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lOB Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011
EDITORIAL AN[)
OPINION
Bulletin, Progressive, Record, Reporter
EDITORIAL
What is more
'11
umportant
hospitals or
courthouses?
A number of developments over the past week
have us scratching our heads, not for the first
time, over how public funding does not follow
public priorities.
The week started with news that a special
working group has recommended that the Ad-
ministrative Office of the Courts find ways to
proceed with most court construction projects,
despite the fact that since 2009, more than $1.1
billion in funding originally designated for cour-
thouse construction has been borrowed, swept
to the General Fund or redirected to court opera-
tions. The cost of California's court construction
program, including acquisition, environmental
studies, construction and furnishings, is $5.6
billion.
The proposed Quincy courthouse is one of the
projects expected to proceed. At its October
meeting, the State Public Works Board autho-
rized the selection of two possible sites: Dame
Shirley Plaza and surrounding parcels, and a
single-family home and horse pasture at 199
Crescent St. The two sites now move into the en-
vironmental review process.
The new building will have 38,283 square feet
and cost a total of $5 !.8 million. Estimated con-
struction cost is $644 per square foot. The AOC
says it plans to "rescope" the project, looking for
ways to cut costs. The per-square-foot costs for
California courts have building experts appalled.
According to a report from Courthouse News
Service, "data from RS Means, a company spe-
cializing in construction cost estimating, puts its
highest construction cost for courthouses at $269
per square foot in New York City. It estimates
that a courthouse in San Diego should cost about
$195 per square foot, including the cost of union
labor -- an amount that is less than half of the
AOC's estimate."
Meanwhile, California has asked the feds to
OK further cuts to MediCal reimbursement rates
to help close the state's budget hole. Already,
California has the lowest reimbursement a,of
any state. Last week, the reds approved the addi-
tional rate cut. The 10 percent chop is expected
to save the state $623 million. To add insult to in-
jury, the latest cut is retroactive to June 1.
On the local level, Eastern Plumas Health
Care's skilled nursing facilities, where 93 per-
cent of the patients are on MediCal, will feel the
cut most sharply. The district is already formu-
lating a contingency plan to relocate its skilled
nursing residents. It is a sad day indeed when a
community cannot care for its seniors.
Does it make sense toyou that we cannot care
for our frail elderly, but we can spend three
times the going rate, on a square-foot basis, on
new courthouses? The $5.6 billion the state is
spending on court construction would pay for a
good chunk of its annual MediCal bill of $14 bil-
lion. That has us scratching our heads. It cer-
tainly doesn't reflect our priorities for the
Plumas community. We suspect it doesn't reflect
yours either.
A •
Feat00ng
, /C:PN: per
[ go to plumasnews2m
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 .......... S ports Editor
Ingrid Burke ................ Copy Editor
Staff writers:
Michael Condon
Ruth Ellis
Will Farris
Barbara France
Mona Hill
Susan Cort Johnson
Diana Jorgenson
Dan McDonald
Brian Taylor
Kayleen Taylor
Trish Welsh Taylor
Sam Williams
Feather River Westwood
Bulletin PinePress
(530) 283-0800 (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
l%(,cc,00pied bysocialist ,,2e'nda
!; ..
• .}
MY TURN
MONA HILL
Staff Writer
mhill@plumasnews.com
The "Occupy" movement has unleashed
its ire on the wrong people. Based on com-
ments from protesters in the news, distrib-
ution of wealth has become the standard
by which protestors evaluate American
democracy. Hmm, I thought democracy
meant majority rule, one person, one vote.
In fact, America is a republic: Its citizens
elect representatives to represent them in
government. It might even be argued we
are now an oligarchy ruled by an
"elite."
I submit the oligarchs are our Do-Noth-
ing Congress, so busy drawing lines in the
sand and becoming so entrenched in dog-
ma that they have failed to represent us.
Instead they are representing the ideology
of their respective parties: Dem, GOP and
TEA.
The White House and the House Republi-
can majority bicker about spending cuts to
reduce deficits. Fiscal analysts are warn-
ing against austerity efforts, which helped
cause 1937's double-dip recession.
Moody's Analytics estimated that
current fiscal policy would subtract
1.7 percentage points from gross domestic
product next year.
State and local cuts have eliminated
259,000 jobs this year.
The goal of Obama's jobs act is to stimu-
late demand for goods and services so em-
ployers will create jobs.
The act also addresses assistance for the
long-term unemployed and infrastructure
spending.
As for business tax credits, most econo-
mists think that will have minimal impact
on jobs creation.
Of course, the tea party folks are kicking
up a fuss about reduced spending, com-
plaining the legislation doesn't cut enough.
The Republicans in the House -- not to
be outdone trashed the plan and pre-
sented their own.
Behold: Stalemate. Again. Everybody
has his own agenda and the other guy's is-
n't worth the paper it's printed on. It's akin
to fiddling while Rome burns.
The electorate has taken its collective
eye off the ball to watch the Occupy pro-
testers. They've even go so far as to buy in-
to what appears to be the central theme of
the protest: being rich is evil and undemo-
cratic.
Sounds like socialism to me.
Call me Ayn Rand, but I think someone
who earned his money ought to get to keep
it.
I'm sorry Jane Doe, sales clerk, doesn't
have as much money as John Smith, M.D.,
but perhaps it's a reflection of her work
skills and life choices.
She may have decided to quit college
or avoided a job-skills workshop. On the
other hand, Smith gutted it out through
years of college, medical school and on-the-
job training.
While I believe everyone who wants to
go to college should, not everybody who
goes to college should be there.
I also don't think society is obligated to
provide a college education to every high
school graduate. (Before I get the phone
calls and letters, I should tell you I worked
my way through college at $1.65 an hour
and earned my degree in four years.)
