Letters for March 21, 2002

Sister support
Note to a misguided Angel ["Dining for dollars,” by Devanie Angel, March 7]: Dearest, you miss the point. This is not a zero-sum game where someone wins at the expense of someone losing. I know quite a few women who have been “fully gifted,” and shame on you for singling out poor Ms. Green as the sole beneficiary of the circles, as if she had done something wicked.

We gift and hold each other’s dreams dear because it pleases us. Did you find one woman in your research who was unhappy with her circle? If so, you did not mention her.

The amount of my gift to our bouquet this year just happened to be an amount equal to 25 percent of the money I “gifted” to various agencies in taxes. I know what my bouquet used the gift for (dental and optometry work she’d long desired). I wish I could say the same about the money given to W. and his cronies. (How much did we spend on dropping Pop-Tarts in Afghanistan? Shall we buy lentils next time?)

Perhaps, dear angel, your world as it is supports you perfectly. I do hope so. I pray that your husband sees your dreams as clearly as you do and that you travel in synch toward their realization. Some of us, however, are stronger for the support of our sisters. As I approach my crowning, I find great satisfaction in helping the young ones in our garden develop healthy attitudes toward prosperity and tithing. It feeds me. When I lack energy and optimism, the women in my group bustle forth with outstretched hands, succoring me until I am strong again.

Without having received a penny, I have been fully gifted in my circle. I don’t much give a rip whether the DA approves because, as you so accurately mentioned, intelligent women populate our circles, and we are structured in a way that lives comfortably within both the letter and the spirit of the law.

So, guardian angel, we bless your earnestness and intention to save us from our dreams and ourselves. But worry not; we are doing as we choose.

Katie MacGregor
Chico

Half-baked dinner
When both my wife and my mother were solicited to join these “dinner circles” several months ago, I knew there was a problem. The women promoting the circles included a therapist and wife of a politically active lawyer, a noted local author prominent in women’s circles, other local therapists (MFCCs) and an active leader in a local church.

I was irate that these women were using their status as professionals and counselors to prey on other women. Not surprisingly, both my wife and my mother refused to contact legal authorities, citing the risk of social rejection. When I called the DA’s Office, I was told that they were not interested unless I had cause to file a complaint (as a guy I was not solicited).

Now that the excitement of joining a new women’s group has worn off, many women in Chico are receiving financial “Darwin awards.” They’re paying interest on loans only to be ripped off by “friends.” If you are one of these women, please do us all a favor and press charges. These ladies, the professionals especially, deserve some jail time—for meditation, mind you.

John (last name withheld by request)
Chico

Recall Yamaguchi?
Supervisor Kim Yamaguchi has put his lust for power ahead of honest service to his constituents. Yamaguchi and his political advisor, David Reade, have set a new low for political dirty tricks.

Now is the time for the citizens of Butte County to take back control of our government. A drive to recall Yamaguchi is underway. The campaign needs donations to help pay for administrative costs, office rent and other expenses. Please make your check out to “Committee To Recall Yamaguchi” and sent it to:

Ellis Mathews, Treasurer
5660 Brookview Way
Paradise, CA 95969

Those who want to volunteer or offer other help can call the committee at (530) 873-0490. For further information, visit the Web site at www.recallyamaguchi.com

Ron Sherman
Chico

Grim vision
Twenty years ago Jane Fonda used to frequent Chico and made the liberal caucus what it is today. Now they’re too embarrassed to mention she was ever here.

The conservatives are so slimy and greedy that nobody trusts them and are unable to accomplish anything positive.

As long as the Dolan/Reade political split is allowed to exist and their power bases aren’t diluted by alternative ideas and business, Butte County will forever be cursed with only retail jobs and noisy gravel pits.

Guy Morey
Chico

Tell them thanks
When I served with the 101st Airborne in Vietnam, soldiers would get letters from Americans we didn’t know. That helped with morale.

Well, my old outfit, the 101st Airborne, is now in Afghanistan.

Due to the anthrax scare and technology changes, Americans can now send letters of support to our soldiers by e-mail. You can go to: http://operationdearabby.net to send your letter.

Those of us (more than 30 million American veterans) who have served appreciated contact from home, so I would urge your readers to send a letter.

Bob Mulholland
Chico

Sad ballad
Last week the Israeli army invaded my hometown—200 tanks, 20,000 soldiers and a bunch of airplanes. They killed some, imprisoned some and destroyed some.

To my family, relatives, friends and the people in the twin cities, Ramallah and Albireh, I’d like to send this Irish ballad:

The Town I Loved So Well

In my memory, I will always see
The town that I have loved so well
There I spent my youth
And to tell you the truth
I was sad to leave it all behind me
Those were the happy days
In so many many ways
In the town I loved so well
But when I returned, how my eyes have burned
To see how a town could be brought to its knees
Now, the army’s installed by the old gas yard wall
And the damned barbed wire gets higher and higher
With their tanks and their guns
Oh my God
What have they done?
To the town I loved so well
Now the music’s gone, but they carry on
For their spirit been bruised, never broken
They will not forget, but their hearts are set
On tomorrow and peace once again
For what’s done is done and what’s won is won
And what’s lost is lost and gone forever
I can only pray, for a bright, brand new day
In the town I loved so well

Ali Sarsour
Chico

Workers untied
Recently the Enterprise-Record quoted Councilmember and Republican Assembly candidate Rick Keene at the city’s Economic Development Committee meeting when discussing city funding for a CEPCO prevailing wage study as saying: “I don’t see anything sinister or anti-worker in this.”

Let me get this straight here: Keene considers lowering one’s wages as pro-worker? I think it’s absurd that taxpayers (city money) could be used to fund a study to lower working citizens’ wages. I suppose, then, if wages were lowered, prices of housing, etc., would go down. You know and I know that is not going to happen in this or another lifetime. Do we want this kind of thinking representing us in Sacramento? I know I don’t! I’ll vote for Stuart King, who cares about the working citizens.

Paul McCormick
Chico