Don's Tuesday Column

THE WAY I SEE IT by Don Polson       Bluff Daily News 6/03/2025

      Local immigration policy; girls’ sports

The “head count” is needed for the caterer for the Republican Red, White and Blue Dinner this Saturday at the Community Center; if you have been putting off reserving a seat or table, please call 530-949-2761, today.

Tehama County appeared in a Department of Homeland Security (dhs.gov/sanctuary-jurisdictions) release: “Sanctuary Jurisdictions Defying Federal Immigration Law—Sanctuary jurisdictions undermine the rule of law and endanger the lives of Americans and Law Enforcement.” Executive Order 14287 requires that a list of state and local jurisdictions that obstruct the enforcement of Federal immigration laws, be published. Is this so locally? Or is Tehama County incorrectly included with well-known, infamous California policies?

It’s a serious question that a reporter might pose to local Sheriff and Police Departments. I've seen arrestees sometimes called “Mexican nationals,” but have never seen the supposedly pejorative “illegal alien” (Federal Immigration Code term) applied in crime-related news.

Anyway, 35 states are listed in the “drop down” search menu; meaning all or part of those 35 states are sanctuary jurisdictions. California has “Self-identified as a State Sanctuary Jurisdiction,” and 48 counties (out of 58 Google-listed counties) have “sanctuary” status. Neither Red Bluff nor Corning are listed among the cities. Has any county policy ever been publicly described as giving us “sanctuary status”? It would rather shock this writer that a county that votes 2 to 1 conservative Republican would have such an anti-Constitutional, even “insurrectionist” policy.

Our other abode resides in “State Sanctuary” Oregon but neither Deschutes County nor Bend are listed. Fifteen out of some 36 Oregon counties are “sanctuary” ones; only four cities are so listed. Some local clarity would be appreciated, maybe a discussion. Are local law agencies prohibited or allowed to assist DHS agents?

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News of the U.S. Steel deal prompted a few memories of summer jobs in steel mills in Northern Indiana around graduation in 1969 and later. U.S. Steel’s carpenter shop was a relatively “clean” work space but carpenters were the first to enter open-hearth furnaces to build custom scaffolding for the masons to re-line the furnace. The smell of boot leather burning on the still-hot surface, nostrils nearly singed from the searing heat, and the popping of salt tablets while taking a sweat-soaked break—are non-cherished images and experiences from this man’s youth. Fodder for future columns? Maybe.

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California is also on the outer, left-wing fringe, out of step with even our generally liberal electorate, on the issue of keeping boys out of girls’ sports competition. The state track and field finals took place in Clovis where a high school boy—euphemistically called a “trans-identifying male athlete”—was allowed to compete against biological, and physically weaker, girls in several events. The boy, AB Hernandez, won the high jump and triple jump in the girls’ competition, depriving female competitors, who’ve undoubtedly worked throughout their high school years to achieve their best, only to be denied top spots on the podium.

From Redstate.com: “While most of the people we spoke to refused to go on record, one Southern California father, Ryan Combe, told RedState he was ‘disgusted watching all the left media minimize [Hernandez's] dominance.’ And to say something like ‘He's not even ranked that high,’ Combe said, as he noted that the boy is currently ranked 9th in the nation in the triple jump. ‘It's just disgusting.’

“My daughter's a female athlete. She's an elite, outstanding, hardworking athlete, one of the best in the United States,” he added. “She works her tail off six days a week, thinks about running, and what she does, seven days a week. But any random boy could roll out of bed, and if he's in decent shape, beat her.

“It's a biological advantage that boys have,” Combe continued. “This boy [Hernandez], I have watched all season at events, and [he] beat my daughter's friends in jumps. My daughter has competed against another boy all season in running, and he actually took a league title away from one of my daughter's friends.”

“The CA father said he just couldn't believe he lives in a ‘state that allows this.’”

Protesters showed up to defend female athletes’ rights with signs: “Save Girls’ Sports” and “California, Obey The Law.” Indeed, the Department of Justice has launched a Title IX investigation of the CA high school sports governing body, the California Interscholastic Federation, and Jurupa Valley Unified School District.

Title IX defines “sex” as the basis for non-discrimination, not the made-up numerous categories of “gender” which, for all of human existence, have never, until the last 5 minutes of history, even been a concept. Let’s hope and support the DOJ and the Department of Education in prevailing, including funding cuts, against this abomination against common sense and girls’ and women’s justice in athletics, locker rooms and elsewhere.

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This column rejects gay and transgender “pride.” Pride is reserved for accomplishments, not identity.