Don's Tuesday Column

THE WAY I SEE IT by Don Polson        Red Bluff Daily News 9/23/2025

        Clarity preferred over confusion

See below for said clarity vs. confusion.

As we wind up our summer tour de force, having moved no less than 7 times to campgrounds and RV parks, and having arranged for a slide-out repair in a campground with us inside, and having maintained our initial weights over three+ months—most importantly, we have just as much love and appreciation for each other as when we started. Try that with 24/7 companionship in an RV. Life is a precious gift; share it with loving kindness with all you meet—is our motto.

I only wish there was a way to capture some of the locations and experiences, both seaside and mountain forest, in a recording like that in the movie, Total Recall, where the wannabe traveler or adventurer sits in a reclining chair, puts on a headset and “lives” his or her dream vacation or exciting pursuit.

We’ve often wished for some high tech ability to “record” what we see, feel, smell, hear and experience for sharing; the level of relaxation and elation is “good for what ails ya.” We end each summer at a forest service campsite next to Odell Lake, with the majestic Diamond Peak across the lake. The quiet morning sun filters through the trees; the afternoon winds cause the trees to “dance” and wave their branches like arms while the waves lap, even crash, upon the shore.

Beside day trips to Salt Creek Falls (second highest in Oregon at 269 feet) and pristine Waldo Lake, we’ve had rain, hail, sleet, frozen snow, rainbows, green grasses (yes, in September) and the sounds and caresses of gentle breezes making us feel as if we’re being welcomed into a waiting room for paradise. The fact that we are so blessed with our health and the ability and time to do this, and that (at our age) lab reports or images could make this all a memory—it is never lost on us to thank God for His Blessings.

***

After reading Mr. Cornelius’s critical piece on the 17^th, I thought a trip down memory lane might clarify a few things. Fall of 2004, 21 years ago, local Republicans appealed to then-editor Michael Griffin to include some local conservative viewpoints as the Opinion page seemed to feature mostly left-of-center columnists. After the re-election of President G.W. Bush (Tehama County went for Bush, 66 percent to 32 percent for Kerry), Michael did reach out and invited us to offer someone among our lot to do just that.

Having already had opinion and analysis pieces published in (north to south) The Redding Record Searchlight, the Red Bluff Daily News, the Chico Enterprise-Record, and the Sacramento Bee (in 2001), I submitted a sample column, published in April, 2005, as a bi-weekly. After the Record Searchlight printed a viewpoint piece, Michael felt it imperative that my writing appear only in the Daily News, on a weekly basis, as “News and Views.”

At the time in 2005, I recall the now-legendary Jean Barton, whose keyboard I am not worthy to touch, and perhaps Mr. Minch. That is no slight if I am overlooking anyone else writing columns at the time. Since then, over 1,060 columns (if my math is right) later, there have been several left-leaning writers on the top or left side of this page: Ms. Johnston and Misters Sanders, Mazzuchi and Stellar, all having moved on, God bless their hearts.

Letter writers regularly railed against my column, invariably saying that the space was being wasted, and that editors should “cancel” me; I hope life is treating them well, wherever they are. At the time, “the rule” was that columnists were free to engage each other but that letter-writers should generally be spared from columnists’ ire.

National issues and personalities were always fair game and fodder until, I think, editor Chip Thompson directed us to eschew those topics. After a while, that rule went by the wayside until editor Rick Silva and Chico Editor Mike Wolcott renewed the prohibition. The deal made with myself was that I could exercise my prerogative to write and opine on state news and issues in addition to local items.

We all have always been free to offer personal anecdotes and stories, entertaining or not as they may be. Until being allowed to write about the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, there has been scant writing on national issues, invariably tied to California news and controversies, just to correct that inaccuracy. If a California controversy touches on a national issue, that’s not my fault.

I have always considered other columnists to be free of criticism from this writer, avoiding tit-for-tat, tedious exchanges, sparing readers such diatribe. Other columnists may feel differently and are free to take pot shots as they wish. I hope this alleviates any confusion.