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lOB Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011 Bulletin, Progressive, Record, Reporter
EDITORIAL OPINION
EDITORIAL
Let them
eat cake at
PHS cafeteria
Last week's school board meeting provided a
frustrating example of what happens when state
agencies move away from facilitating projects to
obstructing them. David Putnam, the district's fa-
cilities and maintenance director, gave a report
(more like a litany) on the progress, or lack thereof,
on the new Portola High School cafeteria. Let us be
clear, the stalled progress is not for lack of trying
on the school district's part. It has more to do with
the inexplicably imperious attitude of a little-
known state agency called the Division of the State
Architect.
The DSA provides design and construction over-
sight for K-12 schools, community colleges and var-
ious other state facilities. It also develops accessi-
bility, structural safety, fire and life safety, and his-
torical building codes and standards for various
public and private buildings throughout Califor-
nia. In other words, any building project at a school
must be OK'd by the DSA.
The agency is notorious among engineers, de-
signers, architects and builders for being slow and
difficult to deal with. The agency has more than
lived up to its reputation during the PHS project.
The district has been working diligently since
June to resolve a fire sprinkler issue. Due to recent
changes in the California building code (CBC) re-
garding fire sprinklers in new buildings, the DSA
required a new fire sprinkler system for the "new
addition" (the project adjoins existing structures at
the school) just prior to the plans being approved.
A fire sprinkler contractor was brought on board
right away and the first draft of the design was sent to
the architect for review June 22. Revisions went back
and forth between the contractor and architect until
they felt they had a system DSA would approve.
These plans were sent to DSA Oct. 6. DSA called
the architects Dec. 15 and said the plans were non-
compliant. The architects met with two fire-life
safety supervisors Dec. 22 and were informed that
DSA interpreted the code as applying not just to
new buildings, and it was in place prior to approv-
ing the original plans. Unfortunately, it was missed
by the first fire-life safety review. These regula-
tions require that new buildings with occupancy
over 100 must be sprinkled and all such occupan-
cies on the same floor level must also be sprinkled
to the points of exit. At PHS, this means the entire
gymnasium building, including the locker rooms<
and science wing, would need fire sprinklers. The
arch!tect thought this was a new interpretation of
this regulation and argued that the DSA was over-
reaching the intent of the code.
The issue was sent to the International Code
Council for its interpretation. (The ICC writes the
code, but leaves it to various jurisdictions to decide
how to implement it.) After review of the ICC find-
ings the architect was confident that the ICC
agreed with the school district's interpretation.
DSA, however, stood its ground, basically telling
the school district to eat cake.
Putnam told board members, "If we were to be
forced to sprinkle the entire building, this interpre-
tation could then extend to each adjacent building
as they are all connected by covered walkways."
(There was some chatter in the boardroom that the
district might tear down the walkways rather than
re-sprinkler the whole school.)
Certainly, we want our children to be safe and well
housed while at school. But if the guys who wrote the
code in the first place are saying the DSA's interpre-
tation was not their intent, then it seems safety is not
really the issue. Handing down edicts just because
the DSA can seems to be the point.
A =o
Feath0000;hmg
er
go to plumasnews.com
Michael C. Taborski ............. Publisher
Keri B. Taborski ...Legal Advertising Dept.
Delaine Fragnoli ........ Managing Editor
Alicia Knadler ........ Indian Valley Editor
M. Kate West ............. Chester Editor
Shannon Morrow .......... Sports Editor
Ingrid Burke ................ Copy Editor
Staff writers:
Joshua Sebold
Will Farris
Sam Williams
Barbara France
Susan Cort Johnson
Kayleen Taylor
Ruth Ellis
Brian Taylor
Pat Shillito
Christian Young
Diana Jorgenson
Mona Hill
Feather River
Bulletin
(530) 283-0800
Lassen County
Times
(530) 257-53211
Portola Reporter
(530) 832-4646
Westvood
PinePress
(530) 256-2277
Chester Progressive
(530) 258-3115
Indian Valley
Record
(530) 284-7800
Do the crime; do the time
• fi '
ii;,!',i ....
