Letters for April 12, 2018

Remembering Molly

Molly wished me to thank her community for all the support she received in her final days. You eased her passing. If you knew Molly, please write a remembrance of her and give it to me at the Saturday farmers’ market, so it may be viewed/read at a family-friendly potluck to be held on July 27 at Chico Women’s Club. The event will be followed by the Molly Amick Soul Release Dance Party (per Molly’s request) at the same location. Love to all.

Sterling Ogden

Chico

Editor’s note: The author is the husband of Chicoan Molly Amick, who passed away March 31 at the age of 53. Amick was the artist behind this year’s Poetry 99 cover art. She also penned some exceptional guest commentaries and letters to the editor in the CN&R over the years.

‘Keyword amendment’

Re “Join the debate” (Editorial, April 5):

A few points regarding the Second Amendment; indeed, all amendments. Keyword amendment. The Bill of Rights is a living document, open to revision, amendment, and yes, even overturning. Emancipation, suffrage, prohibition were all historic examples. Revision of or overturning the Second Amendment may be the only course to civilizing our society in the end.

Allow me to point something out: Not one of the free and democratic nations I can think of outlaws private gun ownership by citizens. Not one. And yet, they are also not bound (strangled) by America’s fanatical adherence to the presumed “sacred rights” guaranteed by the problematic Second Amendment.

I have lived in Canada and Japan, and have traveled extensively throughout Central America, Europe, Southeast Asia and Australia—free countries in which law-abiding citizens are allowed to own firearms even though there is no equivalent to the Second Amendment. Are they less free than we? No. They are, statistically, much safer from each other, however.

We may be as hindered by the Second as we are presumably made free by it. Free to do what? Free to be whom? A country of gun-happy fanatics bent on national self-annihilation?

Revise or overturn the Second Amendment—now!

Joe Hlebica

Red Bluff

Out of context

Re “The mayor’s obligation” (Editorial) and “Fed up” (Newslines, by Ashiah Scharaga, April 5):

“If accurate …” Yes, good faith and integrity are important virtues. The person who “outed” Mayor Sean Morgan lacks either, as revealed by her “quoting” him selectively and out of context to construct her false narrative.

Chico First and its supporters are getting used to being the objects of disdain by those who wish to cast all but themselves as “some of the most vile and repugnant expressions of a corrupted human nature.”

And all of this time, I thought Chico Friends on the Street was about compassion and charity, but now we can all understand the truth, as spoken by one of its articulate supporters. “My involvement with CFOTS is not motivated by charity, but rather by an expression of my constitutionally guaranteed right to participate in a weekly protest …” Now we know. It is not compassion and charity for the people in the plaza, but rather a protest, where the homeless are merely the stage props for their theater play.

Fortunately, we live under rules of a democratic process, and not under the thumb of those who will say anything if it fits their narrative. Votes, like facts, matter.

Rob Berry

Chico

City falls short

Re “Point of preservation” (Newslines, by Ashiah Scharaga, March 29):

The city of Chico is diminishing ORAI’s (Chico Outsiders’) role in maintaining the mitigation and monitoring measures required by the California Environmental Quality Act to protect natural resources at Peregrine Point Disc Golf Course, and absorbing this increased cost despite the city’s budget deficiencies.

ORAI’s role, prescribed in their operating agreement with the city that was signed in 2010 and renewed in 2016, states “Operator (ORAI) shall, at its sole cost and expense, maintain the premises and all disc golf improvements … in good repair….” This contract implements policy adopted by the City Council in 2009 as recommended by the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission (BPPC) in 2008.

The city has not cooperated with ORAI to fulfill this policy for the last several years, presumably because ORAI has been unable. The city’s rationale for substituting its scarce resources for ORAI’s is an unsubstantiated, significant increased use of the course by hikers and mountain bikers. Regardless, the city (BPPC and council) is solely legally responsible for maintaining legally required mitigation measures and monitoring their effectiveness at the course.

Woody Elliott

Chico

On the park and cars

Re “Open the gate” (Second & Flume, by Melissa Daugherty, March 1):

Based on my own bi-weekly observations, Upper Park Road is one of the most heavily hiked and biked trails in Upper Park. The road has more even terrain than any of the other trails, making it accessible to many who are not physically able to hike or cycle the more challenging smaller trails. Cars on the road are not only disruptive but also jeopardize the safety of these users.

To accommodate an even wider range of physical abilities, turn an 8-foot-wide strip of the road into a wheelchair-accessible path that could also be used by parents with strollers, toddlers on bikes and walkers with more pronounced mobility issues. More people of differing abilities can be safely served when cars are not on Upper Park Road. I suggest limiting car access to two days a week or, better yet, eliminating vehicular use altogether.

Eve Werner

Chico

Deputy fake facebooker?

A Tehama County Sheriff’s deputy has a fake Facebook page that he is using to harass supporters of another sheriff’s candidate. After being singled out in a rant by “Corey Davis,” I noted that he has 33 friends since 2009.

Most interesting is that “Corey Davis” did an online check-in at the Sheraton Hotel in Dallas, Texas, on Aug. 11, 2015. According to the Tehama County Board of Supervisors minutes from June 23, 2015, Agenda Item 44, Sheriff Dave Hencratt requested approval from the board for out-of-state travel for two deputies to go to Dallas on Aug. 9-13, 2015, to attend the Crimes Against Children Conference. One of those deputies is almost certainly “Corey Davis.”

The sheriff does not deny that his deputy was the person behind the fake page. “I will continue to investigate your allegation as it may pertain to a policy violation within my department. If there is a policy violation I will take the appropriate action.”

This deputy is a hero according to his bio, but the cowardly act of hiding behind a fake profile to denigrate political opponents casts a shadow over his public actions. At the least.

Aaron Standish

Manton

‘Same-old, same-old’

I think this city needs to put an effort into either changing our voting dates in June to a time when students who can vote are in town or willing to fill out an absentee ballot when on vacation. Otherwise, get ready to settle for the same-old conservatives who do not represent what I think are the more liberal attitudes of the majority. The conservatives did this on purpose, and it’s obvious to me—otherwise, get ready for the same-old, same-old tired and selfish governmenting in our beautiful city of Chico.

Naomi Ruth Eisenberg

Chico

Editor’s note: The June primary includes the Butte County Board of Supervisors race in which two contested seats are those that represent Chico. However, the City Council race takes place during the November general election.