Our View: Thumbs up, thumbs down

Thumbs up and a round of applause to all of those who attended a meeting to brainstorm ideas for the shuttered Sutter Theater.

Close to 100 people responded to an invitation from Russ Clark and John Tuscano, the two businessmen heading the nonprofit Sutter Performing Arts Association.

As many as 80 people signed up for committees to help develop a combination movie house and performing arts venue. About $4 million will be needed to fully restore the theater with two screens showing movies, plus a 350-seat stage for performing arts.

Embracing this entertainment venture is a major step toward building a better downtown. To sign up for volunteer duties associated with the Sutter Theater project, call 673-9150 and ask for Lilly.

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Thumbs down to the Sunnyvale homeowner who is oh-so-concerned about the environment and global warming that he installed solar panels on his roof — then sought criminal charges against the neighbor whose trees were blocking the sunlight.

Mark Vargas asked Santa Clara County prosecutors in 2005 to file charges against Richard Treanor and his wife, Carolyn Bissett, whose only "crime" was enjoying the eight redwoods growing on their property.

Vargas had on his side a state law — there's always a law in California — that protects a homeowner's right to sunlight. Tree-ownership rights are less defined, apparently, as a judge finally ruled that two of the trees must be cut down.

This goes way beyond missing the forest for the trees. Now we're cutting down trees for solar panels to power Vargas' electric car. It's an example of how some environmentalists think globally and act locally, mainly to protect their own selfish interests.

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Thumbs up to Marysville school trustee Sandy Fonley for speaking out about the tenure process. We're not implying anything about Marysville teachers or administration specifically; tenure is a problem throughout much of the American education system.

We believe that tenure does little to reward high performers and puts big hurdles in the way of pushing poor performers out, which is the exact opposite of the direction we should move in.

If anything, good teachers should get higher compensation and other rewards, and it should be made easier to remove problem teachers. Giving tenure extends protection throughout the career of a teacher.

There is no way to know whether someone who is a good teacher after two or five years will still be a good teacher after 20 years. This is another example that government entities simply don't have enough direct incentive to make performance a higher priority than employee special interests.

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Thumbs up to Delene Dipple for putting her name in the record books. The 20-year-old Sutter resident not only set a new woman's world record for a snowmobile jump, she shattered it by soaring 180 feet during the Monster Slednecks Invasion Tour in Shakopee, Minn. (The previous record was 118 feet.)

What makes Dipple's accomplishment even more remarkable is that she set the mark on her first distance jump; her experience consisted of several hours of practice the previous day. Very cool.

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Thumbs up to the Yuba College men's basketball team for so far achieving two of its three goals for this season.

Wednesday night's blowout of the College of Alameda gave the 49ers the Bay Valley Conference championship outright and the team its 30th win of the season. Now comes the really hard part: advancing deep into the playoffs.

Last year's squad made it to the Elite Eight before bowing out. Check out the video from the title-clinching game at www.appealdemocrat.com