Letters for November 1, 2012

Expressing his grief

Re “Janice bought the farm” (From the Edge, by Anthony Peyton Porter, Oct. 25):

Thank you for sharing your grief with us, Anthony. Your loss is profound, and you’ve done your usual fine writing to express it—and it expresses well the grief that we all experience at different times in our lives when we lose a loved one.

Tanya Henrich
Greenville

He misused my name

I was shocked and angry to see my name listed on the back cover [advertisement] of the CN&R’s Oct. 25 issue as endorsing Anthony Coolidge for City Council. If I signed a petition so he could get his name on the ballot at one time, that’s all I did. I support anyone’s desire to run, but that hardly constitutes an endorsement. I do not endorse Mr. Coolidge!

My endorsements for council are Schwab, Rudisell, Ritter and Stone, and that is how I voted. To have my name printed as endorsing a candidate who does not meet my criteria for the position is insulting and embarassing.

Helen DiBenedetto
Chico

Two for Kelley

Dave Kelley was endorsed by both the E-R and CN&R newspapers as a moderate. Dave has eight years of Planning Commission experience (including being last year’s chairman) and will bring a strong voice for compromise to the council.

I have known Dave for two years as a fellow Planning Commission member and agree that he does his homework and looks at each issue from many different angles. Dave brings balance and knowledge to every discussion we have and is a very balanced person. He will be a good fit and bring much common sense to our City Council, and it will be sad to see him leave our commission when elected.

Mike O’Donnell
Chico

Vote for Dave Kelley if you desire someone who will make reasoned and independent decisions as a Chico City Council member. During his eight years on the Chico Planning Commission, Dave has demonstrated the ability to work with and for the citizens of Chico. He has the experience Chico so desperately needs on the City Council.

I witnessed Dave Kelley’s abilities when we served on Chico’s General Plan Advisory Committee during the recent update to the general plan. As a former council member and mayor of Chico, I know the value of independence when making decisions impacting the citizens of Chico.

I will be voting for Dave Kelley because he has proven his ability to work with the citizens to make Chico a place where we will be proud to raise our children. Join me in building Chico’s future by voting for Dave Kelley for Chico City Council.

James M. Owens
Chico

GMOs: two views

It just makes you want to bust with pride when you learn that 88 percent of all corn, 94 percent of all soya beans and almost all canola oil, papaya, and sugar beets are GE (genetically engineered) food, yet we Americans still just go right on eatin’ ’em.

We ain’t no damn sissies like those Japanese, Chinese, Russians and most of all those effeminate Europeans. We don’t care if some normal life-term GE feeding studies with rats showed massive tumor growths, reduced sexual potency, and complete male sterility by the third generation.

Heck, we know that our government, free from the influence of big business, would warn us if there was any real threat from eating GE food. Besides, we know that those big chemical, pharmaceutical and food-manufacturing corporations, as good corporate citizens, are just trying to provide us with the very best food for the very lowest price money can buy. I know they would never do anything drastic or take any risks with our food supply that could endanger or harm Americans.

And surely we don’t need no damn sissy labels on GE or GMO foods, like all those other so-called civilized countries have that still allow GE food to be sold to their citizens. Who needs all that so-called nutrition information anyway? It’s just a bunch of nonsense. No, it’s better to just eat your chow and take it like a man. Or maybe like a guinea pig? Squeak, squeak!

Doug Fogel
Chico

Just wanted to send a shout out to Chico’s amazing volunteers and community who have joined with about 90 other local groups around the state to create Proposition 37. I’m confident the people of this state will see through the opposition lies and twists to dig deeper into the truth of this law: a simple request for transparency in a food system that’s been corrupted for far too long.

Please educate yourselves before voting. Visit the www.carighttoknow.org website and learn. Look at the farming groups, the workers, the health professionals, businesses, faith-based, political and consumer groups who support our initiative. Then look at Monsanto and the other opposition chemical and junk-food companies spending $1 million plus a day because they don’t want you to know what you are eating.

