Your account does not include highlighter on images.
Searches Highlighted on Image
National Sponsors
| April 20, 2011 Indian Valley Record |  |
|
©
Indian Valley Record. All rights reserved. Upgrade to access Premium Tools
PAGE 20 (7 of 13 available) PREVIOUS NEXT Jumbo Image Save To Scrapbook Set Notifiers PDF JPG
April 20, 2011 |
|
|
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader 
|
lOB Wednesday, April 20, 2011 Bulletin, Progressive, Record, Reporter
EDITORIAL
AN D
OPINION
.............................. ED!TORIAL ............................ Tell me your story, E
i I
OI
With Earth Day this Friday, we thought
now was a good time to look at what the
printing industry has done to decrease its
environmental footprint.
Print values trees: Most paper now
comes from sustainable forests not old-
growth trees. These forests are essentially
"tree farms," where trees are grown as a
crop, just like broccoli or wheat. When these
trees are harvested, new stocks are planted.
Print on paper gives landowners a financial
incentive to renew forests rather than con-
vert them for other uses, such as develop-
ment.
Print uses "waste": One-third of the fiber
used to make paper comes from "waste" --
wood chips and sawmill scraps -- another
third comes from recycled paper. Overall, in
the United States nearly 80 percent of the al-
most 400 paper mills uses recovered fiber to
make some or all of their paper products. Of
!hese, approximately 200 mills use recovered
paper exclusively.
Print is recycled: But that is not the com-
plete story. Print on paper is recycled and
reused. In 2009, for example, 63.4 percent of
all paper used in the United States was recy-
cled, and this number increases each year
with more deliberate curbside and drop-off
collection systems. Recycled paper is used to
make everything from construction prod-
ucts to consumer goods.
Print is responsible: Just 11 percent of
the world's forests are used for paper, and in
the United States the wood used to produce
paper all comes from certified forests. The
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Sus-
tainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) track fiber
content from certified lands through produc-
tion and manufacturing to the end product.
There are certified forests in over 80 coun-
tries.
From sustainable forests to the renewable
nature of trees and the recyclability of pa-
per, the print and paper industries have a
positive environmental story to tell -- one in
which print on paper and healthy forests
thrive hand-in-hand.
Here at Feather Publishing, we use post-
consumer recycled newsprint. All our inks
are vegetable soy based. The chemicals we
use in printing are also recycled, as are the
plates used on our press.
Inside our offices, we reuse and then recy-
cle paper. We also recycle all our other
waste, from cardboard to plastic.
We invite you to join us in doing our part
to keep our shared planet clean, healthy and
beautiful for generations to come.
A
Fea shing
spaper
#
Breaking News ....
go to plumasnews.com
Michael C. Taborski ............. Publisher
Keri B. Taborski ...Legal Advertising Dept.
Delaine Fragnoli ........ Mar~aging Editor
Alicia Knadler ........ Indian Valley Editor
M. Kate West ............. Chester Editor
Shannon Morrow .......... Sports Editor
Ingrid Burke ................ Copy Editor
Staff write rs:
Mona Hill
Will Farris
Dan "McDonald
Trish Welsh Taylor
Michael Condon
Sam Williams
Barbara France
Susan Cort Johnson
Kayleen Taylor
Ruth Ellis
Brian Taylor
Pat Shillito
Diana Jorgenson
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) 284-7800
MY TURN
TRISH WELSH TAYLOR
Staff Writer
ttaylor@plumasnews.com
Allow me to introduce myself. I'm your
new rookie reporter, beating the streets of
Portola. What a privilege! I am authorized
to ask questions, to be nosey in a respect-
ful way, and generally do what I love to do
listen to people's stories.
I'm not unusual in being a story lover.
Stories are important: Stories are how we
learn what it is to be human, how we are
different, and how we are the same. Hear-
ing stories, our imagination shows us
how we can change. We see new horizons.
Sometimes, hearing stories, we count our
blessings.
My grandfather was a great storyteller.
He told us of being a boy in late 19th-cen-
tury Europe. He was the youngest of 11
siblings. At 10 years of age, his parents
sent him offto be a tailor's apprentice.
The headmaster was strict, but Grampa
was learning a useful trade, and the shop
provided the company of the other ap-
prentices, all at different levels of accom-
plishment. The boys learned to cut and
stitch by day, and when the sun went
down, gathered together to eat a supper of
stew, dipping their chunks of bread into a
big wooden common bowl at the center of
the table. No spoons. No plates. But the
food was plentiful.
Grampa, being small, slept in the attic,
which gave him a little pmvacy. In the
morning, during breakfast, the mistress
gave each boy a freshly baked potato to
keep in his pocket. Lunch had been pro-
vided, secured from mice and theft, and
would keep the boys a little warm in the
frigid workroom.
