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8B
Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011
EDITORIAL AND
OPINION
Bulletin, Progressive, Record, Reporter
EDITORIAL
Brown delivers
on pension
reform promise
Gov. Jerry Brown has delivered on his
campaign promise to tackle pension reform.
The plan he put forward is bold and compre-
hensive. It is also politically risky.
Public employee unions, longtime allies of
the governor, will strongly oppose key por-
tions of it, as will many of Brown's fellow De-
mocrats in the Legislature. Even Republi-
cans may balk when it comes to rollbacks for
police officers and firefighters, the most po-
liticaUy powerful public employees who en-
joy the most robust pensions.
Despite the risk, Brown must not relent.
The chronic funding crisis that state and lo-
cal governments face cannot be resolved
without reducing pension obligations.
Government retirement benefits are too
rich, particularly for public safety workers
who typicaUyretire in their early 50s with 90
percent of pay or more. Unions that persist
in denying that reality seem hell-bent on
inviting a ballot initiative that could be far
more onerous to their members than what
Brown has proposed. Brown needs to remind
them of that. But he also needs to provide the
public with a full financial analysis of his
plan, so taxpayers can better understand the
stakes involved if lawmakers stick with the
status quo.
The majority of Brown's reforms apply to
new hires, not current workers. Even widely
popular anti-spiking provisions in Brown's
plan won't cover existing workers. Obvious-
ly, the governor has decided not to take on a
risky legal battle over vested rights that
would ensue if he attempted to roll back ben-
efits or change the rules for current workers.
That's probably a smart move. Local govern-
ment leaders in cities where pension-fueled
fiscal crises are even more acute will likely
initiate that necessary fight.
The most important reform in Brown's
proposal that would affect all workers would
require government employers and their em-
ployees to share pension cgsts eqiaUy. Witl4; ':"
the exception 0fprison' guards, ctiifornii
Highway Patrol officers arid'ftrefighters,
most state employees pay an equal share
now. In fact, under recently negotiated con-
tract concessions, some workers pay even
more than half. But many local governments
still pay the entire employee's share of pen-
sion costs for some workers. A 50-50 split in
contributions not only would provide fiscal
relief fo.r government employers, but Would
give workers a stake in reducing costs.
Taxpayers and union workers both have a
stake in fair pension reform. Brown has pro-
vided a good blueprint to make that happen.
Editorial reprinted from the Sacramento Bee
A .
Feat00ng
,00p:per
I go 'o plumasnewi: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:
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
Bulletin
(530) 283-0800
Lassen County
Times
(530) 257-53211
Portola Reporter
(530) 832-4646
Westwood
PinePress
(530) 256-2277
Chester Progressive
(530) 258-3115
Indian Valley
Record
(530) 284-7800
Bend backward to move forward
EDITOR'S NOTES
DELAINE FRAGNOLI
Managing Editor
dfragnoli@ptumasnews.com
I recently took part in a three-day yoga
workshop in Truckee called "The Yoga of
Possibility and Purpose." That might sound
odd to some of you. But one of the underly-
ing precepts of yoga is that you can take
what you learn on your mat off the mat and
into your life.
Here's an example: say you feel out of bal-
ance or maybe downright uncomfortable in
a pose. How do you respond to that? Do you
force your way through it? Do you chastise
yourself-- what's wrong with me, I should be
able to do this? Or can you bypass those reac-
tions, pay attention to your body and breath,
and thereby find some equ.ilibrium in the
pose? It's a recipe for working with difficult
emotions and situations off the mat.
One of the workshop sessions focused on
arm balances and inversions (going upside
down in, saY, a headstand or handstand).
This Session explicitly addresse d issues of
fear, courage and risk taking, finding and
playing with your edge. It also required a
sense of humor and playfulness, quite neces-
sary when you fall out of an arm balance and
onto your face.
The off-the-mat application was the ques-
tion of how you deal with challenges in your
life. How do you pick yourself up when you
fall on your face, literally and metaphorical-
ly?
