Letters for February 13, 2014

Join the fun

Re “Get a date!” (Cover feature, by Meredith J. Graham, Feb. 6):

I’ve been a member of Dinner4Six for a little more than three years now. Although I haven’t met that special someone yet, I’ve been having great fun at the weekly mixers and house parties. Give it a try!

Dennis May
Oroville

Courts need overhauling

Re “Illusions of superiority” (Letters, by Nathan Esplanade, Feb. 6):

I empathize with Mr. Esplanade’s legal woes in dealing with corporate America. However, this is the USA, Inc. Our legal system is unequal and favors corporate interests.

Justice David Dudley Field codified our laws in the late 1800s when the robber barons were at their zenith. As a result, the interests of corporations are more important than the rights of individuals in our courtrooms—it’s written into our legal system. (Incidentally, the Jamestown Colony was founded by a corporation, the London Company, whose shareholders demanded a profit even though 90 percent of the settlers had died off.)

Nowadays, at a time when everyone is clamoring for equality in America, it seems a shame that the most unequal place in the USA is in our courtrooms. We have an obsolete, antiquated legal system that needs to be revamped and updated to place human rights first. In the meantime, we must be consoled by the words of Anatole France: “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges.”

Mike Peters
Chico

Law aids the ‘little guy’

Re “Health-care law’s flaws” (Letters, by David L. Sanders, Feb. 6):

My health-care plan was jacked up by Blue Cross from $250 to $550 per month the first month of Obamacare until my Medi-Cal kicked in, and now I pay $0. I can hear the Republicans saying, “I’ve worked hard all my life to ‘get ahead’ and now with one stroke of the ‘socialist’ pen all those ‘other people’ have caught up with me.” Mean people: Life is not a competition, and the only way to ‘get ahead’ in the ‘race’ of life is to develop compassion and gratitude for this gift of life before you die. I live a very rich life below the poverty line.

Roland McNutt
Chico

Mismanagement here, too

Re “Parents sour on plan for school” (Downstroke, Feb. 6):

When the city of Chico brought in Brian Nakamura as city manager, I don’t think anyone expected him to uncover such a disorganized mess. People too often blame financial hardships on external and mysterious forces that are unavoidable.

We are learning that it will take years to recover from the mismanagement that humans made. The employees themselves get most of the blame, but they are not alone. Previous City Councils have to take responsibility for ignoring the results.

Now fast forward to the Chico Unified School District, which has nosedived for many years, not because of state budgets but by similar mismanagement. I wish that Brian Nakamura had a teaching credential and could do the same house-cleaning at the CUSD.

Having graduated from our landmark Citrus Elementary School, I cringe at the thought of another major decision done by a team with a poor track record. I wish our school board would recognize that the woes of our school district will be corrected only with the same drastic steps that our City Council recently took.

I urge the school board to seek help, possibly from our City Council that took courageous, painful and dramatic steps to save our city.

Leslie Elena Thompson
Chico

The speaker responds

Re “He likes GMOs” (Letters, by Chad Wozniak, Feb. 6):

Mr. Wozniak: Please provide a list of the scientific studies that have been published in a scientific journal that prove the increased yields of any GMO crop. The Union of Concerned Scientists published a report (Failure to Yield) in 2009 that documents the fact that GMO crops yield less.

Please document the reduction in pesticide use since the introduction of GMO crops. There are two scientific studies published by Dr. Charles Benbrook that document an increase in pesticide use in the U.S. since the introduction of GMO crops.

Please convince all of the mothers that the health of their children does not improve when they remove all GMOs from their children’s diets.

Golden Rice does have slightly higher vitamin A content than the original rice, but vitamin A cannot be absorbed by the body without the presence of a specific type of fat that is not present in the Golden Rice. Mothers of children in the Philippines do not wish to see their children used as guinea pigs with this rice that is untested for safety.

The process by which GMO crops are made in a laboratory would never happen in nature.

Howard Vlieger
Maurice, Iowa

There are other victims

Re “Out of sight, out of mind” (Cover feature, Jan. 23) and “Change of mind” (Second & Flume, by Melissa Daugherty, Jan. 23):

There are many very compassionate people in this town who do not believe the downtown should be allowed to be a giant illegal campground. Maybe discouraging large gatherings for outdoor meals in the City Plaza and moving them to a less central location does not “mostly benefit a small interest group of wealthy property owners,” but is reasonable public policy.

The truly homeless, as well as the people who choose to live on the streets, are not the only “victims” here. It is difficult for young families to feel comfortable using public facilities where potentially aggressive, unvaccinated dogs, random loud obscenities, and open drug use are often present. It is challenging for small businesses to thrive in an atmosphere that does not feel safe or clean. Those are the same small businesses whose taxes pay for much of the infrastructure of this beautiful place.

I applaud Pastor Jim Culp for being willing to move his private ministry to another public property a few blocks away. Hopefully we can all work together to find some compassionate compromises that truly respect the rights of all the people who are impacted by this social issue. Civil discourse will be a good start.

Dave Hollingsworth
Chico

Immigration flip-flopper

During his run for Congress, Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) left no doubt where he stood on immigration: “America needs a clear and enforceable policy that promotes legal immigration and doesn’t reward illegal immigration. Amnesty is not an acceptable option.

“The current policy does not work and America sends a mixed message …”

Strangely enough, though, his Congressional website at www.lamalfa.house.gov is totally silent on immigration.

Not a word on immigration.

Then comes an article by Tim Hearden in the Capital Press that explains what’s going on: “LaMalfa said he has been swayed by conversations with farmers—particularly in the nursery industry—who have suffered through labor shortages in recent years.”

“Certainly we’ve had some very spirited conversations about how tough it is on them,” the freshman congressman said while appearing at a recent cattlemen’s dinner. “It’s been those conversations that have made me kind of pivot and say we’ve got to get something done.”

Well, isn’t that special? All it took was dinner with agribusiness buddies to persuade Doug to compromise his strong pledge of no rewards, no amnesty, no mixed messages.

So, congressman, what’s this “pivot” stuff all about?

Conservative minds want to know.

Pete Stiglich
Cottonwood

Pot talk

Re “Say no to pot petition” (Letters, by Bonnie Masarik, Feb. 6):

Readers should disregard any comments by a letter writer who is so misinformed that she thinks cannabis plants require 10 gallons a day of water. Cannabis does not require any more water than tomatoes or any other common plants, and if they are watered once a week, or less, they do just fine.

Dave Lane
Santa Cruz

I’d like to add that the cannabis-legalization issue is not whether cannabis is completely safe for everybody, including children and adolescents. It is not.

The issue is freedom of choice for adults. Children have died from eating peanuts and peanut butter, but we don’t cage peanut growers, sellers or consumers. And the voters in Colorado and Washington have decided that we should not cage cannabis growers, sellers or consumers.

California adults have the freedom of choice of whether or not to consume legal alcohol. Shouldn’t California adults have to same freedom of choice that Colorado and Washington adults have?

Those opposed to cannabis use would still have the freedom to not grow it, sell it or use it.

Kirk Muse
Mesa, Ariz.