Fifty years later,when I was 10, I would
sit at a rickety card table at the end of
Gramma's dinner table. Dishes had been
cleared. I was waiting for dessert, but I
was also listening to Grampa tell stories.
He was teaching us who he was, how he'd
handled challenges in his life.
Sometimes, I imagined reading Gram-
pa's stories in a book with drawings. The
story about his cousin being scalded by a
bucket of hot tallow was a favorite, along
with the one about stealing away on a
train to leave for America. My grampa
a stowaway! I could see the illustration in
the book.
When I was 21, I left America. I flew by
jet (with legal papers) to my new home,
Japan. I lived there as closely to the local
lifestyle as I could. I wanted to under-
stand their way of life.
But I was a foreigner and unable to un-
derstand Japanese. To my surprise, with-
out language, I could nevertheless see sto-
ries everywhere.
On my first day at the market, I saw the
story of a middle aged woman, her back
permanently bent from a life tending rice,
her fingers tips shiny smooth with callus-
es. She had jet-black hair, folded and
pinned with abalone combs. The soft
sculpture caressed the back of her head. It
gave her dignity. She must have had a
family, as she was checking the quality of
the cabbage very carefully, and she had
milk in her hand basket.
Further into the market,.the fish mer-
chant called out to me, "Irashai," welcom-
ing me over. Under his swollen, red
hands, the scaly smell of fish also greeted
me. There were so many kinds offish!
Heads were still soundly attached, and
the pinky brown octopus all had great
quantities of legs.
Everything was m the open air, laid up-
on crusty ice. The merchant's hands were
always touching the ice or being plunged
into a tub of iced water. They had to hav~
been numb with cold. Even'when he was
at home, after selling all his fish to happy
customers, his hands must have remained
puffy and stiff. The smell of ocean and
seaweed would have been a constant in
his home. His kids probably didn't notice
it. But his wife might have.
At first the stories I saw in Japan were
like impressionist paintings. As I learned
a little of the language, especially the
body language and the laughter signals, I
came to understand the lives of my new
friends the way I understand the popular
graphic novels called manga, which are
s imilar to comic books.
The meaning of our conversations came
in chunks, in sequences of bold, simple
sketches. I was never sure if I really
grasped the subject. Continuing to try
was the only way forward.
After four years of living with limited
language, I had collected a lot of stories
by watching and listening very closely.
Now, these stories are stored in my mem-
ory, in letters home, and most important-
ly, in the understanding they brought to
me.
Inside every story is a person who has
felt something significant happen in
them. It may have happened a thousand
years ago or just a moment ago. It doesn't
matter. A real person lived in the experi-
ence that generated the story. Some flesh-
and-blood person lived every story we
hear. Many Stories are lived by many peo-
ple.
People physically feel the stories they
live. Visceral reactions tear at the emo-
tions, even while the mind and heart en-
deavor to respond purposefully. Life is
not a trivial or simple experience. It's
deep with personal meaning, which we
understand best through stories,
I came to know my grampa through his
stories. I grew to understand the Japanese
people by watching for their stories.
The people in every story, once upon a
time, struggled and pleasured. They
breathed and they cared. They lived their
stories. As your rookie reporter, my job is
to hear and tell the stories of Eastern
Plumas County.
REMEMBER WHEN
KERI TABORSKI
Historian
75 YEARS AGO ..... 1936.
Advertisement: Easter specials at
Nellie Mae Beauty Shoppe---oil shampoo
and finger wave $1.00, shampoo and marcel
curl $1.50, permanent waves starting at
$3.00.
Advertisement: PG&E provides low elec-
trical rates so every home can afford to
cook Easter dinner with electricity. See
your local appliance dealer to buy a smart-
ly modern electric range for $95.00.
50 YEARS AGO ...... 1961
Advertisement: Easter dinner grocery
items featured in this weeks newspaper:
Hams 53 cents per pound, eggs 29 cents per
dozen, fresh asparagus 19 cents per pound,
pitted black olives 25 cents a can, flour 59
cents for five pounds, fresh yams 14 dents
per pound.
Advertisement: Easter dinner menu at
Cedar Lodge in Chester--Roasted turkey
or baked ham with fruit, salad, soup, veg-
etable and dessert for $2.25, Casual dress...
come as your are.
25 YEARS AGO ......... 1986
Easter dinner grocery items featured
this weeks newspaper: Hams 99 cents per
pound, asparagus 79 cents per pound, yams
49 cents per pound, jello 59 cents per pack-
age, one dozen brown 'n serve rolls 79
cents, jelly beans $1.29 per pound.
