Letters for January 24, 2019

About the Red Cross

Re “#RedCrossFailure” (Second & Flume, by Melissa Daugherty, Jan. 17) and “Shelter no more” (Newslines, by Meredith J. Cooper, Jan. 17):

I agree, there is something amiss with the American Red Cross, an organization recently described by NPR and ProPublica as “so consumed with public relations that it hinders the charity’s ability to provide disaster services.” I’ll never understand why we place blind trust in charities with highly compensated administrators (ostensibly serving the poorest of people) and an infatuation with self-marketing. Yet, we do.

Fact is: The Red Cross is pulling out of Chico on Jan. 31. This will leave several hundred people without shelter—in addition to the thousands already on edge. In light of this: Why is not one square foot of Chico city land available for use by fire survivors?! I’ve asked this question of the Chico City Council at four meetings since Nov. 8. Yet, not one FEMA trailer is in place (while tiny Orland has 70 and Gridley is slated for 350). And, we have not one camp site or a single legal parking space available for nighttime use.

For years, our city manager—“Skipper,” as Councilman Sean Morgan affectionately calls him—has been getting gold stars from a council obsessed with government minimalism. I hope the Skipper will chart a new course.

Patrick Newman

Chico

It is easy to find fault with any organization as large as the Red Cross. I am sure it is not always run as efficiently as desired, especially since a large proportion of its workers are volunteers. I have volunteered a few times at the Red Cross shelters both in Orland and Chico and have nothing but admiration for the regular volunteers who sign up for a minimum of two-week stretches at each disaster event. The ones I talked to came from all over the United States and were probably reimbursed for travel but not paid for their time. So, if the travel expenses are part of the overhead, so be it. Their living quarters are large tents with cots for beds just as the evacuees.

Hendrik Feenstra

Orland

What’s the job of the Red Cross? It is primarily disaster relief, including providing shelters to evacuees in conjunction with the county. Regardless of what we wish, it is not sheltering the homeless.

The Red Cross has shown us that it is possible to muster resources and provide shelter to hundreds. Through intense comprehensive interaction with all who seek shelter at the fairgrounds, hundreds of evacuees at the shelter have been given the financial resources and personal care necessary to relocate. Those in RVs, mostly without hookups, who are not evacuees deserve to be housed, as do hundreds more on our streets and parkways. Other nonprofits are scrambling to find winter shelter and the city is and should be supporting those efforts in every way we can.

Whether the fairgrounds is made available for shelter through January or February or March, congregate “temporary” long-term shelter is not healthy and will come to an end, and in most cases with better long-term care for those who lost their homes. I would like to acknowledge and state my appreciation for the care and assistance provided by Red Cross during this crisis.

Karl Ory

Chico

Editor’s note: Mr. Ory is a member of the local Red Cross advisory board. “The opinion in the letter is my own,” he tells the CN&R.

About the shutdown

Re “Trump’s destructive showdown” (Editorial, Jan. 10):

Congress cannot give the president what he is asking for under current conditions. As of today, Jan. 20, 2019, the president is asking for $5.7 billion to construct a wall on our southern border. He has rejected compromise proposals negotiated by both political parties that would fund border security—sometimes in amounts greater than he is now asking for.

But because Congress won’t explicitly fund the wall, he has shut down portions of the federal government, denying hundreds of thousands of government employees and contractors their paychecks. (Some will get back pay when government reopens, many will not.)

Families and businesses dependent on laid-off workers are also suffering. If the president successfully inflicts sufficient pain on American families that Congress surrenders to his wishes, then democracy itself is compromised. When one person overrules the entire Congress, that person is effectively a dictator—able to force Congress to do his or her bidding by threatening future damage to American families.

Giving in to a president under these conditions guarantees similar behavior in the future, and is a large step down the road to the death of democracy in America. Congress must not give in to these tactics.

Richard Young

Chico

Time to let your representatives know you want them to “deal” with the president on: 1) the barrier—you can call it sealing—on our southern border; 2) deal with the DACA children; and 3) open the government!

If you are thinking: “My one email or call won’t make a difference,” you’re wrong. Their staff keeps track of the numbers, yes or no!

Also, don’t just make your feelings known to the party of your choice, send your opinions to all our representatives in Washington, D.C. Just so you know: President Trump is in his office waiting for Congress to do something!

“It is the duty of a true patriot to protect its country from the government!”—Thomas Paine.

Time to be a patriot! Email or write your thoughts to our elected officials.

Loretta Ann Torres

Chico

Our representative voted against any bill passed in the House to reopen essential branches of the federal government. Why? There are national parks in his district and lots of business owners who are dependent on those visitors’ dollars. Now onto federal workers who have to pay their mortgage/rent on the first. Our fearless representative must be of the same mindset of Trump, who said, “They’ll make adjustments, they always do.”

Bring on the new homeless folks. Yes, this is what it comes to; those of you who voted for Trump should’ve seen it coming. He doesn’t pay his contractors either, so take it to court. Wait, they close this week. Oh well, at least Trump loves the “poorly educated.” All this over a wall for a fake crisis made up by a fake president who said Mexico would pay.

Frank Oddo

Oroville

Remembering Korematsu

Jan. 30 is the 100th birthday of Fred T. Korematsu, in whose honor the date has become a California state holiday.

Korematsu was an American civil rights activist who refused to go to this country’s incarceration camps for Japanese Americans during World War II.

In 1942, after he was arrested and convicted of defying the government’s order, he appealed his case all the way to the Supreme Court. In 1944, the Supreme Court ruled against him, arguing that the incarceration was justified due to military necessity. Supreme Court Justice Frank Murphy dissented in the case, declaring, “I dissent from this legalization of racism.” This is the first Supreme Court opinion ever to use the word “racism.” Young Korematsu was ordered to join his family in one of the 10 incarceration camps.