Please vote Yes on Prop. 37 to join the 61 other countries who already have the right to know what they are buying and feeding their kids. Join us in making history and showing unethical megacorporations that their money and PR lies cannot buy every vote.

I’m proud that this initiative started in my hometown of Chico. Without you it would not have happened. Onward to victory!!

Pamm Larry
Chico

Johnson for BCOE board

I’m writing to endorse and encourage voters to support Ryne Johnson for the Butte County Board of Education. Ryne is passionate in his concern to maintain the fiscal health of our public school system, while assuring an even playing field for all Butte County students.

He strongly opposes the trend toward privatization of public schools, particularly because of the tendency toward classism, where private and quasi-private schools skim off the more privileged students, increasing the proportion of students with greater needs in the public schools. This creates a disproportionate burden on public schools to provide for special-needs students, while competing for the all-important high scores on standardized testing.

The greatest challenge for BCOE is the fiscal challenge. Ryne Johnson is highly qualified to serve on the board. His educational record includes Honors from UCLA in International Economics and an MA with Honors in Government Administration from the University of Pennsylvania. He also has over 20 years of experience in strategic planning, finance, the intricacies of budgeting and working with private-public partnerships.

As a BCOE board member, Ryne Johnson will be a strong advocate for human concerns, while contributing his substantial expertise with fiscal issues. He will be a great asset on the BCOE Board of Education. Please give him your vote, along with incumbents Roger Steel and Robert Purvis.

Emily Alma
Chico

Two for Tami Ritter

I had the privilege of working for Tami Ritter when she was the executive director of the Torres Shelter, a 120-bed year-round homeless shelter in Chico that serves men, women and families.

When Tami began working for shelter it was operating only in the coldest months of the year and out of a few local churches on a rotating basis. Tami knew that homelessness is not a seasonal issue and that persons experiencing homelessness needed reasonable time to recover and services that would help them identify and implement a plan for self-sufficiency.

Tami worked collaboratively with the state to procure grants that would provide much of the funding needed to build a year-round facility and also to provide operations monies needed to run the shelter. Tami educated community members about the need for a permanent shelter, and they rallied to help get it done. The Torres Shelter was built and opened for year-round services in March 2003.

As a social-services worker, I saw clearly that they had chosen the right person to lead the organization from its infancy to a well-developed year-round shelter program. Tami understood the importance of personal responsibility to recovery, and she expected each guest and her staff to identify and implement a plan for self-sufficiency that addressed the guest’s barriers to housing. Tami’s belief in her community, her excellent collaborative skills, and her education, experience and insight would all be an asset to the council.

Rebecca Rivera
Los Molinos

Chico’s City Council election offers voters a diverse group of 11 candidates vying for four available seats. Some offer the same dog-whistle platitudes usually reserved for right-wing talk radio and fake TV news networks, promoting a negative division where politics (not progress or public good) drives (or gridlocks) the legislative process.

Smarter candidates realize that a positive message reflecting a desire to serve the needs of the city makes for better leaders. One such leader in the council race is Tami Ritter.

Tami’s message is always consistent, articulate and positive. She is exceptionally skilled in identifying issues and intelligently presenting solutions rather than talking points. She is committed to preserving Chico’s unique quality of life, stating that as a councilmember she will serve all of Chico and not just the interests of supporters.

Tami identifies Chico’s strengths as a community and its appeal to others wanting to move, invest or open a business here. She speaks of Chico as a “destination community” that is rich in arts, history and beauty that promote tourism. She speaks of sustainability in a way that makes sense (as well as dollars and cents) even to those who deny its importance. She is committed to tackling important issues such as crime and homelessness in a fashion that demonstrates a global understanding of these complex issues and the presentation of real solutions rather than “tougher laws,” “less government” or “a bath and a bus ticket.”

Dave Schwartz
Chico

Huffman supports DiDuca

After several conversations with the candidates since the June primary and much consideration, I am voting for Joe DiDuca for supervisor, District 5. Joe has the best interests of the people in mind, and he has a heart for Butte County. Joe has spent most of his adult life here, and that cannot be said of the other candidate.

