Letters for April 5, 2012

Those dear deer

Re “The great Magalia deer-feeding bust” (Cover story, by Jaime O’Neill, March 29):

Why is it that people seem to have this need to connect with the animals of the forest? Feeding wild animals is a very bad idea. Leave these creatures alone and allow them to take care of themselves. Admire them from a distance and let nature take its course.

Sidney Burch
Chico

I presume that if you have apple, apricot or some other type of fruit trees or even a clover lawn growing on your property, you could be in violation of the law if deer should stop and feed on them on a regular basis. The several apple orchards in Paradise must put up signs around their perimeter stating “No deer entry permitted.”

Mel Oldham
Red Bluff

I was wondering how many others in Chico used to attend Linden School and after school would go home, grab a big bag of potato chips, and head to the deep pen at the nature center to feed the deer. I hope no game wardens read this! And I hope the nature center doesn’t get taken to court for allowing us to feed the “wild animals.”

Robert Berry
Chico

I read with great amusement Jaime O’Neill’s run-in with the game wardens. Quite frankly, I hope they throw the book at him for his deer-feeding activities. His wanton crime has put us all in great danger of chronic-wasting disease and attack by mountain lions.

More important, making these unfortunate animals dependent on government hand-outs will cause them to develop a sense of entitlement to more apples, more grain. Where will it stop?! Before you know it they will demand $4.7 million in rice welfare payments, like candidate for Congress Doug LaMalfa.

James Ledgerwood
Chico

Supervisor should apologize

Re “Connelly’s ‘Funny’ Email” (Downstroke, March 29): On behalf of the Human Relations Network of Butte County, I say that Supervisor Bill Connelly’s email to KPAY about Muslims yelling anti-American slogans is not funny. Most Muslims are loyal Americans, many fought in wars for our country, and some even died. I must mention that recently an Iraqi-American woman was killed in a hate crime in El Cajon. Remarks such as Connelly’s serve only to promote such crimes.

As a county supervisor, Connelly owes an apology to every Muslim, and for that matter to all of the citizens of Butte County and beyond, for his “joke.” If he is not able to see the need for this, then he has no business being a public official.

Walter Ballin
Chairperson, Human Relations Network of Butte County

Bike path is in the plan

Re “Is Comanche Creek safe?” (From This Corner, by Robert Speer, March 22): With redevelopment issues likely slowing implementation of the Comanche Creek Plan, Chico City Councilman Sorensen’s statements regarding improvements fall short of the mark, so to speak.

Since 1984 the Chico Urban Area Bike Plan has identified the abandoned railroad right of way from the Midway and Hegan Lane to 16th Street for development as a class 1 bike path. While not currently designated in the bike plan as a priority project with secured funding, the plan is flexible and allows for changes to be able to adapt to changing circumstances and emerging opportunities and funding sources.

Completion of this project has its challenges, not the least of which is property ownership. We have experience resolving this. Public desire for more bike paths and political will could get these bike wheels rolling. Chicoans know how to do this.

Ed McLaughlin
Chair, Chico Bicycle Advisory Committee

CN&R should consult local

Re The Greenhouse (column, by Christine G.K. LaPado, March 29): As a third-generation meat processor and prominent blogger for Chico Locker & Sausage Co. Inc., I am outraged to see what was reported on LFTB (lean finely textured beef), coined “pink slime.” The explanation of what “pink slime” is—“basically the fatty offal swept up off the slaughterhouse floor”—couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, the industry term, LFTB, is never even mentioned in the column.

Regardless of your stance on LFTB, if your paper is going to be writing about the meat industry, I would like you to give correct, factual information. I work hard six days a week providing our local public with quality meat products and write blogs to provide that same public with correct, factual information about my industry, only to have you publish misinformation to your readers, many of whom are also my customers.

For a paper that encourages people to support local, you sure aren’t practicing what you preach by your inability to consult local. It is my hope that in the future the paper won’t be afraid to use the local resources you recommend your readers to use in order to do what it is that you are paid to do, report.

Jennifer Dewey
Chico

Editor’s note: Go to chicolockersausage.com for more of Ms. Dewey’s writings on this subject.

Bay DDT update

Re “Toxins linger in S.F. Bay” (Earthwatch, March 29): Federal and state cleanup efforts have been successful in removing a large amount of DDT from the Lauritzen Channel and impacting the Inner Richmond Harbor. As a result, DDT concentrations in sediment in the Santa Fe Channel, Parr Canal, and Inner Richmond Harbor are no longer significantly impacting wildlife.

DDT concentrations specifically in sediment in the Lauritzen Channel (8 acres) are still high and have increased over time.

Mary Simms
Press Officer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

His chickens aren’t caged

Re “Chickens come first” (Chow, by Alastair Bland, March 29): This article is not quite accurate. I don’t use cages … in any shape, size or form whatsoever. My flocks are all kept in barns and outbuildings together with their roosting poles and nesting boxes. They are let out each morning at dawn.

Chris Copley
Corning

Editor’s note: “Cages” was a poor choice of words; the author used it only in the sense of “places of confinement.” Our apologies.

Why risk it?

Re “Fighting for their families” (Cover story, by Meredith J. Graham, March 22): Yes, it is a tragedy that a mother was separated from her young children. As a mother of two young girls, I know how precious every minute is at that age. And yes, she was probably not putting her kids in danger, but her lifestyle and decisions to grow medical marijuana were.

Two years ago I was put in a similar situation where my partner decided to get into the “growing” business. When I heard that children were being taken away from their parents because of growing, I chose to not be involved. The possible risk of losing my daughter and unborn child was not a risk I was willing to take.

I feel in this situation the CPS did exactly what they were supposed to do: protect the children. Parents need to know the risks before deciding to engage in growing marijuana. If people are selfish enough to take those risks when kids are involved, then they need to deal with the consequences.

Ashley Hardin
Chico

Reed would save Medicare

North State candidacies for the June 5 primary election have been announced, listing eight hopefuls to replace Wally Herger in the 1st Congressional District.

Only one would act in the people’s interest to save Social Security and Medicare. That’s Jim Reed, a country lawyer from eastern Shasta County, who pledges to keep those institutions stable.

Reed ran against Herger in 2010, polling strongly in the area while winning in Butte County. He has sharpened his message in 2012 and will be a strong voice in Congress, which has an excellent chance of again returning to the Democrats. With President Obama leading the way, we can move the United States forward, enacting the president’s job program and other legislation to benefit the working people of our country.

Robert Woods
Chico

Dolphins are collateral damage

For the second time in less than a week, a gray whale has become entangled in fishing nets off the coast of Southern California. This is a stark reminder that many animals besides fish are dying for our fish dinners.

Researchers estimate that nearly 1,000 marine mammals—dolphins, whales, and porpoises—die every single day after being caught by “mistake” in fishing nets. One study found that commercial fishing trawlers kill thousands of sea birds, including endangered albatrosses, every year in one fishery alone (in the Benguela Current, off South Africa). Commercial fishers are allowed nine pounds of unintended “bycatch” for every one pound of intended catch.

And don’t forget that, whether they are targeted or not, all animals—including fish—feel pain and suffer horribly when they are impaled on hooks or sliced open by the thin mesh of a net.

Leaving fish (and other animals) off our plates is the most humane choice—and the best way to help protect the world’s fragile oceans. Visit www.peta.org/fish to learn more.

Paula Moore
The PETA Foundation