Letters for February 14, 2019

‘Salutes and slams’

Re “Dire directive” (Newslines, by Ashiah Scharaga, Feb. 7):

Thank you to Mayor Randall Stone, Scott Huber, Ann Schwab and Vice Mayor Alex Brown for insisting that the city put up an emergency warming center for the people experiencing homelessness. And thank you to Mark Orme and his staff for making it happen within 24 hours. Their consideration for people over money and politics is very gratifying and probably is saving lives.

Sandra O’Neill

Chico

As an homage to the Enterprise-Record’s “Hits and Misses” column, some Salutes and Slams:

Salute: With the creation of a warming center, for the first time in our city’s history, shelter and toilets were provided to the homeless, on city property, by the city of Chico. This is a welcome turning point and I salute our council, especially Councilman Scott Huber and Mayor Randall Stone. Also, thanks to City Manager Mark Orme and his staff for a seemingly instant and effective response.

Slam: Where are our FEMA trailers? No, not FEMA mobile homes, which take months to install, but camp trailers of the sort that were dropped in Orland months ago! Orland has 70 and proportional to our population, we should have nearly 1,000. So far, zip.

Salute: I salute Sandra O’Neill for her steadfast advocacy for the homeless, well illustrated at the last council meeting. O’Neill asked our council to rescind our many homeless criminalization laws—including sit/lie. I hope our council is listening.

Slam: Who removed the picnic tables at Children’s Playground? Those tables were often used by homeless people and that area was “adopted” by anti-homeless Chico Firsters. I smell a rat. Let’s get those tables back.

Patrick Newman

Chico

Anti-vet ordinance

Twenty veterans commit suicide every day. Veterans Affairs, under Trump, still refuses to allow medical doctors to prescribe cannabis to wounded veterans suffering various ailments. Unfortunately, the VA prescribes opioids at excessive levels to veterans.

In 1996, the people of California passed Proposition 215, making it legal for doctors to prescribe medical cannabis. In November 2017, the Chico City Council passed (4-3), an ordinance to prohibit medically prescribed cannabis to be delivered in Chico, including to wounded veterans. However, anyone who is addicted to opioids could continue to have those drugs delivered to their homes.

Councilmembers Randall Stone (now mayor), Ann Schwab and Karl Ory voted against the anti-veteran cannabis ordinance. Last November, the Chico voters elected two more Democrats, Scott Huber and Alex Brown, giving Democrats a 5-2 margin.

We are now 23 years since Prop. 215 was passed and Chico has not repealed the Republican ordinance that denies wounded veterans their medicine. Message to elected officials—the city staff work for you. Repeal the ordinance ASAP.

Bob Mulholland

Chico

Help for Trump?

Re “Bernie’s folly” (Letters, by Ray Estes, Jan. 31):

Ray Estes’ letter denouncing Bernie Sanders is a complete distortion of the 2016 presidential campaign.

Sanders ran as a Democrat because he didn’t want to hurt the Democratic chances like Nader did as a third-party candidate in 2000. When Hillary Clinton became the Democratic candidate following the primaries, Sanders gave her his full support.

After the 2016 primaries, I went to Butte College to represent the Democratic Party for registration purposes. Also present were tables for Republicans and the Green Party. No students came to my table and none to the Republicans. All students present went to the Green table to support Jill Stein. Clinton had lost the support of these young voters.

Estes’ advice for the DNC to tell Sanders to run as an independent would be a blueprint for a Democratic defeat. A popular third-party candidate would sink Democratic chances in 2020. I suspect Estes’ letter is a Machiavellian effort to enhance Trump’s re-election prospects.

Robert Woods

Forest Ranch

‘Beadle-Mania’

I’m puzzled by the weekly inclusion of letters by one Roger Beadle. He must have achieved some milestone for submissions and printing of his anti-Trump opinions. While his opinions are certainly welcome, it’s apparent that “Beadle-Mania” occupies a weekly slot in your paper. I will wait to hear his take on Trump’s SOTU speech.

A CBS poll shows that 76 percent of listeners approved (liked) what Trump said. That leaves an acute minority not approving. I expect Mr. Beadle’s next submission to be another rancor-filled and juvenile spearing of the president. Perhaps, you could limit his letters and, instead, open the vacancy to sell ads.

Bill Collins

Paradise

Support this legislation

Last year was the hottest year on record. Last year, carbon emissions increased to an unprecedented high. Last year, the Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive fire in California’s history, destroyed the town of Paradise.

These are not coincidences. Climate change is real, and it is here. We need to act quickly to prevent climate catastrophe in the form of increasingly common mega-fires like the Camp and Carr fires, and increasingly destructive droughts, hurricanes, floods and famine that will destroy countless species and ecosystems and displace millions of people.

Fortunately, there is something we can do. The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, supported by Democrats and Republicans, by climate scientists and economists, will help to reduce carbon emissions and stimulate investment in clean energy by placing a fee on carbon pollution. All revenue will be returned directly to citizens’ pockets.