I have known Joe for at least 20 years, and I know that he is civic minded. Joe has valuable leadership experience as a member of the Paradise Town Council, which Teeter lacks. Joe will help build up the local economy, and as a former Town Council member I know Joe to be a builder who cares about the environment.

I believe Joe when he wrote, “I pride myself as being an environmentalist because I love the outdoors so much. I would not risk losing something we could never get back, and something that is so important to my life as well.”

Joe is a fiscal conservative who looks out for our budgets. Joe asks the correct questions, and he has demonstrated the courage to stand up for what he believes is right. Vote for Joe DiDuca.

Robin Huffman
Paradise

Canyon dweller likes Teeter

After several conversations I have been privy to, I am voting for Doug Teeter. I have lived in Butte Creek Canyon for almost 25 years now. I know how much Yamaguchi cared about all of us taxpaying canyon dwellers (not). So, any friend of Yamaguchi’s (and his ideas) is not a friend of mine.

Hopefully, Mr. Teeter will realize what a special place we live in and not sell us out to the highest bidder. Best of luck to Doug Teeter on becoming our next (hopefully open minded) supervisor.

Sheri Trimboli
Butte Creek Canyon

Reed qualified for Senate

After attending the League of Women Voters’ candidate forum, I knew the very best person to represent us in the state Senate is Jann Reed. She is an Independent, and announced that she has not received any endorsement nor money from PACs or corporations or political parties. Further, she is not soliciting money from corporations or political parties.

When joining the Senate, she will vote on those bills that will benefit all the people of District 4 and not in lockstep with any party.

As an eight-year member of the Chico Unified School District Board of Trustees and president of the board, Jann has worked with budgets that were in the millions and researched and proposed many ideas that would be beneficial to the students and parents of the district.

Jann is up to date on the many issues that are of interest to all citizens of our district, the state of California and the nation. She has prepared herself to serve this district with intelligence, sincerity and dedication.

I hope you will join me and vote for Jann Reed for 4th District senator.

Marilyn Warrens
Chico

Help kill Citizens United

We the People must not allow a supreme judgment error to undermine our democracy. The Supreme Court, presidentially appointed ex-lawyers who become life-long federal bureaucrats, in their Citizens United decision created a legal fiction that effectively makes corporations the political equivalent of citizens. This decision provides corporations with new political powers that undermine the political power of us, the real citizens.

This Supreme Court’s error directly affects the rights of all eligible voting citizens, making each of us relatively weaker by allowing powerful, gigantic corporations citizen privileges. Corporate shareholders and executives have no reason to have any more influence on government than they already command. Corporate shareholders and executives can be foreign nationals. If they are U.S. citizens they already have their own constitutional rights, unless they are too young or have forfeited their rights due to felonious activity and then are rightly not entitled to citizen rights.

Measure K is Chico’s own resolution to begin the federal process needed to correct the Supreme Court’s error. Help restore voter equality and our democracy as envisioned by the authors of the Constitution. Vote Yes on Measure K.

Doug Fogel
Chico

Save us from bankruptcy

Re “Speaking of naïveté…” (Guest comment, by Mary Goloff, Oct. 11):

Mary Goloff is somewhat correct in that Toby Schindelbeck is naïve, but not for the imaginary reasons that she stated in her emotional political attack article.

Toby was naive in the beginning of this political race to assume that the majority of the current council wanted what is best for Chico, not just what is best for themselves or a select few Chico citizens who are more than willing to go along just to get along in order to get more taxpayer money.

If the current City Council wanted what was best for all of Chico, they would know what is in the City Charter and, more important, actually follow it by reviewing and discussing a monthly revenue/expenditure report very closely. As usual the city hasn’t been transparent with the public, and that is unfortunately par for the course.

We need real leadership on the council before Chico becomes another California city on the bankruptcy list. This Nov.6 please vote for Toby Schindelbeck, Sean Morgan, Andrew Coolidge and Bob Evans!

