Letters for May 1, 2008

Writer compares the contrasts
Re: “Woe is he” (Letters, by Edward Booth, CN&R, April 24):

Mr. Booth seems to overlook that my “unbridled hostility” is toward tyranny, genocide, religious fanaticism and threats to repeat the Holocaust. I happily plead guilty of that kind of hostility!

But what does Mr. Booth propose to do when Iran gets the bomb and attacks Israel, Europe or ourselves? Would Mr. Booth wait and do nothing until that happens? Because it will happen if we don’t act to prevent it.

Iran has made its intentions abundantly clear on this. Since when is acting against this threat “imperialism"?

Mr. Booth’s contention that Middle Easterners “want us the hell out of their countries” sounds disturbingly like “Oh, Hitler only wants Austria and the Sudetenland and then he’ll leave us alone, we hope.” Remember 1938, “Peace in our time"?

As for China, does Mr. Booth see China threatening to kill 5 million Jews? China does have a lousy human-rights record, but it is also a rational society that offers prospects of eventual conversion along the lines of what has happened in South Korea and Taiwan.

And as for poverty programs, blindly throwing money at social problems as we have for the last 40-plus years has only made matters worse by destroying families and individual initiative. The only effective way to eliminate poverty is to leave investment capital in the hands of the businesses that create jobs, instead of taxing it away, and to enforce educational standards so that everyone has the skills to earn a decent income.

Chad Wozniak
Chico

Editor’s note: Before jumping to write a letter rebutting this rebuttal, please read the next letter, then In My Eyes.

Is Wozniak for real?
I have followed the seemingly hard-right dictates of a certain poison pen named Chad for some time now. The question emerges: Is this guy real or simply someone attempting to stir up the readership with his extreme rants and mind-boggling statements?

I realize, from my 45 years of existence, that certain elements on the neo-con right come off as deluded and downright irrational when explaining their theories for U.S. dominion over parts of the world we deem to be in our national interest. (This of course tends to translate to corporate/ economic interest almost exclusively.)

“Raising taxes to fund poverty programs merely increases poverty” gets stated as if it was a long-accepted fact, rather than a theory espoused by the “new” right.

In calling for the “extermination” of all terrorists, does that mean we just keep killing everyone as the numbers expand in response to our continued killing?

And, finally, a pre-emptive war with Iraq, with continually changing stated objectives, is compared to enforcement of civil rights in the South. Really, Chad? That comparison seems like a stretch, even for you.

I sincerely hope this writer is simply placing absurdly ridiculous statements into play to elicit a response, to see if anyone is paying attention. If not, I hope whatever has caused him to believe these statements isn’t contagious.

Don Gregg
Chico

Supporters of arts
Re: “That’s a steal” (Scene, by Christine G.K. LaPado, CN&R, April 24):

As a former director of 1078 Gallery I am thrilled to see the gallery featured in your pages. That the gallery attracts such fine artists as Salvatore Casa and Paul DiPasqua is a testament to the success of the 1078.

This success is due in no small part to the hard work of the 1078 Gallery board of directors who should be recognized and acknowledged as the very driving force behind the gallery. These dedicated individuals make it possible for each and every event to happen. They make sure the rent is paid, the staff hired and the receptions well-fed.

The 1078 Gallery owes its existence to these people and numerous other volunteers who have poured an incredible amount of energy and time into the place over the last 25 years. We would not have this community arts space without them.

Carla Resnick
Chico

Power play
Re: “The big Chill Out” (GreenWays, by Ryan Laine and Evan Tuchinsky, CN&R, April 17):

When I read your article about Butte College’s admirable attempt to become carbon neutral by 2015, it made me realize that the collapse of our national economy might just as well be blamed on the news media’s rose-colored glasses as on the self-serving and incompetent federal and state politicians who give financial incentives to their ill-informed local counterparts, thereby allowing them to join our public corporations in a quest to discover how much curry they can favor by wasting other people’s money.

The solar array that Butte College has installed ensures that one-third of their power bill will be paid by the taxpayer at twice the rate that PG&E would have charged. Let’s face it, at best these systems produce electricity for 30 cents a kilowatt, and should the cost of energy rise more than 5 percent a year, any savings to the taxpayer will have been stolen from the bond holders.