The instructor, a woman out of the Bay
Area named Kerri Kelly, talked a lot about
courage. She said courage does not have to
be a rush-into-a-burning-building kind of
thing. It can be small and incremental, quiet
and unassuming. Without self-aggrandize-
ment or ego.
The workshop concluded with a session fo-
cused on backbends. In yoga, backbends are
seen as heart-opening and energizing poses.
They are inherently courageous; your chest
is lifted and your heart open -- and therefore
vulnerable. Yoga poses, or asanas, have an
emotional component. Exploring both the
physical and emotional components of a pose
is what yoga is about for me, not whether
you can wrap your foot behind your head. I
can't.
Backbends are also an antidote to what I
call the slump-and-hunch. In our increasing-
ly sedentary culture, it is easy to slump in
your chair and hunch over your computer.
Such a position constricts breathing, diges-
tion and a number of other bodily processes.
It's bad for your spine and your organs.
Someone who slumps and hunches is in pro-
tective mode, closed off, unapproachable. It
is the posture of defeat.
If you're back bending from your knees or
from a standing position, coming out can be
as challenging as going in. For most of us,
the impulse is to get our heads back up. But
if you raise your head first, your tors 9 will
collapse and you will likely land on your
tusk Coming out is really a slow sequential
unfurling from the pelvis, the abdomen, the
chest, the throat and finally the head. It
takes poise and equanimity.
After three days of yoga, I was pretty
loosey-goosey by the time I got to the back-
bend session. I was also tired. But sometimes
fatigue can work to your advantage. You
tend to drop your defenses and stop resist-
ing. As I opened into a final ecstatic back-
bend, I was struck by a sudden realization.
I see courage all around me.
I see it everywhere. Every day, everyday
people do everyday things that make the
world go around. These days they work
harder and make do with less. But they keep
getting the kids to school on time, and they
keep punching the time card.
Some even find the faith to start new busi-
nesses, expand existing ones or launch new
programs.,
For some, just getting out of bed in the
morning is an act of courage.
It's all recorded in these pages: a man
helps victims of a vehicle accident out of
the river; nurses at long-term facilities,
although worried about their jobs, continue
to give their patients attentive care; emer-
gency services workers respond to calls big
and small...
In other words, I see Plumas County doing
a lot of back bending.
Yes, the news, from the local to the inter-
national, can be disheartening. Maybe our
personal circumsta.nces are reduced. But
don't slump and hunch. Now more than
ever, Plumas, keep your chest up and heart
open. That's the only way forward.
Where in the World?
Lester Premo stands on the northernmost
point of land in the Americas at Point
Barrow, Alaska. It was the first stop on a
trip that also included Russia, Japan, South
Korea and China, where he climbed the
Great Wall and viewed the Terracotta
Army,--8;0.00 life-sized soldiers, each
unique.Next time you travel, share where :,
you went by taking your local newspaper
along and including it in a photo. Then
email the photo to smorrow@plumas
news.com. Include your name, contact
information and brief details about your
photo. We may publish it as space permits.
REMEMBER. WHEN
KERI TABORSKI
Historian
75 YEARS AGO ........... 1936
Plumas County joined the President Roo-
sevelt national landslide when voters of
Plumas County unanimously voted for
Roosevelt as well in last week's election.
2,430 Plumas County voters elected Roo-
sevelt and 639 voted for Landon.
50 YEARS AGO .... . ...... 1961
PG&E has extended its contract for snag
clearing work at Lake Almanor. This year's
work has concluded as inclement weather
has halted the work but will resume in the
spring. The work is scheduled for a 1,800-acre
section around Prattville and has been con-
tracted with a firm in Oakland.
25 YEARS AGO ............ 1986
The California Highway Patrol opened
their newly renovated office in Quincy.
The Plumas County Arts Commission
has appointed Roxanne Burney as execu-
tive director.