John Salyer
Chico

Abolish this ‘revolting relic’

Proposition 34 represents the best chance we have had since the early 1970s to abolish the death penalty in California.

Capital punishment is totally ineffective as a deterrent to crime (Texas offers ample proof of that) and can be made cost effective (as opposed to life in prison) only if we are willing to gut the Fifth Amendment and make a mockery of the Eighth. We should do neither.

The death penalty degrades us all, because it indulges the worst of our violent passions and reduces us to the very level of the criminals we have condemned. As the French existentialist Albert Camus correctly observed in his famous 1957 essay, “Reflections on the Guillotine,” there is no homicide more cold, calculated and premeditated than a state-orchestrated execution.

It is time to abolish this revolting relic of primitivism and focus on more effective, more humane and more civilized solutions to the problem of violent crime in our society.

Please vote Yes on Prop. 34.

Michael Magliari
Chico

Agenda 21 in action

The city of Chico is on the brink of bankruptcy, and the city’s emergency fund is almost depleted. What are the five leftists on the City Council doing about it? They are consumed with banning plastic bags. Duh, go figure.

When will the thousands of potholes in Chico’s streets be re-paved? Probably never, because such a lowly project is not “green” or “sustainable,” according to the five UN Agenda 21 liberals on the City Council.

If Chico is to avoid bankruptcy and restore its financial stability, its citizens need to elect people who are financially responsible and who understand finance, budgeting and common-sense management. On Nov. 6, please vote for Bob Evans, Sean Morgan, Andrew Coolidge and Toby Schindelbeck.

To help our state, vote for Dan Logue for Assembly and vote Yes on Prop. 32. Please vote for Elizabeth Emken for U.S. senator. Mrs. Emken has a master’s degree in economics from UCLA, was a cost analyst for IBM, and for many years has worked for organizations helping autistic children. She is a brilliant and compassionate woman who will bring badly needed new blood to the Senate.

Dianne S. Wilkinson
Chico

Prop 37 too extreme

The authors of Proposition 37 would like the voters to believe it is about labeling food that contains genetically engineered ingredients. It is not. It is the first step in a plan to totally ban the growing of gene-spliced crops in California. The same activists attempted to ban GE crops through county ballot measures several years ago. When voters rejected all but one of these propositions, their backers vowed to pursue the ban at the state level.

Well, here we are. California is the No. 1 state in agricultural production. Ag has been the only bright spot in an otherwise dismal economy for the last decade. A ban on biotech crops would do irreparable damage to California’s ag economy. Costs of producing gene-spliced crops are lower and profits higher. A ban in California and not other states would cause our farmers to be in a competitive disadvantage.

Worldwide, more than 3 billion acres of gene-spliced crops have been planted in the last 16 years, and there’s not one documented case of human illness. Don’t let extremists damage California’s economy any more than they already have.

If consumers are worried about foods containing GE ingredients, buy USDA Certified Organic. It cost more, but if Prop 37 passes all food will cost more.

Vote NO on Prop 37.

Tom Dowd
Durham

Corrections

Several sharp readers contacted the CN&R to let us know we’d gotten it backwards in our endorsement on Proposition 40. As they pointed out, a Yes vote will safeguard the state Senate districts established by the Citizens Redistricting Commission.

Also, we’re told that our Earthwatch item last week, “Livestock A-team assembled,” got it slightly wrong when it suggested that livestock’s carbon footprint was synonymous with their farts. UC Davis publicist Kat Kerlin informs us that the carbon footprint is “actually more about their burps than their farts, but really encompasses the full life cycle of raising livestock—from the emissions needed to grow their feed, transport them, process them into meat, and yes, also the emissions from their own furry bodies.”

Finally, Juanita Sumner wrote in to say that she provided the wrong email address for people wanting to opt out of receiving the Enterprise-Record’s mailer, Market Value Place. It’s jjurdana@chicoer.com.