There is no free lunch. The best that can be said about their solar power is that if everything goes according to plan, only half the money will have been wasted.

And people still want to raise taxes.

Norman Elarth
Chico

Editor’s note: In case you’re curious, the first sentence has 82 words.

Credit is due
Re: “Feast on Table Mountain” (Cover story, by Jaime O’Neill, CN&R, April 17):

I enjoyed your article about Table Mountain. The article makes mention of the “co-authors” of the book Wildflowers on Table Mountain. Actually, there were three who were involved in making this book possible. The illustrator, Larry Jansen, was not mentioned. This is a serious omission.

I remember his going off to Table Mountain for many hours at a time to complete his illustrations. He was seriously committed to doing excellent work for the book.

He can be found in the Saturday Farmers Market selling bread.

Roger T. Jansen
Chico

Editor’s note: We apologize for the oversight.

Try this tradeoff
Re: “CUSD budget burden borne equally?” (Letters, by Owen Stiles, CN&R, April 17):

When I lived in the Midwest, we had a school district that had a similar reputation for being corrupt and poorly run like Chico’s. Similarly, they were criticized by the local authorities for incompetence. After years of going downhill, they were finally forced to disband as a school district and join the neighboring district, which was well run.

Chico should ask to join Durham or Paradise, which would allow them to replace the dysfunctional management within CUSD. Instead of closing Forest Ranch and Cohasset [elementary schools], you could close a district office and save enough money so that no other cuts need to be made. Oh, but that would make too much financial sense.

Bryn Briarwood
Redding

Running the numbers
Re: “Why the salmon are dying” (Editorial, CN&R March 6):

I just read the editorial [via the online archive] about the collapse of the salmon runs. What is missing in the agency’s story is that, although there may have been a problem with food sources in the ocean that caused this dramatic collapse, somehow Butte Creek’s wild, naturally spawned spring-run chinook salmon managed to actually increase in numbers from 2006 to 2007.

Although it was a modest increase of less than 10 percent (6,400 to 6,800), compared to 80 percent declines in fall-run chinook, it is clear Butte Creek is different. We already have more than 5,000 adult “springers” back home with a month more of the migration window.

There are details of the BC-SRCS life cycle that may be giving them better odds of survival, but the fact remains that, all on their own, the juveniles navigated Butte Creek, the Butte Sink, the Sutter Bypass, and the Sacramento River. They made it past the pumps, found food all along the way and in the ocean, and made it back after two to three years out there. Same ocean where the fall-run hatchery fish apparently perished.

Follow the developments on Butte Creek more closely. It is the last, best run of wild chinook in California—plus, like the Snake River, we have dams that should go.

Alan Harthorn
Chico

Drill the White House
The Bush administration will be leaving a legacy of doom concerning the protection of our planet and its wildlife. For example, in support of politically powerful ranchers and elk hunters, the administration is issuing a plan for the state of Idaho to slaughter 85 percent of its 700 gray wolves and for Wyoming to kill more than 100.

Even after a nationwide outcry, the administration pursues, as it always has, its own agenda. Our tax dollars have already paid for two planes for the purpose to gun [wolves] down from the air in Wyoming.

If that isn’t enough, in January the Bush administration stalled in granting federal protection to the threatened polar bear so it could pursue a massive oil-and-gas-lease sale in the Chukchi Sea, off the northwest coast of Alaska—home of 10 percent of the world’s threatened polar bears.

A bill (S. 258) by Sen. John Kerry would bar further leasing and activity until the impacts on polar bears are fully understood. If you are interested in making your voice heard, visit www.NRDCActionFund.org.

Margaret Nordeen
Chico

A fond farewell
Over the past six years, Jedidiah’s Neighborhood Grill has made a large impact on dining in Chico. Whether you fell in love with their Chinese Chicken Salad or you can’t live without their homemade cinnamon rolls, there is a reason this family-run restaurant made a good long run and lasted in a small town.

As a past employee of Jed’s, I would like to thank Jon Meyer for serving his community with all the love he would give someone in his own home. He made a point to make every person feel like family upon walking through his restaurant doors. Here’s to closing one door and opening another!

Melissa Weir
South Lake Tahoe