10 yEARS AGO ............ 2001
The Plumas County Sheriffs office has
received $23,875 from the United states
Justice Department for reimbursement
for the costs of incarcerating criminals
here in Plumas County who have Commit-
ted serious crimes.
The Plumas County Board of Supervi-
sors have officially named Robert Conen
as Plumas County's new Chief Administra-
tive Officer at a salary of $96,000 per year,
replacing former CAO Jim Stretch. Conen
had been interim CAO since Stretch's res-
ignation last spring.
It's a tough election ahead in 2012
MY TUR`N
• M. KATE WEST
Chester Editor
chesternews@plumasnews.com
It's November and we are now on the 12-
month countdown to the election of the next
president of the United States.
I'm already feeling voter pressure and the
campaign machines haven't even gone into
full swing. By January the television net-
works will be bombarded with advertising
and network commentators will be talking
themselves hoarse about any littleold thing
that pops up on their radar.
There will be plenty of bashing on both
sides of the debates.
Dialogue will be plentiful about who did
or didn't do what, when and where. Unfor-
tunately, as I have said many times in' the
past, voters will be put in the position of
having to sift through many levels to reach
anything resembling fact.
I continually find it unreal how much em-
phasis can be placed on any given poll con-
sidering pollsters have specific questions
geared toward a specific demographic, usu-
ally comprised of 1,400 people or fewer.
When you look at the fact that there are
millions of voters across the nation, 1,400
people split into various percentages on a
topic isn't really an indicator of low people
across the nation feel about a given candi-
date or piece of legislation.
Every state, every county and every com-
munity across the country has its differences
in culture, health and economic needs.
People in rural communities may be look-
ing at candidates for several of his or her
platform promises while those in urban set-
tings may be attracted to something com-
pletely different.
I think this go-round, many will also be
looking at the demeanor of the candidates
and may, while Craving a true leader, vote
for the person who looks the most presiden-
tial. This is the path I sometimes find my-
self on despite the fact that I know better.
• I think in addition to seeking a leader that
inspires confidence, we all want a leader
that represents our country well and does,
in fact, act presidential as he moves about
on the world stage. It is very important that
he or she be a leader that provides true in-
spiration by exercising sound judgment fol-
lowed by definitive results.
The movie and music industry groupie
that currently sits in the White House af-
fronts me. I'll grant that his position has
opened the door to many celebrity opportu-
nities he wouldn't have had as a community
organizer or very junior senator-- howev-
er, I find none of this inspiring. Neither are
his sound bites on Jay Leno or the fact that
he spends millions of dollars monthly to sit
in the living room of an unknown person in
an unknown community trying to create
the image that he understands what is
happening in middle class America.
Between him and sitting members of Con-
gress it is fairly obvious the/nessage being
relayed somehow never survives the or-
chestration of the event or the next cam-
paign stop.
Besides being disillusioned with the sit-
ting government, I am equally unhappy
with the current crop of contenders for the
top spot in American politics. It really
makes me sizzle when I am placed in the po-
sition of choosing the lesser of evils rather
than having the chance to excitedly vote for
someone who is infinitely qualified to do
the job.
I also dislike the fact that the choices be-
ing offered will result in Americans having
to just settle for what's available, whether it
is the incumbent or the current crop of can-
didates.
A long time ago, as I lamented my lack of
choices to a friend and asked why the inge-
nious Lee Iacoccas of the world didn't step
forward in our nation's time of need, I was
bluntly told, "They are too smart to take the
job and the job doesn't pay enough."
While basically understanding why some-
one wouldwant to avoid the stress of carry-
ing the weight of the country on their shoul-
ders while living in a fish bowl, idealistical-
ly, it's a letdown.
I think America needs more than it has
and is being offered. If there is an answer
out there I don't know what it would be or
how to go about getting it, which leaves me
just where I started, anxious and feeling
pressured about what will come with all our
tomorrows.