Anybody who wants to get ahead in life
needs to roll up his sleeves and work for it.
So, what's this about I percent? Again,
facts are in contention. According to CNN
Money (money.cnn.com, Oct. 20), mini-
mum income for the top 1 percent of Amer-
ican taxpayers is an adjusted gross income
of just $343,927 in 2009 a long way from
Gates and Buffet while top 1-percenters
made $960,000.
CNN reported that the 1.4 million house-
holds in the 1 percent category earned 17
percent of the nation's wealth and paid
about 37 percent of its income tax.
As for Wall Street? Thirty-one percent of
the executives, managers and supervisors
work Outside of the financial sector, in-
cluding medical professionals and lawyers.
Are there more Bernie Madoffs out
there? You betcha and they need to join
him in jail. However, it wasn't mpney that
was the root of his evil; it was the love of it.
Jefferson, in his "Notes On The State of
Virginia," protested against excesses by
the Virginia Legislature, writing: "An elec-
tive despotism was not the government we
fought for" (emphasfs Jefferson's).
Where in the World?
Dan Howell, right, a
travel, share where.
row@ F
employee of Feather Publishing, visits Las Vegas with his son, Sam, who lives in Taylorsville. Next time you
went by taking your local newspaper along and including it in a p.hoto. Then email the photo to smor-
Include your name, contact information and brief details about your photo. We may publish it as space permits.
1
REMEMBER rHEN
KERI TABOIISKI
Historian
75 YEARS AGO ........... ;
The new album of color
cards is now available at
sion of the Feather River
cards are sold in lots of 2
printed free of charge.
936
ful Christmas
:he printing divi-
Bulletin. The
with names
50 YEARS AGO .......... 1961
Plumas County received its first snow
storm of the season over the weekend. Ten
to twelve inches fell in Chester, 22 inches in
Johnsville, eight inches in Greenville, six to
ten inches in Beckwourth, twelve inches in
La Porte and five inches in Quincy.
25 YEARS AGO ....... 1986
The repair and improv6ment work along
the Feather River canyon will continue
welHnto December. The work was to be
completed in November but has been
delayed as a result of miscalculation in
planning by CalTrans.
10 YEARS AGO ......... 2001
Tampering of Portola's million gallon
water tank prompted the city officials to
warn 50 residents located north of Joy Way
not to drink the water. The two locks on
the tank were found missing over the
weekend. The water system is set up so
that all Portola residents, except those 50,
are now getting their water from other city
tanks and wells.
5hri,0000e00ng one's space can be e
MY Tu
.......................................... iiiii'Ki6iiiii
Staff Writ{
djorgenson@pluma,.
RN
ii6iiiii ..........................................
r
news.com
I've moved again and Ilm thigh-high in
boxes. That's an improvdment because
last week at this time, th boxes were
armpit high with narrow pathways lead-
ing to various parts of my new space.
This move is a nod to the realities of liv-
ing on Social Security. Not a nod, really;
more like a full-blown kowtow. I now
have one-third the space that I had before
and that will take some adjustment.
I'm trying to look on the bright side. I
spent a whole month washing all the ceil-
ings and walls in my old place, but that
won't happen here. Who needs walls any-
way?
There's pluses and minuses to every-
thing new that comes along in life and
one of the minuses of moving into a small-
er space is that all the sorting of "stuff'
that I didn't do in the past six years is
now in my face. Literally.
Before, when I had a pile of unsorted
paperworkor piles of things needing at-
tention and there was no time to do it, I
would stick it in a box and put it into one
of the eight closets at my disposal. Good
idea, Diana. Now I have bunches of boxes
of paperwork to clear out.
I had so much storage space that I never
threw away all my boxes from the last
move and they were ready to be filled
again. That's the plus side.
And through all the chaos of moving, I
am buoyed by the wonderful views out
my new windows: great expanses of Sier-
ra Valley,
Moving into a smaller space brings to
mind my first apartments. I lived in attics
and in basements, in antiquated rooms
and old-fashioned brownstones smelling
of cabbage. No matter what, I was always
captivated by my new space, even if its
only intriguing feature was window ac-
cess to an interesting roof to.sit upon. I
like a view.
My father shepherded those moves,
ca.rting my belongings in and out of stu-
dent housing and various roommate situ-
ations. ] don't mean that my dad and a
moving crew moved me. I mean just my
dad.
He could pick up whole couches by him-
self and he offered his help cheerfully, al-
ways. He made those moves an adventure.
Dad is still healthy and strong, al-
though his sofa-slinging days are likely
over, and he still offers his help cheerful-
ly and always. He was too far away to
help with this move, but I felt his pres-
ence nonetheless, in his old Army trunk.
It's the one constant in all the moves
from my youthful beginnings until this
last move. In each and every move, that
trunk protected my most fragile belong-
ings: a christening gift of eggshell thin
porcelain; a child's dinner set consisting
of a plate, a cup and saucer. The china
was made in Norway at Porsgrunn Porce-
lain by relatives who worked there. They
were made for me and bore my name and
the date they were made.
As fragile as they are, it's a miracle
they have traveled this far and this long
and remain intact. Over the years, they
have been joined by more porcelain, all
hand carried in my parents' luggage from
their various trips to Norway.
And in every move I've made over the
past 40 years, they have made the move
protected by my father's old Army trunk.
In my most recent transition to new
surroundings, I am comforted by that
stalwart trunk. It has served as table, as
storage, as chair; whatever I needed it to
be. Kind of like my dad over the years.
So with my dad's spirit at handbring-
ing roots to my new surroundings and a
fantastic view to inspire a future, I'll set-
tle in just fine.
Home, sweet home.