Downstroke

Farewell, Janeece
Thousands of Chico and Paradise residents are mourning the loss of Janeece Webb, who died Thursday, May 25, at her home in Paradise at the age of 65. When she was director of the Chico Creek Nature Center in the late 1980s and early ’90s, she was the prime mover in the effort to build its current facility, as well as its main animal caregiver. She went on to become Bidwell Park’s volunteer coordinator. She also was a leading volunteer and fund-raise for the Gold Nugget Museum in Paradise. She’s remembered as a woman with a great love of nature and passion to serve others. The Nature Center’s new expansion project will be named for her.

No argument here
As if to defy stereotype, members of Chico State University’s forensics team followed in the footsteps of frat boys and jocks by getting themselves in dutch last week for partying too hard. After confirming that at least five team members had used drugs, including cocaine and marijuana in addition to alcohol, during the spring 2006 semester, Phyllis Fernlund, dean of the College of Communication and Education, suspended the 20-member group’s competitive activities for the fall 2006 semester. In addition, it was reported that a majority of the other members of the team were present when the drugs were consumed. “Drug and alcohol use by these student team members is absolutely unacceptable,” said Fernlund. “We will not resume our forensics program until we are certain this will not be repeated.”

The good and bad of casinos
An overview report on gambling in California released Wednesday, May 31, by the California Research Bureau at the request of Attorney General Bill Lockyer notes that while Indian casinos have brought money and tens of thousands of jobs to rural counties and improved the lives of the Indians who own them, they also have brought more crime and increased the number of problem or pathological gamblers in the state. Total gambling revenues—including horseracing, card rooms, Internet gambling and the state lottery, as well as Indian casinos—were about $13 billion in 2004, the report states. The report can be viewed on the bureau’s Web site at www.library.ca.gov/HTML/statseg2a.cfm.