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8B Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Bulletin, Progressive, Record, Reporter
EDITORIAL
OPINION
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EDITORIAL
Attorney General Kamala Harris last week
encouraged Californians to make charitable
donations to help victims of the dex astating
earthquake and tsunami in Japan but warned
citizens to beware of scams posing as chari-
ties that sometimes prey on the goodwill of
California donors during times of tragedy.
Harris offers the following tips on how to
give wisely if solicited to help disaster relief
efforts, in order to assure that donations are
used as the donor intends:
Carefully review disaster-relief appeals be-
fore giving. In times of disaster, many "sound-
alike" organizations and sham operations so-
licit donations.
Make sure the charity is registered in the
Attorney General's Registry of Charitable
Trusts. Registration does not guarantee that a
charity is effective, but it is an important in-
dicator. A searchable database is available at
ag.ca.gov/charities.php.
Ask what percentage of your donation will
be used for charitable activities that directly
help victims.
Avoid donating through email solicitations.
Clicking on an emafl may lead you to a web-
site that looks authentic but is established by
identity thieves seeking to obtain money or
personal information.
Only provide your credit card information
once you have reviewed all information from
a charity and verified its credibility. Ask the
- organization not to store your credit card in-
formation.
Do not give cash. Write checks payable to
the charitable organization, not a solicitor.
Take action on your 0wnrather than
sponding to solicitations. Seek ou'tknown or-r
ganizations and give directly, either by call-
ing the organization, using the organization's
official website, or mailing a check to the ad-
dress listed on the organization's website.
The Attorney General's Office regulates
charities and their for-profit fundraisers in
order to prevent the misuse of charitable do-
nations. For additional tips on charitable
giving, go to ag.ca.gov/charities and click on
Charitable Giving on the left.
Information on national charities is avail-
able from the Better Business Bureau's Wise
Giving Alliance at (800) 575-4483 or give.org.
Californians who believe they or others
have been victimized by fraudulent charitable
solicitation can file a complaint online with
the Attorney General's Registrar of Charita-
ble Trusts at ag.ca.gov/charities.php.
Feathq
A
,hing
paper
Breaking News ....
go to plumasnews.com
I
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
Diana Jorgenson
Mona Hill
Feather River
Bulletin
(530) 283-0800
Westwood
PinePress
(530) 256-2277
Lassen County
Times
(530) 257-53211
Portola Reporter
(530) 832-4646
Chester Progressive
(530) 258-3115
Indian Valley
Record
(530) 284-780q
Extremism has overtopped contemplation
over calm contemplation leads us to con-
stantly set off on ill-advised quixotic cru-
sades that usually prove to be a waste of
time and energy, instead of setting more
realistic goals and working towards them
collaboratively.
, ::::: i:i: :i The classic example of this phenomenon
is when we become alarmed by a new de-
...... " velopment or challenge and quickly de-
MY TURN cide to take a very strong stance, waging a
JOSHUA SEBOLD "war on" something.
Staff Writer The war on drugs is a perfect example of
jsebold@piumasnews.com one of these massive wastes of money that
didn't solve the problem it was intended to
In my last opinion piece I shared some address and in many ways only delayed
of my views on government and political our eventual attempts to actually under-
participation by the public on the local stand the issue.
level so I figured this week I would expand In reality, despite how morally impera-
those thoughts to the national scale, rive or mghteous the war on drugs might
The most alarming aspect of today's po- feel to many people, it has proven horribly
litical climate to me is that contemplation, ineffective, costing massive amounts of
patience and compromise seem to bemoney and barely impacting the rate at
rapidly disappearing from our national which people use drugs or curtailing the
discourse, while being replaced by suspi- effects of that use on society.
cion, division and ideological extremism. Many people wilt argue that maybe the
It seems today we are more likely to no- issue would've been worse if not for the
tice the faults of those we disagree with war on drugs so you can never really tell
and less likely to appreciate the fruits of if it was an effective strategy or not.
collaboration than ever before and I think Luckily for us, Portugal legalized pos-
this is largely because of the types of voic- session of all illicit drugs in the year 2000,
es we spend most of our time listening to. allowing us to see the worst-case scenario
Sadly, in today's society and media, we of the opposite tactic.
tend to give more credence to one loud an- In reality the much-anticipated societal
gry voice than to 10 contemplative itizens breakdown apocalypse never arrived in
who haven't formed strong opinions yet, Portugal.
see some value in both sides of an argu- Interestingly, the number of people in
ment or believe that compromise is the on- that country who tried illicit drugs at
ly way to truly accomplish anything, least once in their life went up from 7.8
This affinity for impassioned argument percent to 12 percent in the six years after
t
H/-kere in the world?
Scott and Heather Kotrc (left), of Graeagle, and Kellie and John Pato (right), of Por-
tola, had fun at Seaworld in Orlando, Fla. 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.
legalization, but the amount of people who
used them in the prior year only went up
from 3.4 percent to 3.7 percent during that
time.
This means slightly more people tried
drugs just to see what they were like, but
the vast majority of people who wouldn't
have tried illegal drugs, but would sample
legal ones, decided after that experience it
just wasn't for them and never tried drugs
again.
Also fascinating is the trend of drug use
among the youth actually declining m re-
cent years in that country, while overall
drug use increased.
Apparently young people witnessed the
increased effects of drugs on society first-
hand and decided to use drugs less than
they had when the substances were ille-
gal!
This would seem to suggest that the lack
of trustworthy information about drugs,
fueled by propaganda campaigns and
scare tactics, actually made the youth
more likely to use them because of a dis-,
trust of authority figures bred by nonsen-
sical depictions of drug use like those
found in the unintentional stoner classic
"Reefer Madness."