MY TURN
M. KATE WEST
Chester Editor
chesternews@plumasnews.com
Today, as I browsed the Political Ticker
and entertainment news on CNN my at-
tention was grabbed by the latest survey
question: Should Lindsey Lohan go to jail
for theft?
According to the reported results as of
about 8:36 a.m. 89 percent of survey re-
spondents say "no," 11 percent "yes."
While I haven't read the actual police re-
port, I can only make comment on the so-
called facts being reported to date. It has
been alleged that she visited a jewelry
store in her neighborhood and walked out
the door with a necklace valued at $2,500,
a cost that raises the criminal stakes to
the felony level.
Also reported was information that pri-
or to a warrant being issued to search her
home for the stolen jewelry, the necklace
was turned in, along with the statement
that it "hadn't been stolen but borrowed."
As the store manager actually reported
the theft it seems somewhat apparent that
he wasn't aware of any agreement in
which Lohan might have been given per-
mission to legally remove the jewelry
from the store.
So ... I'm thinking I have more then
one issue with what appears to be the
HZhere in the world?
Katie and Vanessa Filippini catch up onthe local news While waiting for the
buzhashi event to begin in Tajikistan, where Vanessa was working with the |ocal
watermelon farmers. Buzhashi is a sporting event involving horses and a sheep or
goat carcass. Next time you travel, share where you went by taking your local
newspaper along and including it in a photo. Then e-mail the photo to
smorrow@plumasnews.com.
latest episode in the life of LiLo and
what it says about how times have
changed in America.
The first issue goes directly back to one
of my pet peeves, the false sense of entitle-
ment that continues to pervade this coun-
try. Movie stars are not royalty or heads
of state and as such, are not entitled to
receive any form of diplomatic immunity
from California penal code offenses.
You can bet your bottom dollar that if
Joe Schmo walked out of the jewelry store
with the necklace he would have been
booked at the county jail and required to
post bail in order to leave the facility. Fur-
thermore, if he had said, "I just borrowed
the necklace," everyone from here to eter-
nity would have responded, "Yeah, sure
you did."
This begs the question, what makes Lo-
han different? Does being a celebrity or
having wealth mean you are held to a dif-
ferent standard?
Does having a long history of alcohol
abuse automatically excuse criminal
behavior?
Did the people who voted "no" in the
survey do sobecause they considered
Lohan's behavior to be just ordinary
movie star acting out and not worthy of
punishment or the court's time?
If that's the case I do have to beg to
differ. Many children, my own included,
have gone through the phase of "I saw it,
I wanted it and I took it" but that usually
occurred at a very young age when learn-
ing right from wrong was still a fairly
new concept.
Lohan is a big girl who has been part of
the adult world for many years now and
doesn't at her age, in my opinion, have a
defensible excuse for not understanding
that what she allegedly did was wrong.
To me this is also an issue of personal
property rights.
Just because many designers and stores
like to dress movies stars for product
exposure on the red carpet doesn't mean
that every merchant will automatically
give the go-ahead for someone to wear
their merchandise, especially without
due compensation or permission.
And when all is said and done here,
what I find most disturbing about all of
this is the message this situation sends.
What I'm hearing is: If you have 'status,
money or even the excuse of alcoholism,
you are less accountable for your actions.
The message I would prefer to hear is
the one most citizens understand: "If you
do the crime, you do the time."
REMEMBER WHEN
KERI TABORSKI
Historian
75 YEARS AGO ....... 1936
The joint concert of the three Plumas
County High School bands was postponed
until March when road and weather condi-
tions prove mope favorable for travel.
50 YEARS AGO ...... 1961
Seven candidates have filed for the three
vacant Plumas Unified School District
board positions up for election in May:
Mary Ellen Garrett, Henry Spencer and
David Brock, all of Chester; Robert
McArthur, Dr. Don Bleiberg, Denny
Mansell and Bill Cullen, all of Quincy.