The displacement and incarceration of all my elders into prison camps resembles what’s currently happening with the Latino immigrant community, those seeking refuge from violence and danger.

One of the last things Fred Korematsu said was “protest, but not with violence and don’t be afraid to speak up.”

Let’s honor our own immigrant ancestors by welcoming new incoming immigrants. Let’s meet them at our southern border with open arms and hearts.

Diane Suzuki

Chico

More on POTUS

Do we really need a State of the Union speech? For those who have been paying attention, we already know: Our air is descending into filthy skies; our water is the marine life’s nightmare; our natural resources are being auctioned off for pillage; our standing in the world as the beacon of achievement has been darkened; President Trump has turned his back on America to enrich himself.

Our Comrade-in-Chief is implementing programs that are benefiting Russia, and a complicit Republican Congress is colluding with him to execute these policies that are undermining our democracy. Corporations and self-serving billionaires are spending millions of dollars to buy politicians who will do their bidding: tax cuts for the rich; dismantle regulations; assault workers’ rights; deny climate change. The president’s cabinet is rife with dishonesty and ignorance. The very foundation of our society is threatened, which undermines the rule of law.

We need the corruption removed from the Oval Office and Congress. We need leadership that will stand before the American people and deliver an honest assessment as to the fate of the union.

Roger S. Beadle

Chico

Questions about Koppers

Crickets for Oroville when it comes to toxic debris questions about dumping of the Camp Fire debris in city limits.

For days, officials have been ignoring the health and welfare and air quality questions of Orovillians. State Sen. Jim Nielsen and Assemblyman James Gallagher are unavailable; do not return calls regarding the use of the Koppers Superfund site. FEMA, California EPA and the OES are also without comment. The Butte County Air Quality Management District planner twice promised to email me resources and information during telephone calls, but that hasn’t happened.

Why truck toxic debris 26 miles? Do cleanup in Paradise. It’s an opportunity to modernize Paradise. The water lines need to be replaced—so why not install underground electricity, phone, cable and sewers at that time, and ensure new construction has state-subsidized solar? Nineteen-thousand structures without sewer is shameful. Update Paradise for residents and businesses.

The Tubbs Fire lost 5,800 structures 15 months ago. Only 50 structures have been rebuilt. There is no hurry for Paradise. So, why the rush by FEMA, the collusion of the EPA, and crickets from all our elected officials?

Thirty years I’ve asked for an air-quality monitor for the county seat. Oroville has not received one. Why?

Pam Leis

Oroville

‘Wake-up call’

The political barriers to tackling climate change are gradually weakening. It is now addressed regularly in the news and all over the internet. And I do believe the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report from October 2018, which stated the world had 12 years to turn things around, may have been a wake-up call for some.

Ultimately, though, the key to opening up the discussion about climate change is related to the personal stories of those of us who have been directly hurt by it. Here in Butte County, we must continue to tell our stories, and if doing so elevates the Camp Fire to the poster child for climate change, then we know we have been heard.

Robbin Anderson

Clio

Disqualification, please

As a Euro-origin male, I may have no valid input here, but I find it incredible that after national Women’s March co-chair Tamika Mallory called Louis Farrakhan the “greatest of all time,” there were no repercussions, or that the issue was framed as a question of whether Farrakhan is anti-Semitic.

Whatever else he may be, Farrakhan is, indeed, anti-Semitic, as innumerable comments over many years clearly establish. But apart from that, he has a record of the grossest sexism. According to the Wikipedia entry on Farrakhan, he has consistently—in speeches to women—“encouraged them to put husbands and children ahead of their careers,” dress as he deems appropriate and, inter alia, reject abortion. He also stressed the importance of cooking and cleaning and urged women not to abandon homemaking for careers. “You’re just not going to be happy unless there is happiness in the home,” Mr. Farrakhan said. “Your professional lives can’t satisfy your soul like a good, loving man.”

Unless the Women’s March is about satisfying “good, loving men,” Mallory’s incredible statement should disqualify her from any leadership role for other women.

Norman B. Beecher

Chico

Trump, LaMalfa and the Camp Fire

Trump told the people of Paradise he was going to “take care of the people who have been so badly hurt.” In less than two months, in a heartless and vindictive tweet, Trump torched the hopes of the town of Paradise and others hurt by wildfires, when he pronounced “No FEMA funding for California fires.”

Is he being petty making California pay for his stupid wall with our FEMA funding, because Democrats refused to waste one penny on his promise? Doesn’t he know half the population in Paradise voted for him and embraced him heroically, when he visited? Now their hero has spit in their face, as he does to everyone eventually, Democrat and Republican.

Congressman Doug LaMalfa, Sen. Jim Nielsen and Assemblyman James Gallagher’s milquetoast response to such an outrageous idea was cowardly at best. Our state, farmers’ and citizens’ needs are ignored by Trump, except to hurt us.

Why our legislators would support an evil, vindictive, immoral man like Trump is beyond me. Is he destroying America and Americans out of vindictiveness or to sidetrack the public from the Mueller investigation, which is breathing down Trump’s neck, or at Putin’s request?

Pat Johnston

Red Bluff

Clarification

In “Cleaning up a mess” (Newslines, by Meredith J. Cooper, Jan. 10), the state’s soil testing process was oversimplified. Crews test nearby undamaged soil prior to cleanup to set a baseline, then remove debris, then test to ensure soil in the debris area meets the baseline. Contaminants found will prompt further debris removal. Once cleared, a notice—not a certificate—of completion will be provided. We apologize for the confusion. The story has been clarified online.