Meanwhile, the number of people in
prison for drug-related offenses dropped
from 44 percent to 21 percent and the per-
centage bf prisoners reporting prior hero-
in use also declined from 44 percent to 30
percent, demonstrating that many people
who used drugs weren't committing any
crimes, other than using drugs.
,The scourge of drug use never arrived.
Only 12 percent of the population had even
tried a previously illegal drug seven years
after legalization!
Meanwhile, the youth's decrease in drug
use suggests the policy might lead to an
overall decline in substance abuse in the
long term, similar to the trend in cigarette
use in the United States, where the prob-
lem dissipates as the next generation
comes of age.
Society solved the problem on its own
with minimal government expense, fund-
ing treatment and education instead of
mind numbingly expensive incarceration
and street warfare.
Unfortunately, President Richard Nixon
didn't trust the American public enough
to accomplish that same feat.
In 1972 he personally appointed a com-
mission to review our nation's drug poli-
cy, Which surprisingly recommended de-
criminalizing marij.uana.
Nixon, an ideological extremist, was fu-
rious and preemptively vowed not to
loosen penalties for marijuana possession,
before the report was even released, and
America wasted a massive amount of
money on a crusade it couldn't win.
As Americans, we have followed this
routine with embarrassing frequency,
listening to scared angry ideologues in-
stead of the reasoned discussion between
those willing to consider all sides.
See Extrem e, page 10B
P,._EMEMBER .WHEN
30 years ago he was Lassen County Clerk
in Susanville.
KERI TABORSKI 50 YEARS AGO ...... 1961
Historian
Advertisement: Here is the proof in
black and white: the new 1961 Mercury Is
78 YEARS AGO ...... 1936 in the popular price range at Mansell Mo-
Former Plumas County Board of tors. Highway 40-A at Lee Avenue, Quincy
Supervisor A.J. Long, 77, who served sellingdor $2,987.10.
the Portola/Beckwourth township from Hanlon P. Tharp, principal of Quincy
1916 to 1928 and later was Plumas County High School since 1955 has resigned. Prior
Justice of the Peace. died this week in to that he was principal of Quincy Ele-
Portola. Prior to coming to Portola some mentary Sohool since 1951.
25 YEARS AGO ...... 1986
Plumas County children won't have to
attend extra days of classes for those days
lost during the storms and flooding in Feb-
ruary according to the California State De-
partment of Education.
10 YEAR~ AGO ....... 2001
Averaging just 1.5 riders per trip
through Plumas County, Greyhound Bus
may discontinue service through Plumas
County in November. Greyhound resumed
service in Plumas County in November of
1999 after a hiatus of several years.
Yellow Brick Road leads to rich experience
EDITOR'S NOTES
DELAINE FRAGNOLI
Managing Editor
dfragnoli@olumasnews.com
I have been spending a lot of time on the
Yellow Brick Road lately. I had the plea-
sure of attending auditions last month for
Feather River College's spring production
of"The Wizard of Oz:" Yes, the auditions
themselves were quite entertaining.
After several weeks of very brainless,
heartless and cowardly auditioning, long-
time director Terry Gallagher selected her
cast. Quincy teen Claire Kepple seized the
ruby slippers. Jeff Bryan and David Riley
captured the parts of the Scarecrow and the
Tin M~n, respectively. Folks may remem-
ber them as the peddler Ali Hakim and the
villain Jud Fry in last year's production of
"Oklahoma." Competition was fiercest for
the Lion. Quincy music teacher Tanner
Johns, who starred as Curly in "Okla-
homa," growled, whimpered and whined
his way into that role. "geeks." Kids in the band or choir were on-
I was impressed with the care Gallagher ly a step above geekdom. I'm embarrassed
took in casting even the smallest parts, to say that, but it was true. (What can you
down to the Munchkins with single lines, say about a school so geographically con-
Bryan pointed out to me that much of the fused it chose a ,Comanche as its mascot?) I
work of a production is done in casting be- don't recall there being any kind of "corn-
cause if you make a mistake there you're munity" theater at all.
compensating for it throughout the produc- I'm glad I live in and my kid is growing
tion. Gallagher has proved masterful in the up in a community that appreciates the
past in casting, and this year's line-up arts and encourages participation in them.
looks equally impressive. I think our vibrant arts scene is the result
Another thing that struck me was just of efforts from a variety of people and insti-
how much musical and theatrical talent we tutions over time: Plumas Arts; drama-
have in Plumas County. As I said, competi- works; music, dance and theater teachers
tion was fierce for the role of the Lion. Any in each of our communities; Feather River
number of the would-be felines would have College...
made suitably sniveling Lions. Again, even And the college productions really are
the smallest parts had multiple folks audi- community affairs. It's inspiring to see
tioning: 20 young women vied for four folks of all ages working together on this
spots as dancing Jitterbugs. show. Where else can a kid, cast as a Jitter-
The college musical productions are im- bug, be directed to stick her tongue out at
mensely popular, selling out every year. her music teacher, cast as the Lion?
You'll want to get your tickets early for this My daughter and several of her friends
year's show, playing Wednesday, May 4, have parts in the show as Munchkins,
through Sunday, May 8. We'll let you know Flying Monkeys and Jitterbugs, so I have
when tickets go on sale. been attending many of the rehearsals.
It occurred to me that having the talent, It's fun to watch each scene come together,
capacity and patrons to pull off something and then each act, and ultimately the
like this doesn't happenovernight. It's the I whole show. And although I can't get
result ofa longtime effort to build a culture "DingDong! The Witch is Dead" out of my
that values and supports the arts. Where I head and my daughter's Munchkin voice
went to high school in the cultural waste- is going to get very, very old by May, those
land of suburban Orange County, kids who are small prices to pay for such a rich
participated in drama were considered experience.