This act was just introduced to Congress. We owe it to ourselves, our families, our children and our planet to work together, regardless of political affiliation, to preserve the one world that we have for future generations. Please contact our representative, Doug LaMalfa, and ask him to support the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act.

Dory Schachner

Chico

Shameful shutdown

The possibility of another shutdown looms over the heads of federal employees and contractors who have entered into good-faith contracts to provide services. But it affects all of us—it is estimated that the economy lost $30 billion in the last debacle.

Federal employees have no right to strike per a 1971 Supreme Court decision. The president and Congress are not held to any standard like this. If federal employees are considered intrinsic to government operations, then forcing them to work unpaid is unfathomable.

I proposed to Rep. Doug LaMalfa that, in the event a formal budget cannot be timely passed for all agencies (last done in 1991), there be an automatic imposing of a continuing resolution that funds all agencies at the level they were operating on Sept. 30. This would prevent employees from being pawns in political shenanigans. I have not heard back from him.

During my 43-year career in federal civil service, I endured at least four shutdown actions. It is not right for employees, contractors and the general populace to be treated so disrespectfully by our elected officials. When a member of Congress is introduced, oftentimes the word “honorable” is added before his or her name, yet there is nothing honorable when they fail us.

Ed Wrona

Chico

Applaud the Fourth Estate

Further investigation is obviously necessary. We have only to remember President Nixon’s denial that he was “a crook” to know that unscrupulous presidents lie. Without knowing the truths of what President Trump and subordinates have done, we will not know what is broken, fix it, and impose just sanctions.

We do know that his probable violations have been extensive (Holtzman, Impeaching Trump, 2018; Case for Impeachment, Lichtman & Woren, 2017). We need, however, to flesh out these accusations. That will be done in large part by Trump’s favorite red herring, the FairAccurateKnowledgeable Efficatious (FAKE) media. Just as Woodward and Bernstein’s dogged investigative reporting unearthed Nixon’s malfeasances, so will the media of today document as no other entity can the extent of Trump’s misdeeds—poetic justice, that.

Our free press is again proving to be democracy’s indispensable fourth branch of government (Fourth Estate, Edmund Burke, parliament speech, 1787).

William Todd-Mancillas

Chico

Of measles and migrants

Our national nightmare is not migrants but measles. Migrants should not ever be expected to return home while measles we thought never would.

Kenneth B. Keith

Tehama

Another presidential candidate

I, like many, many others, am considering a presidential bid in 2020. I’ll be up front about this. I do not have any vision or plan. Nor do I think I will make anyone’s life better. What I can offer, however, is a massively huge ego.

One of the things I hope to champion is California’s weak borders. Trump is currently working on our southern border. I hope to cover the rest. In time we will have to work on walls to keep the crazy Oregonians and Nevadans in check.

But first, I think we ought to consider how weak our sea security is. That is why I am promoting a Beachfront Security (B.S.) program. We are talking concertina wire up and down our beaches. If we get enough funds, we can do something like World War II beaches of Normandy (or total B.S).

Some whiner will say this will ruin our beautiful California beach sunsets. We don’t have time for that now, terror is afoot. We need to live in constant fear. The good news about my B.S. program? I’m very confident in my negotiating skills, and I’m sure I can get Fiji and Samoa to pay for it.

Wolfgang J. Straub

Redding

‘Consider the intent’

Virginia’s governor and attorney general are under attack for wearing black face or KKK garb decades ago. Many claim it a racist act, with a prescribed penalty.

As a conservative, I have little in common with these gentlemen. That aside, though, I defend their right to due process and the presumption of innocence.

Blackface was once widely accepted and popularized by Al Jolsen, a white entertainer in the 1930s. Eddie Murphy played in whiteface in a television sketch in the ’80s. And, the children’s rhyme “Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe” was chanted by thousands of children, oblivious to the racial slur contained within.

Today’s rap music, with demeaning lyrics, and the use of profanity in public discourse, once unacceptable, is now commonplace.

Before labeling anyone a racist, consider the intent.

Was it intended to do harm or be humorous and entertaining? Was it done in an innocent, perhaps naïve and insensitive, manner? When did it occur? What were the prevailing cultural norms?

Dare I say, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7)

Pete Stiglich

Cottonwood

Don’t forget the pets

I’m with Pet Rescue and Reunification. While there has been tremendous coverage of the impact of Camp Fire, a largely ignored aspect is the hundreds of roaming fire animals spotted on camera still in burn zones. With thousands of unresolved lost reports, and people displaced in other counties and states, this is an enormous and recurring phenomenon—pets roaming in a burn zone with their owners having no way to reunite with them.

We are an all-volunteer effort operating only on donated supplies. We have a database of all fire pets—the only such unified database being kept up to date—and we use this to match pets rescued by our field team to reunify pets. Please spread the word. Pets often survive fires, but people must connect with us via Campfirepetrescue.org or on Facebook by searching Camp Fire Pet Rescue and Reunification.

Signe Nielsen

Lakeport