Downstroke

Dope digest

Local drug warriors busted fewer methamphetamine labs in 2005 than the year before—17 compared with 39—but arrested about the same number of meth users, according to the annual report of the Butte Interagency Narcotics Task Force. Fewer local labs means cranksters are using meth from the Central Valley and Mexico instead, said Vic Lacey, BINTF north commander. Lately, though, the police have been increasingly worried about other drugs. In the first six months of 2006, BINTF has confiscated six times as much heroin and twice as much cocaine as previously. It’s also noticing more use of the prescription pain-killer oxycodone, often known by its brand name Oxycontin. “Young people are realizing, ‘Hey, this is as good as heroin,’ ” Lacey said.

Trustee times two

Chico got its second trustee of the state university system last Thursday (June 15), when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Chico State alumnus Glen Toney, Ed.D., to the Board of Trustees, which oversees the 23-campus system. Another Chicoan, Bob Linscheid, was appointed last year.

Toney is a former president of the CSU, Chico Alumni Association and has served on the president’s Advisory Board and the new natural-history museum board. A longtime educator, he also served as a corporate officer at Applied Materials, the world’s largest supplier of products and services to the semiconductor industry.

Toney, who lives in Chico, said he wants to improve access to the state universities, particularly in Northern California.

High costs or low wages?

Are Chico’s houses overvalued? Yes, says a recent housing report, which states Chico’s houses cost, on average, far more than its residents can afford. No, responds Debbie Brodie, a real-estate agent and secretary of the Chico Association of Realtors. The report is fundamentally flawed, she insists.

The analysis, by Global Insight and National City Corp., lists overvaluation percentages for 317 U.S. cities. The figures are determined by examining the ratio of housing prices to household incomes. Chico’s overvaluation rate is 60.7 percent, but Brodie said it doesn’t take into consideration certain key factors. “People who don’t live here don’t know about the student population and how it lowers the average income in Chico,” she said.

Perhaps the problem is not that houses cost too much, but that Chico employees aren’t paid enough. “It’s not so much that the houses are overvalued,” said City Councilman Steve Bertagna, one of whose hats is that of a Chico Valley Mortgage loan specialist. “It’s just getting harder to support a family and buy a house when you aren’t making enough money.”

Ready, set, run—again

Speaking of Steve, it’s official, now that all provisional and absentee ballots have been tallied, that he and fellow City Councilmember Maureen Kirk are in a runoff for the District 3 county-supervisor seat. Both will be vying for the 863 votes garnered by Chuck Kutz, who played the spoiler in the June 6 election, keeping Kirk just a percentage point away from a clear majority. “Kutz is along the conservative aisle, so I would think that those who voted for him would lean more toward me,” Bertagna said. Money will be an issue. Both candidates have already spent heavily, though Bertagna said he put some money aside for a runoff. Kirk could not be reached for comment.