10 YEARS AGO ...... 2001
Plumas County Supervisor B.J. Pearson
and'his wife Sylvia haveag/- 6'd to a settle-
ment of $216,000 from the Sthf6:'0f Califor-
nia over damages to his business resulting,
from the pike eradication chemical treat-
ment of Lake Davis in October of 1997. Oth-
er damage money was distributed to more
than 150 businesses in the area one Year go
but Pearson opted to wait to settle his case
until all other cases were settled. Pearson
predecessor, former supervisor Fran
Roudebush received $32,900.
HThy don't they listen to
MY TURN
MICHAEL CONDON
Staff Writer
internet@plumasnews.com
We have major economic problems to
address. Our politicians are rollir~g up
their sleeves and digging in their heels at
the same time. But the dialog is healthy
and that is good.
We all agree on the problems. Our na-
tional debt is spiraling out of control. The
recession might be technically over, but
the technical definition of a recession only
matters to economists. Wall Street has not
yet rebounded to its pre-recession levels,
but it's well on its way:
Good for Wall Street. Main Street is an-
other matter. Small businesses still strug-
gle and employment remains a huge prob-
lem.
So what will it take to bring the econom-
ic recovery to Main Street? We need to un-
derstand the problem before we will know
what the solution is. To help understand
the problem, ask local business owners.
Ask your local car dealer if doubling the
number of cars for sale on the lot will help.
I am pretty sure he will say no. He needs
more buyers, not more inventory.
Ask your local Realtor if she needs more
homes for sale to improve her business.
What she will tell youis that she needs
more homebuyers.
Ask any sort of business owner and the
response is the same. What is needed is
more people buying the goods and services
that are already available for sale.
Put another way, we have adequate
supply. What we need is increased de-
mand. Consumer spending is what will
pull us out of this recession.
And what of the problem of our national
debt?
Any business owner on Main Street can
tell you that to stay in business you need
to make sure your revenue is higher than
your expend itures. They will tell you that
borrowing is OK if it's within your means
and enables the business to make sound
investments that help grow and maintain
the business. They will likely tell you how
they pay close attention to both spending
and revenue to keep them in balance.
Many of our politicians tell us that while
our debt is spiraling out of control, we do
not have a revenue problem. We j ust have
a spending problem.
Try to find a business owner on Main
Street who is having trouble making ends
meet and yet insists he doesn't hav'e a rev-
enue problem, just a spending problem. If
that business owner ignores revenue and
just cuts spending, he won't be in business
long.
If your business, or your country, is go-
ing deeper in debt it is because revenues
and expenditures are out of balance. To
bring them back into balance you need to
focus on both. To ignore one or the other is
pure folly.
So what have our politicians done to ad-
dress these problems? In recent months,
and judging by proposals.on the table now,
their solution seems to be to cut taxes for
the wealthy and save money by cutting
discretionary spending and especially en-
titlement programs. Or to put it more
bluntly, the wealthy receive more benefits
in the form of lower taxes and the middle
class and poor receive fewer benefits in
the form of decreased services.
The fairness of this approach seems
to be driving the debate. Fairness is a
legitimate question. But we can put the
fairness issue totally aside and this ap-
proach still doesn't make for reasonable
ain Street?
economic policy.
Why not? It is really not that complicat-
ed.
What happens to wealthier Americans
when their income goes up? They don't
spend a lot more on consumer goods be-
cause they already have plenty of money
to buy what they need. They tend to in-
vest. As smart investors, they put their
money where it will give them the best re-
turn, whether it is here on Main Street or,
as is likely the case these days, overseas.
Giving more wealth to upper income
folks may make sense if our underlying
economic problem is the need for more in-
vestments. But that is not our problem
right now.
Who would build more cars or more
houses if there were no one to buy them?
We don't need more investment, or more
supply, right now. We need more buyers.
We need to increase consumer demand be-
cause only increased consumer demand
can pull us out of this recession.
Cutting health care, social programs and
education, as is being proposed, means
lower- and middle-income consumers will
have less money to spend at precisely the
same time our economy is so dependent on
their spending.
Cutting spending on infrastructure pro-
jects means cutting jobs just when we need
more jobs. Those projects make our econo-
my more competitive, which leads to even
more jobs and more consumer spending.
Those infrastructure projects do not solve
the debt problem in the short term, but by
adding jobs and increasing consumer
spending, they do reduce debt in the long
term. That is exactly what we need right
nOW.
Why don't our politicians listen to Main
Street?
Editor's note: A lthough ostensibly retired,
Michael Condon is Feather Publishing's
webmaster, safety officer, backup photo
editor and fishing columnist.
I I
Express yourself in our
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR