oriented productive citi-
zens of society.' As a teacher,
I can say with great pride
' that I believe the students
now have a much better
understanding of the afore-
mentioned goals.
In addition to the pride I
have in their action, I think
we need tolisten to their
message. Over the previous
months, I have heard the
comments of teachers, ad-
ministrators, board mem-
bers, parents and prominent
community members. I be-
lieve that the student voice is
finally beginning to enter
this discussion. The QHS
students, as representatives
of the students from each
community that make up
PUSD, made their desires
clefir: save our teachers.
It is my opinion that we all
need to listen. We need to
set a higher standard for
ourselves in our decision-
making, our debates and our
meetings. We need to elevate
the level of our discussions.
We need to be creative in
finding new ways to tighten
the belt in our district.
We need to do this because
the current and future gener-
ations in our schools and
communities will be the ones
who will live by the decisions
we make today.
Tanner Johns
Music teacher
Quincy schools
,Up against
Dear Mr. Harris,
. I'm one of the Native Amer-
ican kids in this valley but I
want to speak for everyone. I
graduated from Taylorsville
Elementary last year and I'm
now going to Greenville High
School. I know that you made
a proposal to close TES and
GHS. My little brother has
attended TES since second
grade and Will be graduating
from there next year. I really
want to see him spend
his last year of elementary
school at Taylorsville be-
cause it's a great school.
Taylorsville is the top school
in Plumas County and has
solar panels that save money
and give the students a
hands-on learning experi-
ence. We students of TES and
GHS have great pride in our
schools.
Our schools have been a
part of the community for
many years, and we are all
prepared to fight to the end.
The high school has im-
proved so mqch this year. It's
gained more students and
our test scoi'es have gone up.
We have a great culinary
teacher, Mrs. Dolphin'. She
has taught everyone a 10t of
cooking skills that we can
use for the rest of our lives.
GHS also has Mr. Rubke for
science, who was awarded
state teache r of the year.
I have an older sister who
would be graduating from the
high school next year, but if
you close the high school it
would be like you're robbing
her from her senior year.
She'll have no other choice
but go on to college a year
early. If you try to send the
Greenville kids to Chester I
can assure you that parents
won't send their children on
the roads. If you value your
job then I'd rethink the
idea of closing any schools in
Indian Valley. Perhaps you
just don't realize whom
you're up against.
Haylee Elzea
Seventh grade
Greenville High School
Rainyday is here
I am shocked and saddened
to hear that the school board
voted unanimously to lay
off 32 full-time teaching posi-
tions and to bump numerous
veteran teachers in Plumas
County. I recognize that
educational funding is being
cut, but I urge the board to
explore other options.
I am a local businessman. I
have lived in Quincy for 31
years. I raised my family
here, and'my three children
received excellent educations
in this Community school
system. It is a grave mistake
to eviscerate our edUcational
community by eliminating so
many teachers- teachers
who are the most'important
element of our educational
process..
The fact that the teachers
being eliminated are mostly
high school teachers leads me
to believe that the purpose of
this action is to streamline
our district into one high
school. This action will choke
the life out of Plumas commu-
nities that lose their schools,
creating more hardships for
local businesses and further
weaRening opportunities to
attract young families.
The superintendent has
stated that the administration
and district office employees
can bear no cuts or layoffs. He
insists that they are already
overworked and understaffed.
Is the situation any different
for the teachers? Or do they
not work as hard?
I encourage the board to
prudently use the reserve
funds to keep as many teach-
ers teaching 'as possible. Let's
trim our system across the
board in a more balanced
way. Look at the budget and
make cuts that do not elimi-
nate the most precious re.
sources of our community
schools -- teachers.
The board must take the rea-
sonable approach of balancing
cuts in administration, sur-
plus buildings, elementary
and high schools so that we
do not lose so many quality
teachers. Utilize the reserve
funds because the rainy day is
here now. Let's work together
to keep our school system and
our communities healthy,
strong and viable.
Richard E. Daun
Quincy
Stay together
In response to the letter
from Dennis Clemens con-
cerning possible closing of
some schools to keep others
open, I think we could use a
quick history iessoa.
The first proposal to create
a unified school district in
Plumas County faced opposi-
tion in the Chester-Lake
Almanor area. The Basin had
the richest per capita tax
base because of private tim-
ber holdings, private ranch
lands and the property held
by PG&E around the lake. In
theend, it vas decided the
benefits of a large district
would override the. loss of
higher local per student
spending. The subject came
up many times over the years
when Portola and Greenville
each got new gyms, and
Quincy High got a second
gym, but there have been
benefits as well.
In the late 1990s, early
2000s, the district obtained
Small Necessary School fund-
ing for the whole district. It
wasn't easy because the total
district population at that
time exceeded the limits of
the law. With many trips to
Sacramento, and the help of
Sam Aanastad, we were able
to tap into that funding
because of the small school
populations in Greenville
and Chester. It might have
been easy to give all that
extra money to those two
communities only, but that
was never considered. All the
schools received some of the
benefits.
Communities without
schools shrink, which results
in a domino effect. Loss of
schools in .one community de-
creases those property values
even more, which means a
general decrease in county
revenue, which cuts revenue
for all schools. This is about
the economic well-being of
the whole county.
See Letters, page 8B
:= ....... - ......... .7..: ¸ : ........... ... ,,,, ,.......:
Contact your elected officials...
PLUMAS COUNTY SUPERVISORS - 520 Main Street, Room 309, Quincy,
CA 95971; (530) 283-6170; FAX: (530) 283-6288; E-Mail:
pcbs@countyofplumas.com. Individual supervisors can also be
e-mailed from links on the county website, countyofplumas.com
PRESIDENT - Barack Obama, the White House, i600 Pennsylvania Ave.,
NW Washington, D.C. 20500. (202) 456-1414. Fax: 202-456-2461.
E-mail: whitehouse.gov/contact/
U.S. SENATOR - Dianne Feinstein (D), 331 Hart Senate Office Bldg.,
Washington, D.C. 20510. (202) 224-3841; FAX: 202-228-3954; TTY/TDD: (202)
224-2501. District Office: One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104;
Phone: (415) 393-0707; Fax: (415) 393-0710 Website: feinstein.senate.gov,
U.S. SENATOR - Barbara Boxer (D). District Office: 501 I St., Suite 7-600,
Sacramento, CA 95814. (916)448-2787; FAX (916) 448-2,563; OR 112 Hart
Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20510. (202) 224-3553. FAX (202) 22843454.
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, 4Tit DIST. - Tom McClintock. 508 Cannon HOB,
Washington, D.C. 20515. (202) 225-2511; FAX (202) 225-5444.
mcclintock.house.gov. DISTRICT OFHCE: 8700 Auburn Folson Rd., Suite
#100, Granite Bay, CA 95746; (916) 786-5560, FAX: (916) 786-6364.
STATE SENATOR, 1st DIST. - Ted Gaines. State Capitol, Room 3056,
Sacramento, CA 95814. (9i6) 651-4001, FAX: (916) 324-2680. Roaeville office:
2140 Professional Dr., #140, Roseville, CA, 95661. (916) 783-8232, FAX (916)
783-5487; Jackson office: 33 C Broadway, Jackson, CA95642, (209) 223-9140.
STATE ASSEMBLYMAN, 3RD DIST. - Dan Logue, State Capitol,
Sacramento, CA 95814, (916) 319-2003; FAX (916) 319-2103.
District Office, 1550 Humboldt Rd., Ste. #4, Chico, CA 95928; (530) 895-4217,
FAX (530) 895-4219.
GOVERNOR Jerry Brown, office of the Governor,
Capitol, Suite 1173, Sacramento, CA 95814. Webs!te: gov.ca.gov/
(916) 445-2841. FAX: (916) 558-3160.
State
I
