Downstroke

Stabbin’ the night away: There were two unrelated, early-morning stabbings over the weekend in Downtown Chico, one in front of Crazy Horse Saloon on Saturday and another at Fifth and Chestnut streets Sunday. No one died.

Speed bet: Opponents of an advisory measure on the ballot in Yuba County chose a strange way to make their case against casinos, using doctored stories from the CN&R’s Web site to link the spread of Indian casinos with methamphetamine addiction.

A Willows organization called Nor. Cal. Lincoln Club PAC, which opposed the advisory pro-casino Measure G, clipped from a CN&R story about meth, using the actual text from a story but substituting a new headline stating “Casinos linked to Meth Epidemic in Poor Rural Counties.” While the CN&R has written extensively about the pros and cons of Indian gaming, the Lincoln club chose to clip text from a story describing the harmful effects of speed addiction, using images of tweakers who happened to be at a casino.

The flier also included, for no apparent reason, a photo of a sink full of syringes with the heading “Do we need these problems in Yuba County?”

The measure, which would have cleared the way for a new casino to be built near Olivehurst, failed by a margin of less than three percent.

The fliers, distributed to voters in Yuba County, were funded by Mooretown Rancheria, the tribe that runs Feather Falls casino in Oroville. Apparently, Feather Falls is more worried about the possibility of competition than it is about linking speed and gambling.

Syn-ce you’ve been gone: As they passed a copy of the Synthesis around at this week’s Government Affairs Committee meeting, A.S. officers tried to figure out what was different about it—and agreed nothing had really changed.

Although no official decision was made, the Associated Students looked at the possibility of reinstating its advertising with the local weekly as an information item this week. A decision will be made at the A.S. Board of Directors meeting Nov. 30.

The A.S. voted earlier this year to pull its advertising from the weekly, citing “glorification of alcohol” and its “negative portrayals of women” as key factors—in particular its weekly drink calendar and ads for Normal Street Bar, which commonly feature cartoons of scantily clad women.

A.S. president Thomas Whitcher said he was contacted this week by The Synthesis camp about reconsidering bringing back the $20,000 annual advertising deal but, by all accounts, couldn’t see where any changes in content were made.

The A.S. handed Synthesis publishers and editors the list of changes it wanted to be made earlier this year before reconsidering advertising with the weekly.