25 YEARS AGO.' ...... 1986
The Flood of 1986: Seemingly endless
high wind, rain and flooding blocked high-
ways, closed schools and businesses and
knocked out electrical power throughout
Plumas County. Some 17 inches of rain fell
in five days.
10 YEARS AGO ...... 2010
Plumas County Clerk-Recorder Judith
Wells this week took delivery of a new Vi-
tacheck system which will allow that office
to provide quick access to vital statistic in-
formation from throughout the nation.
Time to ship ouer the commercials
MY TURN
BARBARA FRANCE
Staff Writer
bfrance@lassennews,corn
Like 111 million other people I tuned in
to watch Super Bowl XLV, the Green Bay
Packers versus the Pittsburgh Steelers. It
was touted as an old-fashioned gridiron
game of two teams of old vying for the top
prize.
I didn't go to a Super Bowl party or even
watch it with family. My husband was at a
job networking conference and my daugh-
ter was in another room doing homework.
I had the game on because there was noth-
ing else on TV to watch. The house was
too quiet, and I was hoping to see some
very funny or at least memorable com-
mercials. Well, there were some memo-
rable commercials, but not because they
were clever or humorous. (There were
maybe two exceptions.)
Most of the commercials were definitely
not for family viewing, and I must admit I
was glad I was not at a party and especial-
ly not around prepubescent-age children.
I would have been very embarrassed. I
wonder if ever since the Janet Jackson
wardrobe malfunction advertisers decid-
ed that it was OK to go racy on commer-
cials since many of the viewers were
younger, and the ad spots were only re-
flecting much of the shows on TV.
Reality TV and many cable TV shows
have become edgier and more suggestive.
Even R-rated movies definitely have
swung to an extreme that to an older gen-
eration may be considered X-rated. Does
anyone remember when Air Force One re-
ceived the R-rated designation for vio-
lence and language? Compared to a few
movies out in the past few years, that
movie seems mild. We have desensitized
our eyes and become jaded in what we
hear. The trend will continue, I'm afraid.
However, the Super Bowl is not a cable
TV show that parents can block their chil-
dren from seeing even if it is seen on a cable
channel. It is a national event. It is a world-
wide phenomenon that takes place in peo-
ple's living rooms, restaurants and bars
everywhere. Advertisers need to be more
concerned about what message they are
sending to young people and the world be-
sides what product they are trying to sell.
People are talking about how cute the
little boy is in the Darth Vader costume
who thinks he turned on his dad's car
with super powers. But I have no idea
what car it is. I thought the first-date corn-
mercial where the man was only thinking
about getting the date in bed was racy,
and I have no idea what drink was being
sold. Ditto for the commercial that made
fun of Eminem. He was in another com-
mercial for a car -- which one? My wait-
for commercial is always the Budweiser
feel-good commercial. This year it was
plain dumb. And, there is no way the
Ozzie/Justin Bieber commercial will ever
be as funny as the Ozzie/Donny dream
commercial. I remember the commercial
this year but not the product, but I do
know the Ozzie/Donny was for Diet Pepsi.
Maybe that is the point of Super Bowl
commercials-- rather than to sell its
product, to see how outlandish an adver-
tiser can get before the FCC sanctions it.
For some viewers it may work, but I think
I will be back to using commercials for a
perfect time to get more snacks and talk to
my football fanatic friends who stare at
the screen and play armchair quarterback
on every play.
I hope next year it is the Bears in the
Super Bowl, but if not, I at least hope my
husband is home to watch the Big Game
so I can have someone to eat snacks with,
snuggle by and agree with me when not-
so-funny commercials air.
In the meantime, I must say that it was
fun knowing my Wisconsin family was cel-
ebrating Sunday night with cheese curds
and Leinenkugels, and my Chico friends
had a hometown boy to be proud of.
BE HEARD: Don't sit back and let others do the talking for you. !
Express yourself In" our LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
I