Letters for November 14, 2002

Waste control
One of the first issues I’d like to bring before our new Chico City Council is garbage regulation. Currently Butte County supervisors are at war with our main service provider, Waste Management.

The enormous trucks WM uses are tearing up roads and trees and threatening traffic safety all over town. I share a tiny driveway with three other households. The WM driver insists on bringing his truck all the way to the end; he won’t walk to get the cans, and WM won’t hire him a partner to save time. Remember when one guy drove and a couple of others walked out through the neighborhood with roller cans, emptying their roller cans into the truck as they filled up? Well, now I get a truck that is visible over my neighbor’s roof. It’s ripped three branches off my neighbor’s huge pecan tree, which we only recently had trimmed.

You can also see that the trucks are ripping the edges off our asphalt driveway. We have to pay to pave that drive ourselves, at a cost of about $6,000 per paving. The management at WM tells me they share no responsibility for the damage they do, but that they have the right to bring whatever vehicle they want down my driveway as long as they have customers there.

When my 87-year-old neighbor complained, he was told to roll his cans down to Palmetto Avenue and leave them there. Who would be liable if the drivers left the cans in the street, as they often do, and a car hit the cans? When my can disappeared one year, WM tried to tell me I had to pay for it. Who is responsible for what, and what kind of service can we demand from our hauler? These questions need to be answered.

We need some real city and county dialog on the trash issue. It’s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.

Juanita Sumner
Chico

Long division
If a house divided against itself cannot stand, wherein lies the hope for a world so divided?

Aaron Pico
Chico

Watt’s the difference?
I take exception to comments made in Tom Gascoyne’s column [“Go figure,” Inside view, Nov. 7]. You underestimate the voters. Voters wanted change, and they got it.

It’s true, I didn’t spend much money and did little campaigning. But that’s not a requirement for the [school board trustee] job; trust, intelligence and ability to effect change are. Besides, I got no endorsements, so I don’t owe any PACs, papers or unions any favors. Plus, I got one $50 campaign donation, which I gave to Kiwanis Scholarship Fund, so I’m not in anybody’s “pocket.”

I have no vested interests in this position. I’m trained in science and business decisions, and I didn’t make any promises other than that I intend to see the new high school through to completion. I also didn’t engage in mudslinging or rhetoric, and I didn’t put up any annoying signs or mailers or do silly political ads. I avoided mass-media ads because I felt they would have been improper.

I think that made me an attractive candidate, one the voters saw as fresh choice in a sea of “business as usual.” Beat me up if you want; it’s part of the job description. But to imply that the voters weren’t discerning enough to make an intelligent choice was just plain wrong.

Anthony Watts
Chico

Sorry, Arnold
Your comparison of Anthony Watts to Arnold Schwarzenegger in last week’s Inside view column was somewhat disrespectful. I think Arnold deserves an apology.

Gloria Walther
Chico

Radiation burn
I have searched for years and can no longer search. I need to find a physician who can either diagnose or treat radiation poisoning. I was exposed to as many as 107 nuclear and atomic detonations.

My medical history is lengthy and extensive; my neurological, gastrointestinal and skeletal systems are overwhelmed. I have around 400-500 pages of research. My life starts out with drugs, and I take drugs during the midway point, then at night I take more drugs.

I was born at Nellis Air Force Base, which is adjacent on three sides to the Nevada Test Site (4,120 square miles and 1,350 square miles, respectively). I was exposed during fetal development to 20 detonations during Operation Plumbob and as many as 87 more during infancy. My parents died horrendous deaths from multiple cancers.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals supporting the veterans and their attorneys showed the Veterans Administration, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy and the U.S. Atomic Commission were lying about and under reporting radiation exposure, which kept veterans from getting proper medical treatment and did not allow for adequate be compensation or treatment.

This is a plea to get or find a doctor who is able to diagnose and/or treat, as my life is becoming very, very intolerable and at a loss of dignity. Please realize this is a plea to see a physician who can properly deal with me. I am at a loss of words as to what else to do if this fails.

Steve Walker
Paradise

Hit me again
I just got hit by a stampede. On Wednesday, Nov 6, the CSU, Chico Gospel Choir performed its fall concert, “Love Songs.” From the opening moment, when the choir arrived in the Harlan Adams Theater (via the hydraulics underneath the stage and in a cloud of smoke!!) I was completely hooked. Then, once they opened their voices, I knew that I was in for an incredible night of music.

Under the direction of Malcolm Jackson, the almost 70-voice choir, accompanied by a six-piece band, absolutely blew me away with the power and passion of their performance. The theme was “Love Songs,” and the choir covered everything from an ass kickin’ (can I say that?) version of “The Lord’s Prayer” to a beautiful ballad called “We Love You Lord.”

The second half of the show even featured a “rap” in the middle of “Hold to His Hand,” and the concert ended with “Battlefield,” which brought the house down and gave the choir the last of its many standing ovations. For the third year in a row, there was standing room only for this amazing performance, and luckily I arrived early enough to grab one of the last seats.

I had no idea that Chico had this treasure hidden over at the university, and I am thrilled to have discovered it! I hope that everyone in town gets a chance to be “hit” by the Chico State Gospel Choir “stampede” when it comes to town again!

Holly Taylor
Chico

Green journalism
I attended the Nov. 5 Chico City Council meeting. Let me say first that I agree with you that the City Council should not have intervened in this situation and voted to allow Tony Symmes to obtain his grading permit [“Go figure,” Inside view, Nov. 7].

However, your reporting that “developer Tony Symmes could bulldoze over some elderberry shrubs” is shameless sensational journalism to support your point of view. It is, as you know, inaccurate and incomplete.

If one is to be a trusted journalist in our community, one must disclose all the facts accurately.

I have been a reader of the CN&R for over 25 years, and after reading this less than factual editorial how can I trust that information in subsequent articles is believable?

Tom Hall
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