What were they thinking?

The poop-shoe incident

Newbie City Councilwoman Reanette Fillmer really stepped in it during a City Council meeting in September 2015 in which the panel was considering adopting an ordinance that basically criminalizes homelessness.

That law, now in effect, is called the Offenses Against Waterways and Public Property initiative. What it does, among other things, is make it easier for police officers to cite homeless people for camping along Chico's creeks and tributaries, and also to confiscate their belongings.

Fillmer claimed to have been “teetering” on whether to vote in favor of it until she visited San Francisco and had an unpleasant experience there—170 miles from Chico. Her remarks from the dais, during a public meeting filled with residents, are stunning: “I stepped in someone's shit, and that pretty much threw me over the top on this ordinance,” she said. “And now I need a new pair of shoes, so in saying that, I support the ordinance.” Wow.

At the end of the 2014-15 school year at Chico State, a female student was walking on campus around 2 a.m. and was sexually assaulted near the Student Health Center. She didn't know her attacker.

Beyond the heinousness of this crime, the university's response was less than stellar. It was almost as if the administration didn't want people to know it had happened. A campus-wide email in legalese was sent out: “The assault consisted of a forcible act of sexual penetration.” And that was it. The Orion, Chico State's student newspaper, was the only media source to report on it, and even that was only a 100-word brief.

“No college wants to have the reputation that their school is unsafe, but these crimes need to be made known and have a light shined on them, because the danger is out there,” Yvonne Loomis, a sexual assault counselor at Chico's Rape Crisis Center, told the CN&R at the time. (See “Safety in the spotlight,” Sept. 3.) Of course, she's right.

In September, the whole of Chico became aware of what many residents living between Mangrove Avenue and Highway 99 had known for weeks—the neighborhood was in the grips of a tire-slashing spree. According to data gathered by citizens using social media/virtual neighborhood watch application Nextdoor.com, more than 100 tires were slashed in the area beginning in early August, costing residents tens of thousands of dollars in collective insurance and repair costs.

When the slashings were reported by the CN&R, Councilman Randall Stone—who lives in the target area—revealed he'd known about it for more than a month and organized a meeting with neighbors, Chico police bigwigs and other city staff. He said he'd acted under the radar in fear of causing copycat crimes, and Chico Police Lt. Rob Merrifield seemed baffled that no neighbors had contributed video evidence from surveillance cameras.

The problem was, someone had. Chico couple Lindy Carter and Jeff Kelly submitted video of someone slashing the tires of three vehicles they owned on July 10. Sgt. Scott Zuschin told the CN&R the footage had fallen through the cracks of the department's new online crime reporting system, Coplogic. Zuschin admitted the department was still working out the bugs in the system.

When one wants to steal a vehicle, it's generally better to steal something inconspicuous. At least, we'd assume so. Evidently that was lost on the person who was near the home of Mike “Mike G” Griffith of G-Ride Pedi-Cab one day in July when he left the A/C on in his truck and ran inside for a minute. His truck, unmissable with his huge business logo on the side, was gone when he got back. To make matters worse, his dog/sidekick, Lil G, was inside.

All ended well for Griffith after he took to social media to find the truck and Lil G. Within hours, the dog was found at Heritage Inn Express on Broadway—where Griffith used to work—and soon after, Chico police found the truck. They credited an Instagram user who posted a photo of Griffith's ride with their ability to find it so quickly.

The thief wasn't quite done yet, though. Griffith says that after he rekeyed his car, he found the locks tampered with. His theory: The thief tried to get back in with the original key!

On Oct. 12, local media outlets received a press release announcing that the Jesus Center board of directors had booted Executive Director Bill Such. The board cited “a difference of opinion on the future vision and direction of the Jesus Center” as the reason.

In the release, board President Ryan Vaught is quoted as saying, “Bill Such has incredible gifts and a heart for the homeless population that has been evidenced at every turn.” But when this newspaper contacted Vaught, a local real estate agent, to see what the board's new vision entailed, he refused comment.

So, there you have it. Such was cut loose unceremoniously after more than 10 years with the Jesus Center, and the organization's board wouldn't talk to the media about how they believed this important nonprofit should be run. Eight days later, they announced they'd found a replacement: Laura Cootsona, a local consultant with a long history of working with nonprofits in fundraising, marketing and strategic planning.

On June 25, Butte County Corrections Officer Timothy Hill was charged with sex crimes against a female inmate, including indecent exposure, sexual activity with a detainee in a detention facility and sexual battery. The crimes were reported 11 months earlier, and allegedly included instances of the male officer exposing himself to the inmate as well as fondling her and engaging in “hugging fests.”

Hill was eventually convicted on the charge of sexual activity with a detainee, and was sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years probation. He quit work the day the charges were filed, and apparently everyone learned a lesson, because the case brought changes to the Butte County Jail, including the addition of two security cameras and the requirement that jail staff and volunteers undergo anti-prison-rape training.

Back in December 2014, the very first motion City Councilman Andrew Coolidge made after being sworn in as an elected official was to agendize discussion of Chico Scrap Metal, a company he had ties to. In 2010, Coolidge did public relations work for a political action committee the company's owners had helped establish to unseat District Attorney Mike Ramsey and replace him with a carpetbagger attorney out of Sacramento. That attempt to oust Ramsey was retaliation for his filing charges against the company's owners for environmental pollution (the company paid hundreds of thousands in fines).

A previous City Council in 2006 had ordered the scrap yard to vacate its property on East 20th Street within five years since its practices do not fit in with the neighborhood. A series of extensions was ending right around the time Coolidge took office and he wasted no time in reversing course on booting the company.

Problem is, Coolidge didn't disclose his ties to Chico Scrap Metal. So this newspaper did. As a result, in January 2015, the freshman council member threatened the CN&R and Editor Melissa Daugherty with a baseless libel suit that he never followed through on.

Residents of a handful of houses in north Chico had a rude awakening last spring when the Ray Morgan Co., which owns the property along The Esplanade bordering their Amber Grove neighborhood, decided to expand. And erect a 24-foot-tall building directly behind their fence lines.

But the fault wasn't all in Ray Morgan, which obtained permits legally through the city. It was the city Planning Department that dropped the ball and didn't follow its own policies, blindly approving the building permit instead of vetting it thoroughly. Affected homeowner Pat Hurton had it right in May when he said: “The city botched this. What they overlooked was the impact this would have on us and the neighborhood.”

Back in mid-summer, Randall Stone got a bee in his bonnet after realizing the public could no longer access campaign finance reports on the city's website. He posted about the situation on his public Facebook page, indicating that staff had removed the documents, and calling out City Clerk Debbie Presson in particular. That was a bad move, considering Presson, who used to report to the city manager, now reports directly to the council (i.e., a personnel issue should have been handled in private). He also implied that the missing files had something to do with the new conservative majority.

The conservatives didn't take kindly to that. At the first City Council meeting following the dust-up, Mayor Mark Sorensen accused Stone of trying to score political points and lambasted the first-term councilman for a full 11 minutes over the issue. Stone hadn't done his research on the missing reports and didn't know what he was talking about, Sorensen charged. And then the mayor implied that Presson could sue the city for Stone's actions and called his comments “lies and slander.”

As this paper opined, both men handled the situation poorly. Stone should have either raised the issue internally or publicly but not in an accusatory way. And the mayor should not have suggested that a staffer could sue the already financially strapped city.