Letters for October 5, 2017

‘Cows, not condos!’

Re “Fairgrounds fair play” (Newslines, by Meredith J. Cooper, Sept. 28):

Unfortunately, your piece about the request for proposal (RFP) was little more than a puff piece, full crossed fingers and nothing about the impending loss of the fairgrounds that have served five generations of residents and visitors. Nor did you mention the opposition to this foolhardy move.

You quote both District 4 Supervisor Steve Lambert and spokeswoman Casey Hatcher as saying the fair will be protected. But their statements are totally belied by the actual language of the RFP dated Aug. 7, 2017: “It is preferred to continue to hold the Fair on the property, however this is not a requirement.”

The county hastily issued a weak “addendum” that only required developers to “accommodate” the fair. There is no requirement to maintain the fairgrounds, no requirement to keep the fair at its historic site. Nothing.

Folks, this is the end of the Butte County Fair as you know it, and as your grandparents knew it. If you agree with me that this is an outrage and an insult to the people of Butte County, call the supervisors right now: Bill Connelly (538-6834); Steve Lambert (538-2516); Larry Wahl (891-0686); Doug Teeter (872-6304); Maureen Kirk (891-2800).

Tell them to rescind this evil RFP now. Cows, not condos!

Chris Ingram

Palermo

Doubly offensive

Re “Questions for the city” (Letters, by Patrick Newman, Sept. 21):

Since my letter to the editor compounded Howard Hardee’s error, in reporting on the activities of Janet Ellner, I would like to offer an apology to Ellner. It’s bad enough to be misrepresented; being hammered by a misinformed letter writer only makes matters worse.

I wonder though: What’s up with Hardee? In the context of a story about a new park, we have an exaggeration, featuring Ellner “moving along” the homeless and a quote from a city employee, which reads like gratuitous homeless bashing.

In the future, I wish journalists would substitute the word “negro” for the word “homeless” as they draft their stories. (So in this case we’d have, “I move the negros along …” or “Now that this place is nice, the negros just don’t feel comfortable anymore.”) If with that substitution, a sentence sounds offensive, that’s because it is offensive.

Patrick Newman

Chico

Editor’s note: Mr. Newman is referencing a correction on a previous Greenways story (see “Greener acres,” Sept. 14). Hardee said in error that Ms. Ellner told homeless individuals camping at Comanche Creek to “move along.” In fact, she doesn’t do that; Ellner did say she has informed them that camping there is illegal.

‘Confusing’

Re “The saga continues” (Letters, by Ray Estes, Sept. 28):

Ray Estes said, “Like I said in my letter, the independent Sanders does indeed need to run as an independent, instead of a Democrat.” In previous letters, Estes complained that Ralph Nader took away votes from Al Gore, in which he lamented that those votes for Nader helped George W. Bush get elected. So what does Ray Estes want? Not meaning to be disrespectful, but I find this confusing.

Walter Ballin

Chico

LaMalfa’s deceptive bill

Congress.gov indicates Rep. Doug LaMalfa is one of 165 co-sponsors of HR 367, the Hearing Protection Act of 2017. This deviously named bill is the NRA’s latest attempt to arm the ultra-right with silencers for personal guns. Just think how much more effective the Las Vegas shooter would have been if no one could have heard the shots.

But LaMalfa and his cronies want to fool us into thinking it’s a health issue.

As a former hunter, I realize that repeatedly shooting a gun can damage one’s hearing. Obviously, the “shooters” Mr. LaMalfa is so concerned to protect aren’t smart enough to wear ear protection when sighting in their guns or are such lousy shots they have to shoot numerous times in hopes of hitting a deer, elk, etc. (shotguns can’t be fitted with silencers, so there’s no benefit to waterfowl hunters). These folks are usually labeled “morons” and shouldn’t be allowed within a mile of a gun anyway.

There are about 15 million hunters in the U.S. (5 percent of the population), of which maybe half (or less) hunt with a large-caliber rifle. But those 7 million are pretty important to LaMalfa, much more so than the 25 million for whom he voted to eliminate health care.

Dean Carrier

Paradise

White House nepotism

Trump and his luxury swamp of bankers, billionaires, generals and congressional allies will almost certainly pass tax reform that makes their friends and families even richer while the poorest of us grow even more starved, homeless and desperate. Politicians selling policies that favor the economic elite have assured us for decades that wealth will soon trickle down in abundance, but those promises remain unfulfilled.

If billionaire interests hold their greedy sway with corporate tax cuts, then the quality and extent of extreme poverty are about to grow much worse as the final tattered remains of safety net are shredded to feathery softness for tickling the pampered behinds of the powerful. Those who can afford security will rent uniformed bullies to keep the hungry hordes from disturbing their comfort. The shopkeepers will rely increasingly on police who kill with impunity to punish those poor and infirm street people capable of scaring away the few remaining timid customers who can still afford to shop.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Reducing inequality improves conditions for everyone whose lives are affected by extreme poverty.

Dan Everhart

Chico

Poking fun at POTUS

Many may not remember (wink) the president declaring that the country is in a new “Gold Rush” a few months ago. The gold being recyclable cans and plastics. A flagship program was introduced in the Midwest. “Money bags” (plastic garbage bags with dollar bills painted on) were distributed to all households. The program was so successful that one state senator has introduced a bill to respell his states name as “Cansas.”

With conservatives likely to lower taxes for the wealthy in upcoming tax reform, there lies a need for income to make up the gap. With the Gold Rush booming, conservatives have introduced the “One Can for Donnie” program. This program only affects the homeless and requires that before they recycle one can, they must first put one can in the Fed bin.

According to conservatives, since the homeless have no money, are not job creators and do not even vote, essentially they are not really even human beings and why not give them a J-O-B, (as in having to pick up twice as many cans to be able to buy their daily can of ravioli). Making America great again, one can at a time.

W. Jeff Straub

Redding

‘What a crowd-pleaser’

On page 21 of the Sept. 28 issue, [the editor’s pick of the] Ebony and Ivory concert series at Chico Women’s Club featured Shigemi Minetaka playing with her Afro-Cuban jazz band to be held Friday evening, Sept. 29. On Page 27 of the same issue, Henri Bourride writes a great article on our apple season with a recipe for Chunky Apple Cake.

The Chico Women’s Club members who volunteer to help at the Ebony and Ivory events decided they had to make this recipe as one of their appetizers at Shigemi’s concert. What a crowd-pleaser this turned out to be with over 65 people loving this Chunky Apple Cake with a brandy apple cider glaze topping. It was so wonderful to see so many people exclaiming over the cake. It certainly made the volunteers very happy to see and hear a room full of excited people. Many thanks to the CN&R!

Connie Wright

Chico

Corrections and omission

A story in last week’s Newslines (see “Blessed are the peacemakers,” by Ken Smith) misspelled Lakshmi Ariaratnam’s last name. In the same issue, two references to Blue Shield of California in the cover story (see “Chico vs. The Man,” by Evan Tuchinsky) were incorrectly attributed to a similarly named insurer.

Also, in a Downstroke (see “City grants announced”), Slow Theatre was omitted from a list of recipients of the Community Grant Program’s maximum award of $5,319.

We apologize for the errors, which have been corrected online. —ed.